Chapter 357: Broken Judgement
Then, through the chaos, a loud shout rang across the blood-soaked land.
"ARKAS!"
The voice was deep, filled with rage and desperation.
Everyone paused for a second. It was Brutus. His body burned with heat, and his face was twisted with fury. He floated in front of Arkas, just below the churning cloud. His clothes were burnt, his face covered in soot, but his voice still boomed like thunder.
"Enough!" Brutus roared. "Let’s talk! We can make a deal!"
Arkas hovered across from him with his trident in hand. Sparks of lightning danced across his body, flashing with every heartbeat. His face remained cold, eyes sharp like a blade.
"There is no deal," Arkas replied. "The order was clear. No Holt walks away alive."
The words dropped like a judgement and he rushed back at Brutus and the fight below continued as well.
I rose into the sky, wings unfolding slowly as I flew above the battlefield. The Essence around me trembled, responding to the pressure of my will.
The air turned heavy. I closed my eyes for a brief moment, letting my perception stretch across the chaos below.
Screams echoed. Lyrate moved through enemies like a scythe through wheat, cutting them down with terrifying ease. North fought with sharp precision, her twin blades dancing as she faced off against a group of Masters. Nearby, Steve clashed with a Holt commander, the two locked in a fierce one-on-one duel.
Explosions of different elements shook the ground—fire, wind, ice, and lightning bursting in every direction.
I took control of the Essence flowing through the battlefield. And then, focusing all the power and law manipulation I could muster, I activated one of my skills.
"[Sanctum of Judgement]."
All around me, spears began to appear, spears made of glowing light, sharp as death, spinning slowly at first. There were hundreds, then thousands. They floated in the air like a halo of destruction, spinning faster and faster.
The Essence around them twisted. Spatial ripples passed around them. Wind roared.
Then the spears moved.
Each one flew with a loud boom, breaking the sound barrier, and right before they hit their target, they vanished.
And reappeared just a breath away from their mark.
All across the battlefield, Holt soldiers looked up in shock. Some screamed, some raised shields, others froze.
The spears crashed into them.
Some soldiers were pierced through the chest, and their bodies exploded with light. Others blocked with full force but the spears detonated on impact, blowing apart their defenses and everything behind them. Craters formed. Smoke rose. Pieces of armor and weapons rained from the sky.
Screams filled the air and explosions continued for a while before going silent.
When the light faded, the battlefield had changed completely.
Where once thousands had stood, only a few were left. Maybe a thousand. Maybe less. All of them were covered in dust and blood, frozen in place, too scared to move. Their eyes were wide. Their hands trembled. Many dropped their weapons without realizing.
Back near the Empire’s side, Steve whistled and lowered his sword for a second.
"Damn," he muttered, shaking his head. "That’s just unfair."
Even Edgar, who had been dueling against the Grandmasters, looked up at me and gave a low chuckle. Shadows still flickered around him, but his voice carried easily.
"The kid grew strong real fast."
The other Grandmasters nearby gave nods or quiet stares. None of them said a word. They didn’t need to.
Far above, Brutus snapped.
His heat flared again, hotter than before. His body lit up like a small sun, flames swirling around him as he turned to face me.
"You monster!" he screamed. "I’ll kill you!"
He flew straight at me, like a comet of fire.
But Arkas moved before he could reach me.
Lightning cracked across the sky. Arkas met Brutus in the air, slamming into him with a blast of thunder. The shockwave was loud enough to shake the entire battlefield again. Flames and lightning exploded in the air.
Their fight began.
They clashed again and again in midair. Arkas moved like lightning, every strike fast and sharp. Brutus was pure power—each blow burning with wild fire, every punch heavy enough to break the sky.
I remained still, floating and watching their fight.
They were fighting with the laws they had mastered over decades. I could see the flows of energy between them. My eyes caught how they pulled the world itself to their side.
Brutus used the Law of Fire, but more than that, he used the Law of Wrath. His flames responded to his rage. The angrier he got, the more his fire spread, turning white-hot and chaotic. It clashed against Arkas’s Laws.
Arkas didn’t just use lightning. He used the minor Law of Destruction and the minor Law of Lightning Manifestation. His control over the lightning was perfect. His bolts didn’t explode at random, they followed paths he created midair, striking like snakes of pure energy.
I could see it all.
When Brutus punched, flames followed in a wide arc, trying to consume everything. Arkas countered with narrow lightning blades that sliced through the fire like a knife through paper.
One moment, Brutus smashed the air with both fists, sending a wave of burning Essence at Arkas.
The next, Arkas vanished in a flash of light and appeared behind him, sending a spear of lightning through Brutus’s shoulder.
Brutus roared in pain, spun, and grabbed Arkas by the arm. Flames surged around them both. For a second, the fire swallowed them whole.
But then, Arkas burst out of it, his body crackling with sparks, and slammed both hands into Brutus’s chest. The thunderous blast that followed pushed Brutus back a hundred meters.
Still, he didn’t fall.
Brutus grinned through bloody teeth, fire still burning in his eyes.
"You’ll need more than that to kill me!"
Arkas said nothing. He raised his arm again.
And they charged each other once more.
Below us, the last of the Holt soldiers could only watch in terror. Most of their leaders were dead. Their formations had collapsed. The field was covered in bodies and broken weapons.
Some of them tried to flee again, but Lyrate was relentless. She moved through the scattered troops like a storm, cutting down anyone who turned their back. Her crimson mist followed, slicing through them, finishing what her roots had started.
She wasn’t just fighting, she was hunting. Determined to end more lives than anyone else on the battlefield.
Gary flew up beside me. His face was bloodied, and his left shoulder hung slightly lower than the right. But he looked satisfied somehow.
"Just a little more and we’ll be done here," he said, voice rough but steady.
I nodded, my eyes locked on the duel above.
"I think Arkas will need help to finish Brutus," I said quietly.
Gary didn’t answer right away. He watched the two Grandmasters clashing midair, lightning and fire colliding, wind howling around them, the force of their strikes shaking the sky itself.
Arkas was holding his own, but Brutus was still burning with rage, his strikes wild and full of killing intent.
After a few seconds, Gary spoke.
"Yes," he said. "And I know exactly who’s going to help him."
I turned toward him. He didn’t say anything more. He didn’t have to.
Because in that moment, I felt it too.