Throughout the whole fight, the group has been unsuccessful in actually dealing a killing blow in a single hit. Vardus thought this was impossible as he could simply continue turning back ti whenever it was needed.
Even with only a miniscule piece of his identity being retained at that mont, the Grand Monarch still prided himself in this fact. That was probably the reason why, Zeke's attack infuriated him so.
"We did it!"
"We've won!"
There were already cheers being made by so mbers of the group as Vardus' head began falling towards the ocean floor. He was beheaded. Not by a Monarch whom he could at least consider as an equal but, a re mortal at that.
These things combined was all it took for Vardus to finally snap.
Ti stopped at that mont. But unlike the previous versions of the skill, everything stopped aside from the Grand Monarch and all of his enemies. All the waves froze in the mont as well as the clouds in the sky. The wind also felt static as Vardus began transforming.
"ZEKE!" Vask was in an even greater state of panic than before. Knowing exactly what was to co.
"Hey pipe down will you." The gar on the other hand was calm about it all. And this wasn't sothing normal because, aside from him, everyone was in a state of trendous fear.
"Do you not understand the situation we are in? This is bad news." Zeke simply sighed as all of them could do nothing but watch. Even without any detection skill, everyone knew that Vardus had no openings at that mont. And that striking would lead to their imdiate death.
However, the gar still wore a smile on his face. Like what was happening was nothing to worry about; as if he got everything covered. And he did.
A few seconds before Vardus finished his transformation, Zeke snapped his fingers which was a signal for his favorite [Conjure] Samael.
"Allesiah, I'll leave everything to your care for now." Were the last words the gar spoke as he [Shadow Dived] right on top of Vardus who just finished transforming at that point. But within the sa second that this happened, Samael already activated [Grand Chariot].
"You know it's funny. The last ti I went in here, it was also to fight soone who was a lot stronger than ." Zeke said, with the Grand Monarch finally turning back to his true form.
As ntioned, the new form of Grand Chariot allowed Samael to sustain it as long as Zeke could supply him mana. Dying itself was not a problem for the [Conjure] as, its existence was also determined by how much mana Zeke could provide in order to sustain him. In short, as long as Zeke had mana and, as long as he was alive, [Grand Chariot] would be maintained.
But Vardus didn't know any of this, nor could he care less.
"Die" Vardus didn't waste any mont. He activated [Emperor's Ti] and, at his current form, it could go on for as long as a whole hour.
He didn't want to tolerate the insolence of the gar any longer than he had to. Nor did he want to listen to any ramblings made by the mortal.
Right through Zeke's body, a hundred spears pierced through. Vardus was even generous enough to leave a few seconds of life for his opponent. Just so he could see the despair on his face.
"Regret having faced in battle." Vardus said as ti finally resud.
Blood was supposed to splatter all around. But since the spears also served as a clog to Zeke's wounds, there were only spills of it dripping out. Vardus waited, observing Zeke's face closely.
"Any last words human?" Zeke nodded to this, making Vardus feel even more superior.
"Well what is it then?"
"Ga Over." Vardus didn't even have ti to understand the aning behind the words as Zeke finally passed away. But even before the Grand Monarch could lower his guard, he felt a dangerous presence form. And as he looked where it was coming from, his gaze went back to the dead gar.
[Information: The gar, Zeke Elwood, has died. Requirents have been t for the activation of a skill.]
[The One Who Cheats Death has been activated]
Zeke was swallowed entirely by darkness. Vardus rewinded ti just a bit in order to prevent this from happening. Casting [Emperor's Ti] right away as he even beheaded the gar. Yet, as he resud ti, the transformation still continued. Consuming all that was Zeke Elwood into an eternal darkness.
[Skill Limitations have been released.]
[Immunity from damage has been activated.]
[Infinite Mana has been activated.]
The one-ti skill, [The One Who Cheats Death], was also reset as Zeke changed bodies. Apparently, what the skill registers is the body of the one who uses. Hence, with Zeke changing to Keith's body, he not only gained superior health and mana. But also, Zeke was given another activation of the said skill.
"It's your loss." Zeke said and, with this, the two began their fight.
