"You... you're different," Jinkan said at last. Her eyes scanned him intently. "How?"
She insisted the question, while Eeshoo remained silent beside her, watching with an unreadable gaze.
Ery gave a brief explanation-only that what they had seen was an alternate body. He deliberately withheld the deeper truth. As he spoke, his eyes flicked between the two Nephilim nobles, his expression growing more complex.
He wanted to call them friends. Their shared past, the dangers they had faced together, and the lengths they had gone to in this ancient domain all weighed heavily on him. Yet trust was another matter entirely. They were Nephilim nobility. No matter their personal intentions, their loyalties were bound to their faction. Even if they wished to help him, there would always be limits imposed by blood, duty, and authority.
No-he had to proceed carefully.
"She isn't here," Ery said at last. "Let's go back."
With the trial completed, the return journey through the domain would have been far easier than the descent. Even so, Ery had no patience left to spare. With his current mastery-and the spatial familiarity granted by his Dark Avatar -it took them only an hour to cross the entirety of the ancient domain and arrive at its outer exit.
Throughout the journey, Ery's mind churned with questions and plans to find Klea.
They stepped out into the sanctum's boundary zone.
As they did, Ery's gaze subtly swept the surroundings. He noted the positioning of the guards, the control points-every detail that might reveal how soone could have entered or exited the domain unnoticed.
Jinkan's Grand Magus guards visibly relaxed upon seeing their return safely.
"I'm sorry we couldn't find her," Jinkan said. "What's your plan now?"
Ery examined her closely, searching for any trace of deception or complicity. Then, deliberately, he tested her.
"Have you inford the Grand Overseer about this?" he asked.
"No... not yet," Jinkan replied, hesitating as if weighing her words.
"Do so," Ery said calmly. "Tell when you hear anything"
The directness of his tone caught her off guard. Jinkan stared at him, clearly startled by what sounded less like a request and more like an instruction. The grand magus guard bristled visibly at his side.
Ery ignored both reactions.
Instead, he turned to Eeshoo, his gaze sharpening. "I believe we have sothing to discuss. Lead the way"
Eeshoo did not reply. He simply nodded.
Without another word, the two departed, leaving Jinkan behind with her guard.
They flew across the sanctum toward one of its inner facilities
An arena reserved for sanctioned trials and high-level duels. They descended at its center, landing opposite one another on the frost-marked stone.
It was obvious now.
"Discuss" had never ant conversation.
From the mories carried by his Dark Avatar, Ery understood the tension well. Eeshoo's awkwardness during their earlier eting had not been hostility -it had been disappointnt.
With Ery's true Grand Magus realm revealed, it reignited the old rivalry that had never truly faded.
"I've been waiting for this," Eeshoo said, his gaze sharp and unwavering. "But you didn't lure here just to fight. What do you want?"
Ery raised a single finger.
"One year," he said calmly. "If I win, you will assist in finding Klea for one full year. Even if it ans acting against your own faction."
This was exactly what Ery needed. He could not rely on Jinkan-her position bound her too tightly to Nephilim politics. But Eeshoo was different. His character, his pride, and the very fact that he would even accept such a challenge were proof enough that he could be trusted once his word was given.
To Ery's surprise, Eeshoo accepted without hesitation.
"And if you lose?" he asked coolly.
Ery rolled his shoulders, his aura rising as he prepared for battle.
"Then you may ask for anything," he replied. "But I won't lose."
"Hah."
Eeshoo's lips curved into a rare, genuine smile. "Don't be so sure."
The air between them tightened.
A rare smile curved across Eeshoo's face.
The mont their auras collided, the arena itself seed to recoil.
Eeshoo did not hesitate in the slightest. The restraint he had shown monts earlier vanished as he released the full extent of his domain. Blazing radiance erupted behind him as majestic wings of solar fla unfurled from his back, each feather composed of condensed cosmic fire. The temperature in the arena skyrocketed, the ground beneath them glazing into molten crystal as divine heat flooded the space.
With a sharp gesture, Eeshoo unleashed his arsenal.
