Chapter 557: You’re late…
The instant Axel turned away from Sophia, his face became incomparably cold, his eyes flashing with killing intent.
Though some things had gone according to his plans, others did not.
He had gone to the lands of the Great Kingdoms, to personally check if Gareth had indeed placed everything perfectly in position or not, just out of caution.
Axel knew Sophia’s life would be in danger, and that the 5th phase strategist Zoromir Gorthak would have another deadly card prepared to ambush the Valkyrie.
But he did not expect it to be the very High-Lich who had attacked the academy.
This was completely out of his expectations, yet maybe he should have expected it, considering how much things had changed compared to the original storyline due to his extensive activities after returning from the academy.
For playing both Axel and Osiris.
Yet, what truly made him snap in rage is the fact that Sophia was actually ever so close to dying; just thinking of it gave him terror. He did not know what he would truly do or become if she truly died.
Axel had already planned to reveal much of his strength as a human runecaster while keeping his runic eyes a secret. But Sophia being in true danger forced him to reveal his true power as the Absolute Runecaster, as the possessor of the Runic Eyes.
This was both good and bad; after all, his primary target for this War was to gather the flow of fate upon him, and since he revealed himself as the holder of the Runic Eyes. Much greater flow of fate had coalesced upon him, yet this also invited the wrath of the Suncrest King.
Axel’s head turned for a moment, peering through the clouds of smoke within the battlefield, his gaze locking onto the figure of Osiris, oozing with demonic energy, while Sophia was rushing to attack him, overflowing with monstrous killing intent.
The figure of Osiris also turned his head, looking at Axel’s murderous eyes, and he shuddered from a fear that bloomed in his very soul itself.
The threatening intent of Axel towards the disguised demon could not be any more obvious.
Axel had ordered Garerth to play as Osiris, in his stead, as he was supposed to make an entrance as his human self eventually.
At the same time, the persona of Osiris was a necessity on the battlefield.
Frankly, the forger was also the only person who could pass as Osiris without issue.
Beneath the skull mask, Gareth gritted his teeth as he could hear Axel whispering to him in a monstrous voice.
Do not test me any further; this will be the first and last time.
While Axel had tasked Gareth with doing his best to try and kill the Valkyrie, that was just for show, obviously.
But when Zabiur Ulpranak was about to end Sophia’s life.
Gareth had taken a gamble by not doing anything to intervene to try and save her.
Because he wanted to see... he wanted to see Axel’s reaction, how greatly the Runecaster would be infuriated, or to what extent he would go afterward. Gareth did not agree with the horrendous act Axel was about to commit by the end of this war.
This was a gamble on his part, a test of Axel’s mental endurance, to see if he was slipping from his original purpose to save the world.
Yet, blinded by his hidden displeasure and desire to test the Demon of Despair, Gareth had forgotten the one thing Axel Nomrad would never tolerate.
Sophia Evercrest was the Demon’s Holy Grail. That should not be touched or harmed.
Gareth’s composure cracked beneath the mask, as he cursed, ’Damn it, DAMN it, DAMNNN IT.....!!’
The forger had thought wrong and chosen wrong. He should not have tried to test Axel on his precious thing; he absolutely should not have.
His expression beneath the mask soured, as he prepared to clash against the incoming Valkyrie’s attack.
He growled in his mind, ’DAMN IT, now I don’t know what he will do. Maybe I just made things worse, fuck...’
Gareth did not have any time for further considerations as the titanic assault of the Valkyrie eventually reached him, forcing him also to fight back.
***
After shooting a brief warning glare towards his subordinate.
Axel looked away from Osiris and continued walking; with each step, his boots hit the battlefield’s mud, wet with blood and filled with corpses; for a moment, he could not help but remember the 1st floor of his Chaosblood Aspect Chamber.
It was ironic, actually, because the sight in front of him was eerily similar to the landscape of the bloody battlefield in his Soul Sanctum.
And that battlefield was born of his Sin of Obsession, and strangely even now, despite not possessing the emotion of Obsession anymore, he was still in a certain way obsessed with Sophia, but not by emotion but by choice.
Ultimately, he was still fighting for her sake in the end.
Suddenly, he was unnerved, as if someone’s hands had long preordained everything.
Something that was manipulating the strings of fate to him, or maybe... everything towards a certain, required outcome.
Krahhh, grahhhhhh, screeehhhhh!!!!!
Suddenly, an inhumane grunt of pain echoed from the large 100-meter-radius-wide and deep crater right ahead of Axel.
