"Ethan, this man is powerful. Right now, he’s a match for any one of us," Regis said, his eyes narrowed as Alaric laughed maniacally. "If he has another Avatar, plus his main body... I fear none of us here could face him alone."
Ethan simply nodded.
Seeing his lack of response, Regis thought Ethan hadn’t grasped the severity of the situation. He was about to elaborate when—
Hum...
Suddenly, Ethan’s figure floated up from Blackie’s back.
Whoosh!
He shot forward like an arrow.
"Keep him busy! Pin him down if you can! I’m going for the rescue!"
The move was utterly abrupt. Ethan’s telepathic ssage reached them just as he was already closing in on Alaric. It took Regis and the others a split second to process it.
Seeing Ethan approach, a cruel smile twisted Alaric’s lips. He raised his rapier, energy gathering around it with imnse pressure, and thrust it toward Ethan.
Instantly, Ethan felt an overwhelming force pressing in on him from all sides. Alaric’s thrust wasn’t just an attack; it carried a locking effect. Though it wasn’t a flashy spell like his previous "Shaking Light" or "Shattering Sun," it felt far more deadly, imbued with an unstoppable, killing intent.
Ethan’s heart lurched. He sensed that no matter how he dodged, he would inevitably et the point of that rapier.
"Hey, dumbass! Catch this!"
This ti, Ethan’s eyes darted shrewdly. While still at a distance, he raised his hand high.
"You wish! Today, I’ll skin you alive and pull out your sinews!" Alaric snarled.
The rapier, initially aid for a fatal thrust, faltered. The visceral mory of that stinging slap flooded back. In all his life, he had never been so humiliated. The killing thrust was aborted; instead, his left hand morphed into a claw, swiping toward Ethan.
"Idiot!"
The pressure on Ethan vanished instantly. The locked-on feeling disappeared. The wings on his back beat forward violently, halting his montum mid-air. Then, he dropped like a stone, plumting straight down and vanishing into the canopy of the jungle below.
"Huh?" Alaric stared, nonplussed for a mont. Then he whirled around, his gaze snapping toward the distant compound. "You DARE trick ?!" he roared, preparing to dive after Ethan.
"Going sowhere? Serpent’s Coil Strike! Say hello to my little friend!"
A voice like grinding thunder sounded behind him.
Alaric’s face twitched. This move again?
A chilling sensation gripped his spine. He glanced over his shoulder.
His blood ran cold.
Ethan’s earlier version of this move had been devoid of killing intent. But the silver dragon-patterned spear he saw now spun like a drill, humming with lethal energy. Worse, it carried that sa damnable locking effect. And the target was, unmistakably, the sa lower abdon Ethan had aid at before.
He cursed inwardly. What kind of people ARE these? Killing is one thing, but this? Why were their attacks so... specific and undignified?
If it were just Ethan, he might have risked it. But the drunken middle-aged man radiating that aura was clearly on par with his current dual-soul rged state. He couldn’t afford to be careless. He had slain many so-called geniuses, but these opponents were different. Their power felt alien, as if they weren’t fully part of this world’s natural order, or perhaps existed slightly above it.
He shot a furious glare in the direction Ethan had vanished, gritting his teeth as he turned to face Uncle Jed.
"Heheh, try my Snip of the Ancients!"
Just as Alaric raised his rapier to parry Uncle Jed’s thrust, the wind elents in the surrounding area went berserk. The other drunk, Hank, who was wobbling unsteadily in the air, bottle in hand, let out a cackle. With a wave of his hand, a crescent blade of wind, thin as a cicada’s wing, shot forward.
When it first appeared, the crescent was over twenty feet wide. But as it flew toward Alaric, it shrank, compressing rapidly until it was no larger than a man’s palm. It was a terrifying concentration of wind power.
And this palm-sized blade of condensed air was aid precisely at his... central family jewels.
"You people are DISGUSTING!" Alaric’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head, burning with fury. These two drunks were revolting. One aid for the back door, the other for the front gate.
Even Regis, watching from the side, couldn’t help the muscle twitching in his cheek.
...
Ethan, having successfully bypassed Alaric, cut through the jungle from the ground and erged behind the enemy lines. He stopped at the edge of the compound.
From afar it was grand; up close, it was majestic. The architecture had a classical, almost regal style, yet with an ethereal, mountain-sanctuary quality that could inspire awe and reverence in any ordinary person.
"You are the first to dare cause trouble on my Ascension Isle," a calm, detached voice echoed from within the magnificent pavilion.
Ethan froze. The voice was chillingly familiar. Who else could it be but Alaric?
In that mont, a wave of energy exploded around Ethan. Amidst the swirling dust and debris, he strode forward, the Twilight War Spear held loosely in his hand, its sharp tip scraping a furrow in the ground. A palpable killing intent radiated from him, like Death himself walking the earth.
"Release Amber Zane. Or I will slaughter everyone here!"
As the voice spoke, Ethan’s Senses had already located the speaker. He was seated high up in the pavilion, behind a low table set with an exquisite tea set. He held a delicate cup, taking a small sip.
But that wasn’t what ignited Ethan’s rage.
It was the sight of this Alaric’s other hand, tightly clenched around a person’s neck.
The person was none other than Amber Zane.
"I raised this woman, intending to eventually take her Sacred Body for my own," the Alaric on the pavilion said, his face contorted into a grimace. "Now that the Sacred Body is gone... I’ve changed my mind. I think I’ll kill her. Slowly. Peel her skin from her body, piece by piece."
"I advise you not to do anything stupid," Ethan said, his voice dangerously low. He swung the Twilight War Spear up, his wings beating, lifting him until he was level with the pavilion. His eyes were frozen chips of ice, a cold dread coiling in his gut as he realized what Alaric was about to do.
SMACK!
Alaric’s hand moved suddenly. He released Amber’s neck, and as she slumped to the ground, he delivered a brutal, open-handed slap that echoed across the space.
"You—!" Ethan’s mind reeled.
His vision tinged red. A roaring sound filled his ears, washing away all reason. His gaze was locked on Amber, who was sent tumbling several ters across the floor, her face instantly swelling up
RIIIP!
Ethan’s body surged forward, intent on reaching the pavilion and getting to Amber.
A sharp gust of wind shot toward him.
BOOM!
Ethan’s body shuddered violently from the impact.
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