*Clatter - Clatter* - A guy suddenly swings his hand, throwing away plenty of silver dishes and cups out of the table.
He slightly puts his hands on his face, and strongly presses them, his eyes open wide - glancing straight to the open door.
"Glaris! Tell me what in this world your guy has done!!!"
She slowly takes out a cigarette, slightly lightens up a fire and has a deep breath.
"Don't be fooled, Otoman. He is just having fun with some little kids blocking his way." - She gives nothing but a careless face, surely no respect at all.
"GLARIS! Watch your mouth, I can execute him because of the demolition in the new branch."
*Crack* - The white Aura is instantly released outside - clashing straight with the purple one from Otoman.
She takes another deep breath, with the light gray smoke lingering on her red lips, she gives him a contemptuous look.
"If you can win against me, do everything you want. If you just can't, shut the * up, old man."
She likes Aetheria, can't even wait until these old and useless corpses die away. She wants to change everything from the base.
"I won't do anything, but your guy might not return to your embrace with a full body soft and sound, I promise."
*Hah* - "Is that all you have? Don't worry, the only one there can't return with all their bodies are your idiot guys. Don't you dare tell me that he will lose to those kind of sh*t?"
She has consumed the 3rd cigarette, her lips still sparkle the light behind the dense smoke, "He is Aetheria Grantey, not one of your little losers, old man."
This is so disrespectful, Ottoman even grabs his sword already. Standing over thousands of knights with a platinum medal on his heart, how can he tolerate this kind of provocation?
Even though he's 80 years old already, his Aura is still incredible. It slightly dyes all the room inside its purple color.
"How dare you!?"
*Zrtt* - The lightning madly destroys everything around him, his rapier faintly but surely stays in the center of that small lightning storm.
He rushes straight to Glaris without any mercy, it stretches a bright blue line in the air with the destination is her head.
*Zrtt!* - However he missed that stab, for better explanation, Glaris just easily dodged that strike without any pressure. Her eyes shine a bright light - *Smack* - a fast strike instantly sends Otoman flying far from her.
"Pitiful."
*Zrrt!* - This time his speed even reaches the level that's double the previous one.
The blue lightning spreads out all the room, he concentrates them all into his two feet, boosting his speed into another higher level.
Rapiers are the kind of weapons that give their users a massive fast attack speed, it's especially dangerous in the stabs. With the extremely thin blade and a sharp top, rapiers can break through any kind of protection while it's strengthened enough with Aura.
*Vsh - Whirr - Whoosh!* - He leaps his feet directly into Glaris with the fastest speed that his body can afford.
A normal human's eyes can afford a maximum 200 frames per second. But Otoman has reached double the speed of sound - Mach 2. Which means he's now moving with the speed of 686 meters per second.
In other words, to maintain observing his movement for one centimeter each second, Glaris must afford around 68600 FPS. Can she really afford that?
*Clash* - Suddenly a swordbreaker appears in front of her eyes, directly catching that thin blade of Otoman's rapier in his middle movement. It totally has ten deep grooves to lock the other's blade, especially the small and thin one like rapier.
Which means, she is controlling this match by this basic advantage, furthermore, she can outspeed him very easily.
*Vsh* - With a fast movement, she left no afterimage while shifting herself at Otoman's rear, perfectly.
*Clash* - Due to the advantage of rapier's speed, he can coercively catch up with that movement at the start, but it means nothing when he tries to do it again after facing the true power of Glaris.
She again caught and locked his rapier aside and swung her legs ahead to ship straight to him twenty-five kicks at once - Flashy Kicks.
They were almost released at the same time, interwoven into each other and continuously damaged Otoman in his face and chin.
They all made explosive sounds at the meeting points - affecting his brain indirectly via the shaken skull.
With those massive shockwaves, he can't even see everything clearly after taking all the attacks. His two legs obviously tremble left to right as the final effort to keep him standing beneath that power.
"Poor old man." - She throws straight to him five small knives with the clear intention in her eyes about killing that old man right here without any kind of mercy.
"60 years of training Aura for just failing right here by a girl who is younger than you 50 years old. So pitiful, poor old man." - She clearly has no such a thing as respect for Otoman. Seems like they had to have a big conflict in the past, or even a bloody feud.
"Woohoo?" - The third parties have come, the guy with pink red hair is known as "The Joker"; he is surely here without any good use.
"Yo Glaris, why so aggressive, my dear? - He takes out a deck of cards then draws once.
"Oh, guess what card I just got, my dear. I will reward you." - He shows a face without any normal identity, absolutely disgusting in Glaris's perspective.
"Get out Harla, I don't want to kill two guys in one day, you know it right?" - She slightly takes out another cigarette and enjoys it as if there's nothing but just two brats.
"Oh, that's hurt, my dear. I love you with all this heart, so please give me your heart too." - He curves his eyes and hides away his mouth behind a white half-mask with a tear drop pattern on the right side, under his eye a bit. Surely he looks like a clown, a deadly clown in a bloody circus.
She knows it clearly, "love" of normal beings is the desire to take care and stick to others. But this guy, his "love" is way more distorted and mad; when he "loves" someone, he will ask the patients for their hearts.
Or they voluntarily take out their hearts and put them on his hands, or he will do it by himself.
"Love is normal. Everyone wants to love and be loved by others. So I want to be gathered with my lovers together, I will give no mercy on my way to achieve their loves. Taking out their hearts and carving them inside my embrace, I will forever accompany them, eternally."
That's truly the answer which he said in the interrogation before being accepted to join The Holy Council two years ago.
Yes, you heard it right, he just joined one of the big three forces two years ago. And now he is one of ten Diamond Knights, leading ten groups of 12 Platinum Knights, 12 Golden Knights and 50 Silver Knights and countless others.
He is even rated higher than Aetheria Grantey, who joined seven years ago, this is the difference between a clan-trained warrior and a pure monster struggling in battlefields.
"Get out Harla, I'm sickened by your 'love' and 'love' everytime I see you." - She throws away the fifth cigarette of her normal day and grabs another weapon for the up-coming fight.
"Oh my dear, it's been the third time you declined my pure love. I'm so hurt, so hurt, so hurt, so hurt!..."
He madly distorts his face with his two hands as if he could change his interface to an ideal prince inside Glaris's heart.
