Edward raced to the front of his crumbling army, his wounds still profusely bleeding. The gentle rain cooled his skin as he peered out toward the battlefield. Letting down his hood, Edward untied the bandages over his eyes, preparing to leap down toward the battlefield from the hill he resided on.
“Wait! Commander Edward!” Marshal Edwin called, riding up the hill on his horse.
“What is it, Edwin? our men are reaching the breaking point, I need to return.” Edward declared.
“Enzo instructed me to bring you this. It is meant to heal you to full strength.” Edwin replied, handing him a small, fruit like sphere.
Edward ate the fruit, as he felt his body reinvigorate, preparing to rejoin the battle.
A portal opened behind Adonis, as a slender, well-built man walked out of it. Sporting long, curly white hair, mesmerizing purple eyes and a black garment of unknown material that extended from his neck, encompassing the entirety of his arms and hands. The garment reached to and tucked into his boots with a dress-like ending, accompanied by black pants of a similar make and dress boots of the same colour. The garment dampened the perception of his presence, Spectral Aura and power, making his power infinitely less potent than it appeared, making him entirely invisible to the Spectral Eyes and allowing him to blend in much easier.
“Archduke Solnur!” Adonis exclaimed in shock and happiness.
“Apologies for my lateness Adonis. I only just received word that Emperor David had embarked.” Solnur elucidated.
“You were conducting important matters, my lord! There is nothing to apologise for.” Adonis replied, walking to his side, as Gio threw Momo toward Marzen, landing on Solnur’s other side as Ariane and her corporals joined them.
Lord Vallum, Marzen and Momo looked over at Solnur, as Richard, Alexzander, Hjalmarr, Tomas, Takahiro, Amirah and Ichiro joined them.
There he is. The Restorer, he is as unique as I expected. They all seem quite complex, reading their stories. Their personalities seem to differ and clash, and their techniques reflect this too. How interesting. Solnur thought to himself.
“Good afternoon to you all. I am Sos’ul’nuruo Aiz'ein'udo, Archduke of The Grand Overseers, it is a pleasure to meet you all.” Solnur greeted, smiling softly.
“Yeah, whoever you are, we’re a little busy.” Ichiro commented.
“How dare you! This is Archduke Solnur of the Overseers! He is the greatest intellect in existence! Even before he was ten, he was smarter than every being in the Overseer Civilization! He knows every piece of knowledge there is to know, he even created fields of science and literature and invented interdimensional travel! He has fought in thousands of wars and battles and has never lost, especially to lowly fodder such as you! You are lucky yo-” Adonis yelled, as Solnur stopped him.
“You have no need to defend my honour Adonis, I have given them no reason to respect me. Not yet.” Solnur softly remarked.
“I apologise for my young subordinate, he is quite overprotective of me, as I am his carer, since his parents died in a war under my command, but I know none of you are here to here of either of our stories, so it would be best for me to demonstrate my power.” Solnur observed, unsheathing his katana.
“I can sense his overwhelming power. If he is as significantly more powerful than Adonis, we’ll need a plan.” Marzen noted, drawing the other nine towards him.
“They will begin their plans, Adonis, take the others and secure the moon orbiting this planet and begin ferrying in our forces into this timeline.” Solnur ordered.
“What about you, Solnur?” Adonis asked.
“Don’t worry, Adonis, I’ll be alright.” Solnur reassured him, pointing to the moon and implying Adonis should go, which he and the others did.
“I have a plan. We must use Lord Vallum's Dominion to weaken him, and we’ll take myself, Momo and Takahiro into the Dominion since we all have ways to counter the Dominion, and we will go unaffected within it. This will allow Alexzander, Hjalmarr and Richard to lie in wait to restrain him so Amirah, Ichiro and Tomas can each use their techniques against him to instantly kill him.” Marzen plotted, as the group agreed with him.
Vallum, Marzen, Momo and Takahiro charged toward Solnur, who held a blank expression. Lord Vallum cast the hand sign for his Dominion, as Momo and Takahiro prepared to raise their defences.
