As dozens of mountains descended on the palm of Maldonado, he wielded them like they were the parts of a wooden club. Alongside this, layers of mountain coverings sprang on his body, wrapping like an armor.
An ordinary Alpha would die due to the grayness alone. Thankfully, not only him but the other two also had the means to resist it for a few minutes.
Even as he prepared himself, Miria had shot forward, charging straight at Extermination. The space-stabbing presence around her pushed the grayness away, and she moved the katana up.
Rays of dazzling sword beams erupted out, concentrating into a sword wave. The wave shifted through space and arrived above Extermination, crashing down.
At the same instant, Miria appeared before him, slashing diagonally with her katana. The sword wave and the slash seemed to overlap, becoming one, unleashing a sky-cutting move!
There was no slashing sound, no explosion, nor a burst of terrifying energy. There was only calmness; just like the calm before the storm!
It was a perfect attack with no wastage of energy!
Extermination’s expression didn’t change. He lifted his right hand and stretched his index finger out to face the deadly attack.
If anyone from the top faction was fast enough to notice his actions, they would feel he was trying to commit suicide! But after deep thinking and knowing things he has done, they wouldn’t trust their feelings!
The concentric circles on the fingertip gushed out ripples of gray energy, transforming into a gray vortex, as the finger pressed into the attack.
Tremors ran through the ground and sky alike. There were no shockwave or dreadful fluctuations though! Because the attacks neither ended nor collapsed!
Miria squinted her eyes.
A fingerprint blocked the sword wave while the fingertip stopped the katana.
While she had no expectations of injuring him from this move alone, she was startled by the ease which he blocked her.
Her attack and his response happened in less a second, and by now, Maldonado unleashed the mountains in his hand. It was an absurd sight to behold, a small hand unleashing mighty mountains that were upside down!
RUMBLE~~~
The mountains blotted out the sky as they came smashing down with explosive rumbles. It would be only half-truth to say smashing because they also seemed to stab!
After all, the peaks were downwards, looking like spikes!
Another baffling thing was that even though the mountain peaks were spread around, they seemed to converge as they smashed into Extermination.
Anyone who witnessed such a strange and yet powerful attack would die from fear alone!
With his right index finger still on the katana, Extermination pointed his left index finger towards the coming mountains.
Explosive crackling sounds rang out. The sky ripped and the ground quaked.
"!" Maldonado’s eyebrows knotted in astonishment.
His attack was stopped!
The finger didn’t touch the mountain peaks, but the pressure emanating from it locked them.
Grayness surged out of both his fingers.
"Damn!" Miria grunted as the grayness began to corrode the sharp essence around her katana.
The brown mountain peaks were an easier target. The grayness shrouded them, dulling their colors, and turning them gray before spreading further.
The mountains began to shake, and through them, more mountains emerged, to resist the grayness. Maldonado let out a sigh.
"As expected, you are very strong, far stronger than us," Maldonado said with a smile. "And that’s why even in this warmup exercise, the three of us have to take action."
Extermination’s eyes flickered.
From all around, crimson claws shot at him. As they closed in, roaring sounds reverberated and the phantoms of wolves pounced forward, their mouths wide open.
The instant they bombarded at him, his pupils flashed with swirls of grayness. The claws and phantoms grayed, their bodies twisting in swirling motions. The change in energy pattern imploded them, their fluctuations wildly colliding into the dulling mountains.
BOOOM
The combination of different forces turned into a violent explosion, enveloping an area of over fifty sq.miles.
Space in its range collapsed for eternity, turning this area into a land of death.
Maldonado flew backward, covering himself between a series of new mountains. Miria drifted back, arriving outside the impact area of the shockwaves.
Just as she did, the space behind her squirmed and gray mist erupted. Like a menacing ghost, Extermination stepped out of it, his finger moving towards her neck.
"!"
Miria’s face constricted.
She fluttered to the side like the gust of wind and turned around. Despite this, his finger now closed to her throat, like a sharp sword. The speed itself was beyond frightening, and then there was the innate fear from grayness that froze oneself to certain death.
Perhaps if it was anyone else, such a thing would happen, but not her! She was an Alpha! The master of her fate! Not even death could touch her without her will!
Twisting her body, she arched her back in the nickel of time. His fingertip slide past her throat, cutting through the scarf.
As this happened, she gripped the katana tightly. Bright sword beams boomed out and plunged at his moving arm!
Sadly for her, his speed was no less than hers. The sword beams brushed past his arm and dissolved into the gray mist.
Miria didn’t launch another attack. She cut through space and vanished.
Far away, Crimson Wolf spread his arms wide and released streams of bloodthirsty aura. They turned into crimson clouds, shrouding the nearby grayness.
"I have temporarily suppressed his ability to appear anywhere!" Crimson Wolf said as Maldonado and Miria arrived near him. "But let me tell you, he’s a monster! So don’t put expectations on my suppression! We have to use that strategy!"
Maldonado nodded before replying, "If only we didn’t have to hold back."
