Almond knew something was off as he dealt a killing blow, but he wanted to destroy the Artifact as soon as possible.
However, he wasn't expecting a full-on revival with a stronger aura.
Zanathriel's stats literally increased by 10% and he looked in his peak condition!
"What?! Fuck," Kexell growled while two Neos punched him, causing Kexell to curse again as he focused on the fight.
Almond frowned.
'If I can't kill him, I'll kick him away!'
His eyes flickered as a hazy black ring manifested around Zanathriel, ready to devour him and send him several thousand kilometers away.
However, a deathly black pulse shot out of Zanathriel's body, dispersing Almond's ring.
"That's not happening."
Zanathriel's figure blurred while his spear shot at Almond again, turning into five spears instantly while they were halfway.
Almond waved his hand as a flickering blade severed them, while Zanathrial appeared to his left with a blinking blackened right arm swiping at him.
Almond felt danger bells and blinked away, teleporting twenty meters away. However, his vitality still dropped slightly.
"Whisper of Death. I've locked on to you, so no amount of space will save you from getting affected by my death's call as long I can perceive you."
"If you think you can kill me easily, then you're dreaming," Almond narrowed his eyes as his vitality recovered. "If you have Whisper of Death, then I have Whisper of Life, coincidently, I named it this way even though I am not using the Life element."
"Who asked?" Zanathriel chuckled as black spots appeared plastered in the air around Almond before they released spikes at him.
Meanwhile, the tattoos on Zanathriel's body glimmered, and a majestic black wing formed on his back while he was covered in sleek semi-liquid armor.
He appeared right as Almond teleported to dodge from the spike, his speed utterly fast.
But not faster than Almond who could easily track him with his spatial awareness.
Sparks flew and space shook as sword and spear clashed with an even greater intensity.
Almond was stronger, but killing Zanathriel appeared tricky.
His All-Seeing Eyes could scan everything, but to see through the Conceptual Powers, he'd have to feel, experience, and gain a slight understanding of it for his eyes to work, especially against Arcane Champions.
And Zanathriel had a power enforced by his will that allowed him to literally revive.
If Kexell was undying, whose vitality couldn't reach zero that easily, then Zanathriel was a death-rider, someone who thought of death as a daily occurrence.
And for these Arcane Champions, the only way to overe their powers was by overing their will.
*Clash!*
Almond's sword fiercely blocked a piercing attack, and then his sword suddenly dissolved into fine nano-threads in a spiral shape that flickered with blinking lights, buzzing with a hum of death as they phased through Zanathriel with utter sharpness of Almond's peak energy structure containing selected attributes of his Space, Sand of Vibrant Wave, Prism Resonant Lumeir, and his Spiral Edge Concept that conjoined with All-Severing Blade.
This attack essentially ignored all defense with the way it was structured.
And the result? Zanathriel turned into billions of pieces and scattered like a spray.
Without hesitation, Almond vanished and arrived before the Golden Dragon Emperor, his sword flowing at his neck.
'So fast?!' Golden Dragon Emperor was utterly shocked because only now did he realize Almond's stats were higher than his and why Zanathriel was constantly oppressed by him.
Unfortunately, Almond's attack invoked a protective response in him, which left the Artifact unguarded.
Almond's eyes flickered as a blade manifested, intended for the Artifact's destruction.
However, just before it could hit the Artifact, a flicker of red and dark blue lightning struck Beads and covered them, protecting them from Almond's slash projectile.
'Kexell, keep him occupied!'
'I'm trying!'
Alas, Almond couldn't get another chance as Zanathriel revived again.
'Neo, we have to finish this fast. Almond's bat sense and style are utterly unpredictable and his attack speed is higher, so I am not getting enough time to counterattack. We are at a stalemate.'
Neo didn't reply right away and fell into thought. 'Stalemate? Does he think he can revive an unlimited amount of time?'
Neo wanted to know Zanathriel's limit. During their sparring, Zanathriel died six times and was revived, and ultimately, Neo tasted a loss according to the duel's rules.
'We just need to destroy Earth's base, and we'll win, but this is a job we can't do ourselves as we have to keep Almond and Kexell occupied. I've sent people from all three forces to sneak at the base and destroy it, so hold on for a bit more.'
Although Neo was saying that, he didn't believe that the people he sent could do that.
He knew Earth would have placed measures to protect their base, but the question was how prepared were they?
Neo wanted to find that out.
'Three teams already failed, but there are six more.'
Lily, Rudra, and other old monsters were killing and holding back their strong powerhouses, but Neo's subordinates were giving them annoyance.
But Neo's subordinates were also the ones who died the most because the top powerhouses of Earth were targeting them as they were stronger than others.
Earth's side was also getting casualties now, but nobody 'actually' died yet as they were teleported safely with Almond's mechanism he had put in the armor sets. It was a Spatial Mark that would activate when their vitality was dangerously low. Upon activation, they would teleport back to the base where more supplies of healing potions and other potions were stored.
After recovering, they join the battle again.
A few old monsters also had their Spatial Marks activated, especially Arjun because he was dealing devasting damages with his arrow to multiple powerhouses while also wiping out weaker ones in collateral damage, so he almost died with a focused attack from the enemy's top powerhouses.
But the old monsters had awesome synergies, so they improvised and constantly stayed on the move while switching their targets to each other.
Those who had greater control skills moved onto quick assistance of those who focused on attacking and killing while those with better defense skills utilized their multiple specialties to keep the team stable.
Meanwhile, as Almond was about to kill Zanathriel for the third time, he felt something.
'Meliora!'
Meliora the Elixir of Chaos had successfully transitioned into a Spirit Lord!
Almond forcefully froze Zanathral briefly before launching a fatal skill. But Zanathriel suddenly shrank into a black orb upon death as if he had pre-determined this execution and exploded.
Moreover, the explosion produced glimmering black smoke that homed onto Almond, his vitality lowering.
Almond snorted, his figure turned half-ethereal before glowing blindingly as he overwrote his information before he was affected by Zanathriel's Death Sigil, causing the smoke to disperse.
Almond summoned Meliora and sent her to the battlefield. 'Meliora, kill all enemies en mass! Spread your chaotic poisons to the enemy ranks.'
manding her, Almond teleported her to the frontlines to deal with enemy top powerhouses alongside Lily, and old monsters.
Meanwhile, a black spot appeared in the sky from which Zanathriel emerged, revived and renewed.
But his eyes displayed a hint of frustration.
'Neo, I have more chances of killing you than this Almond. His conceptual power of recovering somehow directly counters my Endless Death!'
Zanathriel's Endless Death was a conceptual power fueled by not only a conceptual meaning but also Death and Vaylith (Advance Element made from Wind Darkness).
However, Almond's pure conceptual power of Spirit Animation directly countered it.
Even Neo's top health recovery means and cleansing was affected by Zanathriel, and he lost the duel ultimately.
'Switch. I'll deal with Almond, you deal with Kexell.'
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