Chapter 943: The Never-ending Echo

Chapter 943: The Never-ending Echo

Most of the soldiers stared blankly forward, motionless. The shock of losing their awakening powers, along with the lack of echoes to direct them, made them unable to register the ground shattering around them. The entire terrain kept shifting non-stop, while the sky was filled with spiral attacks, rays of destruction, and dragon breath attacks. Those that were lucky were merely petrified by Euryales glance.

The remaining few that were strong-willed enough to cope with everything that had been taken from them, struggled to survive in a world more hostile than theyve ever known before, with nearly no success.

The ever-shrinking prize, Dallion thought as he finally managed to cast a ray of destruction spell of his own.

The purple beam flew forward through the mountain he had erected to keep the emperors echo from seeing it. Unfortunately, when it came to reaction, Dallion remained slightly outmatched.

SPELL NEGATED

A second beam, just as large, slammed into Dallions causing both of them to blink out of existence. Whatever the emperor had done to create his aether echo, it was not to be underestimated. Dallion could only assume that there were serious limitations or there would be armies of them roaming the battlefield.

I could help out there, Gleam said through the awakened realms. The dragon actually agrees with me for once.

It was notable that the shardfly had referred to Aquilequia in a non-negative manner, but Dallion strongly disagreed with both of them. After consuming a large part of the Academys magic, she had almost reached level twenty. In terms of speed, that was probably the fastest leveling up Dallion had ever seen or heard of. Unfortunately, that was where her progress ended.

In her current state, neither she nor Gleam would manage to withstand the echos attacks. Dark had to spend years with a Moon to get to where he was, and even so, he appeared a bit lacking.

Stay in the realms, Dallion ordered. Youll get your chance.

You keep saying that.

This isnt our enemy, its just an echo. Well fight the real deal soon enough.

A torrent of air ripped the sky, flying straight for the emperors echo. This time, instead of deflecting it, the echo cast a series of aether spheres around himself. The first three shattered on contact. The next cracked up before doing the same. The fifth managed to withstand the currents of air, allowing them to slide over.

Hes weakening, Dallion said.

Barely had he done so when Dark disappeared, reappearing a dozen feet away a moment later.

Move. Euryale ordered, extending her left hand, while doing a thrust attack with her right.

A point attack flew forward, shattering the final level of protection that the echo had cast. Before the attack could deal any damage, the echo had teleported safely away as well.

Hes almost there. Dallion said. We just need to

Stop!

Surprised at the sharpness in her voice, Dallion turned in her direction.

Youre weaker as well. The adrenalin rush wont hold you forever.

Im fine, he lied. He was fully aware of the wounds he had and the impact they were having. Magic was keeping him alive and in a functional state, but in the long run of things that remained an illusion.

Just come here, the gorgon insisted. Even dark moved in closer to pressure Dallion into making the correct decision. Im not telling you to stop fighting. Just to rest a bit. We can fight together.

Afraid that agreeing might make the exhaustion fall upon him like a ton of bricks, Dallion hesitated. Splitting into instances, he moved towards her, reaching out for her hand with one. Sadly. The emperors echo had no intention of making things easy. A new cluster of raysa lot smaller than beforeflew straight at the trio.

Three things happened at once. Euryale performed a spirk infused spiral attack. Dallion caused a mountain to rise between him and the echo, and Dark cast an illusion spell that transformed them all identical to air.

A series of explosions followed, filling the sky with rocks and dirt. A few moments later, that dirt started falling back to the ground.

When did you learn to do that? Dallion asked, looking at his wife.

The same way I got here. She tapped her arm. The ara creates bonds. I knew you were hurt the moment it happened. I also used her to reach you through the realms. Dark still has to work on his speed.

Hey! The green dragon snorted.

In the distance, another explosion followed, thrusting large amounts of rocks in all directions. Despite signs to the opposite, the aether echo had no intention of slowing down. The mana it had used was monumental, but as every mage knew, mana was nothing more than stamina given physical form. At its current level, it would be a while before it was done for.

Are you ready for a dance? Euryale asked.

Dance? Dallion repeated the question.

I tried to teach you long ago, but you didnt have the traits for it. The snakes on the gorgons head moved about. Maybe now youll be able to keep up?

The echo looked at its wound. The death had triggered some sort of after-spell effect, causing its entire body to flash in a bright purple light. That wasnt all, though. Hundreds of aether rays shot out in all directions, burning through everything. There was no escaping from that. The moment Dallion caught a glimpse, he quickly switched to one of the failed attacks. There was no way hed lose Euryale in such a way.

You saw it, didnt you?

More spell circles emerged, doubling the amount of aether sabers. Dallion attempted to slice the threads of as many of the spells as he could, but the echo was annoyingly fast.

Thats why no one has managed to kill the Emperor of Tamin. Many have tried, some even succeeded, yet they saw as you that killing me meant they would die as well.

There was no denying it. That was a neat trick. And yet, Dallion knew that wasnt always the case. During the last imperial ceremony, the fake emperor had really died.

I saw you die once, he said.

Youre missing the point. Why dont you look at me closer? Ill allow it.

A purple rectangle suddenly appeared above the echos head.

TAMIN III

Health: 0%

Traits:

- AWAKENING 121

- BODY 121

- MIND 121

- REACTION 121

- PERCEPTION 121

- EMPATHY 121

- MAGIC 121

Skills

- ATTACK

- GUARD

- ATHLETICS

- ACROBATICS

- FORGING

- CARVING

- ARTS

- SCHOLAR

- MUSIC

- HERBALISM

- ZOOLOGY

- SPELLCRAFT

Weakness: UNKNOWN