Chapter 36: The divine weapon resurfaces

The red aura surrounding Arav's body rapidly began re-entering him, with the air around him getting heavier. The figure stood still with his head slightly tilted towards Arav.

For a few moments, there was nothing. Arav's aura had completely entered his body with a strange silence ensuing. Arav's silver hair waved in the wind moving around them, while his eyes facing the ground made his condition a mystery.

[FWOOSH!]

The Dragon on Arav's back suddenly began radiating a constant stream of red flames, while the amount was small, it filled the surroundings with a strange heat that reached far away from Arav, making Yaksh and Adhrit sense it as well.

[BLAZE!]

"HRAAARGH!!!"

A familiar battle cry rang in Yaksh's ears, he stared in Arav's direction with sweat covering his forehead. He and Adhrit witnessed the ground around Arav melting and turning into hot red lava. The flames kept rising, reaching several meters high in the sky within what appeared as seconds that had passed.

The next thing the figure witnessed was Arav's open palms surrounded in red flames grabbing his head.

[CRASH!]

The red stream of flames left a trail of molten debris as it shot forward; the figure was pushed through the remaining houses at a rapid rate.

Arav raised the figure towards the sky by his head.

His left hand compressed the red flames surrounding his body and blasted the figure into the sky.

[SHING!]

The entire area lit up with a bright flash of red light the moment a sharp energy blade appeared from Arav's right wrist.

The blade connected at the chest of the figure, resulting in a powerful explosion of red flames in the sky that parted the clouds.

[WOO!]

Without a second of delay, another red stream of flames was shot from the ground. Arav joined both of his palms together and smacked the figure right over his head.

The figure crashed on the ground with a powerful force.

[WOOSH!]

Arav brought both of his open palms close in front of his chest; the flames surrounding him rushed between his palms and began forming a sphere of condensed energy.

"RAAARGH!!!!"

[BOOM!]

With a battle cry, Arav pushed his palms towards the ground, resulting in the sphere bursting into a wide beam of red flames that crashed directly on the figure. An incredibly strong sound resounded in the dimension, while the beam of flames melted the ground in a circular area meters in diameter.

"Haah... haaah..." Arav breathed heavily while slowly relaxing his hands. It was clear that the red flames surrounding him had taken a toll on him, resulting in exhaustion. His red eyes gazed down at the figure's location as the smoke generated from the explosion slowly dispersed.

One of the figure's knees rested on the ground, while his right hand was raised above his face in a defensive stance. His entire body was red, with steam constantly flowing out of him. Arav's eyes widened as he noticed the figure's skin suddenly tear. To add to his surprise, each piece of the broken skin turned inward, resulting in the hot red part getting inside and a familiar dark color once again covering the figure.

The figure stood up with his head raised toward Arav, who still floated in the sky.

[WHOOSH!]

Suddenly compressed air was blasted away from the figure.

[SMACK!]

Arav barely managed to block the figure's attack as he suddenly appeared right in front of him. Arav's both wrists forming a cross directly in front of his face shook with the strength of the figure.

'He..just got faster.' Arav barely got enough time to formulate these thoughts,

[BHUM!]

Arav was sent crashing down the next second, the red flames surrounding him disappeared.

[WOO!] [TING!]

A metallic collision sound echoed sharply in the area. Arav looked up and found a familiar man standing between him and the figure.

[WOOSH!]

A dark-red energy suddenly burst out of the man and sent the figure flying a distance away. The figure stopped his fall by suddenly floating above the ground.

"Your Majesty, I request a bit of explanation," Aizen said while he stretched his left open palm towards Arav.

"Hah, in short, that blue light in the distance is the reason behind all the commotion. It requires demi-human's energy for some unknown reason," Arav explained as he stood up by grabbing Aizen's hand. While his eyes were fixed on Aizen's eyes that were entirely black with veins crawling out of them, a smirk suddenly appeared on Arav's face.

"And he had been owning me for about an hour now," Arav said while his eyes moved at the figure.

"I suggest we own him back," Aizen said while raising his sword.

[WOOSH!]

Red flames once again erupted out of Arav, but this time accompanied by Aizen's ominous dark-red energy.

[WOO!]

A stream of dark-red energy shot from their location directly at the figure;

[SHING!]

The blade of Aizen's sword rang while cutting the air, the next moment a slash of dark-red energy was launched at the figure;

[BHUM!]

The figure jumped at Aizen while punching through the dark-red energy slash;

Just before his punch could reach Aizen;

[SMACK!]

Arav suddenly appeared right beside the figure and connected a kick directly at his abdomen;

[CRASH!]

The figure jumped right back at Arav as soon as his feet crashed on the ground,

[SLASH!]

A slash of dark-red energy appeared at his right and blasted him away.

[SWOO!]

