"You sure have grown stronger, as the last I saw you, this technique of yours was a mess, but now it is even good enough to erase my Greed's Manifestations and even harm me,"
"But it should also consume a lot of mana and mental energy, so how long do you think you can maintain your current pace?" Caden questioned as he met the incoming blow with a massive hammer cloaked in the element of greed.
As the two weapons collided, the air cracked under the resulting pressure as a shock wave burst out, followed by a torrent of darkness that gushed out from the dark sword, devouring everything in its path.
Yet an instant later, the darkness began to morph, giving way to the verdant green energy of greed, revealing the two weapons locked in place, exerting enough pressure to create the illusion of being frozen.
The deadlock broke the moment Alex increased the output of darkness, sending Caden reeling back like a bullet and smashing into the ground below with enough force that the resulting impact sent shockwaves rippling through the earth, causing the ground to crack and split open with a deafening roar.
The single attack carried enough force to leave even the best of peak Elementalist in critical condition, if not outright dead, yet before even the aftermath of the attack could reach its peak, Caden figure tore through the dome of eclipsing darkness.
Caden figure barely contained any injuries, and it was thanks to the green layer of energy that clung to his figure, acting as armor against both physical and magical attacks.
The armor was even capable of consuming the attacking energies, fueling itself with the very force meant to breach its defenses, making it seem that it was near impossible to break through it with indirect attacks.
Caden rushed toward Alex, tendrils of verdant greed energy emanating from his body, taking the form of snakes with foxes as their head, while the hammer in his grasp thrummed with vast power, the hammerhead surrounded by an ominous manifestation of a fox, its jaws gaping wide in a sinister snarl.
Alex took a step back, vanishing into the encroaching dark enclave, taking every little advantage he could to preserve energy, knowing he still had more than two minutes left.
Caden entered the dome and instantly swung his hammer, making the fox head manifestation luge forth, growing in size as it got closer, while the tens of fox head tendrils lunged toward Alex from three sides.
Alex manipulated the darkness to stop the tendrils and erase them from existence while he propelled the destruction knives forward, their pointed tips held close as they both spun in sync at incredible speeds, making them tear through the incoming manifestation of the fox heads with relentless precision.
Alex began pumping his sword with a vast amount of darkness, knowing what he had just dealt with was nothing but a precursor of the real thing that would follow shortly.
The knives that had turned into a dark crimson beam, erasing even the surrounding darkness, were stopped once they met the unbreakable wall that was the hammer, and in the next instant, they were flung away as Caden swung the hammer upward and delivered the real attack.
There was a silence for a fraction of a second as the hammer reached the peak of swing before all the build-up energy surged out, taking the form of the roaring fox, with tens of twisting tendrils that grew from its lower jaw with each having a fox face with a different appearance at its end.
The one at the forefront had a similar appearance to the phantom, yet it was massive in size, reaching a few meters in height, and it was life-like, with the only thing separating it from reality being the verdant green essence that made its malevolent body.
Alex felt the darkness in the surroundings being devoured by the fox, only to be used as the fuel to grow its size, and as it grew, the giant fox's head moved forward, its countless tendrils circling Alex from all sides.
While the attack took a few seconds to manifest, Alex could not have escaped even if he wanted because he felt the verdant energy locking the space upon contact, fully manifesting as a fox only once it made a complete circle around Alex, blocking his escape path.
'This will take more effort than I thought,' Alex thought, as he felt the growing pressure from the enclosing fox maws.
Alex was barraged with tens of mental attacks with each passing moment, which were blocked but at the cost of mana, and if that continued, he would have spent a large chunk of his mana and mental energy before he tore through this prison of greed.
So, without a moment wasted, Alex used three-tenth of his remaining mana to channel the purest of darkness into his sword, concentrating it on the edge before swinging the sword in a wide arc, unleashing a razor-thin slash of darkness that cleaved through the enclosing greed prison.
No longer contained by force, the darkness expanded in all directions, engulfing the entire surroundings in an expanding void that obliterated everything to nothingness.
Alex was quick to leave the area, knowing because of the prison of greed, the darkness would be most concentrated inside of it.
"How long do you think you can keep up?" Caden said as he swung his hammer at Alex, which he defended using the Ethereal Aegis skill of the life knives.
'72 seconds,' Alex thought, his face as emotionless and cold as it had been in the beginning, yet internally, he was smiling, realizing he was so close to victory.
The ethereal shield shattered under the hammer blow, but it softened the prepared blow just enough for him to not only parry the hammer out of the way but create a darkness spear, a spear whose edge was two space knives.
'Space Bident'
Alex lunged the bident using the space slash, tearing through Caden's greed barrier, followed by his flesh and soon through his back, with their exchange lasting no more than a second, and if it was against anyone, he would be celebrating a victory, but not against this twisted bastard.
"Haaa, Haaaaa, You got me,"
"Is this what you were hoping to hear?" Caden said with a chuckle as he crushed the bident before trying to headbutt Alex.
Alex appeared a few meters away with a quick step back, his eyes staying locked on the silver-haired boy, whose young face carried a twisted smile as his body healed under the influence of the verdant green energy.
Caden lunged forth and swung his hammer at Alex, which he parried with ease, and their exchange began once more, with Alex holding a clear strength and technique advantage, yet Caden was no pushover, as with his broken greed armor and ability to heal he was a force of nature.
After sixty more seconds slipped by, Alex stood covered in shallow bruises, while Caden looked as fresh as he was at the beginning of the battlefield, with the only sign of the damage he utilized being the barely reaming gold and silver robe he wore.
"Looks like this is the end," Caden stated as he saw the dark enclave dissipate into thin air, leaving the two in an utterly destroyed field, a testament to the damage it had caused.
"Better luck next time," Caden stated as he walked toward with a broad smile stretched across his face.
Alex smiled for the first time as he raised his middle finger, which had a ring covered in cracks, pulsing in dim light.
Caden did not react, thinking it was Alex taking his own life, but as a shattering noise echoed through the surroundings accompanied by a harmless shockwave, he felt the change, and with it came dread that he had only felt once.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE," Caden roared as he appeared before Alex, swinging his hammer with all his might.
"I told you we would talk when I come to claim your head," Alex stated as he halted the hammer with his right hand, followed by throwing a left-hand punch that flung Caden back, crashing into the ground.
"So let's talk now, because it will be your last," Alex stated as he walked toward Caden, who was uncontrollably shaking as he tried to get back to his feet, only to fall back.
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