"Iyaaaah!!"
Mino shouted when he hit the ground with a loud thud.
"W-what was t-that!!" His face was whiter than bleach. He couldn't even stand up, his legs felt like jelly.
The woman in front of him said, "It was an Ervass of course. The caster was exceptionally powerful, most likely the one who killed Wanderer2. The caster could've destroyed this huge city, but held back, reducing only the central and maybe other sectors. But she's exceptionally skilled it appears, western Aomuri didn't get any damage aside from tremors."
Mino bit his tongue to prevent passing out. His heart was beating loud enough to burst out, his chest really pained. The lack of clear visibility caused due to the heavy rainfall made him panic further.
[If Wanderer1 wasn't here, then I would've been dead meat... I had already drained a lot of stamina to run such a long distance to Reinard's house... if she hadn't carried me upto the western sector...]
When he was basking in relief, his back perked up. Clapping a hand to his mouth, he thought dreadfully, [W-what happened to Yaleena and others...Dr. Reinard...]
The fog in his mind was pierced through by a mature voice.
"Alright. I didn't expect you to actually retrieve this thing, I don't know whether you are smart or they are plain foolish.. but thank you. I have saved your life, I guess this is repayment enough. Now, please give the scroll to me."
Wanderer1 lifted her arm and curled her index finger.
Gulping, Mino reached into his shirt and pulled the scroll out. Trying to dismiss the jitters in his head, he closed his eyes and started to exhale and inhale deeply.
Wanderer1 was standing with her arms crossed, a bored look on her face.
*Swoosh*
Hearing a swooshing sound, Mino was surprised and opened his eyes. Wanderer1 was nowhere to be seen.
[Fuck! Does she want to ambush me to get rid of witnesses!]
Internally panicking, he started checking his surroundings. When he looked at his feet, his eyes caught sight of a stream of water with a reddish tint. Following that tinted water, he came to see,
Wanderer1's decapitated body. Josh's attack had found its mark.
Mino was dumstruck. His emotions refused to come out, his instincts screaming at him, telling him to find shelter. A clear image of the nearest shelter (excluding people's houses, Mino thought disturbing them would be futile) appeared in Mino's eyes.
The bicycle parking shade of their school. His legs didn't wait for his decision, instead started dragging him to the shelter, ignoring his battered condition and lack of stamina.
====================================
"My ultimate spell is ready."
Such were the words which Gruffold muttered, a huge cocoon of mana enveloping him, not losing to the Malay's rage potion boosted aura in any way.
"Damn."
Jeryl gritted his teeth bitterly after hearing the sound of the implosion. He didn't know the conditions of his other members, but guilt was gnawing away in his heart. His heart was more injured than his tattered body.
"She died... so young...!"
"She was inexperienced... that's it."
"Bit rich coming from someone who has traded his entire soul to overpower us! Burn in hell bastard!"
"You were too much of a nuisance. See your allies there, they ere dying. Malay used your rage elixir to fight your allies. Laughable, isn't it? Even then, some of you might stay alive and crawl up like a cockroach. Someone needs to sacrifice themselves for the sake of others, for wiping out all of them. I will be the one, gladly so. Killing you who took away my everything, not once but twice and thus saving this planet."
"Saving this planet my ass! And what do you mean by twice!?"
"Yeah I know, it's not possible to know how many people you killed or ruined by destroying systems and planets."
Jeryl opened his mouth wide, shock painted on his face.
"We... wh-why would we..." He was confused as hell.
[We...we were tasked to protect this world from being the system makers...were we misguided...? Is it really damn possible?]
His gesture was not missed by Gruffold. Narrowing his eyes till they resembled the edges of razor blades, Gruffold threateningly growled,
"Do you know why Malay destroyed half the city while she could've annihilated theis whole place? So that I could destroy the rest! You have lied enough you traitor! DIEEEEE!!"
Spreading out his hands, Gruffold move them in a circular arc and brought them together in front of him. The massive amount of mana around him started to swirl faster.
"What! You are trading away your soul for this attack!"
Things started to get even more confusing for Jeryl. But one thing remained crystal clear. His death was nearing.
"
"An O-original spell...shit...I need to find cover... the sewers!"
As soon as Gruffold declared those words mightily, the rain drops changed shape. They turned into spheres. Not a continuous sphere, but made out of countless small blades of water. Within the layer of water blades, there was a layer of wind blades too. Short lived, but extremely sharp. And there were countless number of them falling every minute. The result? Total annihilation.
Jeryl could only watch helplessly the first touched his finger. The sphere effortlessly started digging through his finger which was raised vertically, and got exhausted by the time it reached his knuckle.
Jeryl closed his eyes and tried to focus, to create a shield out of dark element. He wasn't going to give up that easily! Making a spluttering sound, the shadowy dome tried to form, but the rain was too much overwhelming.
He was soon shredded to mincemeat.
Gruffold happily watched him getting divided into fine small chunks and savoured the bloody scene. He had achieved it, at the cost of his own life. He felt intensely exhausted. He could manage to keep the spell active for few minutes. But he knew, that was enough to kill everyone he hated. Everyone.