Chapter 73

Countless strands of seen-through Arcana spread from Dreadus until he changed their form into many fists. One couldn't see much up close. Then it flooded by a simple gesture when he punched upward once, crashing hundreds of his fists against the screeching Creature in less than two seconds. It was out of its mind. It truly went insane and its halo was cruising around it, floating hundreds of feet away in protection and manifesting patterns.

Fists met one another, causing exploding shock-waves and bursting chunks of hills to pieces. Once more, the Creature lost this exchange but it wasn't over yet. It howled and opened its mouth wide. Then, it shoved its arm into its mouth, pulling a purple orb from its mouth.

Right as the Creature grasped it, it slipped down, crushing Dreadus's technique where it hit the ground with its legs, a halo floating right above. Earth shook. It was as if a mountain arrived, and its weight increased a million-fold, causing its feet to go deep into the earth. It struggled to move, so it splintered the earth around it to pieces and began to float once more. Its body flames intensified and it turned into a Creature that sizzled like a black hole surrounded by purple flame. That orb was intense, creating a gravitational pull that caused Dreadus to frown.

“Jejejeje....” it chucked. “Death to you. To you.... Yooooooouuu...”

Dreadus lost this exchange with a frown, surrounded by the protective layers that also helped the girl and Hound behind him. He took this Dark Creature for an eyesore. Many cultures described these kinds of Darks as bizarre. Some regarded them as utter demons, others took them for abominations. Some even revered them, which stated the worst of humanity.

Creatures were called many ways depending on Walker's circles, but as a whole, calling them Sappients was the appropriate term. A Creature was a fitting name since they were insane and weird, yet mostly inhuman and human at the same time. Some were almost perfect in human proportion, posing with acute muscles, two eyes, sharp chins, slender waists, wide shoulders, and long limbs. They also had two genders.

Physical Dark Aspects were less prevalent, for they were Rank 6 and above in most cases unless one was very young. Their societies were known as the most advanced and truly fit to call them crazy.

This one was far from that idea as its limbs were tall, but wailing in stress and thinness. Its smile was creepy, it had no nose, and most of its skin was smooth, cracked amid the flaming purple lines, and that halo around it was weird. It hovered around it but didn't seem to do much. This Creature stood a hundred feet away from Dreadus, cracking its fingers and holding its orb. Earth cracked and its body was the same, yet its smile and eyes kept its insanity intact.

“Kill!” It cackled and went for it.

Thankfully, Hound and the worried girl were both fine, hiding behind Dreadus, or he was the one who protected them. Either way, Hound didn't trust everything and stomped the ground, jumping over to the girl who was weak and wounded against this sort of storm.

“Caaaaa!” the Creature screamed and crashed the purple object. Purplish flame hell unleashed its might, causing spiraling cocoons to envelop its thin arms, and its surroundings exploded like a titanic meteor that forced the gravity around it to reverse. It immediately attacked by jumping forward, but Dreadus just put his palm forth.

“You are messing with me, so this will hurt both of us. I don't like it when it goes like this, so disappear. I have someone to talk to.” He pulled the hand up, seizing this Creature after he hadn't done much for a couple of seconds. He prepped his Arcana by surrounding the entire Holy Land with it.

It was costly, yet when he forced his spread palm down and straight, things changed.

The Creature couldn't see anymore. It was narrow-minded in its Madness. It had no other strategy than brutally murdering its prey. Unlike Fissures, it didn't like to play. Not usually, that was, because Creatures were strange Darks. They were machines for killing and cleansing, yet many of them were oddities and unworthy to remain in a large sack. Individuality mattered. Their Letters too. Their faces as well.

Right when Dreadus pulled his arm down, the whole Holy Land trembled, the Peaks shivered and began to crumble, and other things soon followed. Bit by bit at first, right when the Creature was approaching Dreadus, they deteriorated as if squeezed.

Then, the hills started to do so as well, crumbling as if a gigantic invisible palm descended and clasped the whole Holy Land, pinning the Creature before it ever got close to him. Flames puffed and sizzled, and whatever force this Creature holding wasn't very wide. With enough quantity, Dreadus extinguished the flames under his palm.

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He made a fist next, crushing everything when he squeezed every bit of his Arcana like his fist. Sweeping his back and fisting the air, he finished this move that destroyed the whole Holy Land in less than ten seconds. The Creature was somewhere in the rubble, its flame dull, and its halo weakened under the pressure.

Every one of his moves correlated to an invisible large fist, unleashing total devastation that followed even more pressure and tremors. By now, the girl realized this man was the cause of the earthquakes. It was no monster, or was it true? Right now, she thought of this man as nothing different than them, but she wasn't fearful. He looked like a human. Like her.

