As the Raven, Elara, and Liora made their way to the world's barrier they were met by four Late Saint cultivators. It was three men and one woman, seeing the four of them the women stopped in their tracks. They took a moment to size up their opponents and then Elara spoke.
"I'll handle two of them. You two make quick work of your target and continue towards the barrier."
"What?! You can't be serious right now." Raven immediately spoke out hearing Elara's nonsense.
Liora nodded her head in agreement. "Right, you may be able to match one Late Saint, but two would walking on thin ice."
Hearing this Elara took a deep breath and spoke.
"I understand that, but there isn't much else we can do."
After she said this, she moved from her spot and reappeared in front of one of the men. She clenched her fist and punched out.
BOOOOM!!!!
The sudden attack caught the man off guard as he was sent flying. Seeing her take action Liora and Raven, both sighed and moved as well. Raven fought against one of the males and Liora fought the woman.
Elara was left standing facing a man with long black hair. In his hand he held a long sword, he looked at her then spoke.
"You're bold, that's for sure. You think you really can handle two of us?"
As he said this the first man returned as he wiped the blood from his lips he spoke as well.
"Bitch, you're dead!" The moment he said those words he moved as he summoned a huge saber. Seeing this, the long-haired man moved as well. They both pressed Elara head on and forced her onto the defensive.
SHK!!
SHK!!!!
BANGGGG!!!!
Elara found herself in a horrible position early on as she struggled to defend the saber and sword attacks. The battle continued as she continued to hang on. The two men gave her no time to breathe or even think of counter attacks. She had cuts on her forearms and a few that cut through her battle dress as well.
After about 5 minutes of a relentless onslaught both of the men created space. They looked at the battered Elara who was still standing despite her wounds. The man who was attacked before grinned and spoke.
"I thought fighting you would be more interesting. However, it seems you're only so-so." After he said this, he activated both his concept and mandate.
|Concept of The Unyielding Vanguard|
|Mandate of Immutable Will|
He activated his concept that allowed his will to boost his mental defenses and also provide him with a strength boost. Then his Mandate further increased his prowess when using his will, he could now impose his will on reality itself.
The long-haired man activated his abilities as well.
|Concept of The Silent Blade|
|Mandate of Silent Edge|
Once they activated their skills they moved, but Elara didn't simply wait to be killed. She quickly activated her abilities as well.
|Concept of Nothingness|
|Mandate of No Defense|
As her concept activated, she was now considered 100% nothingness. She then clashed with the two men again. This time she was much better off, and she wasn't put on the defensive as much. As she swung her fist and threw out kicks covered with the essence of nothingness she began to return the favor of a beating.
While Elara was finding her footing in this fight, the long-haired man made a move that flipped that pacing once again.
|Mandate of Silent Edge - Silent Step|
He quietly activated a skill and then while Elara focused was on the other man for a split second, the long-haired man moved. In the next moment he reappeared right behind Elara, completely undetected, and silent. He then gripped his sword and held it complete stillness. Then his lips moved.
|Mandate of Silent Edge - Edge of the Void|
When he did this the entire battlefield became eerily silent and his blade began shine. It was as if time stopped and everything became still. Then in the next moment his blade was imbedded in the back of Elara.
SHK!!!!!
Once this happened time seemed to resume, and Elara coughed up a mouthful of blood. Her eyes were widened as she looked down at the sword pierced through her. Then she attempted to move, however she found herself slowly losing consciousness.
This was because the skill used by the man was no normal sword attack. He was a man of few words, and his concept and mandate embodied this. The 'Edge of the Void' was a skill that summoned a blade of pure silence. This blade existed beyond the material world, a blade so sharp that it can cut through any barrier, physical or metaphysical.
This blade severs the bond between the physical and nonphysical realms which was perfect for someone like Elara. She was currently in a state of nothingness, so ordinary attacks wouldn't affect her at all. This was also the reason she fought without worrying about her defense.
Raven and Liora both turned their head simultaneously as if they had a bad feeling. Then when they saw Elara falling through space as her eyes slowly lost their lights. The two women screamed loudly and immediately made their way towards her.
"ELARAAAAA!!!!!"
They sent their opponents flying and made a beeline right for Elara.
RUMBLEEEEE!!!
CRACKLEEEEE!!!!!!
