Primordial Conquest

Chapter 68: Destruction vs Sagittarius

Arora's obsidian eyes narrowed as she noticed the Heart spear in Norman's grasp light up suddenly.

The commander seemed to be channeling his power into it.

She could feel that something had fundamentally changed about his demeanor.

So far, she had maintained the upper hand in their fight. Forcing him to constantly retreat after she gained even more power.

The insurmountable gap in strength she had felt between them when he had first descended, seemed to have closed now. Thanks to her soul continuing its relentless self destruction to boost her strength even more.

Or so it appeared.

Deep down, she felt like that wasn't truly the case.

He had remained calm and composed, even as her beams carved through the air in pursuit of him. He had barely utilized his ability as well, relying instead on his raw speed that she struggled to keep up with.

She had no doubt grown to the point where the commander was now unable to suppress her raw power through negation alone.

But, that did not mean she had outgrown him in strength.

After all, the commander had not used his weapon yet.

She felt like their battle was about to take a dramatic turn.

Arora frowned slightly as she reinforced her Interitus with another surge of destructive energy.

Dark energy formed between her palms as she created another sphere of pure destruction, shattering the tense standoff between them.

She couldn't afford to let this confrontation drag on for much longer if she had any plans of keeping her sense of self from being completely devoured by her power.

Norman studied her for several moments, then sighed deeply.

His arm suddenly extended skyward, his Heart spear pointing toward the storm clouds gathering overhead.

His gaze remained fixed on Arora.

Arora's brow furrowed in confusion as she watched him. She wondered what he was hoping to accomplish with such an obviously telegraphed motion.

'Sagittarius: Aim.'

Norman thought calmly as a bright crimson light suddenly flared from his form.

The light was so bright that he resembled a shining arrow sent from the heavens to illuminate the darkened sky.

Arora's eyes widened in horror a second later as over a hundred ethereal arrows burst forth from the commander's luminous aura, each one streaking toward her at lightning fast speeds.

She panicked as she held onto her attack and launched herself upward, in a desperate attempt to avoid them. Her field carved through the atmosphere as she fled.

Despite her attempts, she felt the ethereal arrows clinging to her form like targeting markers a second later. The arrows were completely unaffected by Interitus's annihilating embrace.

Norman's eyes followed her fleeing form with a chilling look as he vanished in a flash of golden light.

SLASH!

Pain suddenly exploded across Arora's chest as the commander materialized in front of her in an instant, his spear carving downward in an arc that left a shallow but painful gash across her chest.

While he wasn't able to completely negate her Interitus like before, he was still capable of weakening it by channeling his Negation into his shard weapon.

A soundless scream tore from Arora's throat as she rushed back, desperately trying to create distance between them.

She quickly fired the attack she had been charging up in a spray of beams.

Norman followed after her as he evaded everything through Sagittarius: Quick draw.

He made no further attempts to discuss like before, as his ethereal arrows chased her across the dark evening sky.

He kept on materializing from whichever projectile brought him closest to her.

Both of them moved at unbelievable speeds, leaving sonic booms in their wake.

Terror gripped Arora's heart as she glanced back at her pursuer.

The injury she had inflicted on his leg seemed to have no impact whatsoever on his performance.

She paused mid-flight as her desperate situation drove her to unleash another barrage of destruction beams, this time in every direction. She wasn't sure where his arrows would suddenly divert to.

The chaotic assault carved through the sky's relentlessly. It made its way to the village below as well, erasing multiple structures.

"Ahhhhh!" Screams rang out as Tarokians hiding in their homes ran out in fright. Several of them got caught in the blast shortly after and were immediately erased.

Norman's expression hardened even more as he materialized from another arrow that had left her chaotic barrage.

He knew he couldn't let this go on for much longer.

Arora gritted her teeth in frustration as she realized her attack had accomplished nothing.

Suddenly, she wondered if she could just fly higher and higher, leaving the planet behind completely and escaping this scary fight to her freedom.

