Chapter 600: Challenges Daimon & Nethereal sisters, Sarah’s version (part 7)
Up in the sky, being dragged by a meteor-like current of battle aura, Bryan who had actually fainted for a second, suddenly opened his eyes as his survival instincts kicked in
"Haaaaa!", with a loud shout and an explosion of nether, he forcefully escaped from the stream of battle aura which was about to crash against the peak of a mountain.
"Boooom!", a moment later the stream of battle aura landed on the mountain, making it explode into debris, it was as if a giant hammer had descended from the sky upon the mountain, crushing it as if it was nothing.
Bryan whose body was battered with half his face, right arm and a part of his chest gone, panted in pain, his eyes were bloodshot as he realized that if he reacted even a second later, there wouldn't have been anything left from him.
'Damn it, what the hell kind of technique was that!', he inwardly cursed as his body started regenerating with the help of his nether, at this point it's clear that lust is the focus of his nether, but unlike Purplehaze who was obsessed with Jasmine, Bryan had no specific target.
An interesting characteristic of those whose nether had lust as a core base, was that they could heal themselves to a certain point, due to the aspect of "vanity" their nether helped them maintain a young appearance and good physical state similar to what happened with the Lamia matriarch that regained her youth, back at Draim.
"Still, such a strong martial art should have used a lot if not all of her battle aura, her reserves must have hit rock bottom now", he said as he changed into a new set of clothes to hide the ugly scars that he had to leave on his arm and chest, since he didn't want to use too much nether, he did completely fix his face before flashing towards Amber.
Far away from the battlefield, Sheilla inwardly let out a sigh of relief after seeing Bryan surviving after being hit by the strongest technique of the enemy.
'I hate to admit it, but that guy is indeed worth bringing to the Lord's side, the others were finished once those colorful women went all out, but he survived and he has the high ground now', thought the enemy queen just for her to be brought back to the real world by Daimon's voice.
"He survived the enemy's strongest attack so he has the advantage now, is that what you are thinking?", he said with a smirk.
Sheilla snorted, she already scanned the tanned woman after she used that meteor-like martial art, and her battle aura reserves had the size of a fingernail as of current, so she didn't say anything and instead prepared to block any try from the masked youth to save that tanned woman, not without thinking.
'My lord will give her corpse a "nice" use'.
Back at the battlefield, Bryan arrived at Amber's vicinity, he used his mana sense to scan her and confirmed that her battle aura reserves extremely diminished after that attack, which made him smile to then flash towards her, appearing a few meters away from her.
"Pressure Break!", Bryan pointed his right palm at Amber and a large stream of pressure was shot at short distance.
Seeing Amber not using her aura armor, made Bryan reaffirm his conclusion that Amber had used too much of her battle aura earlier.
'Damn, did I put too much strength into that attack…', he thought only to see the pressure current passing through "Amber", who then dissolved into light tendrils, making Bryan snort as he looked at north around a whole kilometer away from the previous position where Amber used to be.
"No battle aura used and yet such a fast speed, you were actually a speed type knight, perhaps that tough physical body is an innate thing, I should have guessed it when I saw a knight moving like that earlier", he said.
The only times when he could find an opening to attack Amber, was when he used his pressure mana to accelerate himself, luckily, he could do it without chanting, to keep the image that he was faster than Amber.
However, the current Amber surpassed let alone how fast he could move, but even his reaction time.
'Luckily, she has no battle aura left to use martial arts, otherwise it would have been troublesome if she attacked me at such high speed', he thought to then be brought back to the real world by Amber's voice.
"Is that all?", the tinge of boredom behind the tall tanned girl's voice, made Bryan grit his teeth, he could tell that this time Sarah wasn't involved, in other words, it was Amber the one who took the initiative to show disdain towards him, this time.
And that is a lot to say, considering that throughout the fight she hasn't shown any noticeable emotion, she was rather indifferent even when she was attacked by the curse marks, which is something Bryan found interesting, because it made him look up for the moment she couldn't "keep up" that composed front.
"I must admit, that your current "exotic" appearance made me hesitate for a moment but…", Bryan's previously smiling face took a 180° into a twisted angered expression as he added.
"You nearly killed me earlier, bitch, so don't even think on having a good end, I will take my time to make the most out of that tough body of yours".
Nether overflowed out of Bryan's body, changing a few more patches of his hair to an inked black tone, to then make a seal with his hands by pressing his palms together.
"Black Lock", he said, the other five shark bite marks on Amber, turned black, then they suddenly expanded turning into black nether shark heads, similar to the ones that emerged from Bryan's palms, but these ones were biting Amber's body, restraining her where she was standing, that and they were the size of a person each.
Amber frowned as she looked at the black nether shark heads that weren't trying to pierce her skin, but instead were keeping her in place, making Bryan smirk.
"Don't bother trying to get them off, I released all the energy in the marks, so they aren't curses anymore put simple yet incredibly tough energy chains, with some extra "surprises" added to them", he said.
