Gael's face contorted under the pressure of Ereg's fist, which came down on his opponent's head with all its power.
Before that, the aura of death had slowed everything in its path, Ereg's lightning-fast attacks becoming so slow that Gael could dance if he wished. However, the ether obeyed no rules, even if it was death or life.
If Chaos was the perpetrator of random accidents, and Gluttony was the rebel who destroyed everything in its path, Ether was the epitome of freedom, this energy did what it wanted, but unlike Chaos and Gluttony, Ether did not seek to destroy or change anything. Ether simply existed, and no one could affect it, not even other unique forces, not even if it was death itself.
A loud crunch spread from Gael's head, and then the impact threw him sideways several hundred meters back.
Rolling over the ground in a vain attempt to regain his balance, Gael slammed into the wall with a vivid slam.
A stream of blood spurted from his nose, and his entire face was covered in tiny scratches, showing the obvious force of Ereg's blow.
"Kha! Kha! Kha!" Gael coughed, trying to recover from Ereg's direct hit.
Nitra's eyes went wide, "Shit... Now the black ash is useless... Gael will no longer be able to attack and dodge Ereg's blows with impunity."
Liang nodded, "Yeah, the fact that Ereg has the ability to use Ether could not have been foreseen by anyone. I guess that's what he was talking about when he mentioned that he couldn't control his power... Now it makes sense... Damn, he managed to surprise us again, I don't even know what to say now."
"Hah, this fight is getting harder to predict by the minute. Green and blue... Look, it looks like the green ghost, that's just the upper shell." Alucard pointed at Ereg.
Now, the aura around him was about 1/10th blue, which although it was only 10%, was much more than before.
Liang nodded, "Most likely very soon the green ghost will completely disappear, and the blue one will replace it. Gael needs to reveal his giant scars right now if he doesn't want to lose another round. Black ash isn't enough to defeat Ereg in his current state."
Nila stepped forward with her eyes wide with amazement. She looked at Ereg with true admiration, and it brought her true joy, like that of a knight of his king.
"King... I had no idea you could be so strong... Agh, I still have a long way to go to your level..." Nila muttered with an almost fanatical look.
Alucard turned to Liang with a sly smirk on his face.
"Who do you think will win your fight, you or him?"
Liang frowned, "I won't answer something like that. Perhaps I can give some sort of answer when I see Ereg's full power, for we both realize that while they haven't used their Forms, it's only a fraction of what they're capable of."
Alucard shrugged, not bothering to argue with Liang.
Gael slowly rose from the ground, clutching his sword tightly. The aura of death thickened, becoming black and dense. The radius was greatly reduced, but Gael was ready to stop any of Ereg's attacks.
"Damn, Gael, don't you realize there's no point in this?" Ereg waved his hand carelessly.
Gael frowned, "Stop talking! Attack! Even if it's ether, I can stop it!"
Ereg shrugged and simply stepped forward.
His silhouette blurred as he appeared right in front of Gael, entering the death zone. However, this time his movements didn't slow down much, as there were far more blue blobs than green ones.nove)lb-1n
Gael attacked sharply, using all his strength, but Ereg was simply much faster. So, before Gael could counterattack, Ereg's fist plunged into Gael's stomach, throwing him high up.
A shockwave of several wind rings spread around, sending Gael flying.
"Gael... I don't know if it's your pride or something else, but I'm going to make you use the giant scars, it's hopeless. If you continue to be stubborn from here on out, you'll just die." Ereg muttered before pointing his hand at Gael.
At the same moment, all the geysers and thousands of droplets, merged into a single stream, then Ereg clenched his hand into a fist, causing the stream to crash down on Gael, unleashing all of its power in a single moment.
Gael summoned streams of black ash, in an attempt to defend himself, but it was all to no avail. The black ash could do nothing against the green ghost and especially ether.
The attack was not very powerful, it did not have any aggressive destructive power, but it did not know any boundaries and barriers. Black ash carrying only death and killing energy was not something that could stop such a power.
"Argh!!!!" Gael cried out in pain as dozens of wounds opened up all over his body and blood rushed out in all directions.
Gael fell to the ground, not even trying to cushion his fall in any way, he just didn't have the strength to do so.
Ereg did nothing, he just glanced at his arrogant opponent and took a deep breath.
His aura was already 2/10 blue, and with each passing second, the blue particles were getting bigger and bigger. After a while, but definitely, for sure, Ether would completely replace the green ghost and become a blue one.
"Looks like we've reached the final scars... It's even a little sad that Gael will have to do this." Alucard muttered.
"Hmm? What do you mean?" Liang asked.
"Well... It's always been a bit of a psychological barrier for Gael... The giant scars are special, you know? He'd rather use his Form than show them, but Ereg just left him no other choice, since he hadn't used his Form yet. So Gael has to admit that he has to do it to win." Alucard shrugged, speaking calmly.
At the same moment, all the black ash disappeared, as well as the sword, while a terrifying energy began to emanate from Gael's body.
All of his previous scars disappeared, leaving room for seven giant ones - covering his entire body as a reminder of the deadly battles he had gone through.