*Hah… Hah…* - He heavily breathes in and out each sip of air by seconds, through his fingers, a shiny orange eyes glance straight at Glaris.
"I just want to be loved. So please love me." - Harla suddenly downs his knees on the floor while letting his back hit the ground too. His two arms spread out and his eyes directly look straight to the ceiling. *Ah - Ah - Ahhh…* - He laments so pervertedly.
"So you just hate me…" - Seems like he asks Glaris, but also claims it already.
"Disgusting." - She takes out a spear and points it straight to him without any hesitation.
*Whiff* - A wind slightly blows away one more card, sending it flying over his face.
He smiles, K and Q, King and Queen have been drawn.
Specialists* are a term to mention two kinds of people, Essence and Singularity element users.
But it's different from the Essence element, Singularity Aura users have the ability to access all basic apexes on the hexagon. But they are bound in the specific ratios: 100% - 70% - 50% - 30% (from Singularity to other elements).
Another information is Singularity is the special element, it can only be achieved by blessing as a main element instead of practicing.
And for the question if in case that you ask me, Singularity element does not have any limit, nor standard and median to determine how strong the users are while compared to others. In other words, they can be considered cheating generally, depending on their desires and demands, their power might afford those wishes all as they please.
"K" or "King" - a card with an image of two emperors standing oppositely, both in vertical and horizontal axis.
It is the embodiment of two sides of the king, one is dyed in the moonlit night and one is dyed in the sunlight.
"Unforgivable!" - His eyes suddenly glance straight at Glaris with a will to kill her right away.
Moon: Dagger of Shadows - He takes out a shiny purple metal dagger in that card and swings it directly to her without any hesitation.
"My love! Please belong to me!" - His smile even stretches out over and over until it forms a ridiculously weird shape. The two eyes open wide even make it more haunting in her sight.
"F*ing sh*t scum." - She instantly dodges the slash while rotating one time for a strong low kick aiming to his knee with a maximum output.
*Crack* - It's broken after taking that strike, however, he doesn't lower his knee or even get shaken for a little bit. He's just here, standing still as an unshakable mountain.
*Whirr - rhhh* - His evil will even spreads outside and dyes everything with an extreme dark purple Aura. It's a kind of Aura Technique - Pulse - allowing Aura users to release their Aura outside to attack as an Emanation Aura user.
However, when the user no longer demands to stop at "damage" or "injure" opponents anymore, when they really want to "kill and kill" to satisfy their minds. Pulse will be distorted to "Hex" - unleashing not only Aura, but also the killing intent at once.
Mastering Pulse doesn't help others realize that their opponents are strong, but dominating everyone inside Hex always tells them the truth about death.
And now, standing in front of Glaris Grantey is one of those kinds of monsters. She knows it, she's fully aware of his power. The last time they had a fight was a year ago, it was just a small skirmish, however the deep wound on her right hand hasn't faded away up to now.
Sun: Gauntlet of Dawn - Finally he takes out the last weapon inside that K card - letting it fade away after being used. He rushes straight to Glaris with an incredible speed by his two feet and his two legs.
Glaris Grantey, who could even dodge Mach 2 strikes easily as pie five minutes ago, is now struggling to catch up with just a movement of Harla.
*Clash* - Fortunately, he is using two close range weapons, while compared to the spear, Glaris can still buy enough time for herself to react in time with the situation via the advantage in attack range.
*Clash* - She stabs it ahead, successfully stopping a slash before Harla can release it totally. No big deal, he instantly uses the Sun Gauntlet to catch the spear directly.
But a bullet rapidly stopped him right away after that. It came from another guy who is leaning on the wall near the open door.
"Stop it right away, clown." - He slightly refills the gun while declaring a war.
*Ohh~* - "Is that you?... Giren." - Harla uses his two bare fingers to take out a small bullet in his right hip.
Then he again draws another card, his smile distorts itself, also his eyes.
"Do you know what Jack usually does?" - He slightly puts the card on his left eye.
*Bang* - Another bullet is sent straight to him.
*Whoosh* - "Haha,... don't be fooled." - Behind the dense smoke, Harla gently moves his body. Then he throws away a small piece of metal from his mouth and teeth; surely he just caught it by himself very accurately.
J or Jack gives him an ability to summon a sword; it gives him nothing but just a power to cut every danger aiming to the King.
"I… always hate that thing… the 'gun' in your hand… is so disgusting." - Distorted! He distorts himself while showing such an expression of nightmare.
Harla has no origin, he appeared in this world as a wind and he acts as a wind and he will leave as a wind. But somehow, right now, he wants to carve himself inside others' memories, by killing them and taking their hearts.
'Do you know that?... I… am… addicted to… love."
*Splash* - A slash is carved deeply inside Glaris's chest, it stretches out a line of blood dropping down slowly.
*Bang - Bang* - Two shots are sent straight to Harla at a distance of seven meters. Even though those bullets aren't moving with a slow speed, they are still bland in Harla's sight.
*Splash* - That arming sword stabs through Giren's right shoulder, he instantly gets disarmed by Harla in a second. Of course, Glaris rapidly throws that spear directly to them both.
Observing that, Giren instantly evaporates by himself in the mist and locks Harla inside it.
*Clash* - Within a full rotation, he knocks away both the flying spear and the mist around himself. However, it instantly reforms itself, changing to spikes and damaging him in various ways.
*Haha* - "So intense."
Moon and Sun: Exploding Star - *Boom* - an explosion sent everything in five meters around him to nothingness. That's the hidden ability when he combines both weapons from the King card.
Glaris and Giren know it, but they can't do anything. Harla didn't show much about his abilities before, as if he has been waiting for this moment.
Giren takes out a glove and puts it on his right hand, "Glaris, are you still okay?"
She materializes another spear and recovers herself instantly, "Still good."
On the other side, Harla pervertedly smiles, he looks straight to them with a distorted expression.
"You guys are strong, but not enough. Honestly, I love to kill you all after you guys reach that level, however, I just can't."
*Vsh* - He rushes straight to them with a dagger held in his left hand with a gauntlet, while non-stop swinging the arming sword on his right hand around and around - unleashing countless slashes toward.
*Bang - Bang* - Two sounds but this time four bullets are sent out, Glaris also follows them to stab her spear ahead. She chose to make her spear a bit pliable in order to change its trajectory by moving the back of the staff.
