With his spear in hand, Hades was ready to attack Emery once again. However, just as he was about to charge, his body froze for a moment before he began coughing up blood.
Emery could see that, although the wound on the magus' body had started to heal, the wounds Artio inflicted on his body in their previous fight took a toll on his health. If he judged right, Hades must have strained his strength in the battle against the guardian beast.
Emery himself, however, had been brimming with power ever since he had the Excalibur in his hand. Curious, Emery glanced at the symbol on his palm to find a shocking number.
[Emery Ambrose]
[Battle Power: 145 (180)]
[Spirit Force: 652 (790)]
This pleasantly surprised him. His minus points from the restrictions had now become a plus. He quickly counted and realized he got an increase of about fifty points in battle power and two hundred in spirit force. No wonder he felt so powerful.
Even so, Emery knew he had to be careful. After all, despite his injuries, the man was still two levels above him.
At this moment, Klea took the chance to dash toward Artio. As soon as she arrived next to the beast, she immediately tried to check on the beast's wound and tried to heal it.
Emery also told Arthur to head and stand near to the beast. With Artio standing on guard, the magus would think twice before attacking them.
With this, Emery was less concerned that the magus would try to harm his friends again.
Right after Hades finished coughing up blood, he immediately consumed another black pill. From seeing the magus' condition after taking it, the pill must have been some kind of healing pill or an enhancement pill of some sort.
Hades then glared at Emery with pure rage, as he stomped on the ground and dashed forward.
"Die!! Die!!"
Black shadows flickered all over the magus' body. The speed at which he moved was so fast that, if the magus didn't directly charge at him, Emery would most likely not even have the chance to stop it.
BAM!!
Once again, two high-grade weapons clashed against each other, pushing the two back a few steps as a result. This time, the resulting shockwave reverberated far wider and the sound produced was louder, taking even Emery aback.
Despite those 50 battle power increase, it was still not enough to fight a magus. Emery slightly glanced at the shimmering sword to see if there was another instruction from it.
However, the voice of the sword no longer spoke. The only sound it made was its vibration from the clash.
Hades' spear was glowing as he shouted.
"My Eternal Spear will not lose against that lump of steel!"
From the looks of it, his words did seem to be true this time, the clash between the two weapons felt much different to Emery's arm.
The confidence Emery previously displayed gradually slumped, as he experienced the overbearing momentum that was threatening to pressure him.
Taking a deep breath, he regained his composure before gripping the legendary sword more firmly and concentrating on his dual spirit core that was enhanced by his shaman form.
As he concentrated on the spirit core, the tattoo on his body from his neck to his face began to gleam.
Emery prepared himself to fight till the end.
[Shadow Mist] [Granite Skin]
The combined spells were prepared. With the legendary sword in one hand and the dragon Killgaragh's scale in the other, Emery was ready for their last battle.
Multiple black fireballs swiftly charged at him, but Emery made use of the mist and his [Blink] to dodge it. When a chance to get closer to the magus finally presented itself, Emery used the legendary sword to engage in close combat.
Clank! Clank!! Clank!!
Among the clashes of their weapons, Emery would block the magus attacks with the dragon scale and counter with the shining sword.
Unable to contain his impatience and irritation, Hades raised his spear. Following his sudden action, the tip of the spear started burning with black fire. The fire soon began swirling like a burning tornado.
[Hellraiser], the high-level spear battle art, came charging toward Emery at an extremely high speed. Even though Emery used [Blink] to try to dodge the attack, the flaming tornado was still able to quickly follow him. It burned everything in its path, pressuring the space around it.
Emery was forced to block the attack using his powerful slash to try to stop it.
[Heroic Strike]
BAM!!!
However, this time, it was certainly a one-sided blast.
Emery threw up blood holding the attack from the spear. He can finally know the difference between their levels of strength.
He could feel his hand swollen and could break anytime just to absorb the clash between the two high-grade weapons.
Seeing Emery kneeling in pain, the magus quickly followed with the tier 6 fire attack [Pyroblast].
Instantly, a wave of black fire charged toward. Still overwhelmed with pain, he could only use the dragon scale to stop the blast.
Like last time, the black scale blocked the raging fire until it glowed red-yellow. However, this time, the dragon scale began to melt and disintegrate at a visible speed.
Emery immediately threw the scale and jumped back a few steps. Unfortunately, he did not dodge fast enough, as some of the flames hit his shoulder, making him flinch in reflex due to the burning pain.
The magus' line of sight followed Emery's hand. When he saw that the scale was now useless, he could not contain his glee.
"Hahahah! Now you no longer have anything to stop my fire!"
The magus was about to release more of his tier 6 [Pyroblast] a few more times to leave Emery with no choice to dodge or to retreat, but to Emery's surprise, the sword, which had been silent for a while, suddenly began speaking to his mind again.
"Attack forward!"
With his previous experience with the fire spell coupled with the word from the sword, Emery decided to advance instead of retreat.
He took out the moon dagger and held it in one hand, while gripping the Excalibur's handle in the other hand. Gritting his teeth to force himself to withstand the pain, he fiercely charged at the magus.
