Chapter 63 - Arthur Vs Zach V

"Lute, Layla and the rest of you. You all saw nothing here today"

Arthur informed as wings sprouted behind him, he could clearly sense Layla's shock at his actions. He just laughed lightly and manipulated his magic with jaw dropping skill.

"Veil of darkness"

Light was blocked by something leaving the area in pitch darkness. From outside, a dome of darkness could be seen covering the entire area.

The dome was special, not only did it render sight useless, it also rendered probing and sensory magic skills useless in detecting the activities within the darkness.

Beings with lesser energy levels than the caster should just give up all hope in breaking in or out.

He could sense that the guards who were handling the monsters did not possess higher energy levels than he did.

Looking at his arm, he could see small spider web like cracks on it.

'It seems my divinity and that weird negative energy are battling for supremacy in my body again huh? Gotta end this quick then'

He then glared Zach who was struggling to get up, magic power blazed in Arthur's pupils and Zach stiffened in a very uncomfortable position, as if he was frozen in place unable move a muscle.

That was simply because he actually was.

Just like Creusery said on the day of the entrance exams, Arthur was able to utilize the power of a law.

And he was not doing it unconsciously.

He stopped Zach in time with the power of the law of time.

Raising his arms he spoke,

"Come forth, lost souls."

◇　◇　◇

Let's take a moment to ask a question.

What was hell?

In various cultures it was an abode where evil souls were subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture and eternal punishment after death.

Every universe had a variation of hell where souls suffered after death.

In Olympus, it was Tartarus, the primordial galaxy cluster that resided below the underworld.

In Vedas, it was a realm with over 130 layers where the dead soul goes to a deeper layer depending on their actions in life.

In Asgard cluster, it was a cold place guarded by a four eyed blood soaked hound.

In Oblivion, it was a great realm split into many lesser realms where souls went to depending their race, it had the occasional time devouring dragon that came over to attack and eat souls to recover its power.

However for the universe of hell, it was almost everywhere. As such using magic that required the souls of the dead was very easy to use in the Hell universe.

◇　◇　◇

Arthur reached within himself and utilized the law of darkness and he forged a hiltless sword.

The sword was made with the small quantity of wandering souls he was able attract, and he also utilized the souls trapped within Zach, who was still frozen in time- the souls were owners of the runes he had eaten.

Grasping the very ominous blade with his right hand, he smiled lightly before waving his left arm.

"Tempest"

This time, it was the law of wind.

He created a small tornado, Zach's immobilized body was sucked in, then thrown around and sliced in multiple places at imperceptible speeds by countless blades of wind.

Normal, he would have regenerated these wounds, however the power of time stopped his regeneration from acting.

"Tsk...The energy consumption is crazy"

There was a reason why it was only those in the epic and sovereign realms who were allowed to tap into the power of a law.

Besides the fact that they were high existence levels, they were the only ones who could withstand the energy consumption.

As a progenitor, Arthur was capable of dabbling in laws without having reached the Epic and Sovereign realms, still he was not exempt from the large energy consumption.

If he did not end things quick, he would be unable to maintain the veil and his appearance of being able your use energy would be exposed for all to see.

However Lute solved that problem instantly.

"My prince, leave the Veil of Darkness to me." Lute stepped in and utilized his magic.

Lute constructed a stronger and more durable dome beneath Arthur's. Relieved from a burden, Arthur chuckled and dispelled his Veil of Darkness.

The dome fizzled out of existence revealing the more powerful dome hidden beneath. Multiple people who had been trying to probe through Arthur's magic skill received backlash from Lute's Veil of Darkness.

"I suggest you end him quickly your highness, your body's condition is getting worse."

Arthur nodded and retuned his focus to the Tempest he casted and dispelled it. The tornado slowed down and wind blew across the area revealing an already bloodied Zach. He had sustained fatal injuries from his head to toes and was soaked in his own blood.

"I admit I'm going too far for a bug like you, but honestly, your very existence pissed me off ever since I first saw you."

Arthur spoke, despite the fact that Zach was frozen in time his senses were still working so, Zach could still feel pain, every wound on his body was agonizing. He never subject to sustaining such amounts of wounds.

Arthur held out his jet black sword made of pure darkness and lost souls.

Violet coloured magic gathered into the jet black blade and carved out a pattern.

