Chapter 1484 (1/2)

Lucifer’s eyes blazed as he considered the challenging tilt of the Ghosthound’s head. Lucifer’s own shoulders rose and fell with each heavy desperate breath, struggling to wring just an ounce more potency about his own image. His gaze was locked onto the Ghosthound. If it wasn’t for you…

Everyone had their own reasons for accepting Alana’s invitation to this fight. But for Lucifer… it was because the Ghosthound was strong. Overwhelmingly so. Because there was a strong foe, why was it confusing that he challenged him?

The proof of the Ghosthound’s strength could be seen in their current situation. Of their starting group, three had already been eliminated. Giuliana made Lucifer the most furious, but the biggest loss was probably Stan. Eliminating him early meant that his ability to copy another’s image didn’t have much of a chance to get established. Stan had been a fallback plan, should the fight… well, go as it was currently going.

The most infuriating thing was that Lucifer could clearly sense the Ghosthound’s theoretical limits. The man was mentally exhausted to the point that he basically only released his image when seriously threatened by an attack. And each of those image pulses, though powerful, further decreased his available energy. Even if the Ghosthound had an immense reservoir of Willpower originally, that had been reduced to a dry wasteland with a few intermittent puddles. This was the version of the Ghosthound that was the most mortal.

But even so, he suppressed them with just his monstrous physical stats and high-Level Skills. His image was almost an afterthought. It was humiliating. It was invigorating.

“...no one has anything to say?” The Ghosthound spoke into the tense silence. He pursed his lips. “You just want to attack me randomly with no explanation?”

Again, no one responded. Lucifer was practically grinding his teeth. It was hubris; the Ghosthound now spoke with the arrogance of one who had never looked at the back of another and wished for the power to bridge the gap between them. Or if he had experiences like that, he had now forgotten them.

When Alana had suggested the attack, it had come as a shock to Lucifer. But he believed that all of the participants in the duos tournament, or at least those at the top, wondered the same thing when they pushed themselves to their limits to seize victory and name the world. How far were they from the best Expira had to offer?

How far were they from the power wielded by the Nexus?

Now they faced a truth: combined, they measured up to less than one-third of the Ghosthound’s power. They couldn’t even defeat a single, exhausted one of his images. And perhaps it was truly closer to one third or one-half of his abilities, because he still had the benefits of his powerful Stats, no matter the image. But it was an unsatisfying realization.

We can do better than this, Lucifer hissed to himself.

There was a sharp crack from Alana’s crumpled form and a hiss of pain. Then the woman stood up and brushed herself off. She glanced down at her broken spear, tossed it to the side, and produced another from her interspatial ring. She gripped the shaft with both hands and lowered herself into an offensive stance. Blood trickled out of the corner of her mouth, but orange-gold fire slowly sprang to light along her spear. There wasn’t a single ounce of surrender in her figure, even though she was the only one who had endured a blow from the full power of his image.

Lucifer tilted his saber so he held it horizontally across his body. Your inner light and heat were bright when I first wounded you, Ghosthound… but now they grow dim. You are weakening, even as we are. Yet you dare ask us why…?

“Fine then,” the Grim Chimera said. He was all bone, tendons, and inner fire as he rolled his shoulders and then accelerated toward Dinesh. Alana once more launched herself forward, the first to put her body in the Ghosthound’s path. Lucifer leaned forward and exploded toward the Ghosthound’s exposed back.

Unfortunately, that new right arm of the Ghosthound’s was just too fast. The hand shot out and seized the tip of the spear, the slender fingers belying its immense strength. Again with the slightest twitch, Randidly tossed Alana to the side. Lucifer's fury mixed freely with his image, surging along the length of his saber. Yet his speed wasn’t enough. As he pursued him from behind, the Ghosthound opened up space between them without any apparent effort. As long as he had that speed, his back was never truly exposed

Then Donny was there again, grinning from ear to ear. There was a joy to exhausting this powerful warrior. “Invincible Aegis.”

A dozen immense golden shields sprung up between Donny and the Ghosthound. Each was about two meters tall and was covered in a shimmering array of pictograms depicting their fight against the Ghosthound thus far. It told a gallant story that ended in the defeat of the monster by the band of heroes.

“Invincible?” The Ghosthound’s voice sounded amused. “Man is Proud… But the Chimera Takes.”

The ground beneath his feet cracked and in the same instant the noise of him impacting the largest, central Aegis reached Lucifer’s ears. There was no instant of time that could fit between those two occurrences. Donny was blasted backward, his Skill flashing with golden light as all the shields were forced backward before the power of the Ghosthound. In fact, he continued sliding backward until he settled only a meter in front of Dinesh, who stood in rapt concentration with closed eyes. The central shield cracked.

I need ten more seconds, Dinesh sent out a message to the group. Even though Lucifer was already rushed forward at the Ghosthound’s back, he felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Ten seconds was a long time.

Kayle seemed to materialize next to the Ghosthound, who was raising his spear for another strike at Donny’s weakened Skill, and crossed his long knives. “Slice and Dice.”

Even with his imposing image of a cruelly sharp divide adding an edge to his strikes, each quick slash of his knives only inflicted shallow divots in the Grim Chimera’s impossible sturdy skin. The strikes did have enough of an image to draw a reflexive rise in the Grim Chimera’s power, but it was practically a negligible thing.

But it did stall the Ghosthound out briefly. Huang Shou thrust his palm forward. “Shatter.”