Miria and Crimson Wolf didn’t reply.
They wanted to stop Extermination, but at the same time, they also wanted to prevent this planet from further destruction.
If they fully unleashed their strength as Alphas and fought an Alpha far powerful than them... not only would the impact exterminate this city but countless others. Perhaps, it would even result in permanent damage to the foundation of this planet.
If such a thing happened, then that would mean helping Extermination in destroying this world! The very scenario they came here to stop!
"Even though we tried to make up for this by joining forces, it is definitely difficult," Miria said. "But we knew the risks. So no use of complaining."
Crimson Wolf nodded.
"I’m not complaining. It was just that everything could have been avoided if those old codgers in the council took acted," Maldonado added with another sigh. "Now, if we succeed, they would definitely come to grab that treasure."
He eyed the floating Cosmic Spark. From the time they arrived, it hasn’t moved, floating above the place where the river used to exist.
Extermination hasn’t used it, nor did he fused with it again. He just left it there, as if giving everyone an opportunity to take it away!
As Maldonado looked at the Cosmic Spark, desires burst up in his heart. His bright eyes turned muddy with a thirst for a power that no one has possessed, and he began salivating.
"No! I can’t give in to temptation!" He quickly shook his head. "My aim is to prevent damage to the essence of this world and not grab more power!"
Maldonado retrieved the flute and played it. The soft, sweet tune cleared his muddled mind.
"Hard to resist the temptation?" Crimson Wolf asked.
Maldonado nodded in affirmation.
"That’s why I don’t glance in that direction," Crimson Wolf said. "Otherwise those desires would make us murder each other."
Miria spun the katana in her hand and injected energy she would need for the next move. Energy particles like snow drifted around her, flashing with spatial currents.
She locked her eyes on Extermination and said, "His body should be under great stress! So why isn’t he turning weak, or at least slow down?"
She has watched the visuals of the fight between him and Hyperion. So she could imagine the extent of power he used. Then there was his action of launching asteroids around the globe. Every usage of such power should have heavily tolled the body, exhausted the spirit, and strained the source.
"Well, maybe, he’s so focused on his mission that he doesn’t care about anything else! He’s suppressing his weakness to do what he must!"
Maldonado’s body turned blurry and his speed exploded.
"The same should apply to us! Let’s end this now!"
His eyes blazed with images of different mountains and the air materialized with them. Snowy mountains, green mountains, barren mountains, and so on rotated around him.
He clapped his hands together and these mountains fused together with explosive sounds. A stifling pressure swept out and everything dimmed down, even the radiance from the grayness.
RUMBLE~~
A towering mountain with no end floated in front of him. The mountain emanated an imposing will, like that of a world itself.
Crimson Wolf leaped up and stood on the mountain, his body radiating majestic murderous presence.
He lifted his head and howled loudly.
"Awoooo!"
An illusory head of a bloody wolf burst out.
The mountain and the wold head twisted with each other, transforming into a Wolf Mountain! Everything trembled violently, the mountain emanating a weight enough to crush the world.
With a movement of Maldonado’s wrist, at an impossible speed, the mountain came hammering down on Extermination like a bolt of lighting.
The ground caved by countless miles, revealing the core of the planet. Magma gushed out and the Wolf Mountain squeezed Extermination into it.
With seething sound, the magma lost its fiercness, turning gray.
Extermination raised his hands to press the mountain away, but just then, Miria arrived next to him.
"You have done enough damage! Now get lost!"
She slashed out with her katana multiple times, tearing the fabric of space apart, and forming a gateway to the outer space.
Horrifying spatial force emanated out, swallowed everything in its range.
At the same time, before Extermination could push the mountain, Maldonado and Crimson Wolf snapped their fingers.
The Wolf Mountain exploded!
BOOOOM
Countless rocks burst out, tinted with bloodthirsty aura. They smashed into Extermination, and even as he tried to act, the impact from the rocks sent him flying into the spatial gateway!
He was pushed in the dark recess of space!
On Earth, the very next instant, the tears in the space stitched themselves.
"Phew~!" Miria let out a sigh.
The factions around the globe were stunned by the sudden end of the conflict. The councilmen were especially amazed, their eyes glinting.
"How crafty!"
"Instead of trying to defeat him, they sent him out of the planet! Somewhere far away!"
The youngsters understood this but they felt disappointed. They wanted to see the true fight and not some schemes, no matter how smart!
"Fools! Their aim was saving the planet and not showing-off" A councilman smacked a complaining youngster. He then moved his eyes on the projection, his lips forming a smirk.
"Let’s leave! We have to acquire the Cosmic Spark!"
The other councilmen had similar thoughts. Just as they began to leave, beeping sounds rang out from the projection. The satellites picked new readings, something that shocked everyone out of wits.
"What?!"
"No way!"
The hearts of councilmen sank.
In Delta City, the expression of Miria drastically changed. She jerked her head and looked in the direction of the Cosmic Spark.
"You can’t save what doesn’t deserve to exists!"