Chapter 830 (2/2)

“Ophelia-”

She was a single stone. Which was rolling down a mountain. Which was all a stone needed to do to cause a disaster. Because momentum-

“-is borrowed from the world,” Ophelia whispered. “You taught me that.”

Her spear pierced through the base of the tail with force to spare, and then continued through the body of the First Propagator in the lower midsection, and then finally pinned its entire body to the floor as she finished the blow.

For the first time, the First Propagator shrilly screamed in genuine pain. Its tail twisted and smashed backward and then-

*****

Crack.

Aegiant frowned. It was strange how much the sound of Ophelia’s neck breaking echoed through the hall. Especially when there were almost a hundred people, five of them being the most powerful spear-users in Tellus with images wildly clashing.

Her body spun slowly through the air, seeming to float lightly as it tumbled end over end and off behind a pillar. Shaking his head slightly, Aegiant turned back to the battle at hand. He pulsed with the endless power of the sun and Versault was forced to retreat before him.

Aegiant grinned. So it is always supposed to be.

Over at the front, the First Propagator was struggling with the Spearman. Without its tail and pinned to the ground, it was a losing battle. Even as it smashed at the Spearman with its claws, the Spearman gripped both hands together and raised them above his head, preparing to bring them down in a devastating hammer blow.

Aegiant snorted and turned away. Everyone has our own battle. You are on your own, monster.

The battle in front of him quickly went South for the opposition without Ophelia. Now without the distraction of Ophelia's powerful strikes, Aethon began to drive the Oracle backward. There was no doubt the Oracle was powerful, but most of her strength came from control and denial. After all, she utilized the might of an ocean as the basis for her images. Of all of those present, Aethon had the smallest and densest image. For him, it was child’s play to resist the ocean currents with his heavy and sharp body.

He cut through the water like he was born to it.

Which left Versault alone before Aegiant.

Grinning, Aegiant began to slowly walk forward, simply turning up the power of his image. The sun stretched and stretched, bringing its vicious heat and weight over everything in the area. Witch Kings that wandered too near were crushed into screaming piles of mush.

Yet Versault endured, his lined faced pinched into a look of hatred. “You fool. If you draw too deeply-”

“This is a world of achievement,” Aegiant said with a sad shake of the head. He could already feel the rising urge toward violence in his body, but he didn’t mind. He had been biding his time for almost 200 years. A the urging of the Spearman, he had taken his family to a land of wilderness and sought to create a unique image. And for what? So his son could be broken by the machinations of others? “What else is there but victory? There is no cost too high to pay for victory.”

“Yours is no longer the world, if this succeeds…” Versault hissed. Already he was sweating, his image slowly failing before the majesty of the sun. “Tellus-”

“Yes, yes,” Aegiant waved a hand. “I don’t care for how… considered this world has gotten. Always caring what image is from where, and why. Dull. But that changes after the Ascension. Then… all that will matter is power.”

Aegiant spread his arms wide and grinned down at the struggling man. “And who is more powerful than me?”

On cue, Versault exploded into motion, as Aegiant suspected he might. The wind rose in a humming viciousness that cut up through the waves of sunlight Aegiant produced. But Aegiant stood still and waited. As the blade forced its way upward through the waves of heat, it slowly weakened until it was nothing but the head of the spear.

But Aegiant’s expression was vicious as that spear actually pierced into his shoulder. The attack had possessed a dogged determination that endured his vicious bombardment of heat and weight. Blood dripped down the blade and onto the floor, evaporating into a dried circle almost immediately.

Versault cackled in glee.

“That was a mistake,” Aegiant said mildly. Then he burnt the man to a crisp. Chuckling, Aegiant turned and considered his next order of business.