With an unpredictable trajectory, that spear can't be stopped at this insane level of speed.
Directly, he crashes straight to those attacks without any hesitation, as if he's immortal to this kind of physical damage.
'He even crashes straight to us?' - Glaris wonders by herself while murmuring it.
"Watch out!" - Giren instantly shoots four more bullets, aiming at both his heart and head directly.
*Clash - Clash* - Within two times swinging that arming sword, Harla has already knocked those annoying objects back to their origin. While moving toward Glaris, approaching her two meters away with a dagger on his left hand.
"I love you Glaris!" - The half-face mask is almost broken beneath his Hex. This is so overwhelming, so disgusting.
"Stay away from me, you f*ing sh*t brat." - She materializes a sword to clash with his dagger before it can reach her neck.
He smiles, distortedly, "Your wounds aren't faded yet! Belong to me! So I can protect you! FOREVER!!!" - He even activates the Moon and Sun combination again.
Moon and Sun: Exploding Star - *Boom*
Everything turns to silence, nor a scream, nor blood or scrap of meat blown away, but a dense smoke covering them all inside itself.
"Ah ye, due to my wounds, so I can do this" - She stabs through Harla's chest with an arm full of special seals.
She has sacrificed something to achieve this kind of power by herself at this age.
It allows her to decay everything to dust in a few seconds after touching objects. However, she must tolerate 20% of that process generally and immediately and also inevitably.
*Bang - Bang* - "Stop! Glaris!" - Giren screams in his hopelessness.
*Nuh uh my dear." - *Splash* - her arm is taken down by a slash before she can do anything harmful to him. Harla even gives her a high kick straight to her head.
Consequently, due to the scarcity of her current Aura, she couldn't afford that massive shockwave went through her skull.
*Thud* - She is knocked faint after three minutes.
"Harla! Kill her!" - Otoman is still lying on the ground, but his eyes are full of rage. Of course, no one will let their opponents live in this case.
"Kill her! Don't forget who led you to this level, Harla!" - He screams.
On the contrary, Harla only stands there, without any intent to obey his order. But he walks slowly toward Otoman, step by step.
Then he hunkers down and looks straight to Otoman, with the orange shiny eyes, "So if I kill her right now, there will no longer be a debt between you and me right?"
"Yes! Do it right now!" - He keeps forcing Harla to kill Glaris, if he's willing to kill Giren as well, it'd be nice.
*Splash* - He smiles and blood starts to drop down, as a crimson waterfall - Otoman, one of The Twelve Diamond Knights of The Holy Council has been assassinated at his own domain.
Harla, the killer, only stands here as if it's nothing but a cow that died away. He looks at Otoman, or at least the white-faced head on his hand.
"You know what? If you die here, it will also lead me to the same profits." - Harla laughs evilly and turns back, looking directly at Glaris and Giren.
"Hmm? I will let you guys withdraw safely if you all are willing to keep this masterpiece as our little secret. And you, Glaris Grantey, I will use all my love to make you love me."
He acts arbitrarily while recalling all the cards and weapons.
But Glaris doesn't know if he's lying or not. Furthermore, no one will 100% believe in a maniac like Harla, especially when she is stalked by him so frequently.
"How can I trust you?"
"You can always believe in me, myself and my being, anytime and anywhere."
This is so disgusting, she thought. But she can't agitate this monster, all her previous manner was all her effort to threaten him. In fact, she's cooked due to the countless wounds on her body.
He smiles, gently, then he walks toward her with a wide open embrace.
"Will you?"
She looks nervously at Giren, however, he blatantly rotates his head away to dodge her look.
'F* you.' - She almost screamed while trying to lower down her voice.
Then she looks at Harla again, this time he's only two steps away from Glaris. This is too close, she can't dodge or run away from this monster.
"Will you?" - He reminds her again of his order.
Glaris: (C'mon Glaris, it's just a hug, you can surpass it.)
She has obviously encouraged herself so much to step ahead one step, which means she is just closer to him one step. At this distance, she can even feel the warmth from his breath and his body.
After all, she forced herself to step one more step to Harla even though she was not too fine for it.
When he hugged her, she felt the warmth of the blanket on her bed during the winter night.
Her body was almost melted inside that embrace.
Fact of the day, Glaris can't contact males for a long period of time. Otherwise she will be like this, she is now unable to move or restrict Harla's hug at all, all her body is almost "melted" as an ice under sunlight.
*Haha* - He smiles gently and keeps hugging her while walking to his private room via the teleport scroll.
Leaving there a dark liquid on the ground and Giren alone in this room. It slowly moves toward the corpse of Otoman lying on the ground without any breath.
He takes out a cigarette and enjoys it as if there's nothing but a normal scene of his daily life, "Oh c'mon, you again left a mess to me dude."
He complains as if it's not the first time, and even he and Harla are on the same side.
After going inside the corpse, that creature controls Otoman to stand up and use his magic to clean all the traces of this fight.
Otoman: "Done. Finally we got it."
Giren slightly looks at the new Otoman in front of him, "Whatever, we're close to it."
Otoman walks back to his table and sits down with a boring manner, "Well, five more."
"Of course."
In another room, there's a secret meeting between seven Holy Knights - the highest title a knight can get in this council.
"What's wrong with the new branch?" - A lime-haired guy starts the conversation.
"The Pontiff's force has already moved on with their plan. Aetheria is doing very well after defeating almost half of The Golden Knights in that branch. We…"
While the yellow-haired guy was talking, the third guy instantly jumped straight into their dialogue, "Wtf? Defeat? Are they still alive?"
The yellow-haired guy looks at him with a smile, "Of course not. Now we have around five corpses to solve before that idiot Pontiff has a reason to put his hands into our lands."
"Ah f*, for real? That guy always leaves us a mess everytime." - He complains.
"For sure, because he is Aetheira Grantey." - The lime-haired knight drops a joke.
"That makes more sense." - He sighs.
"Have you ever heard about 'Ian' before?" - The fourth guy jumps into the conversation too.
"Oh, that guy? Ye, what's wrong?" - Yellow-haired knight replied.
The fourth knight throws a scroll onto the table, "Welp, just look at what he did."
"What's wrong bruh? He's just a newbie, even if he messed up something, Aetheria would be here and solve everything. The true problem is what Aeth di…"
He keeps yapping while moving his hands to open the scroll, then his eyes instantly open wide, looking straight at its information.
