"You have proven your power," the Unique Sage said. "Additionally, you have a True Sin Aura. That is very useful to Humanity. Demons are drawn to True Sin Auras. You will make a great Shield."
"Shield?" Kyle thought, his heart rate rising as he looked at the grey soldiers.
They were shields.
Kyle's team realized that things were going badly. Joining the Shields most likely meant undergoing brainwashing or something similar. It was impossible that so many people could be identical to each other without some kind of mental manipulation.
Kyle had easily won against his opponent, but the Unique Sage still put him in the Shield camp.
"No," Kyle answered.
"No," the Unique Sage asked with a dark tone.
"No," Kyle confirmed.
The Unique Sage narrowed his eyes. It was clear that he was about to attack.
At the same time, Kyle sent a voice transmission to his team.
"You guys got through this entire thing, but my True Sin Aura seems to make it impossible for me to get through. It showed that I'm not weaker than any you. Someone of his level has to realize that I didn't show all of my power. Yet, because of my True Sin Aura, he wants to put me into the group of Shields anyway."
"If we resist as a group, all of us will die. If only one person resists, things might still work out. If I just show enough power, maybe I can get out of this. And if I die, oh well, whatcha gonna do?"
Swamp Dragon didn't react. He agreed with Kyle's assessment.
Manny's brows furrowed, and a dark light appeared in his eyes.
Star Genesis didn't show an outward reaction, but deep inside, she was terrified for Kyle.
Fierce Breaker was frustrated with conviction.
Sebastian's eyes narrowed with conviction.
Time seemed to freeze for just a tiny instant.
And then, several things happened at the same time.
A terrifyingly fast wave of cutting Energy shot out of the Unique Sage's sword, aimed at Kyle.
A finger made of lightning appeared beside Sebastian.
Manny's body warped.
Kyle's hammer moved.
A pair of eyes opened.
BOOOOM!
A wave of oppressive Energy washed over Kyle's team.
The finger of lightning dispersed.
Manny's body stabilized.
The wave of cutting Energy kept shooting at Kyle. When the Unique Sage had attacked Manny the first time, no one had been able to react.
But this time, Kyle was prepared. He had seen this attack before, and he was prepared to react.
The Space, Time, and Gravity Energy around him warped, slowing the cutting wave.
Kyle's hammer swung forward, leaving an orange streak in space.
BANG!
Kyle's entire body vibrated as his hammer collided with reality itself. It was like some kind of wall had magically appeared in front of his hammer.
A faint sound of cracking echoed.
A black spot appeared at the point in space Kyle had struck.
The cutting wave of Energy distorted as it moved towards the black hole.
The entire curve and entered the black hole.
BANG!
Then, a lance of cutting Energy exited the black hole, rushing right towards Kyle.
BANG!
The lance of cutting Energy shot through Kyle's body at even higher speeds, before, leaving a clean hole on the right side of Kyle's chest.
The lance continued flying into the distance and vanished.
The hole in Kyle's chest closed.
This attack had been a genuine attempt to kill Kyle, but he had survived.
The Unique Sage's Battle Rite created a dense wave of cutting Energy, which used advanced concepts of Space. It was not supposed to turn into a lance.
This was Kyle's doing.
First, he had used his Infused Soul Law to slow the attack, giving him time to react. This was one of the many things Kyle's new Infused Soul Law could do.
Next, Kyle had used one of his new "techniques". He had spent a couple of centuries experimenting with his Law of Black Hole, and he had created a couple of techniques.
The technique Kyle had used just now used all his power to strike space. The strike of the hammer would distort space massively, turning it into dense Gravity Energy. This created a point in space that violently pulled ethereal Energies towards it, similar to a Spatial Tear. It was important to note that this didn't weaken or destroy the enemy's attack in any way.
The only thing it did was to gather ethereal Energy and focus it. By using this technique, Kyle could turn area attacks into focused attacks.
If the wave of cutting Energy had hit him, his entire body would have been bisected vertically. Yet, by focusing the enemy's attack on a single spot, Kyle could survive it. Additionally, even though the force of the attack wasn't weakened, the way it was distorted would mess with the tracking effect of it. That was also why the lance of Energy kept flying into the distance.
This was one of Kyle's new defensive techniques, meant to deal with powerful area attacks.
He called it Focus.
Silence.
Almost everyone looked at Kyle with shock.
Even Kyle's team was surprised. They knew of Kyle's powers, but they had never seen them. They knew that Kyle was powerful, but they hadn't expected his new technique to be this powerful! Sure, they had anticipated that he would survive, but what they hadn't anticipated was how much Energy Kyle had used.
10%!
He had only used 10% of his Energy to survive this attack!
Sure, this was just a casual attack. After all, the Unique Sage hadn't even pulled out his weapon or gathered a significant amount of Energy.
But this was still an attack from a Unique Sage!
The opposing Seekers looked at Kyle with surprise. Even the grey soldiers showed some reactions.
Meanwhile, the Unique Sage's brows rose in surprise.
"Come again?" Kyle asked, holding his hand to his ear like he was trying to hear something. "I know you didn't say anything with your mouth, but I assumed you just wanted to talk with your sword."
Kyle dug a bit in his ear to clear it of dirt.
"It's just that I didn't hear what your sword said."
The Unique Sage's eyes widened in rage.
An apocalyptical wave of pressure washed over the surroundings as he activated his powerful Momentum.
The world around him distorted as he pulled his sword out of his sheath.
His eyes focused on Kyle as his sword gracefully moved forward.
Clink!
Two fingers caught the sword.
The oppressive atmosphere vanished, and the Unique Sage's anger vanished in an instant.
The fingers let go of the sword, and the Unique Sage quietly put his sword back into its sheath.
Sebastian and Manny looked at the red Spirit Lord with focus. He had been the one who had stopped their attacks earlier, and now, he stopped the Unique Sage's attack.
The Unique Sage performed a quick salute in front of the Spirit Lord before stepping back to his position with unmoving discipline.
The Spirit Lord wordlessly looked at Kyle for a while.
"You don't wish to join the Shields?" he commented.
"Correct," Kyle answered with a nod.
The Spirit Lord's eyes passed over Kyle's team before looking at back at him. "Are you close with each other?"
"We are a team," Kyle answered.
The Spirit Lord transmitted, "Humanity is not opposed to you. Your predecessors have helped us greatly."
"Predecessors?" Kyle asked.
"The previous group of people from the Supreme World. They tried their best to open the path to immortality, but like every other group before them..."
"They failed."
"The issue isn't the corrupting aspect of Refined Laws or the horde of Divine Beasts. These are problems, but they not the reason for the state of this world."
The Spirit Lord looked at Sebastian.
"Have you noticed the problem?"
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