Chapter 21: Vs High-Class (2)

[Third Person's Point of View]

The intense bright light blinded the devils momentarily, leaving spots in their vision as it slowly faded away. In the distance, they could see a solitary figure floating in the air, patches of clothes torn and a small stream of blood trickling down his nose.

But the thing that caught their attention was the sight of lightning, thick and crackling, coiling and snaking around the man's body like serpents. And then, as if that wasn't enough, his eyes seemed to glow with a blinding intensity, like two mini neutron stars within his sockets.

The moment he got hit by that intense bolt of lightning, Augustus activated his magic [Absorb and Store Lightning].

Except for the initial damage done by the bolt, he was practically unharmed.

'Cue me some AC/DC music and I'll be a knock-off Thor' he mused to himself as he sped off towards his enemies.

Hailey followed by two other devils, had already set off to defeat the third Lotus King, while Augustus and Lennox engaged in another battle. Their goal was to destroy all the wooden puppets before strengthening their King's defences against Augustus.

Using his spell [Eagle Eye Vision], Augustus scanned the entire battlefield while exchanging blows with Lennox. Although he was doing slightly better than their previous encounter, he knew he wouldn't be able to defeat his opponents at this rate.

His brain ran full-time as he came up with a plan to an edge over over his opponents.

[Multi-Cast Lightning Release: Kirin]

Eventually, he decided to use the already-summoned lightning clouds by Hailey, who was rapidly destroying Lotus Kings, to his advantage.

Seven massive oriental dragon heads made up of pure lightning peaked their heads out of the cloud, and they struck their targets instantly.

--Boom

Just as the spell struck their location amid their battle, Augustus quickly reacted to the incoming spell and used his lightning absorption ability to protect himself and teleported away from the location.

[Teleport]

-Boom

The peaceful town of Ameing was suddenly jolted by consecutive thunderclaps and a light earthquake. In the distance, one of the mountains crumbled under the intense white light that followed.

It took five seconds the once blindingly bright light to slowly diminished, giving way to a hazy smoke that hung in the air. The group of devils huddled together, their bodies visibly shaken and some with singed clothes and moderate injuries.But no one died.

"Huh?" Carter's head swivelled around, his brow furrowing in confusion. "Where is Hailey?" he wondered aloud. Suddenly, a black-haired girl grabbed his shoulder, her other hand trembling as she pointed somewhere with urgency.

Everyone's attention snapped to where the hand was pointing and their eyes widened in shock at the scene unfolding before them. In the distance, a white-haired devil held a blonde girl by her neck, her feet dangling in the air. Lightning coiled around her body, crackling and hissing like angry snakes.

The group called out in terror, "HAILEY!" as the figure tightened his grip on their Queen's neck. Conner and Lennox lunged forward, but they could not reach them in time.

Augustus looked at the approaching figures with cold eyes. "Lennox, your subordinates took my parents from me. I'll take your queen in return"

His eyes glowed a fiery orange that seemed to pierce through the darkness and two red beams shot out with blinding intensity, searing through the air and penetrating Hailey's forehead. The resulting explosion of her head resembled a watermelon bursting, pieces flying in all directions.

"NO!" All peerage members let out a collective scream of horror as the blond girl's decapitated body dropped to the ground.

"You bastard!", Lennox charged full speed, veins bulging on his furious face and swung his glowing gauntlet-clad fist at his opponent.

[Teleport]

The devils were thrown into chaos as they watched their second-in-command, queen, and sister figure get brutally murdered before their very eyes. Augustus suddenly appeared behind them, catching them off guard. With one swift swing of his black blade, he obliterated a devil standing directly in front of him. Their primal instincts finally kicked in as the rest of the group backed away and huddled around their leader for protection.

Once again, the two sides stood apart from one another, with Augustus' back facing the town.

Lennox's once furious expression had morphed into a calculated composure as he observed his adversary. He understood the reasoning behind attacking Hailey first: if she managed to survive, she could easily fend off any distractions their opponent threw their way, prolonging their fight. 'It was as if.....'

"You are the Tarot Killer right?" Lennox asked his opponent, pressing on. "You kill gang members and now rob Trading houses, but never have you harmed innocent people. In fact, I've noticed that during our fight, you purposely tried to keep it away from the town."

A terrifying smile emerged on Lennox's face, as he took out a scroll from his spatial storage. "Somehow you want to avoid destroying that town, don't you?"

He tore apart the scroll, and a blazing core of pure white energy, a few hundred meters in diameter manifested in front of him, the heat radiating from it was enough to make skin blister even from a distance.

"Save them if you can"

The miniature sun hurtled towards him blazingly fast for something its size, but for him, avoiding it was too easy. A simple teleport, or even his raw speed was enough for the job. But the problem lay there.

Dodging the spell meant that the town behind him would be the one to suffer the impact.

