Jade Leywin POV
"The barrier is deployed, is your artifact fine? Any last minute adjustments?" I asked Art
"It works perfectly, as usual for your works" Art replied tapping on the metal armlet
It was an artifact I made for him in order to overcome his inability to fly, its effect was simple it canceled gravity for its wearer making him float, after that Art would use small, controlled blasts of aether to move around, it wasn't nearly as comfortable or as versatile as actual flight but it was a decent enough surrogate, making it had been a piece of cake the difficult part had been to make it compatible with his relic armor, since the armor materialised on his body temporarily removing any clothing Art weared it removed the artifact too, the solution had been to store a bit of Arthur's aether inside the armlet in order to deceive the armor making it look like the armlet was actually part of Art's body, as for its power source, at first I thought about using an ironized diamond like I did for all the other artifacts I made but while working on Seris's barrier generator I had the opportunity to examine the fluid she used for the super battery that stored Orlaeth's mana, using that fluid as a base I had been able to conjure a crystal capable of storing massive amounts of mana, while it still wouldn't hold a candle to the amounts stored inside an asuran mana core it was over ten times more efficient than ironized diamonds, I called this new material manatite
"Alright then, let's go" I said putting a hand on Arthur's shoulder
We sank into the shadows and entered Taegrin Caelum, darting from shadow to shadow we made our way through the fortress headed for the throne room, along the way countless barriers were placed to keep intruders out, I would call Agrona a paranoid but given that we are sneaking into his home in order to kill him I guess he was spot on, not that these barriers would help him against me since we slipped past all of them
The place was absolutely massive, even with my perception and the memories Seris gave me about the internal structure we risked getting lost a couple of times, it was also lavishly decorated, way over the top in my opinion, seriously the most opulent place I'd seen so far was the dwarven royal castle and that place looked like an old shack compared to this
It took us a couple of minutes to reach the throne room which was by far the most decorated room we'd seen, the room itself was gigantic, I think it might even be capable of fitting a transformed basilisk, the floor was made of obsidian so polished that you could actually see your reflection on the floor, statues of basilisks made of gold were coiled around the columns that supported the ceiling which was completely frescoed with imagines depicting Agrona's arrival in Alacrya to protect the alacryans from the other asuras, him destroying the dungeons and other powerful mana beasts, the bestowment of magic to the alacryans and other scenes, giant chandeliers made of gold and diamonds were hanging on the ceiling illuminating the whole room
At the center of the room a throne made of obsidian, gold and a plethora of gemstones stood tall and imposing, from it a red carpet easily 10 meters wide rolled out reaching the entrance of the room that was a good 70 meters from it
"How much of a megalomaniac, egocentric, narcissistic prick you have to be in order to make a room like this?" I asked Art as we emerged from one of the many shadows in the room
"If I ever get the idea of building something even remotely similar to this promise me you'll kick my butt" Art stated
"Promise" I replied with a laugh
"Remind me why do we want him to come here in the throne room instead of using the surprise factor and ambush him in his chambers?"
"Because it's more theatrical of course" Regis replied as materialised beside Art
"Because according to Seris Agrona's chambers are full of artifacts, some built by him others scavenged from the Relictombs, if we fight in there and hit one of those who knows what might happen" I told him
"Gotcha"
"Let's call him" I said as I let my mana loose a bit immediately the entire room trembled and started cracking
"This should be enough" I said after a couple of seconds as I erased my mana once again
"You sure he'll take the bait?"
"Yeah, this is his home, he expects to have the advantage, also this is a way too good opportunity for him to get us he'll show up and then he'll try to call his Wraiths, if he calls them too soon he knows I'll sense them and we'll escape before their arrival, not that they will come either way since we locked them in a barrier" I stated
And right on cue the double doors flew open and Agrona marched in, as he walked in I used sound magic and started playing the imperial march just to annoy him, Arthur just rolled his eyes
"You dare mock me lesser?" Agrona hissed
It seems neither of them appreciates a good joke, someone else on the other hand...
