Was the first loss going to occur on the Northern Front? Were the brothers, who finally reunited after more than a century, going to be separated forever? Whichever way one looked at it, the answer was yes; only one pair of eyes could see the contrary possibility.
"Back off, you scoundrel!"
A punch the size of a small child's skull landed on the Seventh Apostle's shapeless face. The Dark Energy absorbing every kind of elemental attack flexed inward, and then the full intensity of the blow landed on the nose.
When the black metallic arm returned to its former place, Alyon, looking at his bouncing enemy with his single eye, heard the orc at his feet making muffled sounds. Boss had pushed his lineage power to its limits. By sacrificing the vitality in his body, he had fought burning black flames.
His condition wasn't good at all; he was saved from dying by the Seventh Apostle's daggers, but the end he had been knocking on didn't want to leave without taking him. Even the racial trait of regeneration couldn't cope with this destruction; he was going to die eventually.
"Get up and go to your brother's side! Don't even think about dying before seeing your nephew with your own eyes!"
Alyon placed his right palm on the back of the orc before him. Boss was on his knees; it was even doubtful if he was conscious. A few seconds later, he began to cough. After the deep breaths he took, his lungs couldn't handle the pressure, but he couldn't balance the dark green life force flowing from Alyon's arm any other way.
When light returned to his eyes, he wanted to turn back and continue the battle. As an orc warrior, he had to clear the sense of inferiority given by turning his back to the enemy, but since Alyon didn't pull his hand from his back, he couldn't manage it.
"Sometimes taking a step back can allow you to land a much stronger punch."
The Orc Chief said his last word; Boss stood up with the strength coming to his knees and began to walk, bowing his head. When he moved to catch up with the husband and wife he sent ahead, a shadow was in pursuit, gliding along the ground, but Alyon was radiating his crimson energy.
The Seventh Apostle stopped when he reached the limit of the crimson energy containing black energy threads; he didn't dare take even one step forward. He waited for a few seconds, waited before taking his humanoid shape again, and immediately after, he accelerated towards the Middle Region.
"Run then, let's see how far you can run!"
Shouting his laughter that would wander among the ruins, Alyon began to run. His two fists were shattering everything that came his way, including some structures with sturdy walls. While in pursuit of the Seventh Apostle who escaped like water leaking from cracks, the Orc Chief was advancing by clearing his path.
As the owner of a destruction resembling a long snake, he showed neither exhaustion nor a sign of panic. He was like a hunter patiently advancing after his prey, waiting for the time he would find an opening. And that time was going to come very soon; slipping through the orcs doing area control and the Elemental Ten resting to shake off the fatigue of the war, the Seventh Apostle let himself go into the void.
The crater covered with corpses and darkness was perfectly suited for his presence; the night that disappeared in the Northern Part was now flowing towards a point in the Middle Part too. Finding a great treat on his escape path, the Seventh Apostle didn't feel the need to turn it down; the darkness blurred with life essences inside the giant pit and the darkness of the night would now continue to live in his body.
It was obvious from his screams that he was in satisfaction. While he was exploiting the darkness inside hundreds of thousands of corpses, those he stole from the sky were also healing his wounds. When Alyon looked down, he saw the darkness being drawn to the center; the others running to the same point along with his presence would also watch the sight a few breaths later.
"All of you retreat, even evacuate this region!"
Neither the orc warriors nor the Elemental Ten had the right to even have a say, let alone exist in the approaching struggle. Deep down they all knew this, but their pride didn't want to accept it.
"We are here! The Elemental Ten will be by your side in bringing down the enemy!"
"We aren't going anywhere either. Orc Warriors will handle every kind of problem that will emerge in the area they captured!"
While Wildshield, who stepped forward, spoke, Kuyag and the other orc generals were behind him. Alyon first looked at the Elemental Ten, then turned towards the orc warriors who had been by his side even when he was the chief of a tiny tribe.
There was a small smile on his face and his eyes were shining. The Orc Chief seemed impressed by this attitude of his subordinates, but no one would know how he was impressed.
"When I give you an order, you will do as I say without questioning! Whoever doesn't leave here within a hundred breaths, their death will be by my hands!"
Before the words coming out of Alyon's mouth ended, the sounds of footsteps began to be heard. At the very front were those who had followed him since Bearstrangler's tribe, and the others were running right after them. Finally, the Elemental Ten members left the area; Siomha dragging them along had a greater share in this movement than Alyon's threat.
The Druid warrior, who was also a Dark Element user himself, could see what was happening in the pit. Even if the others saw the Dark Element Energy gathering at a single point, he was witnessing the expressions of the spirits the Seventh Apostle forcibly exploited.
Finally, when the darkness of the night and the pit were exhausted, the pitch-black creature surfaced and stood before Alyon. The Orc Chief had to raise his head to see the entire body of the presence before him, as the scrawny Seventh Apostle was gone and a black creature eight steps long and five steps wide had come in his place.
Its form no longer resembled a human or any other living being living on the World of the Six Civilizations. He had absorbed so much impure, so many different types of Dark Energy that bizarre protrusions were shooting out from everywhere on his wide torso.
Orc heads, inverted human legs, or bodies with only an upper torso were the first things catching the eye in the Seventh Apostle's new body. Even though a small head stood fixed on the body eight steps by five steps in size, the remaining parts were waving like a black curtain.
It was more like a swamp; while the filth at its bottom appeared and disappeared, a protrusion forming on the right side of the torso began to land on top of Alyon's head. Its speed was so slow in the first two seconds that even a small child could escape such an attack, but immediately after, in the blink of an eye, it suddenly appeared in front of the Orc Chief's face.
"For a moment I thought you weren't going to attack at all. It would be a pity if you had run away after all this disgrace!"
After the traditional orc weapon, the axe, spun a turn in Alyon's hand, while it was covered with crimson energy, he faced the attack the size of a single-story house. Under normal conditions, the weapon should have broken in the first moment and Alyon should have taken the full blow, but the result wasn't like that at all.
After the Orc Chief's boots entered two fingers deep into the soil, the acceleration of the attack ended; the night-black shapeless strike was being blocked by a simple axe covered in crimson energy, and Alyon had only used his right hand while holding his weapon.
"In our last encounter, you had quite a lot of fun, you even took a few pieces from me and then left. I am a man who remembers favors and also keeps his grudges; when I opened the old ledger, I saw I had some receivables from you. Now, while I take them, you enjoy what will happen!"
Raising his left hand, Alyon threw the crimson javelin. Immediately after, four more followed the one in front. While the weapon with two sharp ends and a torso only as thick as a human wrist pierced through the shapeless, dark, and sinister body, it was tearing off pieces the size of an adult human.
When the javelins glided with their spoils and plunged into the nearest obstacle, the dark pieces torn from the Seventh Apostle's body moved, wanting to return to their owner, but they didn't succeed.
A power, the crimson energy on the javelin, was managing to restrain them. While the Dark Element Energies, which could neither get free nor be destroyed, were letting out screams, Alyon also raised his right foot and took the first step towards his enemy.