'Shit'

For the first time since he transmigrated in this world, he was in a moral dilemma. His brain and instincts repeatedly blared at him to dodge the little ball of death.

But in that movement of indecisiveness, waves of memories flooded his mind - playing in the neighbourhood with his parents and their affection, even Mr Dave's friendly grin and his soon-to-be-born daughter. 

He gritted his teeth and cast the strongest defensive magic he knew. After all, avoiding the attack was never an option for him.

[Majestic Armour]

[Aegis of Infinity]

A shimmery translucent purple armour covered the white-haired devil's body along with a nearly invisible forcefield-like shield that extended out of his body like a protective wall, extending a few hundred meters around him.

---Boom

A large inverted U-shaped dome of energy and destruction formed; a swirling mass of vibrant colours - purples, blues, and pinks - that seem to shift and change constantly. It stretched across the sky, dwarfing even the tallest mountains in its wake. Lightning crackled within the dome, adding sparks of bright white light to the mix. 

And just as it was about to reach its peak, the massive ball of energy fizzled out, like a punctured balloon.

The smoke and dust settled down, revealing Augustus' figure. His body was covered in wounds, some minor and others deep and severe. Burn marks marred his skin, creating an intricate pattern of darkened flesh. His clothes, previously damaged, were now tattered and singed, barely hanging on to his battered body. Heavy exhales could be heard from him as he tried to catch his breath. After all, tanking an attack which could demolish a small country was not a feat he could pull off without massive stress.

Celestial Armour was his attempt at a knockoff Susanoo since he was unable to cast the real one yet. While it did reduce some of the damage that bled through the Aegis, Augustus deemed it a failure.

The Aegis, however, was not a complete spell. It was not due to any lack of effort on Augustus' part. In fact, the Aegis of Infinity was the first spell he had ever created from start to finish. As a perfectionist, he wanted it to be the most powerful defensive spell ever made, even surpassing Satoru's Infinity.

To his own chagrin, he had overlooked the limitation of Demonic Energy while crafting the spell, resulting in its ability to only form one layer at a time.

Originally, The Aegis of Infinity had four layers, designed to be used together.

[Layer One: |Arcane Neutralizer| - Negates direct magical attacks.]

[Layer Two: |Kinetic Absorber| - Neutralizes physical force and momentum.]

[Layer Three: |Elemental Ward| - Provides immunity to elements fire, ice, lightning, etc, be it magical or natural]

[Layer Four: |Psyche Barrier| - Protects against mental and soul-based assaults.]

When mastered, this spell had the power to make someone nearly unbeatable. However, he could only tap into a fraction of its true potential, maybe just 10% at best.

Besides being limited to utilizing only one layer at a time, the shield's effectiveness in blocking harm depended on the amount of magic infused into it to maintain its durability. Furthermore, there was a threshold for the intensity of attacks that it could successfully block.

To put it simply, if the shield was deemed to be able to withstand 5000 units of damage and was struck with an attack of 7000, Augustus would receive a transmission of 2000 in damage.

But any number of attacks under its durability limits won't even faze it, so it was similar to the legendary fixed damage reduction ability.

[Regenerate]

Augustus ascended in the air, while the damage and wounds on his body began to repair themselves. His skin, previously burnt and torn, slowly began to knit back together. Piece by piece, the wounds disappeared and his body regained its strength and vitality. Within moments, he stood before his opponents, completely unscathed, as if he had never been injured at all.

The devils eyed him warily, their faces turning even more grim as they witnessed his miraculous recovery speed back to full health.

Even Lennox would have mistaken him for a Phenex if he didn't know all the members of that accursed family personally.

A heavy silence hung in the air, but it was broken when Lennox carefully removed the white gauntlets from his hands and stored them away. Carter, standing next to his king, took this as a cue and raised his hand into the air. A red gauntlet appeared around his fist, adorned with a green jewel in its centre.

'A Twice Critical?!', Augustus who was keenly observing his opponent's movements, was surprised by their sudden set of actions, and his eyes widened in surprise at his first look at a Sacred Gear.

'These fuckers were really holding back', he snorted in indignation, but suddenly his Keen Instincts kicked in as a fist blurred towards him at lightning speed.

[Titan's Fist]

Lennox's voice rang out just as his fists connected with Augustus' solar plexus, and air seemed to split open with a deafening crack.

In an explosion of sound and force, Augustus cannon-balled backwards, his body breaking the barrier of sound as it flew through the air, leaving behind a trail of emerging sonic-booms.

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Author-san here!!!

Another week of updates done...

We came so close to our goal for the last chapter.

Let's do it with this one.

Let's get to 200 power stones for this chapter, completing a double centurion week.

Next chapter on Monday

(I really don't have any plans for an extra chapter this week. But if you guys somehow complete the goal, I'll post the new chapter on Sunday.)

Anyway, See Ya on Monday (preferably).