"BWAHAHAHA, AHAHAHAHAH, oh god, AHAHAHAHA"
Regis was literally rolling on the floor as he laughed slamming his front paw on the floor
"Oh god, oh, I think I strained an ethereal groin" he said as he wiped a tear from his eye
"You have no idea how glad I am that you don't have his sense of humour" Regis told me
"Jade, please, can we just go to the part where we kick his ass" Art said as he massaged the bridge of his nose
"Oh, it seems that contrary to your little pet's impression you do have a sense of humour Grey, you two beat me? That's a rather funny joke" Agrona declared
"Actually I appreciate you showing up here, it saved me the trouble of tracking you down and capturing you, Jade, I had some suspicions after my connection with Cecilia's soul was cut and your sudden increase in power but now I'm sure, you obtained the power of the legacy, with your powers and Grey's aether abilities, I'll be able to open the portal to Epheotus and march there with my army" he continued
"What makes you think you can defeat us? You're not the first asura we face" I told him
"Oh please, so far you fought a child and a scholar who hadn't fought in centuries and that never trained before, no you have yet to face a true asuran warrior" he stated nonchalantly
"Said the guy that resorted to mana cannibalism to get stronger" I taunted
"So Oludari talked huh?" Agrona replied with a snicker
"Then you should also have a decent idea of how strong I am right now" he continued as a giant scythe appeared in his hands
The scythe was a work of art that was sure, the shaft was a lustrous black with golden engravings, its extremities had each a small blade like that of a spear while a massive curved blade was attached to the superior part of the weapon, the blade was blood red and emitted an ominous aura, where the blade and the shaft met there was purple crystal that shined with power
"Jade..."
"I know"
That scythe is bad news, very bad news, not only I can sense an abnormal amount of mana coming from it but I could see aether coming out of the crystal and clinging on the weapon
(A.N. something like this, I tried to use an AI generator, although in my head the blade was straighter)
"Shall we begin then?" Agrona asked
In response an aetheric blade appeared in Arthur's hand and he summoned his armour while a pair of daggers condensed out of the shadows around me alongside my armour
"After I defeat you two I'll make sure to change your memories and make you loyal to me, let's see how about this: you two were adopted by Sylvia, my wife, after your family abandoned you when you were toddlers after discovering about your reincarnation, we raised you like our own kids but oh one day tragedy struck, the dragons attacked us and Sylvia sacrificed herself in order to save you and you swore to get revenge against Kezess, yes this will be a wonderful story for your memories" Agrona mused
"You're sick" I spat out as I threw a lightning at him
Agrona spinned the scythe in his hands before swinging it sideways cutting my lighting and dissipating it
Arthur dashed forward using [Burst step] his aetheric blade flashed, Agrona parried the blow using the shaft of the scythe, the impact shattered the floor, Regis appeared beside Agrona his jaws flaming with amethyst fire
Taking a step back Agrona tilted the scythe so the aetheric blade slid down the shaft sending sparks everywhere and used the blade to block Regis
I released a torrent of nuclear flames at them, Arthur used [God step] while Regis turned incorporeal as the stream of fire hit Agrona and sent him flying against the wall and beyond it
We chased after him outside of Taegrin Caelum
Agrona stopped midair as he started flying too, Arthur swung his blade, the [Severer] godrune shining on his back, thanks to the godrune Arthur's sword slashes could now cut the fabric of space itself giving him virtually infinite range and making them almost impossible to defend against, also thanks to the space distortion generated any wound inflicted would not heal, sensing the danger Agrona dodged and I propelled myself at him while building decay sound and force type mana in my hands
As I was inches away from him a shiver ran down my spine, my instincts screaming at me to get away, triggering the spell in advance I used the blast to get away, I watched as he swung the scythe sideways missing me completely
And then I noticed it, a small ripple in the atmospheric aether, a curved crimson blade came out of it, melting away my armour, the force type layer of mana I used to nullify physical attacks by removing their kinetic energy and even the thin layer that naturally clung on my skin, the mana just parted allowing the blade to embed itself in my flesh
A wave of pain bursted from my left side as blood gushed out of the wound, Arthur appeared in a flash of lightning in front of Agrona and their weapons started clashing
I examined my wound since my regeneration wasn't kicking in, a thin layer of aether was clinging on the wound generating a small spatial distortion that prevented me from healing, I don't know if it was luck on my part or if Agrona did it on purpose but while the wound was quite deep it didn't hit any of my vitals
"Stay back and use long range attacks, you can't defend against these attacks" Art told me through our communication artifacts
Cauterising the cut to stop the bleeding I regenerated my armour and rejoined the fight, keeping my distance and staying wary of any spatial distortion around me I started firing my whole arsenal of spells at Agrona, instead of trying to hit him I used them to reduce his mobility so he would have a much harder time dodging Arthur and Regis's assault
We kept clashing in a deadly game of tag as Agrona tried to put me out of commission first since I'm already wounded and I can't defend myself against the attacks of his scythe while Arthur and Regis kept him at bay and I fired spells at him
"It's not working" Art told me
He was right, he wasn't dealing any damage but we weren't either, also somewhere below us I could feel Yozora and the others and with this level of devastation I'm not sure how long they'll last
"Can you close him in a barrier?" I asked
"Yeah but with his scythe he'll be able to break it in no time"
"Prepare it and cast the spell at my signal"
"What signal?"
