Amon gritted his teeth, ignoring the pain that coursed through his body as he stood up and rushed forward to stand at the helm.
He brandished his spear, his gaze steady despite the incessant trembling of his arms.
In a flash, Amato and Awa appeared at his flanks.
Amato shot forward, unsheathing his blade to swing upward, an arc of beautiful azure aether following its path as he viciously yet gracefully sliced.
The Lich laughed, her body becoming incorporeal as the blade passed through her. With a simple swing of her scythe at speeds beyond reason, she snatched Amato's right arm.
"Argh!"
He cried out in pain, his warm blood showering him, but he was immediately forced to refocus as, in the next instant, a horde of undead skeletons was upon him, violently trying to rip him apart.
A wall of flames suddenly passed by him, launched by Awa, crashing into the group of undead and stalling them, giving her enough time to rush toward Amato and retrieve him.
As she did so, Amon and Kuwan rushed forward, the latter wielding a longsword.
He swung laterally, his golden aether fully manifesting as his muscles bulged and his aether marks shone with a resplendent luster. But just like with Amato, his blade merely passed through her as she remained unaffected, and her hands moved, swiping with her scythe.
CLANG!
Amon appeared by Kuwan's side in but a moment, swinging to parry the Lich's attack as he pushed forward and thrust, his blade acting as an extension of his body as it too carried properties of decay.
SHAH!
The Lich's pupils of fire violently constricted as a hole was torn in her bony chest of black fire.
As Amon retreated with a step, his blade swam forward, slicing diagonally.
"ARGHH!"
The Lich roared in pain, many of her ribs breaking under his slice. Seeing his attacks had an effect, Amon suddenly stepped forward again and cleaved downward.
"Retreat!"
Prince Kuwan's voice rang too late as the Lich's previously helpless expression turned into a twisted grin, and her broken bones of fire immediately reformed.
She slapped away Amon's cleave and spun, her scythe moving along her to then come falling down onto his chest, its trail carrying a terrifyingly powerful trace of emerald aether that reeked of death and destruction.
BANG!
Amon was immediately drilled into the ground, vomiting a mouthful of blood as he lost the ability to breathe, his lungs crushed to oblivion and his bones reduced to paste.
Despite this, his terrifying vitality roared out and began to heal him, but the Lich wasn't such an amateur. She followed with a vicious stomp, drilling a hole into his chest as her bony leg of fire found itself covered in blood.
"Amon!"
BANG!
Suddenly, the Lich was thrown back by a powerful blow from the prince as he followed, giving time for Awa to rush in and heal Amon.
Without a word, she reached his side and summoned her flames, pouring all her aether into him.
Amon, still in a daze due to the speed of it all, managed to muster a thought.
'Mordred, remove all my artificial seals….'
[Done!]
The aether that had been pumped into him by Awa was instantly devoured as, in the blink of an eye, Amon was fully healed. His cells, which should've been akin to any mortals and void of any aether, suddenly burst with a terrifying and overwhelming amount of it.
After he'd broken the first limiter on his original state all those years ago, Amon's cells had begun to naturally produce aether and passively empower and enhance every part of his being.
To hide this from the prince, using his arcane knowledge and Mordred's abilities, he'd sealed this off for as long as he could remember.
Currently, having shattered a thousand limiters, almost a third of the way to the three thousand and eight hundred limiters he and Mordred had confirmed existed, it was the first time he allowed his body to fully unleash its newfound capabilities.
WHOOOOOOOOSH!
A terrifying swirl of thick and powerful aether gathered around Amon, greedily devoured by his cells as by the second, their sizes and power grew.
Amon wasn't fazed by this gain of power as he stood up and began to stretch. While his cells were sealed and forced to be dormant, he'd focused on skill, absolute mastery, and pure control.
Though he wasn't able to display it before, now, he could.
With a step, he vanished.
Prince Kuwan was repeatedly pushed back by the Lich's terrifying skills with the scythe. Due to her endless army of undead, he couldn't call his royal guards for help as they were too busy fighting them off.
CLANK!
The scythe's blade dug into his chest, a great amount of corrosive aether invading his body as the Lich laughed and followed, swinging again.
"NO-"
Amon once again saved the prince as he appeared in a flash and deflected her swing, this time his power so great it forced the Lich's arm to swing back under the momentum of his spear.
Amon sliced at the air, and yet, a compressed wave of milky white atmospheric aether gathered and slammed into the Lich, sending her flying.
As she flew back, Amon planted his foot forward and, after gathering all his power, threw his spear like a lance, aiming for her black skull.
WHIS!
The air whistled under his spear's terrifying speed, but unfortunately, upon contact with the Lich's black skull, it rebounded, only mildly cracking it.
Given these few seconds of rest, Amon looked around, searching for a solution.
Soon, his gaze landed on the orb of white that had once sat atop the three skulls.
"We clearly cannot defeat this entity," he stated in a solemn tone. "So we either have to bypass it and access the first floor or leave to go back."
A few seconds passed, and noticing he wasn't getting any answer, he looked back.
His gaze widened.
'Son of a…'