Instinct was second to Perception and even before Diego had even attacked, Alaric had his senses locked on the former. Still, his instinct was alarmed by the sneak attack. Alaric rolled sideways and then forward.
When he stood up again, he had a dagger in his left hand which he used to parry the attack coming from Diego aimed at his gut.
SHIING!...
The sword and the dagger met and the friction between the two caused spark to light up the dark alleway and tinged Alaric with a golden glow. His green eyes glowing like shimmering emeralds.
Alaric met Diego's alarmed gaze and the latter could not help but shiver. Something was definitely wrong with this kid. The condescending look in Alaric's eyes made him feel...small?. It was that look that said that they were not worthy to even touch the helm of his cloth.
The thought was ridiculous and when he realized that he could not take Charles alone, he did not hesitate as he called his brothers to join him.
"What are you all waiting for ? My death!? If you do not participate you are going to suffer by my blade!" Diego roared furiously pulling the remaining six from their stupor.
Without hesitation, they all drew their weapons. It appeared that only two of them used weapons. One in the sixth stage had a spear and another guy had a short sword. They were all meters away and they all charged.
If one looked at the situation, there was definitely something wrong. It was unheard of where a group of seven Master Plane cultivators ganged up all at once on a kid just in the middle stages of the Cryptic Plane. Still, that was what was happening here.
Diego was caught offguard when he heard a chuckle. The words that came later were laced with amusement that sent shivers down his spine.
"You dare get distracted in the presenceof this king?"
The source of the words was someone they could easily crush or so they thought but Diego felt that no matter what, there was no surviving this ordeal.
After Alaric spoke those words and taking advantage of Diego's distraction, he used this chance and pushed Diego's sword away from him. Diego who just planned to pull his sword felt a shift in his balance and before he could recover, he felt a fist connect with his belly.
Diego felt his eyes pop out. That fist had no element in it. It was just physical strength and it made his organs churn in pain as he almost fell on his knees. One could think he was to be sent flying but that did not happen.
Alaric had concentrated his strength in the fist such that all the energy dissipated in Diego's body not to send him flying. He sure destroyed some of Diego's inner organs. When he retracted his fist and looked at the popping out eyes, he could not help but laugh. These guys were too weak!
Diego felt that if he took another fist, he was going to be in a near death situation but luckily, the others arrived in time and the sixth stage guy with a spear was the first to attack. The spear pierced aiming to go through Alaric's brows.
Its speed was fast and to most in the group, they were unable to keep up. It appeared that they had finally found a path to victory. The others though did not hesitate as they attacked with their fists. Four fists converged and a short sword aiming for Alaric's chest.
Even if he survived a single attack or parried it, it was impossible to do so for all the other five. The spear was a sure kill as it was clear to them that it had to connect with the kid and then the battle was gonna over. Diego saw this with relief written in his features.
Alaric thought of hundreds of ways to deal with the incoming bulk of attacks and he wondered which was the best way. His Soul was already enough to kill them all with a single strike.
But where was the fun at that? Even his arrays were going to make the battle too easy. He needed to test the limits of his body cultivation and energy. Maybe he could try to use the two newly awakened elements.
He had tried sensing them on his way here and he felt that he was catching up on something about space and time elements. It was usually said that space was the perfect counter and opposite of time element. But he had both!
An evil grin appeared on his face and he sent all his consciousness into the Origin Source and when he appeared there, he focused on the time element first. What best way to grasp something if not in a life and death situation?
When his senses tried to probe the orange orb, it was exactly as the last time he had tried it. His senses never reached it. It was as though time stopped for his senses. It felt like it would take forever for his senses to ever reach the orange orb.
But Alaric realized that he was trying to probe the orange orb whereas he never attempted to probe any of his other orbs. But still, he felt that the yellow and silver orbs were easier to probe and he needed the hard ones first.
Alaric retracted his senses and they took longer to come back to him. If he did not come out with anything soon, it was obvious that he was going to suffer the full blunt of the incoming attacks.
He sent his senses again to the orb and it appeared that it had gotten harder than it was before. The point where his senses felt time slow down had increased and he could only chuckle at himself. Maybe it was too early for him to try and use the two most powerful elements in existence.
It was then that he felt that something was wrong with his approach. What if it was not that his senses could not reach the orb, it was just that his comprehension of the concept time was too shallow to even unveil its profundity?
What if the purpose here was for him to comprehend the orb's secrets slowly before he could finally sense the elements? As he retracted his senses, he was certain that tilhis was the only way. This time though, it took even longer for him to pull his senses back. At that moment, the spear was inches away from piercing into his head.
But he felt that this was the perfect moment. He was about to die. He could feel that he was onto something here. He had an inkling but the only way to be sure was trying once again. Alaric ignored the spear and sent his senses to the orange orb.
This time though, it took him longer to reach the point his senses were stopped and when he tried to pull them out, it took twice the overall time he had used to probe the orb. By this time the spear was already on to him.
Diego watched as the wind blew the kids hair and from the blank look in the kids eyes, one could think he was no longer paying attention. It appeared that the kid was scared to the point he was unable to even think. His mind going blank.
He had given the kid a lot of credit for his means but it appeared that he was just as easily overwhelmed as any other kid of his plane. He was just overestimating himself and he had finally reached the end of his rope.
The spear finally landed and pierced into the kids head. Next was his head exploding like a watermelon. The others wanted to retract their attacks but they needed revenge for their fallen comrades. Quickly, they sped up their attacks.
But one second passed without the spear blowing the head off and something unfuthomable happened as the kid appeared few steps back far from their attacks reach.
"Impossible..." Diego said almost as a whisper and almost as a plea. Even he could not get away with such an attack near his brows.
Energy cannot be lost and can only he transformed. What would happen if their full powered attacks lacks a target? All the energy that lacked a point to dispatch could only cause a backlash to them especially those who had their fists glowing with their elements.
They were forced to let their fists collide with each other or retract their fists and suffer the backlash. Either way, they were going to suffer. Only that the first option was slightly better. The spear was the first to move forward and all the other attacks converged towards it. He was the one who was going to suffer the full blunt of their attack.
A collision the likes which could send shivers and fear down ones spine echoed through the alleyway and even Diego felt his lips twitch. Ths was not how things were supposed to be happening...
The collision with the spear caused it to break at several points and as they retracted their fist, and sword, they all had an inkling of blood at the corner of their lips which they wiped and all glared at the kid. As for the spearman, he spluttered a mouthful of blood and fell to his knees.
He looked at the broken spear with an ugly face and wiped the blood off his lips. Then, a pair of seven eyes all looked at the kid. But all the momentum they had vanished when they saw the look on his face...