Chapter 691: Commencing The Final Battle
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
A battle in a desolate strip of the final realm area raged on, quaking the land violently as four fighters took part in a life and death battle, while the ground beneath their feet was littered with corpses, most belonging to the Honorable Alliance.
Three of the fighters were from the Honorable Alliance, while the other was a Barbarian Race genius whose power nearly overwhelmed the three despite their combined effort. Each of the barbarian youths' punches was equivalent to a Late Heaven Tribulation essence battle art, and its body durability was beyond anything the three could pierce through easily.
Behind them was a group of weaker Honorable Alliance youths, who watched on with fearful expressions, too weak to help the three in their battle.
Lightning exploded, fire blasted, and sword arts rained down on the barbarian genius as the three did their best to keep their lives. However, it was clearly a losing battle, as each exchange resulted in the three Honorable Alliance youths taking more and more damage.
"Heavenly Lightning Domain!"
A domain of lightning sprung up, doing its best to contain the barbarian genius within, while a domain of majestic swords swirled about as well, adding to the containment effort. With the barbarian trapped within, the third youth slashed down with his sword, as a fiery inferno slammed towards the barbarian.
Boom!
The powerful fire battle art exploded directly onto the barbarian youth, drowning it in a sea of fire and lightning. The Heavenly Lightning Domain and sword domain blasted away from the force, while the three youths gathered together as they warily eyed the location of the barbarian.
"Is he dea-"
Roar!
As if answering their question, a powerful roar boomed out, blasting away the smoke and dust, revealing the almost uninjured barbarian youth within. Its skin was ever so slightly charred, and some minimal amount of blood flowed over its skin, but other than that, it was almost unharmed.
Grave looks appeared on the youths' faces as they realized that their ultimate battle arts in combination with each other were not enough to kill their fearsome foe. If that didn't work, then there was only one fate left for the three of them; death.
"Run! We'll hold him off as long as possible!" one of the three youths shouted to the group of Honorable Alliance youth behind him, clearly realizing the futility of the battle. The other two flared with power once again as well, prepared for their final stand.
Boom!
The ground suddenly exploded at the barbarians feet as the three youths watched a blurred figure slam into it. The ground exploded with incredible power once more and continued to tremble violently for half a minute as a battle between the barbarian youth and whatever had arrived took the palace.
The three youths watched with dumbfounded expressions, as they had not been expecting any help. Now, their only hope rested in the power of the mysterious newcomer. After half a minute, the ground ceased its trembling, revealing an end to the battle.
The three youths all grimaced, as they knew almost no one in the Honorable Alliance was strong enough to kill the barbarian so quickly. The only ones capable of doing such a thing were the top ten of the Jade Dragon List, and they were all already within the temple realm. With this in mind, that only meant one thing...the battle had ended the other way around. Their one hope that had appeared for the briefest of moments had faded away, returning them to the world of despair.
Bang!
The ground exploded once more as a figure blasted out from within, and landed directly before the three youths, who stared with dumbfounded expressions, almost unable to believe their eyes.
The barbarians' massive severed head hung from John's hand, gripped by its hair, while John's cold eyes stared at the three youths before him. Were it not for the invasion of the enemy powers, he would most likely have taught these three a very painful lesson in this encounter, but things had changed since he last saw the three of them, who had somehow joined up together.
Plop!
The severed head of the barbarian youth landed before the feet of the three youths, who looked at it with mouths still agape.
"I see war has the ability to change even the most despicable of men into something better," John said to the three as he nodded his head in slight approval, as he had noticed their willingness to sacrifice their lives to ensure that the larger group of Honorable Alliance youths could escape. After staring at the three for a short moment, his body blurred once more, disappearing into the distance as if he had no time to waste at all.
Lyeon, Vildren, and Alderen all stared in the direction that John had left, still too stunned to speak. They had all considered him to be their biggest enemy in the realm, at least until the enemy geniuses had invaded. Now their lives were saved by the very person they detested the most. War truly changed things.
...
"We're getting close," John said to Laia as the two of them continued to speed through the final realm after their quick detour.
A sprawling mountainous terrain came into view, stretching out as far as the eye could see, like an endless sea of snow-capped mountains. The two sped over the mountains with utmost haste, occasionally stopping for a brief moment to interfere with an ongoing battle. After hundreds of miles and dozens of battles finished, a massive temple more grand than either could imagine came into view.
"Finally!"
...
"There he is!" Luth said to Igris as he spotted Vargul standing before the massive staircase leading up to the dragon corpse. Him and Igris had been chasing Vargul through the temple realm for several hours, and had finally caught up to him.
"As expected, his greed brought him here," Igris grumbled coldly, baring his beastly teeth as if staring at his most hated nemesis.
Vargul's back was to them as he stared at the staircase, and the figure that sat halfway up. He slowly turned around as he noticed the arrival of Luth and Igris, while a smug smile appeared on his face.
"I figured you two would chase me here," Vargul said to the two of them, his gaze shifting from them to the background, as more Honorable Alliance youths started to arrive. Everyone was attracted by the mysterious energy emanating from this area, as if they were fish drawn to a lure.
Before long, hundreds of Honorable Alliance youths had gathered behind Luth and Igris, their cold gazes staring at Vargul as if they wanted to devour him alive.
"You're alone, and outnumbered," Luth said to Vargul with cold malice, "prepare to die!"
Vargul's smile widened upon hearing this, while his eyes scanned over the gathered youths. A strange feeling welled up within Luth as he noticed Vargul's relaxed expression, as someone so helplessly outnumbered would never appear so calm and collected, especially one like Vargul who valued his life more than anything else.
"I suppose this is the best of the best when it comes to your miserable Alliance," Vargul replied, "which is exactly what we've been waiting for."
"We?" Luth asked, his eyes shifting to the side as his ominous feelings were confirmed.
The area behind Vargul suddenly shimmered and changed as an exquisite concealment formation faded away. The formation was so profound as to fool the eyes of all the Honorable Alliance youths gathered, and was clearly the work of a formation genius.
The fading formation revealed a large gathering of youths standing within, containing humans, the Monster race, and the Barbarian race. The Honorable Alliance youths paled as they realized this group contained the peak of the enemy powers, several hundred strong.
"How?" one of the Honorable Alliance youths couldn't help but exclaim, shocked by the sudden change of events.
"Kadin!" Luth erupted in anger as his gaze locked onto Kadin, who stood amongst the enemy youths. "You betrayed us?"
Clearly the only one amongst the enemy group capable of such a concealment formation was Kadin, who smiled back with smug arrogance.
"I was never 'with you', so how could I betray you?" Kadin replied with smug indifference. "Your miserable Alliance invited me along to try to court my clan into its fold, but I've made other arrangements. I'm sure you understand."
"You..." Luth turned red in the face with anger, while his gaze shifted towards a red-headed youth who slowly started to walk towards them.
"Enough of this squabbling," Amber Bloodrose said with uninterested indifference as she walked forwards with steady footsteps, her body suddenly blurring and vanishing from sight.
Luth's face suddenly scrunched up with grave warning as he turned around and slashed his sword out behind him.
Peng!
Swords collided as Luth barely managed to block Amber's lethal attack, while a malicious smile appeared on Ambers face as she stared closely at Luth.
"Not bad," she said as she licked her lips, "it seems like I'll finally be able to have some fun!"
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
As if their instant exchange had signaled the start of battle, hundreds of auras flared out on both sides with absolute power as battle arts began to be unleashed, as the final battle between both sides finally started.