WIEDERGEBURT Act VII: Chapter 5

Lin felt a chill race down her spine as the expression on Morden’s face shifted. Dark shadows and harsh lines appeared on his face, which had become a rictus of anger and shame.

“Never in all my five thousand years of life have I been so humiliated,” he muttered, his tone as harsh as the lines on his face. “I will make you dearly regret shaming me like this. I am going to destroy you so thoroughly, your spirit won’t even be able to return to your ancestors.”

Despite the fear racing through her, Lin put on a brave face and smirked. “Come on then. If you think you have what it takes to defeat this princess, then just try it.”

“Gladly,” Morden said.

Lin did not know what to expect, but she prepared herself for whatever this man could throw at her.

Unfortunately, she was not prepared for the massive wave of death that erupted from Morden’s body and flew at her. Loud howling filled her ears as faces emerged from the black wave of energy. It was like the souls of those who had died at his hands had manifested in this attack. For just a moment, Lin completely froze up.

But it was only for a moment.

“Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!”

Ferociously crying out, Lin channeled all the void energy she could into her right hand, wrestling it into a fine point like a blade. She raised her hand above her head, waited until the death wave was right in front of her, and brought her hand down.

“Nnnngggg!!!”

Lin gritted her teeth as her hand split the wave of energy, but it wasn’t easy. The power pushing against her was phenomenal. There was so much energy rushing toward her that despite splitting the wave in half, she was still struck by errands bolts of death energy, which zapped her strength and caused acute mental pain. It felt like her soul, rather than her body, was being torn to shreds.

“This princess… is not… going to let this… BEAT HER!”

In a last ditch effort to defeat the wave of intense energy traveling her way, Lin released the void energy she had been using to split the death wave. Dark purple energy bordering on black exploded from her hand in a shockwave that slammed into the death energy. Her counterattack forcibly dispersed the death energy.

“Gaa… haaaa… haaa… haa…”

Lin huffed as her shoulders slouched over. She’d used up so much energy in that last counterattack that she was running on empty. She summoned an alchemy pill and popped it into her mouth, sighing in relief as the pill began restoring her Spiritual Power.

“Remarkable,” a voice said from above her.

Lin looked up just in time to see Morden descending. She tried to move back, but he was faster. He flew in with a powerful kick that slammed into her face. Lin screamed in shock and pain as she was lifted off the ground, flew backward, and struck the desert sands. A loud explosion filled her ears and sand covered her vision. When everything cleared up, she could see Morden walking over to her. Half of his face was missing skin, but even as she watched, the skin was healing up right before her eyes.

“Ah?” Lin muttered in shock.

Morden continued talking as he closed the distance. “I didn’t think you would be able to block that last attack. It might not be my strongest technique around, but it should have been more than enough for you. It seems I once more underestimated you. That won’t happen again.”

As he spoke, Morden lifted his right hand, which became covered in black death energy. It looked like nothing more than a giant flame surrounding his hand and forearm at first, but then it slowly shifted. The flames grew still, then moved to completely cover his hand, and then one side became sharp like a blade. What should she call that technique he was using? Death Blade?

Lin knew she could not afford to let him stab her with that. She also knew that using the Concept of Negation would not work right now. With a sigh, she let go of her control over that concept, and then reached out toward the earth. She felt the desert sands surround her, encompass her. She became one with the desert. Then her body slowly melded into the desert sands.

Morden’s eyes widened as he flew forward and thrust out his hand, but all he hit was sand, which turned black and coarse as though the surrounding sands had died.

“Come out!” Morden commanded. “Come out right now and face your death, you coward!!”

Lin did not listen to Morden. Why should she do as he asked? Instead, she buried her subconscious deep into the earth and began freely manipulating the element.

Massive pillars rose from the ground and took the shape of snake heads. Each one was at least ten meters tall and maybe a meter around. The snake heads were shaped like a cobra, their hoods flared back to make them look even more dangerous. All the snakes opened their mouth in a soundless hiss before lunging toward Morden.

