"Isn't that the knife that I got from the 2 serpents' cave?" asks Ben to Roubaul who holds the black knife.
"You're right. I have calculated the strength of the Etherious inside this knife. It will be the perfect opponent for your S-Class exam," says Roubaul.
"Heh, an Etherious, huh? I've only fought one so far. It's that eyeball Etherious that could petrify things," says Ben.
"That is months ago when you're still not this strong. This Etherious is different, it is a lot stronger than that Etherious," says Roubaul.
Roubaul then set up a barrier dome that cover the field. It will prevent the Etherious from escaping. The Etherious in the black knife is dangerous so they can't let it escape.
Ben gets ready to fight and Roubaul also gets ready to help if something goes wrong. Then Roubaul opens the seals on the knife that holds the Etherious inside. He throws the knife to the other side after that and it starts to crack.
Black smoke come out from the knife and then it shattered into pieces. The black smoke gathers and gets denser. After some time, the smoke starts to disappear and a black werewolf-like creature is seen.
"HAHA, I'M FREE! I'M FINALLY FREE! THOSE DAMN MAGES, I WILL TEAR THEM APART NOW, HAHA!" says the Etherious while laughing and looking to the sky.
Ben now can sense that this Etherious is very different from the one he fought in the past. Compared to this guy, that eyeball is just a kid in front of an adult in terms of strength.
This guy is the strongest opponent that Ben has ever faced. This will be very difficult, but Ben still thinks that it's doable. He knows that his power and the Etherious' are not that far apart. That means he also has grown a lot since that time.
The Etherious stop laughing and finally realize that it's trapped in a barrier dome. It looks around and sees Ben on the other side. Strangely, it doesn't see Roubaul at all, so now it thinks that Ben is the one who set up the barrier.
"A human kid. Are you the one who set up this barrier?" asks the Etherious.
'It doesn't see Gramps? Hmm, maybe that old man did something before,' thinks Ben.
"So what if it is? What will you do?" asks Ben while grinning and taking a stance.
The Werewolf like Etherious just smiles sinisterly and suddenly disappears. Ben widen his eyes in surprise and look around for the Etherious, but he can't find it.
Suddenly, a big fist appears in front of Ben's face and he gets hit. Ben gets fling away with high speed and crashes onto the barrier. The impact creates a booming sound and blood trickle from Ben's nose.
'Shit! He's fast,' thinks Ben while still sticking onto the barrier.
Ben suddenly tilt his head to the left and a big fist appear on where his head was located. The Etherious has attacked Ben again without waiting for anything.
Ben moves away from that spot and immediately covers his whole body with the light element. It will make him a lot faster so he can dodge the next attack. The Etherious is very fast, after all.
Ben suddenly sense danger and move away from his spot. He is right on time to avoid a claw attack that even cut the ground a little. It will surely injure Ben badly if he got hit by that.
'It has speed & strength, this will be very difficult. It hasn't even used its magic or curse, and I already need to use my Light Mode,' thinks Ben.
Light mode is one of Ben's basic magic enhancements. He has 4 basic magic enhancements which are Light, Fire, Heat, and Gravity Mode.
He also has a high magic enhancement that combines Light, Fire & Heat. He call it Plasma Mode and it was the Sun Mode in the past. But it hasn't become the real sun without gravity.
So of course he has his ultimate magic enhancement, Sun Mode. It combines all the basic elements that he had. However, this mode is still not perfect because he just started working on it last month.
All of his modes are his own creation, not from Escanor. With AI Chip's help, Ben could formulate and make the modes using all knowledge that he got from books. If he has more books, then he will be able to make his spells stronger too.
Ben choose to use Light Mode now because it enhances his speed. The Etherious is very fast, so he needs speed enhancement. His priority now is to know about his opponent and avoid getting hit.
The Etherious moves to attack Ben again. Ben dodges the attacks while moving back. He tries to read the Etherious' movements and find any gap of its attacks.
Seeing Ben that can keep dodging its attacks, the Etherious grins and shows its big fangs. It suddenly has black smoke oozing out from its pores. Then its moves become a lot faster now.
Ben gets surprised and now he can't fully keep up with its moves. He gets hit again and flings away, but he can stabilize himself. The Etherious attack again and Ben dodge. But after dodging a few times, he gets hit again.
'Shit, he can move even faster now. Is it because of that black smoke? Just what is that?' asks Ben in his mind.
"Heh, you're quite good for a human kid. You will be a good subject to vent my years of suffering in that damn knife. I need to flex my body a little, it has become stiff," says the Etherious while grinning.
"Don't worry, you won't suffer again after this. Dead people don't feel pain anymore," says Ben.
The Etherious grins and says, "I like your gut kid, but that won't happen to me, it will happen to you. So before you die, remember the name of the one who will kill you. My name is Varg, remember that!"
Varg suddenly has black smoke covering his whole body. Then he suddenly moves very fast toward Ben and hits Ben's stomach with a punch. Ben can't dodge because Varg is too fast, even for Ben's Light Mode.
Ben fling then crashing to the barrier and coughing some blood. Ben can't even move yet when Varg appears in front of him and send a barrage of attack. Ben gets into a defensive position and keeps covering his body with magic.
'Damn, why do his attacks feel so painful? His attacks' power isn't that strong, but they're very painful. It must be his ability, be it magic or curse,' thinks Ben.
"Haha, you can last this long after getting attacked for this long. It's the first time for someone to last this long after getting punched by me numerous times," says Varg with glee.
"I've been through worse, this is nothing," says Ben.
"Heh, I wonder how long can you withstand my pain curse. My curse will make my attacks very painful even for a simple flick," says Varg with a smug expression.
Varg is very confident of his winning, so he told Ben about his power. Ben is happy with this, now he knows about Varg's power. Varg's arrogance will be his demise, but this must be his nature.
"Sun Dragon's Light Roar!" Ben suddenly attacks Varg with his roar attack.
Varg gets hit because the attack is so sudden. He flings back and crashes to the barrier. But Varg doesn't get an apparent injury because Ben just uses a little power. He focused on attacking fast because he need to make Varg get away from him.
Ben takes a deep breath to get relaxed. He dispelled his Light Mode and then use another Magic. A purple magic circle appears above his head. Then it moves down toward his feet like scanning him.
"Gravity Mode!"
Ben activate another mode now, Gravity Mode. His body now is surrounded by a purple aura. The ground around his feet dents & cracks a little. The gravity mode has raised the gravity on the area around him in 5 meters radius.
Ben then says, "Gravity Domain: 5 times gravity!"
"What is this? Another spell of yours? Hah, what a useless struggle. Any spell of yours will be useless to me," says Varg.
Varg rushes again at Ben with high speed and enters the Gravity Domain. Varg suddenly feels his body get very heavy and he falls to the ground. He doesn't know what has happened yet, but Ben has made a move. Ben jumps and stands on top of Varg's body and cracks his fists.
Ben grins and says, "It's payback time."
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