Eliz's great sword seemed to have grown. Or, more accurately, its fiery red-gold appearance had been swapped out for one that seemed even more vicious. It was now four meters long, curving almost like a scythe and forming a jagged edge.
When it swung, it almost felt as though those jagged edges were gripping onto space, stretching their surface area into the fabric of reality and pulling it all down, increasing its heft several times over.
In an instant, she was already before Zarek, whose joke was very much still hanging in the air.
Chi.
Zarek vanished, the earth behind him getting sliced in two, extending out for dozens of meters.
—
Name: [Eliz Striane]Role: [Hero Strength Candidate]
Core Stats:
[Strength: B][Dexterity: B-][Intelligence: B-][Endurance: B][Charisma: B-]
Talents:
[Voidgrip: A-]
[Abilities: Force][Mass times Acceleration equals Force. Acceleration is limited, but your Mass is not. Increase your Force output by wrapping the world's fabric around yourself. Affect it more, increase your mass, and strike with greater Force.]
Skills:…
—
"Using your Talent against me? You're finally getting serious, is that it?"
Zarek couldn't help but chuckle, also noting that despite her Talent, she only had a single Talent. That was most definitely not a coincidence.
There was no way someone of Eliz's caliber couldn't get her hands on more. The reason she was keeping them clear could only be for one reason.
Hero Spirits.
She was quite ambitious. She wanted three of them.
Cute.
Zarek flashed to the side, activating another [Angel Wing Flash]. His mind was whirring with thoughts and calculations, and then all of a sudden his smile disappeared.
"I'm going to need to borrow your soul."
BANG!
Zarek accelerated again, slamming out a fist at Eliz's ribs. His timing was as perfect as always, but her Endurance was off the charts. While he couldn't see her Growth Potentials, he could feel that her Strength and Endurance were at about the same level. They were definitely S Class, if not better.
He wasn't sure if she had broken her limits all the way through, but she certainly had for those two Core Stats. It wasn't just this, but he could feel a unique synergy between them—like Core Harmony, but on a smaller scale.
These were truly the best geniuses their corner of the universe had to offer. However, Zarek's response was just the same as it always was.
Cute.
Eliz only grunted the slightest bit, her torso flexing and her inner armor reflecting the damage across its surface in a flash of resplendent light.
However, Zarek had already retreated as she reacted with a double swipe of her elbows. It seemed that she was used to fighting in close quarters as well, despite the heft and length of her blade. Even without letting go of it, she both swung her blade and attacked with her arms at the same time.
This proved to be the right decision. With Zarek retreating, although her elbows would miss, a pivot of her wrists would be enough to swipe at him with her blade. There would be no escaping.
That was what she thought—until she found her feet buckling, her blade soaring over Zarek's head before he suddenly whipped back toward her even faster than he had left.
A strand of Lurker's Godsfall had been left behind with Zarek's fist. Eliz hadn't noticed due to his rapid retreat and the strength of the fist he had used. Plus, the last time she saw this Godsfall, it was too easy to break. It shouldn't be able to withstand her mass when she entered this state.
Unfortunately, she was wrong.
BANG!
Zarek felt his wrist fracture just a touch the instant he landed a strike on her face, but he didn't so much as wince—his eyes the only part of his expression that seemed to hold the slightest bit of emotion at all.
He swept into another attack, his elbow cracking her face back in the other direction.
Eliz roared, swiping out her blade almost wildly. But the amount of heft she was managing could be nothing short of a small mountain's worth. It would crush a skyscraper on Earth down to its foundations with a single nick.
Not only did it weigh so heavy, but it was approaching a level of density that almost pulled Zarek toward it. Even if he tried to use [Angel Wing Flash] in this situation, he would be reeled back in too quickly. That was the weakness of a movement Skill that wasn't true teleportation.
Yet, Zarek was still unmoved.
Eliz found her balance shaken by another pull of Lurker's Godsfall. Just when she thought that she would be able to compensate for it, she failed again.
It was like Zarek could read the future. And yet, he didn't even have access to his Sands of Time Talent right now. These children were just exactly that in his eyes…
All this power, and yet not the slightest bit of true battle experience.
Pathetic.
BANG!
Eliz spun, the heft of her blade too much even for her. Her back was completely open, but she suffered a kick to the back of her leg instead, causing a large amount of energy she was gathering to protect her vitals to be utterly useless.
One strand of Lurker's Godsfall after another was attached to her body. Each vicious attack left her skull and organs rattling, only for another black strand to attach itself to the ground.
As she spun out of control, her great sword carrying with her, she was tightly wound into a spider's web.
She roared, trying to break out, even gathering more of the fabric of reality to make herself heavier. But that was when her eyes opened wide in shock.
Her Talent.
It wasn't working.
And why would it? It was a powerful Talent to be sure. But… Sylas' Godsfall Intent happened to have a certain bending effect on space as well.
With enough strands of it wrapping around her, distorting her control and pulling the fabric she tried to control toward herself instead…
What chance did she stand?
She collapsed to the ground—or rather, she tried to. But she was being pulled in so many directions by the strands of black that she was forced to remain upright.
For the first time, she felt helpless, her heart shaking within her chest. What was going on? He didn't even feel that strong—how in the hell did he manage to treat her like this?
Zarek took a breath and exhaled, the gloominess that hung over him seemingly fading at that moment as he gave her a light smile.
Walking forward, he plucked her enormous sword out of her hand.
"Why does no one use reasonable weapons?" he mumbled to himself.
Shaking his head, he raised the blade above his head.
"You don't have the badge on you, so I'm going to assume Urouge has it? That's fine. I wanted to deal with him anyway."
"STOP!"
Zarek didn't. Eliz's plea fell on deaf ears as the blade descended, slicing down from the top of one ear to the bottom of the other.
No amount of Endurance seemed capable of saving her from her own enormous blade.
Her mouth hung open, her brain juices sliding down the length of her face and down her neck. Still trapped in the black partial cocoon, she could only sway there, her body bouncing back and forth slowly.
Zarek was already not paying much attention to her, though. The skies seemed to darken, and then around him, a gate of ancient stone began to appear.
The temperature rose in the air, burning away at the trees in the distance and sizzling what water vapor danced on the wind.
Ancient runes pulsed with life, following the ancient arch of cracked, darkened stone, and then there was a pulse of what ironically felt like life.
Eliz's body was whittled down to ash and then sucked into the Ashen Gate in a twisting, winding cyclone.Your support at MV^LEMP^YR keeps the series going.
Zarek took a breath, feeling out the new Ashen Soul and exhaling a breath.
His mind whirred to life, his powerful Charisma taking effect. After ten or so seconds, he opened his eyes, an ancient scroll appearing before him as he drew with lightning speed.
After a bit, a new Matrix appeared, but he shook his head and then drew again, then again.
After six attempts, he felt that he had gotten something close to what he wanted. It still wasn't perfect, but it was closer than any of the other attempts.
He drew it twice, attaching one to the back of each hand.
Slowly, he stretched out a hand and then pulled it down. At first, he felt nothing, but then the air seemed to become heavy, and then it felt like he was running his fingers down a length of water.
That was it.
Eliz's Talent.
BANG!
He punched out, the air rippling in waves as though his fists had become as heavy as mountains. However, the longer he used it, the more the Matrices on the backs of his hands faded before they cracked entirely.
'If I use this, I'm definitely going to break all the bones in my body…'
Zarek grinned.
'Perfect.'
…
A silence hung over the council.