They all disappeared as Morden released a wave of void energy so vile that even Lin thought she could feel her skin crawl despite not even possessing a body.

The dark purple wave of energy reduced the snakes to nothing. It was instantaneous. One moment they were all there, and the next they were gone. It was like watching water evaporate after being struck by an intense flame of over 2,000 Celsius.

“If you won’t come out and face me, then I will just kill those people you were protecting!” Morden shouted, madness in his eyes. “I’ll slaughter all of them, and you will have no choice but to watch.” A sinister chuckle escaped his lips as he grinned. “I think I’ll start with the boy. You seem to be very fond of him. After that, I will rape the redhead in front of you as I kill her. Yes, I’ll strangle her with her own hair while plunging my cock—”

Lin had heard enough. Unable to contain her anger, she released her hold over the earth element and exploded from the ground, but she was no longer a little Lamia. She no longer looked even remotely human. Now over thirty meters in length, Lin’s entire body was completely covered in black and yellow scales. She had transformed into a gigantic king cobra.

“You will not touch them!” she hissed.

Morden smiled. “So those people are your weakness. I should have known. You inferior creatures are all so sentimental. No matter which planet we travel to, no matter what sentient races we find there, all of you are weak. You allow yourself to form bonds, which weakens you, makes you less than what you could be. It’s pathetic.”

“The only pathetic person here is you!”

The Spiritual Power that erupted from Lin in that moment was far more powerful than anything she had used before. While the Lamia form was indeed useful, it also limited the amount of Spiritual Power a Lamia could bring to bear at any given time. That was because a Lamia’s body and pathways were simply too small for her to channel all of her power through. For a Lamia to unleash her full strength, she needed to master the ability to transform into a snake. This was something Lin had discovered while learning how to use the Concept of Negation.

“Well now, this is quite something.” Morden grinned. “I had no idea you possessed so much power. But let’s see if you really know how to use it.”

Lin said nothing more as she spat at Morden, launching a hail of what appeared to be dark purple saliva, though it was actually small void bullets.

Morden’s grin widened into a slasher’s smile as he raised his hand and erected a void barrier in front of him. The bullets struck the shield. Explosions rang out as the two powers clashed. It soon became clear that Morden’s shield was more powerful than Lin’s bullets, but that was okay. Lin opened her mouth wide and began gathering more and more void energy. A tiny sphere coalesced into her mouth, though it quickly grew to the size of a human head. Tilting her head toward her foe, Lin released all of the energy she had gathered.

What blasted from her mouth was a beam of vile energy, a cylinder of destruction that annihilated even the atmosphere it past in its wake. So wide was this attack that it could have engulfed a small building whole.

Morden didn’t move. He reared his fist back. Then he punched the beam.

Lin was shocked when her attack suddenly curved upward and sailed into the atmosphere. She looked up as the giant cones burst through the clouds that had formed overhead.

While she was surprised, Lin could not afford to become distracted, and so she quickly swung her massive tail at Morden. Her tail was covered in a black flame. Morden looked like he was going to block her attack, but then changed his mind at the last minute and jumped out of the way—right into an acid spray of void energy that Lin unleashed from her mouth.

“Urk!”

Leaping back, Morden winced and touched his face where his skin had disappeared. He glared viciously at Lin, who glared and hissed right back.

“It seems I really cannot afford to underestimate you. Very well. I think I’ve played around enough. You are indeed an opponent worthy of facing seriously,” he said.

Lin had no idea what this fool was talking about, but she didn’t want to give him a chance to do whatever he intended. She raised her tail high in the air and brought it down on his head. Another shockwave exploded from where her tail struck. Sand blasted in every direction and cracks formed in the ground. An attack like this would have been enough to kill even the most powerful of S-Rank Demon Beasts.

Morden was unharmed.

