Chapter 787: Surrounded

Julius had to dodge another half-dozen attacks before he got close enough to start piecing together what or who attacked him. The blasts of kinetic energy were extremely fast and equally powerful. They contained almost as much force as the blow that had shattered his shoulder. The kinetic energy should have alerted his senses, but the attacks were so stealthy they almost evaded him completely.

As he ran down the street and dodged the growing number of invisible kinetic blasts, he didn’t even notice when an array activated around him. He only felt the barrier of kinetic energy and death mana when it was already around him.

He felt it press down on him as if gravity had multiplied several times. He sent out a violet discharge of aura in response, which somewhat alleviated the pressure. But it was hard because he felt the strength of at least a dozen individuals powering the array. So his willpower alone couldn’t overwhelm the array. It took everything he had just to keep it at bay and prevent it from draining his vitality and momentum.

It was like a Tier 5 domain. And so he quickly activated his anti-domain technique. His soul pulsed rhythmically as it created a protective bubble around him and his soul.

However, unlike a regular domain, his anti-domain technique wasn't working like it normally did. At least it wasn't working as well against this array. He couldn’t ignore the irony that something mimicking a domain was more effective against him simply because it wasn’t a domain.

The full force of a dozen strong Tier 4s pressed down on him. This pressure messed with his senses and movement just enough that he couldn’t sense the invisible blow until it was a second too late.

He got caught in the side. The blow was caught by [Mantle of the Everlasting Void], but the residual force still cracked his ribs, and it sent him careening into a large courtyard. He stopped only when he slammed into a fountain.

He coughed up a mouthful of dust and tried to get up, but his assailants clearly wouldn’t let him. The dozen individuals powering the array finally appeared. An absolute flood of attacks rained down on him from every direction. Each one was way more powerful than anything a Tier 4 should be capable of.

He tried to teleport away. [Mantle of the Everlasting Void] prepared everything with a single twitch of intent. But just before he could activate it, he felt a thin needle pierce straight through his defenses and into his soul.

It didn’t just go for his soul either. It seemed to go straight for the most integral pieces of him. It targeted his skill orbs, his Seed of Authority, and, even more unforgivable, it targeted his connection with Drasil and Seraphyne.

Soul pain was always the worst, and against his instant effort to keep it contained, he felt his concentration on his skill lapse.

It didn’t help that his new void skill was still a legendary skill and required considerable effort to use properly. This meant his teleportation was delayed just enough for the incoming attacks to slam into him with the force of a meteor.

The array not only restricted him, but also seemed to amplify the force of kinetic energy attacks by using the mountain overhead. He could only flood his body with the full weight of his will, reinforcing it with as much power as he could in the short time he was given.

His cloak tried to protect him. But the full brunt of a dozen powerful Tier 4s, supported by a dangerous array that enhanced their attacks to concerning levels, was too much even for him.

He felt his cloak crack for the first time, and the rest of his body was absolutely clobbered. Every bone in his body was shattered under the sheer weight and number of attacks. His flesh was shredded from his body and ripped apart.

When the onslaught finally ended, all that was heard was the sound of his blood oozing out of his disfigured body. On the bright side, he was alive. A mess for sure. A quick examination of himself revealed that his entire lower half and both of his arms had been eviscerated. Not even a single toe remained intact.

The rest of him wasn’t much better. Only his new fancy cloak kept him from being in even worse shape. It blocked just enough damage for his head and chest to avoid being destroyed like the rest of him. He didn't want to imagine what would have happened if he hadn't acquired his new skill.

That being said, he was still riddled with holes. His chest looked like Swiss cheese, and half of his face was missing. He was honestly surprised that he even had anything left to begin with. It had been quite the ambush and combination of attacks. He had to admit that much.

However, he had experienced worse, and like a raging fire, his body exploded with flames. [Phoenix Incarnate] activated, and for what felt like the first time since he acquired the skill, it showed the full breadth of its strength. Every ounce of vitality exploded outward and rampaged through the remaining pieces of his body.

It felt like the world was set ablaze, and his substantial mana pool surged through his flesh as it regenerated before his very eyes.

His bones twisted together into dense columns of pure, unrestrained strength. His flesh wove back into place, coiling tightly around the bones like finely braided ropes of mithril. With each piece of his body restored, his healing sped up.

All the while, his body was rising out of the crater he found himself in. A blazing beacon of fire and life mana.

Then he opened his eyes and a vicious surge of aura tore out for hundreds of feet. He glared at the array and the people powering it. He scanned their signatures and quickly found what he was looking for.

It belonged to a man who was hidden behind another array, one focused on concealment. Perhaps they could have hidden normally. The array seemed to be quite good. But the attack on his soul had given Julius information to sniff out the man’s aura like a bloodhound.

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He growled, and when the next flood of attacks came, he let his [Field of the Shattered Will] detonate, every ounce of irritation leaking from his control. He sent so much power through the skill that he felt its structure almost crack from the sheer pressure.

He wasn’t angry about getting his body destroyed or about almost being killed. He was pissed off at the insidious nature of the soul attack. It had specifically targeted his connection to Drasil and Seraphyne. And while he had done everything in his power to protect them, that didn’t mean they were unaffected.

They were intrinsically bonded to him and his soul. That meant the attack on the connection caused them just as much pain as he felt.

He heard Drasil’s and Seraphyne’s cries echo through his soul like a sharp whip.

Unforgivable.