Sparks flew in the air as their weapons clashed against each other. Vardus stopped ti over and over again, hitting Zeke on all his vital spots and even tearing him to pieces. But Zeke's skill allowed him to cor back in one piece no matte how shredded he got. After all, the condition of the skill was that, it could never end unless the opponent who killed the skill caster has been disposed.
"What is this sorcery!" Vardus was slowly but surely regaining his ego and his personality back.
The gar continued attacking in all direction. They clashed multiple tis and despite Zeke not being able to follow most of Vardus' movents, he was nevertheless able to predict so of them. In fact, this data only grew as the fight progressed.
No matter what Vardus used, the [Ti Eaters], [Emperor's Ti], every skill he had at his disposal was of no use to Zeke and, this was when he decided to turn back ti. Back to before he ascended and back to when Zeke has not yet reached that form.
However as he did this, he was stuck at the beginning of the realm being generated. Zeke was, of course back to his normal form but, his mories of what had happened was retained.
"You se to be confused, do you need any form of enlightennt?"
"What have you done to ?" Vardus resorted to trying to kill Zeke multiple tis over.
In fact, his plan at that point was typo simply give Zeke a taste of painful and excoriating death each and every ti. He would kill the gar and as Zeke transford into his final form, Vardus would rewind ti and proceed to doing the sa.
"You will break. Just like any mortal, you have a breaking point and once that is reached you will simply retreat." Vardus ntioned, already gaining back around 40% of his personality. A lot of things were still hazy to him but, that did not matter. He was already preoccupied with the enemy in front of him.
"I will break? That's a funny thing to say." Zeke was feeling the pain of course. After all, he didn't have [Gar's Body] anymore. But this did not an that he was going to give up any ti soon nor was this a possibility.
With the alterative of [Gar's Mind], Zeke simply place it on [Autopilot]. Allowing his real self to stay in the subconscious while [Gar's Mind] received all the beating. Hence, even with the one thousand rewinds done by Vardus, Zeke was still in once piece.
"You. What are you?" Vardus was at 60% this ti around. Nearly accomplishing what Zeke wanted.
"Oh ? I'm a human of course."
"A human and yet you have his form? You dare ridicule !" Vardus continued chopping and dicing Zeke multiple tis over. Zeke's bones were crushed. His muscles and tissues were torn. His brain was scooped out of his head and so were his eyes.
It took a thousand more tries before Vask finally realized the truth. That for whatever reason, his opponent did not have a breaking point.
"You must be wondering how I'm still alright even at this point." Zeke ntioned.
The Grand Monarch was no fool. Nobody could deceive him when it ca to emotions, especially fear. After all, this was the most dominant among the emotions of the enemies he has faced. Yet Zeke showed no signs of this. No shaky voice that tried to conceal a coward. No hands or legs that seed to give away at any mont. Not even the slightest hint of it could be seen on Zeke's face and, in fact, all he had was a triumphant smile.
"You must be thinking that you are above , don't you?" It was Vardus who began showing these signs. Beginning with his voice that trembled as he spoke.
"Oh far from it. I believe that you aren't even worth my attention." Zeke smirked at his opponent as he took away the halberd and summoned swords that floated all around the subspace.
It was still dark and cold but there was a different level to it when Zeke finally decided to direct his killing intent at the Monarch.
"You cannot defeat !"
Over and over again the fights repeated. Stopping at Zeke's death and starting all over again at the point before it. Vardus didn't give up. He refused to give up thinking that he would win sooner or later. Yet, there was no hope for him.
Zeke survived every blow he made. And what made things worse was the fact that, not once did the gar show any signs of fear. In fact, he was enjoying it.
Like a true gar, he viewed the fight from a third person's point of view. Like he was holding a console in his room as he tried looking for that one single spot where his attacks could create damage. This accumulated throughout the ti repetitions and, at rewind number 4,000 Vardus finally broke.
"NOOO! SPARE ! PLEASE!"
"That's funny. I thought you were going to break ." Zeke calmly said, watching his pitiful opponent.
"PLEASE, I'LL DO ANYTHING YOU ASK. PLEASE!"
"Oh? Fine then. Listen to what I've got to say."
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