Chapter 238 - Clash of the Legends (3)

At that moment, everyone was desperately trying to stay alive.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the attack by Almarick was akin to an iron mace of calamity swung by a god. One had to use all of one’s power to survive against the aftereffects of that attack.

‘Bullseye.’

At the same time, Almarick was sure of it.

Azell hadn’t been able to dodge his attack.

Almarick was able to see what the others missed.

In the beginning, Azell was able to dodge half of the lightning bolt, and the other half had been absorbed by him.

Afterwards, Azell used the absorbed lightning to boost his Thunder Dragon’s Horn by dozens of magnitude. The Sword that Cuts through the Storm was mostly neutralized by using the Thunder Dragon’s Horn.

Almarick had predicted Azell’s move until that point. This was why he had prepared the Thunder God’s Sword. The rebound from using the Thunder Dragon’s Horn had made Azell come to a halt for a brief moment, so he wasn’t in a position to respond to Almarick’s attack.

‘Is he dead?’

Despite see thing, Almarick wasn’t sure about the result. The probability of Azell surviving that strike was almost nil, but his opponent was Azell Karzark…...

The fact that he was having such thought allowed him to dodge the attack that was sent towards him.

Puh-uuuuuuuhng!

The beam of light had been shot towards him.

It was merely the beginning of the attack. Several dozen beams of light came at him from all directions. While Almarick was dodging, a much more dangerous attack revealed itself from beyond.

Hwahhhhhhhk!

An Azell clone appeared in the rear, and he brought down his sword against Almarick. Explosive flame erupted from the sword. It was a technique that was on par in power with the Thunder Dragon’s Horn. It was the Fire Dragon’s Horn.

“As expected...”

As if Almarick had expected such an attack, Almarick controlled the gale to push aside the attack. He didn’t know where Azell’s true body was located at, but it didn't matter. It didn’t matter where the attacks would come from. He planned on crushing all of it.

Flame continued to rage around his surroundings.

Azell clones surrounded Almarick, and all of them used the Flame Dragon’s Horn at the same time.

‘Ridiculous. He is able to generate this much magical energy at one go?’

A hell-like heat was burning up his surrounding. The Flame Dragon’s Horn was able to absorb the heat in the surrounding to create its terrifying might.

Moreover, eight clones were simultaneously using it at the same time. Even Almarick couldn’t help, but shudder at the attack.

Kwahhhhhhhhh!

Almarick charged out of the exploding flame. He accelerated using the Instantaneous Movement, and he cut down the Azell clones.

Azell had manifested eight clones, and only three of the clones were successful in pulling off the attack again. The other five was destroyed by Almarick clones.

It happened at that moment.

A ray of light pierced through Almarick’s chest.

‘What……?’

Almarick’s eyes widened.

The sound of an explosion rang out a beat late.

Kwahhhhhng!

This was the first time Almarick had lost his balance since the start of the fight. He couldn’t withstand the explosion, so he was sent flying.

He couldn’t understand what had happened. Almarick had his guard up.

His surrounding was too chaotic, so it was hard to read the flow of power. However, he had been prepared for a sneak attack. It shouldn’t have mattered where or when the attack was sent by Azell. He should have been able to block it.

However, a thin beam of light had pierced through all his defense as if it was paper. A finger sized hole had appeared on his chest.

‘What the hell was it?’

The size of the wound was small, but he had taken the full brunt of the attack. There was a hole in his heart, so it was a critical wound.

However, Almarick was someone that possessed life energy in abundance. It was as big as a mountain, so he was able to use Dragon Arts to stop the bleeding from his wound. His power mimicked the function of the problematic organ.

‘Azell, you made a mistake in not being able to hit my head.’

If the attack had pierced through his head, the fight would have ended. However, it had hit his heart. If the damage was localized, there were ways to patch up the damage.

“Koo-oohk, huh-uhk…….”

