SL Chapter 29 Raw Power
A sphere of flames enveloped the man, hiding him from the gazes of everyone even as the elf girl reacted. Her face, which had been impassive turned dark, with an emerald color emerging from underneath her foot, turning into a multitude of green vines, though Bora took them to be plant shoots, that headed towards the sphere of flame, piercing through it and coming out the other side, though there was no drop of blood.
The elf child's attention was drawn to the sky, with the shoots curving in their growth to head towards the man, who manifested a bunch of crystalline daggers within the middle of his fingers and flicked them towards the shoots, with each eerily falling upon the tip of each shoot, eliciting clinking sounds, as if two gems had been smashed together.
"I would love to pass, little girl. There are things I have to do. This world is going to end soon." spoke the man even as he weaved through the attacking shoots, occasionally forming daggers to deflect those that he couldn't evade. His voice was leisurely, as if he had no worries about this battle.
Bora also noticed another detail. The man had put away his thick tome, thereby extinguishing his ability. That either meant that he wasn't taking the elf girl seriously, or wasn't about to commit to the fight.
"You won't leave this place alive! My mom, my dad... They will be avenged!" screeched the girl as more shoots erupted from underneath her feet to join the others in chasing after the man, wanting not just to entangle, but to stab through him.
Bora became mesmerised by the girl's display of power. This was the level she wanted to reach. A level where she wouldn't have to worry about many things. Just the hundreds of entwining vines were far out of her power. She speculated that should she have possessed the same abilities as the girl, she wouldn't have produced that many vines at her current Liquid level.
But then, she noticed something even more bizarre. Even as the girl attacked the man, more shoots had risen far above and around the man, taking on the form of an emerald cage. Could the man have not noticed the elf girl's arrangements? She wondered even as her eyes struggled to keep up with the man's speed as he wove through the vines pursuing him.
"Your parents... I don't remember such people. Though, I do have to admit that I didn't expect an anomaly like you to pop up. The cap should have been the Liquid stage..."
The man's words caused Bora's mind to churn. He knew what was happening to this virtual world... And he had said that it was about to end? How? Why? Could it be related to the changes that were happening? Then there was also the fact that he spoke about the abnormality of the elf girl. That was something she couldn't wrap her head around.
"Bora, this is getting too high level for us. Should we retreat back into the trees? Or find another path?" Iris' question dragged her mind back to reality, with Bo-ram also directing her eyes their way.
"No. We should stay put. I don't think that we would be capable of getting away. Besides, we have no idea about the other areas. It will be better if we wait for a conclusion. Though, we should stay on our toes and prepare to join forces should the victor decide to make a move against us."
"Hoh! Even at your age you are quite the schemer. And I had thought that elves were the pure kind." spoke the man. His voice was coming from a thick sphere of green that had surrounded and trapped him.
"This is what I learned from you!" the elf girl spoke with gritted teeth, as if even passing the words through her mouth was a disgusting endeavor. Emerald colored energy pulsed from the vines beneath her feet and into the sphere, with Bora wondering about the reason. After all she couldn't get a glimpse into the inner workings because of the dense energy.
"... It looks like I will have to kill you if I want to leave this place." the man's sigh was heard even as a trace of yellowish orange light lit up the sphere from the inside. Abruptly, flames burst out upon the surface of the green sphere. There was no explosion, just the crackle of burning wood.
"Young girl, you underestimate me." Apollot reappeared, holding his tome within his hands, cradling it close to his chest, standing upon a lone, blue crystalline platform.
The ground rumbled and a multitude of sharp stakes appeared, roiling with an emerald hue. Then, not even a second upon their appearance, turned into blurs as they bombarded the sky, not just where Apollot was, but also sealing off all his escape routes.
A massive ward of flame manifested beneath him, compressed to the point that Bora felt its solidity with her spiritual gaze. Every stake that collided with it was burnt into ash, though, cracks still formed along it as the stakes were practically endless. Apollot's gaze flickered over to the massive tree even as another ward materialized above the other one, replacing it even as it shattered into pieces. Pieces which didn't dissappear but instead fell onto the ground and turned into fires that started spreading.
Bora was alarmed upon one of the flames falling close to their position, with the heat causing her to retreat. Then, as she was about to stop and once again direct her eyes back to the Battlefield, she was shocked to find that the flames were spreading, even on the ground which was supposed to be unflammable!
Exchanging glances with Iris, they hurriedly retreated all the way back into the tree line, with the flames stopping their expansion somewhere close by.
'Flame spreads like a plague. So, this was what that phrase meant!' realized Bora even as the flames towered into the skies, cutting off their sight from the combatants.
Bora gazed at the now towering blaze with a hint of fear. Should these flames be set loose, there was no doubt within her mind that all of them would die! Beads of sweat formed along her skin, soaking her clothes as she weathered the sweltering heat.
After a few seconds, the flames that had been towering started warping, as if something was sucking them, until every single ember was condensed into something that was resting within the man's palm. It was a long sword, one which even from afar, gave off a chilling sense of danger that shook Bora.
"You chose the worst possible-no! You were given the worst possible power by this world.". A grin was plastered across the man's face as he beheld his opponent, who was encased within an oval shaped emerald crystal, which had protected her from the flames. "I have been noticing something as we battled, a drain from that massive tree behind you... Could it be that your spiritual energy has been stored within that tree, thereby making it so that you won't run out until the thing shrinks or shrivel up?"
That casual question caused the girl's face to turn pale instantly, with the emerald shell around her sprouting tendrils that shot towards the man in a blur, who simply spun the sword around him, forming an impenetrable shield that cut everything that entered the sword's range into pieces.
But that paleness swiftly vanished as a smile replaced it. Apollot's expression turned grave before the pieces cut by his sword lit up with an emerald glow while midair and elongated into stakes which abruptly stabbed towards him only for the flaming red blade to turn into a sphere that tried to shield him, yet this time, it failed because of the simple fact that there were pieces that had gotten within range before the sphere had taken shape.
"I analysed everything about you ever since my capture. Revenge is a dish best served cold! Though, I wonder why I feel an innate hatred for you..."
The girl said even as the sphere of red dispersed, exposing Apollot's figure to everyone. Bora gasped as she beheld the two stakes that were embeded within the man's body, one within the stomach, and another within the right side of his chest. One of his hands had also been severed at the wrist, while another leg severed within the middle of the thigh.
He had turned into a wretched figure, yet his gaze was calm, as if every injury on his body had happened to someone else. Bora felt a chill. Was this man suppressing his pain, or could it be that his pain tolerance had reached unfathomable levels?!
"Little girl, as I said earlier, you underestimate me. How long have you been in the Crystal stage? How long has it been since I advanced? How many life and death battles have I experienced? How many hopeless situations have I climbed out of?" Apollot chuckled after those questions left his lips before the heavily injured body started to become transparent, vanishing completely while the girl froze in place as a flaming sword rested upon her neck, with her crystalline energies surrounding it sizzling, having met their nemesis.