Not only was he unharmed, but he was holding up her tail with just one hand.

“What?!”

Lin flinched when Morden threw her tail away from him. As her tail struck the ground, she saw that Morden was now covered from head to toe in white and black armor. She could feel two concepts swirling around, mingling but never mixing. What was this? Lin had no idea Spiritualists could overlay concepts like this, nor that they could don a concept like armor.

“I have had quite enough of you,” Morden said. “It is time you disappeared.”

Lin would have made a snarky comeback, but Morden suddenly disappeared from where he was standing. Her instincts screamed at her. She only had a moment to create a barrier around herself, but the barrier shattered instantly when Morden appeared before her and kicked it. His single kick pulverized her barrier.

In desperation, Lin launched another attack at him, a sphere of void energy, but he batted it aside like he was swatting a bug, then came in and used that same fist to backhand her. The attack was so powerful that her massive body was sent to the ground. Lin hissed in pain as the place where Morden struck throbbed. It was the same soul-shattering pain she’d felt when he attacked her before.

Before she could recover, Morden appeared before her once again. Lin thought she saw death in his now pitch-black eyes. Her death.

“This is the end,” he said before attacking again.

***

Fay squared off against several Lightning Giants that were running toward the city with long, loping strides. She’d already determined their weakness. She knew what she had to do.

“These people are being controlled against their will! Aim for the collars around their necks! Destroy the collars, and you will free them from the Sekbeists’ mind control!” she ordered Raul, Aliya, Qawuin, and those with her.

She decided to put action into words by launching herself off the ground. She flew toward the Lightning Giant in the lead. It noticed her and fired bolts of lightning, but she accepted each attack head on, taking the lightning into herself and using it to fuel her own power. These creatures might have reached the Fourth State of Spiritualism with lightning as well. However, Fay’s own understanding was still a league above theirs.

Before her opponent could attack again, Fay disappeared within a Flash Step. Her body vanished like a bolt of lightning and reappeared right next to the giant’s head. She reared her fist back and slammed it into the rune-covered collar. Sparks flew from her hand as she pushed as much Spiritual Power as she dared into the device.

Unlike Kari, Fay knew absolutely nothing about runes. She could not read them, did not know their functions, and she honestly didn’t care. Her passion lay in combat and alchemy. However, she at least knew one thing.

If you could not counteract runes by creating a counter rune, then you could overload it with more Spiritual Power than it could handle.

So that was what she did.

The rune array sparked and flared erratically seconds before the glowing symbols grew dark. The collar shattered seconds later as her fist struck it again. As the pieces fell to the desert sands, the Lightning Giant slowed to a stop, blinked several times, and looked around.

“WHERE… IS THIS? WHAT WAS I… DOING JUST NOW?” it asked in a deep basso voice. It was such a loud, rumbling voice that it echoed to every corner of the desert.

“Have you returned to yourself, Lintilskudd?” asked Fay.

The Lightning Giant turned to her. It blinked owlishly several times.

“YOU ARE… A HUMAN? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?” it asked.

“You are probably confused, but I sadly don’t have time to explain,” Fay began. “You and your comrades have been enslaved by the Sekbeists. They are using you to attack our home.”

The Lightning Giant froze at her words, but then its face grew dark as lightning skittered across its body. Swirling thunder clouds appeared in the sky above its head as the gigantic creature roared.

“I REMEMBER NOW! THOSE BLASTED BEASTS CAME TO OUR VILLAGE AND ENSLAVED US! THEY MADE US OUR PUPPETS! I’LL NOT REST UNTIL EVERY LAST SEKBEIST IN ANNIHILATED!!”

“I’ll leave the Sekbeists to you then,” Fay said. “I am going to free the rest of your comrades!”

“I THANK YOU, HUMAN! WE WILL TALK AGAIN AFTER I HAVE EXACTED MY REVENGE!”

