The will had arrived without any warning, descending on them like a war general.
The wind exploded around the area, blowing off hundreds of crimson leaved tress. The ground cracked like a spider's web from the Aura pressure it generated.
The cracked space had already mostly recovered, but it had left behind a large number of Void Creatures, which had been killed by the will before turning them into Void Shadow Beasts. These beasts roamed around the Will and pseudo-Hypernova Beast, often growling at Eric, Adrian, and the Angel Spirit with their glowing, crimson red eyes.
Eric and the gang slowly flew into the air until they were at the same level as the other side. Adrian had already gone beyond the Angel Spirit, making Eric stay in the front.
Both sides' leaders were clearly seen. A cold and long stare was exchanged between the two sides.
Rank 3 Darkness Pathway charging Aura Technique: Abyssal Dragon Charge!
They will attack first. It used a technique as black light flickered around his body before shaping itself in the form of a dragon as I charged towards Eric.
Eric answered with Repulsion Charge, also using his charging technique. This version was a much less powerful version in all aspects, but Eric had done his best to keep as much of the original speed as he could.
Both sides charged at each other, but they quickly changed directions towards the right. They both knew that the other would dodge, not colliding directly.
They then charged below, each was trying to read the moment of the other as 2/3rd of the Void Creature Beasts made two groups and started to rush towards Adrian and the Angel Spirit as they roared and growled.
The pseudo-Hypernova Beast seeped into the black liquid that appeared in the air, chasing the Angel Spirit.
Left. Right. Above. Below. Turns.
One didn't let the other out of their sight. They both were holding each other off, waiting for the other to make the first major move. Tension crackled around the air as pressure filled their chest.
The remaining group of the Void Beast Creatures quickly came to reinforce the will, pressuring Eric from all sides.
Rank 4 Energy Pathway Offensive Aura Technique: Quirk Detonation.
Small pink stats that were so small that they could be considered a grain of salt appeared out of his Domain of Emotions as they detonated themselves around the Beasts, disrupting their form, making them get angry, frantically growling and flying around.
This was a former version of concealed detonation; it could be used for several reasons, but its power wasn't enough, and these stars had to be made and stored beforehand, making them inconvenient.
The will use another technique, making a layer of black liquid around it, protecting itself against the quirks.
Eric landed on the ground as he started to run, using his Aura to throw boulders towards the flying will, which dodged all of them easily.
The Will finally made its first major move.
Rank 3 Darkness Pathway Offensive Aura Technique: Wave of Despair!
A towering tsunami of black liquid erupted across the battlefield, carrying with it an overwhelming wave of corruption and despair. Wherever the black tide touched, life withered, Aura twisted, and hope itself seemed to rot away. Shadow beasts surged within the wave like predators in murky water, ready to tear apart anything they reached, making trees dissolve into nothingness and cracking the ground, causing huge tremors to appear.
Eric's Infinite Repulsion held for a moment, pushing back the nearest beasts, but the moment the Wave of Despair crashed into his defenses, he felt the corruption trying to burrow through his Aura like acid eating metal.
"The Will modified its technique too…" Eric thought grimly.
Both sides had been preparing countermeasures despite their limited resources.
"Then I shall not hold back either," Eric whispered as he snapped.
The snapping sound was sharp, piercing the will's ears clearly as its eyes widened, before trying to charge away from this current spot, but before it could even move, a huge quirk appeared before exploding around the will, damaging it.
The will had deliberately not moved around to control the tsunami, but it seemed to have been taken advantage of. Making use of this, Eric found a weak spot near him and got out, but just as he was about to leave, his defenses broke as he faced a backlash and many of his charms got damaged, leaving him barely alive.
As Eric and the Will clashed in the center of the battlefield, both sides carefully probing each other's strength and intentions, the situation on the flanks was no less intense.
The Angel Spirit and Adrian were also under heavy pressure.
Dark winds howled across the sky as sharp, golden spear-like lights pierced through the darkness, relentlessly chased by a swarm of Void Shadow Beasts. These creatures were far more dangerous than the previous ones — their bodies flickered with spatial power, allowing them to slip through cracks in space itself.
One beast suddenly vanished into a spatial rift, only to reappear directly above the Angel Spirit an instant later.
