Gravis waited patiently. He knew that Byron knew nearly all his techniques and methods. After all, Gravis had told and shown him in multiple fights. Byron also knew about Gravis' Lightning Bomb and Lightning Crescent. Due to that, Gravis was sure that the elders stood very far apart.
Yet, just with the case when Byron used Gravis' higher knowledge to his advantage, Gravis could now do the same thing to Byron. Byron knew Gravis' creative way of fighting and was probably incredibly careful right now. Gravis was sure that Byron was not only careful but actually too careful.
He was probably so intimidated by Gravis' growth and unique ways of fighting that he was afraid of committing a mistake. If Byron had directly attacked Gravis in the Illusion Array, he might have managed to kill Gravis. Of course, in that case, Gravis could have just exploded himself with lightning, taking Byron with him. Byron knew Gravis, and Gravis knew Byron.
Whoosh CLANK!
Gravis felt his surroundings move slightly and slashed with his saber. Two weapons collided, and Gravis got thrown back. All the elders had bodies more powerful than Gravis, making it difficult for him to block their attacks.
As Gravis flew back, he felt another fluctuation.
CLANK! BANG!
Gravis blocked with his saber and immediately unloaded the previously-stored attack. The attack destroyed the attacker until only ash remained. 'Another elder dead, another trump card gone,' Gravis thought.
At least Gravis regained another 20% of his lightning for a total of 60%. Sadly, his saber could only hold one loaded attack.
SHING!
Gravis had felt the fluctuation, but he was too slow to react. His whole left arm was cut off. Yet, instead of counterattacking, Gravis jumped back, quickly using 20% of the inherent Energy inside his body to regrow the arm. Yet, that wasn't enough! Nearly all the Life Energy inside his body was destroyed by the darkness that was infused into him, requiring Gravis to convert all his Energy into Life Energy.
He felt the attack and knew that it had come from Byron. With Byron's carefulness, he wouldn't have committed to such an attack if he wasn't sure that he could escape afterward. If Gravis attacked him now, he might waste the remainder of his lightning.
Gravis first wanted to take out the remaining two elders.
Clank! Clank!
Gravis got thrown back and blocked another attack. Yet, those attacks weren't as powerful as the previous ones. The elders had become more careful after the death of the third elder. They realized that any mistake could cost them their lives.
Clank! Clank! Clank!
Their attacks became more predictable but not as committed. Darkness cultivators weren't selfless people that gave their lives for a greater cause. Their own lives were more important than anything. Thus, none of the two elders attacked Gravis with any sense of commitment. They simply tried to be as careful as possible.
The fight dragged on like this for over an hour!
This was the most prolonged fight that Gravis had ever fought. Not because it was difficult, but because his enemies didn't give him any openings. 'Are they trying to exhaust my physical power?' Gravis thought.
No one had tried that tactic on him yet, but it seemed to work. On top of that, it was nearly impossible to foresee the attacks. The attacks came from spots so far apart that it should be impossible for the elders to get there. Gravis was sure that darkness cultivators had some kind of movement ability that they could use as long as they fought in the darkness.
He was constantly thrown back, and sometimes, when an unexpectedly powerful attack came, he became slightly injured. If he constantly used his full power to block, he would become exhausted quicker. Yet, the elders had more powerful bodies and took turns in attacking. Their stamina wasn't nearly as exhausted as Gravis'.
'This is bad! If this continues, I might actually die without having put up a fight!' Gravis thought. 'I haven't fought against someone that used this tactic before. I need to release, at least, 20% of my lightning with some added Spirit to kill one elder, but with their careful way of fighting, it's risky.'
After another couple of attacks, Gravis decided to change his way of fighting. As the next attack arrived, Gravis blocked it again, but surprisingly, the sound of clashing weapons was way quieter than before. Gravis had shown a blocking motion as a feint. Instead of actually blocking, he had let the elder throw his saber away. The elder's eyes widened in panic.
BANG!
Gravis released 40% of his lightning, killing the elder instantly. Yet, Byron seemed to have expected such a tactic from Gravis because before Gravis could retrieve his saber, it had already been absorbed into Byron's Spirit. Gravis was quite surprised by that since it had taken him only a split second to summon his saber. This meant that someone was continually trying to retrieve Gravis' weapon into their Spirit, and as soon as it had left Gravis' hand, they succeeded.