The Lightning Giant turned around and began racing toward the Sekbeist army behind him. It began hurling lightning bolts into the army before it even reached them, destroying entire swaths of Sekbeists. Crackles and peels of thunder echoed across the desert landscape as bolts rained down like hail and exploded against the ground, reducing Sekbeists to cinders and turning sand into glass.

Fay paid no more attention to the giant and focused on the next one. She quickly destroyed its collar in the same manner she had done for the first Lightning Giant. It responded in much the same manner, but instead of attacking the Sekbeist, it moved to help wrestle its comrades to the ground so Fay’s people could destroy the collar.

Nearly one hundred of the one thousand Lightning Giants were soon freed from their enslavement, and those one hundred giant split up, with some joining the first giant she freed to attack the Sekbeists while the rest helped her free their comrades. Like this, the tides began to turn as the Sekbeists overwhelming numbers became incapable of dealing with the Lightning Giants’ overwhelming powers.

All Sekbeist of the Slave Cast were relatively weak. Even the Warlords, which was the strongest among the Sekbeist Slaves, could not grow beyond the Third State of Spiritualism.

On the other hand, the Lightning Giants were all at the Fourth State of Spiritualism. Fay didn’t know if they were born with this level of power, or if they needed to train to reach this state, but whatever the case, they were more than capable of destroying anything that stood in their path.

Once she had freed all the Lightning Giants still alive, Fay floated in the air and watched as they wreaked havoc on the Sekbeist army. Every kick sent dozens of Sekbeists flying. Each punch pulverized a handful of the enemy. Several Lightning Giants raised their hands toward the sky as if in prayer, and the heavens answered them by sending several massive lightning bolts into the ground. Fay had to close her eyes as hundreds upon hundreds of bright bolts slammed into the sand and annihilated anything nearby.

Only the Lightning Giants survived.

“Damn,” Zane muttered as Fay floated back toward the ground. “I had no idea those creatures were so powerful. Watching them like this makes me realize how lucky I am to be alive.”

“The reason they did not seem as powerful was because their minds were being controlled when they fought us,” Fay told him. “I have noticed it before, but the mind control devices the Sekbeists use dulls the senses and a person’s ability to think. Because they can only follow orders, they cannot use their Spiritual Power to its full potential.”

Qawuin nodded. “It makes sense. In which case, we are even luckier the Sekbeist decided to use these… what did you call them? Lintilskudd?”

“Yes,” Fay said.

“We are lucky the Sekbeists decided to use them to attack,” he continued.

There was no denying the man’s words. Now that the Lintilskudd were free, they were liberally destroying the entire Sekbeist army. The several million Sekbeist who had attacked their city were no match for the Lightning Giants and their incredible control over the lightning element. Fay’s people didn’t even have to do anything. All they needed to do was watch as the enemy was routed.

But just as she was thinking that, a massive explosion of Spiritual Power and Pressure descended upon them and forced her and the others to turn in the direction of Lin and her battle.

Fay shuddered when she saw the giant snake emerge from the ground. She knew it was Lin, but the vile Spiritual Power wafting from her sister’s body made even her feel fear, though it was not fear of Lin herself.

“What… is going on over there?” asked a frightened Zane.

Qawuin shook his head. “I have never seen anything like this before.”

Queen Medusa watched her daughter launch vile energy attacks at an enemy on the ground, her expression more conflicted than Fay had ever seen it.

“It looks like… Lin has managed to accept our progenitor's legacy,” she said.

“What does that mean?” asked Fay. “Can you explain it to us?”

Queen Medusa bit her lip, then sighed. “I suppose I should. There is a legend from long ago that says the progenitor of all Lamia was originally a Dravkarian. During the original war with the Sekbeists, this Drakvarian decided to learn the Sekbeists power. He believed that in order defeat the Sekbeists, he needed to understand them. And so he became the first non-Sekbeist capable of using the Concept of Negation. However, learning about the Concept of Negation was considered a taboo among the nine great races, and so our ancestor was cast out of Vindenket and sealed away here on Miðgarðr.”

