Chapter 264: Countering the Counter

Vask and Pilliade only fought once. It was during the rank selection among the twelve seats of the Chaos Monarchs. Vask was still the twelfth seat at that time because he was newly appointed. But Pilliade was already the fifth seat.

During this event, any Monarch can challenge another for their position. But it is on a first come first served basis. The one who challenges first gets first dibs and those who wants to try defeating the same opponent need to wait for the next rank selection.

Normally, hours would pass by with nothing but festivities. But on that day, as soon as the event began, Vask stepped forward. Issuing the challenge to Pilliade. This in itself seemed like an insult to the strength of the fifths seat. Making him even more furious than normal against the monarch that dared belittle him.

The fight lasted for a whole day, with neither of them refusing to back down. The fight almost destroyed the subspace created specifically for the said fights and this just showed how promising both were in terms of combat capabilities.

In the end however, Pilliade came out victorious. Although this did not come without a price as Vask was able tot permanently place a scar on his face. One which the [Monarch of War] took pride in as time passed by, deepening his respect of Vask.

That same mark appeared on the person that emerged from the pillar of flames. It wasn't the same thing that was similar because, both the aura and the appearance greatly resembled that of Pilliade's.

"Hey kid, you need to focus on this fight as much as I am if you want to keep all your body parts intact."

At that moment, all of Vask's memories of this monarch came flooding back. Just as Pilliade respected him, Vask also had a huge amount of respect for the [Monarch of War]. But this didn't stop him from doing what was needed.

The first one to attack was Pilliade. Raining down a thousand fireballs all at once. Each had enough power to take down a [Chaos Dragon] and to burn flames itself.

"Event Horizon." Vask didn't waste any time. The activation of the spell allowed him to take control of the trajectory of some of the fireballs, spinning them around and making them hit the others.

Explosions filled the area like a kind of fireworks' display. One that was earth wrecking as cracks opened up on the surface of the ground.

"PILL! IT'S ME VASK!" As much as possible, the Monarch wanted to avoid conflict. Yet his words only fell on deaf ears as Pilliade simply summoned a [Flame Basilisk] – screaming as it rapidly turned the earth into lava.

"Erase." Vask destroyed the creature within the blink of an eye; placing a huge gap in the space within its body which pulled the rest of its body parts inside.

Admittedly, Vask was a lot weaker simply because he was using a mortal frame. But even in his weakened state, he could feel that Pilliade was also far from being capable of releasing all his powers. He concluded this because the same basilisk would've scorched a whole city's worth of radius as soon as it was summoned, yet the creature that came out during that tune was relatively weaker.

This did not mean that the opponent could be taken lightly. In fact, Pilliade followed up this attack by surrounding both him and Vask in a pillar of flames. Something which was cancelled by the [Monarch of Space] right away.

"I've seen all your tricks Pilliade. I'm not allowing you to use that." Vask mentioned, increasing the gravity around his enemy who crashed to the ground.

Pilliade's hands glowed at that point, releasing two pillars of flames from the ground up. These worked like serpents as they chased down Vask.

"Erase." The Monarch made use of the same skill. He wiped out both pillars of flames but, as their fight dragged on, Vask could feel the strain building up on Quinn's body.

The fight wasn't anything near being favorable to him. In fact, all the odds were against him because he needed to continually use his skills. All of which required him to release a huge amount of [Chaos Energy]. Adding to this was the fact that he needed to maintain [Event Horizon] in order to minimize the risks of the fight.

Pilliade proceeded to creating streaks of fire that speared all around; slowly melting away the space created by Vask. Yet the Monarch countered once again, creating a vortex that sucked it all up in a single spot, firing the same amount of flames back at Pilliade.

"Is that one of your colleague?" Quinn asked as Pilliade came out with minimal damage.

"Used to be. But I doubt that's the real him." Vask watched his opponent bring out two swords which was bad news. Pilliade was much more effective with his swordsmanship than his spell casting.

"What made you say that?'

"First of all, only I and the traitor were able to survive the annihilation of Gaia. Not counting Nisha, Sinclair, and that monster of time which they've been keeping as another god."