"Wtf? He cleared a rank 5 dungeon break without any help? And he just joined three days ago, for real?"
"That's what I mentioned. It's not the first time we have some potential guys you know? We must keep him on your side, furthermore, saving him from the dirty hands of that sh*tty Pontiff." - He slightly puffs on the pipe, releasing a bunch of smoke.
"But don't worry, Aeth is doing very well on persuading him. And about protection, I'll do it." - This time is a guy with smooth blue hair, he's blind, absolutely. But he looks bright, obviously a standard main character in anime(s).
"Shut up 'Phoenix', I'm afraid of your responsibility. I'll do it myself." - Finally a girl appears in this room, she also has long yellow hair, but it's way more shiny, like a golden river.
"Nuh uh? An 'Eagle' has no authority to try a mission of 'Phoenix', okay?" - He is always like that, always based on the appellation to ignore others' ideas.
"Shut the f* up okay, it's no time for your jokes. Ian can reach the space concept."
Suddenly six guys in that room look straight at her. None, none of them can use the Space Breaker up to the present time.
"Is that true?" - Yellow-haired guy slowly asks as if he's doing an interrogation.
"Don't look at me like that, you'd better ask Aetheria."
*Vsh* - They all disappeared with the hypersonic speed.
"Oh… wow…"
The meeting just ended like that; Eagle knows that she no need to worry about Ian anymore. With this situation, they might all keep him on track 24/7.
It's just reasonable, Ian just looks like a teenager. The first feat in his portfolio is clearing rank 5 dungeon break individually with Space Breaker all the time. It's even the Venomous Cave Biome, although the dungeon wasn't broken inside, it's still more dangerous than normal one.
And Ian even did it in exactly 3 hours, also he withdrew without any wound on his body. Three days for all those feats and abilities, it's no doubt that he would be the strongest unranked knight in that branch.
"Don't rate me too high." - Ian slightly cuts the roasted beef on his dish. Of course, they are in the cafeteria in the new branch of The Holy Council.
"The f* you say? I can even write a recommendation letter to promote you to Golden Knight you know? You deserve it, so just take it." - Aetheria chews the beef, seems like he's very enjoying it.
"Furthermore, this Holy Council doesn't work as I told you."
"So you are a liar?"
"Hell nah, how can I believe you since the first time we met? I've always been betting on every step since four years ago. I can't tell you much yet, but just rank up until you can stay at the same level as mine. I won't wait for you anymore, so try to chase me."
Ian takes a sip of beer, "I have no pleasure to chase a man you know."
"Don't worry, I have neither the joy of being chased by a man."
*Clang - Clang - Clang* - Different from the previous one, this time the bell even rang thrice at once.
Since this branch is still the new and developing one, all 3000 unranked knights here are still newbies. Besides around 200 guys can access their Aura in the lesser level, others are just twice stronger than standard humans.
This is the first time they've ever heard a third level threat warning in their knight's life.
"What is that?"
*Vsh* - While others were surprised, both Aeth and Ian disappeared already. They continuously bursted their Aura in legs to boost their speed to the fastest level they could.
Rushing straight to the west, this time Aeth is going to accompany Ian to protect him well.
Ian: "Hey? What is that kind of warning?"
"Three sounds equal the third level of threat, in short, you can imagine that you are going to face a true calamity for the whole city." - Aeth keeps explaining while bursting more and more Aura in his two legs.
"There's no time to waste, hurry u…" - He rushed even faster and faster, until Ian was left behind a mile after two seconds, even the last sentence can't be heard clearly.
"Hold up, wait for me!" - *Boom* - Due to the plenty of Aura inside himself, Ian can't control it totally.
That's why he hardly ever unleashed his power up to the maximum output, however, seems like this time is an outlier.
Thankfully it leaves no wound to him after bursting his Aura like that, but the true problem is the mess it left there. All the rocks and blocks of dirt are broken apart, and blown back due to the shockwave.
"Ian! Don't destroy everything like that!" - Laryn shouts straight to him.
"Sorr…" - Before the apology can be said totally, he just leapt forward far enough to disappear in her sight.
"Sh*t, guys, hurry up." - She also accelerates herself, but her Aura isn't that much, so she just chose to use her bare legs and feet.
"Life isn't fair at all."
"Oh, is that so?" - A strange voice suddenly exists in her right ear.
"Who… ma'am Luna?" - She's surprised by her superior's sudden appearance.
"Just move on, I'll wait for you at the end. One more thing, you might be faster if you only concentrate your Aura into your feet. Release it wisely for better efficiency."
As such, she makes an example by herself.
*Bling*- Luna mobilizes her Aura from heart and moves it to her feet in a second.
*Bling* - After a blink, she is ten meters away already. And everything settled in her eyes was an unstable afterimage and a line of light sparking on her step.
Luna slightly turns back, she looks at her superiority, "When you can do it, it means that you really have a good sense about Aura."
Luna is a kind person, that's why she also tries to help everyone in strengthening themselves as fast as possible.
However, she can't help a normal guy to be a genius, so everything still depends on their efforts.
"Don't let me down, Laryn."
*Bling* - Max speed: Twilight Steps - Luna bursted her Aura a bit, then she concentrated them all to her feet and leapt forward with the subsonic movements.
Don't be fooled. Do you guys know how fast "Subsonic" speed is?
Every sound moves with a speed of 343 meters per second, imagine that it only takes you a second to rush through over three soccer fields.
And that's why it's dangerous. Even though her speed only reaches 200 meters per second, it still proves that she can walk around the prey hundreds of times in a blank.
Let's be specific, I'm not trying to glaze her too much. Using mana or Aura to shift themselves with a subsonic speed isn't as same as leaping by the bare feet.
But it doesn't mean that achievement is worth nothing.
Just imagine that you are going to fight a girl who can move around you and leave thousands of strikes on your body.
Leaping by feet always gives you an inertia when you stop, as you already know; the heavier it is, the larger the inertia is. However, shifting the body by mana and Aura is different.
In short, you can boost and stop whenever you want, in other words - skill issues. Controlling that technique can even send you to another level.
Don't you want an example? Alright, let's see.
After two minutes and thirty seven seconds, she's already arrived at the destination. Her eyes open wide, as if he just witnessed such a calamity in her life.
