The moment Belial's eyes landed on the pickaxe, his confident expression turned into real shock.
Ben grinned and felt a rush of satisfaction. "Not so confident now, are you?
So what if I don't understand your authority, I'll just cut through it with brute force."
He poured his dark aether into the pickaxe's blade.
Energy crackled around it.
Dark lightning ran along the edge.
The Empyrean Pickaxe trembled in his hands as if it was excited, responding to his power.
Belial quickly summoned another maze of illusions.
Copies of himself appeared in every direction.
Ben did not slow down.
He swung the pickaxe down with a roar and released a crescent-shaped wave of dark aether that tore through every illusion at once.
BOOM.
Belial was thrown backward.
He blocked with crossed arms and slammed into the wall behind him.
The wall shattered into rubble.
Blood dripped from his lips.
For the first time, he looked honestly troubled.
