Chapter 953: Where the Behemoth Falls

But just as Latychrenber’s spell was about to take hold, a translucent barrier of light erupted from Orion’s body, impossibly sacred.

The moment the Aegis of Light appeared, the surrounding Sleep-Fog vanished as if darkness had met the dawn.

“An Aegis of Light?” Latychrenber shrieked. “Impossible! How do you know our dragonkin’s secret technique?”

The Aegis of Light was the skill Orion had gained from killing the white dragon avatar of the Great Dragon King of Light, Mondusath. It was incredibly versatile; besides acting as a defensive barrier, it could also dispel negative status effects. Furthermore, when facing forces of corruption, it could infuse his attacks with holy power, dealing bonus damage to evil and dark enemies.

“WAAAGH!”

A raw, unconscious roar was Orion’s only reply. Now a being of pure light, he continued his relentless assault, chipping away, piece by piece, at the power of Law protecting Latychrenber.

“You think killing me will be that easy?” the phantom roared, the sheer terror in Orion’s aura sending a jolt of fear through him. It was time to go all-in. “Divine Anathema: The Brass Furnace!”

The demigod phantom dissolved, transforming into a torrent of molten brass that instantly enveloped the area where it and Orion were clashing. The molten metal then cooled with impossible speed, solidifying into a colossal, seamless brass sphere.

The auras of both Orion and Latychrenber were sealed off from the world, their fates unknown.

In another Slaughter Space, the very ground was stained, its blood a dark, earthen color.

“Hehehe… can’t run anymore?” the black dragon phantom purred, hovering a short distance from Leonidas. It stared strangely at the shriveled figure, who looked like a starved husk of his former self, his skin withered, his body shrunken. He had bled himself dry.

With his last ounce of strength, Leonidas knelt, his eyes fixed on the dragon.

“Honestly,” the phantom mused, “your persistence was almost touching. You delayed me for a long time. You did right by those low-level insects on Dusk Continent who are about to be annihilated.”

Leonidas didn’t reply. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, but he no longer had the strength to speak.

“Where… the behemoth… falls… his… blood… seeds… the earth…”

His voice was a ragged whisper, each word a monumental effort.

“From… barren… fields… a… crimson… harvest…”

“RISE!”

With the final word forced from his lungs, Leonidas took his last breath.

The Beastfolk avatar of Leonidas… was dead.

But in the Slaughter Space, everywhere his blood had touched the ground, the earth began to tremble. A moment later, a serpentine dragon formed from pure killing energy erupted from the ground, coiling around the black dragon phantom.

An infinite, overwhelming power of slaughter surged from it. The blood-dragon opened its maw and swallowed the phantom whole, trapping it within the great array in its belly.

“No… IMPOSSIBLE!”

A final, disbelieving shriek echoed from within the array as the demigod phantom was ground down into nothingness, then silenced forever. It was as if Leonidas and the black dragon had never been there at all.

A moment later, the blood-dragon dissolved, its power melting back into the environment, making the Slaughter Space’s aura even thicker.

Unknown Realm, Giant Beast Mountain

A miniature teddy bear dog, standing on the edge of a cliff, slowly opened its eyes. The death of his Beastfolk avatar had registered instantly with Leonidas’s true form.

There was no anger or sadness on his face. Instead, a strange mist seemed to rise in his eyes.

“Where the behemoth falls, his blood seeds the earth…” he whispered, the words a low, repetitive chant. “Where the behemoth falls, his blood seeds the earth… where the behemoth falls…”

He was on the verge of something, a profound truth just beyond his grasp, and he was desperately trying to seize it.

“Where the behemoth falls…”

After a long silence, a flash of inspiration struck his mind. Everything clicked into place.

“So that’s it!” he roared, the sound a mix of joy and revelation. “I SEE NOW!”

ROAR!

The teddy bear dog let out a roar that shook the entire territory, causing his powerful neighbors to cast their gaze towards Giant Beast Mountain.

But after that one explosive sound, the mountain fell completely silent.

Leonidas, in his teddy bear dog form, lay down on the cliff’s edge and fell into a deep slumber.

Slaughter Space

The air rang with the sound of a singing blade.

If Orion and Leonidas had struggled against their opponents, Alexander’s battle was looking almost effortless.

“I understand now,” the dragon phantom gasped, reeling from Alexander’s assault. It had finally figured it out. “You madman! To ascend to the demigod level in this form… it’s reckless! It’s suicide!”

The standard path to becoming a demigod, aside from amassing faith energy, required one to condense a personal Lord’s Stone. Only with a Lord’s Stone could one comprehend and incubate the power of Law. It was the template, difficult but established.

But Alexander was different. After acquiring his spirit sword avatar, he took an unorthodox path. He had fused himself with the sword, becoming the blade, the blade becoming him.

Put simply, the spirit sword was Alexander. And since the spirit sword avatar had already incubated its own power of Law, by fusing with it, Alexander had bypassed the comprehension step entirely. He had become a demigod without ever needing to hibernate and evolve.

“You know too much, too late,” Alexander’s voice echoed from the blade.

ZING!

A sword-song like a dragon’s cry filled the space. The phantom facing him was instantly shredded into nothingness by the Sword of Alexander.

After annihilating the demigod, Alexander’s human form materialized. He cautiously observed the spot where the phantom had been for a long moment before allowing the space to teleport him out.

Dusk Continent, High in the Sky

Alexander appeared, his senses sweeping the area. He couldn’t feel Leonidas’s or Orion’s auras.

“To have held out this long… that’s a victory in itself,” he murmured, glancing down at the continent. It was scarred with the smoke of battle, with heretic factions causing trouble everywhere. But these Alpha-level mobs were nothing more than petty skirmishes compared to the war raging in the Kasenna Sea.

Ignoring them, Alexander transformed back into his spirit sword form and shot through the void, appearing instantly at the front line of the arch lord battle.

“All invaders will be slain.”

The sword hovered outside the massive hurricane. It swung gently three times. Three blades of sword-light, radiating an unstoppable power, pierced the storm.

Terrified roars erupted from within.

Then, like a comet, the Sword of Alexander shot straight up into the clouds, trailing an aura of impossibly sharp energy.

“Such a dense power of Law… so sharp!” a hidden observer gasped.

“That aura… it’s not a phantom. Could that be a true form, descended to the battlefield?”