*WHOOSH*
"TAKE THIS!!!" Asta shouted as he appeared behind Rhya with his hands raised.
'Why do people always shout their attacks?' Rhya thought as he swiped at Asta with his sword, which, not to his surprise, was just another illusion.
"Oh, come on…this is getting boring…" Rhya drawled out when he finally steeled himself. 'Guess I will have to use that, but it will leave me exposed for way too long.' Rhya thought as he got into position and was about to unleash one of his most double-edged magic when…
*TSSSH*
He felt multiple projectiles coming in his area.
'Of course, when I decide to do an attack that will reveal it all, he attacks.' Rhya said with a sigh of frustration, jumping from the spot. But as he did so, he felt the air shift behind him, and from it appeared 7 Yami's.
'By my luck, one of them will turn out to be Asta.' Rhya thought sarcastically, who was familiar with the patterns now, thought and learning from before, decided to handle this situation in a smarter way. Instead of meeting them in close combat, Rhya just flared his magic and…
*BRRRR*
…set everything in front of him on fire.
As the flames died down, the air in front of him cleared, and nothing was found there.
'All of them were clones, huh.
Next time, Licht will have to come here. It's way too much work.
I am bleeding mana at this point. This third eye form takes too much to sustain, and if my reserves are empty before that, I will be a sitting duck.
And no matter how powerful my magic becomes by using it, if I cannot hit someone with it, then it is useless.'
But before he could reorient himself, Rhya again felt projectiles chasing him. This time, one too many in number.
Though for Rhya, it was easy to deal with them.
BEAST MAGIC + LIGHT MAGIC + DARK MAGIC
CHAOS BEAST
Immediately, a sickening dome surrounded Rhya, with countless animalistic faces howling with twisted expressions. Then, this dome enlarged and kept on breaking through multiple layers of glass and cannibalized them.
This kept on going on until every layer of Illusion that Wilhelm had carefully woven was destroyed. It would have gone on longer if not for…
"ASTA!!"
"ON IT!!!"
…Asta, who jumped, muscled taut and then…
"BAAAHHH!!!!!"
…swung both of his swords at great force, cutting like butter through the carefully woven spell by Rhya, finally halting it in its place, but the aftermath of the spell was noticeable.
Chains of metal that had struck Rhya were visible. Traps that Wilhelm had carefully placed were ruined. All that was left was Rhya, who was breathing heavily like a person who had run a marathon for far too long, and Black Bulls, who were momentarily stunned.
But after Yami, the first to snap out of the reverie was Wilhelm, who started to move his hands.
"OH YOU DON'T!!!!" Screeching at the top of his lungs, Rhya shot at Wilhelm before he could even weave any illusion. The speed was so fast that no one in Black Bulls could see him, much less match him, bar one.
*CLANG*
'Yami Sukehiro.'
"Oi, before targeting anyone of this craps, you 'ave to go through me." Yami said in a gruff tone, at which Rhya just smiled like a maniac and shouted, "IS THAT SO!!!" and…
*TODOOM*
…his magic output tripled. For a brief moment, Yami's hand buckled under the pressure, but then he gritted his teeth and matched him with a strained smile.
But the target of Rhya's sudden flare of magic was not Yami, but the person behind him.
'Just as I suspected. His illusion magic is not all mighty. If the mana in the vicinity becomes too erratic, it fails to form. But when it is formed, it does not show such weakness.
So, if the illusion is formed, then it is best to use a destructive wide range attack, but if it is not formed, then it can be disrupted by erratic mana.'
Rhya grinned internally at the realization, while Wilhelm felt frustrated because he realized that Rhya had figured out one of the weaknesses of his seemingly infallible magic.
'Well, I am not a one-trick pony either. Time to use…'
Beast Magic: Beast Insight
Immediately, the air around him changed. The world sped down. Air started to have a taste. Sound started to create a vivid image in his mind. Noise moved through his body, like a vibration of the heart.