“Spectral Dominion.” Momo and Vallum chanted in unison.
“Locus of the Fallen Star.”
“Abyss of the Soulforge.”
As Abyss of the Soulforge opened, the four charged toward Solnur, impaling him upon their blades, on both shoulders and through the abdomen, as he coughed up blood, visibly in pain, but unable to do anything because of the Dominion.
This is far too easy… Marzen thought, as he pulled his blade out of Solnur’s abdomen, watching as he collapsed to the ground, his blood spilling onto the ground.
The four looked at one another, as Momo disappeared from their sight, being revealed to be the one they had stabbed. All three held an expression of shock, as Solnur waved to them from across the Dominion, being shown to be fully immune to the Dominion’s effects.
He's in another league. Even within this Dominion, he is infinitely stronger than all ten of us. Marzen thought, as Solnur stared back into his eyes, striking fear down Marzen's spine.
Instantly disappearing from their sight, Solnur teleported behind Takahiro, staring at both Marzen and Vallum as they looked at him in shock as he gently placed a finger on his temple, instantly knocking him out.
“Division.” Solnur chanted, tearing apart the Dominion with a slash.
Vallum and Marzen, not missing a beat, chased after Solnur, both striking at him, as he blocked both their blades with two fingers, sighing deeply.
“What a bother. Culmination: Oblivion Matrix.” Solnur recited, as a circular seal encapsulated the three.
The seal was filled with countless, glowing, razor-sharp blades of energy that hovered within the seal. The seal itself was rather dark, being illuminated only by the glowing blades, and the sparks of Spectral Energy that sporadically flashed and simmered.
“I apologise for using such a crude power, but you must understand that I wish to end fights. As you can see, these weapons move in perfect synchrony, cutting and piercing with surgical precision. Every strike is designed to target your vital points, exploiting the weaknesses in armour, Spectral Energy defences, or the anatomy of your body. The seal subconsciously uses my mind to calculate perfect vectors to strike, which, in a way, replicates the guaranteed hits that a Dominion outputs.” Solnur explained, as cuts began striking Lord Vallum, replicating the guaranteed attacks of a Dominion.
Marzen fought with Solnur, as Vallum raised a Resonance barrier, attempting to protect himself to no avail as the seal manipulated the blades with mathematical precision, cutting past the Resonance barrier, piercing and cutting away at him.
Solnur teleported behind Marzen, placing his hand on his back, as hundreds of blades made contact with him, cutting away at his flesh as he barely stood in his place. His wounds became exacerbated, as unstable Spectral Energy lingered in each injury, preventing them from clotting or healing. The affects spread across all portions of he and Vallum’s state of being and disrupted the flow of Spectral Energy and even technique usage.
Solnur closed Oblivion Matrix, as the six remaining fighters looked on in horror. Marzen and Lord Vallum collapsed on either side of Sos’ul’nuruo. Predicting the thoughts of the remaining six, he watched blankly as they charged toward him, as rain and thunder began amassing above him.
Hjalmarr blasted Spectral Lightning towards Solnur, as the latter blocked it with The Stormpiercer, a relic of the first age, the harnesser of Spectral Lightning that was rumoured to have split the powers of the Primordial forces.
The three physical fighters charged at Solnur. Hjalmarr teleported behind Solnur, much to his prediction, slamming him into the air with Þrumuvörður. For the first time since the fight had started, he wore a smile as Hjalmarr threw a massive boulder at him. Creating a small sphere of energy in his right fingertips, he blasted away the pillar of rock, watching as the pieces fell like small pieces of deadly glitter.
All six fighters charged into the sky after him. Richard clashed with his free arm, as he held The Stormpiercer in the other, raining Spectral Lightning on Ichiro, Amirah and Tomas. Solnur held his middle finger and thumb up at Richard, flicking him away effortlessly, kicking Hjalmarr down with him as he attempted to sneak attack him with teleportation.
