Chương 69: Chapter 66: Soulward

Father didn't try to dodge. There simply was no space to. His grip on the sword tightened. Even though there wasn't any outward change, his figure seemed to grow taller as he finally took a step forward. A tremor ran through the land he was stepping on, as cracks began to appear on the scorched plateau. Small and Large chunks of stone sprang up with his step, defying gravity. I knew Walking Mountain to be a defensive form, but there was very little that was defensive about how Father displayed the moves next.

He lurched on his heel and shot towards the hurtling meteors. The chunks of stone he split in his wake shot upwards to neutralise a few of the meteor strikes, however, the bigger problems still remained unsolved. As crashing devastation escalated all around him, Father met the blazing meteors head-on, swinging his blade with such force as though it were a warhammer instead of a single-edged blade he was wielding. The crushing strike didn't simply cleave through the rounded meteor.

No, the destructive force splintered the scorched stone into thousands of shards. Some of it even turned into fine powder and swept through the air. The rest of the meteors met the same fate, as his figure sprang from one to the next, the mountain-crushing strike cleaving through them in an unmatched display of strength. The debris flew in all directions. Some of the meteor shards were large enough to render even a prestigious-class Awakened lifeless.

Larius and Rowin, who had escaped early with the rest of the onlookers, exchanged a glance and swiftly erected a barrier together, securing them from the collateral damage. Some of the searing stones hurtled towards us as well. Mum only raised her palm and swatted them away with a masterful control of kinetic force. After the breathtaking wreckage, Magus Selene fell back to trying her luck with smaller spells. Perhaps she was merely catching her breath and calculating how much more Father had left in him.

A large array of fire spears and fireballs seared down at him. Father met them all without flinching. A darkened reddish misty aura swept over his form. Whenever the fire spells came closer to the aura, it rendered them all powerless; the weaves were deconstructed simply on contact with the Aura of Nullification. The Magus was not that surprised by it. Compared to the elemental control Father had shown, utilising one's gift through their aura was not unheard of.

The spectators were far more stupefied, unsure of what was happening. After all, Father's gift, Nullification, was probably one of the rarest gifts out there. It wasn't completely unique like Fractal Soul, but the number of Awakened who had awakened the gift throughout history could only be counted on one hand. Once again, he released his aura and sprang upwards, his stances getting more complex, employing the Sword Unity.

Sometime during the battle, his blade had elongated and approached the imperious Magus, who evaded the strike using both her levitation and force shields. At this time, I could not help but think about the levitation boots I was making. It would have been of great help to Father. With them, he wouldn't have to worry so much about his aura expenditure to keep himself up in the air. Magus Selene was not to be outdone by an Augmenter, no matter how skilled the Augmenter was.

She prepared more spells and alternated between a rain of either fire spears or inferior meteor spells. In the midst, Father's forms evolved into something that I did not even recognise. Wind curled around him, empowering his movement, and his aura sword mercilessly cleaved through the spells, trying to get the upper hand on the Shaper. None of them had yet managed to land a blow on the other, though their display so far had been something I had only read about in books.

"You are not bad," said the Primus Pilus, "but I knew that already, or I wouldn't have challenged you." Fatigue gripped their forms, and yet neither of the two slowed down. Uncertain who would fall into exhaustion first, the Magus finally decided on a final offence to claim victory.

"It has been some time since I had to draw out this much of my power," Father said nonchalantly, his figure hovering in the air.

"I truly am rusty. Without my thick skin, I would have already fallen under your spells."

"Perhaps," said Selene, inhaling deeply.

"Draw your soulward, or you may not survive the next attack." The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. As soon as she said that, a cerulean plume exploded out of her, swirling around her form to soon materialise an azure ring of fire behind her. Its intensity easily overwhelmed Fractal Sight. I had to concentrate my focus to keep it running.

I couldn't even make out the number of threads woven into its form; if there were even any Essence threads in use, the azure fire seemed something far more real than any essence flame and primal.

"That's not simple weaving, is it?" I asked, eyes glued to the fire, even though Fractal Sight failed to make anything out of it. Under the Shaper's control, the azure ring of fire sprang up in the sky and swirled fastidiously as wind rose above the scorched land.

"That is," Mum said, her eyes narrowed, "the very testament of Fabled class. Once one ascends to the Class, they manifest a Soulward. For Selene, it is that ring of fire, and for your father... Well, you'll see soon enough." Soulward. I ran the word in my mind, first time hearing it. My gaze alternated between my father and the twisting flame, wondering how he was going to deal with it. The ring of fire swirled faster, hotter; the searing flame expanded, encompassing several metres in its diameter.

