’Aetheric energy?? And able to control it from such a long distance? How good is his spiritual prowess?’ Gamemaster Sparks’ pupils thinned for the second time in a row, starting to see a pattern. ’Maybe I should have given them a few minutes of research.’
But, he knew this wasn’t the time to reflect on his poor misjudgement of Heliodor’s Raiders’ strength... he swiftly highlighted the Aetheric energy, showing the viewers the three nightcrawlers to be contained in a green aura while it was connected to three lines.
Those lines were linked to Levi’s fingers, close to a kilometer away.
Seeing this, Feng Ling, Madam Ysara, Lord Idriss, and the rest of the region’s upper rankers couldn’t help but show a hint of envy... they were Solarbound Daywalkers, yet they envied Levi for his ludicrous spiritual prowess, which still kept surprising them each time they saw it.
To know he was still a Junior Daywalker was the icing on the cake.
’I never thought a day would come when I would envy someone blind...’
As this thought ran through their minds, they watched Arthur retract the fortress into his shield, channeling some of the tsunamis’ kinetic energy to amplify his strength using the Rebound Engine’s innate ability.
With crystallized, reinforced veins and bones, the absorbed kinetic energy made his muscles gleam like polished vermillion gemstones.
"Heavens Breaker Arts: Orry’s Edge!"
He shouted, grinning widely as he tightened his empowered muscles and hurled his shield with everything he had in the direction of Druv’Shaar... the Tier 3 seahorse-like nightcrawler, their weakest link!
Whoosh!!
The shield pierced the atmosphere, spinning at an insane speed, its frightening howl arriving first.
’Shit! Water Barrier!’
Druv’Shaar’s instincts came alive, making him cover himself in a barrier of condensed swirling blue water.
Alas... Arthur’s shield wasn’t just metal and force...
Slice!!
The water barrier was sliced like butter, followed by Druv’Shaar... the shield cutting his body in half under the eyes of his stunned teammates.
As the viewers’ astonished eyes tracked the flying shield, it suddenly changed its trajectory, akin to a boomerang, heading for Kraev’Morr’s head!
Wheeze!
Kraev’Morr evaded it with great difficulty under Levi’s entrapment, moving his head just barely out of the way. Then, Arthur swiftly caught it with his bulky hand, cutting his palm in the process, but he didn’t seem to care, knowing that the cut would heal in a few seconds.
’Nice try, big bro!’
Instead, Arthur showed the same grin as he glanced back at Levi, who had used his Aethric Grasp to return him the shield midair!
’Worth the shot.’ Levi smiled, giving him a slight head nod.
While Arthur could have summoned his shield back into his hand, the rest of the stored kinetic energy would go to waste.
Unlike the others, Levi’s weapons were perfected versions of their counterparts, allowing him to retain anything stored within them even when unsummoned.
"..."
-...-
Meanwhile, Kraev’Morr, Orr’Vekth, and the viewers were left dazed at the sight of Druv’Shaar’s sliced body hitting the waters with a loud splash... his eyes as lifeless as they could get.
Then, simultaneously, they switched their focus to Arthur’s shield... their hearts chilled at the appearance of bloody vermillion razor-sharp edges added to the shield vertices.
A small addition, yet when combined with Arthur’s insane physique, it turned the shield into a flesh-cutting saw... utterly deadly!
"Heliodor’s Raiders have spilled their first blood!!"
Following Gamemaster Sparks’ passionate shout, the viewers were finally given a breather to react to this insane sequence, which took no less than ten seconds.
-Haha!! Gymrat! I knew you had it in you!- Sergio laughed.
-Arthyy!! Show them hell!!- Jamal cheered.
-Terrorize them like you did to us!- Many Blood Hunters’ Daywalkers.
-Holy crap... I heard Levi’s an Anomaly-class psych, but to see him control that peculiar aether energy so precisely... returning Arthur’s shield to his palm while still holding the other two... just wow!-
-I know, right?!-
-I am starting to think our region has finally been blessed!-
The crowd exploded in cheers with Rayan and the majority of Heliodor’s viewers’ voices taking the lead, their expressions ecstatic.
With the highlighted Aetheric tethers, they saw how Levi returned Arthur’s shield to his hands like nothing... he barely moved his fingers more than an inch!
As Kraev’Morr and Orr’Vekth listened to the viewers’ comments and cheers, their expressions couldn’t help but turn ugly... they came to provide a show by tormenting those humans and get a boost of long-forgotten attention.
Unfortunately, the show ended up turning against them.
"You... You f*ckers are going to pay!!"
Kraev’Morr didn’t let them celebrate for long... he used his entire strength to resist against Levi’s spiritual grasp, screaming at the top of his lungs, just to bring his hands together.
Levi tried to fight it out, but he swiftly realized that it was going to take the full power of his Aetheric grasp on him... If he invested it all, the other would be freed easily.
