Chapter 405: Recklessness [Part 1]
Northern's declaration hung in the air for a heartbeat before he exploded into motion.
The twin-bladed staff Grengar whirled in his hands, its black-purple sparks leaving trails of light in the air as he charged towards Koll.
The room seemed to blur around them as Northern's enhanced speed kicked in, his form becoming a streak of darkness.
Koll's eyes widened, his emotionless mask cracking for an instant as he raised his spears to defend.
The clash of weapons rang out like thunder, reverberating through the white room.
Northern pressed his advantage, each strike of Grengar coming faster than the last, forcing Koll to give ground.
"Impressive," Koll grunted, his froggy voice strained as he parried blow after blow. "But your speed alone won't be enough!"
As if to prove his point, Koll's form suddenly split into three identical images.
Chaos eyes narrowed, easily following every single one of them; tracking the real Koll among the other ones was as easy as seeing with already opened eyes.
He spun Grengar in a wide arc, dispelling the false images and forcing Koll to leap back.
"Your speed won't be enough," Northern mimicked, pressing forward. "And you think the best way to counter that is with illusions?"
Koll's eyes narrowed, a flicker of surprise crossing his features. He frowned a second later and swung his spear-more of a gesture than an attack.
The scarlet flames surrounding Koll intensified, coalescing into solid forms.
Fiery constructs resembling twisted, demonic creatures emerged from the inferno, their eyes glowing with malevolent intent.
They charged at Northern, forcing him to divide his attention.
Northern gritted his teeth, Grengar becoming a blur as he fended off both Koll and the fiery minions.
Each time he struck down one of the constructs, it exploded in a shower of embers, only to reform moments later.
"Damn it," Northern muttered, feeling the strain of using Windstride and Speed burst every time he moved.
'Crap, I need to bring this battle to an end.'
Like he had once done before, Northern released an outrageous amount of his Void energy, unleashing a wave of darkness that swept through the room.
The fire constructs wavered, their forms destabilizing as the Void essence consumed them.
Koll stumbled back, his own flames flickering as they fought against the encroaching darkness.
Taking advantage of the momentary reprieve, Northern focused his energy into Grengar.
With a roar, Northern unleashed a flurry of strikes, each one leaving trails of Void essence in its wake.
Koll's spears moved in a desperate defense, but even his inhuman speed wasn't enough.
Northern's assault broke through, scoring hits across Koll's body.
Golden ichor flowed from a dozen wounds, sizzling as it hit the ground.
But Koll wasn't finished; he suddenly stopped and slammed his spears into the ground.
The entire room shook, and pillars of scarlet flame erupted from the floor.
Northern was forced to dodge and weave, appearing and disappearing in several locations in order to avoid the pillars.
"You have come so far and impressed me well enough. Indeed you are a worthy opponent," Koll growled, his wounds already beginning to close. "But I have more important tasks at hand."
The scarlet flames coalesced once more, this time forming a massive, serpentine dragon. Its eyes blazed with fury as it lunged at Northern, jaws wide and ready to devour him whole.
Northern's eyes widened, but he stood his ground. At the last possible moment, pillars of black flames suddenly began to burst out of the ground.
The dragon, however, dodged the pillars skillfully. Northern's eyes gleamed with enjoyment as he coalesced the black flames, forming a massive serpentine dragon with dark, hollow eyes.
The dragon was as black as the night, filling the entire space with darkness as it blasted towards Koll.
Before it could get to Koll, Koll's flame dragon crashed into it, both of them rolling to the side and twisting around each other.
They thrashed around, black and red flames spilling around, until they crashed into one of the sturdy chains and broke its grip on the prism.
The entire room trembled tremendously immediately this happened.
This caused a worrisome look on Northern's face. But Koll looked like he already knew what was happening.
'I feel Formless getting stronger...'
Northern could feel his ability to take on the form of anything becoming more vivid; he was glad but was not about to make this entire fight an experiment.
So he opened his hand...
Shringgg
Koll's face paled as a black lance appeared in Northern's hand.
"Wh-what is that?"
"Stuttering? Oh dear, finally some development." Northern grinned and slung the black lance at him like a javelin.
Koll blitzed away from where he was circling the room to the opposite side before coming to a
stop.
The moment black lance plunged into the white ground, it exploded and, like a massive invisible blade, it split the entire room into two from that point.
Everything in the room was cleanly carved. Even the last remaining chain.
'I tried to fill it with more void essence...'
He could never stop getting surprised at the kind of power black lance possessed. It was the strongest skill after Chaos.
Hitting someone directly with Black lance was a one-hit kill. Even Koll seemed to have known that much, considering how he ran half the entire room to get away from it.
The room trembled once again and was beginning to tilt, both separated sides were slowly drifting away from each other, tilting downwards, about to fall into the pitch black abyss
below them.
Northern had to find a way to keep himself from falling; he assumed that Koll was going to do
the same too.
However, his eyes widened in surprise as he saw Koll lunge towards him, ignoring the
impending collapse of the space.
The ferocity in Koll's attack was palpable, his spears leaving trails of scarlet flame as they
sliced through the air.
With the room tilting and breaking apart, Northern had to act fast. He had no response but to match Koll's recklessness with a crazier recklessness of his own.