Chapter 563: Collective Fury
The Army of the Dead, with their newfound strength, generated a thousand ghastly screeches that combined into one, discombobulating the swirling storm of silver butterflies; countless of them broke down into tiny stardust, unable to withstand the undead’s sinister frequency.
The Ghost race represented unrest in their bloodline, to never die, or never be able to die, which was why they were mostly referred to as Undead. The entire Ghost Empire was based on a strict hierarchical system.
It was like a chain on their neck they could never escape. Their minds and souls twisted to obey forever the commands of whoever summoned them from the dead. It was only in their last moments that they would be free of the corrupted nature of the Death Energy.
Only in the embrace of true death would they feel freed and relieved beyond reason.
They were the race in complete opposition to Mother Nature.
Meanwhile, the extinct Luminaries represented the opposite; they possessed the purest of hearts, the kindest of souls. To always act in line with the good of the world, with the good of Mother Nature.
And Lumina Suncrest was the last legacy of that radiant race that once existed within this continent.
And no matter how much she tried or how her powers countered the Dreadborn aspect holders, she was not nearly strong enough or possessed enough energy to overwhelm her thousand-strong enemies all by herself.
As she was again in the face of death, her life flashed before her eyes. She felt sorry for her mother, for her brother, for Sophia.
And strangely she remembered the hazy face of a handsome, blue-eyed man, a face not of Axel Nomrad but of someone she witnessed within her trial.
A person who helped her survive through the brutal trial.
More than a thousand arcs of black death rays shot towards Lumina in unison. With shades of green in the arcs of blackness.
At this moment, when her impending doom seemed all but assured, an explosive streak of blue lightning tore through walls of undead surrounding her; that streak of lightning turned into a man. Lumina could only see his wide and tall back, and the runic symbols shimmering in the white long mage coat.
With one slash of his sword, blue destructive lightning shot out, tearing through incoming Death Rays as if a hot knife slicing through butter.
Slowly, he turned; his runic eyes shimmered, his gaze filled with worry towards Lumina, and he said, "Are you alright, princess?"
Lumina stared at his eyes in a daze, but quickly regained her composure and nodded hurriedly. She pursed her lips and said with some hesitation, "Th-thank you, runecaster Axel."
Yet, before Axel could respond, another overwhelming danger greater than anything before pressed down on the two of them; Lumina could not withstand that pressure and was immediately forced into the ground.
Even Axel could barely stand due to the pressure containing a sliver of the World Force’s power.
A few moments before... due to Lumina’s life being in sudden danger, he had to leave the battle against the High-Lich and prioritize saving Lumina.
Coupled with the fact that Zabiur had regained access to the World Force, Heinz alone would naturally not be able to hold off the enemy.
The High-Lich gazed at him with a condescending smile, lifting his scepter; the undead manifested a titanic scythe of Death Energy, with traces of World Force within.
Axel growled as he used one of his trump cards, which he had not used till now: "Rune Formation, Energy overlap..."
The instant he said those words, the hidden mechanism of his every weapon revealed itself; there were functions within every rune weapon to work as a fragmented component to a much larger magic array when in proximity with other Rune tools of his creation.
There were tiny pockets of energy storage within every rune tool that would save excess energy from its users.
As countless invisible threads manifested from the laws of Runic Sorcery, binding all the rune tools in a macabre spiderweb.
All those threads converged on Axel. Giving him another overwhelming boost of power and flooding his reservoir with an almost endless stream of energy.
Axel did not hold back and slashed out with all of his might.
Bzzztt bzzttttt...
His blue lightning tore through the air, barely managing to stop the devastating assault of the Death Scythe, which seemed to contain the power to destroy the entire human army in one strike.
In the end, he could only turn back, pick up Lumina at lightning speed, and veer away from the attack’s trajectory; the entire battlefield was split in half as a massive chasm appeared at the center.
Axel coughed up blood due to him not being prepared; he had to abruptly pull in the massive reservoir of power contained in the runic formation created by the countless rune weapons spread throughout the battlefield.
He was not able to properly use his runic eyes as well as his energy to launch a perfect counter to the enemy’s attack that contained a trace of world force.
