As his newly acquired senses hinted something was wrong, Aria immediately went into action making the first move.
Leaving behind a phantom he approached the Brigadier and tried to land a punch. But it was immediately intercepted by the Brigadier's palm who caught Aria using his hand.
"I must commend your courage, trying to land a hit on me despite knowing the difference in our strength."
Saying so he threw Aria like trash, while midair Aria hurriedly used the combat arts to shift his center of gravity, helping him land easily.
He seemed to have lost the initiative, but still his pupils radiated calm. This time it was the Brigadier who made his move as his figure blurred and appeared suddenly before Aria.
'Athenaeum unravel 50% of the seal!'
[Affirmative]
The conversation happened within an instant and Aria hurriedly crossed his hands over his head trying to block the move but the amount of strength behind the attack forced him to kneel.
'This much is still not enough, I see!'
Thinking so he glanced stealthily towards the transport as if waiting for something. The Brigadier seemed totally unaware of it, he raised his arm and tried to initiate an attack again but Aria hurriedly rolled sideways and pushed the ground using his hands, creating some distance between the opponent.
"You really have developed some battle senses. Regretfully though, you are going to die. You should not have meddled into the affairs of the Monarch." The Brigadier spewed out, not bothering about anything.
This time Aria was one step ahead of him. Just as the Brigadier stopped talking he jumped sideways and sure enough the figure of Brigadier appeared in his previous location as a kick landed, creating a shower of sand.
"Is the Monarch really sabotaging the Human race?"
Aria screamed as he once again moved sideways, dodging the punch on his head. His mind was working at a hundred percent.
The Brigadier was calm and collected, not answering the previous question. Instead he seemed to be toying with Aria, playing a game of tag with him.
"Cadet, I know you are stalling for time but no one will come to help you. The surrounding has been turned into a black zone, no type of communication is possible within this zone."
The Brigadier threatened as Aria dodged his move once again and just like that they had circled the entire area.
'Is this true?'
[Positive]
Athenaeum's positive answer made him more irritated.
"Ah, should have told me this sooner. Sheesh, had to pretend for this long."
His regretful voice made the Brigadier frown his brows as his figure immediately appeared in front of Aria.
'Let's not waste anymore time!'
The Brigadier thought and his punch zoomed in, nearing Aria's heart, trying to kill him in a single blow. But----
It stopped right before Aria's body, no matter how much strength he applied he could not move an inch ahead.
-Pat-
-Pat-
Aria patted his clothes removing the sand as he calmly gazed at the Brigadier.
"Did you think that I was just running along?"
A scorn appeared on his face. The duo, Dron and Jasmine, looked at each other and sensed confusion in each other's eyes. Previously they really thought that Aria was buying time for reinforcement, but now even they were stunned.
-Pssh-
Suddenly the sand surrounding the area around Aria started blazing with purple spots. These purple spots then alighted from within the sand and turned into eight different ancient characters that floated in eight different directions.
[उ ] [वा ] [ऐ ] [प ] [पू ] [नै ] [आ ] [द ]
"What have you done?" The Brigadier had now lost his calmness.
"Nothing much, while you were toying with me I used the time to lay down a simplified version of a formation that diverts your force and energy in all directions in an equal manner." Aria started moving towards the Brigadier who had no idea what was happening.
Even to Aria this 'formation' was an entirely new concept, it had appeared when his strength increased and the fog within his mind was cleared.
The Book of Athenaeum mentioned it in his attribute page as--
***
[ Language of the Universe ]
[ Grade: Unknown ]
[ A language capable of conversing with the Universe and distorting its Laws. Its origins are unknown. ]
***
The information regarding this mysterious language and its use for formation appeared as the fog in his mind cleared with his increase in strength.
Athenaeum had mentioned that it was just the merging of his own memories so it was nothing difficult.
He had been wanting to try this for a long time and had finally received the chance. By this time Aria reached before the Brigadier and he slowly punched him.
-Thud-
A soft blow landed on the Brigadier's stomach as anger surged in his mind.
"Cadet! How dare you----"
-BOOM-
But before he could finish, an astounding amount of strength battered his internal organs and his body was immediately blasted flying, landing a few meters away from Aria.
-Drip-
-Drip-
-Cough-
The Brigadier immediately coughed blood with bits of flesh mixed in it, indicating his worse condition as he lost consciousness.
-Phew-
Aria sighed as the strange ancient characters glowing in purple hue vanished. He returned towards the duo who lay on the ground gasping in shock and terror.
"Hey bro, what was that?" Dron's eyes blazed with fervor and excitement.
"Before that we need to contact the general to inform her of the current situation." Aria took out a device from within his pockets as he placed it on the ground. The device was the same one that was placed on the center of the table in their hideout.
Operating his tactical watch, after a short blinking duration, the projection of General Fu appeared.
"What happened?"
Then Aria explained what had happened, he left out the details regarding the formation and instead proceeded to say that due to the Brigadier's arrogance he was caught off guard and they were able to injure him heavily using the grenade they plundered from the base camp.
The general did not have time to doubt him, as her mind was trying to figure out how much her division was compromised, not to mention the situation on the frontlines had recently changed and she had her new orders.
"General?" Aria's voice made her exit her thought process.
"Awaiting orders." He continued.
"I will dispatch Lieutenant Sara to pick up the traitors. As for the situation on the ground, I am afraid you will have to stay put for now. We do not know what the Monarch is upto, try to find out if possible and report me as soon as you have a lead." Relaying her orders, the projection of the general immediately vanished as darkness once again descended.