The Angel Spirit snorted coldly, barely sparing it any attention. With a casual wave of its hand, a barrage of golden Divine Sabers materialized and tore the beast apart mid-leap. Even while protecting Adrian and surrounded by enemies, dealing with these Void Shadow Beasts was still well within its capabilities.
The Angel Spirit looked around, using many techniques to investigate its surroundings. What was most worrying about the pseudo-Hypernova Beasts who was hiding.
It would rather have it appear and beat him up than hide in the surroundings.
A small bead of golden sweat appeared on his forehead before dropping onto his cheeks as it fell onto Adrian's left hand. Adrian felt a cool feeling as he looked at the drop of sweat on his left hand. Suddenly, the drop of sweat turned black as corruption started to appear on his left hand, causing him to scream in agonizing pain.
The Angel Spirit stopped and put a white light on Adrian, stopping the corruption from spreading further.
"Concealment is getting more and more ineffective as time passes. It seems that the will had already modified his techniques to partially see through it."
The Angel Spirit glanced around at the horde of Void Shadow Beasts. The Shadow Beasts surrounded him, but they only growled from a distance, not daring to approach a being with such huge Aura pressure around it.
"Hmph, Cowards." It had a deep premonition settled in its body that these Void Shadow Beasts were the main reason why its concealment wasn't being effective, but there were too many to kill. This was also the intention of the will, to make it use its strength and get tired.
It wasn't going to fall into its trap. But it had to do something too.
Both sides were at a stalemate, being unable to do anything major to the other party, only making minor moves to probe the other side.
But right at this moment. Eric's entire group felt something amiss. A deep premonition clutched their hearts, making them stop beating. Eric, who had escaped far away from the will and was retreating to the Angel Spirit's side, turned around.
He saw that the Void Shadow Creatures that were pursuing him before had suddenly stopped and were flying back to the will, who was suspended in the air. Its eyes were closed as if it were in deep meditation, like a monk who had decided that he would meditate until he granted immortality. Just the stance made Eric get many inspirations, but it wasn't time for that.
The wind roared like a dying dragon baby calling for its mother to come save it as it got engulfed by the will. The ground beneath it cracked into pieces as rocks started to float in the air.
Black light descended from the rumbling clouds, and Black liquid seeped out of the entire layer before condensing itself into the will.
The will was without a doubt preparing a devastating and powerful technique!
Eric had to stop it, but he realized that the Void Shadow Creatures were in a tight formation. Suddenly, a golden light flashed past him as Adrian appeared beside him with a dazed expression, looking at the will with shock, awe, and horror; a flash of admiration flickered in his eyes.
Eric's gaze landed on Adrian, his abyssal eyes carefully observing Adrian's condition with cold precision as he noticed the corruption on his left arm. His eyes flickered with a warm light before getting cold again. He spared a bit of his Meditation Aura, helping to soothe the pain.
Adrian felt the pain that was bone-melting a little as he gazed at Eric with a warm gaze. He looked down with a guilty expression.
"Look straight. Don't lose focus." Eric said plainly. Adrian didn't drown in self-pity. He raised his eyes and looked at the will, and the incredible change it was bringing to the surroundings just by floating in mid-air.
"So, this is what it means to be a powerful Hypernova." But he couldn't think for long before a horde of Void Shadow Beasts attacked them, making Eric take him and have to escape.
The Angel Spirit charged in; the Void Shadow Beasts from before had also teleported here, joining this defensive formation.
It charged in like a heaven-piercing spear as golden light covered its body. It killed countless Beasts that came in its way, resolution shined in its golden eyes, determined to disrupt the will, but just as it reached the last second formation. A roar appeared as the Pseudo-Hypernova Beasts appeared clad in an armour of corruption, grabbing the Angel Spirit and shooting towards the ground, causing earthquakes to appear as a huge amount of dust flew off.
Black light and liquid continued to condense in the will's band as a small worm appeared. An ominous feeling permeated the surroundings as the worm in the will's hand continued to grow further and further, observing more and more corruption.
They will then take out a purple string, a yellow stone, and a silver hammer before crushing the stone slowly into dust and putting it around the purple string as a green coloured orb suddenly forms.