"You mean Chrono?" Fireballs were shot in the speed of light, exploding as soon as they got near Vask. Countering this was a wall of empty space which sucked in the whole attack.

"Yeah that. Anyway this guy is a fake because he's not even capable of speech and has none of Pilliade's traits. The aura and the face is the same but everything else just spells like a cheap imitation." Vask snapped his fingers fifteen times. Creating small black holes, each of which intended to minimize the area of Pilliade's movements.

He then charged up an attack on his sword. Destroying the space between him and his target as he bolted out of sight. He then reappeared a split second later in front of Pilliade; with his sword aiming to decapitate the [Monarch of War]. Yet this was parried with the two swords of Vask's enemy, resetting the fight as Pilliade kicked Vask in the gut, sending him back down the ground as three more basilisks were summoned.

The fight was a close one. Even with his opponent being an imitation, Vask was still unsure of his own victory. This was the exact moment when Zeke communicated with them, or at least with Quinn.

"Hey there how's the fight going?"

"Mister Zeke? How are you able to use the [Voice Chat] right now?"

"Come on man, there are more urgent matters than your little curiosity. Now, answer please?"

"We are currently fighting the reincarnation of a Monarch. It seems to have used a similar method to how Vask entered my body."

"Hmm I see." It was never told to the group, nor to Quinn, but Zeke already anticipated an event like this. With two Monarchs already within Mythos, it would be no surprise if Pier could summon more. Especially with the amount of [Chaos] he accumulated.

"That's good!" There was no mistaking Zeke's tone. He was both happy and excited about what was happening.

"Mister Zeke, how is this good exactly?" Quinn asked, watching Vask struggle against his opponent who was, at that point, focusing on sword techniques.

"Well you see Quinn, that sword I forged for you was made for this very moment."

"What do you mean?"

"The sword isn't only useful as a way to get skills from your opponents. It can also serve as a waypoint for Vask."

"A waypoint?"

"Okay. First of all, can you stop asking like a parrot?" Zeke said as he continued his explanation.

"The current dilemma with your body and Vask's soul is that, if he tries to get another host, his power would be greatly diminished and his presence would take too long to recover. I have [Analyze] that's how I know." Zeke said, blocking Quinn's question even before it could be asked.

"However if he transfers to a body which is already a host to a Monarch then…"

"He can transfer safely!"

"Bingo! But there's actually more to it than that. As it is also a Monarch's host, he may just be able to fully recover his power. Of course that entails you having to fight his new host while he takes control. But that's just a small struggle in comparison to what we have to gain."

Quinn was amazed with the things that Zeke just said. It was like the gamer saw all the events even before they could happen.

"Mister Zeke did you just come up with that now?"

"Don't be silly Quinn. I'm not omniscient. All of this is simply within the range of my plans. Now run along, you need to finish the quest I made for you." Zeke said as he closed the [Voice Chat].

Quinn immediately relayed the information to Vask. The Monarch laughed at the idea, not because he thought it was impossible, but because he was greatly impressed by Zeke.

"I knew it was the right call to make an alliance with him!"

"So are we gonna do it now?"

"Is that even a question? Of course well do it!" Vask said, preparing the stage for Quinn.

Since he was going to transfer hosts, Vask didn't need to conserve his [Energy] anymore. He tightened the space of [Event Horizon], preventing Pilliade from doing much as he was trapped in an invisible cube. One which had an added thousand-kilometer worth of space all around. Making Pilliade's movements seem slow and sluggish.

"It's all yours kid. You have ten seconds before my skill wears off." Vask said, giving control to Quinn who took out his sword right away.

[Overdrive] was used to make his skill activation quicker. [Avarice Host] followed giving his sword the needed trait for the process. [Space Disappearance] was the next move activated, cutting out the space between him and Pilliade completely. Following this was another activation of [Overdrive] which prevented his opponent from blocking as, Quinn's sword found its way through Pilliade's chest.

With all of this being set, Quinn gave the final command. Sending Vask to Glade's body as he casted:

"Release."