Alexzander picked Solnur up, slamming him into the ground and dirtying his garment much to his displeasure, but he decided to hold back, intrigued, as he began forming a hand sign.
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“Spectral Dominion: The Perfect Prospect.” Alexzander chanted, as a small barrier spawned around them.
“What an interesting Dominion. You like to play with death then, Alexzander?” Solnur asked, as a wide smile encapsulated Alexzander’s face.
“Of course! Who does not love to face death? In death we gain courage, and in facing it readily, I become my true self!” Alexzander explained.
“Very well, I shall grant you this luxury to find out more about who you truly are. Although, I’m not so sure I would like to, given if you die, the same effect will come over to me. Hm, I suppose there’s a mutual risk here.” Solnur replied.
“Division.” Solnur recited, launching the wave of energy toward Alexandr, cutting away his shoulder to the end of his midsection.
Both Solnur and Alexzander fell to their knees, unable to stand, as they became crippled by the damage they had incurred. Before the two could die, the Dominion shattered. Alexzander began roaring with uncontrollable maniacal laughter from the infinite quantity of Spectral Energy that now flowed through his body.
Alexzander immediately sped after Solnur, taking him off guard with his incredible speed and slamming his fist into his abdomen. Immediately retaliating, he blasted him with a sphere of energy like the one he had used before, creating some distance, as he saw the nearby fighters preparing to ambush him.
“The Paradisiacal.” Solnur chanted, as reality stopped, all nine fighters were frozen in place, with only Solnur and Alexzander able to move.
“What is this?” Alexzander asked.
“Do you have a purpose, Alexzander? Is there anything that draws you forward, or more specifically, do you think your life has meaning?” Solnur asked, as Alexzander stood perplexed.
“You chose to ask me a question of… What’s it called?”
“Philosophy.”
“Yeah, that. You chose to ask someone attempting to kill you what their philosophy on life is?” Alexzander queried, a look of utter disbelief and confusion on his face.
“I did. I’ll make it very clear, I am only fighting you in this form out of curiosity, you seem attached to death, which must originate from some love for life, and some greater calling, so I’d prefer you to answer the question.” Solnur apathetically replied.
“Well, in all honesty, I like the risk of death when I fight. Nothing more to it other than that. I suppose there’s also the benefit of glory and saving lives, but in my opinion, the true treasure is in risking death for victory, it makes the payoff that much more rewarding.” Alexzander explained.
“How disappointing. Such a simple line of thought, the thought of your purpose being to risk the life you were given for the meagre reward of victory, instead of something greater, like a cause, or something valued is pathetic. At least with past opponents they have had more interesting answers, but you, yours is so incredibly simple minded. However, it is something new, so I’ll afford you that much in the way of merit.” Solnur responded, as he generated two arms made of Spectral Energy, preparing to fight Alexzander once more.
Alexzander charged toward Solnur once more, his footsteps heavy with vigour and pride, lustful with the prospect of defeating Solnur in combat. Alexzander immediately closed the distance, failing to notice Kagebōshi, Solnur’s blade, as he sliced off his arm, using darkness and antimatter to destroy him at the sub-atomic level and cripple him at the same time.
Alexzander failed to notice the darkness spreading, as his Spectral Energy automatically overwhelmed it, destroying it and regenerating his arm.
I suppose it would be better to just outfight him, for a man like him, that’ll get him to stay down. Sos’ul’nuruo thought to himself, dissipating two of his arms and returning to his regular form, as Alexzander pressed on, punching at him repeatedly, as he masterfully blocked and parried, landing counters before the latter could continue attacking.
Solnur slammed his fist into the left of Alexzander’s torso, slashing his right arm off and kicking him in the stomach, teleporting behind him and knocking him out with an amplified punch into his spine, shutting his body down despite his instant regeneration. The remaining five were dumbfounded, such power flowed through Alexzander and yet, like the others, he fell so effortlessly.