Although Hades' casting speed was fast, he still required a second to cast. With Emery attacking him non-stop in such a short distance, the magus could not find any chance to cast the spells. Plus, being resistant to his gravity spells, the previous magic battle had now turned into a battle of spear and sword.
Still Emery couldn't fight with the magus directly. Knowing his strength and speed were not on par, Emery combined [Blink] with his [Dao Sword Technique].
He would move around continuously using [Blink] to both evade and counter. When he could not dodge, he would use the Dao technique to not receive the strength with strength, but with softness instead.
Emery received the impact and channeled the strength away like a flowing river, using the enemy's strength as a booster to counter with his swing.
The result was a strike that could handle the power of his opponent.
Clank!! Clank!!
The magus had never fought against such sword style before. It was as if he could never attack Emery with his full strength and was unable to get his momentum.
Faster! Faster! Faster!
Emery's spirit core beat excessively, it was his shaman form that made this continuous cast possible. Unfortunately he could feel his fey form was running out of time once again.
One minute. That was the limit.
He knew if he gave up now, he would not have another chance to refill his spirit force.
Emery decisively threw the moon dagger at Hades. Using his free hand to cast a small [Spatial Gate], he swung the sword into the gate. The trick added an extra factor to overwhelm the magus, but it was also extremely straining on Emery.
Unable to move away, Hades was forced to stay where he stood. Even when the magus cast [Gravitational Push] at him, Emery was still able to find the right timing to disappear as the spell was cast and reappear right after, perfectly dodging the spells.
Clank! Clank!! Clank!!
Without realizing it, Emery created a new style of combat, utilizing space and the flow of Dao techniques.
But it was not possible without his unyielding willpower and concentration on both the spells and sword skills. He kept going. With each attack, Hades' defense started to crumble, as he was cornered by the continuous attacks.
The Excalibur managed to make a few small cuts deep enough to wound the magus.
Splat! Clank! Splat!
After a barrage of attacks, Emery finally managed to break the enemy's defense and cut the magus' back with the legendary sword.
"Again!!"
Splatt!!
While the enemy was still in shock, Emery's next swing managed to cut the magus' left arm.
"Arrgggh!! Damn you!!:
Blood splattered as the arm flew to the sky and his spear dropped to the ground, painting the area around them red.
"One more!"
Swish!
Emery swung the legendary sword again. This time, with a thrust, the sword managed to directly pierce the magus' chest.
Splat—
As Emery pulled the sword, once again blood splattered and the magus fell kneeling as blood dripped from all over his body.
"Urghh..."
At the same time, Emery's shaman form ran out of time, the tattoo gradually disappearing. Following it was excruciating pain all over his body.
He had been holding the pain for so long, he could not help but stop and stab the legendary sword in the ground when he saw that the magus was down.
The battle was witnessed by Klea, Arthur, and the fey sisters from afar. When they saw Emery successfully cutting the magus' arm, they began cheering as they knew the last thrust had finished the job.
Emery was finally able to defeat the magus!
Before they could indulge themselves in the feeling of victory, their victorious cries were cut short.
The magus once again stood.
"Aaarrrggghhh!! No! I… am the king of the underworld!... I cannot die...!"
Glaring with his complexion ghastly, his body turned pitch black. To the shock of the people watching, his arm regrew.
Although his arm did not regrow at a fast speed, it was nevertheless a demonstration of the [Immortal Body] that was given once a person reached magus level.
This was one of the major reasons why magi were very difficult to kill, even with a legendary weapon.
The magus' body trembled as he struggled to stand and fight again.
Seeing the situation, Emery, who was previously not planning to kill the magus, decided to do what he should. The man in front of him was responsible for the killing of many innocent lives. It was even possible that he was the one who orchestrated the whole thing.
Most importantly, Emery was not sure he would be able to defeat him again when the magus fully restored his strength, so he decided.
As he raised the legendary sword, the Excalibur sharply shone, ready to strike its target.
At that moment, the sky suddenly turned dark and a powerful thunder struck at the area between Emery and Hades.
BOOM!!!
The thunderstrike had at least ten times the power of Klea's thunder. This quickly made Emery retreat a few steps.
The thunderstrike was followed by strong power descending from above, originating from far beyond the clouds.
Feeling the same pressure, Klea quickly exclaimed, "Another magus!?"
To their complete shock, it was not only one, but two.
Two figures slowly descended from the vast blue expanse with grandeur. Looking at the two figures, Emery's mind immediately assumed that they were Nephilim.
Despair began to overtake him as well as Klea, who seemed to have reached the same conclusion as him, as they watched the two unknown figures slowly approach the ground.
Hades, on the other hand, madly cackled when he saw the two figures.
"Hahaha! My… brothers... are here!! You're all... dead!!!"
Despite his gruesome condition, Hades still forced those words out to taunt and ridicule them.
Emery grasped the legendary sword's hilt tightly, as he braced himself for another impossible battle. He was about to take the initiative and launch the first strike when something made his eyes widen in disbelief.
One of the figures was a man with a golden aura, someone he did not recognize. However, he could not maintain his composure when he saw the other person. He was familiar with that man in black garb. Out of shock, he reflexively exclaimed.
"Master!"