Chapter 2803: Life Forces (part 1)
"Oh, fuck. You are a spoilsport. Do you have any idea how hard it is to pull this trick on someone with Life Vision? It's literally impossible." The Voidwalker Armor said as it stood up by itself.
"I mean, you could have just died. That or wear my armor instead of taking my blade. I'm very hungry and I can use a snack." Ragnarök flew into the gauntlet just in time for the head of the Void to pop out of the gorget.
Ulma found himself staring at someone with a skin even blacker than his own, with seven white eyes and a wolfish smile so devoid of humanity that it gave him the creeps.
<nulli>'How the fuck did Verhen survive with no heart? How did he neutralize Nightblood while enduring two tier five Source Magic spells?' The Nightwalker thought. n(-(--()-(())1(-n
Yet none of those questions came out of his mouth.
"Why do you look like an Eldritch?"
"You mean this?" The Void pointed at the horns, the wings, and the spikes that had replaced the scales. "Don't worry, looks are deceiving. I'm much worse than an Eldritch."
Shapeshifting into his Abomination form had changed more than Lith's appearance, it had also affected his life force. The Void surrounding the stars and threads had collapsed on itself, taking the form of a black sphere that fed upon external energy while keeping everything inside safe.
If someone were to be foolish enough to look at it with a breathing technique, they would see the black sphere outlined by a violet corona and surrounded by a ring formed by the world energy it constantly absorbed.
The Void injected a bit of his life force inside Ragnarök turning its aura from bright violet to black. The black and the white crystals activated in unison, one spreading the spark of Chaos throughout the blade and the other keeping it under control.
Ulma stared with his mouth agape as the Void bolted forward, his body shrouded in an aura of darkness and Chaos that rivaled the Nightwalker's. Ulma didn't lose time, turning part of Dark Mastery into a prosthetic arm.
The rest he turned into a set of four giant hands that surrounded the Void while the elemental spheres of God of Nightstorm resumed their attack. At the same time, he raised his blade, ready to counter whatever Verhen was about to dish out.
"I really don't play like this."The Void shrugged, sending more of his essence down the angry blade.
Unlike War, the blood sheathe wouldn't be lost every time the blade was released from its seals. Once freed from its scabbard, Ragnarök needed fresh blood to form a new one but the old blood still contained the life force that the now black blade needed to fuel its abilities.
Like the one the Void was employing.
The flesh and blood stored in the scabbard turned black and then into two sets of arms that grabbed at Dark Mastery. They were smaller, but the destructive power of the Chaos was superior.
The Void let Ragnarök take care of the darkness-infused stone while he slashed vertically, cutting through the storm and the Nightwalker's blade at the same time. The Chaos aura further enhanced Ragnarök's edge and, after consuming the Nightblood protecting it, the Adamant blade broke into pieces.
The black blade used its yellow and water crystals to neutralize the storm while the Chaos surrounding it dispelled the darkness. Ulma's superior's swordsmanship was pointless without a sword.
What was left of his weapon wasn't long enough to pierce through the Voidwalker armor even if by some miracle the Void decided to not cut the stump of the blade off along with the arm holding it.
Ragnarök shattered the Adamant of the blade, cut through the multiple layers of Ulma's enchanted armor, and then dug deep into his flesh. The Nightwalker gritted his teeth, channeling the full might of God of Nightstorm on himself.
Also, he had Dark Mastery fall back to save him, locking one of the four stone constructs to his shoulder to replace his missing arm.
Alas, the blood constructs were relentless, grabbing at the enemy spell and sucking its energy.
Lith had survived because the Void, just like an undead, had no vitals. His Abomination touch could feed upon any source of energy and they were standing above a very powerful mana geyser.
Even while they were fighting, even though there was no time to use Invigoration, the Void bathed in the world energy and recovered his strength. He recovered Lith's strength.
The Void had no care for the storm either. Cold didn't bother him, electricity found no nerves to course through, and the darkness infused in the other elements was too diluted to be more than a pin prickle.
Ulma used the prosthetic arm to grab at the black blade safely but there was no such a thing. The World Mirror and Counter Flow ability took over the arm, allowing the Void to grin and say:
"Stop hitting yourself." The fake arm was now gouging the Nightwalker's eyes, blinding him. "That's my job."
The Void pulled Ragnarök back and performed a horizontal slash. He could see with Death Vision that there were just a few ways that Ulma could die.
By starvation, sunlight, and severing his neck from his head. Nightwalkers were very similar to Abominations. Piercing their hearts or bashing their skulls was pointless. Their very essence was stored in the darkness element that painted their bodies black.
Decapitation worked because by physically removing the connection between the brain and the blood core, the body would remain limp until a new head fully formed while the old head couldn't regenerate without a core.
Ulma yelped like a little boy, seeing his entire life and then his undeath flashing in front of his eyes as Ragnarök closed in.
Alas, the black blade cut only air due to a Blood Blink rescuing the Nightwalker.
"I told you to wait for me!" Shelk Whur, Blood Warlock and Destroyer of the Dusk Court was supposed to bring more reinforcements, but after seeing the runes belonging to the previous auxiliary troops disappear from his amulet, he had rushed forward with a Blood Steps.
The dimensional sealing array was still in place and it blocked conventional magic.
"If I waited one minute longer, Zaqua would have be-" Ulma coughed out black blood, the wound in his chest festering with Chaos.
"Look, Ragnarök. More meat for the grinder!" The Void Spirit Blinked a split second later, just the time to cut down what remained of Dark Mastery.
With their caster too busy surviving, the stone constructs had been easily paralyzed by Ragnarök's blood hands and then dispelled by the black blade. Chaos turned the darkness element into more Chaos upon contact, throwing the complex spell out of balance.
The four elements became unable to coexist and the Chaos cannibalized everything else in search of enough light element to return to its stable condition.
Much to the Abomination's surprise, the Blood Warlock managed to block his attack and he did it with a glaive at that. The Void's eyes went wide in surprise until he recognized the red lightning coursing through the undead and his Adamant weapon.