'Let's see you dodge or endure my attacks now, though you might not desire to do it anymore', thought Bryan as he pointed his palms towards Amber who after having sent him flying with that meteor like attack, indeed dispelled her armor, but she ended up not having trouble since her speed went through the roof instead.
"Black Pressure Rain!", with a loud shout, black water which was the effect of Bryan's nether reaching the same level as his White's lineage, gathered on the tips of his fingers, to then have pressure mana added to them.
The ten black liquid spheres, were shot frontwards and instantly reached Amber who was being held down by the curse marks to then explode into countless drops of black water.
Just to make sure the attack hit her, Bryan went with a wide area attack improved with the maximum output of nether he could use, since once the energy stored in the curse marks was completely released, the restriction would be lifted and he didn't have enough mana nor nether to reach ten curse marks for a second time, after having to regenerate himself earlier.
'Tsk, a week's worth of hard work and ten "helpers", gone due to a whim, I guess this is the disadvantage of this type of nether, it is too easy to obsess over an interesting target, however she does indeed seem worthy of the sacrifice', he thought.
Bryan who was already smiling while imagining the sight of Amber's tall and imposing figure, laying down on the ground with a pained expression, froze as he saw the countless high pressure water bullets heavily land on Amber, just to… do nothing.
Unlike earlier when she blocked attacks with aura armor and metallic "clinking" sounds as well as shockwaves were produced, this time when the water bullets clashed against her, not even her clothes were affected, if anything there were muffled water spilling sounds produced by the water bullets being scattered all over the place.
'What the hell, let alone aura armor, she isn't using any battle aura at all', inwardly cursed Bryan, to then be taken aback by Amber's next words.
"So, you have finally abandoned that fake pretension of superiority, by showing your real gross self, not only personality but even energy wise", she said with a clear unadulterated expression of disgust on her pretty face.
The reason as to why, Amber chose to fight Bryan when he was clearly aiming for Jade, was because he reminded her, of the guys from the tribes, among the many tricks they have used to capture the members of their races, there have been of course "honey traps".
With elaborated demonstrations of kindness, love, promises of safety and fake smiling faces, they have captured the naïve girls of Amber's race quite a few times before, in fact the one who was torturing them was like that, though none of the group fell for it, since they aren't regular members of their races, but their royalty.
Anyway, the point is that, Amber despised three things, first and formal, feigned kindness which is why she was positively impressed by Daimon's realistic offer at the moment of taking them in, he outright stated that in exchange for saving and helping them find a way to obtain strength, they would become his subordinates.
And second, she hated lust-driven people, for obvious reasons, though their race had the strange self-protection innate trait of literally dying if she were to be forced in that aspect, and as a royal her mind was strong enough to not "consent" no matter how much torture she went through, so she hadn't gone through that, but she got to see the enslaved members of her race being treated as toys, when they were captured as part of the torture methods, designed by the tribes.
Last but not least, due to her race's innately high physical strength, despite the incapacity to become mages or knights, she looked down on those who remained weak when having the possibility of becoming strong.
You might believe that Scarlet and the others were the same, but it was especially frustrating for Amber, who was technically at the pinnacle of all their races in terms of strength, not being able to do anything but act as a fragile shield while being forced to constantly hide and escape, hence why she took the risk of coming to Neptune even if it implied being captured.
"Sorry to break it to you but weak scum guys, aren't my type, so no matter how much of that disgusting energy you try to use, it won't affect me, you aren't worthy of my loyalty", she added, ever since the curse marks were released, the nether used to create the restrains have been trying to affect her mind.
As in, aiming to provoke lust on her, or more accurately the desire to submit to Bryan, unfortunately for him, not only Amber was the worst possible choice for that kind of suggestion, but also just like Scarlet and the others, she is in a contract with Daimon.
Bryan instantly saw red, knowing he was being compared to the masked guy that knocked him out with ease back then, but he suppressed his anger not wanting to end like Purplehaze and instead limited to grit his teeth to then say.
"I see, you are getting quite arrogant just for having parried a wide area low output attack though", he pointed both of his palms towards Amber, his body exploded in nether which was then channeled alongside his pressure mana towards his arms.
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Unlike those who were turned into nethereals by being infected with nether, those who obtained it with the help of a Lord, didn't lose the capacity to use mana, but they did do see it being diminished, like what it happened to Purplehaze, Bryan on the other hand awakened nether by himself and his White lineage was strong enough to not be devoured by his nether, so he obtained all the benefits without the side effects.
The only negative point, is that he had a small amount of it and he had no idea of how to form a nether core, but that didn't limit the explosive increase in strength he could obtain from it, only how much time he could sustain it, which is why he used it sparingly… until now.
"Black Pressure Break!", with a loud shout, a house width stream of nether and pressure mana combined, was shot out of Bryan's palms.
"Boooom!", the black stream engulfed Amber and continued its way, reaching the ground a few kilometers away, blowing a huge crater into it, the impact was strong enough to even disperse the artificial clouds that were above the sky of the battlefield.
"He actually reached the middle level of the late Mortal realm", mumbled Sheilla, who was floating faraway from the battlefield, in that attack Bryan's battle prowess surpassed the early Arch rank, and jumped to the middle one, which is quite something.