The field delayed the deluge longer than it should have. But his anger was fierce, and it powered his skills beyond their limits. His ruinous aura greedily consumed this rage like a starving beast in winter. His crown appeared over his head, responding to this hunger. It reached out and exploded with all his accumulated ruinous flames. These flames slammed against the kinetic energy attacks, further stalling them.

This gave Julius enough time to reconstruct his [Mantle of the Everlasting Void]. The black cloak reemerged, covering his bare body. Then he activated its teleportation aspect.

Once again, a soul attack came piercing toward him. But now that he was prepared, he dealt with it much more easily. With a snarl and a savage twist of his soul, he crushed the needle of insidious soul energy with the full force of his willpower.

Funnily enough, [Mantle of the Everlasting Void] seemed to react to this soul attack too. He felt a small rush of power from it, combining with his own soul energy to destroy the needle until it was nothing but a fine mist.

The soul attack didn’t seem to come without cost either. The shattering of the needle caused the man behind it to collapse to the ground. The backlash of the technique must have been pretty significant, and he felt the opponent’s soul in disarray.

However, he wasn’t about to let them off so easily. He quickly analyzed the barrier. It was actually quite powerful. Several anti-spatial enchantments were woven into its structure. Even to his senses, he could feel his void energy struggling to slip through. The added aspects of death and kinetic energy seemed to reinforce the barrier, which could slightly impede his void skills.

And perhaps it might have worked against [Void Step]. The old skill might not have enough juice to push through, but [Mantle of the Everlasting Void] was a different beast. The symphony and dizzying mosaic of spatial magic seemed to sparkle for a brief moment as it touched the barrier. But then, a sudden tyrannical explosion of void energy lashed out and tore through the barrier without issue.

He appeared right next to the soul assailant who was still behind the concealment array. He created a gauntlet of sharpened mana around his hand with [Primordial Armaments] and snapped it forward. The barrier was primarily for concealment, and hence it wasn’t able to withstand his strike, especially not when he covered his hand in void energy.

It shredded the thin barrier of mana and aura. Julius’s fingers shot straight at the man, his aura echoing coldly as he drove them into the man’s eyes. His hand pierced the man's head, and Julius discharged all his void energy directly into the skull. Space seemed to warp around the head and twist it so violently until it collapsed, squishing it into a fine paste.

He spared a single second to glare at the soul mage’s corpse before he teleported away again. He knew they weren't real people, but he didn't care. Anyone who targeted Drasil and Seraphyne would be dealt with accordingly.

When he reappeared from the void, he targeted the nearest aura he felt still connected to the array. It was a person dressed in the same robes as everyone he’d seen on this floor so far.

The person reacted quite quickly. Their kinetic energy let them move so fast that they managed to throw a punch at Julius. However, he showed no mercy and met the fist head-on.

With all his reinforcements and aura, the clash turned their arm to mincemeat. Nothing remained except for the spray of blackened blood. Julius stepped in and clinched at the back of the neck, and slammed a void-enhanced knee straight into their chest.

He did it three more times in quick succession. It wasn’t until a gaping hole three hands wide that he tossed the dead body to the side, vanishing off towards his next target.

However, his enemies seemed to quickly understand what he was doing, and just as he dispatched another, the rest regrouped. Their Authorities pressed out like a protective bubble, and Julius didn’t see an opportunity to teleport in and pick them off one by one.

He wasn’t upset by this, though. In fact, they appeared to be making a mistake. They assumed Julius was some kind of close-combat fighter who liked to teleport in and isolate a fight.

What they didn’t know was that he was more than capable of handling a crowd. Especially when they all gathered up for him in a nice little stack.

He calmly walked toward them, only using occasional bursts of teleportation to avoid the bombardment of kinetic blasts. All the while, he gathered his mana and aura.

Once he deemed himself close enough, he unleashed the tsunami of ruinous flames he had been preparing. His crown lent its support. Its gray-silver band radiated bright white light and formed a halo above his head.

The wave of flames crashed into the group, and he watched it tear into their defenses with a savagery that took him by surprise.

He wasn’t surprised when he saw that they were holding out. With their combined efforts, they managed to create a protective barrier around themselves. But he could see their flesh scorch and redden from the sheer heat. His ruinous aura ravenously ate away at their mana and kinetic energy like a certain gluttonous spirit.

However, he had already prepared a second attack. The tsunami of flames was simply a distraction.

[Primordial Armaments] squeezed his soul and compressed all of the gathered mana into a tight spiral. A javelin longer than he was tall wove into existence over his head. The core of white light was blindingly bright, and the swirling blue edges contained every ounce of his willpower, along with his plethora of Concepts.

He didn’t hold back, pushing his legendary skill to its limit as he struggled to constrain the sheer force being molded into a singular construct.

It wasn’t like his opponents didn’t notice what he was doing. But it wasn’t like they could do anything about it. His flames were oppressing them so badly that they could do nothing but watch. Their lifeless eyes widened for a brief second.

By then it was too late.

The spiraling javelin shot out with the full weight of his entire soul. It shattered the sound barrier and practically ripped open the fabric of space as it lanced towards its targets.

Their barrier, which had been barely holding back his flames, might as well not have been there. The spike tore through three of his enemies before it exploded into a cataclysmic ball of fire, devastating everything within a hundred feet.

His eardrums shook from the shockwave and his skin tingled from the excess thermal energy that escaped. The fact that he felt the heat implied that he failed to properly contain the construct. He noted to himself that he would need to adjust a few things.

When the dust settled, all that remained was a perfectly round spherical crater a hundred feet in diameter. Not a single bone or remnant of his opponents remained.