Distraction

The Grandmaster's major injuries were healed by Slem just enough so that he could move for the time being. As soon as he could move, he rushed towards the Saint and struck his arms with his sword, changing the trajectory of the attack aimed at Myron.

Annoyed, the Saint's right arm glowed in a red light and he threw a punch towards the Grandmaster. Rolling to the side, he successfully dodged the Saint's attack and counter attacked with Shooting Stars. The barrage of attacks were blocked by the Saint easily with the use of his tendrils. 

While his tendrils blocked the attacks, his fingers glowed red and he started snapping his fingers, sending small speedy specks of red flames at the Grandmaster.

He dodged the flames skillfully by rolling to the side. He stopped his momentum by digging his sword on the ground. 'I should have gone all out from the beginning!' His eyes flickered and glowed violet, as he used Moon Body and cracks of violet light appeared from inside his body, indicating each of his veins.

Clenching his teeth, he enchanted his weapon, Scatterstar, with three <Arcanes > this time. Enchanting with Azure Flame Ball, Azure Flame Wave and Shooting Stars, he gave up on the preciseness of his attacks and focused on explosive attacks. His nose started bleeding from all the essence he used.

He had already expended more than half of his essence during his fight, so using four <Arcanes > at once nearly finished all of his essence. A jolt ran through his head and his nose started bleeding. 

Ignoring his bleeding nose and headache, he rushed towards the Saint and began attacking him. Although he hadn't enhanced his weapon with Azure Gaze, the swordsmanship he used was on par with a master and hit the spots he desired accurately. Each attack he made created a powerful explosion, sending shockwaves around the surroundings. Even though the Saint was deflecting the attacks with his hands and tendrils, the explosion caused damage to him.

Seeing his tendrils getting destroyed one after another, the Saint gritted his teeth and rushed at the Grandmaster, losing all of his reason. He attacked the Grandmaster like a beast, swiping and throwing punches at him with his enhanced claws and fists. The Grandmaster backed away and dodged, but a punch connected with his left arm, breaking it in an instant.

"Agh!" He clenched his teeth as he backed away further. "How long!?" He questioned Zane with a shout.

In a distance, Zane was fully focused on charging the essence, sweating all over his body. Annoyed that his concentration was broken, he frowned and shouted back, "Stall him for 30 more seconds."

Due to his experience in feeding the Shade-Aegis Slug, he quickly adapted to the relic's rejection and filled it up. Flooding the relic with his essence, it charged up rapidly and was almost done. He was at a critical juncture to activate the relic.

The Grandmaster gritted his teeth and dodged or parried the incoming attacks of the Saint, but his balance was hindered by his broken left arm and he wasn't fast enough. The attacks of the Saint started grazing him and causing damage to his body, encumbering his movements.

The Saint threw a punch towards his left arm which he couldn't parry, so he had to leap to the right to dodge the attack. But in the middle of dodging, he saw a grin on the Saint's mouth, and his left hand's index finger pointing at the place where he would land. He widened his eyes and rolled as soon as he landed, but it was too late.

A streak of red light left the Saint's finger and pierced through his leg, creating a small hole and damaging his bone.

"AAAGH!" A visceral scream left his mouth. A part of his bone had disintegrated into nothing, and he couldn't handle that pain. Although in pain, he tried to stand up, but he failed and plopped right back on the ground, on his knees once again.

The Saint walked towards him slowly and stopped right in front of him. He reached out with his clawy hand and grabbed the Grandmaster by his throat.

"Ughh Mmph" He started struggling, digging into the hands of the Saint with his nails.

"Hahah.... Good....Battle...." The Saint smiled from ear to ear, showing off his bloody and sharp teeth. The Grandmaster looked towards Zane, but lost all hope when he saw him still charging the relic. With no strength left in his body to resist anymore, he let go of the Saint's hand and closed his eyes.

'I'm sorry everyone... Arcturus has fallen..... because of me....' He remembered his city and his people in his final moments, and he felt guilt.

But right when the Saint was about to snap his neck, three explosions occurred far from them. The face of the three magma giants who were still wreaking havoc in the low-level exploded simultaneously and they came falling down.

One of the giant's eye cores were struck by two thick bolts of lightning.

One was bombarded by two concentrated white balls of light, which looked like two miniature suns.

One was struck by a huge black and white flying whale. Upon closer look, the white whale was entirely made up of stars.

Upon hearing this explosion, the Saint jerked his head backwards and stared at the direction of the three giants, his eyes wide. His body shivered as he mumbled. "True....Saints...."

This momentary distraction was enough for Zane to fully charge the relic and activate it. A thick line of black light with specks of stars in it shot out from the waxed finger and hit the right side of the Saint's body. The light didn't stop and hit the Grandmaster too, piercing through his left arm. Then it went on and destroyed the buildings in it's path.

The black light disappeared as fast as it appeared. But the effect it had was tremendous. The whole right side of the Saint was missing, and his body looked like the crescent moon. He released his left hand, which was choking the Grandmaster.

The Grandmaster fell down on the ground. His eyes were bloodshot as he looked up at the sky.

"Blargh"

He turned his head to the left and vomited a mouthful of blood on the ground. Then he moved his head down, looking at his left hand, which was missing from his body.