{About and hour ago}
Aizen stood right beside the huge dark sphere engulfing the paradise. Drona's restless eyes scanned the strange phenomenon while he did his best to make sense of it.
"Shadow Master, are you certain about this?"
"What we encountered just an hour ago isn't their best. At least that's what I believe from this near-impenetrable wall they have created," Aizen responded while he placed his left arm on the sphere.
"Human, don't enter this place," a strange and heavy voice echoed in Aizen's head, seemingly unheard by Drona and the other soldiers present beside him. The tone of the strange being's voice stayed devoid of any sort of emotion. Aizen showed no reaction on the outside and grabbed the sword's hilt, which was sheathed on the left side of his waist.
"Your concern is far more than justified. I wish to aid you on this journey," Drona answered while raising his hands. The soldiers present around them quickly readied their weapons as if waiting for this very gesture.
[SHING!]
The metallic blade of the sword rang while being unsheathed by Aizen's swift movement.
“Sir Drona, I respect your kindness. But, we can’t be certain there will not be another attack from whoever they are.” Aizen responded in a respectful tone. Drona placed his hand on his chin and lowered his head, even after brainstorming for many moments, the brightest mind of Padma kingdom couldn’t come up with a counterargument. For a reason Drona himself wasn’t aware, an uneasiness kept sinking his heart.
‘Do you really expect me to help you?’ The strange voice in Aizen’s head echoed once again, this time showing a sense of irritation.
“It’s called rent.”
[WOOSH!]
The moment Aizen spoke, a dark-red energy suddenly appeared from his body and began forming a red shell around his right arm.
Drona took a step back as the air suddenly became heavier, with breathing requiring more and more effort the longer he stayed close to Aizen.
The dark-red energy rushed towards the sword's blade and turned it completely red.
[SLASH!]
With a swift movement, a long crack appeared on the sphere's surface in front of Aizen. An ominous dark energy began seeping in the surroundings from the crack, causing the soldiers' hearts to sink in fear, while Drona's eyes were wide open from the display.
Aizen stepped inside the crack, and the dark energy repaired even before the silhouette of Aizen could disappear.
***
With an astounding explosion the Padmastra was blown to bits.
The figure’s incredible strength, the strange patterns on its palms and now this aura, the incredible familiarity that Arav sensed from the red energy beam made his mind race.
“Hooh…they did quite an impressive job..” Arav said in a breathy voice, but Aizen had a non-existent reaction to Arav’s words, he began seeing the silhouette of the figure getting clearer as the yellow energy from Padmastra dispersed.
The instant his gaze fell on the red aura raging around the figure, Aizen’s sense of danger was immediately raised exponentially.
“Your Majesty…”
Arav quickly realized Aizen’s thoughts just by these two words spoken. He slowly brought his right foot forward while raising his right arm simultaneously;
“Your kingdom made a statue after me…it seems they did the same.” Arav spoke with a smirk, his aura kept getting more and more intense as he spoke.
Aizen’s brain suddenly cleared; he slightly jumped for a moment as a physical response from the sudden revelation. Thoughts and memories regarding Arav began rapidly racing in his head, his eyes for once appeared restless and in utter shock.
While Aizen was shock-ridden, Arav’s eyes traded towards the black statue in the distance. He saw Yaksh surrounded in green energy, who shot an arrow at the streams of energy flowing out of the elves. Every successive arrow showed more and more effect on the stream of energy as it kept getting thinner and thinner.
"Yaksh will succeed soon…just a few min-"
Suddenly, a tremendous amount of force made his gut contract. Before he could turn his head forward, the strength of the impact sent him flying in the sky.
Aizen snapped out of his trance-like state due to the loud sound from the shock wave generated by the attack. The figure was at Arav’s previous location with his right hand raised at the sky.
[WOOSH!]
Aizen moved forward with a burst of dark-red energy at his legs.
The very next moment, Aizen was met with an unknown feeling–for the first time in his life, his eyes failed to follow an opponent’s movements. Aizen’s sword, now shivering in his dark hands raging with red aura, slashed at the figure’s neck.