It became a vacuum that sucked in even more magic.

It was almost as if everything in the world was being sucked towards Arthur's sword

A terrifying amount of power coalesced on the blade. The kind a superior-stage Master like Arthur should definitely not have.

"This is my current strongest."

Arthur strained to say as he fell into a stance, his arms were pulled back and levelled to his shoulder and the tip of his sword was pointed at Zach.

Despite being airborne without any form of footing, his stance could only be described by a single word, Perfection. It was a stance solely for the sake of thrusting

"D-, don't..."

Zach's pleaded as his body scrambled to heal the most fatal injuries. This was because Arthur had ceased tapping the Law of Time to conserve energy. Zach could move, but he had lost all will to fight.

He was now frozen in place by the most primal of emotions, Fear

What is shaking with that rattling sound?

The ground quaked

The air howled.

Zach shook.

Everything shook.

Layla realized that she, too, was shaking.

But she was not afraid. Rather, she was ecstatic.

She somehow felt proud that Arthur was this powerful, when she heard people secretly calling him inept and making fun of Arthur being unable to use his energies, she wanted nothing more than to beat them all up and declare that Arthur was not inept.

But she couldn't, she made promise to him.

However seeing Arthur's back floating in the sky, she anticipated the day he would reveal to the world, to reveal his true strength to everyone who secretly looked down on him.

Unaware of Layla's thoughts, Arthur marvelled at the strength contained by the sword he was holding and his wings fluttered softly. He descended slowly to the ground.

"Behold..."

The ominous sword of darkness clad in light was drawn back...

[Extreme Nothingness]

... and then released.

Sound disappeared.

The torrent of light swallowed Zach.

It pierced through the broken walls, the ground, everything. It pierced, swallowed, then soared into the sky.

The veil of darkness was opened by Lute up to let the light go out.

And then... it exploded.

A pattern of light was seared into the dark sky, casting a violet shade over the entire campus city, all the onlookers stared in shock. The legendary realms guards who tried to peer across the veil of darkness unsuccessfully stopped their futile actions and started at it dumbfoundedly.

From far, far away... a violent wind reached the city sized area where the dormitories were located belatedly.

It dispersed storm clouds, rattled every house, quaked the earth with enough force to be mistaken for an earthquake with a magnitude of more than 7, and then vanished. The only thing left in its wake was a beautiful night sky littered by innumerable stars and the full moons.

As for Zach-

-He was vaporized, with not even an atom left.

Staring at his masterpiece Arthur folded his wings before laughing out loud, his body fell weakly. Layla panicked but Lute caught him mid-air and held him as if he were holding the most precious thing in existence.

Life energy poured into Arthur's damaged body, healing his injuries

The veil of darkness was dispelled. When those outside saw this, they rushed in and were met with the scene of an unconscious Arthur and a strange black clothed man holding him.

However they could not move further, that was because they all felt it, the aura that could only be released by those who possessed authorities.

"Demigod..."

Someone muttered absentmindedly.

Remembering the attack they just witnessed, they all assumed he was the one responsible.

It was logical and made perfect sense. It was impossible to connect the dots to an unconscious Arthur. Edward swallowed his fear and asked,

"Z-zach?"

"Gone, without a trace."

Lute replied without taking his eyes of Arthur. After healing him to a certain extent, he carried him on his shoulder and spoke out.

"Tasha, get the young lady, I'm taking the prince to his room."

He disappeared with Arthur immediately after.

A similarly clothed woman appeared briefly behind Layla and picked her up before disappearing along with her.

The legendary realm guards and the other students were left dumbfounded as the only ones they could ask for the details of what happened had disappeared.

Also, no one wanted to bother a demigod... especially as the memories of the attack remained fresh in their minds.

As for why no one was surprised to see the demigod realm Lute, they all assumed he was Arthur's secret guard.

It was completely normal for Arthur to have such privileges as he was a prince of the Devildom.

Deciding to ask for the details later, the legendary realm guards instructed the students to check if there were any injured left.

Luckily no student lost their lives, even thought some lost limbs when the summoning circles spat out five superior stage grandmaster realm monsters.

Luckily the guards arrived on time and dispatched them with naught but a single attack.

This was the power of legendary realm existence.

Able to deal with a superior stage grandmaster with a single attack.

And so the curtains closed on that faithful Saturday night.