Seventy-two Soaring Shuttles burst forth in perfect synchronization- Nephilim-exclusive flying artifacts forged from sun-gold and cosmic alloys. Each one humd with autonomous intelligence, orbiting him like a stellar formation. Individually, every shuttle was comparable to a top-grade artifact. Together, their value eclipsed most Tier 7 treasures entirely. They shifted constantly, forming rotating arrays, overlapping attack vectors, and interlocking suppression fields that sealed the sky itself.
Ery answered calmly.
Two artifacts appeared in his hands.
The [Chromacircle Rings] spun into existence around his arms, prismatic arcs of condensed force rotating with razor precision, while the [Fourfield Dawns] unfolded around him as a layered defensive construct-four interwoven light-fields designed to disperse impact, redirect energy, and stabilize space. One was pure offense. The other, absolute defense.
Their first exchange was explosive.
Beams of solar annihilation rained down as the Soaring Shuttles fired in unison, converging into spiraling death patterns. Ery t them head-on. Chromatic blades erupted from his rings, slicing through the incoming fire, but the sheer density of power forced him back. The Fourfield Dawns shuddered violently as mirrored shields fractured under sustained pressure.
These artifacts were never ant to defeat Eeshoo.
They were probes.
"Show your real strength!" Eeshoo demanded, his voice echoing across the arena as his formation tightened, the shuttles beginning a lethal compression
maneuver.
Ery did not answer with words.
He reached behind him.
Light erupted.
The shining blade of Excalibur erged, its jeweled hilt blazing as ancient authority flooded the battlefield. This ti, Ery did not restrain himself. His aura surged outward-vast, layered, terrifying-carrying the resonance of
cosmic alignnts harmonized into a single will.
Every breath drew in heaven and earth.
When Ery swung the sword, the Dao followed.
A single arc of light tore across the sky, infused with the Dao of Heaven and Earth, carrying both creation and annihilation within its edge. The strike detonated through the Soaring Shuttle formation, cleaving multiple of them, scattering them across the arena like dying stars.
Eeshoo stilled for half a heartbeat.
"Two... two Cosmos?" he muttered, disbelief flashing across his face.
Then he laughed.
Not fear.
Excitent.
"So that's it," he said, eyes blazing. "That's what you've beco."
Eeshoo abandoned his stationary command stance at once. The wings on his back flared brighter as he launched forward, his formation breaking into high-speed pursuit mode. At the sa ti, Ery's Icarus Wings ignited- streams of golden-green light unfurling behind him as he surged into the air to
et him.
The battle moved to the sky.
They beca blurs of light and fla, colliding again and again in midair. Eeshoo's seventy-two weapons flowed like a living constellation, shifting formations constantly-spear arrays, cage fields, rotating guillotines-each maneuver refined through centuries of Nephilim combat doctrine. Ery answered with overwhelming mobility, his movents bordering on precognition as Excalibur carved through space itself.
Dominance t precision.
Speed t authority.
Below them, the arena began to filled with sanctum mbers gathered in
stunned silence, drawn by the clash of cosmic powers. Jinkan arrived aswell, her expression tightening as she realized what she was witnessing. Atlas
followed shortly after.
They watched in disbelief.
Ery was not rely enduring.
He was controlling the battle.
Every ti Eeshoo pressed forward, Ery countered perfectly-forcing
openings, driving the Nephilim genius further back. And yet, Ery himself was not unscathed. Even with his advantage, Eeshoo's mastery was terrifying. This
was a man who could rival most two-Cosmos beings while standing at the peak
of one.
But Ery was no longer bound by conventional limits.
After dozens of clashes-each one more violent than the last-the battlefield
finally stilled.
Eeshoo hovered in the air, his formation fractured, several shuttles disabled.
His wings dimd slightly as he exhaled, eyes locked onto Ery with
sothing new in them.
Recognition. Respect.
"...You win," he said at last.
The words carried no bitterness.
Only truth.
The arena fell silent.
X X X X X
User Comments
0 comments from readers