He laughed as if he was unhinged, his eyes filled with his usual madness. Those who saw him felt the chill on their bodies. Their minds filled with quiet fear.
What... was this mad person planning to do now! Even without telling them anything, the speculators all ran from the way. Even Captain Mera shuddered and covered herself with the shield of purple light.
Vacuse’s eyes continued to gleam. Why should he control anything?
His hands were trembling as if he carried an intense weight. His head felt as if it might finally explode. His bones quaked and shook. His flesh trembled.
Void users need to have tight control? Fuck that!
Vacuse brought his hand down, his veins like tight wires against his skin and blood dripping faster from his nose.
The Void energy twisted and rippled like the face of an angry storm. The energy warped into one single thing. A claw, it looked like a Dragon’s one.
It came down on Amros like a hammer, its speed akin to that of lightning.
Amros shook and all his balls turned into a large sheet of metal that shielded him.
An explosion lit up the sky in a shower of fire and cracking black energy. The energy spilled over the surroundings, eating the ground and the trees, sucking in the air.
When the dust cleared, Amros was still standing straight, but most of his armor was gone and he had been forced out of his half-shift form.
His shield had been entirely destroyed, but they did most of their job in absorbing the attack. He stared at Vacuse in absolute shock.
He knew he should be powerful... but surely, not by this much? Seriously... this is ridiculous. Amros is powerful. He knew that he was and had no doubt about it.
But Vacuse in the second Stage was powerful as well.
He bowed. "It is my loss."
Vacuse was silent for a long time. Finally, he raised his hand to his chin and the crowd was stunned again.
All his ten fingers were broken, twisted at unnatural angles as if he had used his very hands to stir the movement of the Void energy.
What Rith said was the truth. The Void energy could destroy the user just as easily as those he wished to attack.
But as they watched, his fingers began to heal. Even though his face was pale, his skin had an unhealthy hue to it. "Don’t be modest, Amros. I know you still have some tricks up your sleeves. Besides, you still have some energy to attack me.
"You are in the third Stage after all. You are stronger than me."
Amros’s expression only became more unreadable. "My lord... you just broke through to the second Stage today. This is the difference."
Vacuse frowned, then he shrugged. "I enjoy fighting with you, Amros. And your powers are interesting. Let’s fight next time and when we are back, I will see you transferred to the New Dawn."
Amros bowed low. "It would be my pleasure, my lord."
Vacuse waved him off. He wanted to continue with his food, but it was already gone. "Prepare more food."
After saying that, he sat down cross-legged and began to regulate his energy. The fight had brought him satisfaction, but he didn’t feel it to the extent that he wanted.
Amros was strong, but he wasn’t the best that the third Stage could provide. Far from it.
There are still SS, S, and A.
Amros was only a B rank.
That said, Vacuse had learned a lot from the fight. And the biggest of all was that he really needed to train. He needed defensive techniques and ways to get his powers under control.
He hated to admit it, but Rith was right.
Maybe he wasn’t that bad of a teacher after all.
Because sometimes, he might need to kill a rat without alerting the wolf. Not everything is brute force.
He began to stabilize his body. "...Rith... do you think I would be able to win if we both go all out...?"
Rith answered after some time. "...It’s difficult to say... you might match him in the amount of force he controls, but you still can’t match his quality..."
"...But after good training... you should be able to match him in strength..."
"...Besides, Soulbearers isn’t all about your rank or stage. Sometimes it’s how you fight and the equipment you have at hand. Some artifact could absolutely crush you in an instant, even when the user is weak..."
"...What you need to shore up your power is things like that..."
His family was too poor and whatever they had was solely in readiness for any attacks against them.
But he’s the heir. He should be able to pressure Drenvar into giving him some.
Vacuse continued to meditate until the food was ready and he was served.
Although the Dragon Guards all respected him on the basis that he was the Dragon heir, now though, they looked at him with deeper respect.
He had shown power, and that was something a lot of people respected.
Eventually, they traced their steps back to the road and continued on their journey. The event that led up to it seemed to have absolutely suppressed the monsters in the area.
Their trip was smooth and easy.
Lord Ragna took control of the map and led the way once they got to a certain location. It was the so-called Dungeon that Vacuse was interested in.
The Dungeon was a simple gate of spinning light that hung in the middle of the air. The power radiating from it was in the second Stage.
When Vacuse saw it, he had a change of mind. Initially, he wanted to let Captain Mera tear her way through, but now, he decided to do it himself.
A lot of the Guards were to wait behind while Vacuse and some others went in.
Captain Mera herself would lead from behind.
Vacuse didn’t mind and he agreed. To him, who had been bait for the Dungeon in his past life, and with his current power, he knew there wouldn’t be anything threatening inside.