"Oh you'll understand once you see it trust me" I replied
I raised my hand and started gathering fire, earth and wind attribute mana above me, I used wind to conjure hydrogen while using gravity to compress it further and further raising the temperature even more using fire, the spell quickly grew hungry of power and I fed it flooding it with my mana, as it reached the critical point the gigantic sphere of mana above me alighted, it was big enough to cover most of the sky as it burned a bright yellow
"[Cruel sun]"
I threw the miniaturized version of the sun at Agrona, he tried to fly away but Art threw his blade at him hitting him in the shoulder, as the blade touched him Agrona disappeared in a shroud of lightning and reappeared right in front of my spell
Art clapped his hands together once and a lucid cube of aether enclosed Agrona and the spell, sensing my link to the spell being cut off I knew the artificial star I conjured must have exploded
After a couple of seconds a crack appeared on the surface of the cube, the cube shattered revealing Agrona, his clothes burned and in tatters, he himself was also badly burned but I could see soulfire healing his wounds already
Agrona glared at me and charged at me but I had my follow up spell ready, releasing a massive amount of decay mana I conjured a hurricane around him
"[Maelstrom]"
Void wind and black smoke eroded the mana clinging on his skin protecting and healing him, acidic poisonous rain poured down eating away at his skin and flesh while black lightings and razor sharp shards of black ice pummeled his body, Regis turned incorporeal and jumped straight into the hurricane and started an assault on Agrona becoming tangible only for a split second at a time, enough to sink his claws in his flesh, Art used a combination of [Realmheart] and [Severer] to counter his scythe
With a mighty roar Agrona turned into his full basilisk form breaking out of my spell, opening his massive maw he fired a stream of acid at us
Art teleported away while I conjured a barrier around myself to ward off the acid, as long as it's not an aether powered attack I can defend against it
"REGIS! GAUNTLET FORM!" Art shouted as he fell down on Agrona
With the sound of a thousand panels of glass shattering Art landed his blow on Agrona, I could see space shattering under his punch, he must have imbued the blow with [Severer], wounds opened all around Agrona's massive body following the cracks in space
Art teleported away once again leaving Regis in his full destruction form on Agrona's back, slamming down his front paws Regis ignited Agrona's wounds with the flames of destruction, Agrona thrashed around while shooting acid and soulfire trying to both hit us and make Regis fall
I gathered all of the fire attribute mana available in the region and turned it deviant after adding a good chunk of my own mana
"[Kirin]"
A gargantuan lightning big enough to swallow a whole mountain and vaguely resembling an eastern dragon in shape fell down on Agrona as Regis turned intangible at the very last second
The gigantic lightning lasted for several seconds as it pierced the mountain below us, when it finally dissolved the mountain was gone, in its place there was a massive chasm so deep sunlight didn't reach the bottom
"He's still alive" I told them as I dived into the chasm
Art and Regis followed me and we flew down the chasm, the walls were half melted and the temperature unbearable, any human would die in a matter of seconds without a powerful protective layer of mana
Agrona came into view, he was back in humanoid form and was flying up from a pool of lava, I increased the gravity in the pit several thousands of times sending him crashing into the lava, countless shimmering blades appeared all around Art and they all flew towards Agrona, every blade was imbued with [Severer]
Agrona started swinging his scythe and with impressive skill he managed to defend himself, I conjured a cloud of super dense black smoke and sent it at him to remove the mana protecting him, the smell of burnt flesh filled the place
Shooting a lighting I electrified a clump of natural iron that was nearby magnetising it, aether powered or not his weapon is still made of metal, the scythe was pulled away from his hands, he immediately made it disappear and resummoned it but this left him open for a split second which was all Art needed
Appearing in front of him, aether blade covered in amethyst flames already in his hands, he thrusted the blade forward piercing him from side to side
"This is for Sylvia" he muttered
With a roar aether rushed out of his core and the entire bottom of the chasm turned into an amethyst inferno