The mesmerising blue spark then erupted in crimson devastation, swirling in a firestorm. The searing maelstrom was raised to several hundred metres high and coursed through the barren land, drowning Father within it, flame blazing with such intensity that it could scorch anything in its path. The temperature in the surrounding area rose so far as to cover me in sweat, even though I was several hundred metres away from the action.

It wouldn't be wrong to say that I would have made some progress in arcane resistance if I kept being in that space for a bit longer. That was how intense the fire tempest was. Magus Selene still stood on the higher ground, the black staff in her hand, though it didn't look like she needed to implement her Essence threads to control the firestorm she had created. Once again, the bystanders had to run for their lives, fearing to be overtaken by the audacious maelstrom.

While it lacked the wide area coverage of the Ashen Storm, the spell could ravage the land far worse if left unattended for long. Thankfully, there were only a few trees in the surroundings.

"Is Father going to be alright?" I asked hesitantly, fear gripping my heart.

"He will be fine," Mother said after a thought. Although she said it, I noted she was using her penetrative influence to examine Father's whereabouts within the maelstrom. I would have liked to follow her example, unfortunately, my pitifully small influence couldn't even cover a tenth of the distance between us, even after I stretched it to the limit. Not to mention, my influence lacked any of the penetrative perception that a Fabled-class Shaper wielded.

As I kept my eyes fixed on the flaming maelstrom, heart filled with worry, suddenly, a dark aura sword, as large as half of the vortex, cleaved through the swirling fire wall, and out came a figure. A figure draped in a pure black robe, with a blade in hand, burning with dark smoke. The robe extended into dozens of strips of dark tendrils, billowing behind him. With the dark blade Ouroborus in hand, he looked nothing short of a soul reaper.

Despite the blade cleaving through the blazing maelstrom, the spell was in no way ceasing. Even after freeing himself from the spell, Father had no time to rest as the firestorm hurtled at him, warping the space and air, trying to drown him in its fiery misery once more. He stood in the air with ease, the dark strips of his Soulward dancing around him. The black robe negated the fire, no matter its intensity. It dispersed the flame, akin to how taro leaves oppose the contact of water.

Finally, the blade rose several metres high in its aura, tenebrous plume dancing in swirls, hiding its sharp edge. Father merely held onto the maelstrom. A relic befitting its name, Ouroborus showed its magic, its swirling aura seized the blazing vortex whole.

"What kind of damnable thing is that blade?" swore the Magus. She made various hand gestures, employed her Essence threads, yet no matter what she tried, she couldn't stop the shadowy aura from devouring her fire. In no time, the maelstrom deflated to half its length, the devouring still growing strong. Nullifying the spell, Father met her gaze, and his lips couldn't help but curl up slightly. In a split second, he broke through the space between them and swung his blade, his dingy soul cloak billowing in his wake.

An ashen expression spread on Selene's face. She quickly wove the remainder of her power. Midway, she had to alter her weave into kinetic shaping and lurched backwards, thrusting the force at him. Father's Soulward negated the force with ease and chased after her, his pace akin to short-range teleportation. She managed to evade the first blow, but immediately, the next one fell out of nowhere and only stopped, making slight contact on her shoulder.

It was only then that her protective amulet flared up and tried to form a forcefield around her. Unfortunately for her, it was a moment or two too late.

"Yeahhhh!" Unbeknownst to me, a cheer escaped my lips. The kinetic forcefield wedged between them, unable to materialise fully with Father's nullifying aura obstructing it.

"Magekiller," cursed the woman, her eyes aghast, nose scrunched up in disgust.

"Still not satisfied?" Father arched an eyebrow. A sigh finally escaped her lips, and she withdrew all her power and protective amulet, crestfallen. Father too withdrew his blade, the soulward retracting into his body. He came down onto the decimated plateau, filled with debris and singed stones. On the path of the maelstrom, a several metres deep swirling channel was carved, its heat barely settling down.

"Not too bad, eh?" Father said to me as Mum brought us over. I had so many questions I wanted to ask Father—about his swordsmanship, aura, and his Soulward —but as I was too excited with his victory, all the words jumbled, and all that came out of my lips was a weird noise. Father chuckled, tousling my hair. Soon, the spectators came and surrounded us. Many hadn't yet completely absorbed what they had witnessed, but that didn't stop them from praising his swordsmanship and aura mastery.