LONE: The Journey Beyond

At Aimee's end.

Boliver, Tyler and Rennar took a different approach in their battle with Aimee.

Unlike the others they already knew that Aimee was a very strong warrior.

Plus, they had already watched her battle videos which made her famous as 'The Mist Empress'.

Boliver had an ability called [Nullification] which helped to make him immune to any kind of Ardor which was not natural Ardor i.e. the Ardor which had someone else's imprint on it or the ones which another being utilized and had a command over it.

Of course this didn't apply to natural Ardor because if it did then he wouldn't be able to use Ardor itself.

The thing about Ardor is that if it wasn't controlled correctly then even the Ardor with your own imprint can harm you. Not like in those western novels where your own mana will never hurt yourself.

Coming back to the ongoing battle.

The group of three had planned that this was the way to go as they knew the consequences if anyone else comes into contact with her mist.

They would die instantly without even their bones left.

So Boliver acted as the forefront with Tyler and Rennar as covers. But even with this they weren't in a good position.

As for the reason…

Well… Aimee had 3 abilities and of them 2 were totally inclined towards fighting.

Plus, Aimee herself was burning with rage because what they did to Reven. So the lady looked more like a rapier demon right now.

Aimee used both [Hyperdrive] and [Mist Control] at the same time and used her rapier to ceaselessly push the trio into hard positions back to back.

Forcing both Tyler and Rennar to use their abilities [Toxic Tentacles] and [Surfing] respectively to evade her attacks.

[Toxic Tentacles] allowed Tyler to used his hands to create tentacles and use it as weapons to fight.

It might sound pathetic and laughable but this ability was really terrifying –imagine if 15 to 20 large sticky and gooey but agile tentacles kept on hitting you in a fast pace. You will be both suffocated and tensed at the same time.

[Surfing] ability of Rennar was not much compared to [Toxic Tentacles] as this ability simply allowed Rennar to make the force of friction to zero.

But Rennar 's use of this ability made it a real problem. Honestly, what Aimee faced most problematic to deal with was this only.

It was because every time she caught them and attacked them, the guy used this ability to disrupt her attacks and caused imbalances in her stance because of which she suffered wounds too.

The trio used the same plan again but this time Aimme did something else.

In place of using her [Hyperdrive] state to directly engage with them she ran towards Aarav's direction.

-----

On Aarav's side.

This was the only battle that was a one-man show.

No literally!!!

It was a fu*king Aarav show.

The guy didn't even give the trio he engaged with much chance.

He simple held the scythe he conjured and kept on dodging the attacks from the trio. Not only that but he also kept most of his focus on Aimee's and Reven's battlefield.

He was more worried about them after all.

Aarav's battle experience was way above anyone in the entire world.

The guy fought wars like they were games all his life so his battle awareness and presence was something that bore a deep pressure to anyone he fought with.

The same was the case for the trio he fought right now.

If someone were to look at this battle, then they would think that a master was simply teaching his disciples.

The trio used their abilities but failed to even scratch the guy.

'Time to finish these idiots. I can feel that this Rodrick guy is the true threat here but these bugs... They are a waste of time.

I think I should go to the kids and help them.'

With that in mind, Aarav attacked the first time and swung his scythe horizontally.

The trio who were fighting with him felt deep threat in this attack. So they tried everything they could to evade or stope this attack but…

ALAS!

They could not.

Slowly but surely the scythe cut them apart into half and send them on their way.

How could anyone even think of fighting the famous 'War Hero' if they saw this!?

His prowess was way too much to even compare.

After killing the three, Aarav looked at Aimee who seemed to be coming towards his direction.

He thought that maybe she was bringing her enemies here to decrease her load.

But…

Suddenly, Aimee vanished in mist which she created.

Aarav looked at the confused faces of the trio chasing after her with a surprised expression on his face too.

Then seemingly realizing Aimee's plan, he smiled bitterly as he thought.

'This lass… she really knows how to give others shock.'

He then continued to watch the battle with no interest in interfering.

Aimee who was running speedily towards Aarav made the trio behind her think that she was trying to regroup with Aarav to decrease the pressure she bore.

But they couldn't be more wrong.

As they ran behind her to catch her before she could reach Aarav she suddenly used [Mist Control] and vanished in it.

The trio was also covered in mist.

The only thing which was saving them from turning into dust was Boliver's [Nullification] ability.

"Damn it! She is not visible due to this mist."

"She can attack us from any point now. We have to be careful."

Tyler and Rennar both turned around to look at Boliver but…

Thwachak-!

Arrgh-!

What they saw was Aimee piercing the heart of Boliver with her rapier. Aimee then showed both of them a smile and retracted her rapier and vanished.

Boliver soon lost his breaths and died.

"SHIT!"

The moment Boliver died, the effect of [Nullification] ended.

"We have to run."

They both started running to get out of the mist field.

ALAS!

They were unsuccessful and their bodies turned dust in mere seconds.

PHEW!

Aimee took a deep breath and looked towards Aarav who was also looking at her and smiled.

Then Aimee met up with Aarav and asked "You are done?"

"Indeed. Let's see what's Reven doing."

As Aarav said that he and Aimee looked towards Reven's battlefield.

-----

Back at Reven's front.

His situation was extremely dire.

He was already injured in many places if his body because of the triple combo attack that the trio used earlier.

As if to make situation even worst they started to use the same strategy again and again. This was completely opposite of how Aimee and Aarav dealt with their enemies.

Why was this happening you may ask?

Only one reason –Rodrick Shah.

The guy was a monster. He didn't give any chances to Reven to even think about the other 2. Reven was forced to solely concentrate on Rodrick.

It was only because of [Vector Expansion] that he was able injure the other 2 and kept their involvement limited.

Rodrick kept using the combo of [Devil Wings] and [Demon Claws] on Reven.

This made Reven totally use his sword to parry his attacks without much chances of attacks as the other 2 came in to intervene whenever he tried to attack.

'Damn it! This guy is way too strong. I need to compromise here. Yes, that's the only way right now.'

As Reven thought that he steeled himself for Rodrick's next attack and took his stance.

Soon Rodrick's attack landed on Reven but much to his surprise Reven didn't defend.

In fact, the moment his claw arrived he saw Reven raising his sword and an incredible amount of Ardor spilling out of the sword.

Then…

"[Vector Expansion]"

Reven slashed his sword with everything he had and used his Ardor technique as well.

The Ardor released from the slash moved at an incredible speed and soon reached Rodrick.

DANGER-!

Rodrick felt immense amount of threat and tried to dodge the attack but he was not able to save himself as the attack severed his body from head to toe in half.

But that was not the end of the attack.

At the same time as Reven's slashed his Sword Ardor both Chu Feng and Gustav too felt danger.

They already realized what was happening as they already experienced Reven's [Vector Expansion] today.

They didn't even try to dodge the attack as they knew it was impossible.

Soon the Sword Ardor impaled them both.

Huff… Huff… Huff… Huff…

Reven took heavy breaths as he used his sword to support himself to stand.

PHEW!

…..