Chapter 687: Protect Raze
The fourth formation, the second formation, and the third formation. All of them had been used against a single opponent. The legendary Dark Edge Sword Arts were used by the Noctis Clan and only by the founder of the Dark Faction.
However, there was one more detail added to this all, and that was the fact that they had magic added to them—Dark magic, the most destructive magic there was, produced by a mage with a dark core.
Seeing how strong his opponent was, Raze had wasted no time using all of his skills. And doing so in succession like that, he was confident he could strike down his enemy in one hit, which he had achieved.
"Just what type of power is that? That power is immense, and he used it in succession. He must have been hiding his strength during the tournament!" Beatrix said.
She looked at the ground where the sword had hit. The entire flooring was torn up by the second formation strike. Then there was beyond where the pulse attack had been made.
The wall, the stands, and the arena—part of it had folded in, the concrete it was made out of had been obliterated, and rocks were piling on top of rocks. It was hard to imagine anyone would have been able to survive such an attack.
"You're right, there is no doubt about it. No wonder he was confident in starting this battle against the Dark Faction," Ricar commented. "But I think you'll see, he's worn himself out."
Ricar was right, because almost immediately Raze had stumbled, falling onto one knee. He grabbed his chest, and then moved his hand to hover over his stomach.
'I used up all my mana that I had gathered, and all of the Qi already. I nearly pushed myself to the point where I nearly passed out,' Raze thought to himself.
'I have no choice, right now… I have to.' Forcing his legs to move, he changed position from being down on his knees to a sitting position. He crossed his legs and closed his eyes, letting out a few deep breaths.
Then he gathered both of his hands upright and started to use the Dark Faction's cultivation technique, restoring the mana back in his heart again. Right now it was the only thing he could do.
'I don't know if Cronker is okay, or the rest of the children, but this is all I can do for them for now. I can't fight against Murkel or the others; they will have to be left on their own,' Raze thought.
Murkel, of course, noticed what Raze had done. He had seen it all and sensed the great power within.
"I should have known, that child was hiding more," Murkel said as he leaned back and then punched Dame's hand down, so a blast hit the floor. He then delivered a strong fist right to his chest, sending him back.
As Alba came close, Murkel lifted his arm in the air, and the dark Qi started to gather. He moved it forward, almost touching Alba's swords. Rather than connecting, though, he then pulled back, and Alba felt her sword pulling like a magnetic force, sending her off balance.
With her body off balance, he then grabbed her by the hair behind and pulled her head back, slamming his knee right into her back. Before he could do more, though, Amir charged forward with a kick to the chest, sending him back, and then a swing of his large axe beast hand.
It continued to hit nothing but air.
"That kid, you know he is most likely from the Noctis Clan. Is that why you sided with him?" Murkel asked. "It seems that might be the reason you are so confident in him, but things won't work out for him, just like it didn't work out for the Dark Faction before!"
When Amir went to strike with his axe beast hand again, he felt it being dragged upward. Murkel had gathered and condensed his dark Qi and then lifted it in the air. In doing so, his visual Qi lingered but still had the same effects as before, dragging his arm upward.
Murkel then charged forward, running past the outstretched beast arm. Only he wasn't aware that as it forcefully retracted back to normal, the axe beast arm was now coming toward him.
Sensing it, Murkel jumped and did a backflip in the air, avoiding the axe hitting him completely and landing back on the ground.
"You are one of the most extremely talented individuals I have ever come across, Murkel," Amir stated. "One of the few people who has been able to use the full properties of dark Qi, something only a handful of people have managed to achieve.
"It means the world felt like you were destined for great things."
Murkel smiled at this comment.
"It seems we both can agree on that. That's why you stood in my shadow and had to force your body to change to this, to even do something against me," Murkel said.
Amir shook his head.
"If only your ambition wasn't so short-sighted. While you are busy trying to take over Pagna yourself, you're unaware that there might not even be a Pagna in the end!"
Amir jumped up, and as he did, both of his arms changed into axes. He swung them from both sides, stretching them out, one from the left and one from the right.
Quickly, Murkel kicked himself from his position and grabbed the wrist of Amir, stopping his attack. He could see that Alba and Dame had gotten up and were striking from either side.
Pushing away with a strong force, Murkel then slammed his foot into the ground, surging Qi through the floor and breaking the ground up, creating barriers in their path.
A perfectly controlled amount of Qi, with plenty of fighting experience. This was the type of opponent they were going against.
Both Dame and Alba continued their attack through the concrete that had risen, breaking through it and turning it to rubble, but now on the other side, they could no longer see Murkel.
"He's going after Raze, stop him!" Amir shouted.
With his arms stretched out, he was the furthest away, and it would take him the longest to get to Murkel, and Murkel was faster than him.
"The one that needs to be dealt with and will get in my way is him. The past needs to be completely gotten rid of in order for the future to progress!" Murkel stated.
"That student is a fragment of the past that cannot exist!"
The Noctis Clan was continuously in his head. Ever since he had seen Raze use the skills, he felt like he was someone to deal with. He just wasn't aware of how dangerous of a threat he was, nor how much alive he was.
He could see now that Raze was defenseless. It was an easy target for him to take out and a way to lower their morale.
"The man who killed Arkon will die!"
Murkel continued forward until he felt something pull on his leg. Looking down, he could see a white substance that was wrapped completely around his foot.
As he looked at the substance, he followed it with his eyes and could see that it was coming straight from Dame's mouth, which was open wide and had two curved large teeth growing from the side of his mouth.
"You…You were a hybrid as well?" Murkel asked.