701 Not gonna let you go this time
The dark energy enveloping Ceano surged toward Kyle with astonishing speed. At the same time, the space behind him began to crack, forming an escape route for him to vanish as soon as he was done.
Kyle remained rooted in place as the darkness, tinged with a faint shade of crimson, approached and began to circle around his body. It didn't touch him at all; instead, it scattered and enveloped the vast empty space surrounding him.
His grip on the sword tightened. Fortunately, Bia had already left the area through the portal he had created while Ceano was completely focused on him.
'The level of threat had escalated. I can sense that whatever he is planning can endanger my life. It's time to end this.'
Kyle took a firm stance in mid-air and locked his solemn gaze on Ceano. The golden sword in his hand began to wrap itself in pitch-black shadows, gliding through the air with grace.
He wanted to use instant teleportation to reach the man first, but his eyes widened when, suddenly, countless small dark and red flowers made of energy began to take shape around him. Instantly, they began to release overpowering fragrances that overwhelmed his senses.
'This bastard!'
Kyle hurriedly stopped using his scent perception skill as he realized Ceano's intentions. But it was too late; the sudden onslaught of overpowering scents blurred his vision, and his nose began to bleed.
His head began to ring, and his eyes turned bloodshot from the intense assault directly on one of his senses. In the end, he felt as if he had entirely lost his sense of smell.
Amidst the hazy vision, he noticed Ceano charging at him with his curved blade. The man smirked at him ominously.
"How is it? It's not a natural law; it's just a low-rank skill I learned accidentally. I never really found it useful in battle, but it certainly works wonders on you."
Kyle felt a strong urge to laugh, but he controlled himself. He could tell through the disgusting sensation crawling on his skin that the scents from the flowers had also begun to corrode his body. Yet, he remained still on his spot, waiting for Ceano to come closer.
'Just a little more. Just a little...'
His head was throbbing, and his entire body was consumed by pain, yet in the middle of it all, he once again attempted to grasp the natural law of time. This time, he sought to explore its complexities more profoundly.
Although he had no prior knowledge, his desire to grasp the very nature of reality fueled his efforts, and to his delight, the nature began to resonate with him.
Kyle's eyes gleamed with satisfaction as the second shadow general's blade finally arrived eerily close to his neck. Instantly, he tapped into the natural law of time.
Ceano let out a confused and bewildered sound as he suddenly felt his body moving backward on its own, as if time itself were reversing around him. He looked ahead, and a familiar pair of green eyes flashed before him in a blur, followed by the raspy echo of Kyle's voice resonating in his ears.
"A friendly reminder: you talk too much."
With a swift and precise movement, Kyle plunged his sword deep into Ceano's heart.
"!"
Before the man could even comprehend what the hell just happened, a wave of darkness erupted from the golden blade, engulfing him in a chilling embrace of nothingness that felt eerily familiar.
Ceano's pupils dilated as his grip on his blade loosened, causing it to drop into the vast darkness surrounding them.
"No way... how?"
Kyle met his shocked and bewildered gaze with an air of nonchalance. His grip on his sword loosened, and he could feel his body growing numb. Even before he tapped into the natural law of time, he knew that his body had already given up.
Not to mention, he had exhausted all his spiritual and divine energy. Fortunately, his body still contained a bit of mana, allowing him to remain conscious. Still, he was sure he would faint any second now.
He staggered back and watched as the second shadow general's body, enveloped in the silent void, began to dissolve into the shadows, the man's form disintegrating into mere echoes of existence.
However, before his body could fade entirely into the shadows, Kyle reached out his hand and caught the fleeting wisps of dark energy slipping away from Ceano's body, which turned into a hollow shell.
"Not gonna let you go this time..."
Kyle chuckled softly as the energy in his grasp fought to break free. This time, what he caught wasn't merely a remnant of what was real; it was a real fragment of the second shadow general's soul.
He tightened his grip, and the fragment of soul scattered into energy, leaving behind nothing but faint, luminous particles.
"Next time... it won't be merely a fragment of your soul. It will be your entire existence that will disappear in my grasp."
