Chapter 155 - Horde End.
"Great Imperial Hegemony!" a deep voice came from the shadow as Seven black blades, each more than ten meters long surrounded him.
The seven Ether beasts eyes glinted and they all turned around to look at the new opponent.
"God's blood!" the Griffin whispered with an agitated face. "Why the hell are there so many of them these days?" it mumbled to itself but one of the Ether beasts heard him and sneaked a glance.
"Hurry up, none of the younger ones can handle that thing yet, break the last chain quick!" an ether beast standing on two legs said to the others, making them nod in response.
The shadow pierced into the beast horde like a hot knife through butter, claiming lives with every swing.
It came to a stop in front of Hao Xuan and the surrounding darkness receded into a humanoid figure, revealing a 6 feet tall male. It was Ensis.
"Master," he got down on one knee in the bloody mud.
"Stand up. How are the old men?" Hao Xuan waved his hand.
"They made it out safely, but the rest of the journey will not be easy," he respectfully replied while standing back up.
"Its the most we can do," Hao Xuan nodded. He looked up at the last chain and said somberly, "Its almost time. Use everything you have other than the God's blood. There will be no witnesses here."
Ensis followed Hao Xuan's line of sight and looked up at the chain and then at the beasts. He frowned.
"What?" Hao Xuan asked upon seeing his troubled expression.
"They..." he looked at the beasts one by one and squinted, "...are not real. It feels like they are here, yet not here."
Hao Xuan's expression changed as he gave the beasts a once over.
"Do you know anything about this?" he asked inwardly.
There was no response for a few seconds but then a lazy voice replied, "Those are not actual Ether beasts, only their shadows. Their real bodies are somewhere else. How can you not notice even that? Do you think it is normal for them to look like shadowy silhouettes even this up close?"
"You have not seen the might of an actual Ether level beast. This flimsy formation would not have lasted even 3 hours if their real bodies were here," Hyde's mocking voice reverberated in Hao Xuan's head.
Hao Xuan's initial shocked expression turned to that of pure joy, "That's even better. It makes things so much easier," he said smilingly, baffling Ensis.
He patted Ensis on the shoulder, "Alright, scratch my last order. Use the God's blood, use it all," he paused and looked at the Griffin, "Go crazy!"
Ensis had a few questions but now wasn't the right time. White's fire was almost gone and the next beast wave would be coming soon.
"As my king commands," he put his hand on the black sword.
"First Release!" a deep voice that sounded neither feminine nor masculine came out of his mouth. He unsheathed the sword and as it came out, a thick black Qi flowed out from the scabbard like water. It surrounded Ensis completely.
When it disappeared, Ensis's appearance had changed. He was several inches taller now. His clothes were replaced by a black a robe that moved without the wind. It seemed to be alive.
"Second Release!" the same voice came out once again. Another burst of Qi came out, from the blade this time, and surrounded him again.
When it received back into the blade, his appearance had changed yet again. Now he was almost 7 feet tall and looked much leaner.
The lower half of his face was covered with a dark material that was moving like water, showing only his eyes. He had short black hair and the black longsword in his hand was nowhere to be found.
The seven black blades appeared once again. This time they looked much sturdier and each one of them was slightly different than the rest.
*Whistle*
Hao Xuan whistled looking at his new appearance and nodded approvingly. This was the actual appearance of Ensis when he was using his actual power.
"Divine Infringement!" Ensis shouted and thrust his hands forward. The Seven blades, as if controlled by an invisible thread, struck out all at once in every direction.
*Slash*
*Slash*
*Slash*
*Slash*
*Slash*
*Slash*
*Slash*
It was a complete massacre. Every beast weaker than Ensis himself, whose power level was restricted to Origin Realm 6 just like Hao Xuan's, was sliced into two upon impact. The rest had to defend or run away, and even then they didn't get away scot-free.
"Damn it! Hurry up!" the Griffin shouted at the Ether beasts upon seeing the scene of carnage below them.
"AAH!" loud noises came from each of the beasts as they all struck down at once, cracking the last chain. The platform shook and the blue barrier almost broke.
Hao Xuan looked up the last chain and moved back into the platform.
"Once more," he said to Ensis who struck out again, claiming hundreds of lives.
*BOOOM*
With an explosion, the last chain broke as well. All the Ether beast silhouettes moved in, ready to strike.
"Wait, Don't kill the black one, we can offer the god's blood to the Wu clan!" one of them said to the rest. They looked at each other and nodded.
Hao Xuan made an exaggerated expression upon hearing their conversation. Now that they had broken through the barrier and since they weren't trying to hide it, he could hear them talk.
"Wow, that's pretty racist dude. Or is speciesist? Is that a thing?" he asked with a pondering expression.
"Smash that little sh*t, I want to eat his innards!" the Griffin shrieked, but none of the Ether beasts made a move. They were all looking at Hao Xuan with deep frowns.
"Why isn't he panicking?" they thought.
Each of them had killed a fair number of humans, but the guy in front of them wasn't scared one bit.
They exchanged glances with one another and realized all of them were thinking the same thing. One of them, the one that had given the Griffin a dirty look when he mentioned God's blood, slowly moved back.
"It's time!" Hao Xuan saw the large silhouette retreat and shouted. Ensis suddenly turned around and ran into the platforms bubble.
Hao Xuan summoned him back. He then looked up at the Griffin one last time and said, "Idiot," before rotating the small disk on the platform sideways and pushing it in.
There was a clanking sound from the under the ground and all places where the chains had been suddenly lit up. Small multicolored spheres of light floated up from the ground and started expanding outwards.
The Griffin who was shouting obscenities at Hao Xuan suddenly realized something was wrong. It turned and noticed the expanding spheres of light.
"What is that? No matter, you are dead now. Nothing can save you! You lit-" but before it could finish the insult, the spheres of light suddenly expanded to more than 100 times their original size before erupting into a with an unadulterated force.
*BOOM*
*BOOOOOOOM*
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*
"NOOOO!" The six ether beasts still in Galenas vicinity shouted and tried to move away, but it was too late. It was like an atomic bomb went off.
For just a few seconds, several dozen cities in the Mei kingdom saw a bright blob of light shoot out from where Galena once used to be.