Although Levi’s spiritual prowess was monstrous, he was still at a Junior rank, while those two were at the Tier 4 evolution stage... unless he decided to waste all of his spiritual reservoir, he couldn’t keep the tether alive on both.
Once Kraev’Morr got his hands together with great difficulty, he shouted, "Impact Jets!!"
Abruptly, twin blasts of pressurized water erupted from his hands, launching him skyward like a spear from the deep.
Spray trailed behind as the jets tore into the atmosphere, putting him further from the bridge until the aethric grasp on his body weakened and got cut... Though rage often boiled through his body, when it came to battle, he was no fool.
He knew that someone was holding him with a spiritual link, and for such situations, the only way to escape from Levi’s grasp was to put distance and remain as elusive as possible.
’He isn’t that dumb after all.’
Levi murmured, knowing that it was impossible to lock him down again with this much movement without wasting an insane amount of spiritual energy.
However, he wasn’t too bothered... he knew Kraev’Morr was never going to leave the bridge. Even if he wanted, he couldn’t... he had planted a special surprise for him.
-Druv’Shaar has been slain.-
Meanwhile, Syc’closs and his other teammates suddenly froze after hearing this notification resound in their minds.
’Druv’Shaar, dead? Already? They should have just gotten near the bridge?! How?!’
Syc’closs was stunned, many doubts coursing through his mind as he stared intently at the massive forest of trees, blocking his vision from the other side.
The central island was meant for combat and search, which meant... its size was massive compared to its sisters.
’Captain... what’s going on?’ Thyss’Rahl frowned, wanting to get more details on the situation.
’I have no plan to ask around.’ Syc’closs ordered solemnly, ’Kraev’Morr, Orr’Vekth, retreat now!’
Just as Kraev’Morr was about to return and launch his counter-attack, using the compressed jets to dart around, Syc’closs’s command halted his party... yet Kraev’Morr chose not to heed it.
An inner voice whispering to him: Don’t leave... what about your promises to kill them? What about the humiliation you went through in the Game Hall? Is this everything you got?
’Me? Running? In their dreams!’ Kraev’Morr scoffed coldly.
When he saw Orr’Vekth getting smashed against the surface of the bridge while Jojo, Nurah, and Shia were rushing in his direction, he used it as an excuse to back up his decision.
’No! Orr’Vekth is under attack! I have to support him, and you should too!’
As mercenaries, they were under strict obligations to listen to the team captain’s orders unless they were ordered to throw their lives away or such.
Meanwhile, Levi was responsible for bringing Orr’Vekth close to his friends... if he wasn’t using a water barrier to soften the blow, Levi might have invested more into beating him up from a distance... But he wasn’t alone this time, needing to do everything by himself.
He had teammates, and great ones at that.
That’s why he let them go in first, letting them gain real battle experience while he supported from the back... There was no point in going all out from the start; he’d rather see his teammates grow stronger than try to show off by soloing the game.
Shia sliced off both her wrists with the crescent crimson blade while mid-sprint, causing trails of sticky blood to follow her...
With an arm sweep, she drank her own blood, turning her eyes as crimson as the moon.
"Mantra Blood Arts: Blood Frenzy!"
Shia’s movement speed, flexibility, reaction speed, and vision were all enhanced and optimized for the hunt!
Whoosh!
She left Nurah and Jojo to eat her dust as she swiftly appeared before Orr’Vekth’s condensed water barrier.
Shia’s arm burst through the water barrier with a sinister, menacing expression, holding her crescent blade from the short handle for smoother movement.
The water barrier dulled Shia’s strikes, making each blow feel like it was sinking into gluey slime... Yet she kept hammering at it from every angle. This gives Orr’Vekth no chance to restore its strength.
In the end.
Slice! Slice!
Shia’s crescent blade slipped through, slicing into Orr’Vekth’s skin and leaving two deep cuts across his left arm and waist.
"Argh... you b*tch!"
Although Orr’Vekth was already struggling to escape from Levi’s aetheric entrampment, he didn’t let himself get bullied. He waited until Shia’s arm got inside his spherical barrier before he compressed it and then forced it to explode!
Kaboooom!
Shia’s reflexes and flexibility were as great as a cat’s, and yet, her arm still got blown off while she was sent flying back to her friends... Shia rolled twice on the ground and came to a stop.
-Shia!!-
Rayan and the rest of Heliodor’s viewers’ expressions soured as they watched what remained of Shia’s arm dangling from the bone... the sight was as gruesome as it could get.
Yet, not an ounce of fear or despair was in Shia’s face.
Feeling no pain in the Blood Frenzy state, she merely glanced at her blown-off arm and the many wounds across her body.
Then, she smiled sinisterly, her tongue licking her bloody lips.
"Blood Mantra Arts: Blood Curse."