“Damn it! That Shen, going after the prince without even thinking about traps! Why is he always that rash?!” → Ashura
Ashura felt his temples throbbing, then a sudden impact sent him flying with blood dripping from his mouth. He got kicked in the stomach with a frontal kick, making him go through a huge boulder then crash 10 meters away. Servius remained with his leg in the air and looked with contempt at Ashura.
“You dare to think of something else while fighting me? I will be sure to kill you in the most painful manner possible.” → Servius
He then leaped at Ashura while hitting with the speed of sound, breaking the ground after him. When he saw Ashura getting up, he circulated his chi around his body towards his arms.
“[Demonic Plasma Fist]” → Servius
Energy of a blood color started to circulate around the fist and spun faster and faster.
“Grrr! [Super Nova 9 Suns]!” → Ashura
Ashura summoned 9 little suns around his fist and met Servius’s punch with his. A huge red and yellow blast leveled the ground around them, forming a crater of 100 meters around the two then making both of them take 2 steps back.
When they wished to start another fist fight.
WHHOOOOONNGGGG!!!!
A deafening sound appeared from the sky. It sounded like war-horns sung by the Gods themselves. The Earth started to tear apart showing a dark abyss even bigger than what Shen created. From the sky, when the golden lightning flashed, in the clouds one was able to see a huge bird’s silhouette with a wingspan of dozens of kilometers and other humanoid silhouettes bellow the bird, gazing from above, like gods waiting to ascend. Inside the biggest hole created right beside the world tree, with an opening of more than 5 kilometers, one would be able to see one huge red and evil eye, looking at the dark sky with hate and greed.
From the other cracks, dark miasma was evading and screams of agony and crawling sounds were heard from inside. Ugly, disgusting and hideous monsters tried to crawl outside the abyss, being stopped by a golden barrier right 100 meters below the surface, screeching with a terrifying voice like glass being scratched. The view made one feel like the worst hell was waiting to take place on Earth. Be them demons, beast-men or elves, everyone looked with pale faces, not understanding what’s happening. The fox-woman who was ordered by Shen to show her trust and fight together with the elves, whitened after feeling the monstrous entities below the Earth.
“T-this is the snake 3rd prince talked about? He wants to take control over that?! That’s madness! It’s impossible! That’s not an entity we, mortals, can control! It must be even above the legendary SS+ ranked monsters!”
She fell on her knees, not knowing what to do anymore, feeling despair and regret.
Am I going to die here, before even seeing you again, sister…?
Sylvia, Ashura, Theo and Melinda felt anxious, they started to fight with more urgency, getting more wounds but landing more hits at the same time.
Shen flew through the wormhole and followed the prince who was right in front of him.
“One more time. Don’t get in my way. Otherwise, you will die today.” → Demon’s Prince
The prince slashed again and entered through another portal he made, leaving Shen on his own.
“[Now or later, death will come to all.]” → Shen
Just like the first time, he followed right after him, not minding his warnings.
“W-what is happening?! Why is the space distorting like this?!”
Inside a huge underground cave, a shining and pure lake was visible. In the middle of the lake, a little island in which a wooden arch full with cracks stood tall. Around the arch, 6 high elves meditated while in the middle, right under the arch, the beautiful high-elf stood with her arms to the sky, looking as if she tried to support the arch. Everyone woke up in shock when they felt a disturbance in space around them. A huge crack suddenly appeared in space and the 3rd prince appeared while emanating a dangerous bluish-dark aura.
“Hello~.” → Prince
The prince smiled and then looked at the woman in the middle with cold eyes.
“I’ll have your life.” → Prince
He then dashed towards her while ignoring the other high elves.
“Don’t!”
All the other elves then leaped forward and tried to intercept the prince. They created barriers around the woman or attacked the prince with arrows or swords. However, because of the late reactions from the defenders, the prince already found a weak point and focused his mana inside his sword.
“Tow slow!” → Demon’s Prince
The prince activated the same skill he used when he almost stabbed Sylvia. His sword stretched out and pierced through the weak barriers created in a rush, together with the shoulder of the high-elf, making her wake up from the meditation.
