No one had taken their eyes off the two figures.
After Valdrak’s last sentence, everyone was waiting to see how the monster would react. Mockery? Anger? Rage?
But what they saw was beyond their imagination. A reaction they perhaps had not expected at all.
"You want to destroy the tree?" Daniel muttered indifferently, as if talking about an unimportant matter.
"If you step aside, we can forget about an unnecessary battle." Valdrak nodded.
Even though this monster had killed millions here, that was also a sign of his unimaginable power. If possible, Valdrak preferred not to enter a battle with such a person.
He was sure he would win, but he would probably have to pay a very heavy price, and he didn’t want to wound himself in such a battle when he needed to prepare for the attack of that beast of corruption that had destroyed two continents.
"The first day I ca here, a few beasts of corruption attacked this tree. Then those stupid rcenaries whose nas I don’t even rember."
"Then a few clowns, and again a clown who was just bigger and carried a hamr with him. Then his father, who was an Eternal Warrior, ca."
"Just a few hours ago, these fools who called themselves the greatest and strongest army in the history of this continent ca."
"And now you..."
"I’m sure you can see the situation of everyone who tried to destroy this tree. They’re all dead. Only these few fools remain alive, and they will die too."
"So what makes you think you’re different from them? Because you’re a little stronger? Is that where your confidence cos from?" Daniel asked curiously.
But his words changed the entire atmosphere and made everyone think. His words were not wrong. Everyone who had tried to destroy this tree had been killed by this monster.
So what was the difference with Valdrak?
"My difference? It’s simple. As you said, I’m stronger. But not a little, but a lot." Valdrak said with absolute confidence.
Rodric breathed quietly.
His body was still covered in blood. One of his hands was gone, and his sacred armor was almost destroyed. But despite that condition, for the first ti since the start of this battle, sothing like hope could be seen in his eyes.
Not hope for victory, but hope that perhaps an even greater disaster could still be prevented.
Beside him, Alindra also slowly raised her head. Her silver hair, now largely gray, fell over her bloodied face.
From the mont Valdrak arrived, she had understood. This man was different from the others. Perhaps the world could be saved today.
"So in the end, you’re also a fool." Daniel laughed and didn’t say more. It’s not that he was interested in teaching fools a lesson.
In fact, he preferred to kill all three of them. Now that the tree no longer needed them, he could use them.
Valdrak’s eyes narrowed slightly, and then his gaze slowly went to Rodric and Alindra.
Both were barely standing, both near death, and clearly needed to be treated as soon as possible.
"How about you let these two go?" And then Valdrak said very simply.
Even he hadn’t expected to hear such words.
"You destroyed the army. Your tree was fed. The war is practically over. You don’t need these two to stay anymore, right?" Valdrak continued without taking his eyes off Daniel.
A cold wind passed through the field, and then he looked directly into Daniel’s golden eyes.
"Both sides rest a bit, and then we continue." That sentence sounded neither like a request nor a threat.
Rather, a negotiation between two beings at the ceiling of this world’s power. And Valdrak didn’t want these two forces, who could be a great help in the final war against the beasts of corruption, to die just like that.
A few seconds of silence passed, and then Daniel laughed. A faint smile settled on his face, and his golden eyes narrowed for a mont.
"The tree no longer needs to be fed." Then he said quietly.
Rodric and Alindra froze for a mont, but before hope could form in their hearts, Daniel continued.
"But..." His gaze slowly fixed on the two, and that gaze was heavier than any mana pressure.
"I wouldn’t mind having such powerful warriors as my dogs."
Crack... Space split apart.
As if the world itself moved aside to allow sothing to enter. A black sword appeared in Daniel’s hand.
Its blade was darker than night, but within that darkness, deep golden lines flowed; like rivers of light moving through the void.
The edge of the sword seed to devour the light around it, and the mont it fully appeared, the entire field grew heavier.
The tree’s massive roots trembled quietly, the white-gold fruit behind Daniel pulsed once more intensely.
Even the remnants of mana in the air involuntarily distanced themselves from the sword.
For the first ti, Valdrak frowned.
Not from fear, but because he now understood that until this mont... Daniel hadn’t been fighting at all. Everything that had happened was just a part of his presence.