Just like Purplehaze, he is a middle stage Lord rank, but unlike him, Bryan crossed a whole realm in that attack, it's not something easy to achieve.
'It's poorly made, but he did combine two spells from different elements and energies, like mom, I guess the outcome was inevitable', thought Daimon.
Back at the battlefield, Bryan who was panting within the black smoke that was raising from the ground due to the explosion, snorted as he saw the giant crater ahead of him.
"That's what you get for being a frigid bit…", his words stuck midway in his throat, as the smoke was instantly dispelled to reveal a perfectly unscathed Amber who hadn't moved even a millimeter from the place where she was standing.
In comparison, the ground behind had her standing shape carved into it, as she blocked the attack from affecting it in the slightest.
"I-Impossible, didn't you say you weren't a defense type knight!", shouted Bryan in disbelief, earlier he could accept Amber not being harmed by his attacks, since she dodged with her insanely high speed.
Then the attack that landed on her was legitimately weak in terms of impact in exchange for its wide range, but now he practically put everything he had into that blast and Amber was perfectly fine, what made him panic the most is that even now, he didn't feel any battle aura being radiated from Amber.
In other words, she… took his attack head on, just with her bare body.
"I also remember saying that your attacks weren't strong enough to even shake me", casually said Amber to then stretch her body, easily destroying the black nether shark restrictions that were still strongly attacked to her body.
Bryan's brain suffered shortcut, there was still enough energy into the restrictions for them to safely last at least a whole three to five minutes more.
'S-She was never restricted to begin with, she allowed herself to be attacked, but why…', wondered Bryan just to see the corner of Amber's mouth slightly move upwards, with mockery.
"Let me tell you a little secret, I might fall short a minor realm as of current, but I don't see myself losing even against Lance, I'm the strongest out of all my sisters after all", she proudly said, while stealing a gaze in Daimon's direction.
'What the hell are you waiting, take me out of here, if she is the strongest, I should be able to deal with the other!', yelled Bryan at Sheilla in secret, to then use his own nails to open bloody wounds on his wrists, from which blood that had a tinge of white color mixed into it, flowed.
"Shooting Star!", the white blood evaporated into light tendrils and Bryan turned into a blind light that shot towards the horizon, escaping from the battlefield.
Sheilla reacted at the same time, she snapped her fingers and a bunch of different portals opened, this is the counter she came with, after seeing Daimon somehow blocking the portal she opened to save Purplehaze earlier.
'There is no way you can't block all of them, I'm using the power from the Lord while you have no backer!', she exclaimed in her heart.
And technically she was right, Rita might not have shown it, but it took quite a bit of the undead head maid's mana to obstruct the portal created with the power of a nethereal Lord, she is only a half step Stellar after all, if she went all out and revealed herself, she might be able to pull it off, but Daimon calmly told her to not do anything until he said so.
Bryan who had nearly reached one of the many portals, heard a nightmarishly indifferent voice ringing in his ear.
"Reverse".
Then the imposingly tall figure of Amber, blocked his path, forcing him to stop his secret technique because he saw how his all-out attack didn't make her flinch at all, so he was afraid that clashing with her at high speed would only result in his own body exploding into a bloody mix of broken flesh and bones.
"What the hell are you!", he shouted as he released a desperate barrage of nether attacks, spending till the last drop of nether he had, to the point that he lost the black color from his hair, at the same time he forcefully burnt the leftover white blood to activate his escaping technique a second time, also losing the white color from his hair, returning to his original blue hair.
Seeing the smokescreen created by countless nether attacks as well as the blind light that enveloped Bryan, getting far away, Amber casually said.
"Reverse", her image flashed and the next second she had appeared above Bryan, whose face twisted before he was shot downwards.
"Aghhh!", Bryan who found himself unable to escape from whatever which was attacking him, vomited blood feeling his chest tear apart, his eyes rolled backwards and he was dead before he reached the ground, strangely there was no impact or explosion, despite the huge strength that should have been needed to make him fall from the sky.
Now imagine Sheilla's face, when a black portal opened below his body, she nearly lost it.
"How dare you!", she yelled at Daimon, the portals she opened closed on the spot and the nether used to make them, turned into a stream that aimed at Amber, directly attacking her.
Just for Daimon to snort in response, he stopped holding back the fierce black sea emblem which has been trying to come out of his pocket, since the enemy queens had been playing tricks.
"Boom!", the black rune shark intercepted the nether stream and both cancelled each other in the air, that being said, Sheilla felt her chest tighten at the sight of her Lord's nether being nullified with such ease.
Earlier when Yvonne did it, it was still understandable because the amount was really small as it was what was given to Purplehaze, however in this case she used nearly half of what was given to them to make those portals, so there was a world of difference.
The black sea emblem casually flew back to Daimon's pocket, ignoring the enemy queen who was lost, wondering to whom did it represent.
'It projected a shark with runes, could it be that the masked guy is that old guy's trump card… no the Lords would have known if that was case, so what is going on, it there perhaps another force involved in war!', she inwardly exclaimed as she raised her guard against Daimon.