Chapter 98 - One Down

Arthur did not follow up with his attack, he even stepped back a bit.

The emperor was shocked at this.

'This damn!'

Arthur quickly sized him up and pinpointed a clear cut weak point. There was no reason to hesitate.

**SWISH!

He spread his wings and flapped them lightly to propel himself and swung Celestia.

"Lightning"

***CRACKLE!

The mighty electric blast struck the emperor. However, his body had stiffened like a rock.

"Rock Armor!"

A grandmaster of his caliber would have several survival spells!

Arthur couldn't follow this up with anything. After all, the three small axes stubbornly came after him.

***CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Arthur deflected the axes and got back into position. The emperor deactivated Rock Armor, and slung his large axe over his shoulder.

'The dammed devil seems to have done something to my men, its strange none of them have come to help me out after all this.'

He would have never imagined that the men he was waiting for had all been murdered by the transcendents watching the fight from the shadows.

As for the other half of the continent he was on, it was complete disaster.

Everyone had been killed, young or old, man or woman, not a single soul survived.

It did not matter which race, all of the denizens of the empire were killed.

The other continent had long been shattered by the combined might of the transcendents. Even one of them was enough to do so, much less the dozen Arthur brought with him.

One might wonder why Arthur ordered for them to all be killed even though there were obviously innocents among them.

However, killing them now was actually saving them from possible years of pain.

'When I'm done with Gerix, the planet will be destroyed and the debris will fall on this one.

Its moon will not be safe either, the destruction of a planet's moon will have disastrous effects.

The havoc it would cause will be great, yet, not all will perish.

However life will be hard for them, they will suffer for years and would eventually die slow deaths due to diseases, starvation or other causes.

It might be considered sophistry but I actually saved them from suffering.'

Arthur felt little guilt from his actions, one might say the law of karma would get to him but all his actions were for the sake of getting strong enough that he would be fine regardless of what the law of karma would do, if, it would do anything.

'Celestia'

[Yes master]

'Boost my strength like before will ya?'

[Okay! I'd take some of your…which should I take?]

'Magic, I can replenish that with potions easily.'

[Okay]

Arthur felt some of his magic being drained and his body becoming stronger.

'The lesser energy in my body, the lesser the strain.'

The emperor also sensed the change in Arthur, he already had a hard time dealing with Arthur normally, what if he strengthened himself?

'This just got more difficult.'

The two dashed towards each other and clashed weapons.

The second round, had just begun.

◇　◇　◇

Arthur, who'd had his strength enhanced by Celestia ferociously attacked the emperor 

Whenever he swung his semi-transparent blade, an aura blade attack wouldn't be far behind. If he launched a jet black wave of darkness, then the golden light of victory would come right after. 

The emperor's three floating axes were completely ineffective, as they were nullified by a darkness shield or artifact generated spears.

'This can't go on!' the emperor couldn't let himself get pushed around anymore.

"ROARR!" he roared. 

Jarox's Roar!

There was a temple at the top of the highest mountain of Phirex that worshipped the legendary warrior, Jarox. By overcoming five of their trials, it was possible to learn a special skill or technique.

First, the emperor's body became tough, as if he was covered in steel. Then, his muscles bulged as much as they could. His eyes brightened, allowing him to see objects from afar with fine detail like a hawk, and his other senses were sharpened too.

"Uhaaahp!"

He withdrew one of his floating axes, and then swung his weapons, alternating between the smaller and larger axe. 

His large and small axes glowed with red and blue energy respectively.

'Aura enhancement!'

Jarox's Roar significantly increased the power of his attacks.

Arthur responded in kind.

"Wind Sword."

Arthur decided to try out a new technique.

Wind Sword!

Jarox'a roar and aura enhancement gradually increased the force of the emperor's blows, while Wind Sword increased Arthur's speed to frightening levels.

It was a battle between strength and speed!

**CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG!

The sword and axes repeatedly clashed against each other, resounding with a shrill, metallic 'clang'. In musical terms, it was like heavy metal!

At some point, Arthur began to overcome the emperor. When he swung once, Arthur would swing Celestia two or three times.

***SWISH, SLASH, SWISH!

"Ugh."

Ultimately, the emperor was forced back.

Arthur stopped Wind Sword too.

'Tch.'

Although Wind Sword was crazy powerful, it consumed a ton of magic and he was also not familiar with it.

Arthur decided to use the technique that he used against Griphi during the academy exams, however before he could do it, he noticed something wrong.

The emperor's eyes glowed. 

'That's never a good sign!'

"Last Stand!"

This was his final trick. This ability could only be used when he was on the verge of death, but it would increase his combat abilities significantly!

"Havoc!"

The emperor slammed his large axe into the ground.

**BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ground around him cracked, and a mighty shockwave surged like a fountain.

Arthur got out of range by rolling onto the floor. 

"You're beginning to piss me off!"

With that shout, Arthur mustered up his power via a battle cry, and then rushed at the emperor.

"You bastard!" 

The emperor swung his axes in an X.

**SHATTER!

It seemed like the two axes' energy blasts would go right through Arthur.

But then...

**FLAP!

With a mighty flap of his jet black wings, Arthur quickly rose into the air.

**BOOM!

The blasts swept through the area and left behind a long scar as if a bomb had gone off. 

Arthur vertically descended from above the emperor's head.

**SWISH.

He moved his wings in such a way that he spun in the air like a top! His sword automatically danced through the air.

"Tch!" 

The emperor quickly used Rock Armor. His body began to transform into stone, but a golden light devoured him.

By the time the golden aura died down, the emperor's body was riddled with wounds, of this was a game then his HP would be close to 0.

"I lost, to a damn devil!" 

The emperor's axes dropped from his hands as he admitted defeat.

"Lute, are his family members dead?"

Arthur asked this question casually while retracting his wings.

"Yes, your highness."

The emperor's eyes opened wide at this, he thought his family would have at least be able to escape, that was why he used himself as bait.

He never thought that Arthur had ordered for them to all be killed.

"You da-."

Arthur wordlessly swung Celestia.

**Swish!

The emperor's body fell backwards, he was dead.

'Should have absorbed his core, oh well, I'd absorb the next guy's.'

Arthur thought so as he unsummoned Celestia and sat on the ground to catch his breath.

"Good work your highness."

Lute came over to heal the little wounds he had gotten, life energy filled his body, reinvigorating him.

"This feels nice, maybe I should learn the law of life too."

Arthur could speak carelessly like this because all the transcendents here knew he somehow was able to use the power of the law.

They attributed it to him being the 'prophesied child of destruction.'

"Tasha, status report on the other continents capital."

"They seem to be having some sort of celebration at the moment."

Tasha replied and Arthur fell into deep thought.

'Let's crash the party shall we?'

He stood up and turned to Lute.

"Teleportation, Sky high."

"Teleportation magic isn't exactly my forte, your highness."

"You've been comprehending the law of shadows recently right, I think you should at least be able to use shadow transfer by now."

Lute was nonplussed, he hadn't told anyone, not even his teammates, that he was gunning for a third authority.

He also believed he had hidden it well, he didn't understand how Arthur had somehow found out.

Arthur ignored his shock and spoke to Tasha.

"It just occurred to me that using shadow travel would not have the effect I wanted, let's go back to the ship."

He then walked over to her and let his body fall towards her, as she hurriedly caught him, he said.

"Carry me back, I'm tired."

Tasha was at a loss, she looked over to Lute who was still recovering from his shock and realized the latter would be of no help.

She just sighed and lifted Arthur up, activating basic flying magic, she flew back to the spacecraft that had been hovering in the air all this while.