Almarick was barely able to regain his balance, and he was breathing roughly. An Azell clone with the Moon sword appeared in front of Almarick. A fierce attack was unleashed.

“Don’t underestimate me!”

Almarick yelled out in anger.

The Moon sword could absorb magical energy, so it was the worst type of attack for Almarick in his current state. Just facing the Moon sword caused disturbance in the flow of his magical energy.

However, Almarick was like a typhoon as he pressed his attack against the Azell clones. Almarick cut off the head of a clone. Other Azell clones kept attacking Almarick, but his defense was like a steel wall. He was injured, yet he used his storm like rage to beat back Azell’s attack.

At the same time, Almarick’s clone had moved into the sky as he checked what had happened.

‘Sun Lightsaber!’

It was as if an enormous tree of light was sprouting from the ground to the sky.

As the light dispersed, he could see Azell at the center of this light. His armor was broken, and his entire body was bloody.

When he saw this, he understood what Azell had used to attack him.

‘Extreme Extinction. I see. This is Extreme Extinction.’

This was different from the Extreme Extinction shown by Azell in the Dragon Demon war. However, the existence of the Extreme Extinction had been confirmed through the Great Darkness.

This was why Almarick had been wary of it. However, he had never expected Azell to use the attack in such a way.

Almarick hadn’t given Azell the time to manifest the Sun Lightsaber. He had worked under that assumption. However, Azell had transcended his expectation. A new variable had allowed this to happen.

‘Brand of Paradise. Hahaha. Yuren Rizester, you are a scary human being. I never expected to be caught unawares thanks to his majesty’s reincarnated self.’

Azell had used Sky’s Fortress, Master of Raging Wave, Defender of Dawn and the Sky Splitter. Azell had chained together five of his Dragon Demon weapons to defend the Thunder God’s Sword.

However, he couldn’t block the entirety of the attack, so his body was a bloody mess. He had almost lost consciousness, and he was barely able to stop himself from falling from the sky.

Danger soon turned into opportunity.

Almarick had used lightning bolts, which had erupted during battle, to manifest his ultimate attack. Azell could do the same thing. Above all else, the aftereffects of the attack was so large that even Atein would be able to decipher what was going on here. He was too far away. This was a golden ability.

He pushed the Brand of Paradise to its limit as he accelerated time, and he used the light being generated in his surrounding to manifest the Sun Lightsaber with the Sky Splitter.

He used all the leftover energy in his body to create clones, and he had distracted Almarick. In the confusion, he was able to land the Extreme Extinction on Alamrick’s body.

“As expected…. You really are ridiculous.”

Almarick laughed as he pushed aside the fierce attack being carried out by Azell clones.

Almarick could hear the footsteps of the grim reaper creeping up from behind his back. He was in danger of losing his life. This truth was felt vividly by him.

Still, Almarick laughed.

Azell’s true body rushed forward, and he arrived in front of Almarick. The Sky Splitter had resolved into its light form, and it cut through the chaotic space. The light sword clashed with the sword in Almarick’s hands.

Kwah-chahng!

Lightning erupted at the point of impact, and the lightning was sucked back into the two swords. Then they clashed again!

Kwahng!

As the explosion rang out, both combatants became bloody, and they both took a step back.

They regained their balance at the same time.

It was as if both of them had forgotten each other’s existence. They disengaged at the perfect moment, and they swung their swords towards their backs.

A shockwave detonated.

Both fighters had thought the same thing. As soon as they clashed, they sent a clone to each other’s backs. They had read this truth, and they had reacted at the same time.

‘How about this?’

The next round of attack was the same. They acted simultaneously. Almarick’s clone could flow between substance and non-substance like water. When Almarick’s clone attacked from behind, Azell accelerated forward to dodge the attack. Azell had created a clone with the small time difference, and he mounted a counterattack.

‘Is this all you got! Let’s see you deal with this attack.’