"How?" - She whispers.
Ian slightly looks at her, "What's wrong with you all?" - Then he points to Aetheria, who is standing there and immersing inside his thoughts.
Ian: "What's wrong with it?"
"You… even ask me what's wrong with… it?..." - Reflected in her two bright eyes is a dimensional rift dyed in red light.
But it's not the end yet. The true problem is that the rift even stretches across the big lake - where Ian cleared his first dungeon break.
"Can't you even see the problem?" - asked Luna.
"Uhhh, a big red crack over the water surface… what's wrong?" - He asked.
"That's the problem!"
"Shut up." - Aether slightly warns them.
*Grrr - Crack* - A deep growling echoes around and around their ears.
"What is that?" - Ian surprisingly asks.
Aetheria slightly rolls his eyes swiftly, then he takes out a sapphire necklace and murmurs into it.
*Tch* - He takes out another item, a coin, and still murmurs into it.
"Don't worry, I'll be there soon." - A crackling sound suddenly comes from that coin.
Ian and Luna are still standing behind him with a curious face. *Beep* - Finally he puts that coin and the necklace back in his pocket.
He turns back, "One of The Holy Knights will come here soon, so we just need to seal this rift as long as possible."
Then he throws straight to them ten black metal spikes, "These are the seals, just surround the lake with these things."
"Wait wait wait wait wait wait, you can even contact the Holy Knights?" - Luna is shocked by his actions.
"In the worst case I can call them. Of course, I can but you guys just can't."
"But why? Aren't Golden Knights allowed to meet over-two-rank knights?"
"Not really, I have a secret force." - Aeth gives them a sign, real quick - "Just do it, we have no time."
Two minutes and ten seconds later, Aetheria starts to chant an incantation. He also takes out two more items as supporters for this ritual.
"No way… he can even do a grade 5 ritual?" - Luna whispered.
"Is that a kind of impressive thing?" - Ian replied.
"Yes, grade 5 ritual can even do more things than you can imagine. If you are wondering about rituals, don't worry, we have a guide book for it. But I warn you better not to join that side of magic." - Luna looks at him deeply.
"Why?"
"Everytime you make a ritual, you bet your life. Now is it still attractive in your sight?"
"Oh wow, you are right. Space Breaker is enough." - Ian sighs, he wonders why this world has too many things to study about.
"Starlight" - He lowers his knees in stance and puts his two hands at his hip.
"Adomeus" - He keeps the same posture.
"Twilight" - He starts moving his hand forward.
"Platinus" - Moving it until his hands are as high as his chest.
"Endless Night" - He slowly opens his right hand and points it straight to the dimensional rift.
"Eronimus" - The Aura instantly bursts around himself thrice, immediately leveling up his maximum energy output exponentially thrice.
*Crack - Crack* - The sound of twisted space, he even keeps going.
"Sun and Moon" - *Whirr - Whoosh* - His violet aura is even stirred up more and more, as if it's going to release to this world a disaster right away.
"Andrazyvalis" - "Wait? Even the grade 10 term?"
Putting aside her surprise, Aeth keeps going on his incantation, this is the last step already.
*Zrtt* - The purple lightning brutally destroys everything around him into dust within a second. Even though he's just a Golden Knight, his true power is even more than a normal Platinum Knight totally.
Don't be surprised. Aetheria Grantey isn't a normal human, as I said, among the standard, there's always an outlier. That's why Aeth has this kind of massive power regardless of his young age.
We can even call this kind of beings "superhumans" instead, that's the absolute difference that humans won't be able to surpass if they experience the same conditions.
His eyes open wide and his hand aims straight to the seal barriers, also the dimensional rift inside.
"Astral Formation" - As a ritual user, Aeth needs to claim its name at the end to make sure that the work is worth the effort. He's just a grade 4 ritualist, but as I said, this guy is way stronger than Ian, even in the current potential.
*Vroommm - Rrrr* - The final seal has been built up, it links all the ten normal seals and forms a powerful formation surrounding the massive red dimensional rift.
"All right! Now we wait. You all are useless."
"Shut the * up." - *Boom*
Ah hell ye, here we go again. A sudden explosion just blew away all his effort from the start to the present time.
And guess what the worst thing is.
*Crack* - The rift just gets broken a bit at its edge.
"Wow. What the actual f—" - *Boom* - another explosion has occurred right next to them. And Ian just used his bare hand to stop it right away he reflexed to that strike.
"A small pearl." - Then he throws it to Aeth.
"Well, mana bomb. Who idiot just revealed their locations when I'm here bruh? Do those guys have brains?" - Aeth sighs and leaps straight to the northwest direction.
*Crack* - The dimensional rift has turned to the Gate Opening.
Luna instantly calls all the Golden Knights, no matter their conditions.
"Sorry… Luna… we've been defeated."
The apology from her companion has knocked her a strong bow in head, "What… what's going on?"
The weak voice still echoes again and again in her ears and mind, "A guy… a guy with a black coat… it took him a strike to break all our legs… good news is we're still alive… The bad news is… we're going to die soon…" - He keeps talking to Luna regardless of her hard beating heart.
"Hey Luna… be careful with Aeth… he has a secret."
"What do you mean? What…"
"Hey… Luna… I feel death. Please, just get away from Aeth, he's dangerous…" - As using all his effort to warn his lover in the last breath. Ironically, perhaps the mentioned "lover" is only his selfish wish. He died before he could tell her his emotions.
*Crack* - Her ear ring instantly gets broken inside. It means that her companion has been killed and her tears start dropping down.
A warm hand slowly puts on her right shoulder, "Don't be overwhelmed. I have no permission to say this but, just focus on the situation right now Luna. We are going to die soon, I guess."
*Crack - Crack - Whirr* - The Gate has opened itself enough to let a person pass through it. Surely it's been the second stage.
Ian instantly knows what he needs to do right now, he looks back at Luna and Laryn - who just came two seconds ago.
"If you find Ryun, tell me later or just hide away from him. If I die, just announce it to Aeth. If I survive, I'll come back later. See you guys then."
Ian doesn't even wait a second, he rushes straight to the rift without any hesitation.
He knows that if he's not willing to enter it, no one will do it. Wasting time only makes everything become worse, whatever, he just wants to be stronger.