Arbus's smiling expression appeared in her mind a second later. For some reason, she couldn't see those eyes she enjoyed staring at anymore.

She didn't think too much of it.

'I can't leave without him'

She suddenly shot downward toward the village of Hai, surprising Norman slightly.

She had noticed him preparing the same devastating technique as before.

She knew she had no chance of avoiding it conventionally.

She flew towards the enormous stadium placed at the very center of the village, deciding to take cover from the barrage of ethereal arrows coming her way soon.

Norman watched her with an unreadable expression, as he followed closely behind.

Then, he fired another wave of Sagittarius: Aim. The arrows erupted from his crimson aura once again, streaking through the skies as they chased after Arora relentlessly.

Arora finally reached her destination as she dove into the halls of the stadium located at it's sides, hoping the arrows would be blocked by it's outer walls.

Her expression fell as they phased right through them, as if they weren't there, before attaching themselves to her form once more.

She stared at the glowing arrows in stunned disbelief.

"Rahh!!!"

She screamed as her face contorted in rage. She brought her hands together as she prepared to unleash everything she had the moment Norman appeared in front of her again.

SLASH!

Her blood streaked through the air again as she felt the spear tear into her from behind, leaving a wound far deeper than the one she'd received before.

He was doing this on purpose.

Arora held in her silent screams as she immediately turned to face Norman, firing her charged up attack and destroying walls in the opposite end of the stadium.

She glanced up, as she realised he had already retreated in the same instant he attacked.

Her chest rose and fell erratically as she stared up at him tiredly.

'I need to get stronger! And stronger! And stronger!

'No matter what, I have to survive!' she thought in frustration as she clenched her fists.

'I refuse to die again!'

Her eyes darkened even more as she channeled another surge of power from her once vast soul.

Blood spilled from her lips slightly as she felt her insides churn.

She could feel her organs struggling to contain the torrent of energy flowing through her body.

She could feel her very soul crying out to her.

Arora ignored all of that.

She pushed through the pain as she decided to try something new.

She expanded her Interitus beyond her skin, spreading it outward until it formed a massive bubble of destruction that slowly filled the entire arena.

Norman's eyes narrowed as he watched the expanding field of annihilation. The bubble was completely saturated with destructive energy.

He knew he couldn't teleport into it without being erased instantly.

His gaze met Arora's through the barrier, as she smiled at him in satisfaction.

'Try to get me now, you self-righteous monster!' she mused.

Norman said nothing as he calmly adjusted his grip on his spear.

Then, he shifted into a throwing stance.

Arora's expression faltered as she saw that.

There was no way his spear could reach her through the interitus barrier without being destroyed.

His negation wasn't strong enough to make it all the way through anymore.

She wasn't sure what he was planning to do, but she kept her guard up anyway.

Norman's crimson aura suddenly gathered into the spear.

A moment later, an ethereal arrow suddenly shot from the tip of the weapon, into her bubble of destruction, through Arora's shoulder, and finally circled all the way back to his other outstretched hand.

Arora's eyes went wide as she stared at the ethereal arrow protruding from her shoulder.

It was different from the others. This time it was black.

It left no damage, just like the others.

But she could feel that wouldn't last for much longer.

'Sagittarius: Heaven defying arrow'

BOOM!

A moment later, The Spear re-appeared in Norman's other hand. As if it had teleported instantly.

"Ahh!!!!"

Arora's screams rang out as she clutched her shoulder in agony.

Her Interitus dissipated immediately, after she lost her broken concentration from the shock.

Her flight came to a halt as well as she crashed to the arena floor with a loud thud.

Arora sobbed in agony as tears ran down her cheek.

Commander Norman Sagitta descended to meet her slowly as he stopped just over her.

Right now, he resembled an angel of death that had come for her.

His Navy-blue hair fluttered calmly in the raging wind.

He raised his spear once again as he looked down at her with a melancholic expression.

"Rest well, child."