Chapter 397: 395: The Taste of Defeat

"[Ruler of All]."

Weeeengggg…!

At the very moment he was finished muttering the name of the skill he used, a loud high-pitched sound soon resounded throughout the area, as if it was warning those in the area that something way beyond their comprehension was going on, something they did not want to be involved in.

Soon after, the domain created by [Domain of Nobility] was instantly shattered as a domain that exuded more power was soon released by Aurus, bringing a faint dark green tint to the area covered by the domain. Of course, seeing how the domain stopping him from fully controlling his energy had changed, Erudis had regained control over his energy once more, allowing him to stabilize himself in midair as he quickly conjured multiple layers of barriers around him.

However, within seconds, he soon realized that he would have no need for the barriers as he saw Aurus levitating at one spot for quite a while, not moving anything whatsoever. Though, a great contrast to this unmoving being was the aura surrounding him. With every second that passed, his aura gradually grew weaker, eventually returning the strength of his aura to the point before he even activated all of the skills that increased his attributes. Seeing this, Erudis instantly thought that Aurus's body had finally reached its limit.

Of course, that thought did not last for long as the faint dark green domain surrounding them had become darker as Aurus's aura regressed to how it was. Just like how he sensed less and less danger from Aurus as his aura got weaker, Erudis sensed more and more danger from the domain surrounding them, making him wonder as to what Aurus was actually doing.

Naturally, Aurus would never give him the chance to know what he was doing as he dashed forward, hastily conjuring a claw made out of ten thousand blades in the process. Although the number of blades making up the claw was more numerous than before with the decoys, the power contained behind it was nowhere near even the previous attack that Aurus did. With that, Erudis was brought into a sense of false security and rekindled confidence as he cast a slightly different looking barrier in front of him, aiming to reflect the whole brunt of the attack back to Aurus.

Though, just as the claw was about to collide with the barrier Erudis had made at the last moment, Aurus muttered out a few words, which instantly tipped the scales back to Aurus's favor.

"You don't need any protection."

Swoosh!

In less than the blink of an eye, the reflective barrier was quickly dispelled in front of Erudis. The same went for the subsequent barriers that were closer to his body. Seeing how his barriers were dispelled in that moment, Erudis tried to conjure another barrier before the claw could hit him, only to end up failing as he was soon hit by the claw.

Bang!

Since it was weaker than before, Erudis wasn't sent out flying for too far. Though of course, Aurus wouldn't let him fly too far since that would remove his advantage.

"You don't need any gravity."

Whoosh!

And just in the nick of time, before Erudis's body got out of the dark green domain, it stopped abruptly in midair as he felt that he had become weightless all of a sudden. With that, he tried to use his movement skill to stand himself upright, but the amount of force he used in each move he did was still the same as before he still had gravity affecting him, which meant he usually overshot his positioning at this time.

Not giving Erudis the chance to adjust, Aurus decided to truly cripple him of his ways to retaliate, muttering, "You don't need any energy."

Swoosh!

And with that dictated, Erudis instantly lost all sensation of energy flowing throughout his body. Well, to be more exact, any energy he brought out of the body instantly dissipated no matter what he did. With this, he finally realized what had happened after Aurus lost all of his strength within a short span of time. In exchange for lesser power, he gained the power to manipulate everything in a certain area as he saw fit.

That was the true ability of [Ruler of All], something Aurus had rarely used.

Slowly making his way to an incredibly vulnerable Erudis, Aurus was surprised that Erudis's determination was still there as he attacked in an old-fashioned manner, utilizing hand-to-hand combat to at least injure him. But of course, with total control over the surrounding area, Aurus eventually stripped Erudis of the ability to move his limbs, truly making him vulnerable to any attack Aurus sent out at him.

Seeing the opportunity that could not be wasted, Aurus went ahead and deactivated all of the decoys that were at the previous area before summoning all one thousand of them once more around the dark green domain. After that, he willed all of them to enter the domain before changing the laws inside it wherein the attacks of the decoys are incredibly effective. Then, he increased the rate at which he and the decoys absorbed energy from the surroundings, allowing them conjure a great number of blades that would even make Erudis, an incredibly old being, shiver in fear as he watched his impending doom gradually get closer.

Eventually, Aurus had conjured enough blades to send out the strongest attack he could achieve in his current state. Though, if it wasn't for the fact that he traded great strength for near-omniscient power, the attack would become stronger. Then again, that was the reason why he resummoned all of his decoys, wanting to at least send out an attack that had some strength into it.

With that, all 1001 claws that gave off an otherworldly feeling were soon connected to one another through the use of some sort of mysterious energy, allowing a baleful aura to soon surround the domain as it gave off the feeling that entering the domain would lead one to the underworld. Then, Aurus dashed forward, bringing along all of the claws that the decoys had created with him, aiming to bombard Erudis with all 1001 claws at once.