Fay only had the smallest understanding of high-level concepts. It was something Eryk had studied before the Great Overlord of the Seventh Realm attacked Neveria, and unfortunately, he had never made much progress. Fay did not have Eryk’s aptitude for studying concepts like that. She only knew what Eryk told her, but she didn’t understand it.

Perhaps that was why she did not see the problem.

“Why was learning to use the Concept of Negation a taboo?” asked Fay.

Queen Medusa’s smile was humorless. “Can you not feel how vile that power is? How repulsive? It feels like just touching this power will erase all of creation. I believe the nine races fear this power more than anything else. They likely believe that anyone who learns this power will become corrupted and evil… just like the Sekbeists who invaded our world and destroyed so much of our culture back then.”

It did make a kind of sense, and Fay couldn’t deny that the power itself felt vile, but she also believed the people back then were being stupid. Power was neither good nor evil. It was just power. How a person used that power determined good and evil.

She turned back to the battle and felt a burst of fear when Lin was struck down. Fay crouched low like she was about to rush over to Lin and help, but Raul suddenly stepped in front of her, arms spread wide as if to catch her before she could leave.

“Move, Raul,” Fay said.

Raul shook his head. “No, Mother. I cannot. Can’t you feel the battle happening over there? Not even you can contend with the power those two are wielding. If you go, you will just get killed, and then you won’t be able to help anyone.”

“Raul. Move,” Fay commanded.

Biting his lip, Raul shook his head. “Please… don’t go. Mom, don’t… leave me alone.”

Fay hesitated as her duty to her son warred with her duty to her sister. These feelings only lasted for a moment. She understood that she would probably die if she tried to interfere in that battle, but she could not leave her sister to fend for herself.

Fay was just about to tell Raul this—

“I finally found you, Fay!”

—when a voice she had not heard in over eight years echoed from above her.

Fay felt like she’d been struck by lightning. She slowly craned her neck to look up. She wasn’t the only one. Everyone heard the voice and looked toward the source. Fay felt tears prick at her eyes when she saw a beautiful woman with blonde hair like spun gold, vibrant blue eyes, and a bountiful figure that even she felt somewhat jealous of.

“Kari… you’re late by eight years,” Fay said in a choked voice.

With a sad smile, Kari floated down until she was standing in front of Fay, then pulled the woman into a hug. Fay couldn’t stop the tears as she hugged this woman back. Her best friend had returned. After eight long years, her best friend was finally back.

“I’m sorry it took so long. You wouldn’t believe it, but traversing realms is apparently very hard,” Kari said, her own voice filled with emotion.

“It’s fine,” Fay mumbled. “You’re back. That’s what matters.” A thought suddenly occurred to her. She removed her head from Kari’s chest, wiped her eyes, and looked at the woman. “If you are back, then does that mean…?”

“Siv and Eryk are also here.” Kari grinned at Fay’s joyful look, stepped away from her, and placed her hands behind her back. “Now then, I would love to talk longer, but I have to join Eryk and Siv in saving my little sister.”

Fay had so many things she wanted to say, but before she could give voice to them, Kari suddenly vanished. It was different from the Flash Step. That was a speed technique. If a person’s eyes were trained enough, they could follow it. This was faster. Fay had to blink several times because she couldn’t believe there was a human alive who could move that fast.

“Mom,” Raul began in a small voice. “Was that… really Big Sister Kari?”

Fay took a deep breath, then smiled. “It was. And it looks like she’s not alone.”

“Then...” Raul said, then trailed off as if afraid of the answer.

“Yes.” Turning around, Fay looked at the battle between Lin and Morden. She could see what looked like a comet streaking toward them in the distance. “It seems Eryk and Siv have returned as well.”

While she was keeping her emotions controlled, Fay was bursting with joy. After eight long years of uncertain, fear, and worry, her husband and sisters had finally returned.