His eyelids began to grow heavy as the air around him became stagnant, with many voids forming in the space to consume every speck of spiritual energy.
Kyle shook his head to prevent his consciousness from fading. With great effort, he managed to store his sword in his mind space and create a somewhat stable portal behind him, using the last of his mana to reach Bia.
But just as he was about to plunge into the portal, he caught sight of two middle-aged men arriving on the scene: a white-haired dwarf and a dark-haired human.
His final thought was that the two individuals looked vaguely familiar, as if he had encountered them before, just as his body vanished into the flickering portal that disintegrated into numerous particles.
"Ah... it seems we are late."
Odiak's deep voice echoed in the dark space as he sighed regretfully and watched the fading particles. His gaze shifted to the numerous voids that had formed in the air after Kyle unleashed his sword art.
They were wreaking havoc, devouring everything in their path, even the very essence of space itself.
"But that young kid... what the hell? How can he be so powerful already?"
He cast a sidelong glance at the man dressed in casual attire, whose presence was completely concealed by an artifact, and narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
"Did you deceive everyone when you said that the human with the Celestial essence and the one my artifact chose as its host haven't even attained the divine rank?"
James's gray eyes flashed with incredulity. According to the piece of his soul that had returned to him, both Kyle and Alec were far from the divine rank. There was no reason for him to lie about this. So why was this old fellow blaming him?
"I didn't. You know I'm still not fully healed, yet you dragged me here, claiming it could be our chance to capture a piece of Ceano's soul and find his whereabouts through it. But I have to say, Kyle has gotten incredibly powerful. He just defeated one of Ceano's bodies so easily without anyone's help."
Odiak's eyes grew even more suspicious when James tried to change the topic. He stared intensely at the man.
"You say you didn't lie, but do you realize it hasn't even been ten years since the piece of soul you left on the blue planet returned? How did the youngsters become so strong in such a short amount of time?"
He rubbed his chin, a thoughtful yet perplexed expression on his face.
"It all just doesn't add up. First, Kyle and his group, whom Elizabeth encountered in the Gladiator Arena, came from the blue planet, which was isolated from the outside world and lacked a lot of knowledge. Second, that planet lacked the resources necessary to help someone reach the divine rank."
James shook his head at him. He just wanted to rest, but this old man was giving him a headache with all his questions.
"Why can't you accept the fact that the youngsters are geniuses? That's why they have become so powerful in such a short amount of time... unlike us. Anyway, I don't think we can locate Kyle now that he has left through a portal, especially since I can't detect any remnant coordinates."
He turned around as the space behind him began to crack to form a route that would directly take them to their destination.
"Let's head back; we can't be away from the seals for too long, or who knows what the dark side might do while we're gone."
Odiak nodded. The dwarf still had questions about how Kyle and his group had gained such immense strength in such a brief period. But then he remembered the Ancient Lumbra Realm he had sealed on the blue planet. At that time, James had left to battle the third shadow general who had injured Elizabeth, and the dark race that resided on the blue planet began causing chaos, so he had trapped them in that realm in a fit of anger.
Perhaps the youngsters entered that realm and found the divine essence James had left behind with his bonded beast?
"Wow... just how fortunate do they need to be to find the divine essence in such a vast realm? That's the only thing that could have helped them reach the pseudo-divine rank since it's hard to achieve the Ascendant state, even if your talent is (SSS+)-rank."
James stepped into the crack and disappeared before the dwarf could ask him any more questions. Odiak watched his fading figure and let out a wry smile.
"I know you're thinking it's due to the Celestial essence Kyle possesses within his body. But what you might not realize is that the essence is merely a guarantee of the potential to reach the Celestial rank. To truly achieve that rank, a person must invest the necessary effort themselves."
He wouldn't have so many pointless questions if only Kyle had grown stronger. But it's not just him; everyone standing by his side is becoming a formidable force.
"The balance of power in the universe is about to shift once more. Hopefully, they won't turn to the dark side... Well, at least Alec would stand by our side since Soul would lead him to me."
With a soft hum, he also stepped into the crack and vanished from the space.
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