Elder Lorthan had always revered those who bonded with higher-tier spirits, and Kaelan was one of them. But at this moment, none of that mattered.
A bitter smile graced Elder Lorthan's lips as his gaze shifted to his spirit, the magnificent behemoth that had stood beside him in all its glory.
In that fleeting moment, he found peace. For all the betrayal, for all the wrongs he had done, at least he had served the spirits he worshipped to the very end.
A faint glow began to envelop his body and his spirit, thin lines of bluish-purple light spreading like veins across their forms. With a soft sigh, Elder Lorthan whispered his final thought.
"At least I served them… to the end."
The slash appeared without warning.
It tore through Elder Lorthan and his spirit simultaneously, clean and precise. His body split neatly in two, each half collapsing to the ground in silence.
Above him, his spirit let out a mournful cry before its colossal form shattered into countless glowing fragments, dissolving into the air like a dying constellation.
The battlefield fell silent once more.
It had taken mere moments. Elder Lorthan and his spirit were gone, obliterated with a single strike. It wasn't a fight, it was an execution.
Kaelan's trembling voice shattered the oppressive silence as Atticus held him high up by the mouth. His voice was shrill, shaking with desperation.
"Y-you can't kill me!" Kaelan stammered, his words tumbling over each other.
"My father is an important elder of the Starhaven family! If you harm me, they'll hunt you down! They'll have your head! You'll regret—"
Atticus's grip tightened.
A sizzling sound echoed through the tense air as smoke began to rise from Kaelan's burning face, Atticus's hand glowing with concentrated spiritual energy.
Kaelan's screams pierced the battlefield as he thrashed wildly, trying in vain to free himself from the iron grip. His words dissolved into incoherent cries, but none of it mattered.
Atticus's gaze remained impassive, his expression cold and detached as he watched the boy struggle.
To Kaelan, this was the most harrowing moment of his life. His plan had been perfect. Atticus was supposed to emerge from the lake weak and vulnerable, and that would have been the end of it. Everything should have gone as planned.
But reality was cruel.
Kaelan's tears and mucus mixed with the blood streaming down his face. He couldn't think past the unbearable pain. Meeting Atticus's emotionless gaze sent a surge of dread through him. He knew.
He knew
. Atticus would kill him.
Desperation surged through Kaelan as his spiritual energy flared in one final attempt to escape. His body shimmered as he tried to phase out of Atticus's grasp using his spirit ability.
But Atticus's hand ignited with a vortex of spiritual energy.
Kaelan's phasing body instantly solidified, his form trapped as the energy bound him. The sickening sound of cracking bones echoed through the battlefield as Atticus's grip tightened, shattering Kaelan's cheekbone.
In a last-ditch effort, Kaelan's chest erupted with light as his bonded spirit materialized behind him.
The tier 6 ethereal wolf stood tall, its translucent form radiating immense power. Its luminous eyes burned with rage as it let out a deafening howl.
"You dare touch him?" the wolf snarled, its deep voice echoing across the battlefield.
"Do you have any idea what you're doing, human? To kill him is to defy the Starhaven family! Worse, you'll become an enemy to the spirits themselves! We will make sure you—"
The wolf's voice faltered, its confident tone replaced by stunned silence.
Its glowing form flickered erratically, and an unnatural coldness seeped into its core. Something was wrong. Its head whipped around in panic, its gaze falling on its own body.
Thin, glowing slashes appeared across its translucent form, spreading like cracks in fragile glass.
The spirit's luminous eyes turned back to Atticus, who hadn't even acknowledged its presence. That single act of complete disregard, of being entirely ignored, burned the wolf with an intense fury.
A lowly human from a lower world dared?
"You—" the wolf growled, but its words were cut short.
Its body shattered into countless fragments, the pieces dissolving into faint motes of light that faded into nothingness.
Just like that, a tier 6 spirit, a being treated as royalty in the spirit realm, was dead.
Kaelan's piercing scream rang out, echoing through the battlefield. But it, too, was silenced.
With a sickening crunch, Atticus's hand closed around Kaelan's skull, crushing it in a single, brutal motion. Blood sprayed outward in violent arcs, splattering the ground and Atticus's arm in crimson.
The lifeless body dropped like a broken doll, limp and liveless.
There was no room for silence this time. Chaos erupted instantly.
A deafening roar ripped through the battlefield as a rippling psychic wave exploded outward from Veylor's spirit. The air vibrated violently as the wave surged toward Atticus, aiming to paralyze him with its sheer force.
The wave struck.
But compared to Atticus's indomitable will, it might as well have been a child's effort.
Atticus didn't flinch. His body remained steady, his gaze locking onto Veylor and the three-headed Chimera spirit looming behind him.
There was no hesitation. Veylor's body blurred as he shot through the air with inhuman speed, the lion head of his Chimera enhancing his reflexes.
His fists lashed out like torrents of lightning, each strike carrying the force to flatten mountains. But Atticus's calm demeanor remained unchanged.
His arms moved with unmatched precision, deflecting each blow with effortless ease.
Every movement was sharp and fluid, his arms weaving through the strikes as though Veylor's actions were being read out loud to him.
Every angle, every feint, every strike, Atticus was already there, neutralizing the attacks before they fully formed.
Veylor's eyes widened in disbelief, but it was too late.
Atticus's left arm parried an incoming fist, and his right hand snapped upward in a devastating uppercut.
The blow connected squarely with Veylor's chin, sending him reeling. Pain exploded through his skull as his mind went blank for a split second.
From the side, the twins entered the fray.
The first twin's eyes glowed golden, and the battlefield shifted.
Time itself slowed to a crawl, the movements of everyone within the Void Owl's range becoming sluggish and disjointed.
The sounds of the battlefield faded into an eerie silence as the Void Owl's time manipulating power blanketed the area.
In the slowed reality, the second twin's spirit, Verdant Sentinel, surged forward. Its massive humanoid form, entwined with glowing roots, radiated green energy.
Thorned roots erupted from the ground, snaking toward Atticus like countless spears. At the same time, the Verdant Sentinel's colossal fists descended, each swing aiming to crush him.
The Tenebral Chimera moved in tandem, its three heads striking with coordination. The lion head roared, the snake head lashed out with venomous fangs, and the eagle head pierced the air with raw, unrelenting force.
The three spirits converged.
The Void Owl's time-slowing ability made their combined attacks seem utterly inescapable. The Verdant Sentinel's roots closed in from all directions, the Tenebral Chimera's strikes rained down with lethal intent, and the spirits' sheer power threatened to overwhelm Atticus entirely.
It was a combination of destruction, a coordinated assault meant to crush him beneath their collective might.
However, in the heart of the chaos, Atticus's gaze flickered.
His body shifted slightly, his stance tightening.
And then, he moved.
The silence shattered.