***

Lin knew it was over. She had no Spiritual Power left to use, her body had reverted back to her Lamia form, and Morden was standing over her beaten and bloody figure. She’d given this fight everything she could. However, the power of this Sekbeist Lord was far above anything she’d expected to face.

“Hmph. I have to commend you. I did not expect you to do nearly this well,” Morden said.

Lin said nothing. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to speak. It was that she couldn’t speak. The damage done to her body was just that great.

Morden, on the other hand, was unblemished. All of the damage Lin had done to Morden was gone. The half-eaten face, the damaged skin, everything. This man—no, this monster—had the incredible ability to regenerate any damage he received. She knew he was using a concept of some kind. Now that Lin could manipulate the Concept of Negation, she was able to understand what Morden was doing, but she couldn’t understand what concept he was using.

Morden’s smile as he stared down at her was mocking. “Did you really think you stood a chance against me? I’ll admit you surprised me a lot. But in the end, you are still just a lower life form. You should have realized the difference in our power from the very beginning.”

This man sure loved to listen to himself talk. Lin was getting sick of his pontificating. She wished this fool would just hurry up and kill her. Listening to him spout garbage like this was nauseating. The worst kind of torture. She would have destroyed her own eardrums if she thought it would shut him up.

Finally, Morden seemed ready to end her life. He raised his hand, covered in a darkness so thick she couldn’t see his flesh.

“Well, I believe it’s time to end this. Don’t you?” he asked.

Lin tried to inject all the hatred she had into her eyes as she glared at Morden. If this was to be her end, then she planned to meet it headon. She would not flinch from death. Lin had done everything she could, fought with all her mind, and lived the best she could given the circumstances life had thrown at her. If she had one regret, it was that she would not see Darling again.

I’m sorry… Darling.

And yet, as Lin said her goodbyes in her mind, Morden remained standing in place. He didn’t kill her. The blade he had forged from death energy remained, but the arm did not move. It quivered, but that was it. It took Lin a moment to realize that Morden’s eyes had also widened in surprise.

“You will not touch my wife anymore,” a voice that seemed to echo all around them said.

That voice!

Lin’s own eyes widened as she heard a voice she had not heard in eight years. Could it be? Could it really be?

The next split second was chaotic. Lin could not figure out what was happening no matter how hard she thought. Morden’s left arm and right leg were suddenly severed without warning. Blood sprayed from the stumps like a flood, coating the ground in slick crimson. Whatever had been holding him in place vanished. The Sekbeist Lord screamed in agony as he fell back, writhing on the ground like a worm.

But Lin was not paying attention to Morden anymore.

She only had eyes for the man standing in front of her.

“D… Darling?” she asked in a hestitant voice. “Is that… really you?”

The man standing before her seemed to embody the best of both feminine and masculine traits. His powerful physique was defined by broad shoulders, a strong chest, and muscles that rippled and flexed. The green hair on his head was tied in its traditional leather band. It swayed behind his head.

He hadn’t changed at all.

The green eyes that stared back at her with so much emotion, with love and worry and a whole bunch of other feelings all rolled into one were the same. The slightly feminine but very handsome face was the same. Eryk looked the same now as he had eight years ago. The only thing that was different about him was his arm. She could tell thanks to her mastery over the seven elements that one of his arms was fake.

“Hey, Lin,” Eryk said in a soft voice. “I’m sorry I’m late. Please rest for now and leave the rest of this to us.”

***

It was a struggle not to take Lin in my arms. For so many years, I had longed to see her again, to hold her, to pet her head, to tell her I loved her, to make love to her. All the emotions that I had contained this whole time in Gudeverdenen wanted to burst forth. It was like cracks had appeared in the dam that was my emotional control.

But I knew I couldn’t do any of that right now.

There was still an enemy to deal with.

“Kari, get Lin out of here,” I said.