However, before they could even get close to Elara, the surrounding space began to break apart like glass. It quickly repaired itself only to break again. Then white, red, and black lightning strikes began to strike all around the battlefield. The two felt chills rundown their backs as they saw a young man step out of seemingly nowhere.
He was shirtless, his skin was dark brown with white tattoos that covered his left arm. He wore black and grey sweatpants as he stood bare foot in middle of space. His eyes were completely blacked; they swirled a moved around like a blackhole.
This was of course Akasha, well it was his clone. He had watched the entire battle and as much as he wanted to help, he didn't. This was because he saw this as an opportunity for Elara. Currently she was only an Early Saint and to improve to the Middle Stage she would need to gain a title. Titles are something granted from the Akashic Records itself so she would need to achieve something worth noting.
So, he allowed her to go through her own storm.
The moment he appeared, all eyes shifted to him, but his attention wasn't on anything aside from Elara. As he watched her body slowly disintegrate into nothingness he spoke. His voice was so cold that the ethereal tone it usually had now sounded like a person devoid of any warmth.
"Heh, you will pay for this..." A simple statement, but his voice that sounded like thousands of people were speaking at once made him sound a bit demonic.
After these words he turned towards Raven and Liora.
"Don't worry she's fine. She will be back better than ever. You two can finish up with those two bugs then go help the other four saints. I will take care of the barrier and speed things up a bit.
Hearing this the two women calmed down and focused back on their opponents.
----
While Akasha waited for Elara, she found herself in nothing, but darkness. As she floated here the vision of her being pierced through replayed over and over again. She saw the moment so many times now that she thought it would be impossible to forget. However, she was completely wrong and that was because she was now in the realm of nothingness.
Nothingness was a bit similar to Nonexistence in some ways, but the biggest difference was that nothingness had a place withing existence. With this being the case, it would be possible for their to be counters for this concept withing existence. However, one thing that remained the same was that nothing could exist here.
Her time began to become skewed as her memories started to fade. First her memories faded, then her sense of self faded, and then finally she as whole ceased to exist. In this moment of absolute emptiness, she held herself together barely. With only the thoughts of a few things she was able to cling to what made her Elara. Her friends, her sisters, her brother and finally Akasha himself; all of these were things Elara clung to.
Then in the realm of nothingness a new essence began to form from the void itself. After a minute Elara stood standing looking like a goddess of darkness and death. Her hair had grown even longer to the point it trailed behind her. The darkness of her hair became even darker; it seemed to swallow the light of anything near it. Her horns were now longer and much denser, behind her were two huge wings that were as dark as her hair.
She had eyes that resembled Akasha's blackholes and she also had a tail that was behind her. She stood not shaped by the past, but by the raw potential of what could be.
Then after a few moments her eyes seemed to have regained light and then she heard a ding.
{Ding!}
{Congratulations Elara Flameheart, you have proved yourself to be worthy. You are someone destined to walk the path of nothingness, and you have officially taken the first step on this journey. Because of this accomplishment, you have earned a title.}
{Title - The Voidborn Empress - She is a being of limitless potential, able to manipulate the boundaries between life, death, and existence itself, her authority stretching across realms untouched by time.}
After this screen disappeared. Elara felt herself entering the Middle Stage of the Saint rank. Then she clenched her fist and disappeared. When she reappeared, she was back on the battlefield and in front of her were the same two men.
From the time of her death and rebirth not even 10 minutes passed, and the two men didn't dare to move a muscle. Akasha stood behind his lovely Dragon of Nothingness and spoke gently.
"My lovely Dragon, are you fine?"
Hearing this voice Elara turned around and saw Akasha. Her eyes widened seeing him and she moved and immediately appeared in front of him. However the moment she tried to hug him, he disappeared and reappeared a few meters away.
"Not right now, I am only a clone. I will pay you a visit in a few weeks." He said as he shook his head. Elara pouted a bit then she spoke.
"Yes, I am fine now dear. I actually gained a title, but I will talk about that later. Let me finish this first." As she said this she disappeared and reappeared in front of the silent swordsman. She then locked eyes with him and spoke.
|Eyes of Nothingness|
The moment she said those words the man slowly disappeared until nothing was left. She then moved quickly and used the same ability on the other man.
Simple and efficient kills.