Chapter 88: Name of the Dawn
Juliana stood still as the energy wave smashed right into her, destroying ten of her shields. The concussive blast of the Demonic Tornado tore through the estate, turning the manicured lawns and marble pillars to absolute dust. Everyone stared, stunned speechless, their wide eyes fixed on Juliana, who stood still; not even a scratch was on her. The Tempus armor drank the catastrophic energy like it was nothing more than a mild breeze.
".....?!"
Richard revealed himself, stunned: "Impossible, that attack can deal a total of two million damage, how the hell are you still standing?!" He asked, pointing his dagger at the seemingly young lady before him. To put out two million points of raw magical damage was enough to vaporize a lesser Dungeon Boss, yet this F-Rank hadn’t moved an inch.
Juliana lowered her gaze to her armor, a slight frown on her face. That attack was indeed strong; it not only destroyed her ten shields, it even made her use Infinite Creation, and built extra defense on her body; if she wasn’t this proactive, she might have suffered. She calculated the damage brutally; and bridging an eight-rank gap required flawless battle IQ to perfectly layer her Divine-Tier skill beneath the Mythic-Tier auto-shields.
She raised her head to Richard, then moved her gaze around, staring at the ones standing a distance away. There were simply too many people here, close to a hundred, and most are very powerful; if she holds back at this moment, they will surely think the Aetheldawn are spineless cowards, which will lead to direct or even indirect attacks... So holding back was out of the question. To forge a new destiny out of the ashes of their past, they had to establish an empire of absolute fear.
’If you want to fight, go all out.’
She flicked her wrist, as the two Twin daggers Asher gifted her last night appeared in both hands. The Mythic-Tier daggers instantly unleashed a wave of energy, spreading all over the place.
"You already attacked, now is my turn."
"Daggers? When do Mages use daggers?" Richard asked in confusion, and the next moment, Juliana vanished, moving with an insane amount of speed. The traditional class restrictions of the Awakened society were meaningless in the face of her compounding artifact multipliers.
"And how can a Mage move so fast!!!!"
Richard quickly turned around, and threw his Divine-Tier dagger up in defense.
CLANK!!!!
"....?!!"
Everyone froze, as Juliana stopped behind the frozen Richard.
"You are an Old man, even if you are an SSS-RANK, your agility stats are far below mine which is a Million. And blocking a Mythic-Tier Weapon with a Divine-Tier? Don’t you dare look down on the difference between ranks, when you don’t have the means to back you up."
PIFFF!!
Richard vomited a mouthful of blood, as his Divine-Tier dagger divided into half. Two small wounds appeared on the side of his neck, and due to the Daggers’ Debuff, he started bleeding hard.
"You!!" He looked over his shoulder at Juliana, his Bloody teeth gritted in rage:
"You!!"
BAM!
An attack struck his chest from the inside, and before the stunned audience, he dropped to his knees, spurting out more blood. Then to everyone’s horror, 50% of Juliana’s health was taken from his own; after another ten seconds, another 50% was taken again. The terrifying passive effect of the Twin Daggers weaponized her absurdly massive HP pool—a flat, unmitigated health-drain that treated SSS-Rank vitality like paper.
"No!!! Support Mage!! Do your job!" The Vice Guild Leader yelled in horror; if this continues, the Guild Leader will die from blood loss.
"Right!!"
Two A-Rank Mages stepped forward, and summoned their staffs, ready to chant a skill to destroy the debuff on their Guild Leader.
"Did you ask me for my permission?"
"...?!"
The two turned around seeing a ball made of pure spirit energy moving towards them. Due to their nervous state, the attack smashed into the two, sending them flying to the ground.
"Anyone who offends the Aetheldawn family will pay the price, I don’t give a fuck who you are!" She snapped aloud, her words stunning everyone.
What stunned the whole audience into silence wasn’t her arrogant words, but the name, Aetheldawn.
"Wait! Are you telling me this is the Aetheldawn family we have been searching for?!!" The guy standing in the air exclaimed in shock.
"I don’t believe this!! She is clearly my baby Brother’s wife! Why would she dare use another family name!!" Luna muttered coldly, holding back her anger. To Luna, abandoning the Starfire crest was the ultimate betrayal of blood.
"Maybe your Baby brother finally came to his senses, and completely cut ties with your family, even changing his family name." The young lady standing behind her stated calmly.
"What did you say?!" Luna looked over her shoulder at her, her red eyes glowing. The energy around Luna heated up, threatening to ignite the very air.
The lady tilted her head to the side, a smirk on her face, her purple eyes fixed on Luna without a hint of fear:
"Don’t use that tone on me... I am simply stating the fact, if you want to fight, then come on." She said, her tone cold.
The young man chuckled nervously: "Calm down you two, Miss Katherine, and Miss Luna... We are allies, there is no need for any bloodbath." He quickly said.
The old woman sighed. These two girls are from two great families; they might be Allies in the open, but the Starfire family, and Wyemrest family are always at each other’s necks... She had seen a lot of their youngsters, and knows them all too well. In these two houses, Katherine, and Luna were the two strongest, and well, they hate each other’s guts.
"We should think of a way to stop this; if Richard falls, humanity will lose an SSS-RANK fighter, his strength is still pretty good." The old man standing beside the old woman pointed out, his arms folded behind his back. The fragile balance of power against the Dungeon outbreaks relied on keeping pieces like Richard alive.
"I will deal with this." The young man said, and without another word, he vanished.
"Hey!!"
Katherine was speechless. This guy was the weakest amongst those present, but to others, he’s one of the strongest; fighting an F-Rank should be below his status.
’He always ignores useless fights, is it because of the armor?’ She thought.
’What is this careless boy up to now?’ The old woman thought.