"I'm starting to think the newbie is a bit too OP…" Varq muttered as he looked up. The resonating pair of werewolf and hydra drifted in the air, the previously eagle-like wings streaked with emerald feathers and a scaled frame.
"Well… that's a Resonance for you," Lux hummed. "All of us here have Manifestations… which now that I think about it; how the hell does he have both a Soul Beast and a Manifestation?"
"See?! OP!"
"Boss," Tairen raised his voice inquisitively and Ensis opened an eye to look at him. "I know I ain't the best at brain stuff, but… doesn't his Resonance feel weird?" He asked whilst scratching his head and Merlina silently nodded as if to agree.
"…Resonances with Soul Beasts are characterized by overlapping the frequencies of souls," the old warrior began to explain. "It is generally called Soul Resonance. The stage above is Full Resonance. What it does is overlap both the soul and physical bodies. In other words… imagine a Hydra with nine wolf heads. That would be a Full Resonance for him."
"And this is neither?"
Ensis nodded. "Generally speaking, a Resonance builds upon a base. It enhances it. But this… let's say that it's more symbiotic than anything else I've seen. As far as enhancements go, this version seems weaker than a normal one. A Resonance would usually double attributes. But in this case, it added them up together. But most importantly, their skills are synergizing."
"I see," Gray remarked. "In short, Resonance is less extensive than this. If anything, it would make more sense if we took this as both of their statuses becoming one. None of their skills and Nirvanas lost potency despite their respective fortes conflicting. Rather, they… were elevated."
At the same time as he said that, Rakna pointed Sonata forward and all his serpentine tails imitated him. They grew even bigger in size and opened their mouths.
At the tip of the Soul Weapon, and in front of the seven tails, a granulated orb of Star Energy came into existence and Lilia shuddered. 'United multicast?! And eight of them?!' Even she couldn't keep her calm in front of that.
"Draggy 2," she called out grimly and the reverse World Boss promptly flew to the side, speeding in a circle out of Rakna's field of view. Its target was clear; the guild members.
"Where do you think you're going?" Rakna grinned and three of his tails moved independently and turned toward the flanking dragon. "[Kakiṭōscōp – Slātta Natcattira Raja,]" he chanted and each of the orbs were fired. Instead of waves, they were concentrated into high-precision beams.
Three went toward the reverse World Boss while five spun around each other whilst approaching the original version. Lilia silently waved her hand at her most distant tamed beast. Wordlessly, she applied a speed buff to it so it could escape the spells' trajectory, and concurrently cast a spell on the dragon she was standing on.
"[Grace of The Spell Breaker,]" she intoned and a new emblem flashed into existence. The World Boss swung its magma sword at the incoming beams and slashed them apart. For an instant, it was as if five sword strikes had been delivered in an instant; implying the continuous presence of the 'Weapon Master's Grace'.
The Slātta Rajas crumbled but even Lilia's magic couldn't completely undo the Obsidian Star. The core of the spells shattered but the energy detonated and scattered shrapnel.
The World Boss quickly grew a third limb from its scales and shielded itself with it. At right about the same time, the reverse dragon was close to attacking Gray through the curtain of water.
"Oh, please save me~" The clown called out in a sing-song voice.
"Keep the disgusting shit inside your head," the scaled werewolf groaned and pointed his palm at them without looking. A golden and green magic circle with an infinity sign in the middle appeared at his behest and in a flash, the three beams that had been dodged earlier curved and accelerated.
Before the reverse World Boss even had the chance to swing its sword at Gray, it was interrupted by the spells striking its arm, neck, and underbelly. Three explosions, complemented by purple flames, engulfed the creature as it roared in pain.
Lilia's eyes widened. 'How…?' Of course, altering the path of a spell wasn't an inconceivable thing to do, but this was unnatural. The Slātta Raja was obviously a power-type spell. It shouldn't have been able to curve and accelerate in the middle of its flight like that.
On top of that, Gray's surroundings weren't even affected. It was as if both the energy and shrapnel were avoiding him without Ganymede even intervening.
The reverse dragon's sword fell from the cloud of destruction, shattering the petrified water before sinking. The damage done to the beast was extensive; a third of its scales broken, a large chunk of flesh carved and burnt, and at least several non-vital organs destroyed as rivers of blood fell from its open wounds.
"[Mother's Embrace,]" Lilia immediately chanted and a spectral apparition of a woman wrapped its arms around the wounded beast, shielding it from threat while healing its wounds at the same time.
Rakna snorted and without wasting time on chit-chat, he flapped his wings, and twisting time and space to his whims, he arrived in front of the World Boss earlier than he had disappeared. Sonata turned into a greatsword and a purple flame whirled around its blade.
"[Crescent of A Falling Star,]" he intoned and swung his weapon with the perk active.
The dragon reacted in time and used both of its giant weapons to strike back. On collision, the star energy exploded outward and deflected both of them. Lilia quickly applied almost a dozen layers of new buffs without breaking a sweat and the World Boss countered just as fast.
It let go of its sword and summoned a magic circle in its place, aimed at the sky, while also releasing a short Dragon Breath that Rakna was forced to defend against. A Magma Spell was cast right after and the air began to heat up considerably, a red hue dyeing the atmosphere.
Rakna flew back from the dragon's breath with crossed arms, Rift Shuttle crackling around his body with dimensional energy. He then looked up at the sky and chuckled as he spotted many red dots gradually getting bigger; a shower of magma rocks was dangerously making its way down.
