?453 The Majestic Empyrean Tusk Kneels
"This is…heat?" The Boar King watched apathetically as his skin melted off. He observed more of the source of the heat—the jet-black ink—approach him as he jumped into the water nearby, noticing that the ink wasn't in the least affected by it.
The heat transmitted by the ink was targeted only at him, incapable of affecting the surroundings or anything else for the matter. It appeared as ink, but in truth was burning hot plasma.
Upon gaining his Primary Nature of Human Avatar that allowed him to build using a composite mixture of minerals, Orakha thought long and hard as he gathered various minerals and observed their intended effects.
In the end, he stuck to an extremely simple ability—heat transfer.
Whether it was on Earth or here, Orakha realised that the simplest aspect of nature was that things could burn when set on fire. It was said to be the element that led to humanity's evolution on Earth. And even on Sumatra, fire was ever present.
But as much as fire was strong, it was also the harbinger of disaster. A torch could result in a forest fire. The smoke was a pollutant, and the cause of friendly fire was way too high, especially since he was preparing to face the Boar King who was an agile opponent.
Even if he manages to set the Boar King on fire, with the latter's speed, he could snuff out oxygen supply to the fire, latch it onto the Empyrean Tusks to, enter the earth to transfer the heat enough to cool it down quickly, or use water.
The simplest was to simply ignore it and rely upon the regenerative capabilities of a Mystic Grade Pranic Beast and even wear the flame as armour to counter others attacking him. If that happens, Orakha would only end up harming others.
While pondering in that direction, he arrived at a conclusion. Wouldn't everything be resolved as long as his attack became specific? Since he could build a composite Human Avatar, Orakha selective targeted minerals who combined to result in a plasma that was nuclear in nature.
The tremendous energy it gives off would be completely as heat. Best of all, this heat could only be perceived by the target. Meaning, to the eyes of anyone else, it would appear as a jet-
black ink. Even when they come into contact with it, they would only be able to feel its mass physically. They wouldn't be affected by it in the slightest.
The ink would transfer the heat being generated by it only to the target. It wasn't perfect yet as Orakha was still in search of more minerals to improve its function.
Currently, the jet-black ink would be warm to the touch for others, which it wasn't supposed to in its final product. It should also be attracted towards the target at a pace faster than what it could do currently and had many other issues.
But it was still good enough to be unleashed, which was why Orakha decided to finally reveal the abilities of his Human Avatar.
Strangely though, once affected by it, the Boar King simply observed his burning skin at a dazed state and stopped chasing after Virala.
'What the fuck is he on about now?' Orakha was perplexed by the Boar King's actions. In his mind, he thought of the varied ways in which the Boar King could have reacted to this situation. But never in a million years did he expect the Boar King to simply watch himself burn.
Orakha couldn't spend time pondering on the issue as he was launched towards Virala. His figure moved past the Boar King and continued to fall towards the location where Virala was supposed to be at a few seconds later.
[What is the Boar King planning? Why is he like this? What does Inala have to say about his condition?]
He had a lot of questions and posed them to the Empyrean Zinger in his custody. But in response, he only received a helpless answer.
[I don't know. We're still trying to find the reason ourselves. Inala told us to decide for ourselves based on the situation. That's why I revealed myself to you.]
"Tch!" Orakha clicked his tongue and focused on the boat that came in his view, observing that Virala had noticed him long ago.
Virala turned around, stared up, and waved in Orakha's direction, "After Inala, you're attacking me now?"
"Man, you guys must seriously be threatened by me." Letting out a laughter, Virala transformed into the Empyrean Tusk for a moment and unleashed a gust of air towards Orakha, commenting upon sending the latter flying away, "Go in the direction you came from."
"Seriously, this retard is smart but has impulsive tendencies. Didn't he learn anything from the First Minor Crisis?" Virala reverted to human form, condensed another boat and continued to chase after the railway, observing the distance between the two reduce in response, 'Two more kilometres. I'll catch up soon.'
As he thought, two golden flashes approached him. He unleashed an artillery strike once they were close enough, battering them out of his proximity. Using Mystic Bone Art, he mended the damage sustained by his bone boat and observed two Royals climb to the top of the railway and glare his way.
"You guys could evade before when you only needed to protect yourselves. But what about now?" Virala grinned and targeted the railway, preparing an artillery strike, "It's such a massive vehicle. Can you defend it fully?"
But right as he was about to launch it, Virala noticed a Prana Bomb had appeared on his boat at some point in time, sucking in air voraciously. A glance at it sent danger signals up his senses as Virala instantly became an Empyrean Tusk.
Prime Skill—Gravity Bomb!
The Prana Bomb was a Gravity Bomb that Virala had used in the Dralh Sea. It exploded with a bang, generating powerful shockwaves. But the shockwaves failed to reach Virala whose transformation into an Empyrean Tusk pushed away the pocket of air radially outward with enough force it easily broke through the sound barrier.
This transformed into a powerful shield that protected him against the series of Gravity Bombs that exploded in quick succession. And right as the explosions ended, leaping out of the tornado that resulted from the vanishing of the Empyrean Tusk figure was Virala in his human form—in Stage 2 form of Exoskeleton.
Transforming in and out of his Empyrean Tusk form alone generated enough power to block the attacks of all his foes, which was why Virala was damn proud about being able to become one.
He noticed the dozens of Empyrean Zingers in miniature forms tailing him from afar, with most of them thwarted by the tornado he had unleashed. 'They won't be able to target me for the time being.'
Without feeling any stress, Virala unleashed an artillery strike at the railway, bombarding it until it derailed. It was too big of a target for the three Royals on board it to defend properly. The Spirit Weapons of everyone else were just too weak against a Gold Grade Nature of Bone-Melting Artillery.
"Argh!"
"No!"
Explosions resounded amidst screams of the passengers whose bodies began to melt as they were sent flying across the place with the debris of the railway. Things became messy as more than a hundred passengers died instantly, with many more tethering toward it.
The Royal carried the two counterfeit Nature Weapons was sent away on a Spirit Weapon while the remaining two Royals intended to buy time for his escape.
"Don't even think about it." Virala roared and assumed Empyrean Tusk form. He pointed his trunk towards the escaping Royal and unleashing a powerful suction force, stopping the latter in his track. Everything in the surroundings was sucked into the truck and mashed into paste instantly through Internal Inertial Gravity.
"Ahhh, what a horrifying sight." Suddenly, a voice resounded as Virala felt the Prana circulating through his body turn still in response. At some point in time, a figure had appeared atop his head, holding the two counterfeit Nature Weapons. "The last time an Empyrean Tusk had appeared in my Empire was in the previous era. But that was as a guest."
"And not as an infiltrator like this."
He stretched his body and took seat upon a golden throne that appeared behind him. The moment his figure sat on it, Virala grunted as his Empyrean Tusk form experienced unbearable strain, as if a massive mountain had slammed into him.
The force sent his Empyrean Tusk form kneeling, causing a quake as its knees slammed into the ground.