It walked past Luciette who is lying unconscious near its feet.
She had been lucky. The Orc King would’ve killed any challenger that lost, but it couldn’t understand why she had fainted all of a sudden, and the warrior’s blood in it forbade it from attacking the helpless.
Jones slowly stood up, showing no signs of surrendering. This is a fight he picked, and he fully intends to finish it despite being completely outmatched.
But this simple action already caused him to cough up several mouthfuls of blood. In his heart, he knows that not much is left in him.
His previous wounds that were not yet fully recover had torn open again, and after forcefully using the ‘World Sword’ technique, his energy had completely depleted. However, these issues are not the worst of what he was facing.
He had expected, a technique with such power would come with equal risk, but when his Origin infusion had shattered, he did not imagine that his life energy would dissipate, bringing him closer to death’s door than ever before.
Unfortunately, the loss of life force is much more complicated than using up internal energy. It is similar to burning off the very vitality of the user, and the recovery speed of life force is several times slower than Ki replenishment. The only perk in this is that the user’s lifespan is not shortened from usage.
With a large amount of injuries within his body, Jones found himself rooted where he stands. His body immobile by pain and fatigue, and even if he wants to take a step, it is impossible.
Knowing that they are the only ones left who could still put up a fight, the five of them rushed at the Orc King without hesitation. Jones was in appalling condition from the start. They might lose a battle-crazy friend if they do not help in time.
Like arrows let loose from a fully drawn bow, they flew swiftly forward in the Northern Swords array.
They struck their enemy viscously. While each blow may not amount to much, the group of them could attack unceasingly and deal a lot of damage together. Not only so, but each attack were imbued Origin energy, forcing the Orc King to defend itself seriously.
Even though the five of them have combat ranks are lower than Jones, they were in fact far more deadly thanks to their teamwork.
Cuts started appearing all over the body of the Orc, but they visibly disappeared just as quickly. The speed of regeneration of the King is definitely many times stronger than the other Orcs.
It swatted at them as if fanning off pesky flies, but each time, they would miraculously avoid at the last moment. Frustrated by their badgering, it let out a fearsome roar and blasted them back. The nearby unconscious Luciette and the immobile Jones took the most damage, but all the students nearby also coughed out a mouthful of blood.
Even with the strong vitality of their race, some weaker Orcs were still injured by this tyrannical roar.
Though the five of them were relatively unharmed, their soul perception had been thrown into disarray.
With a large step, the Orc King quickly closed the distance and swung out its sword in a large circular arc.
It was an unavoidable attack that caught all of them. They hastily defended with all they had, but their opponent was too monstrous.
*Gah!*
Their team, madly coughed blood as they tumbled across the ground. It was a good fifty meters before any of them finally stopped, but they immediately took out a pill bottle and tried to replenish their energies.
The Heavenly Scent Pill given by Small became a great aid in their hour of need. Upon taking the pill, they reformed their formation. Colourful vortexes that greedily pulling in copious amounts of Heavenly Energies surrounded each of them.
The hair on the arms of the Orc King raises in alarm. Its instinct cried out for it to retreat for the first time since it stepped foot onto this arena.
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Like a breeze heavy with the scent of blood, a whisper caused the very air to chill.
“Upon this ground, I carve the flames of vengeance.
Onto the Heavens, I cast the light of victory.
By my hands, I hold both Life and Death!
I summon thee, the apotheosis of True War!
Minerva (九天玄女), unleash thy will!”
A beautiful blue glow enveloped Alan, and a silhouette of a woman appeared behind him like a guardian angel. Shimmering, hallowed, lights cast down upon him from the heavens above, and as the light touches the ground, flames started erupting outwards like serpents.
When the Orc King saw the avatar behind the boy, it trembled involuntarily. That figure is only a shadow cast from one of the goddesses, but enough to shock the King into uncertainty. To the apex warrior of its clan, this is an incredible thing that no human had ever done, that not even the previous Kings encountered.
Yet this is merely the start.
“Spirits of nature dwelth within me.
I am the harbinger of the thunderous night, of the cold winds and of the frozen north.
Restrain my fists that cannot be contained by time and space, lest all mortals perish by my wrath.
Lay waste to all creations for I am the West Autumn, Byakko!!”
A black tattoo in the shape of a tiger crept up the strong muscles of Tommy’s torso. It crept up his back and stopped just as its head came over his right shoulder.
The maws of the beast opened menacingly, then its eyes opened fearsomely, revealing two beautiful white irises that glowed iridescently. Those who carelessly looked, felt as if holes are burnt through their soul.