Luker: "Wait? The f*? Did he just enter a red gate?"
Luker knows exactly where Ian is due to the secret item he gave him with the Althysk potion V a day ago.
"Did he really? Is that guy crazy?" - She's shocked. No matter how strong she is, Lucy doesn't want to enter the red gate in general.
Luker reacts even more seriously, he brutally grabs his lance and swings around to kill as many beasts as he can as if he's releasing his rage and negative emotions.
"What the f* have you done Ian!? - The scream echoed around and forced all the beasts down their knees beneath his wrath.
"I must go to find him."
"You just can't. He is even on another continent, are you going to do something illegally?" - Lucy reminds him calmly.
"F*!" - Luker throws his lance, kills a lion beast and absorbs all its blood.
"Don't you dare die before me, Ian?"
At the same time…
*Boom* - "Wise choice." - Aeth instantly shifts himself behind the enemy's rear within a second. His Hex and Aura are all shooting straight to that pitiful prey with 100% output.
"How dare you wipe away all my work? How dare you try to release a threat to this new territory of ours?"
His hand slightly puts on that head, strongly crushes it into pieces and destroys everything to dust.
*Vroom* - A grade 4 formation is instantly built up to capture him inside.
"We didn't even try to destroy this place, but it's just necessary to kill you right here you know?" - A strange voice comes from the darkness behind two trees from his west side.
They surround him with the total enemies, up to three guys inside the black coats. Perhaps they are in the same organization as the enemy mentioned by Luna's companion before.
"Hmm? What should I say? Aeth, long time no see?"
The fourth guy slowly goes out of the darkness, he looks at Aeth with sharp eyes and a deep feud.
"This time, I'll kill you. Betrayer!"
Aetheria says nothing, he just looks at Razun - that fourth guy - also with a sharp look.
"If you know my name, you know who I am."
*Crack* - Crack* - The violet Aura instantly releases and damages the barriers surrounding him,breaking it as crushing the thin glasses.
"Crack - Crack* - Those barriers are surely going to be broken inside in a few seconds.
He glances at them with a threatening look, "I am not a kind person."
*Crack* - Everything has broken totally beneath his pressure.
"So you know how you are going to die in the next few minutes right?"
"Don't be ridiculous." - *Vsh* - They all rush straight to them with a supersonic speed.
*Boom* - Within a leap, Aeth instantly escaped the siege. Furthermore, he bursted his Aura one more time - sending himself flying vertically to the sky above with a massive power inside his right arm.
*Vsh - Boom* - Of course, three of them instantly follow that action and leap up too - chasing their "prey" with the maximum speed.
Rapidly, Razun yells at them, "Idiots!"
*Vroom* - Neither the space is locked, nor controlled, it is just… breaking apart…
Razun opens his eyes widely, he can't believe it. It's been two years, it takes that guy two years to unleash this kind of overwhelming power in a strike.
*Crack* - The space is distorted and twisted until broken by itself. The "glasses" slowly but surely fall down as rain, obviously, it is…
Razun murmurs unconsciously, "Space… Breaker…?"
*Crack* - On another battlefield, Ian is also landing the same thing - Space Breaker.
His fist strongly touches the space, affects and shakes it rapidly to pull out a massive shockwave in the air.
Consequently, everything 50 meters far away from the beginning point has been crushed into pieces.
He looks around, one, two, three,...
Ian: (Seven beasts.)
*Crack* - He strongly grabs a wire wolf's neck and throws three strikes into its heart and lungs. That impact even left on it a big hole full of blood - sure death.
*Bang* - Supersonic speed threat is coming! Among the lightning madly crushing everything, a panther swiftly swings its claws into his face.
Aura technique: Pulse - Ian instantly releases his massive Aura in close range, straight to the panther's head. Of course, it remains nothing but a mess of blood and bones - totally destroyed.
Data: Dire Wolf - thrice bigger than a normal wolf.
- Passive: Sharpness III; Durability II; Speed lv4.
- Skills: Sharp Fangs; Wind Claws.
Data: Phantom Leopard (lightning-mutated) - Lightning Panther: 1.6x normal size of leopard.
- Passive: Speed lv7; Sharpness III; Durability II; Lightning Vulnerability III; Shock Resistance II.
- Skills: Speed Burst IV; Lightning Steps, Thunder Claws; Brutal Fangs.
However, the recoil has shattered his wrist seriously. It's his fault for sure, forgetting to cover the weak spot by Aura always causes this kind of wound every time they activate Pulse.
Ian: (Not enough.)
*Whoosh* - A sharp blade of lightning just passed through his face from a very close distance.
They never let him have a chance to reflex or catch up with this rapid pace of battle - *Zrrt* - this time is a lightning beam. It swiftly blew away all the Aura protection on Ian's right arm.
*Splash* - Hiding in the shadow, moving quickly through the trees and blocks around - Phantom Leopard. It's been hiding all the time just for that sudden attack, and Ian's cut down arm has made its patience and effort worth it.
He frowns, with only an arm and two legs, he has no confidence about winning this match. More importantly, three more lightning panthers just jumped into this muddy pool. It's not good news after all.
*Zrrt* - Three lightning panthers all jump straight to him with a supersonic speed, even though they are just shifting themselves by manipulating the mana and Aura, it's still not a reason for Ian to be overconfident.
Ian: "Good grief."
He sighs and unleashes more and more Aura around himself, it's dense enough to semi-materialize itself to materials as a manifestor (Manifestation element Aura user).
Aura technique: Guard - Strengthen the protection by Aura around the user.
He instantly controls and mobilizes the Aura unevenly, focusing on the aimed parts of his body - successfully surpassing those strikes soft and sound.
During that process, he also spun around to make some momentum for the next strike. By taking that advantage of inertia and momentum, Ian swiftly landed two more fast strikes. Even though they were not strong enough to smash their heads totally, stunning them temporarily was still possible.
Ian: (Good.)
*Vsh* - His maximum speed is still at the sonic level, so he needs to eliminate all the beasts which can outspeed him easily as pie like those leopards and panthers.
Nothing is more important than working safety, right?
But the phantom leopard is still rushing into him with its maximum speed, surely he has no time to waste in this circumstance.
A fast strike, he thought.
*Whirr* - No matter its slow speed while compared to that leopard, a horned lion is still fast enough to be a threat for Ian right now.
