Margaux attempted to pursue, but Evan stomped on the ground and activated Collapse, sending seismic waves through the earth and crumbling the ground beneath them.
She was forced to halt her dash and focus on stabilizing herself, but Marcel, unbound by the ground, charged forward divinity glowing on his claws as he released debuffing mist into the surroundings.
Evan summoned the Gazebind Aegis just in ti to block Marcel's initial slash, but the follow-up strike ca from his flank, hitting him faster than he could react
The force of the blow sent him tumbling sideways, disoriented, and he stumbled, missing his landing and collapsing to the ground.
'That mist…it's a debuff.'
"sarthim; Yellow: Cleanse."
The orange flas surrounding him briefly turned yellow, purging the debuffs from his body, surprising Margaux and Arthur with the instant restoration.
Marcel's reddish-brown eyes glead with a dangerous light and he ascended high into the air and gathered ambient law energy, his gaze locked onto Evan every second of the way.
Sensing the build-up of divinity, Evan took a deep breath, pulling himself to his feet and pulling back his sword in preparation for a thrust.
"Elental Destruction Fusion."
Crimson-gold ice surged along the blade, followed by a layer of destructive essence, and finally, his prismatic flas enveloped the sword, completing the three-layered fusion.
[Glacial…Descent]
Marcel activated his skill, plumting down with terrifying speed, reaching Evan in a heartbeat and swinging down his claws.
But just before they could strike, Evan vanished, reappearing behind Marcel in an instant, his sword thrusting toward the spirit's back.
"Vortex!"
A spiralling mass of power erupted from the blade, hurtling toward Marcel's back. But Marcel whirled around in a split second, his claws eting the attack head-on.
**KAABOOOMM!!!!
Shockwaves radiated outwards as the frosty energy collided with the prismatic flas and destructive essence in an explosion that engulfed the entire space inside the barrier.
The ground shook violently, debris flying in every direction—shards of ice and rock fragnts scattering in the chaotic aftermath.
Also being propelled outward, was the body of Evan who had unsurprisingly lost out in this clash of powers.
His back slamd onto the barrier wall, before sliding down to the ground, blood dripping from his nose.
Marcel's eyes glowed as the spirit prepared to finish the job, condensing divinity around his claws while Evan forced himself to his feet, his body radiating magic power in preparation for an attack.
His sword flew into his hand and his energy surged through it as he raised it towards Marcel.
Silence hung in the air for a brief second, then, with supersonic speed, both Margaux and Marcel charged at Evan.
The Rogue Hero thrust his sword forward, releasing a swirling mass of energy directly toward them.
"I-"
"V-"
|¬Alright everyone, be still. ¬|
Arthur's sudden command cut them off, and the world around them shifted to a monochro stillness, as if soone had pressed 'pause' on reality itself.
Even as the world around him had gone still, Evan still retained his consciousness.
'This…ti has stopped!'
"Good work, Evan. You're a lot stronger than I expected."
Arthur's words carried an air of both praise and curiosity as he approached the Rogue Hero, patting his shoulder and letting Evan realise he was left conscious on purpose.
"I'd like to study that Blessing of Destruction more later. It could give inspiration for mine."
Evan watched as Arthur strode confidently towards the immobilized figures of Margaux and Marcel, his hands casually tucked in his pockets.
"First off, you lost soul. I'm not good at dealing with souls so I'd leave it to the guy who is."
His right hand ca out of his pocket and he grasped empty air before commanding.
|¬Co forth, Lostvayne. ¬|
**BZZZZTTT!!!!!
Reality Glitched.
Evan could only describe what just happened in such a manner—a crack in space, a montary inversion of the world's colours.
In a split-second, a jet-black blade materialized in Arthur's outstretched hand.
'DANGEROUS!!!'
Evan's instincts scread at him the mont he saw the sword. His soul recoiled in warning, urging him to shut off his Mystic Eyes and not even dare to gaze upon that blade with them.
The re sight of the sword, triggered one of his trump cards to automatically activate.
|Threat of Imminent Death to Host Detected ⚠|
|Reincarnated Hero System Stored Authority Consud|
|Activating 'Survival Enhancent Mode'|
|Host is advised to FLEE!!|
|Host is advised to FLEE as fast as physically possible! |
SEM had remained dormant during Evan's earlier fight, as the Reincarnated Hero System calculated that, despite being outmatched by Margaux, he wasn't in imdiate danger of death.
Margaux's intent was clear—she aid to capture him alive as a hostage.
The System also factored in Arthur's presence, recognizing that if things turned dire, the Progenitor would intervene.
But Arthur's sword—Lostvayne—was an entirely different story.
"Oh my. You've finally attuned yourself to completely, huh?"
Arthur's voice carried a note of joy as he inspected the silver lines that now ran through the jet-black blade.
The sword trembled in response, as if acknowledging his words, and Arthur chuckled, raising it with the intent to strike Marcel.
|Adaptive Evolution has been triggered. |
|Ti Energy Resistance has been acquired. |
Suddenly, a surge of power erupted from Evan's body and future Artemisia's divinity, layered on him, lashed out, shattering Arthur's 'Blessing of Anti-Divinity.'
Arthur's eyes widened in shock as he sensed the disruption. He turned just in ti to see cracks spiderwebbing across the monochro layer surrounding Evan's body. In the next mont, the Rogue Hero broke free from the frozen world.
"…what just happened?"
Evan muttered, equally surprised by his newfound freedom and Arthur stabbed Lostvayne into the ground and approached Evan, his eyes glowing.
