Chapter 21: Voban Rage & Army of Darkness!

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Dark clouds choked the sky above the Balkan Peninsula, the air thick with the rumble of thunder and the flash of lightning. 

Voban stood facing Haru on the muddy ground, his expression calm but his emerald eyes blazing with fury. As his anger surged, the Sky responded, unleashing a furious storm of thunder and lightning. 

Haru blinked his deep gray eyes, seemingly unconcerned by Voban's wrath. He picked up his severed arm, pressing it against the wound, and whispered an incantation, activating his Authority. "O Earth, grant me the power of life!"

In an instant, the arm reattached itself seamlessly. 

Haru flexed his hand, confirming its full restoration, then turned his gaze to the old man standing twenty meters away - the oldest Campione, Sasha Dejanstahl Voban.

Lightning bolts crackled across the ravaged basin. The remaining conscious witches watched the two Devil Kings face off, despair gnawing at their hearts. 

They had just endured a harrowing summoning ritual, only to be caught in the crossfire of a battle between kings. Could their fate be any crueler?

Among the group of women, Liliana supported the trembling Mariya Yuri, watching the confrontation with a wry smile. *That King... he actually came here? And he stole Marquis Voban's prize!*

Noticing the distressed Liliana and Mariya Yuri in the crowd, Haru frowned and activated his Life Authority. 

Immense earth vein energy flowed into the two girls, replenishing their strength and healing their wounds. 

He extended the healing energy to the other witches as well. The unconscious witches' breathing gradually stabilized, and color returned to the faces of those who were awake, indicating their recovery. 

After a moment of silence, Voban addressed the young man who, despite being a Campione, exuded an aura closer to that of a Heretic God. 

"I've seen your file. You're the newcomer from the Far East, the suspected Sixth King who appeared just a few days ago. So tell me, what gives you the audacity to steal my prey?"

"Oh my, it seems I should be asking *you* that question. You dared to touch what belongs to me, to slap me in the face so openly. What gave *you* the audacity?" Haru's tone was laced with amusement and a hint of challenge.

"Heh, for a woman? You're still so young." Voban's smile was cold and predatory.

"Well, unlike you, I'm still quite capable in that department." Haru looked pointedly at Voban's lower body, his words dripping with malice.

"Isn't that right, Doni?" Haru turned towards Doni, who, sensing the dangerous atmosphere, was attempting to discreetly slip away.

"Hahahaha, how would I know? I just happened to wander through here while I was lost. Speaking of which, where did you run off to, Andrea?" Doni called out his friend's name, his feet moving quickly as he attempted to escape.

*BOOM!* A lightning bolt, thick as a water bucket, struck the ground in front of Doni, creating a massive crater that radiated intense heat.

"it seems I'm stuck. Honestly, I'd hate to be accused of assaulting an elderly gentleman." Doni sighed dramatically, but his eyes gleamed with excitement. 

Witnessing that terrifying attack had rekindled his battle lust. The hand gripping his knight's sword began to take on a silvery sheen.

Twelve miniature moons materialized around Haru, silently orbiting him like protective satellites.

Dozens of giant wolves emerged from the shadows, gently picking up the witches in their jaws and carrying them away from the battlefield.

The Death Witch, her body reduced to a mere head, shed tears of ice from her vacant eyes. With an expression of utter relief, she crumbled into dust.

"The old geezer's got a soft side, huh?" Doni chuckled, seemingly unaffected by the macabre scene.

"Protecting valuable resources is simply common sense, wouldn't you agree?" Voban's voice was low and emotionless. 

The ritual had successfully summoned a god, and even though Haru had slain it, the witches' value in Voban's eyes had increased. They had been upgraded from expendable pawns to precious assets worthy of protection.

Suddenly, Voban's eyes flashed green. Haru and Doni froze mid-movement as a barrage of lightning bolts rained down from the sky, engulfing the earth in a blinding fury.

Just before they struck, Doni broke free of the paralysis, his steel blade flashing with incredible speed as he effortlessly sliced through the lightning bolts. 

achieving a feat worthy of a mythical "Raikiri." He then swung his sword upwards, unleashing a wave of sword energy that ripped through space, hurtling towards Voban.

As the thunderous assault rained down upon him, the miniature moons orbiting Haru emitted a silvery glow, transforming into shimmering bands of light that rotated at high speed. The lightning bolts were deflected by an invisible force.

Then, a massive, fifty-meter wide moon materialized high above the battlefield, glowing red-hot from atmospheric friction. It plummeted towards Voban, its immense mass accelerating under gravity's pull.

Cracks appeared in the earth as countless undead servants erupted from the ground, throwing themselves in the path of Doni's sword energy, their bodies a shield of flesh and bone.

A deafening roar echoed through the air as a colossal wyvern burst from the depths of the earth, its wings carrying it skyward to intercept Doni's attack.

The wyvern's wings and scales were silver, its massive body spanning over twenty meters. An aura of divine power radiated from it, marking it as a true divine beast. However, its once-gleaming scales were now dull and lifeless.

Patches of scales had fallen away, revealing rotting flesh beneath. Several areas even exposed bare bone, creating a ghastly and pitiful sight.

The wyvern's right foreleg, its equivalent of a hand, was missing from the elbow down. It had also lost its left eye, leaving only a hollow socket.

This was one of the divine beasts Voban had slain in his younger years, now resurrected as a zombie wyvern by his Death Authority, slumbering deep within the mountain.

"Amuse yourselves with my servants," Voban's voice boomed, cold and commanding. 

With the sound of cracking earth and an eerie glow, tens of thousands of undead soldiers and wolves materialized, arrayed like an army. Light cavalry, heavily armored knights, musketeers, lightly armed infantry, heavily armored infantry, groups of witches, warriors who had been knights and even Holy Knights in life. 

and packs of wolves the size of horses, rivaling lesser divine beasts in power – they swarmed Doni, their sheer numbers a formidable force, buying time for their monstrous, near-divine zombie wyvern ally.

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To be Continued..

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