Chapter 428 Nine Months Later
Wars raged on in both the Mortal Realm and the Celestial Realms. The war between the Elves dragged on for a much longer time than either side had expected. The losses suffered at the Wall of Magair had been so terrible that they had not been able to make up for it even months after.
It had been a year since the war between the Elves and rebels began. Now, the rebels had pressed forward and had reached Helwan, the third city that served as the industry where most of Magair's harvests were processed.
The flames of war were unending and brutal, scorching anyone that was involved in it.
Eric Kerns looked over the battlefield that spanned several kilometers. Over a million bodies moved on the battlefield, fighting and battling like no tomorrow. Indeed, a large number of these people would not live to see the next day.
Eric was the person that Michael had sent to aid the rebel front in the absence of Leon. He was a Peak A rank that had begun walking the path of the Divine, but for many years, he had remained stuck at the 50% mark.
Bang!
In the distance, he watched one of the top summons of the person he was substituting combat one of the top fighters of the Elven Empire. Thick bolts of lightning filled the sky as the two lightning adept mages clashed against each other.
Elante's figure was engulfed by brilliant golden lightning as he utilized his Master Grade Lightning Magic. His entire body had transformed into lightning, granting him unparalleled control over lightning, heightened movement speed and reaction time, as well as immense power.
Arcs of golden lightning danced in the sky, turning the sky into a golden portrait of the end of the world. A small dark shadow constantly moved around, evading the lightning strikes.
Kaladin was no slouch. No matter how strong Elante proved to be, he was unable to touch Kaladin. Kaladin's body was surrounded by tendrils of black lightning that was unique to himself. No matter how much power Elante used, he was unable to seize control of any of the black lightning that Kaladin controlled.
"If you won't die, then I will just keep you occupied!" Elante's eyes burned with fury as the lightning around him increased in intensity. He turned his attention to the ground troops of the rebels and the lightning around him boiled. He intended to send down a large scale attack to deal significant damage to the forces of the rebels and force them to retreat.
"Wrong move." Kaladin's firm and steady voice said beside Elante as he appeared with a flash of black lightning. His fist that was covered in supercharged mana blazed forward and struck the mass of golden lightning, plunging into it.
Immediately, a patch of black spread through the golden lightning that made up Elante's body. He was quick to distance himself, but even still, the damage had been done.
"What have you done?!" He roared angrily while Kaladin's skeletal features remained passive and blank.
In truth, the corrupting power that had made part of Elante's lightning turn black was not purely his own. Rather, he had relied on one of Grokus' excellent debuff skills to corrupt Elante's lightning. In turn, that would make the victim slower, weaker, and make it harder for them to utilize their powers properly.
Elante felt his connection with the lightning around him lessen while Kaladin's affinity increased, rising to rival his own.
"YOU!!!" His fury boiled over and a blinding explosion of lightning engulfed the sky. Even the battle on the ground was interrupted as no one was able to see the person they were fighting clearly anymore. Some people still recalled the last positions of their enemies, using that recollection to launch devastating fatal blows.
When the light died down, the figures of Elante and Kaladin were revealed once again. Elante's figure was blindingly radiant, having regained his connection with the lightning by sheer force. Meanwhile, Kaladin was not looking too well. It seemed as though he had been suppressed by the explosion of lightning and had incurred some damage as a result.
Kaladin floated a distance away from Elante, contemplating the choices open to him when the familiar voice of his long time friend rang through his mind.
"It seems you need some help." Nero's voice was deep as he appeared a short distance on Elante's other side. His aura was sharp and menacing, and passively parted any bolt of lightning that struck out in his direction.
Elante's face crumpled when he saw Nero appear. He turned to look down and found the cold and lifeless body of the Elven General that had been keeping Nero occupied. The man's body had been split in two from the waist.
"You ignorant fools." Elante's eyes burned. The pride of the Elves was being trampled all because of the interruption of outsiders. It pained him deeply that Alvar had been too conservative at the start of the war, and now it had come back to bite them in the backside.
Nero's swords held an aura of hunger. The aura almost physically manifested, but a faint silhouette of a red skull hung around the swords.
"Come, let us show you the might of our foolish selves." Nero held his swords forward and several more figures appeared around Elante. All these figures were Leon's elite summons. Grokus, Tyrant, Oris, Seth, Fenrir and others. They all made themselves known, having taken care of the opponents that they had been matched against earlier.
BUZZZZ!!!
The golden lightning in the sky buzzed in tune with Elante's rage and he lashed out, having lost his cool. Everyone that he had come with to hold back the higher end combat forces of the rebel army had been soundly defeated. All his men that he had trained for decades had proven to be useless against the subordinates of an upstart undead that had just risen to prominence in recent times.
Everyone's bodies moved at once, turning into blurs as they rushed at Elante. The Elven Elder of the High Council also moved. It was difficult for even Peak A ranks to follow their movements as they were simply too fast for them to keep up.
The skies were filled with the shockwaves and afterimages of the Demigods that fought this battle. Ordinary mortals could not hope to match the might of these beings and could only wait for the results of the battle to known before they would know their fate.
.
.
Within a resplendent and well adorned hall, a single golden translucent pillar stood. Encased within that golden pillar, a dark shadow was trapped.
At this moment, a crisp crack resounded through the hall.
Crack!
A single ray of black light burst through the crack, reflecting against the golden wall of the hall. More cracks appeared on the pillar.
"Hmm?" A transparent silhouette appeared within the hall and looked around, his eyes eventually coming to land on the pillar that was full of cracks. His eyes immediately went round and he did what he had been expected to do in such an event.
Whoosh!
In the next few moments, several beams of light descended upon the hall as several Gods appeared. They all looked at the trembling crystal with eyes full of anticipation. Several months had gone by with them waiting for this moment. It was quite fast, but at the same time, long overdue.
Bang!
The translucent pillar shattered into countless tiny shards that slowly turned illusory and vanished. From within the golden translucent pillar, Leon's body was revealed, wrapped in a faint golden glow that lessened in brightness with each passing moment.
"Finally." Michael let out a satisfied hum as he watched. Around him were several other Gods from the Order Faction.
The war between the Gods had not taken too long. The major goal of the strike against the Chaos Faction was to eliminate some of their strongest forces and cause destabilization among their ranks. Alastor, Atrox, and several more Major Gods had been defeated. Some of them died or were sealed away, while some escaped and were forced to go into hiding in order to lick their wounds and slowly recover.
As the Gods contemplated what the return of Leon meant, Leon's mind was still reeling from the experience that he had gone through while sealed in the pillar of golden light that had come from the Temple of Gods.