Ichiro fired a telekinetic blast at Solnur, who brushed it away effortlessly. Finding the technique interesting, he replicated the finger gun in which Ichiro fired, piercing his torso with a telekinetic blast, as he struggled to stand.
“How did you do that?!” Ichiro asked, in shock and fear, his eyes shaking with the raw feeling of powerlessness.
“I replicated your technique. It isn’t the most refined technique, but I can always improve it.” Solnur stated, blasting Ichiro to his knees with an improved telekinetic blast.
“Enough of this!” Hjalmarr yelled, slamming Solnur across the battlefield with an electrified fist, as he and Richard chased after Solnur.
Ichiro, Amirah and Tomas watched on in anticipation, their gazes fearfully watching Hjalmarr’s Dominion open, with both Richard and Solnur being trapped inside. Before even a nanosecond had passed, the Dominion shattered, as the Archduke carried both brutes, dropping them at the feet of the three who remained.
Terror spread across the bodies of the three, as the sheer pressure of Solnur’s Spectral Aura forced them all to their knees. Ichiro used a maximum output telekinetic blast, attempting to free the others, to which they stood up, being instantly knocked out by Solnur.
“Spectral Dominion: The Boundless Dreamscape!” Ichiro yelled, as his Dominion encapsulated the remaining two fighters, its beautiful starry sky showing a sense of something Solnur smiled at the thought of, the ultimate fear, the fear of being alone, dying alone.
“Thought Distortion!” Ichiro yelled, as Solnur lost his sense of perception, similarly to Dæinvorol. He remained unphased, his smile only growing larger.
“I do not need my eyes to see you, boy.” Solnur stated, walking toward Ichiro, who trembled in fear, preparing his final attack.
“Limitless Demise, Maximum Output!” Ichiro recited, as his ultimate attack was boosted to a hundred times its original capacity, forcing him to use up every last portion of his Spectral Energy, absorbing the power of multiple stars into the attack, boosting it to a thousand times, as he engulfed his Dominion with screams of anger, finally letting out the blast, destroying thousands of stars and engulfing the entire Dominion, destroying everything within and collapsing the entire dimension as Ichiro fell unconscious.
“I’m impressed Ichiro. You’re not quite on the level of Momo, even his raw power alone is double that of yours, neither are you comparable to your father, but you’re quite something, you nearly pierced my Spectral Aura, which is a feat all your friends cannot quite attest to, unless I allowed them to. Take pride in knowing you fought well.” Solnur assured Ichiro, who lay unconscious on the ground.
“Solnur!” Momo yelled, being the only remaining man of the ten to be conscious.
What astounding power, he grew to a level superseding even Ichiro’s full power blast without transforming. He is certainly a product of a most satisfactory lineage, closeness to death seems to only bring Momo's power to the surface, he is already significantly stronger than Ichiro's attack, simply through his overwhelming emotion. Such raw, unrefined power is both a blessing and a curse to such a prospect. Sos’ul’nuruo contemplated.
“It would be best to stay down, Momo. You’re not quite ready to fight me.” Solnur warned, lowering his blade toward Amirah’s neck.
Momo screamed, rage and determination enveloping him, as he shook violently as black and purple sparks surrounded him, his eyes flashing between gold, purple and white. An explosion of power, unrivalled by any that had been seen by those upon Momo’s level engulfed the Earth. Momo stood in his newly awakened Black Form, which was five times as strong as it had previously been, with Purple Form also being awakened, its power being double that which Black Form gave.
This boy truly is something special! It would be best to silence him now, before he develops a new form. Sos’ul’nuruo concluded, blitzing Momo immediately and slashing him from both shoulders to either edge of his abdomen, causing blood to spurt out, as Momo lay on the ground, looking up at Solnur in rage, despite being crippled.
“You truly are the prophesised Restorer, Momo. I look forward to our next meeting. Good luck with the armies David has summoned.” Sos’ul’nuruo remarked, walking away, ignoring Momo’s choked attempts at trying to speak, returning to the battlefield between the three strongest beings within existence.