Point-of-View: Sylvar Miirphys

———————————————————————————

"It doesn't matter how strong you think you are, I'm now one of the most powerful beings in this world," I declared, as I swung my new spear around a couple of times.

I can literally feel it slicing through the air, this is easily the sharpest weapon I've ever wielded...and you know what, I think it'll be put to better use in my hands than a human's.

"Huh, from the look of it, you're an Elemental Sage who's acquired a Legendary Arms...yeah, I bet you're strong and all, but I'm far from weak myself," He remarked with a smirk, before transforming further, "I am Shiro Blanc, and you'd do well not to underestimate me."

In addition to his wings and tail, the skin on his forearms turned tough and jet black with a red marking pattern around them, curved spikes extending out from his elbows, horns growing on either side of his head and a third eye opening in the middle of his forehead...this is giving me flashbacks to the fight against Kuro, but...something about this guy is different and...less intimidating.

"I guess I don't mind humoring you...come at me," I taunted, putting my guard up.

He then shot towards me at an impressive speed, before teleporting and reappearing to my left and swinging his tail at my throat while charging up lightning, flames and wind in his hands.

I evaded the slash of his tail and fired out a blast of wind at his hands, sending him stumbling back and putting out the blasts he'd been charging up. He's stronger than I'd be in my normal state, but with my Sage power fully unleashed, he's no threat to me.

Still, that appearance, along with being able to wield multiple Elemental Magic attributes...

"You're basically like a weaker version of that Kuro guy," I remarked, as he fired out a purple lightning bolt at me, which I easily evaded, "Are you with Abyss, then?"

Oh...from the look on his face, I think I'm off the mark on that...

"A weaker version...!? You pretty-boy son of a bitch, I'll destroy you!" He snapped, holding up his right hand, lightning crackling around it, before suddenly erupting into a blindingly bright flash of light, forcing me to shut my eyes and stumble back.

"Now, die!" He exclaimed from behind me.

I quickly spun around and sprang back, struggling to open my eyes...I managed to do so just in time to see a blast of Obliteration Magic, literally a meter in front of me, and closing in quickly.

I...I can't dodge this in time...even if I blast myself up with wind, I'm guaranteed to lose most of my legs, and that's the best case scenario. My mind blanked out as I frantically and desperately tried to think of a way to evade it, and before I could think it through, I was swinging the spear at the purple ball of destruction.

Wh-what am I doing? There's no way that this is going to-...huh?

I-I...cut it in half. Wait, what? Did that just happen? Did I just cut a ball of Obliteration Magic in half like a watermelon!? How!?

Well, whatever, I'm certainly not going to look a gift horse in the mouth! And I'm not giving him another chance to defeat me, I'll make sure to-.

"So, you've now gotten one of those otherworldly weapons too, huh? Well, then, maybe you can now put up a better fight than you did last time," Remarked a familiar voice, sending chills down my spine.

"What-...why are you here!?" Exclaimed Shiro with a grimace, taking a step back.

"You again...leader of Abyss, Kuro," I remarked with a frown, a sense of dread going through my body as I met his gaze, not even noticing that there was someone else with him...

———————————————————————————

Point-of-View: Kuro Black

———————————————————————————

"Kuro? What's up-?" Az began to greet me.

"No time! We gotta hurry, we've got a really small window to pull this off!" I exclaimed, before explaining my plan as briefly as possible.

I'd just returned to Abyss after destroying Silvland and spying on the battle in the Elf forest...and I got a great idea to intimidate the other races and hopefully convince them to leave us alone...if they give us their word that they'll leave us alone, we should be fine. Since they're apparently biologically incapable of deceit, we might as well try and exploit that trait.

But we had to act fast, and Az was a key part of the plan, so a lot depended on how confident he was of being able to pull of what I wanted him to do.

"Well?" I inquired, after I finished explaining what I wanted him to do, "Do you think you can do that?"