During his incantation, the air did not tremble like other secret arts, but a silent and unnatural stillness that washed over them all.
Even the surroundings near the other secret arts stilled. It was as though what Tommy was restraining all forms of energies near him.
The three elements of nature, frost, lightning and wind appeared one after another becoming a thunderous blizzard. Yet, the might of this storm was contained in a perfect sphere around him.
As the mighty elements blazed, the image of Tommy started distorting as if the very Time-Space continuum has fractured from his might.
Meanwhile, another incantation wreaked havoc.
“I am the one whom encompass all,
The abyss of dusk and dawn,
The purgatory of good and evil,
The devourer of the enduring day.
I am Suzaku, vermillion bird of the South!
Jim who had just uttered his incantation summoned complete chaos. Spheres of pure light randomly appeared and quickly disappearing into patches of black voids. The fabrics of reality seemed to tear open, revealing a black starry universe, before mending again.
His aura towered into the skies making Kairos and Edward smile at each other. Then they invoked their own arts.
*The five elements of creation…….
*I call into existence ….
The moment that Kairos activated his incantation, the Orc King discovered it had been frozen in place. As secret arts, each of them has a different speciality.
If Edward’s art is piercing, Alan’s is extermination, Jim’s is destruction, and Tommy’s is might, then Kairos’ is an absolute authority!
Alan spun both tonfas in his hands, creating pure darkness that looked like two rings made from black ink flowing out from the ends of his weapon. Then rearing his arms back, he flung out the two halos, and they rolled with an unnatural speed towards the Orc King.
They charged forward like wheels and tore at the King’s barrier.
Tommy’s arms also started flickering in and out of visibility as the powerful blizzard seemed to reduce in size, though not in intensity. It compactly contained around his fist, and when he threw a punch out, the storm detonated outwards in a cone mightily. It was a simple strike, the same attack that blasted back all the Orcs at East Hill.
But instead of creating just a hurricane, lightly twisted upon itself as a distortion of space seemed to crawl towards the Orc King. Yet, despite how slow it was, everyone could feel that it was impossible to dodge.
The single punch caused space and time to crack, threatening to shatter both the King and its shield into bits.
Jim’s appearance flickered between a devil and an angel.
The prior gave those nearby a filthy and disgusting vibe, as though it was something not meant to exist. The latter shone with a holy glory; the sacred light was not gentle but commands a reverence that threatens to disintegrate those who are unworthy.
Multiple spheres of iridescent energy hovered around him. Half of those spheres continue to shine while the other half collapsed into themselves, turning into black holes. Each of them was tiny but emitted an incredible power.
Copying Jones’ blade shard technique, Jim sent them like a swarm of bees towards the Orc King.
The multiple black holes drain it of its energy, and the bright orbs burn away its flesh.
Five arrows with different hues spiralled around Edward. Each was like a maelstrom in one of the five colours of creation, yellow, green, blue, red and orange.
These arrows were not made of metal but created from pure lightning. The arrowheads were frozen shards, and they do not have any feathers holding them straight and true but is instead endowed with gusts of wind invisible to the eyes.
They hovered in the air by themselves, yet those who saw them felt as though they were drawn to the limits by an invisible bow.
“Go,” said Edward in a voice almost too gentle for unleashing an attack.
The arrows flew sped, so swiftly that they were only visible at the start. When they reappeared, they were already embedded through the King’s body, skewering it in different angles.
The last of the five secret arts is doubtlessly the most formidable. An unmatched power unleashed by Kairos.
The space around the Orc King was locked immediately, taking away all chances of it to escape. The energy that the boy was amassing caused it to start seriously worrying for itself.
His Swallow draws down with an overhead slash, and even before he struck the Orc King, its skin began to wither, fragmentising into dust.
The five attacks were relentless and deadly, and at this moment there was not a single person that felt that the Orc King could survive this bombardment.
However, it was at this point that an unexpected interruption appeared. An old man they had never seen before materialised in the air above them.
His appearance was the same as one of those immortals told in stories. His aura was simply incomparable to anything they had experienced before, as though he did not come from this world.
For the short moment that he appeared, in everyone’s mind, they formed a conclusion.
“This is a higher being of existence, one that we cannot compare.”
The old man looked downwards at the veneration he is receiving and nodded in acknowledgement, then his eyes turned wide and exclaimed,
“Hmm, this is an Orc King? A rare beast.
Let me help you out since your species is already very rarely seen nowadays.”
With just a flick of his finger, the five attacks were extinguished. Even Kairos’ steel Swallow completely disappeared.