Azell had rushed forward, and a clone had appeared in front of him. It was as if the two figures was superimposed to each other. When Almarick was about to block the attack, the tip of Azell’s sword turned immaterial. Azell had used perfect timing to dismiss his clone. Almarick’s balance was thrown off, and the delayed attack of Azell struck out at Almarick.

Almarick dodged the attack by a hair. However, it was as if Azell had been waiting for this moment. A powerful light detonated in the air, and Almarick’s barrier was half destroyed. It made him stagger.

Azell rushed in as he swung his luminescent sword.

There was a frenetic energy behind his attack, but on the contrary, his form was eerily clean. There wasn’t a single inefficiency as Azell swung a beautiful arc with his sword.

‘Ah……!’

Almarick’s eyes widened.

He was off balance, yet he was able to block the attack. He immediately tried to give substance to his nearby clones to mount a counterattack.

However, he had been mistaken. Azell’s sword was like an illusion, and it had sliced through his body.

“This…….”

Almarick staggered as he retreated.

Azell’s strike had cleaved Alrmarick from his left shoulder to his right side. It was almost miraculous that his body hadn’t fallen apart. It was an extremely deep cut. Blood fountained forth from his wound.

“I was wondering what you were planning to do but you had been holding this back…..”

Almarick spoke. His eyes headed towards his own sword.

He had spent over a thousand years with the Dragon Weapon named Storm’s Scream. It was basically another form of his soul.

It held the powerful ability to control storm and lightning. It had been broken in half.

Azell looked ghastly as he answered Almarick.

“I didn’t plan on using this, but you are an outrageous bastard.”

This was his hidden card.

It was the third form of the Extreme Extinction.

After successfully hitting Almarick with the second form of his Extreme Extinction, he had resolved his Sky Splitter into its light form. Then he fought with his Moon sword. He had done this, because he wanted to gather the scattered light for the Sunlight Saber. He needed time to form the third form of the Extreme Extinction.

Azell had hidden this technique, and he planned on only revealing it in his fight against Atein. However, he had no choice. He had to use this technique to defeat Almarick.

“Ha…….”

Almarick looked dumbfounded as he stared at Azell. Then he broke out into laughter.

“Ha ha ha ha ha!”

He let out a heroic laughter. The blood from his wound continued to flow out.

He was close to the point of no return. His death was near. He felt this to be true, yet he strangely felt no regret. He felt unburdened.

Suddenly, his laughter stopped. He spoke as he looked up at the sky.

“…Azell, the king called us the children of hate.”

The Demon race was born through human hatred. The Dragon Demon race was born when the Dragons and Demons tried to fill their deficiencies by combining the two races.

In the end, the Dragon Demon race originated from hatred felt by humans.

Since their existence was rooted in hatred, the Dragon Demon race didn’t fall far from the tree. They possessed high intelligence, ability and longevity compared to humans. However, their base nature was similar to humans. It was inevitable.

“He is a sage that found the truths of this world. He must be right. However, it really is amazing.”

“What is?”

“I don’t hate you, Azell.”

“…….”

His flame of life was close to being extinguished, yet Azell saw Almarick smile. Azell watched Almarick as many emotions crossed his eyes.

He was a foe worthy of his hate. At the same time, there was a connection between the two of them. They had lived and fought in the same era. In their fights, they had transcended all emotions. Both of them had reached heights where they were able to ignite each other soul as ultimate competitors.

Suddenly, Almarick moved his gaze towards Laura.

As always, the battlefield was loud with the sounds of the battle. However, they met each other’s eyes as if it had been promised.

They didn’t exchange any words, but Laura felt as if she had exchanged countless words with him.

Almarick was someone she had to kill even at the cost of her life. He was her enemy, but at the same time, he had been her benefactor. When she was being raised within the madness of the Plain of Darkness, he had been the only person that had given her comfort.

‘Elder.’

Laura respectfully lowered her head towards Almarick. She expressed her respect towards him. Almarick slightly nodded his head as he spoke.

“In this moment, I really can’t hate anyone.”