"[Thousand-man Manifestation]."

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"[Spellswords of Ruination: Ultimate Lost Art]."

"[Billion Sword Embodiment]."

"[Otherworldly Summoning: Myriad Corporeality Lucifer Claw]."

Seeing as he had no way to escape from the attack, Erudis eventually submitted to the fate of dying in the hands of a weaker and younger Spiriveritas than him, closing his sense of vision as he waited for that fateful moment to come.

…but it did not.

'Hmm? Did someone stop Verdante from attacking me at the very last minute?' This was the first thought that entered Erudis's mind. 'Surely, it wouldn't be Vytalis and Mannelyn, right? They're too weak to hold his attack back.'

'Or is it because he wants me to have my eyes open before he lands the final hit on me?' he soon thought, thinking that it was plausible. After seeing how Vytalis and Mannelyn were near the verge of death by the time he arrived, he had a feeling that Aurus toyed with the two for a bit before dealing the final blow. With that in mind, he inwardly let out a sigh and opened his eyes…

…only to be greeted by nothing.

At the moment, any traces of Aurus had disappeared, as if he had never been there fighting against him in the first place. The same went for the dark green domain restricting him from anything and everything a while ago. It was now gone.

Realizing this, he hastily utilized his energy to control himself from falling as confusion filled his mind. Right now, he could not help but wonder if the fight he had with Aurus was even real in the first place. That showed just how jarring the change from before to now was.

"I know I'm already pretty old, but my senses can't fool me that easily," he soon muttered before deciding to place the matter at the back of his head. Whether the fight was real or not did not matter to him anymore. What was real though was the fear and danger he felt while fighting Aurus. He knew very well that something like that was hard to replicate, even with the art of illusions.

Feeling as if he could not change the winds of fate lingering around Aurus, he decided to make his way back to Mercuria Continent, thinking of his next move as a Spiriveritas, and as a whole as an organization overseeing the world of Erudinia.

Along the way, he summoned an orb through a rift before infusing it with energy. Soon after, the image of a pink and cyan being appeared on the orb once more. Surprisingly, the beings on the orb were the first ones to talk, asking Erudis, "How did it go?"

With a sigh, Erudis replied, "He escaped. Unexpectedly, he was stronger than me. Or at the very least, he has ways to restrict the amount of strength I can unleash."

"Wouldn't he just become a bigger problem if we leave him be? At this rate, he might end up destroying the entirety of Maerr-viki Continent within a week!" Vytalis could not help but say. With that, Mannelyn suggested to Erudis, "Is it possible to move all of the Spiriveritae to fight against Aurus?"

"Even if we did ask for the help of all the Spiriveritae, we would probably not get anywhere," Erudis said, recalling how he was not able to do anything inside that dark green domain. "With the skills he has, it's next to impossible for us to fight against him."

"So, you're telling us that we should just leave him be?" Vytalis muttered, feeling defeated as she thought about it. Letting out yet another sigh, Erudis replied, "Unfortunately, that would be the best action we could take. Though, if we had the help of the Transcendents in the Transcendent World, this wouldn't be so much of a problem."

"If only that event didn't happen," he muttered to himself, sighing inwardly as he thought about it.

After a moment of silence, Erudis then told them, "Vytalis, Mannelyn, once I get back, I want you two to use all of your resources and connections to create a strong information network throughout the continent to inform me of every move Verdante makes, as well as every move done by the continent against him. Of course, your safety should still be the greatest priority."

"Don't worry about us too much, Erudis," Mannelyn replied, her tone slightly calm. "After fighting against Verdante, we've realized that we need to become stronger. With that, we might head to Mercuria Continent or any of the other continents sometime soon. Of course, we'd still be doing surveillance over Maerr-viki Continent from time to time That's our duty as a Spiriveritas, after all."

"As long as you know what you're doing," Erudis said in response before going silent for a bit, increasing the speed at which he moved to arrive at Mercuria Continent faster. With that, it only took him a couple more minutes to arrive at the border of the continent, letting him heave a light sigh of relief as he told the two, "Ah, right. I think we'll be holding our 77th assembly sometime soon."

"Eh? What's with the sudden announcement?" Vytalis could not help but ask, to which Erudis replied, "I feel like a great amount of change would happen to your continent within these next few days, so the other Spiriveritae should be notified of it. Of course, if they offer to help you two out on the problem with Verdante, then it would be better done through the assembly as well."

"When is the assembly going to be held, then?" Mannelyn asked in response, making Erudis ponder over his answer for a bit.

"Well, I'm not too sure just yet. In the meantime, just wait for my announcement. I'll tell all of you to arrive here as soon as I make up my mind."

"…Alright then. We'll be waiting."

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