[Did you think you could use my power against my will?] The god of murder Katal fought back to regain control of his artifact. Divine magic crackled through Vars's body, sparking with golden light as his bones cracked and healed.
^Damn it. I didn't completely sever the artifact's link.^ Green flame engulfed Vars's body as his magic spiked uncontrollably. The more he tried to use the artifact's power, the tighter Katal's grip on him got.
Vars giggled, "Why I'm still active? Are you giving me a fighting chance, or is it that you can't destroy me? It's the latter, I know it. You can't destroy me."
[You insolent bastard! My power doesn't belong to you, and it shall never yield. My chosen will slay you.] Katal's voice boomed across the room.
"That dracolich got destroyed by Arad, and the paladin you adored so much got evaporated by Eris. You only have me left, and I'm taking all the power down with me." The necrotic magic racing across Vars's body gushed out, burning Katal's divine magic.
[Eris! Accept my power and destroy this undead!]
"We don't need your help!" Eris shouted as she threw a spear at Vars, "Scram!" Arad teleported to Vars's face and punched him hard enough to send him back to the ground in the blink of an eye.
"You're desperate, Katal. Did Amaterasu mess you this badly, to the point you can't muster a toe's worth of power? How pathetic!" Vars looked at Arad, "That's right, come at me." He lifted his hand, [Undead Rain]
Out of nowhere, tens of skeletons appeared in the air, falling at Arad and Eris, their jaws biting anything they landed on.
Vars grunted. ^I must finish assimilation before those two can destroy me...^
SWOSH! Arad jumped into the sky, pulling the adamantine sword from his stomach and swinging at Vars.
Eris opened her mouth, and a spark of plasma flickered between her teeth as she roared. A purple light flashed from her mouth, sending a small ball of compressed plasma to the skeletons.
BOOOM! The plasma exploded, wiping most of the undead as Eris flew up with her spear, "I will cremate those bones! You deal with the elf!"
Vars dodged Arad's swing to the side, his eyes leaving a green trail. "Stay down," Without even using his staff. He formed a magic circle above Arad.
Arad's body got violently pulled toward the ground, and arms of stone rushed to pin him down. And soon after, bones skewered him from legs to chest.
Arad puked blood, and with each passing second, new spikes of bones pierced his body, keeping him sewn to the ground.
Vars didn't wait a fraction of a second before blasting toward the city. His goal was simple, kill as many people as possible and absorb their souls to finish the ritual.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance." He shouted at the top of his non-existent lungs.
CRACK! Arad's eyes changed, glowing with a dark purple flare as black scales started showing in his skin, preventing the bones from piercing him. He stood, shattering the arms and pinning him. His wings and tail expanded as he transformed into his half-dragon form. "You won't get away," With a single flap, Arad blasted into the sky at a horrifying speed.
[Fire Ball] Arad released tens of white fireballs at Vars, aiming to strike him down from range, but all were easily dodged. He tried to teleport to him, but he couldn't as the bursting necrotic magic around Vars interfered with Arad's magic.
Where two mages try casting a spell in the same space, the one with superior control dominants. Vars is a mage with decades of experience and practice, and Arad couldn't match his skill. Thus, he couldn't use the void step to teleport to his side now that he was actively being blocked.
"The bastard!" Arad growled, [Be careful. You might have an effective magic area of four kilometers. Vars can dominate three hundred meters around him unless you're there in person.]
"Then I must get closer," Arad flew faster, but he soon heard a voice behind him.
"I'm coming as well!" Eris flew after him.
Arad looked back at her, "Be careful then,"
"I thought you would tell me to stand down," Eris giggled.
"Not a drakaina. You won't stand down even if I told you." Arad smiled, "Now, try to keep up." With a powerful flap, Arad accelerated even further.
Eris grunted, her wings unable to keep up, "I too, have some tricks!" She shouted as he was getting further and further away from her.
With a plasma blast from beneath her feet, she accelerated further to reach Arad. "What do you say now?"
Arad turned his head and looked at her, "Let's go," He sent his tail, touching her shoulder. [Void step] In the blink of an eye, they teleported to the city.
"The city?" Eris gasped, looking around.
Thud! Arad tapped her head with his hand, "I told you to be careful,"
"What?" The moment Eris turned, a bone spear stopped at her eye. Arad's fist clenched on its shaft.
"He's here," Arad said as Vars flew into the city.
"Void step. I expected you would come here before me." Vars pointed his hand down, "Sadly, I don't have time to play." [Cloud of Death]
A black cloud of miasma gushed out of Vars's hand and fell at the city. Screams of agony started rising as people rotted alive.
Arad flew at Vars as fast as he could, swinging a left at him. CLACK! Vars took a solid hit, crashing into the church's bell tower.
"The miasma isn't going away!" Eris shouted, opening her hand and trying to ignite it, but to no avail.
"You can't stop it," Vars giggled, standing up to see Arad ahead of him, "You can't stop me. Only Gojo can, and he isn't coming back anytime soon."
Arad lifted his hand, [Void Expansion] Limiting his void to ten meters so he only covers Vars and does not harm the people at the tower's base.
CLACK! In the blink of an eye, Vars pulled a red gem from his chest and threw it away.
The gem quickly formed a new skeletal body for him, allowing him to escape Arad's void expansion before it could reach him.
Arad stopped his expansion and stared down at Vars flying through the city, killing everyone he came into contact with.
"This is like, what Alcott told me about that dragon attack," He growled, "They knew we can't go all out in the city and kill innocent people, they why they close to fight here." Rage slowly rushed through his veins.