Chapter 65 Life and death
“Oh, you missed me? Well, I missed you too,” Vandal said with a cocky smirk as Sabine punched his shoulder.
“Where did you go?” Sabine asked.
At this point, Hutrar, Jaclynn, Jaden, Mael, and Yazmeen were walking toward him.
“We have to leave right now,” Vandal said loudly enough for everyone to hear. “Divine might try to open the boundary. If he leaves first, we will be trapped in here with no way out.”
“Who is Divine?” Mael and Yazmeen asked at the same time.
“Divine is Malouf. Long story, but we need to go now,” Vandal said.
The king suddenly walked in. “Vandal, the necklace is showing green.”
“That means the boundary is currently being opened!” Seraphyne exclaimed.
Mael and the rest were shocked that the king called Vandal by his first name and even spoke clear and coherent English.
“What is happening?” Yazmeen asked in surprise.
“Long story. Let us get going. We do not have much time left,” Vandal replied.
“My king, I greet you…” Pakkun walked in and bowed to the king.
“Can Pakkun go with them?” Pakkun asked the king. However, he looked at Vandal for approval, which the group did not fail to notice. The thought on everybody’s mind was what the hell happened when Vandal left.
Vandal nodded before the king could answer. “I permit you.”
“I go with you then. I protect women for friend,” Pakkun said to Vandal.
“Okay. You are a good friend,” Vandal replied warmly. He admired Pakkun’s simple mindset.
“Let us go…” Vandal ran outside with Sabine as the rest followed shortly after. The king, however, motioned for the guards to bring his boar. One was prepared for Seraphyne. The guards looked at each other with doubtful expressions but obeyed. The king and Seraphyne climbed on, and he slapped the boar’s behind with a resounding “Hyah!”
The king naturally rode in front as he yelled, “Follow me! I can sense the exit point!”
Seraphyne wanted to join them, but her father held her back. “Do not get involved. This is their fight,” he said strictly.
Soon they arrived at the boundary just as it was about to turn transparent. At the entry point, they saw a familiar figure using an artifact that resembled a short horn. He was pointing it at a specific spot on the boundary, and it was from that section that the barrier began to open.
“Divine!!!” Vandal yelled, causing Divine to turn. Their eyes met.
“Vandal… I did not think you would catch on so quickly,” Divine smirked. Then he immediately hurried his incantation, trying to speed up the process.
Vacuum Hammer
Vandal leapt up and punched the air between them consecutively, causing force fists to be shot out intermittently. Just as they were about to hit Divine, he turned and launched echo fireballs at the incoming force fists, causing them to explode in mid-air.
Jaclynn palmed the ground, causing rocky spikes to shoot out toward Divine, but he was one step faster. He waved his robe, sending a vicious fire blast toward the rock projectiles.
Mael also launched his light lance, but Divine’s palm turned sickly green as he seemed to suck in the light. Then with his other palm he conjured a huge mass of water in the form of a ball and launched it at Hutrar instead, causing an explosion. He flash-stepped toward Mael and launched a fist coated in greenish ruin echo energy.
“Mael, be careful. He uses ruin energy like me,” Yazmeen said as she observed him absorbing the light attack. She knew that the worst person to fight in close quarters is often a ruin echo user due to their energy absorption abilities.
“I noticed,” Mael answered as he blocked the fist with a light shield. But the fist seemed to eat into the shield and broke through, smashing into Mael’s chest and sending him rolling backward.
Yazmeen activated her ruin echo, which was purple in color, and stepped into a boxing stance. She threw quick jabs and powerful fists while dodging Divine’s return punches and palm attacks. Then they clashed powerfully as their palms collided. Divine’s sickly green echo energy competed against Yazmeen’s purple echo energy.
Vandal fired another vacuum fist at Divine’s back, but the man reacted as if he had eyes behind his head. A water echo blast shot from the side of his palm. Divine then shot forward, feinted, and delivered a brutal side kick to Yazmeen. Before she could fly backward, he caught her wrist and slammed her into the ground, forming a small crater in the shape of her body.
Hutrar stepped in, activating his flaming echo berserk mode as he charged at Divine. Divine looked at Hutrar like an all-you-can-eat buffet, and Vandal noticed.
“Hutrar! Do not come close to him!” Vandal yelled as he launched himself toward Divine.
“I can handle him!” Hutrar said confidently as he quickly closed the distance and launched his flaming fist toward Divine’s smiling face. Divine held the fist as it hit his face and then jumped backward, dragging Hutrar forward.
Vandal was about to launch a Titan’s Punch toward Divine’s head when Divine suddenly took something out of his space ring, Kennedy’s stolen space ring, and threw the vial at Vandal. It expanded and turned into a thick, human-sized iceberg that encapsulated Vandal and froze half of his body in place.
“No!” Vandal launched mini vacuum fists with his free hand in an effort to change Hutrar’s direction, but it was already too late. Hutrar was hell-bent on clashing with Divine. His flaming fist landed on Divine’s face with a loud bang.
Unknown to Hutrar, he had been dragged into a ritual circle. Vandal noticed this a bit too late because he was already frozen in place.
Flames spread out in torrents from Hutrar, but suddenly the flames seemed to get sucked in as if falling into a bottomless pit.
“What is happening?” Hutrar said in confusion. Divine held his fist firmly and drained madly.
“Let go of me!” Hutrar yanked back his hand and slammed Divine into the ground, but Divine was nimble and had quickly switched from Hutrar’s huge hand in berserk mode to a headlock in one swift motion.
Hutrar leapt high and slammed himself back down, trying to shake Divine off, but the man clung to him with an iron grip. Hutrar’s flames rapidly weakened, dying down from roaring infernos to weak embers. At the same time, his massive berserk form, which stood over seven feet tall, began shrinking rapidly.
“Hiyah!” Vandal used Titan’s Punch on the other half of his frozen body and broke free, but it was already too late. Hutrar had shrunk back to his human form.
“This is your fault, Vandal.” Divine stared straight at him, maintaining eye contact. “I want you to remember that.”
Crack.
He twisted Hutrar’s neck with brutal force. The sickening sound echoed across the battlefield as he drained every last drop of flame echo essence from his victim. Divine laughed maniacally while Hutrar’s body rapidly withered into a lifeless husk and collapsed weakly to the ground.