Hero of Darkness

A grim atmosphere ensued and Kahn, as well as Venessa, were too stunned to speak as both were rooted on the spot after Axel stealthily appeared behind Hector who was engaged in a fierce battle with 3 enemies at once. Before the first prince of the Vulcan empire could even react, the Hero of Fire plunged a sword into his back.

Both of them were equally matched in terms of strength and saint rank already. But because Hector was distracted, Axel landed a decisive killshot without any resistance.

Kahn quickly understood that this was the reason why Axel and the other saint beside him hadn't engaged in the battle. And now, only he and Venessa remained, surrounded by enemies from all sides.

Kahn's gaze then landed on Azerog who was recording the whole scene using an artifact.

[What the hell are they planning? Recording the murder of a prince… what's their angle?] he wondered.

BOOM!!

At the very next moment, Venessa attacked from the other side, instantly reaching towards Hector while Axel disappeared from the location.

Hector's body fell from the sky but was quickly grabbed by Venessa. The third princess noticed a horrified and indignant expression on Hector's face, his body as lifeless as it could be.

"Dammit!" cursed Venessa and looked towards the surrounding members of the Hero's Party. However, she was thinking with a clear mind and wasn't affected by her stepbrother's death.

What worried her most was the death of an ally during the battle and now, it was one against eight people.

She then looked in Kahn's direction who was still standing on the ground under the crystalline barrier.

[If I'm defeated, they will kill him too. I need to protect both of us and stall for time.

But I don't even know if there will be any reinforcements coming. They must have taken every precaution beforehand.] thought Venessa as he quickly assessed the situation.

Among all the three imperial scions, Venessa had the most experience in terms of large-scale battles and fighting multiple enemies. Hector was more of a politics guy and not a warrior. Thus he failed to see through the sneak attack and fell in battle.

[Dammit! If he makes a move on Venessa, I'll step in. All of you be ready.

This battle will be ugly and might expose us.] said Kahn to his subordinates.

Because now, their situation was bleaker than before with no certainty of life.

"Send it." spoke Axel who appeared beside Azerog, the 4th stage saint fireborne.

"It will take some time since it will go from many channels and finally reach them.

What do we do about the princess till then?" iterated and asked Azerog.

"We stick to the plan, of course. We will capture her first. And then…" said Axel as he grinned while looking at Venessa. Next, his gaze landed on Kahn who was looking at the whole scene.

"I'll deal with him myself."

Meanwhile in the northern plains, a heaven-shaking battle ensued as four 7th stage saints, who were just as strong as the three faction leaders of the noble factions in Rakos Empire were now engaged in a gruesome battle with the Emperor.

Havi was now surrounded from four different sides while getting incessantly attacked by all four enemies while his strength was suppressed to the level of a sixth-stage saint.

With the three fighter class opponents, he was already in a dire situation. But after the pope himself was revealed to be a 7th stage saint as well… he was only able to fend off while avoiding life-threatening attacks.

Shwwooommm!!

Havi quickly dodged and 300 meters long violet-colored windblade that cleaved through 10 kilometers of barren lands in just a few seconds. The speed of the attack was impossible to even comprehend for someone like Kahn who was but a 1st stage saint.

Havi quickly appeared 2 kilometers away as he evaded the attack launched by Donatello, the dual-bladed spear user.

But suddenly, a ginormous fist made with condensed world energy that sized around 100 meters in height launched from above as Raphael, the brawler class saint attacked Havi.

BOOM!!

5 kilometers of area was instantly turned into smithereens and nothing but a deep and endless pit remained in the ground.

Huff!

Huff!

Havi barely managed to escape at the last moment and appeared 7 kilometers away from the point of impact.

The burst of the attack made from world energy on a whole different level than normal saints could ever imagine. And on top of it, this wasn't even 10% of the real battle strength of a 7th stage saint.

Swoosh!!

Swoosh!!

Clang!!

Clang!!

More than 10 thousand blistering red swords and a massive 2 kilometer tall metallic gray color launched them together at Havi was already on backfoot. And this time, there was no way for him to dodge this attack move made by Leonardo, the Knight fireborne.

[Dammit!] cursed Havi and quickly launched his own attacks.

Soon, his legendary rank burgundy red spear made a thrusting movement towards these thousands of swords that sized 100 meters each, more than 20 thousand blazing and highly condensed spears that were even longer appeared and faced the attack head-on.

Hundreds of shockwaves appeared and broke through the sound barrier in succession as the two sides clashed and Havi's figure was flung across and crashed on the ground until he finally adjusted his stance after getting thrown 10 kilometers away.

Although it looked like these saints were trying to harm Havi… in reality, they were just tiring him out.

"Havi! I have good news." spoke Demiurge and quickly activated a projection artifact.

A massive holographic screen appeared and soon showed a particular scenario of a battle.

"NNNNNOOOOO!!!" Havi's agonizing cry filled with grief resounded in the 20 kilometers of radius, instantly shattering nearby terrain.

"I'll kill!! I'll kill every single one of you!! And that bastard… I don't care if even Hetrax turns against me… I'll kill that fucker with my bare hands!" shouted Havi as he finally lost his sanity.

The next moment… he thought about Venessa who was still facing the Hero's Party by herself.

As her father, Havi no longer cared and thought in his mind…

[If I use it… I won't live for long. But I must save her at all cost.] he spoke to himself and took a drastic measure that would cost him greatly. But at this moment… he stopped thinking about the consequences.

He spoke in a grim voice filled with absolute wrath that sent shivers to all the seventh stage saints…

"None of you are leaving out of here alive!"