Dreadus huffed a breath, bent his back, and pushed his arm forward. The Creature flew far away alongside a ball of earth, leaving the area barren and destroyed beyond recognition.

The girl hated it the moment she saw dust clearing up.

The Peaks were annihilated.

Hills were gone.

Her home was no more.

Anger and helplessness enveloped her arm, yet she couldn't do much about it. She just had to hold onto something, lest she disappear away like a leaf into the wind.

Dreadus felt so good about unleashing this rare Skill that he cheered and nodded to himself multiple times. Then he turned, watching the girl's flabbergasted expression for the first time. She was hugging Hound's leg, looking like a scared cat because Dreadus had forgotten about her. Since he had to use his Arcana for everything, destroying this whole Holy Land, she was in the range.

It was Dreadus's fault. His power could crash her by just sheer physical conditions. She almost flew away, crumbling like the rocks. Thankfully, Hounds were Rank 5 Darks at a minimum and weren't some dogs, so she had no choice but to rely on its leg. Most Hounds were heavy and big, aggressive like most Fengs, but their heads were silly and kind of big.

Dreadus recognized this Hound was bizarre, so he was kind of confused when he saw it protected that girl. Why was it so tame? His silly mind couldn't understand how it was possible because he knew this Coban Region and knew what was hiding all over Australia. Frankly, this place was one of many other hells because that's how Australia operated. Some strange things were impossible to know straight away.

Then, there were excuses and answers. Some Walkers could tame various Darks for their benefit, coming to terms with some strange Skill, or powers, or literally bricking the whole Corruption or Darks apart. It was about power. A Bond? When power was distant, laying down a foundation like a vast sky, taming was possible.

Unfortunately, most Darks were crazy, so it wasn't common to see tamed Darks. This girl accomplished it for some reason, and she was dubious to do so on so many levels that Dreadus suspected there wasn't just one white-red moon in the starry sky.

Could it be like this because of her? Unlikely. The cause was probably the Hound itself. A Mutation, or something else could create wonders. Modifications were unknown, but Rank 5 or above were not. Hound wasn't hostile to him, so Dreadus felt even more doubts when he recognized this problem.

In any way, this was an interesting oddity befitting of Australia. Including this girl, he was happy that he found some secondary objectives out of nothing but sheer luck when he got lost and walked into the Holy Land without knowing it.

Well, here was another problem. The Holy Land was no more.

Despite his success, he was clueless. He wasn't even aware of what was below his feet, almost obscured under his outbursts, tremors, or rubble. Humming, he looked over the horizon when approaching shouts and noises came over. They revealed a bunch of people that landed on the ground behind him. It was his team that survived an ambush of unlike properties. If it weren't for Dreadus, nobody would survive beside him.

“What the fuck was that Dreadus! The Peaks! This freaking Holy Land should've remained intact, you moron! Was it in the way of your head or what? You seriously need to think about a therapist.” A naughty voice said, coming from Reaz.

She was rather pretty and toned to the bone, sporadically clothed to shine her numerous Emblem parts scattered over her body. Her uniform revealed her legs and arms whole, while the rest had some other holes. There was just one Emblem, however. It was her Rank that changed it, giving her Emblem new physical manifestations, and giving her an edge in her overall body proportions and Localization.

For some Walkers, the size and where an Emblem resided was extremely important, and hers were all over the place, and relative to most body parts. Seeing her, Dreadus had less than a mood to hear her nagging, so he ignored her and turned to Hound and the girl next.

“Hey! Don't ignore me?”

“Huh?” Dreadus said, turning to her as if she was an annoying eyesore. He even picked his nose in protest. “Secure the location, fools. Some trouble might come soon.”

“Fuck you!” one older man said. “Secure your ass next. What have you done? Why?!”

“I will do it!” Reaz snapped and forcefully calmed down, stopping Esten from doing unnecessary work. Her visible veins on her forehead almost snapped, so she pointed to the other members of the team. There were four others besides Reaz and Dreadus. All of them were Walkers above Rank 5.

“Maria,” Reaz ordered a young-looking lady below her age. “Take Esten and secure the perimeter and edge of the former Holy Land, or I will kick our leader's ass first.”

“You have our blessing,” Maria said.

“No kidding...” Esten sighed and nodded.

Two of them left, leaving the remaining pair behind. They were siblings who looked quite alike, even if their genders were different. How bad was it? Well, the charm of the sister beside her brother was contagious, or was it in their genes that made them attractive? Either way, sibling Walkers weren't that rare, but they were quite something because of their upper Ranks.

Reaz pointed at them to follow her as she approached Dreadus who turned back to them. As Reaz did her work, she looked around and felt irritated. They were supposed to look around the Coban Region for the future research party and do some searching, target training, and lock-seeking.

Destroying or going into the Holy Land was silly. Impossible. Unnecessary!