Chapter 243: Blades

The armor which the Forlorn Prince wore at the moment was certainly not from this world as Tristan hadn't seen anything that was similar to it. The armor gave its user a kind of special energy-based protection by creating a layer of transparent energy that was able to block any kind of attack.

Unfortunately, like everything that existed in reality, it had its limit.

BAMMMM!!

Loud sound was heard as Tristan once again was able to land a hit at the Forlorn Prince, and just like before, his blood-synthesized large sword was deflected by the formless shield and no harm was dealt to the other party.

The battle between the two powerhouses swiftly became an exchange of hits, where Tristan gave his all to break the armor's energy shield, while Janus tried his best to end the battle before his only means of protection disappeared.

Any other people who saw Tristan being continuously stabbed by Janus' spear and countless bleeding wounds on his body would think that the former was at the losing side. But in reality, after dozens of exchanges, the Forlorn Prince's body and face began showing signs of exhaustion.

This was because thanks to his blood elf body, Tristan's strength wouldn't diminish no matter how many wounds were inflicted onto him. On the other hand, the Forlorn Prince knew his precious artifact was almost reaching its limit as Tristan's attacks had become more fierce with each second passed.

CRAACCKK!!

Eventually, like how glass broke when thrown into the ground, Tristan could vaguely see the shield that enveloped Janus' body shattered apart.

When this happened, the Forlorn Prince swiftly retreated back and threw the spear in his hand at Tristan. Tristan shifted his body to evade the spear and was about to give chase when he was greeted by a piercing light.

Splat!!

As Tristan's attention was occupied by the spear, a beam-like blade managed to land and went through his waist, chunking a good amount of it. Apparently, the reason Janus threw his weapon was because he didn't have the guts to fight Tristan in close combat without his armor, and therefore, resorted back to his long-range fighting style using the tier 6 spell [Ray of Lightning].

Same as before, Tristan quickly felt the after effect of the spell as a numbing sensation spreaded from his waist.

Another [Ray of Lighting] was coming at him, but this time, Tristan was prepared as he immediately smashed it apart with his sword and dashed towards Janus. Now that the Forlorn Prince had lost his annoying, nigh-invisible protection, the man began distancing himself from Tristan and opted to throw his spells from afar.

As his opponent had changed his approach, Tristan had to do the same. 

Within seconds, the large sword in Tristan's hand had broken down into its initial form of blood before forming into bullet-like projectiles. Then, he threw all of them toward the Cowardly Prince. The bullets rapidly flew through the air, heading toward their intended target.

At the moment, Tristan was exerting his newfound stage 4 of Katra. If he had previously only been able to control a dozen at most, now he was able to control at least three dozen of those projectiles. Moreover, the power behind these bullets was much stronger after the upgrade.

[Thunder Wave]

Wave of lightning current swept through the sky, obliterating the bullets before they could reach their victim. From this, Tristan discovered that tier 5 spells were enough to destroy his blood bullets, and he couldn't help but feel annoyed by it.

Even so, there were still more bullets floating around him and he immediately created more before sending them to Janus again. This time, he controlled the bullets to attack from different directions. After all, even though the [Thunder Wave] spell the other party used was able to destroy his bullets, it was only able to clear in one direction.

The bullets floating around Tristan swiftly advanced, flying through various trajectories in different intervals and directions as they made their way to Janus. 

[Thunder Wave]

Another wave of lightning was launched by the Forlorn Prince, destroying the blood bullets mercilessly.

It was clear that their fight had turned into a contest of offensive magic; to see which one of them had better spells than the other. The situation continued at a stalemate for a while, but one could see the Forlorn Prince slowly being overwhelmed by Tristan as he gradually became accustomed to what he was currently doing.

Now that Tristan had become progressively more comfortable in controlling the blood-synthesized bullets with his thoughts, he started to experiment and create a more effective form for this offensive method of his.

Images and figures of different kinds of blade he ever saw during his life on Earth began coming back at him like a raging wave, and through his [Blood Synthesis] ability, Tristan decided to take boomerang as the basis of his new projectiles.

It was a failure at first, as the blades were easily disintegrated - even more so than the bullets. However, it didn't stop Tristan as he had time to spare. Eventually, several attempts later, he managed to form half a dozen blades all compressed to reach its maximum hardness and sharpness.

With this, Janus quickly found himself attacked with 6 razor-sharp, v-shaped, double-edged blades that came back at him even though he was sure he had dodged them. It appears the shape of the blade helped it fly easier and faster than the bullets. 

Those blades ferociously attacked him as they flew in a circle revolving around his body. 

Splat! Splat! SPLAT!

The Forlorn Prince swiftly accumulated wounds all over his body thanks to the blades' erratic trajectory and bizarre motion. Annoyed that he wasn't able to physically dodge the blades, Janus eventually resorted to destroying them even though his mana reserve was reaching a dangerous level.

[Thunder Wave]

Alas, the unpredictable movement of the blades confused him, and thus, the spell missed its targets. Janus was about to send another one at them, this time focused, when he realized the blades were flying in circular motion, moving together in a formation.

Splat!!

One of the blades had successfully cut one of his legs. His Immortal Body's regenerative trait quickly kicked in, forming a new leg from the severed part. Even so, he still felt the full sensation of pain and it caused him to be distracted.

Not wanting to throw away this precious opportunity, Tristan immediately forced himself to make the blades fly even faster, and numerous deep gashes began appearing on the Forlorn Prince's body. As a result, Janus didn't even have the energy to fight back anymore as his body focused its attention on dodging and recovering itself.

"Why are you so silent, prince? How strange. You used to be very talkative!" Tristan said to Janus in a mocking tone.