Chapter 530: Fighting The Requiem Guild [2]

Empress stepped forward and pointed her spear toward Leon and his companions.

A terrifying amount of power erupted from her body, spreading across the surrounding area and causing the air to tremble under the pressure.

Even Granite, Mortis, Blaze, and Ember, who were standing nearby, couldn’t hide their shock.

The power she was releasing now was on an entirely different level than before.

Before any of them could react, Empress swung her spear and unleashed her attack.

"Argh..."

Emilia suddenly clutched her head, her expression twisting in pain.

Leon immediately recognized that something was wrong, although he couldn’t determine the source of the danger.

Since he didn’t know what Empress’s attack would do or whom it would target, he chose not to take any chances.

He activated his teleportation ability, intending to move everyone away from their current position.

But before they could escape, the ground beneath Leon erupted at the exact spot where they had appeared.

"I noticed they always appear there when teleporting," she said, "This should end it."

BOOM!

A massive silver spike burst out of the ground, its enormous form towering above the surrounding ruins.

It was five times larger than the spike Empress had used to kill the armored guild member earlier, and the power radiating from it was vastly greater.

The spike struck Leon directly in the chest.

Fortunately, his [Ultimate Darkness Barrier] absorbed the impact, preventing the attack from immediately piercing his body before breaking, and so did his [Soul Armor].

The girls were also attacked by several projectiles from Granite, Mortis, Ember and Blaze, so they had to focus on their own safety as massive explosions erupted everywhere.

The silver spike had not merely attacked Leon’s body.

Its power had directly struck his soul, and the impact was so overwhelming that it had nearly shattered on the spot.

’Holy shit, how did she get something this powerful?!’

Any ordinary opponent would have died instantly after receiving such an attack, and even Cavin would likely have been unable to survive it.

The strength of Empress’s soul attack was far beyond anything.

Thankfully, his maxed-out soul allowed him to survive the impact, while his [Soul Protection (S+-Level)] began slowly repairing the damage.

Even so, the pain was unbearable, and he could feel how close he had come to death.

"Good job," Cavin said, nodding toward Empress. "That was kind of overkill, though."

"We can never be too sure," Empress replied indifferently.

She had directly witnessed the silver spike striking Leon in the chest, and she was confident that the attack had succeeded.

With a soul attack powerful enough to shatter even the strongest souls in the Higher Domains, she had little reason to believe that the human could have survived.

"I’ll aim for the other three now."

Celeste, Violet and Emilia had survived the initial blast by the others and were now going to be attacked by Empress too.

However, just as she prepared to attack again, a voice suddenly sounded from behind them.

"You almost got me there."

The six surviving members immediately turned around, only to find Leon standing behind them, his sword already raised and surrounded by a crimson aura.

’What the...?’ Empress seemed surprised for the first time.

Before they could react to his sudden appearance, Leon unleashed his attack.

ECLIPSE ANNIHILATION!

Right after Empress’s attack struck him and he was hundreds of meters in the air, Leon endured the unbearable pain and quickly recovered enough to activate [Time Stop] once more.

A bead of sweat appeared on his forehead as he realized how much energy the ability was consuming.

’I can probably only use [Time Stop] one more time before I reach my limit.’

As he had learned many times before, being able to stop time was already an incredibly powerful ability, even with its restrictions.

It exhausted him almost instantly, and he couldn’t attack while time was stopped, forcing him to rely on the brief opening to reposition himself and prepare his next move.

Still, compared to the abilities of the [Time Overseer], what he could do was nothing particularly impressive.

Leon knew better than anyone how terrifying the power to manipulate time could become, and he had no intention of wasting his limited opportunities.

While the world remained frozen, he quickly appeared behind the Requiem Guild members and raised his sword.

Slash! Slash! Slash!

Hundreds of crimson slashes erupted around the group, spreading in every direction before the guild members could react.

The attacks covered the surrounding area, leaving little room for anyone to escape, and the moment time resumed, the slashes began tearing through their defenses.

Empress was the first to react after a slash struck her shoulder.

She immediately turned around and activated [Shard Shield], summoning a shield made of silver crystals around herself.

However, she didn’t stop there. The shield’s protection extended to Cavin and Granite as well, covering all three of them before the remaining slashes could land.

Since she could only protect three people with the ability, she had to leave the others to defend themselves.

The twins, Blaze and Ember, responded by activating one of their passive talent abilities, transforming their bodies into pure flames.

Leon’s physical slashes passed through their burning forms without causing any meaningful damage, allowing them to survive the initial barrage.

Mortis, on the other hand, had no such advantage.

He quickly activated [Bone Armor], covering his body in a thick layer of bones to protect himself from the incoming attacks.

For a moment, the armor managed to withstand the assault, blocking slash after slash as cracks gradually spread across its surface.

Unfortunately, Leon’s attack was simply too overwhelming.

After enduring numerous strikes, the armor finally broke apart, leaving Mortis exposed to the remaining slashes.

Several of them cut through his body before he could react, killing him on the spot.

The others might have considered his death unfortunate, but none of them were particularly worried at first.

Mortis still had a [Resurrection Stone], so they assumed he would return shortly.

Even if Leon had managed to kill him, there was no reason to believe that the loss would be permanent.

That assumption proved to be their mistake.

Soul Chains! Cataclysmic Soul Fireball!

Leon had already prepared his next attacks while using [Eclipse Annihilation].

Rather than giving his enemies any time to recover, he immediately unleashed both abilities together.

Three chains erupted from the ground, moving toward their targets with terrifying speed.

One of them pierced Mortis’s body, reaching his soul before he could even begin to revive.

The chain tightened around his soul, and its overwhelming power shattered it almost instantly.

Mortis’s [Resurrection Stone] became useless.

At the same time, the other two chains rushed toward Blaze and Ember.

Since [Soul Chains] wasn’t a physical attack, their ability to transform their bodies into flames offered no protection against it.

The chains wrapped around the twins, binding them in place and preventing them from escaping.

Fwoosh!

The massive soul fireball descended toward the twins.

"NOOOOO," they screamed.

Empress, Cavin, and Granite immediately retreated, recognizing that remaining near the explosion would put them in danger.

Blaze and Ember were left behind, still bound by the chains as the fireball struck.

BOOM!

The explosion swallowed them completely, and the tremendous force of the flames tore through their bodies while simultaneously destroying their souls.

When the flames finally began to fade, Leon looked toward the three remaining members of the Requiem Guild and spoke loudly.

"Three left."