"Why must it be this time?" - He crushes his teeth.
Two lightning panthers are still stunned - good - but the phantom leopard is aiming at his head and it's near him already - not good. And the horn of that lion almost tears away his left leg at the present time - worst thing.
"This is your choice." - He swiftly downs his knees and body to crash the ground with his full Aura arm.
The chance to land a Space Breaker of Ian is around 15%, but this time, he is very sure about it.
Perhaps it is his wish, perhaps it is the recognition of this world to him. Whatever, his potential has been awakened at that moment - Space Breaker!
*Crack* - The space is even distorted to a kind of the unstable dimensional rifts around him.
They tore, they broke and they destroyed everything in the zone of the forest - absolutely wiping all the creatures out of this realm in the shockwaves.
*Huff - Huff* - He breathes heavily, his lungs feel not too good, also his entire body and the broken arm.
He tried his best to protect himself from that recoil, however, the damage and impact are all determined at the start. Seems like he just made a fair trade in that situation, sacrificing one arm to save his life. Isn't it a good deal?
*Graaaa* - The oscillation in space even shocked him entirely. It's not a special ability, nor Space Breaker, Ian felt it clearly. He knows that it's just a roar from the boss, the Hex it contained even paralyzed himself absolutely.
No matter how much he tries to lift up his legs, Ian is still locked in the same place after all.
*Whoosh* - The extreme shade instantly blocks the sunlight on the sky above his head, it's large enough to overwhelm everything - even the determination of Ian.
Data: ??? - ??? - ???
- Passive: ??? - Undefined
- Skills: ??? - Undefined
His eyes open wide, he witnesses it clearly - an eagle, an extremely enormous and deadly eagle.
To be specific, in Ian's perspective, he only saw its left wings. Only two left wings are able to cover this entire realm, let alone to mention its true appearance.
At that moment, Ian already knows how small he is in this world. He stood no chance beneath that pressure - the absolute despair instantly overwhelmed his mind.
Ian: "It… can't be…"
He knows that it does not belong to this realm, it's even something that's way more deadly and superior than the worst calamity in his memories.
Ian almost cried, "It can't be…"
*Crack* - The four metal claws instantly clash the space barrier covering this dimensional rift. Surely it's aiming to invade this small realm by itself. Then he suddenly comes up with a crazy thought that perhaps it's trying to enter the Great Continent by this rift.
Not good! Not good at all! He thought.
He's going to die, absolutely and inevitably.
*Crack* - It's going to be broken soon, and he can't even lift up his legs to run - so miserable.
"Aiz, good grief. I was sleeping you little sh*t." - A strange voice comes out of nowhere and clangs over and over inside his mind.
*Bang - Bang* - That guy, or even the human-like being in Ian's perspective, is moving with an incredible speed. In other words, Ian is able to keep on track his movement two seconds in the past instead of the current time.
Which means that guy even surpassed the hypersonic speed totally. The orange fire is stretched out in the high sky above, it swiftly approaches the eagle almost in a second.
"Don't be scared boys, if you really put your efforts into training."
*Boom - Crack* - The space beyond this dimensional rift is generally crushed into dust - revealing the cosmic void out of Aurorize.
"You guys can do the same thing like this."
He drops an encouragement and leaves as if that eagle was just a bunch of leaves on the road.
Ian carves that silhouette deeply inside his mind, he murmurs in his unconsciousness that if he really can do the same thing.
Wait? Boys? Are there more people beside me? He decided on an audacious movement.
"Hope you guys can see this." - He concentrated his Aura into his throat and released it into the sky - exploding as a firework.
Then he touches the ring by his lips, takes out a scroll and heals himself by a level 6 healing spell.
In other words, he just recovered every wound instantly after using half a scroll. Well, saving is always better than wasting, he puts it back in the ring and waits here until those guys come.
After five minutes, as he predicted before, there are really more than one guy.
"Oh, I wondered whom I would see."
"Where's Luker, Ian?"
"Nah, we are separated at the start, and we entered Aurorize with different periods of times." - He replies to Paragon and Aranta.
"Well, how can you guys be here?" - Ian asked
"Dimensional rift, perhaps it has more than one gate in Aurorize." - Aranta yawns.
"We were in the line at the guild, then this rift occurred. We need credits and money to survive, you know? That's why we're here." - Paragon takes out a couple of frost stone gauntlets and throws them to Ian.
He also explains, "I'll let you borrow it, just remember to give them back. This is the red dimension rift, we can't escape until the boss is defeated."
Ian asks, "Do you know which boss is it?"
"Let's see… this biome is called 'Savage Wilds,' so basically the boss is 'Beast Warrior,' but it's mutated already. Perhaps we will see some epic creatures here." - Paragon gives Ian the basic information.
Then Aranta instantly jumps into this conversation, "This kind of boss always prefers doing 1v1 battle until one side dies. So we don't need to worry about being attacked by hundreds of beasts. However, as Paragon said, if it's mutated totally, we might see the Wyvern."
"Wyvern?"
"Ye, an epic monster record in the history of the western. Imagine that you are going to face a lesser dragon-like creature. If we must face it, then I'll carry all the protection. Paragon will solve the problem of variables like far-range attack. That's why we need a kind of berserker like you man. Just beat its ass brutally." - Aranta drives straight to the core issue.
"I see, whatever, we have no other choice right? So just do it. I can use Space Breaker…"
"What the f*? Excuse me?" - Paragon reacts to that information very intensely.
"Well, Space Breaker. What's wrong?" - Ian replies.
"Okay fine, can you just do it right now?"
"Sure, but it's quite random."
*Crack* - Somehow at the first strike, Ian has touched the space concept again, shook and crushed everything into pieces as usual.
In the shadow, Paragon slightly curves his smile. He saw "it" - he saw the key for the probable issue.
Temporary line up: The new Cleaners - Ian, Paragon and Aranta. They are both approaching the base of the boss, confidently.
Shadow Beast: Silver Wolf - Tamias.
Of course, he is revenging, not showcasing. Surely Razun doesn't say out loud the name of his ability, the information about ability such as name, element or kind of magic circles can determine at least the basic function of the skill.
Revealing the ability function for enemies is the dumbest thing he can do right now, especially when his target is Aetheria Grantey.
