While Izroth was surprised that Maragos was able to keep up with his speed, Maragos was even more taken aback by the fact that his attack had been blocked. In addition, he was even pushed back in the process!
Even though he changed the trajectory of his attack midway, the power it contained was much greater than Vrys' earlier charge.
"I can see why Vrys died so swiftly by your hands. I do not know what kind of creature you are hiding in the skin of man, but you are no mortal." Maragos stated as two spiraling vortexes of black energy gathered in the palm of his hands.
The next moment, two thin swords with blades that mirrored the night appeared within Maragos' hands.
Although the blades were incredibly thin and seemed brittle, the sharp blade aura that came from their edges well surpassed that of Izroth's Sword of the Storm.
"Evgos, Edaros—prepare the Wilting Gauntlet. I will handle this creature in the clothing of a man." Maragos ordered.
The instant Maragos gave the order, Evgos and Edaros moved near one another. The two held the palm of their hands together as dark mist converged to the space in between them. This mist started off as formless; however, it began to slowly take the shape of something that roughly resembled a gauntlet.
'Hm? What are they up to?'
Izroth did not know what this Wilting Gauntlet was that Maragos wanted his subordinates to prepare; however, he had no plans of waiting around to find out.
Zeeeeut!
In the blink of an eye, Izroth vanished from where he stood and reappeared next to Evgos and Edaros using Primed Instantaneous Movement.
"?!" Evgos and Edaros were caught off guard by Izroth's sudden appearance, but neither of them made a move in response.
Swoosh!
Izroth swept his sword sideways as a wave of sword intent rushed out from his blade. It was his Fifth Sword Form: Receding Tides.
But, right as the sword intent was about to strike the two anzeyta, a pitch-black wave of energy collided with it, destroying Izroth's attack and creating a deep scar in the earth.
'Oh? A bit interesting…'
The black wave of energy just now was something Izroth was similar with—sword intent! Or, to be more precise, sword aura!
In the Seven Realms, when one understood the basics of the sword, it was able to transform and physically manifest itself to sword intent. If one hoped to achieve anything worthwhile on the path of swords, then materializing one's sword intent was seen as the true starting line.
From what Izroth understood so far, the sword intent in RML seemed to work on a set of eerily similar principles.
But, although it was all usually placed under the same name, in truth, there were different levels of sword intent.
Once someone mastered the basics of sword intent, it could evolve to the next stage—sword aura.
The difference between sword intent and sword aura was like that of night and day. One's sword became sharper, quicker, and overall more powerful.
'It's not as strong as the sword intent I faced against Tal'Nis, but I cannot afford to be careless. Still, I have to find a way to stop whatever it is they are preparing.'
Bzzzzzt!
Out of nowhere, a surge of lightning pulsed from Izroth's body that spread out in every direction.
〈Battle Alert: «Warrior of Death, Evgos» has been paralyzed by the skill «Lightning Armor» for 1.25 seconds!〉
〈Battle Alert: «Warrior of Death, Edaros» has been paralyzed by the skill «Lightning Armor» for 1.25 seconds!〉
〈Battle Alert: You have gained a temporary shield of [14,448] that will decay by [2,890] every second!〉
Thanks to the Lightning Armor passive, Izroth managed to temporarily immobilize two of the anzeyta. As a result, the dark mist being gathered by Evgos and Edaros started to slow down considerably. However, it seemed that simply paralyzing them was not enough to fully cancel what they were planning.
As for Maragos, he escaped to a range just outside of Izroth's Lightning Armor as it was actively discharging. And, as he was falling back to a safe distance to not get caught in the wave of lightning, Maragos sent out two overbearing spirals of dark Ethos that originated from his dark blades.
Soon after Maragos performed this action, a strong gale encircled Izroth's Sword of the Storm. The following moment, his figure flickered as he successfully avoided Maragos' attack.
