A few seconds after the Death Hour had begun, a thin plasma layer formed at the bottom of the Dralh Sea, gradually moving up as its heat intensified. And immediately in response, like a bullet, dozens of Empyrean Snappers dived deeper into the water, using Subtle Terrain Domination to accelerate towards the plasma layer.
"Shit!" Brangara cursed as he used a combination of Shredded Lunge and Drifting Tunnel to flee, intending to return an hour later. Of course, he didn't have the chance.
[You're inside our trap!]
The First Empyrean Snapper roared as the Empyrean Snappers formed an encirclement around Brangara using the time he caught a breather. Using Subtle Terrain Domination, they placed their necks tangentially and cranked their power to the limit, pulling the water from their heads towards their neck.
A vortex was created as all 45 Empyrean Snappers did the same, causing it to grow in strength rapidly. In a matter of seconds, the vortex had grown strong enough to make even the Empyrean Snappers struggle to control it.
After all, the Death Hour's condition meant an endless supply of kinetic energy, which was what they had funnelled into the vortex. Now, it had become self-sustaining. Vapour formed due to the intense heat, but under the constantly growing pressure, it was compressed to a state denser than its liquid form.
As the kinetic energy continued to build up, the vapour became no different from blades of death capable of harming even the Celestial Boar's body. Caught in the storm of the blade rush was Brangara, struggling to escape.
He created Drifting Tunnels in an effort to blockade the vortex but failed, for the vortex had grown too strong. Seeing it fail, he changed tactics, relying on his strongest means to counter everything thrown at him—switching forms.
Brangara switched to human form, creating a vacuum in the space his Celestial Boar form occupied. As the water around him rushed in, the portion of the vortex surrounding him shrunk in girth. Immediately after that, he grinned, assuming Celestial Boar form, rapidly pushing out the water.
Blood sprouted like a geyser from all over his body as the vapour blades shredded through a good portion of his muscles, turning him weak. But the damage wasn't worrisome. After all, he had fifty Natures of Bloody Affection to rely upon.
The blood spilling from his body was pulled towards him through the suction force of fifty Natures of Bloody Affection, which further acted to impede the momentum of the vortex. Once they approached him, they layered his body, forming a robust armour that allowed him to tank more damage without worries.
Once the armour was done, he switched to his first body that had finished healing by now, heaving a sigh in relief as he spammed a few Natures—stacked thirteen times—of Shredded Lunge to weaken the vortex to an extent it was damaging, but not life-threatening to him anymore.
His mind clocked as he observed the positions of the Empyrean Snappers and positioned himself closer to the conical section of the vortex, using its rotation to spin himself. In a second, his body's rotations synchronised with the vortex's, alarming the Empyrean Snappers, for they understood what he was attempting now.
Astral World—Eddy Bladex20!
Since his body was spinning rapidly, it was easier to gather Prana in his arms, using which he condensed 6000 units of Prana in the fraction of a second to condense an Eddy Blade which reached a length of four kilometres.
The vortex had destroyed most of the blood armour covering him, but that didn't matter, since his attack was successful. Same as in the past, there was a flash, following which, three Empyrean Snappers were severed.
But of course, the fight wasn't subsiding anytime soon. While he made the groundwork to kill three Empyrean Snappers, a group of Empyrean Snappers approached the plasma layer since the vortex was self-sufficient.
With the 1st Empyrean Snapper taking the lead, they used their necks like a wire to transfer plasma from the plasma layer to the vortex within which Brangara was trapped. In the cylindrical space stretching 180 metres from the epidermis of their necks flowed plasma, intense enough to vaporise most forms of matter in a matter of seconds.
The first Empyrean Snapper condensed it faintly. Once the condensed plasma reached the end of its neck, it was taken control of by another Empyrean Snapper whose head was positioned in the Spirit Weapon range.
After compressing the plasma a bit more, it transferred it to the third Empyrean Snapper, proceeding in such a manner as a line of compressed plasma bombarded Brangara, rapidly melting through his limbs.
The remains of his blood armour were damaged to the extent Bloody Affection was no longer able to recognise it as blood or any form of it. "Argh!"
The intense heat began to melt even the bones as Brangara became alarmed, observing his life was genuinely at risk now. Both his lives were in fact in danger. If he doesn't figure out a solution to the issue, he will be dying here.
Brangara had a solution though, an easy one in fact. But he hadn't used it out of hesitation, unwilling to waste it. But now that the situation had become too dangerous, he was left with no other choice, 'I can only hope the ones I obtain are enough!'