The figure flew fiercely at Aizen at a blinding speed. His fist stretched forward, kept moving rapidly towards Aizen's head. Then suddenly, that single moment was stretched to the length of several, Aizen's glowing red eyes reflected the figure's dark fist nearing him.

Aizen moved to the left, causing the figure's arm to brush off his hair;

[TING!] [SLASH!]

The next thing both the figure and Arav saw was a powerful blast of dark-red energy occurring on the figure's back and throwing him forward;

"Your Majesty, something more is required for this one?" Aizen spoke while he carefully scanned the figure, getting up after the previous impact.

"I need a few moments."

[FWOSH!]

Arav responded, as his red aura suddenly dispersed with a gust of wind. Aizen gazed at him with a confused expression, but the next moment he turned his eyes towards the figure.

[WOOSH]

Dark-red energy burst out of Aizen, at the same time a yellow aura appeared around Arav. Arav opened both of his palms and brought them together in front of his chest, forming a circle in the process. Not even an iota of doubt remained in Aizen's eyes, as the familiar instance reminded him of a spectacle not much in the distant past.

[WOO!]

A stream of dark-red energy was shot at the figure, and the figure lunged his hands forward in an attempt to block the incoming attack. Aizen saw the figure's hands slowly stretching forward, and everything around him appeared to be slowed down while his own speed kept rising even further.

[BOOM!]

An explosion of dark-red energy pushed the figure back. Before he could stabilize himself, the same dark energy shot at him from behind. The next moment, the impact occurred on the figure's left, with another sudden energy slash on his right. The speed of Aizen's attacks made the figure appear motionless while the continuous explosions in all four directions locked him in a single location.

At the same time, the yellow energy surrounding Arav kept intensifying while forming a huge lotus above his head, along with a small lotus forming in the center of the circle created by his fingers. Suddenly, Arav's eyes shone brightly with yellow energy while making his tattered clothing flutter rapidly.

The next moment witnessed the huge lotus raging with powerful yellow energy heading directly at the figure. The ground shook just by the presence of the terrifying power, along with a blinding yellow light engulfing the sky.

The barrage of dark-red explosions was abruptly halted, but the figure still wasn't gifted even a second of relief. Not even a second later, the dark shell covering his entire body shivered by the huge lotus being inches away from him. With a bright flash of light, the powerful sound of the divine weapon colliding with the figure shook the entire dimension.

Arav gazed at the still occurring explosion with hopeful yet tired eyes, a complete contrast to Aizen's reaction.

His eyes were plagued with doubt and concern, along with an uneasiness in his heart making him restless. 'Gaining access to Padmastra is an impressive feat…but I'm not certain if this would suffice.' Aizen refrained from voicing his words of doubt, keeping the thoughts in his mind.

[BHUM!] [GRAAARGH!!!]

The sound of a terrifying beast roared in the surroundings. Aizen's eyes widened with utter shock, and he quickly gazed in Arav's direction. Arav wasn't any less surprised by the situation; his shocked eyes shivered while staring at a location that sent chills down Aizen's spine. Cracks began forming on the ground under the bright yellow lotus that was still getting pushed down.

—

[WOOSH!]

A silver tear suddenly opened at a distance away from both Adhrit and Yaksh, with a similar crack appearing right in front of them. Occasional yet sudden tremors appearing in Adhrit's silver energy threatened his stability, while Yaksh gazed at the elves with anxious eyes.

"Hooh, I did it!" Adhrit spoke in a cheerful tone, while his pale face covered in sweat showed quite the contrast.

"Finally..." Yaksh stepped closer to the crack, which showed the image of the large statue of Pralaya's feet far closer than their location. A sense of relief suddenly washed over Yaksh the moment his stretched hands felt the black surface of the statue inside the crack.

[COUGH!] [SPLURT!]

Adhrit fell on his back with an alarming amount of blood gushing out of his mouth. Yaksh turned back and gazed at him lying on the ground with eyes blankly staring at the sky. The silver energy previously surrounding his body had completely disappeared, leaving Adhrit breathing heavily on the ground.

Yaksh took a step towards Adhrit.

"No… save them.. I'll be fine..." Adhrit's blood-soaked lips stretched a smile, while his shivering hands showed a thumbs up to Yaksh.

[BOOM!]

Before Yaksh could make a decision, a loud sound in the distance along with powerful tremors widened his eyes. The moment his gaze turned in the direction of the sound, he was met with a sight that froze Yaksh's spine.

A beam of red light suddenly tore through the petals of Padmastra, terrifyingly similar to one Yaksh had seen countless times. The bright red light lit up the sky and coloured every iota of the dimension in the same. Yaksh's eyes widened as he noticed a bright yellow light along with a stream of dark-red energy a distance away from the explosion.

[Chapter 36: END]