The Southern Front was burning; above ground, there were the Elite Ten under the Leadership of Bookworm clashing with the Sixth Apostle, and the Machine Empire units clashing with the Hell Realm army under the leadership of Joshua. Underground, Fritz Todt and Leonardo's group were having a showdown.
The cleanup was continuing in the Middle Region. Following the wiping of the Mercenaries from the face of the earth, the orc generals, securing the dominion of the area, had begun working to prevent infiltrations that would occur from the Northern and Southern Front sides as per the orders they received.
The Northern Front could appear as the quietest and safest place compared to the others, but one needed to ask the Dynasty Family members clashing with the Seventh Apostle about this. The Seventh Apostle, repelled and even brought to the brink of death, had changed since he drew all the darkness of the night into his body.
The person who killed his enemies using the qualities of the Dark Element rather than combat power was gone, and a complete attack maniac had come in his place. Disregarding elemental attacks used for protection purposes, he was striving to kill his enemy.
Wind of Death, Boss, and the members of the Nameless Ten coming to their aid were having a hard time resisting him. How could they resist? Some of the orcs, who would take their names after this war, were struggling for their lives; they were trying to hold on to life along with the fact that they lived because the Sixth Apostle stopped dealing with them.
"Take my brother and run! I will hold this creature as long as I can!"
Boss, after an attack he barely managed to parry, threw the bent axe in his hand aside and took Hammerforged's weapon. Using the weapon that was Abarran's masterpiece had worked on the enemy; if he was going to sacrifice himself to defend the others, he should do it with the wide-bladed sword.
When he took the weapon in his hand, Boss's whole body began to tremble. The tip of the heavy sword couldn't stand straight even for a second. The Seventh Apostle didn't miss this opportunity; he took action to attack Wind of Death who turned her back to her husband.
Boss hadn't recovered yet. He trembled until a shadow passed by him, but at that moment he raised the sword into the air and brought it down following the Seventh Apostle. The creature, not minding any attack, preferred to dodge by throwing himself to the right and turned his back losing all his momentum.
A feeling similar to the instincts peculiar to wild animals reflected in the Apostle's body language. If he wanted to chase Wind of Death and Hammerforged, he had to turn his back, but Boss's presence was the only obstacle preventing him from doing this. He knew deep down that if he turned his back, this orc warrior could harm him.
The Apostle made his choice; first, he would handle the greatest danger, and then he could go after his other preys. The daggers shaped with Dark Element Energy he previously held in his hands were now covering his entire arms.
After making a round around Boss with his arms turned into two long swords, he attacked towards his exposed back. The orc warrior raised his weapon into the air and threw it behind his back; the arms covered with Dark Energy in the shape of daggers clashed with the weapon wrapped in energy of the same color.
"Now I understand. Now I know why our family strives so much to produce weapons!"
Boss threw his left leg to the side; spinning his weapon over his right shoulder, he responded to his enemy with a wide swing. The Seventh Apostle was very close; since he had no time to escape, he united his arms in front of his body and took a defensive stance.
It was obvious he wouldn't choose this if he had another choice because he too knew he would be sent flying dozens of steps as a result. While in the air, he covered his whole body with Dark Element Energy; this way, even if the building he crashed into collapsed, he could go on the attack again without taking any damage.
"My father always used to say he needed to make a weapon providing energy from nature itself, not from its user. How painful it is to learn the reason this way? I can only deal with this creature for a few hundred breaths. When the weapon consumes all my energy, we will meet again father, but until that moment, I will show this creature the pride of orc warriors!"
While the veins wandering like worms under his green skin flowed in the same direction, the black energy followed them too and headed for the weapon. Abarran's work was originally designed for the people of the Hell Realm, and its main working principle was to allow the person to use the Elemental Energy in their body by transferring it to the weapon.
Of course, it couldn't be this simple; the work of a Great Weapon Master couldn't gain value solely thanks to being sufficient to apply the main principles. Even though the main element used in forging the wide-bladed sword was fire, as its color also said, the Dark Element was somehow included in the process.
The Seventh Apostle could absorb other Element powers, but when he encountered the Dark Element, he had to clash head-on. Who had a stronger element reserve or stronger materialization affected the dynamics in the exchange of blows.
What was happening right now was nothing more than this either; Boss could fight the Seventh Apostle thanks to the Dark Element contained in both the sword and his own lineage power. The difference between them was that while one was using his limited reserve, the other had managed to take all the darkness of the night for himself.
Even though Boss made a guess thinking about this, his calculation was wrong at one point. The Seventh Apostle was continuing to draw energy from the night. His endurance time, which he calculated as a few hundred breaths, was going to end in almost the first hundred breaths.
"No, not now. I must endure a little more!"
As the first male son of the Former Orc War Chief, his pride wouldn't allow this; he couldn't abandon his newly reunited brother and his wife to their fates. Boss roared; it was a magnificent roar enough to make the Seventh Apostle flee backward.
The black energy flowing to the weapon cascaded like river waters whose barricade in front of them was lifted; the sword was now two hand-spans wide and almost longer than a spear. Boss darted forward; the waiting times for the orc warrior who had taken a defense-based position up to that moment were coming to an end.
It was the enemy's turn to escape, and he was forcing him to do this. The weapons weren't clashing anymore; Boss was disciplining the Sixth Apostle with his sword. Every blow was devastating for the black, sneaky Apostle striving to hide in the shadows.
Apparently, in the moments he couldn't use his ability to absorb other element powers of the Dark Element, his defense was practically non-existent. He had come to this point before and managed to escape Nafız's hands, but right now this option was out of the question too.
Firstly, the area was narrow; secondly, Boss wasn't giving him any quarter, not even for a breath. While defending with his arms he turned into giant daggers by wrapping them with the Dark Element, on the one hand, he was constantly changing direction, trying to protect himself in the narrow area.
It wasn't that he wasn't trying to attempt a surprise attack from time to time, but he couldn't be successful due to Boss using the sword in his hand nimbly, unexpectedly from his size. Every second meant things getting worse for him; as the amount of Dark Energy he could draw from the night decreased, his regeneration speed dropped dramatically.
His scream when the wide-bladed sword opened a cut on his right arm explained the gravity of the situation, and when it was his left hand's turn, he turned his back and began to run before he could swing it. His back was exposed, the opportunity had come. Boss, not turning down the opportunity coming his way, leaped forward. He swung the sword he raised above his head downwards.
A second later, the sound of the sword cutting the stones on the floor was heard; there was only that grating sound. Right after, the noise of a body falling to the ground spread through the area, and the Seventh Apostle made a sharp turn.
Boss's burly torso, even according to orc standards, was lying full length; his brother's sword was right beside him, plunged into the ground. If he could have maintained his power for one second, in the duration of a blink, everything would have been over, but it didn't happen; now the Seventh Apostle's daggers were a hand-span away from the base of his neck.