Only one elder and Byron were left, but Gravis had lost his weapon. Was that worth it? Definitely not! Gravis had fallen for Byron's trap. Gravis quickly searched the loot for another weapon but noticed that all the loot was gone. Byron had probably already absorbed all the loot that the dead disciples and elders had dropped. Like this, Gravis had no chance to use the weapon of someone else.
Whoosh, Whoosh!
Sounds of the air being cut could be heard as Gravis barely managed to dodge two daggers. Yet, because Gravis had no weapon to halt the remaining elder's advance, the elder continued attacking. The elder had seen that Gravis had no more weapons and attacked him with a flurry of attacks. The elder was attacking Gravis like crazy, but Gravis managed to dodge every single attack. Without his Will-Aura slowing the elder immensely, and without the evasion training with his Spirit Seed, Gravis would have long since been hit.
Gravis tried to sidestep the attacks to hit the elder, but the elder swung in very wide arcs, making it impossible to get close. On top of that, it was always only one dagger that attacked. The other one was in a position between defense and attack. If Gravis showed an inkling of closing the gap, the dagger would stab forward.
On top of that, Gravis felt that both daggers were fully loaded. He could survive a normal stab with no problem, but an attack fully loaded with darkness would sap him of all his Life Energy. If he still had the inherent Energy in his body, he could refill his Life Energy. Sadly, he had used it all up before. On top of that, if one dagger hit, the second one would come too.
If Gravis closed in and managed to hit the elder, both daggers would bury into his body, basically ending his life. A trade of injuries, a tactic that Gravis had used a lot of times before, wouldn't work since a body with no Life Energy would become weak, old, and wither away. This was what made darkness cultivators so dangerous and good in assassinations.
Getting hit by someone with the fire element, for example, would be destructive, but not a sure death. The advantage of fire, on the other hand, was that it could be used from range. Instead, darkness had to be infused into the body of the enemy. Yet, if a darkness cultivator managed that, the death of their prey would be assured.
Gravis had his inherent Energy inside his body, which would allow him to resist one such an attack by converting that Energy into Life Energy. Anyone else would just straight up die in one hit. Sadly, right now, he would be just like anyone else. One hit, and he would immediately die. Every attack could end his life.
The elder seemed to become more aggressive as time advanced. He saw that Gravis couldn't resist for much longer and became more aggressive. After all, Gravis couldn't dodge forever. His attacks became more fervent, and it became more difficult for Gravis to evade. If there were a second elder attacking, he would have long since been hit.
Suddenly, Gravis lost his balance, and a dagger came down. Gravis' eyes widened, but it was too late. The dagger stabbed right into his torso as blood shot out of it like a fountain. Seeing that he had hit, the second dagger also buried itself into the torso. The elder grew excited as he saw the shocked expression of Gravis… which suddenly transformed into a smirk. 'I wanted to wait for Byron, but he didn't show up.'
Everything had happened too fast, and the elder hadn't noticed it yet, but the torso he stabbed did belong to Gravis… but the torso wasn't attached to Gravis' body. Suddenly, the torso got incinerated as a sphere of lightning burned it. The eyes of the elder widened in panic.
BOOOOOM!
The Lightning Bomb exploded, killing the elder in the process. Inside the explosion, Gravis stood there, uninjured.
What had happened?
Before coming here, Gravis had gotten an incredible idea. He could regrow his body with his Energy, but the cut-off body part wouldn't vanish. Gravis didn't know how his fight would go, so he had decided to be cruel to himself, just to be sure.
While he was still in the Lightning Sect, he had cut off multiple parts of his torso, regrew them, and cut off different parts. After being done, Gravis had another torso of himself. After infusing some Life Lightning into it, the cuts healed. Sadly, without a Spirit, it couldn't regrow any limbs.
So, after the elder had become reckless, Gravis had summoned the second copy of his torso in front of him. It was still his torso, but it was a second one, which wasn't attached to anything. Like this, he had caught the elder. Of course, he also quickly summoned his Lightning Bomb inside the torso. His body wasn't able to withstand the combination of Spirit, will, and Lightning, so it got quickly incinerated.
Yet, it had worked. The one-second build-up of the Lightning Bomb had been hidden. Thus, the elder hadn't been able to flee.
Sadly, by dodging so long and summoning the Lightning Bomb, Gravis' Spirit was nearly empty. His Lightning was also only at 30% of his total, thanks to him reabsorbing some of the explosion and killing the elder.
Gravis had no weapon, around 10% of his Spirit, and 30% of his lightning left, and his most dangerous opponent was still alive.
Byron!