[SMACK!]
The next second, a powerful shockwave formed cracks in the ground, while Aizen was thrown away with blood gushing out of his mouth.
Aizen fell flat on the ground while facing the sky, “Ugh!.” The throbbing pain in his abdomen was the only thing telling him the place he was attacked by the figure.
[WOOSH!]
A beam of red flames was shot from the sky directly at the figure. Arav’s hands shivered with immense force while his entire body was surrounded in crimson flames.
The figure raised his right hand towards the incoming attack. The beam of flames was immediately split in half the moment it collided with the figure. With not even a scratch on the figure’s entire body, both Arav and Aizen were left gazing with shock in his direction.
[BHUM!]
Not even a second later, another powerful shockwave trembled the ground. The figure jumped at Arav at a blinding speed and suddenly appeared to his right.
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"Hu--"
The gasp remained incomplete, within what felt a fraction of a second. A powerful punch from the figure made Arav’s arm bend inwards.
The figure grabbed Arav by his neck and completely blocked his breathing. As if staring directly at his eyes, his head tilted slightly in his direction.
After a brief staredown, the figure threw Arav to the ground just a foot away from Aizen.
As Arav crashed down, Aizen failed to comprehend the figure’s intentions. He stared at the sky while noticing not even the slightest movement from the figure.
"IT'S INTENTIONAL!!"
Arav exclaimed while stretching his left arm forward;
The sudden realization widened Aizen’s eyes. He attempted to move, but the partially healed wound in his abdomen made his movement incredibly slow. Arav swiftly grabbed Aizen by his left hand.
[WOOSH!]
With a sudden eruption of red flames, Arav rapidly flew away from their location.
[BOOM!]
The ground suddenly exploded with red energy rising towards the sky right from their previous location. As they kept flying forward, the explosion kept appearing behind them. Aizen gazed at the figure and found his right hand raised in front of his head, with two fingers sticking out of the fist.
Arav's speed progressively kept increasing, but unfortunately for them, so did the rate of explosion. Their short attempt at escaping lasted for just minutes as a sudden eruption of red energy suddenly occurred right below them.
The energy beam raised from the ground engulfed both of them to the degree of making them invisible in the bright red light.
They both fell in opposite directions with a thick smoke rising off them. While Aizen fell onto the solid ground, Arav went inside one of the deep holes generated by the explosions, which was still raging with red energy.
"Ugh!" Aizen groaned in pain as a major portion of his muscles had burnt away. The areas with minor injuries had his clothes sticking to the open wounds. "That energy...it slowed down my healing," the painful thought came with dangerous immobility for Aizen.
Suddenly, his eyes opened wide. Aizen's concern for Arav overshadowed his sense of pain. He forced out all of his remaining strength and raised his head in the direction Arav had fallen.
"No," a single regret-filled word escaped Aizen's lips, while his shivering eyes frantically scanned every inch of the ground in front of him.
The figure descended right in front of Aizen and grabbed his neck. Aizen used all of his strength and slashed at the figure's neck. The figure halted his movement, seemingly surprised.
[THWOOSH!]
A dense red energy suddenly erupted out of the hole Arav had fallen into, with a red stream of light heading directly in the figure's direction.
—
[BHUM!]
The invisible barrier separating the area around the statue and the rest of the dimension, vibrated as powerful and successive shockwaves generated by the explosions outside collided with it. Hundreds of elves that were beside them shivered in horror with the incredible display of power and the equally potent danger they witnessed. While beside them, Adhrit lay with his eyes open near the large statue’s feet, away from the invisible barrier.
“Just…once… more…” Yaksh barely managed to form words, while his utterly exhausted hands stretched the string of his bow. His determined eyes contrasted the rest of his body’s state while gazing at the final remaining elf girl floating around the statue. The tip of Yaksh’s arrow was aimed at a thin thread of green energy connecting the elf to the blue light.
[SWOOP!]
The arrow was shot forward and quickly destroyed the green energy thread, resulting in the elf free falling.
“HUP!!” Yaksh grit his teeth and jumped forward, his open arms saved the girl from her fall.
