After a prolonged chase, Sombravida stopped abruptly.
He turned mid-air and swept his arm outward, knocking aside the incoming Bala and destabilizing several approaching Ceros.
At the same time, reiatsu surged into his right claw.
Lightning crackled.
A sharp, avian shriek split the air.
Lightning Strike.
A jagged arc of compressed energy burst outward, shredding the incoming projectiles and detonating them prematurely. Dust and pulverized sand erupted into a thick cloud, swallowing Sombravida's figure.
Paramon and the pursuing Adjuchas halted immediately.
Charging blindly into obscured vision at this level was suicide.
They waited.
Only when certain there was no ambush would they advance.
But when the dust settled—
Sombravida was still there.
Floating motionless in the air.
No longer retreating.
Paramon's eyes narrowed.
"Hmph. Finally stopped running, vermin?"
He steadied himself in mid-air.
"Ready to accept death?"
Sombravida looked down at them from above.
"You really think… I fear cowards like you?"
Their elevation had shifted during the pursuit. Sombravida now held the superior position, suspended higher in the sky while Paramon's group hovered below.
"Since you want death…"
Sombravida raised his left hand.
Spiritual particles condensed.
The Sky-Splitting Greatsword formed.
Azure-gold reiatsu erupted outward.
A pillar of pressure surged into the heavens.
The surrounding air trembled.
The Adjuchas below felt the crushing descent of his spiritual pressure.
Only Paramon, reacting instinctively, released his full reiatsu in time to resist.
"This… this pressure…"
The sensory Adjuchas struggled to breathe.
"…this cannot be mid-tier…"
Fear crept into his voice.
If his lord were not present, he would have fled.
Paramon's spine chilled.
"We misjudged him."
"His reiatsu density… refinement… this is approaching peak Adjuchas."
He unleashed his full spiritual pressure, hoping nearby Adjuchas might sense the flare and investigate.
"Release everything!"
"He is dangerous!"
The four Adjuchas obeyed.
Five spiritual pressures surged simultaneously.
The crushing force stabilized the battlefield.
Sombravida's azure-gold pillar trembled.
Sombravida smiled faintly.
"Five at once… risky."
"But limits aren't broken without risk."
He stepped forward.
The air shattered beneath his Sonído.
Only Paramon perceived the motion.
Sombravida appeared directly before him.
The greatsword fell toward Paramon's mask.
Paramon crossed his arms, hierro reinforced with full reiatsu.
But the impact never came.
The blade vanished.
Only the hilt remained.
A scream erupted behind him.
Paramon turned.
The sensory Adjuchas had been cleaved in two.
A spatial rift still shimmered in the air.
A pale-gold slash continued into the distance.
Dimensional Slash.
Sombravida's feint had succeeded.
The unseen trajectory had bypassed defense and struck the unguarded target.
The lock-on aura dissipated.
His concealment ability returned.
Sombravida did not pause.
Sonído burst again.
A residual afterimage lingered where he had been.
His true body appeared beside another grotesque Adjuchas.
The blade descended.
The target blocked.
Its forearms split open under the impact.
Bone fragments scattered.
"Despicable!" Paramon roared.
He lunged, hammering forward.
Sombravida vanished again.
Paramon slammed both fists forward.
A massive orange-red ripple exploded outward.
Seismic Shockwave.
The air itself fractured under the vibration.
Even suspended in mid-air, the wave propagated through compressed spiritual pressure.
Sombravida dropped suddenly, gravity seeming to reclaim him.
The shockwave tracked his reiatsu signature.
Closing.
Closing—
Sombravida vanished.
He reappeared beside the wounded Adjuchas.
Blade thrust.
Point-blank Cero.
The mask detonated.
The Hollow disintegrated.
Two remaining Adjuchas fired simultaneously.
Ceros struck Sombravida mid-motion.
He parried with Rift, but the explosions still blasted him backward.
Smoke cleared.
Blood dripped from his arm.
Bone cracked back into alignment as he forced his claw straight.
He lowered his sword.
Raised his left hand.
Azure-gold light flickered in his eyes.
Dozens of spatial fissures opened around the battlefield.
Bala rained from impossible angles.
Bala: Ethereal.
The projectiles came from warped trajectories, rebounding through spatial folds.
The Adjuchas defended calmly, hierro reinforced.
The destructive force alone was insufficient to kill.
But—
Impact.
One Adjuchas staggered.
"…what?!"
It had blocked everything it sensed.
Another impact struck a second target.
Paramon's eyes sharpened.
"…something is wrong."
"It isn't evasion failure."
"We aren't sensing them."
He realized:
"He is concealing the reiatsu signatures."
Sombravida's voice cut through the air.
"Correct."
"No prize."
A muffled air burst sounded.
A colorless Cero erupted from an oblique angle.
It pierced through a wounded Adjuchas' torso.
The body collapsed.
Sombravida had layered abilities simultaneously:
spatial vector manipulation
Bala barrage distortion
reiatsu concealment
hidden Cero charge
This level of multitasking strained even his refined control.
Some Bala carried fragments of concealment properties, rendering them undetectable.
The risk paid off.
One more enemy fell.
Now only two remained.
And the battle had truly begun.
Visit patreon.com/ShiroTL for more chapters.