"How did you do that?"
Arthur had stopped ti using his 'Pseudo-Authority' over the Law of Ti itself.
He decreed that 'Ti should be Stopped,' a command that should have been unbreakable by anyone lacking a similar level of authority—especially soone weaker than himself.
Yet, here was Evan, having just defied that decree.
'Was it the System? Did it break from the ti stop because it wanted to 'FLEE'? That's pretty useful…'
Evan could sense that his newly acquired Ti Energy Resistance wasn't yet strong enough to break the ti stop on its own. He also felt the System do sothing and guessed it was the cause.
The System was so scared of Arthur's sword that it forcefully consud future Artemisia's divinity to break Evan out of the Ti Stop so he could get out of there.
Suddenly, Evan's body was lifted into the air, and he turned to see Arthur, whose eyes now radiated an ominous light. Although Evan couldn't feel it, Arthur was using cosmic energy to scan him from head to toe.
"What's this?"
Arthur mused, his tone tinged with curiosity.
"Soone stuffed a Pseudo-Authority into your soul? No... it's not the Authority itself but the charges of the Authority.
And they're replenishable too!"
'?!'
Evan's eyes widened in shock at Arthur's discovery, though the Progenitor seed indifferent, dropping him back onto the ground.
"Very interesting…"
Arthur muttered under his breath and seeing this, Evan couldn't help but sigh. His earlier surprise hadn't stemd from ignorance of the Pseudo-Authority within him—he was fully aware of it.
What stunned him was that Arthur had managed to detect sothing even Transcendents couldn't perceive.
'Reincarnated Hero System Authority' and 'Adaptive Evolution Authority'.
They could both be depleted and replenished; and like Arthur had just said, the charges within Evan's soul were replenishable.
Where did these two 'Authorities' co from? They weren't created out of thin air; it was all Artemisia.
The Pseudo-Authority within the RHS and Adaptive Evolution were the sources of power for these two False-Authorities. Technically they were false as they weren't genuine Authorities, even though they drew power from an authentic Pseudo-Authority.
This was why Artemisia's divinity constantly lingered around Evan's body, despite being unable to enter it due to his innate high divinity resistance.
Arthur pivoted on his heel, retracing his steps to retrieve Lostvayne. He lifted his sword before stabbing Marcel as he originally planned to.
The sword's power shattered the stopped ti around Marcel, but the spirit could do nothing except release an agonized screech as the sword began to slowly devour his existence.
'The Sword can eat souls?!'
The System's intense fear of Lostvayne now made perfect sense. Even now, it was still urging him to flee.
The world around him regained its colour a mont later, and his senses caught on to sothing he had missed earlier.
'A bounded field? When did it get deployed?'
Evan noticed a boundary line delineating a Bounded Field behind him, but before he could even begin to study it, Margaux's scream of pain rang out.
"MARCELLL!!!!!"
Naturally, the woman instantly noticed that her son's spirit was no more, and Arthur who was standing before her with a sword could only be the one responsible.
"DIEEE!!"
She thrust her spear towards him with all her might, however, Arthur just sighed and activated his Gravitemporal Harmony Unique skill, creating a localized gravitational field that slamd her down onto the ground under the pressure.
Margaux scread manically as she tried to resist it with her divinity, unfortunately, she couldn't do so.
"Revenge, huh? Logically, I understand your desire for it, but I cannot empathize with it as I've never been in such a situation.
I'm not saying you are wrong for this, and I'm not right for stopping you either.
But unfortunately for you, Margaux Bonnet, you just so happened to be on the side that was against .
As such, your revenge has co to a premature end."
Arthur spoke as he stabbed Lostvayne into the ground and allowed it to savour its al. He then seized Margaux by the neck, lifted her effortlessly, and slamd her into the ground with a force equivalent to fifty tis Aramis' gravity.
While it didn't kill her, it was more than enough to push her to the brink, placing her body under imnse strain and reaping her consciousness in an instant.
Arthur then used gravity law energy to lift her up, turning to Evan as he deactivated his Bounded Field.
"We're done here."
He tapped Evan on the shoulder, and instantly, all the injuries Evan had sustained during the earlier battle were rewound, disappearing as if having never existed.
Lostvayne slowly shimred out of view and SEM finally deactivated as there was no existential danger source nearby.
Arthur deactivated the spatial barrier that had trapped Margaux, about to tell Evan to use his 'golden chain skill' to restrain her when sothing fell from her pocket.
With a flick of his fingers, the object flew into Arthur's palm. Examining it, he discovered it was a cube-shaped Spatial Map, revealing a specific location sowhere in Northern Gledea, deep within Elven territory.
Upon peering into it with spatial law energy, a three-dinsional map beca visible inside.
"Maybe that's the location of her hideout? Oh well, I'd go check it out later."
Arthur tossed the map into his subspace and then turned to Evan who was just looking at him in silence.
"What's up? Never seen soone beat an opponent so easily before?"
"Huh? No, it's just…you're a lot more absurd than I thought. Guess there's always soone better out there."
Those were Evan's honest thoughts. Having been called an 'Irregular' for years, seeing Arthur who was more absurd than he was despite only being a year older was a breath of fresh air.
'He also saw through the System's 'Stored Authority' at a glance…'
Evan's unfiltered thoughts made Arthur burst out laughing as he responded.
"Everything in existence is Absurd.
I just happen to rank higher amongst the absurdities—nothing too serious."
With those words, Arthur cast 'Greater Teleportation' and teleported them back to Militopolis to report the situation to Alvey.
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