Evan waited silently, holding the hurricane in place through Disaster Genesis, keeping it compressed around the serpent and the central fortress.
Those within the radius were caught in its violent pressure, and only after several minutes had passed, when the Demonic Serpent and all the Demonic Hand mbers trapped in the fortress or dragged into the storm were either already dead or on the brink of death, did Evan finally begin to quell the storm.
He slowly forced the hurricane upwards, dragging the destructive storm back to the sky while maintaining its structure just long enough to keep everything within it under pressure.
Then, he pushed his arms apart and forcefully dispersed the storm, breaking it apart in a violent release that sent a wide shower of black and red blood across the entire mountain range.
The fog that blanketed the Kudatha Mountains was ripped apart by the force of the storm, scattering in all directions as the atmosphere was violently cleared.
The aftermath reached far beyond the battlefield, with the remaining wind pressure sweeping outward across the region and crashing into the approaching Tharvorian forces who had been rushing toward the scene after sensing the violent auras, hurling those entering the mountain range backwards through the air and all the way to the defensive walls of the last city before the mountains.
The demonic serpent’s body then collapsed onto the ruins of the central fortress, its scales ripped apart and soaked in blood. Around it lay the wounded or lifeless bodies of hundreds of demonic humans and dozens of near-death Senior mbers of the Demonic Hand’s Death Division.
Evan used Blink to appear above the serpent’s dying body, and at that sa mont, Leoniel leapt over from the south fortress and landed not far from him, stepping out of the fading dust while brushing off his suit trousers as he spoke.
"You turned the storm it created against it and used it to bring it to the brink of death. That’s far more difficult than simply creating a storm of that magnitude. I’m very curious, Evan, just how strong are you, really?"
Evan laughed lightly before replying.
"This wasn’t really a matter of strength. Its actions just happened to be a bad match-up for , considering the properties of my Unique Skill."
Leoniel slipped his hands into the pockets of his overcoat and asked,
"So you’ve got the Unique Skill of those flas, your ice Unique Skill, and now what? A Unique Skill that lets you control storms?"
"Natural disasters, to be precise," Evan corrected.
Hearing that, Leoniel muttered under his breath, "I’m very, very curious about the true depth of your power with all these Unique Skills you’ve got."
Evan crouched and placed his palm on the head of the half-dead serpent as he spoke to Leoniel.
"You can find out once we’re done here. Fair warning, though, you might lose."
Leoniel scoffed at that, and Evan chuckled lightly before activating Dominator’s Decree on the Demonic Serpent.
As universal law energy coiled around the serpent’s body and entered through its orifices, Leoniel’s expression went blank, his eyes narrowing.
"That’s... that’s Zara’s skill."
Evan was mildly surprised by Leoniel’s sudden words, but after a mont of thought, he understood that this was unavoidable.
Leoniel and Zara had been friends for decades, and it wasn’t strange that he had seen her use her Unique Skill before. It also wasn’t strange that he could recognise the unique flow and mixture of universal law energy that accompanied its activation.
"How do you have that skill?" Leoniel asked, a hint of coldness in his tone.
"I just got it," Evan replied with a shrug.
He used the Domination Path of Vanquished’s Burden on the Demonic Serpent and, without lifting his hand, activated another skill.
"sarthim: Green."
The green flas of life erupted across the serpent’s body, burning away minor injuries and restoring a small portion of its vitality.
Evan then jumped down from the serpent and issued an order.
"Get up and kill the remaining Demonic Hand mbers present."
The Demonic Serpent growled at the command, but its body still rose from the ruined fortress where it lay. It roared in defiance and lunged toward a nearby Senior mber who was barely conscious after being caught in the earlier hurricane, then clamped its jaws onto them, sinking its fangs into their body and infecting them with lethal venom.
Seeing the serpent act so clearly against its own will, Leoniel beca even more convinced that Evan had used Zara’s skill.
But Zara’s Unique Skill should have had no other user in the world besides her. The only way soone else could possess it would be if she had died or lost it, and Leoniel was certain neither had happened.
’So how does Evan have it?’
"How did you get that skill?" Leoniel asked again.
Evan exhaled softly.
"That’s not sothing I can tell you, Leoniel."
Leoniel started to speak again, but Evan cut him off.
"And besides, even if I could tell you, now isn’t the ti for this."
Leoniel raised an eyebrow in confusion, but a mont later, sothing entered his perception, and he snapped his gaze toward the north.
"Sothing’s coming," he said. "And fast."
Evan nodded and imdiately issued an order to Kuro.
’Bring Laurene and Liz here as fast as possible.’
He roused his magic power after giving those orders and activated his Detection Field skill at full output.
What he sensed through the skill made Evan’s eyes widen in genuine shock, and then he burst into loud laughter.
"Now I knew this would draw in so big fish, but..."
He looked up at the sky just in ti to see sothing flash like a star in the late afternoon sky.
"But this one’s a bit too big to reel in, don’t you think?"
Clenching his left fist, he raised it in front of his face and shouted, "Stout Guardian!"
A massive humanoid knight construct instantly materialised, its magic shield raised toward the sky just as the descending flash of light crashed into it with a deafening impact.
Even so, Evan and Leoniel both leapt back, creating distance between themselves and the construct, because they both knew what would happen next.
In the very next instant, the Stout Guardian was blown to pieces, every fragnt of magic power dispersing violently across the area as sothing slamd into the exact spot Evan had occupied a second earlier, obliterating the ruins of the central fortress and leaving behind a crater filled with a rising plu of smoke, red lightning crackling through it.
Laurene and Eliza erged from Leoniel’s shadow just in ti to witness the shattered remains of the Stout Guardian dissolving into nothing.
It didn’t need to be said that both young won were shocked to see one of Evan’s strongest defensive skills, second only to his Elental Shield, destroyed so easily.
Laurene activated her Mystic Eyes and peered through the smoke, focusing on the figure within the fading cloud, and what she saw made her gape in shock.
At the sa ti, Leoniel narrowed his gaze through the haze and muttered.
"A dwarf?"
"Yes," Evan confird. "A dwarf."
A shockwave erupted from the centre of the crater, blowing the smoke away and revealing the figure within.
It was a dwarf wielding a massive warhamr nearly as large as his 4-foot-tall body, with long rusty red hair braided down his back and a long beard divided into multiple braided sections along his chin.
He wore simple leather armour wrapped around his short, stocky fra, and the muscles in his arm bulged as he tightened his grip on the hamr.
Evan raised his right hand and summoned the Vanquisher back into it, and as his fingers closed around the sword’s handle, he continued speaking.
"But you’d do well not to underestimate this dwarf, because even if he’s small..."
The dwarf raised his head at that mont, his glowing red eyes locking onto Evan, and a massive flood of demonic energy burst from his body, powerful enough to be felt across the entire nation of Tharvoria.
"...he’s definitely mighty," Evan finished.
The dwarf took a step forward, his body cloaked in a faint, ominous red aura as he lifted his hamr from the ground and bellowed.
"EVAN ERIS! YOU DIE HERE!!!"
With that declaration, the Third Finger of the Demonic Hand, the Tiny Berserker, Kranul Garbak, leapt toward Evan with his warhamr raised high.
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