"Hm...yeah, that should be possible, I guess...but I've never tried something like that, so-."

"Great...then let's get going already!" I declared, placing a hand on his shoulder as I summoned a Lava Serpent that I'd had spying on Sylvar, before picking up the snake and reversing the summoning, instantly teleporting to the Elf forest, where Sylvar was fighting Shiro.

"So, you've now gotten one of those otherworldly weapons too, huh? Well, then, maybe you can now put up a better fight than you did last time," I remarked, getting their attention.

"What-...why are you here!?" Exclaimed Shiro with a grimace, taking a step back.

"You again...leader of Abyss, Kuro," Frowned Sylvar, a bead of sweat running down the side of his face as he met my gaze.

I then turned my attention to Shiro, who flinched and gritted his teeth.

"You've been alive for more than long enough, imposter...time for you to die. Az, kill him right away, with no mercy," I stated icily.

"Got it," He replied, before entering Elemental Sage Mode, a chilling breeze bursting out from him as he transformed.

His skin grew pale, as his hair turned light-blueish-white, his eyes turning icy blue as well, a shade slightly darker than his hair, as a frosty aura surrounded him.

Frost was starting to appear all over the area around us, the temperature dropping rapidly.

"Tch, don't think you can take me lightly, you-...!" Shiro began, before trailing off in alarm as Az sent a massive mountain of ice spikes rising up towards him.

Shiro began to react and shift his gaze, presumably to use Teleport, but before he could activate it, the ice reached and pierced him...tearing off his entire lower half and most of his abdomen, only his head, chest and arms remaining intact, blood pouring down the ice from what was left of his body.

"H-huh...?" He gasped in confusion, coughing out blood, before his eyes widened in horror, as the realization that he stood no chance against Az hit him.

Az's Water and Ice Magic had basically improved tenfold in every aspect while he's in his Sage Mode, but more than that, his overall physical abilities had a much more drastic increase, I'd say around a hundredfold.

In Elemental Sage Mode, he was more than twice as fast and strong as I was in my Lazarus Mode, and about half to two thirds as fast and strong as I was in Diablo Mode. From what I've seen, the other Elemental Sages have superior physical abilities to Az, but when it comes to Elemental Magic, he's on another level...

"N-no way, impossible...," Stuttered Sylvar in shock, stumbling back in disbelief.

"Finish him," I remarked, giving Shiro a cold, malicious smile.

"Right," Responded Az, when suddenly, a portal opened to Shiro's left.

He noticed and desperately flew into it, Az's ice immediately chasing after him and grabbing hold of his right arm and rapidly spreading...but right before he could fully freeze Shiro, the portal closed, cutting off Shiro's right arm and shoulder, which fell down to the ground, a puddle of blood surrounding it.

"Tch, he got away, that fucking cockroach," I growled with a frown, as Az snapped his fingers and made all the ice disappear, before I turned my attention back to Sylvar...hm, maybe I should get another witness.

Nah, it's fine, I'll just-...suddenly, a portal opened above Sylvar, and Bell dropped down through it with an alarmed yell, falling onto him and knocking him down.

"What just happened, I-...!" She began to exclaim, before noticing me and quickly getting back on her feet, "You! How dare you trespass-!"

"Zip it, half-pint. I'm not here to fight, I'm just here to issue a warning...the two of you are well aware of how powerful I am, but I'm not the biggest threat to the Laus Domain...this guy is," I remarked with a smirk, nodding at Az, before adding as I formed a one-way dome-shaped Absolute Defense barrier around the two of us, "And we're about to show you exactly what I mean..."

_____________________________________________

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

Also, check out my Instagram account @aimdaqs for posts relating to this book.

Join the Discord server, I plan to tease upcoming chapters and future story arcs here, and you can also discuss or ask me any questions about the story and characters. Use the invite link to join:

https://discord.gg/sRbx9VbTVP