Chapter 401: Rage Of The Demon-Dragon (4th - )
Dark Nova turned in her direction. Rather than retreating from the approaching mass, he flew directly towards it.
The darkness continued spreading toward him, swallowing the broken ground beneath it as it advanced. Isabella’s physical form was almost completely concealed within the mass, leaving little indication of where exactly she was inside it.
Norman then plunged his left arm straight into the darkness as the shadows reached to engulf him. But it seemed as though he had reached his target first.
Somehow, Dark Nova had reached through the amorphous darkness and seized the physical form existing within it. The surrounding shadows immediately contorted as Isabella’s upper body became visible amidst them, with Norman’s left hand grabbing firmly around her throat.
Red lightning erupted from his palm and the energy surged throughout her body. Her back arched as an eerie shriek escaped her lips.
The electrical discharge illuminated portions of the darkness in violent flashes of red as Isabella struggled within his grasp. Several tendrils lashed toward Norman from different directions, but he refused to release her.
Then, he cocked his right arm as far back as it could go before driving it forward with tremendous force, straight towards her heart.
THRUM!
Dark Bella screamed loudly in agony, which carried an eerie tone that travelled across the entire battlefield. For that brief moment, her entire mass of darkness seemed to lose its form, spreading chaotically across the surrounding battlefield.
However, in that same moment, the roar of a dragon resounded from above.
And as Dark Nova turned towards the sound, a streak of silver light flashed past him and carried Isabella away from his grasp.
King Carson had swept her away, while simultaneously, an enormous beam of concentrated blue flames descended from the skies.
Beilong’s dragon breath engulfed Dark Nova completely.
The fused form of Carson and his second summon, Lancelot, had landed several metres away with Isabella held securely in his arms. The King immediately lowered himself onto one knee and gently laid his daughter on the ground.
Isabella coughed weakly, small trails of blood spilling from the corners of her mouth.
"My child..." Carson’s expression tightened as he looked over her healing injuries. "Are you alright?"
Isabella managed a weak nod.
From within the raging blue flames, Dark Nova threw a punch to the air above him which generated an enormous shockwave that exploded outward through the flames, extinguishing them almost instantly before continuing upwards and slamming directly into Beilong.
The sudden force scattered the remaining flames across the battlefield.
The massive dragon was thrown sideways through the skies, but quickly spread her wings and regained control, immediately circling back towards the battlefield.
Right then, a flash of purple lightning appeared directly before Dark Nova.
Norman’s eyes widened to the sight of it, only for Ethan’s fist to already connect from underneath his chin.
The uppercut snapped Norman’s head backwards, lifting him slightly into the air before Ethan grabbed one of his legs and swung him down; smashing his back against the ground.
The impact sent cracks racing through the earth beneath them.
Ethan lifted him again.
BOOM!
And again.
BOOM!
"Do not..."
Another slam. BOOM!
"...fucking touch..."
Ethan roared as he lifted Dark Nova one final time.
"...MY WIFE!"
BOOOOOOM!
The final impact shattered the ground even further.
Fragments of stone erupted around them as the crater beneath Dark Nova expanded from the sheer force of the repeated impacts.
Ethan immediately raised his right foot after, concentrating high amounts of gravity around his leg as he drove it directly into Dark Nova’s abdomen.
The kick landed with such tremendous force that blood burst from Norman’s mouth.
Then the ground beneath him disappeared as Dark Nova was launched straight down into the earth. His body tore through layer after layer of rock, creating an enormous vertical tunnel as he descended deeper underground.
But Ethan wasn’t finished. He spread his jaws open, gathering purple lightning within his mouth.
The surrounding air crackled as the energy compressed further and further until Ethan finally released it the concentrated beam of purple lightning straight down through the tunnel.
The Dragon Breath struck Dark Nova while he was still falling, accelerating his descent tremendously.
Rock vaporized around him, and the entire subterranean layers fractured as the beam continuously drove his body deeper into the planet, carrying him kilometres beneath the battlefield.
The violent tremors could be felt all the way back on the surface as cracks continued spreading around the opening.
Dark Nova continued sinking through layers of sediment and stone until he reached increasingly hotter regions of the earth.
Eventually, the tunnel opened into an enormous subterranean region filled with molten rock.
Dark Nova crashed directly into it and lava splashed upwards from the impact as he farther into the depths of the Earth’s crust.
That sudden increase in Ethan’s strength had come from one of the skills belonging to the Tank Class.
The Rage Skill.
The skill could only be activated when the user possessed enough genuine rage to fuel it. By channeling all of that anger into the skill, those emotions were converted directly into power, temporarily elevating the user’s physical by one full level.
And at that moment, Ethan had more than enough rage to spare.
Seeing his arm torn off was one thing, but hearing his wife’s scream had pushed him far beyond the edge. Every punch, every slam, and the gravity-enhanced kick that had sent Norman tearing deep into the earth had been delivered under the effects of Rage.
With the momentary respite the attack had created, Ethan immediately appeared beside Isabella and her father.
She was already standing on her own, with darkness still surrounding her body, but Ethan paid no attention to it as he stepped forward and gently held her, with his expression filled with concern.
"Are you alright?" He asked.
Dark-Bella smiled, raising one hand and placed it on his cheek. "You’re worrying about me when you’re the one missing an arm?"
When it came to soft-hearted feelings for Ethan’s warefare, both Bella and her alter-ego were basically the same kind of persons.
Ethan glanced towards his left shoulder. Small fibres of flesh had already begun extending from the severed area as his regeneration attempted to reconstruct the missing limb. However, compared to the speed at which his lesser injuries usually healed, regenerating an entire arm was an extremely slow process.
"It’ll grow back," Ethan said as he looked at it briefly. "It’s just going to take a while."
His attention immediately returned to examine Isabella. Thankfully, her own injury was already gone.
Had Carson not arrived when he did, Norman might actually have succeeded in killing her.
King Carson stared towards the enormous opening through which Dark Nova had disappeared, his expression filled with fury. "Norman has overstepped this time." His voice was cold. "He’s going to die."
At this point, Carson didn’t care what explanation existed for the Hero’s actions. He had just watched the man attempt to kill his daughter.
"Yeah..." Ethan muttered, turning towards the same opening. "Except we haven’t had much luck with that so far. His body’s damn near indestructible."
"I think there might be a way to finally defeat him."
The eerie tone immediately drew their attention towards Dark Bella.
Ethan turned to her. "What are you thinking?"
"His power comes from those stupid deities constantly empowering him." Dark Bella said. "So instead of trying to break through all that power..."
Her devious smile returned. "We cut the connection between him and those cunts."
Ethan looked puzzled. "Sure. But how exactly do you suggest we sever someone’s connection to a deity?"
Dark Bella sighed. "If I possessed even a fraction of what my true power once was, this would be light work."
She looked towards the hole again. "But there’s a method I’ve been thinking of...it may or may not work."
For a moment, she remained silent, seemingly running the idea through her mind one final time.
Then she added with a grin. "But it’s a gamble I’m willing to take."
Carson stared at her strangely. From the darkness surrounding her body to the eerie voice and completely unfamiliar mannerisms, he was beginning to wonder whether the woman standing beside him was even his daughter anymore.
Ethan, however, seemed completely accustomed to it. He simply nodded and then asked, "What’s the plan?"
——
A/N: We hit 400 chps guys! Oh and by the way I edited last Chapter for much better clarity.
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