However, it was not over. Instead of dispersing or continuing to travel forward, the two spirals of dark Ethos changed their direction to match that of Izroth's!
'I see. It must be a homing-type attack.'
Izroth's figure flickered all throughout the battlefield as he avoided the spirals. Simultaneously, Izroth swung his Sword of the Storm from every angle imaginable as intense blades of wind shot forth towards the three anzeyta.
Izroth utilized the Tempest Strikes effect of his Sword of the Storm to shower a barrage of ranged sword strikes at his enemies. Not only did this keep Maragos on a constant move, but it also obstructed Evgos and Edaros' progress.
Izroth also targeted the dark spirals in an attempt to destroy them; however, as if they had a mind of their own, the spirals avoided a direct collision with his blades of wind.
'There is a sinister energy coming from those spirals. The destructive power is weaker than his first attack, but… That's the alarming point. Something is telling me that if I get hit by those spirals, while I won't die immediately, I would be at an instant disadvantage. It's unfortunate that I am unable to use my ninth sword form. Though whether or not it would even be effective is another story.'
Izroth glanced over at Astratis, who was currently sitting in a meditative pose with his eyes closed behind his Lighting Barricade.
Izroth's Ninth Sword Form: World Quelling Ripple destroyed all incoming projectiles as well as any hostile magic or mana in its area of influence. But, was Ethos even considered magic or mana? After learning it himself, Izroth believed that it was closer to something like essence more than anything.
Of course, more importantly, Izroth did not whether or not his quelling ripple would register Astratis' Lightning Barricade as "hostile" and end up disrupting it. If that happened, Astratis would be left completely defenseless and Izroth understood that someone like Maragos would not let such an opportunity pass him by.
'Something that can buy time while restricting their movements without affecting Astratis…'
Izroth pondered for a moment as he continued his assault from a distance while evading the neverending dark spirals. That's when it suddenly dawned on him.
'Of course… There is that item I received from her. It's perfect for this kind of situation. I'm not sure how long it will take to set up, but it's worth a shot.'
As Izroth came up with a potential solution, Maragos concentrated on fending off his onslaught of attacks to assist in hastening the Wilting Gauntlet.
Needless to say, the anzeyta head warrior did not enjoy being forced into defending; however, from the very start, he never lost sight of the bigger picture.
"Once the Wilting Gauntlet is constructed, we can deal with this creature and the Son of Thunder's protective shielding in one swoop. Until then, I will allow him to run wild a little longer." Maragos growled to himself as he continuously intercepted the blades of wind from Izroth's Tempest Strikes.
Crrrrckle!
Without warning, one of the blades of wind Maragos blocked sent a surge of lightning throughout his body.
-45,548
"?!" Maragos felt his muscle constricting as his movements ceased. However, he had no idea what just happened. He blocked the blade of wind just like all the others before it, yet the moment his swords came into contact with that specific blade of wind, he felt something shock him.
Zeeeut!
With almost no delay from when Maragos was struck, Izroth consumed a charge of his Primed Instantaneous Movement to instantly arrive in front of the head warrior.
An overbearing aura emerged from Izroth's Sword of the Storm as he cut downward towards Maragos' head!
A split second ago, Izroth infused his Third Sword Form: Collapsing Thunder into one of the blades of wind he fired in Maragos' direction. This blade of wind was more than twice as fast as the others. But, that alone would not have been enough to deceive someone like Maragos with his abundance of battle experience.
Instead, Izroth timed his strikes to where he fired off a normal blade of wind ahead of time. Simultaneously, he used the instant attack effect of his First Sword Form: Converging Paths to send out a well-concealed blade of wind that contained his Third Sword Form: Collapsing Thunder.
Fortunately, not only did this attack slip through Maragos' defenses, but the paralyzing effects of Izroth's third sword form also went off.
Seeing this, Izroth swiftly made his move, seizing the brief opening to follow up with his First Baneful Sword: Destruction!
