Chapter 66 Heat of battle
Vandal stared wide-eyed at Hutrar’s lifeless body on the ground. For a moment, the entire battlefield seemed to freeze around him.
“Father! I have to help,” Seraphyne said, but the king held onto her firmly and replied, “You will go over my dead body.”
“You monster!!!” Yazmeen yelled in anger as she got up and saw Hutrar’s lifeless body. In that same moment, Jaclynn synced her attack with Mael. Jaden charged up his thunder echo and launched a resounding bolt as they all launched elemental echo attacks at Divine from different directions.
Divine charged forward, dodging Mael’s light beam with ease. His figure blurred as he closed the distance and drove his fist brutally into Mael’s gut.
He expected his hand to meet flesh, but it hit a warm blue shield barrier.
Mael held his hand when he tried to pull it back. That was when Jaclynn’s boulder attack smashed into his back at the same time Jaden’s thunder bolt struck him, stunning him. He became stiff and fell backward. Then Yazmeen gripped his neck as she used her knees to pin his arms on the ground.
“Aaah!” Divine yelled in pain.
She squeezed with all her might. Divine’s eyes snapped open, glowing with feral intensity like those of a wild echo beast. His body expanded, becoming taller and more powerful, while jagged brimstone spines erupted from his back and shoulders. Sharp claws extended from his fingers as his mouth filled with deadly fangs.
He lifted his arms against her knees, overpowering Yazmeen even as she activated her echo and drained his resonance energy. He opened his mouth.
Roar
The sound waves smacked Yazmeen off him like a supersonic scream. He flash stepped toward Mael, who had formed two light echo swords and sliced forward.
“That is all you got?” Divine’s echo beast sounding voice rang out. It was thick and guttural.
He sidestepped the attack and sent a backhand toward Mael. A warm shield appeared to block it, but he seemed to have expected it because his hand was coated in dark green echo energy. It burned through the warm shield and slammed into Mael’s face, sending him sprawling into a nearby tree.
He set his sight next on Jaclynn as he moved so quickly it was like he instantly appeared in front of her. As she covered herself with rock, his fist smashed into it, but she cleverly focused her earth echo at the singular bridge in her defense and tightened it in an attempt to lock down that hand. Then she yelled at Jaden, “Now!”
Jaden charged up a bigger thunder bolt and launched it at Divine’s exposed back as he struggled to remove his stuck hand from the rock barrier, but it was too late. The bolt struck him again.
“Aaaah!” Divine screamed in pain as he coughed blood.
“Enough! You will die next,” Divine mumbled as he flamed up his entire body, causing a massive blast that blew the rock barrier to bits and sent Jaclynn hurtling backward. She landed heavily on the ground. Her arms and feet were scorched from the blast.
He ran toward her, malice in his eyes, as he swung his clawed hand recklessly at her throat, but it slammed into a warm blue shield.
Bam
Divine grew increasingly irritated every time a shield appeared at the last moment to ruin his attack. He threw a side eye in Sabine’s direction.
“So you are the one stopping me?” Divine said in annoyance.
“You will die screaming, so wait your turn.” He turned back to Jaclynn, who was struggling to maintain consciousness from the concussion.
Yazmeen had reengaged in the fight. She projected her palm and tried something she had not done before. She began to drain his energy from a distance as she drew closer. In that moment…
“Jaclynn! Wake up!” Yazmeen yelled. That seemed to snap Jaclynn back to consciousness. Seeing Divine near her, she immediately knew the situation was dire. She quickly took out a vial from her space ring and smashed it on his face. The vial seemed to be some kind of gum that multiplied and spread across his face, covering his eyes, nose, and trying to block his throat after entering his mouth.
Then she formed a simple hand sign, activating rocks to attach themselves to his hands, feet, and neck. She poured the other vial on her burned hands and feet, and the burns visibly looked better as she immediately created distance from him while he was trying to tear the foam off his face. Then he breathed fire from his mouth and clawed it off his face.
Jaden was charging up another bolt and soon launched it at him. Divine suddenly shot flame echo from his feet, boosting his already fast movement. Within seconds, he appeared in front of the shocked Jaclynn. Before she could attack back, he picked her up like a piece of toy and flung her against the thunder bolt.
The bolt caused her body to spasm violently, exposing the shadow of her bones in a white flash as she fell to the ground with a loud bang.
“Vandal, snap out of it!” Sabine said, seeing that the situation was desperate. All she could do was help in defense, but he was picking them off one by one even as they were jumping him.
“He is dead, but if you do not step in and help, we are all going to die,” Sabine said with tears in her eyes.
Vandal’s eyes seemed to snap back to reality as he looked at Divine heading for Yazmeen.
His fury erupted as he went berserk. Steam rose out of his pores and his muscles became more prominent.
“Thank you, Sabine.” He said as he went back into the battle and launched a vacuum punch just as Divine was about to reach Yazmeen, who was draining his energy from a distance. Although it was slow and not enough to weaken him, Mael had gotten up, wiping blood from his mouth.
“This savage degenerate must die.” Mael activated his light echo and spammed light beams at the same time as Vandal cocked back his fist and widened his stance, loading up a proper fully charged Titan’s Punch before swinging forward in Divine’s direction just as he was about to corner Yazmeen.
The chaotic invisible mass merged with Mael’s light beam and turned into a singular attack.
“Yazmeen, get back!” Vandal and Mael yelled at the same time.
Divine’s eyes soon widened like a deer caught in the headlights as both attacks slammed into him as one destructive force.
BAAMM!