Astral World—Subtle Terrain Domination X2!
A good portion of the plasma slamming into him dispersed and fell under his control, using which he erected a shield of plasma to guard against the attack of the Empyrean Snapper. Moreover, he stacked the effects of Shredded Lunge and Drifting Tunnel atop Subtle Terrain Domination, puncturing a hole through the vortex as his body flickered towards the Empyrean Snapper he had just killed.
Reverting to human form, he enveloped the plasma shield around him, fully covering his body once he switched to the less injured one and plunged into the corpse of the Empyrean Snapper.
"Great!" He exclaimed upon swallowing the heart of the sixth Empyrean Snapper, regaining his Prana reserves too as enriched blood flowed down his throat. He used a portion of it to form an armour around him and elongated it to form a 360-
metre-long blood serpent.
The Empyrean Snappers were charging up multiple chains of plasma attacks. And as the plasma layer approaches the surface, it only became progressively hotter, making their attacks deadlier.
Hence, this was his plan to evade their attacks, since they wouldn't be able to pinpoint exactly where in the 360-metre-
long blood serpent his body was positioned.
He drilled out a hole in a hurry, watching a plasma beam pierce through his original position, 'Since they're aware that I'll be prioritising the consumption of their hearts, they can accurately target me there.'
The blood serpent drilled out of the Empyrean Snapper's butthole, immediately targeted by a beam as it got severed into two. The severed halves that were maintained intact dispersed into blood mist and condensed into a 340-metre-long blood serpent that sped towards the second Empyrean Snapper corpse.
As the length of the blood serpent was covered within his Spirit Weapon range, Brangara was able to unleash the power of his Natures wherever he wanted especially upon employing Subtle Terrain Domination.
This way, he could fool the Empyrean Snappers and cause their attacks to miss most of the time. After tanking multiple attacks, the blood serpent barely spanned a length of a hundred metres when it plunged into the second Empyrean Snapper's corpse.
"Argh!" He was accurately targeted by the plasma beam right as he consumed the Empyrean Snapper's heart. His blood armour was vaporised instantly as he barely managed to protect himself with his two Natures of Subtle Terrain Domination.
The power of two stacked Natures of Subtle Terrain Domination was significantly powerful, equivalent to three or more Empyrean Snappers in terms of control capacity and finesse in precision. But his enemy was employing 42 Natures of Subtle Terrain Domination, which made things tricky.
"Last one," Brangara muttered as he morphed the shell of the Empyrean Snapper to form armour atop his latest blood serpent, now able to have a bit more leeway of reaction time, 'Shit!'
'My damage is greater than my regeneration!' He grunted upon observing his revealing bones. The flesh atop them had already melted from the plasma beam, worsening his situation as multiple organs had been destroyed.
He was in his human form, so the damage was greater. If one more of such an attack hits him, he would lose a body, 'Dammit! After all the effort I went to build it!'
He knew that the moment he enters the corpse of the third Empyrean Snapper, he'd be targeted by the plasma beam at the perfect time—right as he's consuming its heart. Unfortunately, his hands were tied in this situation.
The Empyrean Snapper's heart was alive due to the sheer vitality possessed by the Empyrean Snapper. But as time passes, even its Spirit Contain will begin to shatter. When this collapse reaches a certain point, consuming it will no longer give him the Nature.
He wouldn't take it lying down to waste a Gold Grade Nature, especially that of Subtle Terrain Domination!
'What do I do?' He thought while approaching the third Empyrean Snapper corpse, observing three groups—six each—
gearing up to unleash an attack significantly more devastating than the one that almost killed him just now.
The remaining Empyrean Snapper had begun to create another vortex around his location, intending to trap him alongside the Empyrean Snapper corpse. He revved up Subtle Terrain Domination, intending to focus his everything on defence when suddenly, Phells slammed into his blood serpent body and exploded spontaneously.
Two Empyrean Snappers that had positioned themselves farther away from the battle had gathered tens of thousands of Phells and were launching them at him like a gatling gun. The moment the needle-like noses of the Phells touched the blood serpent, they exploded.
Individually, they weren't strong enough to damage the blood serpent which was made out of an Empyrean Snapper's blood and condensed by 50 Silver Grade Natures of Bloody Affection. But when hundreds bombarded the same location, the explosions began to destroy the blood serpent.
"Dammit!" A kilometre from the corpse of the third Empyrean Snapper and the blood serpent protecting him had been eradicated, revealing his position for the Empyrean Snappers to target him without missing this time.