Before anybody could do or say anything else, the Emperor had decided to take matters into his own hands.
Despite his fragile condition and the harrowing fact that he could perish from the sheer strain of combat, he still chose to initiate an attack.
The simple truth was that he was bored; after years of political stagnation and illness, he needed to flex his hands once more and feel the rush of true power.
The mont he took a single step forward, he vanished from view entirely.
A ripple of dark shadows could be seen undulating beneath the demon's feet, signaling an imminent strike.
Even without physical eyes, it seed the creature was able to 'see' through so otherworldly sensory perception.
Its gaze drifted to the ground, and without hesitation, it vaulted into the air with explosive force just as Julius' hand reached out from the gloom to seize it.
Unfortunately, the Emperor grabbed nothing but empty air.
While mid-air, the demon's throat swelled imdiately as if it had swallowed a large, jagged sphere.
Then, exhaling with a guttural roar, a massive rounded ball of glowing spikes burst out at full speed.
Julius' hand instinctively sank back into the protection of the shadows to evade the projectile.
CRASH—!
The spiked ball tore a massive, jagged trench into the earth upon impact.
Dust billowed into the atmosphere for a second as the projectile landed several ters away, vibrating with dark energy.
The creature's mouth swelled again, though not as large as before, and from its gullet, more of those lethal spheres shot toward the gathered group of mages like fired darts.
The velocity with which the balls flew was staggering, but before they could travel too far, a shadow portal yawned open in their path.
The void swallowed them whole with a few dark ripples.
Then, just like that, the Emperor rose from the ground smoothly like a phantom.
His eyes remained glowing with an ethereal light as an enormous funnel of concentrated flas burst out around his fra.
Hauling his hand forward, the blazing inferno rocketed toward the demon as if it were a falling teor.
The echelon was incredibly quick on its feet.
Like a nimble dancer, it managed to pivot around the strike fluidly, causing the flas to crash into where it stood a mont ago.
The heat was so intense it totally consud the soil, burning like a persistent inferno.
Before the creature's feet could stabilize properly on the ground, thick strings of mana weaved into existence as if they were heavy ropes.
Without pause, these ethereal cords shot toward the demon with blazing speed.
Kicking backward, the monster managed to evade the initial snare.
The strings burrowed into the earth, turning the terrain into a complex tunnel system.
Bursting out from the other end of the soil, the mana-cords gave chase toward the demon.
Its mouth swelled incredulously once more, and a huge ball burst forth, smashing directly into the head of the pursuing strings.
The cords froze for a mont as the ground rumbled loudly, and then, as if they were made of wet pasta, the strings crumbled from the tip down to the base.
The projectile didn't stop there; it gave chase toward the Emperor.
Without so much as flinching, a shadow hand the size of a giant's materialized out of nowhere.
It clamped hard on the ball, stopping it from moving an inch, albeit with a visible struggle against the montum.
Twirling his wrist around, Julius commanded the shadow hand to hurl the ball back at the demon with twice its original speed.
The sound barrier shattered from the force of the throw.
The demon's hollow sockets seed to widen in horror as it found itself unable to dodge the redirected strike in ti.
WAM—!
The ball slamd into the demon's abdon with the force of a freight train.
The ground rumbled violently and exploded, sending massive chunks of debris flying into the air while the creature was propelled backward.
It was on the verge of being flung away, but due to it exerting equal force on the sphere and shoving it back, it wasn't sent sailing.
"Cough… cough…"
Specks of blood were trickling down Julius' lips, but he didn't mind the pain as he maintained his composure.
Grey, who stood on the sidelines, had an amazed expression on his face.
'Woah! He is going toe-to-toe with an Echelon? Back then, I had to enlist the help of everyone, including Thalos, to take down the beast. Well, in my defense, I was still a stage four warrior and I didn't have my remaining affinities in my arsenal.'
He pondered for a mont as a realization crossed his mind.
His eyes glead for a second as he observed the monstrosity.
'... And I certainly didn't know the demon's weakness in ti. I possess that knowledge now.'
He would have joined the fray sooner, but he decided to stand back to observe what more the demon had to offer and what secrets it was going to reveal.
Back when he had faced number ten, he wasn't nearly as potent as he was now.
He knew he could win. He must triumph.
But would it be easy? That was the uncertainty he had yet to solve.
Greg glanced at the others around him with a confused expression.
"Shouldn't we be helping him? We all know the Emperor's condition, right? Shouldn't we lend a helping hand?"
Kael frowned as he watched his father matching the demon blow for blow.
This was only the second ti he had witnessed the old geezer fight throughout his entire lifeti, and it was certainly a sight to behold.
String and shadow affinities—most people would have dismissed these two as weak or utterly useless.
But not Julius.
He had managed to transform those two elents into sothing entirely formidable.
After awakening the shadow affinity himself, Kael had strived to make his own power just as deadly as his father's.
Even though he had refined it into sothing great, it still wasn't quite on par with the Emperor's mastery.
Unfortunately, even as powerful as he was, Julius couldn't go all out unless he risked his own demise.
Kael had to watch painfully as his old man struggled against a creature that shouldn't even have the audacity to look at him, let alone contend with him.
'I need to hel—'
Before he could take a single step further, Julius' face split apart in a chilling smile just as the demon managed to push the ball back.
The creature was panting softly for so reason, its dark fra heaving.
"Interesting. You are strong. But I still haven't seen the hype yet. Show ," Julius challenged.
The demon frowned at this comnt.
Why was it feeling this way? It had co to take Grey down, yet it was being held at bay by this man.
"Or would you prefer I attack?"
The Emperor asked as he pointed his finger toward the heavens.
Soon enough, the whole area beca chillingly cold as five hundred ice spears shimred into view, their frozen tips glistening with lethal intent.
Grey's lips twitched in surprise.
'Fire. Shadow. String. And Ice.'
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