There wasn’t a single ounce of lie in his words. He had lived for over a thousand years. When he greeted the end of his life, he couldn’t hate anything in this world.

“You are the fated victor. Take the blessing of vanquished.”

Almarick closed his eyes.

“I wish for your success in the war.”

Even as his life ended, he didn’t fall over. He died as he remained upright like a sculpture.

When Almarick was defeated, the outcome of the battle was decided.

The slaughter started. The elite troops of the Plain of Darkness desperately struggled for their lives, but their demise was just a matter of time. When the tide of the battle tilted completely in their favor, Azell started getting ready to break the seal. He was going to completely destroy the Tree god.

However, the aftermath of the battle made it hard for him to find the trace of the forest. The landscape had changed too much.

At that moment, darkness surged upwards in the middle of the battlefield.

Azell felt a familiar energy within the darkness. It was an ominous and dangerous energy.

“Darkness Incarnate!”

It was Atein’s Dragon Demon weapon. It was the Darkness Incarnate.

The darkness continued to erupt like a geyser, and a person appeared from within it. He had long black hair, and his black eyes looked as if he was looking far away into the distance. He was a Dragon Demon youth possessing a thick black horn. It was Atein.

-It’s ok.

At that moment, Kayalia flew to Azell’s side. She looked more hazy than usual.

-He can’t manifest his true body here.

This was why Kayalia hadn’t gotten involved in the battle between Azell and Almarick.

Almarick had shown up a good amount of time later after Azell’s party started their surprise attack. Almarick had to help out in carrying out a magic ritual. It was being carried out in the building housing the seal.

It had been a ritual that would call Atein to this place.

Kayalia had realized this. This was why she broke through the barrier magic around the building, while Azell and Almarick fought. She was able to defeat the magicians within, and she was successful in stopping the ritual.

Atein was carrying out an enormous magic ritual, so he couldn’t leave the Dragon Demon castle. However, it was similar to what Saibein had found out before. Atein had been able to secretly use a secret research facility even as he carried out the Dragon Demon war.It had been possible for him to do it, because he possessed the Dragon Demon weapon called Darkness Incarnate.

The Dragon Demon weapons of Atein and the Dragon Demon general weren’t personal possessions. They were all bound to the Great Darkness. When Yuren had awakened, his body didn’t go through the process of inheriting the Dragon Demon weapons. However, he had been able to use them, because he gained access to the Great Darkness.

The Darkness Incarnate had also become one with the Great Darkness. This was why Atein was able to manifest a clone from so far away through the Great Darkness.

However, he still needed outside help for a full manifestation. Kayalia had actively interfered with that work.

“…I see.”

Azell swallowed his breath.

If it wasn’t for Kayalia, Azell would have been taken completely unawares. What would have happened if Atein had made his appearance during his battle against Almarick?

Everyone here would have been sent to an early grave.

Atein’s clone looked like his real self. His back was straight as he approached Almarick’s corpse. He sounded truly regretful as he spoke.

“It is regrettable, but I know you did your best. Almarick, you were one of my closest friends.”

Atein had asked Almarick to survive. Almarick said he would, but instead of a promise, he said he would let fate decide it. Maybe, the two of them had a hunch that such an end was coming for him.

For a moment, deep sadness could be seen as Azell looked at Almarick’s corpse. Then Atein looked away.

“Kayalia, this is sudden and unexpected, but I can now see that you are resolute in your decision. After experiencing so many lives, you’ve found something worth more than your life.”

-I’m thankful.

Kayalia answered him.

-If it wasn’t for you, I would have never gained this opportunity. Thanks to you I was able to choose the path I truly wanted to take in life.

“I will respect your choice. You were my comrade, and at the same time, you were my endearing companion. Now we will be enemies that’ll fight for our fate.”

One word couldn’t describe the relationship between the two.

If it wasn’t for Atein, Kayalia would have died within the body of a human girl. She had tried to avoid death through multiple reincarnation, yet her life had almost come to an end.