Do you still remember the moment that I said abilities are developed from wishes and desires of users? Now you've seen an example for that mechanism, by madly training and wishing - Razun successfully unlocked this ability two months ago after two years of patience.
An ability thrived on the concept of "shadow" and "summoning" creatures by shifting them between two dimensions via the shadow gates. It basically allows Razun to summon any kind of creature if they have come up with a contract before.
And his first shadow beast is known by the name Tamias, a big silver wolf, which has incredibly sharp claws.
Well? What are you expecting? It's not like a summoning spell of necromancers or Licht, Shadow Gates only allows him to switch the contracted beasts which he tamed before - not a kind of directly summoning spiritual beings by magic circles as spirits or evils.
Even though it sounds like an underground tier move in an RPG game, let me explain.
"Skill issue dude."
*Clash - Bang* - That wolf bursted its Aura inside the claws and front legs, struck it straight to the solar plexus of Aeth - blowing away him instantly.
*Spurt - Spurt* - Of course, while the sharp claws, Aeth's chest has been carved many deep wounds, forming a lot of bloody holes on his body.
"Seems like you have awakened." - Aeth hiding in the dense smoke among the big rocks and slightly drops a recognition.
Shadow Beasts: Phantom Wolf - Plamung
Behind him and under his legs, hiding in the shadow of the forest, it suddenly raises
*Crack* - Fortunately, Aeth just reflexed fast enough to jump before it could damage him with those shadow fangs.
A spirit? He thought.
However, he instantly denied it. He doesn't believe that Razun can summon that kind of overpowered beings.
Knowing that he might escape, Razun has already waited for him at the top of the nearest tree.
Shadow Beast - Ability Inheritance: Tamias - Iron Claws.
Via the special contract, Razun can use a similar ability of each shadow beast he has with a double requirement of Aura for the cost of that process. So basically he needs to end this fight as soon as possible.
Iron Claws only materializes six claws of Aura covering his two hands, in other words, he is now performing as a Manifestation Aura user.
*Vsh* - He disappears.
*Splash* - Even though Aeth just blocked that attack successfully, the invisible slashes still took away one eye on his left side.
Technique: Wind Slashes - He keeps swinging his claws left to right and vice versa - throwing half a dozen sharp attacks to Aetheria. Aiming to slaughter him as fast as possible; giving the enemy a mercy is the worst thing he can do right now.
And of course, he doesn't even try to do that self-destruction.
"Still lukewarm, Razun."
Within a short period of time, exactly 1/5500 second in his mind, his violet Aura has touched the concept of space, shaking its border with his fist at the meeting point. And the space… starts to break down.
Suddenly, the only girl in that team throws something fast into his fist. She had been hiding under those rocks and dirt for the whole time, just for this moment.
Epic Item - Mirror of Reflection: One time used, inflict 97.5% the total damage from the attack(s) to its owner.
This function is glitched enough to be considered as a power affecting straight to the causality instead of normal strikes countering in a specific or limited direction and way.
In other words, it must work as a sure-hit strike without any requirements or functions of casting a domain.
"Merry Christmas, Aetheria."
*Bang* - The shockwave of that reflected strike even blew away our Golden Knight - sending him flying away as a doll in a tornado.
*Bang - Bang - Boom* - The force was strong enough to leave Aetheria faint under a dozen rocks and dust.
"Well well well well, what do we have here? What is your feeling after taking that gift of happiness?" - One guy from that team instantly appears.
Surely he didn't have enough courage to face Aeth directly, so that's why he's here and tries to draw attention.
"Poor guy, oh poor Aeth…"
That guy instantly got shattered in a second and the reward for those arrogant actions was a broken neck.
"What's wrong? Sacrificing an epic item for just knocking me back a bit. Wise choice." - He mocks.
Technique: Iron Claws - Razun swiftly approaches his enemy with those attacks again, however, this time he won't be able to take it that easily.
Something… something has been woken up inside that knight.
"I'm not saying this to do aura farming right now. But I warn you all to prepare yourselves carefully from now on." - He slightly stretches his shoulders as if it's just normal daily work.
Hex: Warning of Death - He unleashes the deepest bloodlust through his eyes, where the purest hysteria is waiting for being released totally.
He changes the posture, raising his hands above the head - starting the incantation.
"Twilight."
*Boom* - Razun has already pulled out all his power to stop Aetheria chanting those deadly things.
However, whenever he attacks, Aeth always dodges it at the last second and even the distance between them isn't more than a centimeter.
"Upper Eye."
It causes his teammates not to jump into the fight whenever they want, unless they have an addiction of being beaten hard. Moreover, no matter how many times they try, Aetheria always moves like he can see further than they can.
"Moonlight."
As if he is catching every movement of them in the future instead of the current time.
Whatever they do, Aeth always foresees and counters with his legs not one but two steps ahead of their plans all the time.
"Sparkling Night"
Shadow Beast: Lightning Warblers (unnamed)
He released all the wild beings inside his shadow gates for just breaking Aeth's incantation. First rule while dueling with a ritualist - do not let them chant any word.
He feels it, he knows that it only takes his enemy one more chant to finish the whole ritual - he must stop it right away.
Shadow: Fusion - Razun has planned his own B strategy for any kind of variable beside the death of Aetheria in this fight two days ago.
By fusing all the creatures together, he can convert them into the much higher form generally.
"Tamias, Plamung!" - He looks at them.
Observing that, they both jump back to his shadow gates, however, the miracle thing is their shadows are still lying on the ground, as if they're true objects instead of the consequence of blocking sunlight.
He can't convert contracted beasts the way he wants, it obviously goes against the clauses of the compromise. Nevertheless, he can send them back to another dimension and convert their shadows for the alternative.
Two shadows of wolves, twenty-three lightning warblers are all the materials. Following the guidelines of his Aura, all of them are twisted and compressed into a small orb - ticking the creation of a new being.
*Crack* - After a high kick, Aetheria has already broken all their bones and skulls after two minutes and nineteen seconds. He rotates one more time, puts his hands to the left - chanting the last words.
"Astral Rage…"
"Response to my calling…"
They look at each other with a sharp glance and determination to kill each other. Maximum output...
"Parademyk."
"Lazaro Sa."
*Trembling - Trembling* - All the ground and the forest are shaking. Inside the moonlight of the ground and the shadow from the sky, their trump cards have been revealed to each other as the last efforts.