As Yaksh landed in front of the elves, "Haah…haaa….Do-..do you think brother and Master can defeat him?" Adhrit asked while turning his head towards Yaksh. He was still immobile due to the extent he pushed himself. His limbs had no sensation, nor the ability of even the slightest movement.
"I don’t know…that thing had the same energy as him.” Yaksh turned his head, his heart immediately sank into sadness and regret just at the sight of the elves shaking in fear. Their skin had completely turned, with feet shaking while struggling to hold their weight. “We will have to stay here." He spoke, being aware of the weight his words held, both for him and Yaksh,and the survival for the weak elves.
"WHAT?!" Adhrit exclaimed in a surprised tone. The volume of his voice resulted in the elves shaking for a moment.
Yaksh looked at Adhrit with an apparent sadness on his face.
"You can’t imagine how much I crave to just once aid him in his battle. But we both are aware our strength is laughable in front of theirs. Based on our conditions, If we participate in the battle, we will only decrease the chance of their victory," Yaksh said while placing the bow on his back.
Adhrit lowered his eyes without saying anything. He himself had a similar feeling of uselessness and Yaksh speaking it out right had an effect on Adhrit’s heart, unknown to him.
—
[SMACK!]
The figure repeatedly punched at Arav’s abdomen, while holding him by his neck. The incredible energy radiating from Arav fell short to the extent of the figure’s abilities once again.
‘He…keeps getting stronger…at a far faster rate than me..’ Arav’s thoughts were cluttered with surprise and anger, while he placed every iota of his strength in arms to block the figure’s punches.
[WOO!]
The figure suddenly stopped his fist midway from Arav’s heavily bleeding abdomen, causing a sudden gust of wind. The figure gazed in the statue’s direction, and this revelation caused a wave of concern to wash over Arav’s entire being. Aizen, who still lay on the ground, a distance away from Arav, gazed at them with confusion clearly visible in his eyes.
Arav’s hands suddenly got surrounded in red energy.
[SMACK!]
He punched at the figure’s head with all of his might. Aizen’s heart, a feeling of uneasiness engulfing it, forced him to stand while his body kept healing at a rapid rate. While he himself wasn’t aware of what was in that direction, the energy sphere forming in the figure’s hand, and the rate of Arav’s desperate punches provided him with enough reason to take action.
“One last time, I ask you to pay your rent” Aizen whispered, directing his words to an entity unseen by others,while his eyes turned dark along with red veins crawling out of them, only difference being the blood leaking out of his eyes and the ominous atmosphere around him.
[WOOSH!]
The dark-red energy, once a symbol of strength for Aizen, became a desperate plea for movement. A red shell began rapidly forming around his body, before it could completely cover him;
‘Human, this is all you can handle’ The strange voice of the blood demon echoed in Aizen’s head. He raised his sword without a concern about the red shell covering merely half of his body.
[BHUM!]
A red beam of energy was launched from the figure’s hand facing directly in the statue’s direction.
[WOOSH!]
Aizen moved with even a greater pace than the destructive beam, while leaving a dark-red energy stream behind him.
Yaksh and the elves, present at the feet of the statue, had a horrified expression covering their faces, as a red light covered the entire area around them ,with the powerful beam of red energy rushing forward at a terrifying pace.
Yaksh quickly nocked an arrow on his bow and jumped a distance away from the elves, landing directly at the feet of the invisible barrier. While the tip of his arrows pointed at the incoming doom, his hands shivered due to his non-existent confidence about succeeding.
All of the present inside the barrier covered their heads in horror, as the beam tore through the invisible barrier, just as it was about to reach Yaksh, it collided with something midway.
[BOOM!]
The expected explosion did occur, the elves tightly closed their eyes while covering their ears with their shivering hands.
Yaksh stared forward with a blank expression, his mind went numb while failing to generate any sort of reaction in that situation. His hands lost their strength to keep the arrow nocked, resulting in it falling down.
“Master..” Adhrit whispered from the back of the elves. While his vision was blocked by the elves, this student didn’t require sight to recognise the incredible energy of his master.
[Chapter 37: END]