Jin saw the beast standing up. Not like before.
Much stronger.
Its eyes burned violent. A single horn protruded from the middle of its head. It tilted its head toward Jin slowly. A strange enigma occurred before Jin. The beast was supposed to be dead, but it stood up as if nothing had happened. Instead of dying, it returned stronger.
"It's alive…!' Jin's grip on his blade tightened. Sweat rolling down his neck—cold sweat. His heart trembled, his lungs on fire, his whole body was in a lot of pain. Simply put— Jin had pushed his body too far. He wasn't strong enough.
A monstrous shadow loomed over Jin. Its fist struck Jin. He tried standing up, but his legs gave out. His body was tattered beyond comprehension. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth— that's what he could do.
But—
The strike never came.
Jin opened his eyes. Before him stood a young man now facing the beast. He had ebony skin, pale green hair, and wore brown robes. Raised sword blocking the strike, threatening to end Jin's life.
"Ah, Lady Luna didn't inform me that I would be fighting a nightmare," He spoke, annoyance laced in his tone.
"Arivel…!" Jin said, recognizing the stranger. Taking hold of his breathing, Jin tried to rise but— ultimately failed.
"Jin, that's unexpected," Arivel said, amused while he shot a lightning-fast slash, sending the beast hurling.
"How are you here?" Jin asked as he staggered.
"Lady Luna knows everything; nothing leaves her ears," Arivel said.
In the Azurlea academy, Luna knew everything through her shadow messengers. They worked in the shadows. Nothing failed her—in the whole academy, perhaps she was the most influential person.
"Did she know this, too?" Jin asked. As Arivel struck the beast.
'Its obvious"
Jin only nodded. He didn't move as if pondering something. But he was yanked back to his current situation.
"Arivel, this beast is strange," Jin said and took a moment to organize his thoughts.
"I had already killed it, but—"
"It rose again, right?" Arivel interjected. In response, Jin only nodded.
"Now, I understand," Arivel said as he raised his blade high above. Strange flames coiled around Arivel's blade.
He smiled.
"Void of Earth," Arivel said calmly. The air took the form of stillness. Then—
The earth-shattering noise tore through the air. The earth erupted violently and trembled as black substance formed beneath the beast's feet.
Hands emerged—not human, it was claws. Sharp ones.
Black hands strange abominations. The hands crawled on the body of the beast.
In response, the beast tore through every one of them. A howling noise followed. The ground again trembled this time, hands emerged, but different—now they were dark purple with sharp thorns. Every time the beast tore them to shreds. Thousands more would appear out of nowhere. Then blue energy coiled around the hands.
"Void Ignite," Arivel spoke in a calming, serene voice laced with a cold tone. It was as if Arivel was a saint, but appearance could be deceiving.
A loud ear hammering sound erupted—A noise of piercing a body; flesh. Like thousands of swords piercing a single body at the same time; same way. The source was the beast itself.
All of a sudden, from every hand crawling on that beast's skin, Blades pierced the beast—They had emerged from those hands; that's what made 'Void of Earth' a terrifying ability. No one would know until it was too late.
The beast fell sideways with a thud. It didn't have time to scream—It simply died. No noise. Stillness. Just a catastrophic attack.
Just like a Nightmare creature fell.
-
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Far from Jin and Arivel,
Evans engaged in a clash with the humanoid nightmare known as Nerker. Ranked A+. At the peak of that rank.
The Nerker mawed down at Evans, saliva dropping.
Evans blocked the maws with his blade, but Evans' feet slid from the impact alone.
Its blue eyes burned white.
Evans backstepped.
"Filthy beast…Just fall already!" Evans shouted as dark energy coiled around his blade. It was chaotic condensed energy. Unlike Jin, Evans had full control over his spirit energy output.
CLANG!
Metal struck fist.
Evans sword swung violently. Nerker answered with its own strike. They were engaged in a fierce battle.
There were times when Nerker overwhelmed Evans, but in response, he would counter the weakness mid-battle, ensuring he left no openings for Nerker to exploit.
The nerker leaped backwards and opened its maw wide, and a catastrophic beam of dark light shot toward Evans.
"Here it is again," Evans spoke in an annoyed tone.
"That ability of that damn Nerker is tricky to deal with," Evans muttered under his breath.
"Azure Light," Evans spoke as he raised his arm that wielded the blade.
A bright blue light engulfed the darkness in the darkest hour of the endless night—It shone brighter than the moon itself.
Its source was Evans alone. The light radiated from the blade, and it kept intensifying until stardust formed.
Evans was like a blazing sun—engulfing the darkness itself.
The beast leaped. Evans merely raised his sword and shot a Stardust Strike.
The catastrophic beam, which was hurled at Evans, dissolved like it was nothing. The beast leaped.
At the same time, Evans charged.
They left sparks in their wakes.
In the battlefield, Evans shone the brightest—As if he were an angel executing demons and corruption in the darkest corner of earth itself. In the whole lightless night, he simply shone too bright.
Dark light struck Stardust.
A deafening noise tore through the earth and reached heaven itself.
Stardust prevailed. Darkness was engulfed in an alarming rate followed by the Nerker crashing in the distance.
Black sludge dripped from the nerker's left chest. The strike was devastating, but it missed the heart. Granting it the luxury to outlive.
The nerker staggered.
It leaped toward Evans. Evans answered with his stardust strike—he was burning his spirit energy at a terrifying rate. For anyone ordinary, they would have already run dry of their reserve but Evans had a monstrous pool.
"It's time to end this!" Evans spoke as he gathered all his spirit energy reserve, going for a single deadly strike.