A woman appeared beside. Blonde hair. Blue eyes. There was no way Lin could not recognize this woman. I almost smiled when her eyes widened.

“Big… Big Sister,” Lin whispered.

“Hey, Lin.” Kari smiled gently as she picked the woman up. Her tail was so long it trailed against the ground for several meters. “Sorry. We can have our reunion later. For now, let me get you away from here.”

Lin could not say anything as she and Kari both vanished—or so it appeared. Eryk understood what really happened. Kari had simply stopped everyone’s time except her own and Lin’s, and then used the Flash Step to move away.

Sadly, she could only do this for one second, so it couldn’t be applied in battle.

“Siv,” I called.

“I’m here,” Siv said, flying down to land beside me.

“Are you ready?” I asked.

“Yes,” Siv said with a nod.

I nodded back and watched as the Sekbeist Lord whose leg and arm I severed stopped screaming and stood up. He seemed to have perfect balance despite losing two limbs. He also did not appear to be in pain. The glare on his face was quite potent.

But I didn’t care.

“Tch. It seems you’re not as stupid as I thought.”

I snorted. “Did you really think I would fall for such a blatant trap? You’re a member of the Zehn Todesharr. If losing a couple of limbs crippled you, I’m sure the others would have kicked you out of their group.”

“Probably.” the Sekbeist Lord shrugged, then tilted his head as he studied me and Siv. “A human and a Drakvarian. You must be the two I saw in the Warp Room before we traveled here. That explains why you know about us. I bet that bitch Fray told you everything she could.”

“She did. I know all about you and the others,” I said. “You are Morden. You’re the weakest of the ten, but you have still achieved mastery over the Concepts of Life and Death, and your ability to use the Concept of Negation is nothing to scoff at either.”

Morden looked upset that I called him the weakest, but we both knew he couldn’t deny that.

“So you know who I am and what my powers are. Big deal. It isn’t like knowing what concepts I can use will save you.”

“No. It will,” I denied him. “Since I know what to expect, I can plan for it.” I narrowed my eyes. “You are going to pay for what you did to my wife.”

“So that thing is your wife?” Morden grinned. “I bet it burns you up that I fucked up your wife so good. Does it make you angry? Do you hate me?”

“It does, and yes, I do.” I knew he was trying to rile me up, to make me so angry I made mistakes, but I just smiled. “That’s why I’m going to take all my anger out on you. I hoped you’re prepared.”

“Hmph. Let me see what you’ve got then. I’ll—”

That was as far as Morden got before I punched the air in front of me. Morden was too far away for such an attack to hit, but a fist of death energy flew from my hand.

I was sure Morden would have dodged, but Siv manipulated the space around him, locking him in place. The fist slammed into his chest. As a large indent in the shape of a fist appeared on his chest, Morden was sent flying backward, body traveling parallel to the ground.

That was when Siv moved again. She appeared before him within a spatial tear. Rotating her body around, she brought her heel onto the fist-shaped wound. Morden screamed as the attack sent him downward. He would have hit the ground, but I used the Flash Step to reach him before he could. I placed my hands on the ground, lifted both legs, and slammed them into Morden’s back.

A smile appeared on my face as the Sekbeist Lord was launched high into the air.

“You bastards!” Morden shouted as he exploded with power and stopped himself from flying further. He spun around and swung his arm, unleashing a wave of void energy. I could already understand why he was considered the weakest among the Zehn Todesharr. While this attack was indeed powerful, it contained the same amount of Spiritual Power that someone like Zuragod could produce.

The attack slowed before it could reach us, then a tear in space opened and swallowed the void energy whole. Of course, this was the Concept of Negation we were talking about. The attack struck the spatial tear and both techniques were canceled out.

Not that it mattered.

It was just a distraction.

Kari was already above Morden and falling fast. He had no time to move as she slammed feet first into his back. He was once more sent plummeting to the ground, but I rose up to meet him, my flesh and blood fist covered in death energy as I reared it back.