He was forced to stop his train of thought as he saw a pair of charred bone hands reach out, barely managing to pull himself out of the deep crater.
It was, of course, the High-Lich; the charred, massive crater from which the Deathly Hollow crawled out was in fact just formed by Axel’s strike of the blue destructive lightning.
Some of the High-Lich’s clothes had been burned; the mighty figure now looked a mess compared to his usual composed self when he dominated Sophia in battle.
The moment Axel saw the High-Lich’s figure, his face turned frost-cold.
The Deathly Hollow growled in a bone-grinding voice, "You?? Yes, I know you. I remember you; aside from the Valkyrie, you were the strongest one among the students....."
The Undead Lich screeched in rage, "HOW DARE YOU, A MERE HUMAN!!!!"
But before the High-Lich could continue, Axel snapped his fingers.
SNAP!!!
And the previously synchronized metallic hum between the countless rune weapons throughout the battlefield buzzed once more, but this time, at a slightly different frequency than before and yet, stronger.
Humm!!!
Huuuuuuummmm!!!
HUMMMMM!!!
The instant this phenomenon occurred, multiple notifications flashed in the Lich’s sight.
[A condition-based Runic Barrier has been imposed within the entire battlefield.]
[No trace of power belonging to the 5th phase can be used within the battlefield any further.]
[All Dreadborn aspect holders will have any forms of their energy efficiency dropped by 10%]
[All Dreadborn aspect holders cannot switch their aspects within the battlefield]
[None can leave the Rune barrier unless Axel Nomrad permits it, or dies.]
Axel spoke, his voice unnervingly calm, "How dare a worthless, dirty, dead and wretched pile of bones like you dare to touch my women!!!"
Zabiur was taken aback, both by the notifications shown by Prime Nexus and Axel’s provoking words, but the High-Lich only let out a shrill, inhumane laugh.
Axel did not show any change of expression, only staring at the Lich coldly, like something to be destroyed.
Eventually, the High-Lich stopped laughing and said, "You’re good, Runecaster, much better than what I expected, far better than that stupid Valkyrie. But..."
Zabiur’s sunken eyes danced in nether flames, as he added, "Do you seriously think that this is enough to defeat me? I admit that blue lightning seems to counter the very essence of my Death Energy directly, but I doubt you can perform that attack many times?"
"And you’re only a peak 2nd phase Seeker. What can you even do?"
Axel did not respond to the High-Lich’s words; rather, he waited.
The Absolute Runecaster waited... for his real trump card to grace the battlefield.
The Lich suddenly saw something rise into the skies right from the Human armies’ camp; with a single jump, the figure almost crossed half the battlefield, from mid-air as he dove downward, burning with Ashen Flames; a spear appeared in his hand.
With a mighty roar, the figure hurled the spear directly towards the skull of the High-Lich at a shocking speed.
The Rune spear tore through the air like a hypersonic missile. Breaking the sound barrier in multiple succession.
The High-Lich was not impressed by the power of the incoming spear, but he would still respond in kind; yet at that moment, Axel was already on the move.
The Nomrad heir threw a round-shaped artifact right towards the Lich; right after, Axel stomped his feet onto the ground, pushing himself more than 30 meters away from where Zabiur was standing.
The artifact Axel had thrown was beeping nonstop, and right when it came near a few meters of the High-Lich.
The round artifact exploded like a hand grenade, yet no fire or smoke emerged.
Rather, a cacophony of harrowing sounds erupted, affecting the Deathly Hollow’s spiritual nature in a way that completely rattled his mind.
Thus stunning the High-Lich for 0.05 seconds, turning the Undead immobile for less than a second.
And yet, that was more than enough for the destructive spear enshrouded in ashen flames to tear into the somewhat battered figure of Zabiur Ulpranak.
BOOOOOM!!!!
The Rune spear smashed onto the High-Lich with a resounding explosion, hurling him down into the hundreds of meters deep crater, from which the Lich crawled out just moments before.
Pushing the Deathly Hollow this time even deeper into the crust of the earth....
BANG!!!!
The figure who threw the spear landed right beside Axel with a bang, causing the ground to crack slightly.
The figure was just as tall as Axel but more muscular, wearing warrior armor all over his body; he had distinct brown hair and brown pupils. Exuding a domineering, savage air like that of a veteran war commander.
Axel did not turn towards the figure because he did not need to; rather, he uttered coolly, "You’re late... brother."