“Kya!”
The woman lost focus and the arch started to crack even more. A huge part separated itself from the humongous arc of wood and endangered of crashing onto the woman. She saw the huge wooden part while falling over her with a pale face, she couldn’t stop the wooden piece because she was too exhausted and it was way too heavy for a normal mortal to even lift it. The wood used was of a sacred kind which was made from the World Tree itself, making only that piece of the dimensions of a big dog, weight more than a few thousand tons.
“ROAAR!”
Suddenly, a dragon-like roar was heard and a humanoid silhouette appeared over the elf-woman, supporting the wooden part on his shoulders alone.
“Guuh! This thing is ridiculously heavy!” → Shen
“Huh? You’re, Sir Shen?!”
The woman was surprised after looking better at Shen’s face, even though from his forehead two dragonish horns appeared, his eyes appeared in the form of slits like those of a beast and white scales appeared on his face, he still had the features of his humanoid form.
“H-how? Why are you here?”
“Grrrr~! ROAR! [Shadow Arms]!” → Shen
Shen ignored the elf woman then used his entire spirit to sustain the seal. Huge arms of mana appeared from his aura and helped him in sustaining the seal.
“[Repair!]” → Shen
He used word power but the idea of repairing a seal made by the World Tree by using only a power-word was ridiculous. He then summoned the golden ring from above his head and started to spin it with all he had.
“[PRANA!]” → Shen
He summoned the golden energy named Prana and started to heal the cracks. After that, he imbued all the mana around him into the seal to make the recovery of the seal possible, Prana needed mana from around to recreate what was destroyed.
“Grrr!” → Shen
He then spun his chakras for more power and activated Kundalini, appearing on his back the two spiraling and burning lines, to be able to sustain the broken arch. Even so, he still felt the ridiculous pressure just as heavy as before.
This is ridiculous! It’s not only physical, the pressure is also mental and spiritual! You can go crazy if you stay too much under this thing! → Shen
Shen activated his mind-barrier, making sure he won’t go crazy for having his mind shattered. The golden aura around his head shone with a bright light, showing the mental pressure it was under. However, he still felt how his organs, his heart and even his soul were being pressured, almost wishing to let go and just rest already.
F*ck! If I use [One with the Universe] at this moment, my weakened mind would get swayed by the universe, taking my soul outside the body! I need to think of another way, I can’t die yet! As for the other ability… I need to become one with the universe for that, which is the same thing! → Shen
He inhaled mana and while exhaling it, he would introduce it inside his blood then activate it, making his veins shine with a red-blood color.
“[Plasma Circulation!]” → Shen
Blood was plasma, which meant it was a good circulator of energy, sending all the mana to recover his muscles and strengthening them. He then focused on his dantian and circulated his chi.
“[Iron Body]” → Shen
He strengthened his body again, using everything he had so his muscles won’t rupture and collapse. Shen tried to activate every strengthening ability he knew about, only so he could resist the weight of the broken piece of the ark for a few more seconds. He then summoned all 50 energy stones he still had of whatever element they were and made them release their entire energy to create more strings of energy and lift it in the air. Even though the piece of stone was still unmoving from atop Shen, the weight still lightened significantly.
His power is rising? He’s already at the Semi-God power rank! How can his powers grow so much?!
The Elf woman was amazed by how much power Shen showed at that moment. She was sure she would not be able to sustain the arch with her powers alone, even though she appeared to be of a higher rank than him.
“…Resisting such pressure on his own… I need to kill him before he grows anymore than this.” → Demon’s Prince
While fighting the other high-elves, the 3rd prince suddenly pushed them all back and stabbed towards Shen with the long sword. With quick moves he sent suddenly enlarged the sword, sending the tip of the sword right through the white scales and iron-like skin, penetrating his stomach almost to the back.
“Grrr!” → Shen
Shen was under so much pressure, he wasn’t even able to shout from pain, only growling like a beast while blood evaded through his sharp teeth.
This bastard! [Barrier!] → Shen
He made sure to create a barrier thick enough so the sword won’t pierce so easily this time.