“Don’t think the same tactics will work on me twice!” Morden raged as he extended his own fist. Like mine, it was covered in death energy. There was even more power contained on his fist than my own. A clash between us would only result in my loss.

But I didn’t intend on clashing head on.

A spatial tear appeared in front of me, and I disappeared into it. The world around me became distorted. However, I soon flew out of another spatial tear that landed me on Morden’s left. Before my enemy could even realize what was happening, I slammed my fist into his face.

The sound barrier broke as Morden flew away from me with a bang. The displacement of air pushed me back, but I controlled myself, unlike our foe who was sent hurtling toward the ground. He kicked up sand like a geyser as he struck the earth with enough power to create a massive fifty meter crater.

Kari and Siv floated over to me.

“Do you think that got it?” asked Siv.

I shook my head. “We managed to catch him by surprise and have injured him heavily, but there’s no way that would be enough to kill him. Morden is a member of the Zehn Todesharr. That means his power is comparable to Fray’s and Chloe’s.”

Even as we spoke, sand exploded out of the crater as Morden blitzed toward us. There was a look of madness in his eyes.

“I am going to kill you!” he screamed in rage.

“No,” I said coldly. “You’re not.”

Morden’s body suddenly stopped in place as Kari placed him in a time lock. It only lasted for a split second before he broke it, but that was enough time for Siv to manipulate the space around him. Several tears appeared and sliced into body, gouging out chunks of flesh. As blood ran freely down his skin, the man roared in anger and unleashed a wave of void energy that destroyed the spatial tears.

He glared at us.

“Damn it! Damn it! How could I lose to you! There’s no way I could lose to a single godling, a Drakvarian, and a pathetic human!”

Kari huffed. “I resent being called pathetic.”

“It’s time for you to disappear,” Eryk announced.

“Ha! You don’t have what it takes to kill me!” Morden barked. “However, since you’re annoying me so much, I’ll give you a choice.” A small black orb appeared on his hand. While it looked innocuous, the amount of void energy trapped inside startled me. “You can continued to fight against me, you can attempt to save your friends. Your choice.”

Morden smiled at me, but it was a cold smile, and I felt a chill crawl down my spine as he turned around and launched the orb at the large group of people standing several kilometers away.

I didn’t even think about what to do as I flew off in the direction the orb had vanished. I quickly overtook the orb alongside Kari and Siv, landed on the ground before the group of stunned individuals, and extended my hands.

“Kari! Siv! I need your help!”

“We’re with you!” Kari shouted.

I sensed her manipulating time, which slowed down the orb coming toward us, but that didn’t stop it, and the amount of power contained in this attack was far more than she could currently bring to bare. The technique broke her time lock and continued on.

Siv swung her arms and launched several spatial tears that slammed into the orb. While this also served to slow down and weaken it, the attack was still far too powerful to be stopped like that. However, Siv did not stop launching her attacks until her Spiritual Power ran completely dry.

While she was doing her best to slow it down, I gathered all the Spiritual Power I had between my palms, forming at what first glance looked like a cylinder. As I closed my fingers around it, the cylinder suddenly extended and grew longer. It turned into a massive ruler at least five meters in length. I raised the weapon above my head, narrowed my eyes, and swung.

“HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”

I could feel myself being pushed the moment my attack made contact with Morden’s final technique. So this was a technique used by one of the Zehn Todesharr! It was frightening! Even though Kari and Siv had both done everything they could to weaken this attack, it still felt like I was being overwhelmed. The muscles in my arms snapped as I struggled. Unfortunately, I could not focus too much on that as I poured every ounce of power I possessed into breaking this technique.

Then it happened.

Right before my eyes, Morden’s attack split in half. The two halves flew off in separate directions, disappearing in the distance before erupting in an explosion so powerful I could feel the void energy from here. I felt sweat run down my scalp. That attack would have annihilated everything in this vicinity if they had hit.