Almost immediately after Hakros agreed, the lightning cage around Ourami dispersed in every direction as the pillar freed himself from its bindings.
All of a sudden, Ourami’s gaze shifted into the distance where a raging thunderstorm and a large circle of light were formed. It was the location Astratis and Yia were fighting; however, there was something that caused the pillar’s eyes to narrow behind his cerulean visor.
The circle of light started to wane and dim as it faded away. At the same time, the thunderstorm also subsided.
“…Something is wrong. Yia’s presence is becoming weaker. Did he already fall?” Ourami thought to himself as he inwardly frowned.
There was no doubt that the Son of Thunder was able to contend with them on equal grounds, but it should have been impossible for him to overwhelm Yia within such a short frame of time.
Unless Astratis advanced to a new stage of power without their knowledge, it did not make any sense. But, Ourami found that difficult to believe.
If Astratis had truly transcended to that level of power, there would have been no need to separate them. After all, at that stage, he would have been able to suppress both of them directly.
The only thing that made sense was that Astratis received reinforcements; however, the number of celestials who could join a battle against a pillar could be counted on one’s fingers alone. And, Ourami did not detect the Ethos of any such new celestials present in the Fourth Heart of the World.
“It is regrettable, but I cannot allow him to fall within my territory,” Ourami internalized.
Ideally, Ourami wanted Yia to be out of commission for a while. This would allow him to expand his own influence and territory without drawing too much attention to himself. However, if Yia were to disappear while in his territory, the other pillars would grow restless and raise their level of caution. This went against Ourami’s ultimate goal.
“Those old fools are all the same. They remain satisfied as long as they have their own little corner of the world to rule over. I, on the other hand, will not be bound by such archaic conventions.” Ourami said to himself.
The pillar swept his gaze across Izroth and Hakros as his metallic-like tail extended several meters in length.
In the following moment, a dim cerulean light could be seen flowing in between the crevices of the tail as it emitted a strange shifting sound.
Clank! Clank! Clank!
Ourami’s tail began to split into multiple sections, forming sharp metallic objects that were shaped roughly like a large tooth from a shark.
Each object was as big as two fists side by side and, just like Ourami, did not emit a single drop of Ethos.
By the time the last piece of Ourami’s tail detached, there were approximately fifty blade-like objects hovering above Ourami in a circle.
“Go,” Ourami ordered indifferently.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
When that single word left Ourami’s mouth, the fifty shards shot through the air at incredible speeds towards Izroth and Hakros!
‘Since they don’t contain any form of energy or lifeforce, I can’t follow them with my Energy Vision Sense. I will have to rely on my natural sense of perception if I want to avoid them. But, with my current stats, it’s much easier said than done.’
Two of the tail fragments approached Izroth with a wild flight pattern that caused them to be somewhat unpredictable. Though Izroth was able to narrowly evade the first tail fragment after successfully reading its flight path. Though he did not have much time to rest as the second tail fragment was not far off.
Izroth did not waste any time as he fired off a blade of wind from his Sword of the Storm.
The first strike did nothing as the tail fragment brushed it off. However, after two more attempts, Izroth was able to slightly alter its trajectory and made the fragment hit the ground a few meters away from his position.
Zeeeeeut…
When the tail fragment struck the earth, there was no tremble or rumbling—only the faint whisper of something quickly scratching against the ground.
Izroth glanced over in the direction where the tail fragment landed and noticed that an imprint that perfectly matched the object had been created.
The most frightening aspect was that the earth around where the tail fragment penetrated remained totally unscathed.
This kind of attack was many times more terrifying than a normal attack.
The fact that there was no damage at all around its target meant that every drop of power it contained was concentrated to a single point of near-flawless extremity.
An attack of that nature was virtually impossible to defend against without special means at one’s disposal!
To make matters even worse, there were fifty of said objects!
‘This is a bit troublesome. Forget stalling him, at this rate, we will be fortunate just to keep our lives.’
“Fortunate, indeed…” Izroth said to himself as a slight smile formed on his face.
Izroth’s original plan was simple. He wanted Hakros to charge in and attack just as he had previously done. This is why the behemoth called him crazy, but still readily agreed to follow Izroth’s instructions.
Hakros had no idea what Izroth was up to; however, he did not care as long as it did not involve running away from a fight that caused his blood to boil in excitement.
As for what Izroth had in mind, he was going to deploy his Boundless Nullifying Expanse.
With it, Izroth believed he should be able to disrupt whatever allowed Ourami to influence their bodies and skills.
Of course, the effects would only last a fleeting moment given the power gap that existed between himself and Ourami. But, it should have been enough for Hakros to close the distance and land a solid blow as Izroth found another way to temporarily restrict the pillar’s movement.
After all, considering the behemoth’s strength came from his bloodline, it should not be bound by the restrictions of the Boundless Nullifying Expanse.
Though, it was still a gamble.
Izroth was unsure whether or not Ourami was even using Ethos or another form of unique energy to affect them. If it turned out that the pillar also possessed a powerful bloodline similar to Hakros, then the plan would have ended in failure.
In the end, none of that mattered. One could create all the plans under the heavens. But, ultimately, before absolute strength, any plan was rendered meaningless. And, as someone who has been on both sides, Izroth knew this from firsthand experience.
‘In the face of absolute strength, plans are but an empty daydream. But, I suppose dealing with this kind of thing isn’t so bad.’
“Hakros, we’re moving to plan B,” Izroth stated as he did not halt his movement.
Bang!
Hakros held his fists together and knocked down one of the tail fragments rushing towards him.
“Hah? Plan B?” Hakros responded, confused by Izroth’s words.
Plan B? They never discussed any plan B.
“Yes. Plan B—we just fight until our heart’s content. That’s all.” Izroth stated with a carefree smile.
“Hahaha! You really are a crazy bastard! This plan—I like it even better than the last!” Hakros roared.