This magic is the pinnacle of Beast Magic. Through this, every sense of the user is supernaturally enhanced. The user can see 360° vertically and horizontally, just like a dragonfly does. Sharp vision of an eagle. Multicolor vision of mantis shrimp. The sense of smell of an elephant and a great white shark. Hearing of a great wax moth with echolocation of a bat. Strength of the horned dung beetle. Flight speed of male midge and flight stability of dragonfly. The swimming speed of the black marlin and the stability of the emperor penguin. Speed of a cheetah. Reflexes of Mantis Shrimp. Bio-electricity of electric eel, magnetic navigation of monarch butterfly, poison of snake, thermal sensing of vampire bat, camouflage of chameleon, and vibration signaling of treehopper.
A magic like no other.
A magic that makes a person the pinnacle of biological life, and enhances their power using magic as well. But like all good things, it has a price. For such a power unheard of, the person puts incredible strain on the body and mana supply.
The more time this magic is used, damage piles up, and this is the reason why, until he was pushed to this very point, where the enemy had destroyed his illusion and stopped him from creating more, Wilhelm did not use it.
But now…
'…it is another matter entirely.'
*WOOOOSSSSHHHH*
Suddenly, change was felt by everyone.
'What is this?! His mana feels stronger than Julius!' Yami thought wide-eyed at the source of distortion behind his back.
'Is he an…elf?' Rhya thought.
"Wil…helm?" Noelle gasped, feeling the change.
'I…don't want to fight him.' Luck felt absolutely terrified, courtesy of having such great magic-sensing abilities.
As for the rest, they were frozen in their step.
Even Asta, who could not sense magic, could feel the shift in the air.
But Wilhelm, who was on the clock, did not pay any mind to their reaction. He looked at Rhya, and…disappeared.
'Whe-'
*BAM*
Before Rhya could even complete his thought, he found himself high up in the air, near the ceiling of the cave. Just when his eyes were about to adjust to this view…
*BAM*
…he displaced so fast that it looked like teleportation. But this did not end here.
*BAM* *BAM* *BAM*
*BAM* *BAM* *BAM*
*BAM* *BAM* *BAM*
Hits rained down so fast on Rhya's body that he could not even register pain. Hits that rained down with the power of a speeding train. And they hit every vulnerable part of his body. He was hit on his ribs, on his forehead, on his groin, on his elbow, shoulders, knee, jaw, and neck.
This halted for only a period of a second, and it was enough for his body to register the pain.
"EEERRRAAAAAASAASHAHHHHHHH!!!!"
Enough time for him to howl in an inhuman amount of pain.
Bones were broken, organs were ruptured, skin was torn from parts of the body, and every cell in his body ached. But this brief reprieve to shout was the only one he got. Before healing could begin…beating began.
*BAM* *BAM* *BAM*
*BAM* *BAM* *BAM*
*BAM* *BAM* *BAM*
'Just a bit more! WHEN I AM DONE THEN-'
Wilhelm stopped his train, no, jet of thought, when he suddenly felt a throbbing pain all over his body.
*THROB THROB*
But not wanting to let a moment waste, he bit his lower lip, drawing blood. Instead, he turned his eyes to Rhya's body, which had a caved-in face. Gripping his face and channeling his pain into anger, Wilhelm raised him above his head and…
*CRUNCH*
…brought him down bareback on his knee, breaking his spine with a crunch, that caused his eyes to roll back into his head.
*THROB THROB*
'JUST THERE!!!'
Grabbing the still figure by his forehead, he gripped his neck with the other hand and…
*THRRRIPP*
…pulled his forehead with his spine attached, and blood was about to gush out like a fountain, but Wilhelm was moving fast.
Too fast.
*THROB THROB*
'ALMOST THERE!!!'
Wilhelm, still gripping his head and the rest of his body, hurled them at a distance. Then, he again put ginormous strain on his body, and rushed at a speed surpassing sound, moving to the spot where the body was going to come, and held his hand out in front of him.
Hair glowing in a bloody, ominous glow, eyes slitted and teeth clenched. Face contorted in a primal rage, and muscles screaming in protest, Wilhelm shouted…
"REGULUS…"
*THROB THROB*
"…AURUM!!!!!!"
There was light.
*ROAAAARRR*
*CRACKLEEEE*
*THDRRRRR*
*BOOOOM*
Then there was nothing.
******
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Leave powerstones, I am only 4 chapter away from hitting 100k words mark, but I am still not under any ranking.
100 powerstones = 1 extra chapter
18 reviews = 1 extra chapter