158.000/300.000 → 123.000/300.000 → 110.000/300.000
And, because of the staked enchants, his mana-pool doubled in quantity but because of the pressure and stacked spells that he was making, his mana was draining at an incredible speed right back again. Even though he tried to absorb as much as possible, the draining speed was much faster.
“Sir Shen!”
The elf woman was frightened after seeing how Shen was stabbed through the stomach, making him lower his stance with a few centimeters. Being right under him, she reached to his stomach and healed him with a green light, ending up with blood on her hands.
“Elf… repair… seal…! → Shen”
Shen barely was able to speak so he only said some key-words for her to understand.
“I understand. Please wait for a bit, I’ll enter meditation again.”
The woman hurriedly entered in meditation while he was holding the heavy wood right above her because she had to sit right in the middle of the seal to be able to repair it, the elf woman had no choice but to trust Shen in keeping her safe and rush the process.
Shen, after reaching this place, was able to see the huge seal under the ark and understood that once the ridiculously heavy piece fell on top of the huge white magic circle, the seal would break and everything would be lost. He was able to understand that, once he collapsed, the world will follow him shortly.
“Grrr…” → Shen
Shen growled tired, his muscles started to rupture, and blood flowed from all his five orifices. Using so many enchanting and strengthening abilities at once was the same as trying to stretch a rubber band; past the limits and the band would snap. The same was with Shen, his body was at its limits, anymore and he will explode from inside before getting squished by the wooden arch.
The entire cave started to rumble, the seal was even more damaged and the two godly spirits had enough space to send out parts of their spirits to the material world.
Inside the lake, a black snake with an incredibly evil aura appeared in spiritual form, swimming around the island. It appeared only 10 meters long but once it got out, 10 meters would be only his pupil of the eye, while his body reaching monstrous levels. In the air, while flying in circles around the arch, a golden bird flew while looking ghastly and a panthomatic fire escaped from the wings, every time it flapped them. Its wings were 4 meters in length, looking extremely huge. They were evaded parts from Nidhoggur and Hraesvelgr, waiting for the rest of their spiritual bodies to go beyond the arch and enter the material world.
[Foolish mortal! Thee dare stayeth in this one’s way!]
Inside Shen’s head, a sinister and antique voice like those from the deepest parts of the abyss echoed.
[Let mine glory out right this instant! Or this mighty one shall torture thee and put the underlings to violate and eat thee loved ones in front of thee eyes!]
The voice was extremely threatening and made Shen feel the cold air on his spine.
Nidhoggur! Like hell I’ll ever let you out! Stay there inside the Abyss and rule over your own place! This world is not for you to feast! → Shen
Shen answered back while trying to resist the powerful aura. Even though he felt more afraid than imposing in front of Nidhoggur, he still kept his composure and answered back with arrogance.
[Young man, this one asks thee to let this mighty Eagle out to kill the cursed snake. It is finally the time to end the bad blood between us.] → Shen
Another domineering and strong voice appeared inside his head. Unlike Nidhoggur’s, this one was a composed and majestic one, however, just as commanding. Shen felt pressured again.
Hraesvelgr! I can’t let you out and the time for the final fight hasn’t come yet! Rest beside the Sun and keep on sending winds upon this world as before! → Shen
[Yes it did. The Gods arst prepared for the final war. Let us out at this moment and fight alongside the light to get rid of darkness, forever!]
Hraesvelgr commanded again and made Shen choose a camp in which to fight, putting even more pressure on him than he already had to endure.
“Grr…” → Shen
Shen grit his teeth from the pain. He wasn’t only pressured by the arch, but now even by the two spiritual forms of the godly beasts. He tried to ignore them at his best but they would still pressure him, trying to awaken his consciousness to pass out and fall.
[Tsk! Thee arst a golden soul! Hmm…this one shall wait and observe thy struggles. But if thee fail, to eat thee up and take thy soul in the abyss, this Emperor shall do!]
[Thee might be a strong being in space, but this is a world in which we rule! Thou must obey the rules of this world!]
The bird on the sky looked with contempt at Shen.
