Chapter 945 Final Exchange

...

Shing!

Bang!

Caelum blocked one of Shin's sword-drawing attacks and was forced to slide back due to the powerful force behind him. His feet drew a long trail on the ground as he was trying to stop himself from moving further away.

And when he was finally able to regain his footing, he stood up straight at looked at the people surrounding him from different directions.

Shin and the others stopped moving as they stared at Caelum with grateful eyes. Their time with him might be short and had a strange relationship, but they had learned quite a lot from the battle that looked like a training session.

Ara and Alucard were the ones who learned the most from him which made their marksmanship reach another level. They might still be far from standing on equal footing with these monsters alongside them, but they were sure that the gap shrunk albeit a little.

Caelum swept his eyes at the guys surrounding him before nodding his head. "I guess my job is done. There is no point in me staying here now."

He took a brief pause and stare at the sky. "We have waited for his moment for such a long time, so I think we at least deserve some rest now albeit it is going to be an eternal one."

"But didn't feel bad now that I think about it," he continued to mutter before lowering his head once again. "But before we drop the curtain, how about we end this with one final move?"

Shin and the others couldn't reply as they didn't know what to say. They just nodded their heads and started taking their respective stances.

"Thank you," said Caelum as a lonely smile flashed in his eyes.

After that, he put a lot of strength on his legs before jumping high up in the air. He continued to climb higher as he tapped his feet on the air repeatedly. And when he reached the highest point that he could reach, he suddenly stopped his body from falling by creating a pair of wings on his back with the help of the corrupted man that he had.

He then faced the ground before raising his bow and pulling its string. There was no physical arrow nocked on it but a transparent one suddenly appeared as he absorbed the mana from his surroundings.

The arrow made of mana was formed before its color started to change due to the power of corruption that spread on it. The black man slowly transformed the arrow and turned it into a black one blazing with a black flame.

That black flame grew in size until it made an illusion where the arrow became as large as a huge harpoon.

Below, Shin and the others could only see a black dot shrouded with a blazing flame due to how high Caelum was.

"Alright, let's end this battle so that we can finally proceed to the next stage of our quest," said Shin as he started preparing his final move.

Boom!

It was at that moment that they heard a powerful explosion sound coming from the sky followed by a streak of black light descending toward them at full speed.

"Let's go!" Shin shouted, signaling the others to finally make their moves.

Ara and Alucard were the ones who fired their attacks.

Ara nocked an arrow on her bow before infusing her mana into it. She also started chanting a series of elven prayers, summoning a series of runes around her.

The runes then aligned themselves, seemingly forming a phrase before fusing with the arrow. And after a second, the arrow covered my multiple runes alongside the blazing mana that it produced.

She then raised her bow and pointed at the sky before quickly releasing the loaded arrow.

Swoosh!

'Self-Created Skill (Fusion): Spiritual Revolution'

On the other hand, Alucard took out his sniper rifle and pointed it at the sky. Aiming at the descending attack, a cluster of mana suddenly appeared at the end of the barrel, pulling all of the surrounding mana from the surroundings as if it was a black hole.

When the accumulation of powers reached its peak, he quickly pulled the trigger of the sniper rifle, releasing the magic bullet from the chamber.

Bang!

And right after the bullet flew out from the muzzle, it pierced through the cluster of mana before it got wrapped by it.

Swoosh!

It then flew straight to the sky, leaving a bright trail behind.

'Class Fighting Style: God-Slaying Bullet'

…

It only took a couple of moments before the two attacks reached the descending arrow from the sky.

Bang! Bang!

But no matter how powerful those attacks looked like – they couldn't affect the descending arrow that much. Aside from briefly slowing it down, nothing else happened.

But that brief moment was more than enough for the other four to complete their preparations.

Zero summoned a powerful gust of wind that sent the four of them toward the sky. And while riding the wind, they quickly executed their respective skills.

And these skills were executed while they were in the state of Reality Manifestation, the power and momentum that they had were much stronger than ordinary skills.

Zero, who summoned the gust of wind that pushed them toward the sky, called out an even stronger wind coming from the surrounding.

The wind revolved around his body, forming a small tornado around him, as he flipped his wrists alongside the swords that he was holding.