Lilia raised her staff. "[Desperation of War,]" she chanted with an emotionless voice, and a magic circle bigger than even the dragon she had tamed whirled above her. Several more then overlaid it, each smaller than the previous, with inner formations containing squares and prisms.
In the eyes of someone like Rakna, its effects were obvious. With each instant that the meteors fell, they grew bigger in both size and power. "Ganymede," he spoke calmly and the star entity looked up for a moment before shaking his head in the negative.
"Well, damn," the werewolf chuckled and started pouring soul power into Sonata. "[Core Mode – Divine.]"
As soon as those words came out of his mouth, his Soul Weapon transmuted the source of its power into a new element. A wave of divine energy wafted off and turned its blade pure white like marble.
Lilia blinked in surprise as she felt the divinity. 'No, it's not true Divinity… it's something simpler. It is magic powered by faith; Divine Magic. A primal affinity related to all gods. He can even transmute that kind of thing?'
"[Star Puppetry]" the werewolf chanted and untold amounts of Obsidian Star energy flowed out of his body to form a giant puppet made of volcanic glass. It was so titanic that it could stand on the ocean floor and have more than half of its body above the surface.
Lilia frowned as the puppet began to gain features like red tattoos, a white garb, and a beard on its face. She more or less understood his intention. Obviously, the spell of her dragon was meant to be a threat to her guildmates.
Rakna could easily survive even if he took the full brunt of it, but following the rules of this test, he was forced to protect the entire area from the magma rocks. And since they were boosted by her skill, it was quite an endeavor.
"Too late," she voiced her thoughts and Rakna smiled at her.
"Perhaps," he replied to her as they began to feel the heat of the magma meteors. The spell he was constructing was taking far too much time. At this rate, it wouldn't be completed in time. "But such a small problem is nothing. Right? Little guy."
The werewolf spoke to himself and his eyes projected an infinity sign. As if against the laws of the universe, the construction of the giant star puppet was finalized in accelerated motion. Rakna then lifted Sonata and conjured a Divine Spell with the puppet as a medium.
"[Philosopher Craft – Teyvīka Aḻaippu, Atlas.]"
The puppet promptly gained a presence of its own and began to release true Divinity. It was as if a real God had descended in all its grandeur.
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"Huh?" Garuda lifted his head in shock. His pupils dilated as he sensed a full-fledged God suddenly appearing in the 100th Plateau. "No… that's not right… Did someone just… make a God?"
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Kamiria froze in her steps and her expression twisted. "What kind of mockery is this?" She spoke under her breath and Cain, who was walking ahead of her on what seemed to be a solid cloud, also paused momentarily.
But unlike his companion who was offended by this divine presence, he smiled nonchalantly. "It's a commendable feat, Kamiria," he said merrily and resumed his walk.
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The giant puppet-turned-God had no cognizance. Its appearance was that of a middle-aged man with wine-red hair and a beard. His arms were bursting with muscles, and without making a noise, he put them both up in the air as if carrying an invisible burden.
Then, the descending magma rocks began to slow down. All of them, without exception, began to decelerate as if there was an opposite counterforce pushing them.
Lilia gaped at the sight. She knew how powerful each of those meteors were. While the spell cast by her dragon wasn't anything grand by any means, it was still a Tier 4 spell. To top it all off, she had used her own Path Skill on it. At this stage, it wasn't accurate to call this shower a Tier 4 spell… instead, each magma rock was equivalent to one.
And Rakna had just improvised a spell capable of stopping all of them at once. By incarnating the divinity of an actual God at that. It didn't even take a minute for all the magma rocks to stop falling for good and the Star Puppet's arms flexed without budging. They gave the impression that it could continue carrying the spell for all eternity.
"I hope you're ready," the werewolf's voice jolted Lilia out of her thoughts and once she saw what he was doing, she nearly gave in to the urge to run away.
Eight spheres of raw energy, crowned by Soul Flames, infused with Mana, Lunar Energy, Intent, Ki, Obsidian, and Soul Power. Eight pearls of unrelenting power, encased in shards of Obsidian. This was the one and only Unity Craft Rakna had used against his uncle.
"Oi, oi!" Varq almost jumped out. "What the hell is he doing? That shit could kill even us if we don't do anything! And he's aiming it right at Lilia! Why is he breaking the rules all of a sudden?"
"It could hit us at this distance," Vegas nonchalantly added.
"Leader?" Lux asked calmly and the old warrior remained silent.
Lilia herself had watched the showcase at the Arena and seen the destruction caused by just one of these 'Fake Tailed Pearls'. But with his Resonance, Rakna could cast it eight times without caring about its cooldown.
Her mind was in a small panic, wondering if he was truly going to target her along with the dragon and if she should focus on her own safety. But before she could make a sound decision, again, the infinity signs reemerged.
She paled when the pearls bloated in an instant as if forwarded in time right to the end of their charging phase. She barely had time to build up a countermeasure.
"[Unity Craft,]" Rakna intoned with an audible grin. "[Kakiṭōscōp – Slāṭṭar Muttu.]"
The werewolf howled and the snake tails hissed as they launched their pearls. They traveled the distance between their origin and goal in the blink of an eye. All of them were coated in a layer of Ouroboros' magic.
The World Boss and Lilia found themselves surrounded as if inside a minefield. The pearls began to crack, letting out sparks of purple fire. The young woman gazed into Rakna's eyes and narrowed her eyes, activating only one skill right before all eight orbs imploded.
Eight superimposed spheres of merciless destruction swallowed Atlantis' seas, blasting away the meteors suspended in the sky and triggering tsunamis and quakes that terrified Wilden, Locals, and Hosts alike across the whole Plateau.