Which was why he had suffered a backlash; too many external power boosts were running through his body, elevating his strength to an unprecedented level, a strength a mere human runecaster should not be able to possess.
Only because he was a Pseudo demon could his body handle all that power and remain intact.
Lumina was terrified by all of it. Things escalated too fast. She could see that the undead race was after her, and Axel suddenly saving her like that caused her heart to flutter.
She was in his arms, their bodies touching. She gritted her teeth and erased those thoughts.
Putting her soft hands on Axel’s chest, she directly poured her stardusts onto him; his figure glowed in a silverish hue for a moment, and any of his injuries that he had sustained till now, including minor hidden problems due to constantly receiving so many different boosts of power, were healed.
All of it healed in an instant.
Axel was pleasantly surprised. He nodded towards Lumina in appreciation.
While Axel had saved Lumina barely in the nick of time, something else was happening.
The instant Lumina was about to be killed, Lucien had watched on in terror, cursing at his own fate, cursing at his own pathetic self, cursing at his powerlessness; no matter how desperately he fought on against the Corrupted Elf, he could not overpower his enemy soon enough to jump and save his sister.
Just as he was about to switch to his Draconic aspect and transform into a partial dragon, to his horror, he found that he could not, as he saw Lumina being engulfed by the scythe of death and darkness; something within him snapped for the first time.
A rage unlike any other exploded from within him, a primal rage from the most blessed creatures of this world. The World Will itself began to ripple and insert changes onto the battlefield due to that rage of Lucien Suncrest.
A notification flashed in the Prince’s retina, but he did not even look at it.
[You have gained the bloodline ability Dragon Rage]
[As long as this ability is active, the World Will itself will remain subservient to you.]
By the influence of this overpowered skill, with a single punch to the heart of Wangnan, who was in his demon form, Lucien shattered the demon thrall’s heart and rigcage, incapacitating the demon in a single second.
Uncaring of the Corrupted Elf, with a single stomp of his foot, with a monstrous growl, his figure shot out like a missile towards the hateful Lich that dared to touch the person he cared for most in this world.
If there were anyone for whom Lucien would do everything, it would be for his innocent little sister.
At the same time, a similar reaction was seen on Sophia’s face. Even though she was gradually overpowering her demonic adversary, Osiris, she was not strong enough to do so in time to save Lumina.
This filled her heart with boundless fury; there was probably not a single thing that Sophia could say that she cared for in this world, apart from wanting to be free and fight to grow stronger to escape the insidious hands of the Sun King.
The only thing she cared for was none other than the kind princess.
The person who showed her care when no one else in the world did.
A prompt flashed in front of her,
[You have gained the bloodline ability, Abyss Fury]
[The encroaching power of your All-Encompassing Darkness will temporarily increase by 50%]
[The same boost of strength will augment all your darkness-related abilities]
With a mighty attack, she pushed the demon away, her divine figure overflowing with darkness, speeding towards the hateful Lich; her boundless killing intent pressed down on Zabiur’s soul like an evil spirit.
As the Golden Prince and the Valkyrie both rushed towards the Deathly Hollow, both radiating hatred and killing intent like never before, both of them roared at the same time,
"Piercing Sword Star..."
"Blade of the All-Encompassing Darkness...."
However, a third being also joined the fray.
Heinz may not be as blessed as the others, but he was gifted with uncanny perception towards any situation; his battle IQ was off the charts, so he made his attack a split second later, using the sight of Axel’s Runic Eyes to see through the weakness of Zabiur’s defenses.
The Calamity Warlord roared, "Domination Spear Art, 1st form..."
As the mighty strike of the three entities hit the Deathly Hollow, even he was surprised by the power behind it. The Lich was forced back a few meters high in the air.
Sophia, Lucien, and Heinz all appeared right beside Axel, their backs facing the runecaster who was hugging Lumina in a protective gesture, their weapons pointed towards the indisputable High-Lich.
And for the first time, all five of the most fated individuals of Eldarion had gathered together, due to their collective fury towards the singular powerful adversary named Zabiur Ulpranak, the Deathly Hollow.