A second later, the surrounding wind formed a pair of wings behind him, increasing his speed by a large margin.

He then transformed into a streak of light that flew higher in the air while swinging his swords that were glowing with a jade-colored light.

'Divine Swordsmanship: Soaring through the Great Heaven'

In time meantime, Faker shrouded his body with a black smoke filled with Death Aura. And with a flick of his wrist, the black chains wrapped around it were suddenly released before spiraling around him.

He then spun his body following the movements of the chains. And while he was doing that, he raised his hands above his head and pointed his daggers toward the sky.

A moment later, his Death Aura and black chains created an illusion of a black serpent that was opening its mouth and ready to devour anything.

'Valentine Family Secret Style: Ancient Serpent – Devouring'

A few distances away from him, Arthur was currently covered by a golden aura that resembled a flame. There were also a couple of crackling electricity swimming on its surface.

He put his shield behind him to hold his properly hold his spear with both of his hands. He first flipped the spear around him to create a strong momentum before thrusting it toward the air.

A moment later, the aura around him turned into a head of a golden dragon as the trail that he was leaving behind turn a serpentine body.

'True Nine Dragon Arts: Gold Dragon transcending the Nine Heavens'

The three powerful attacks collided against the black beam of light descending from the sky, creating a massive explosion.

BOOM!

Shin, who was slightly behind the three, waited for the explosion to subdue before making his move.

Then he took a deep breath as he gathered all of the energies within him toward his sheathed sword. He utilized the Energy Circulation Method recorded within the Jade Kirin Scripture to convert all of those energies into the most optimal energy that he needed in his current situation.

While preparing this move, Shin was thinking about speed. A fast attack that couldn't be blocked or dodged despite his opponent knowing it coming. And he could only think of a single element that could achieve such a feat – Light Energy.

When that thought crossed his mind, he subconsciously converted all of the energies that were infused with the sword into Light Energy, making it glow with a brilliant light.

Click!

When Shin's thumb slightly pushed the guard of the sword and make its blade slightly peek outside, a blinding light was suddenly released, illuminating the surroundings.

Looking from the ground below, Ara and Alucard couldn't help but narrow their eyes due to that light. If they didn't know that it was a skill from a player, then they would think that it was a sun peeking out behind the dark clouds in the sky.

When the explosion in the sky finally subdued, Shin used Mondi's Steps to continue climbing higher.

He was also utilizing the Mystic Movements once again to increase his speed with each step that he took in the air.

Bang!

And with the final step, he discharged all of the force that he had, making all of it explode as he sent himself higher in the air.

Shing!

At the same time, he unsheathed the sword in the process and thrust it forward, executing the first basic movements of quick draw style from the Jade Kirin Scripture and strengthening it with the momentum that he currently had.

Swoosh!

And due to his explosive speed, he drew a vertical line with a blinding light in the air, cutting through the still-subduing explosion and arriving right in front of Caelum within an instant.

'Jade Kirin Scripture: Quick Draw – Flash Final'

Puchi!

The sword pierced through Caelum's chest making him vomit his contaminated blood. But despite that being the case, a satisfied smile was currently present on his face while looking at Shin.

"What a beautiful strike," he muttered before his eyelids grew tired and slowly closed.

But before he totally closed his eyes, he forced himself to open his mouth once again. "Thank you for fulfilling our long-awaited wish. And sorry for leaving the world's future into your hands-… Oh-… G-Great H-Heroes of this E-Era."

With those words leaving his mouth, Caelum's body started to turn into specks of dust that scattered along the wind.

What was left behind was a black bow and a black bead that Shin swiftly took and quickly put in his inventory.

After that, he transformed the [Dawn's Mantle] into a pair of wings and spread them wind, making him stay in the air.

He didn't know why, but he couldn't help but recall the time when Alyssa was executed back in the Black Serpent Mafia Training camp during the final moments of Caelum.

The lonely yet relieved eyes that Caelum had were strangely similar to what Alyssa had during that time.

Shin raised his head and looked at the sky, trying to calm the turmoil that he had in his heart. And after closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he suddenly muttered. "What is real and what is fake? I don't know anymore."

...