"What is it trying to do?" Adrian asked Eric as they escaped, often dodging the Shadow Beasts. Eric observed for a few seconds before realizing. "H-he is forging?"
The will let the green coloured orb fall as an invisible light forms around the worm before hammering the will down with a hammer. Every hit from the silver hammer changed forth a halo of a different colour to form above the worm. The will keep hammering for a few seconds before it saw a violet colour halo and stop hammering before finally letting the worm down in the air.
The worm's body twitched as it grew continuously, quickly falling on the ground as its body reached an enormous height of two hundred and twenty meters.
The ground cracked under its weight, unable to hold it, and the worm then started to secrete Black liquid, causing a huge puddle to appear around it. Eric snapped his fingers and probed the worm from afar, but the gravity he sent was instantly corrupted before getting absorbed, accelerating its growth.
The Angel Spirit felt a bad premonition from this worm, but it was getting overpowered by the pseudo-Hypernova Beast. The will had also been set free; it made a tight formation around the worm as it charged to assist the pseudo-Hypernova Beast while simultaneously pressuring Eric and Adrian.
Eric was running on fumes.
His Aura reserves had dropped to a level where even engaging the Void Shadow Beasts directly felt wasteful — every exchange a cost he couldn't afford. He kept moving, kept his distance, and avoided confrontation where he could. Surviving was the priority now. Not winning. Surviving.
Then the Worm began to feed.
The black liquid it had secreted spread outward across the ground in every direction, and then reversed — drawn back inward, pulled into the Worm's body along with every trace of residual corruption the layer had accumulated. The craters, the veins in the earth, the pools left by weeks of destruction — all of it flowing toward the same point.
The sky responded. Clouds massed and darkened above it, rotating slowly at first, then faster, until a thunderstorm of enormous scale had formed directly overhead. Tornadoes touched down at the edges of the feeding radius, tearing up what little of the landscape remained intact.
The Worm grew.
220 feet.
The ground sank beneath its weight.
400 feet.
The thunderstorm above it intensified, lightning striking the layer in continuous chains.
600 feet.
At 700 feet, the body began to change — splitting, restructuring, the worm's form dissolving into something that looked briefly, wrongly, like a butterfly. Wings that shouldn't exist on something this size spread and folded and were absorbed back into the mass as it continued growing.
1,200 feet.
The butterfly form collapsed inward. Something humanoid began to emerge from the corruption — not human, but shaped with intent. Claws formed at the ends of what were becoming limbs. The transformation was not smooth. It looked like something being torn into a new shape against its will, and choosing to become it anyway.
1,800 feet.
Two enormous wings tore free from its back. Teeth formed along the jaws — five on the upper, five on the lower — curved and precise in a way that felt deliberate rather than natural.
The growth stopped at 2,200 feet.
A dragon. Black, vast, the clouds directly above it parting from sheer proximity to something this size. Black liquid coated its entire body like a second skin before being slowly absorbed, revealing scales underneath — dark as the space between stars, each one distinct.
Then it opened its eyes.
Red. Blazing. Alive with something that wasn't intelligence exactly but was worse than intelligence — pure, ancient, directional hunger.
It screamed.
The sound hit them before the pressure did — a sound that didn't travel through air so much as through everything simultaneously. The clouds above the dragon cleared instantly, blasted outward. The sky opened up around it like the world was making room.
Eric, Adrian, and the Angel Spirit felt it land on them like physical weight. Not the pressure of aura. Something older. Something that worked on a different axis entirely.
Eric's forehead was cold with sweat. He didn't wipe it.
Adrian swallowed hard. His heart felt like it had briefly forgotten how to beat.
They had landed on a small mountain far from the battlefield — the closest thing to safe ground that existed anymore. Both of them stood at their peak, looking out at what they had failed to stop.
The dragon looked back.
Not at the Angel Spirit. Not at the group as a whole.
At Eric and Adrian specifically. The way a predator looks at the thing it has already decided to kill — not with urgency, not with anger. With the calm of something that knows the outcome and is simply waiting for the distance between now and then to close.
Eric's eyes moved to its jaw. Five teeth. Upper and lower both.
His mind recognized it before his training could name it.
The symbol of Misfortune.
The fight had lost its control at this point.