But now he had drawn his weapon.
A brief silence followed, and then Valdrak breathed quietly.
"So there really is no room for retreat..."
At that mont, his mana was released. But not like the others. No explosion occurred, no massive wave shook the world.
Rather, everything went silent. The wind stopped, Varkas’s remaining flas went out, the sound of the ground cracking disappeared, even the flow of mana in the air cald down.
As if the world itself had entered absolute silence.
And then Valdrak moved.
As if distance had beco aningless for him. One mont, he was standing before Daniel.
The next mont, beside him. His short black sword was quietly drawn.
"Silent Horizon."
No massive light ford.
No explosion occurred.
Just a quiet slash.
And then everything in the path of that slash silently disappeared.
Not cut, not exploded, but as if erased from existence.
Distant clouds vanished, part of the shattered mountains disappeared, and even a section of the sky was empty for a mont.
Rodric held his breath.
Because he understood that this attack didn’t even have the concept of destruction; it erased existence.
But Daniel just raised his sword slightly, and the Law of Eternity flowed around the blade. Valdrak’s slash, just a mont before reaching...
Stopped. As if caught in an infinite distance.
Valdrak’s eyes narrowed slightly. He imdiately understood. Daniel hadn’t stopped the attack, but had trapped the concept of "arrival" in an infinite loop.
But Valdrak didn’t pause. He had expected this. His hand slowly rose, and the world went silent.
"Dragon Silence Domain."
Laws went silent. Even the flow of energy inside the world seed to go silent.
Rodric realized with horror that he couldn’t move his mana. Alindra suddenly felt she had lost all connection to her powers.
Even the massive roots behind Daniel slowed for a mont.
A domain of absolute silence. A domain within which everything went silent. And in that silence, Valdrak appeared.
Thousands of strikes.
Thousands of slashes.
All without sound, but all lethal. But Daniel stood calmly, and then—
Lightning.
Golden-black lightning began to pulse within that silence.
The first pulse, part of the domain cracked. The second pulse, the flow of mana returned.
The third pulse, the entire domain of silence collapsed with the sound of thunder.
The sky roared again, the wind burst free, and Valdrak stepped back a few paces for the first ti.
Not because of injury, but because of the realization that even his absolute silence could not restrain Daniel.
"I really have to say that you are powerful. Very powerful, to the extent that you could fight Ragnar." Valdrak said with admiration.
"I didn’t want to use that. I had saved that strike for that monster that slaughtered two continents. But I must say you deserve it."
His eyes were still calm, and then he closed his eyes. The space around him grew heavier.
The remaining dragons unconsciously bowed their heads. Sothing very ancient had awakened. Sothing that made dragon blood boil.
"Ashen Title Release."
Behind Valdrak, the massive shadow of an ancient dragon appeared.
Not complete, but a phantom of an ancient concept. Its pressure bent the sky.
The ground collapsed, and even ti stopped. Rodric looked at that shadow in disbelief, because he felt he was facing sothing close to the primordial ancestors of dragons.
Valdrak released his true pressure for the first ti, and then attacked directly toward Daniel.
No technique, no finesse, just power that crushed space itself.
And this ti, Daniel truly moved his sword. The two blades clashed, and the world trembled. Not just the ruin, but the entire continent trembled. Seas beca stormy, and distant mountains cracked.
Clouds split apart, even the sky was severed in half for a mont.
The shockwave of the clash caused the ground to sink and crack for hundreds of thousands of kiloters.
But at the end of that clash, Valdrak was pushed back, and a line of blood dripped from the corner of his lip.
And his golden-silver eyes calmly fixed on Daniel’s sword, because he understood that even after releasing his ancient title...
Daniel was still calm.
A heavy silence took over the field. Rodric and Alindra looked at the scene in disbelief.
For the first ti in this entire battle, soone had truly been able to exchange blows with Daniel.
But even that person was being pushed back.
Valdrak quietly wiped the blood from his lip, and for the first ti, a very faint smile settled on his face.
Not from pride, but excitent. Like a warrior who had finally encountered sothing beyond himself.
And before him, Daniel slowly raised his black sword, his golden eyes deepening. For the first ti since the start of this battle, he raised his sword with the intent to attack.
Now it was his turn to attack.
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