If Atein didn’t take on Kayalia as his third wife, he wouldn’t have been able to revive in this era. He had learned the Reincarnation technique from her, and the experience of using the technique for the past 220 years had been a key part in reviving his true body.

However, the mutually beneficial relationship between the two had come to an end in this era. Atein had lived a very long time, so his personal feeling towards others had faded away. Despite this fact, he couldn’t help, but be deeply moved by his emotions.

“Azell Karzark.”

Atein’s gaze headed towards Azell. Azell felt his heart beat faster despite knowing that Atein’s clone was powerless. It was merely an illusion.

The two of them finally stood face to face.

Azell was an old foe that had ended the Dragon Demon war. He was Atein’s fated foe.

Azell had met Atein before, but it was merely a shade of himself. This was their true reunion.

Azell and Atein faced each other after 220 years had passed. For a brief moment, they were silent as they looked at each other. The echo of fate penetrated the heart of the two beings.

“…I see.”

The first to speak was Atein.

There was a smile on his lips as he spoke.

“I also have been looking forward to this moment. After I was revived in this era, I’ve been waiting for the day when I would meet you again, Azell Karzark.”

“It feels awful to say this, but…….”

Azell grinned.

“I feel the same way. I really wanted to meet you, Atein. It almost makes me wonder if I fell in love with your stupid mug.”

“Ha ha ha. I see. This also might be something arranged by fate. Above all else, I am thankful for the opportunity to converse with you before we try to take each other’s life.”

“I don’t have much to say to you.”

Azell replied in an apathetic manner. However, he shook his head soon. He took back his words.

“…I want to say that, but I can’t. If you have something you want to say to me, you can. There will never come a time where I would indulge your words like this.”

“I agree with that sentiment, so I’ll speak.”

Atein let out a bright smile as he spoke.

“The first to disappear will be the Dragons.”

“What?”

“Then the humans will walk down the same path.”

He had heard this before. When he was assessing the skills of the four Lakadi siblings, dark thoughts had risen up from the destroyed waypoint of the Road of Darkness.

“The last to disappear will be the Dragon Majin. The only one remaining will be the parentless Dragon Demons. The Dragon Demons will be all alone, and they’ll have to take on the fate of fighting the evil born by the past.”

“You really are babbling away. What are you trying to say, mad king?”

At Azell’s question, Atein answered in a calm manner.

“I’m talking about the fate that’ll be greeted by my race and your race. I’ve been looking forward to this moment, so I sent messages to you in the past. It was an attempt to make you understand my will.”

“Messages?”

“Demon King Balserk of the Yudusk kingdom.”

Azell flinched when he heard the name of the Demon. This particular Demon had told him about the truth behind the Demon race.

Atein spoke.

“Then there was the wise Dragon Albatan. It was all set up, so you’ll have the basic knowledge. It was done because I want you to be able to accept what I’m about to say.”

“…that was you?”

He had always been curious about it.

Azell had learned about the truths about the Dragon Demon race from Balserk and Albatan. The existence of the Dragon Demon race had created a problem in this world.

Who had arranged it so that Azell became aware of this problem?

At first, he thought it was Carlos. However, when he met Carlos in the mountain peak of Laus, it was revealed that someone else had arranged it. At that point, he knew that there was a high probability that this mysterious person might be Atein.

Atein nodded his head.

“That’s right. You hate me, and you never plan on forgiving me. If I hadn’t used such a roundabout and troublesome method, I don’t think you would have even given me the chance to start a conversation.”

As soon as Carlos started his work on eliminating Azell’s curse, Atein had begun making preparations. He wanted to make Azell understand his goal. Atein had spent time much longer than the lifetime of a man to prepare for this conversation.

“Azell, you were chosen by this world to be my fated foe. Please listen to my story. It is about the sad shift in the fate of the world. It is something we will all face.”

The truth about the world started to flow out of Atein’s mouth.