Monarch of Evernight - Chapter 555

Chapter 555: 555

Chapter 555: Shoulder to Shoulder Battle [V6C85 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

Qianye took a step forward and arrived in front of Julio . He was half a stride ahead of Zhao Jundu and Li Kuanglan .

“Qianye, come back . ” Zhao Jundu held his Blue Sky Edge horizontally . A meter-long azure glow materialized to block Qianye’s way .

Qianye pressed the blade lightly with his hand and said, “This is the most optimal combat position for me . ”

This actually made sense—if only the level-disparity wasn’t that great, and if only the opponent wasn’t Julio . Qianye’s defenses were the strongest out of the three . Add to that his Oceanic Domain and East Peak’s heavy sword characteristics, he was the best candidate to fight the enemy head-on . But presently, no one believed him to be capable of receiving an all-out blow from Julio .

Zhao Jundu’s hand on the blade didn’t move at all . The green radiance therein flickered as he said in a deep voice, “Move back . ”

Li Kuanglan said with raised eyebrows, “You must know that I don’t have any more Stillwater Rebirths . Take it easy, if you die this time, it’s over . ”

Qianye nodded . “I know . ” He slowly raised East Peak as the Profound Combatant Formula circulated inside his body . In a few breath’s time, faint sounds of thunderous tides emerged around him .

“Clap, clap, clap” . Julio applauded . “Not bad, you have talent and guts . Now, even I can’t bear to kill you immediately . ”

Qianye replied calmly, “I’m afraid you might not be able to . ”

Julio removed his gloves . “Is that so? I’m worried about that, too . ”

It was at this time that violet flames ignited around Zhao Jundu, and eight pillars of fire began revolving close to his body . An illusory shadow of Julio appeared to the right of Zhao Jundu . It reached out to claw at the latter but gradually retracted its hand and disappeared after touching the pillars . It was really just a shadow because Julio was still standing in place as if he had never moved at all .

Li Kuanglan was currently standing to the right of Zhao Jundu . Her expression shifted slightly because she simply hadn’t sensed the attack . It was fortunate that the assault was aimed at Zhao Jundu . If the target were her, she definitely wouldn’t be as calm .

“Deceptions!” Li Kuanglan snorted coldly as Cold Moon’s embrace flew up and shot an aqua blue beam of light at Julio’s forehead . This sword strike was as quick as it was straightforward, so much so that one couldn’t see any special abilities in it . To Li Kuanglan’s path of the sword, the smaller the movement at launch, the greater the might of her attack .

Julio only raised a right hand in front of him, seemingly poised to block the sword energy with his body . But just as the blue radiance was about to arrive, the marquis’ hand immediately turned transparent and faded away . The blue sword energy flew around Julio as though it had lost its target and finally shot into the wall beside him .

Julio’s right hand then appeared anew as though nothing had happened .

Li Kuanglan’s expression transformed once more . This time, she had finally seen that Julio’s maneuver wasn’t a secret art . He had simply drawn her sword energy away by means of an amazing combat art . This sounded easy, but in truth, those with an inferior strength and combat arts might even lose their lives in the process .

However, Julio had performed it so effortlessly . It seemed as easy as shaking water off of one’s hand .

Only Qianye hadn’t moved since the very beginning . It was not that he didn’t want to but that he couldn’t . A wisp of Julio’s blood energy had locked onto him from afar and would shoot into his heart at the first sight of an opening . Qianye had a strange feeling that Julio was focusing the greater part of his attention on him, and this made it difficult for him to rush into action .

Beads of sweat appeared on Qianye’s forehead under the immense pressure . This was strange because his strength was the lowest of the three . Julio had no good reason to focus so much attention on him unless he knew about the Shot of Inception . But Qianye hadn’t exposed himself even in front of a high-ranking divine champion like Duke You . He didn’t believe Julio could see through his secret .

Julio was also looking at Qianye, but there were no clues to be found in the vampire’s eyes .

The stalemate lasted mere moments before eight flaming pillars suddenly appeared around Julio . The flames immediately turned azure after their appearance and caused all origin fluctuations within a hundred meters to turn stagnant . Everyone found it momentarily difficult to circulate their origin power, but the sensation soon receded .

This was Zhao Jundu’s Omniscient Seal . He was able to exercise such precise control over it that Qianye and Li Kuanglan were exempt from its disturbance despite being in the area of effect . Li Kuanglan couldn’t help but sigh after her origin power regained its flow . At her level on the martial path, she was very clear what this meant .

Most domains couldn’t differentiate friend and foe . That was why a fight between high-level experts was difficult to supplement with numbers . Normally, only experts above the level of divine champion possessed the power and control to minimize their domain’s effects on allies . But Zhao Jundu could already do this at rank-twelve . He was truly deserving of his fame as the empire’s number one in the younger generation .

The appearance of the Omniscient Seal reduced the mysterious ambiance around Julio, and his movements were no longer as unfathomable . Li Kuanglan trod forth with Cold Moon’s Embrace glowing in her hand . But this time, she was no longer shooting frost qi . She had opted to maximize her advantage by concentrating power on the sword edge as she moved about and slashed at Julio like a raging tempest .

Qianye finally made his move . Roaring, he raised East Peak high up and slashed down without any fancy moves! The sword descended on Julio’s current position . Qianye cared not whether the target would evade—he only delivered an all-out strike free of distracting thoughts .

East Peak fell noiselessly, and the greater part of the blade pierced into the stone floor as though it were tofu . As expected, that sword strike didn’t find its target, but Julio couldn’t flicker and reappear in his original position as he had before . Instead, he was forced to take two steps back in order to evade the strike .

This was the first time Julio had stepped backward since the battle had begun . He finally revealed an astonished expression, his gaze on Qianye tinged with admiration and regret .

Zhao Jundu and Li Kuanglan became spirited after seeing Julio retreat, and their attacks grew all the more violent .

The Omniscient Seal’s range didn’t change at all, but Zhao Jundu pulled back all of a sudden . He stood at the threshold of the corridor with the Blue Firmament in hand and took aim at Julio .

The vampire’s expression changed slightly, and the skin on his forehead began twitching . His figure flickered several times, but his forehead was still tingling . He simply couldn’t shake off that pin-prick sensation . Julio recognized this as the sensation of being locked onto . What surprised him, however, was the fact that he couldn’t extricate himself regardless of the evasion or secret arts used . A name popped up in his heart: “True Shot . ”

True Shot was a skill both factions could possess, and its might was inversely proportional to the chances of it appearing . The most terrifying part of True Shot was that its firepower would increase depending on the shooter’s strength .

Julio recognized the Blue Firmament in Zhao Jundu’s hands . He wasn’t willing to take on this shot at all, regardless of the type of bullet in the chamber . However, evading a powerful skill like True Shot was easier said than done .

Naturally, True Shot wasn’t completely indefensible . As long as Julio maintained high-speed movement, some minor deviations would appear in Zhao Jundu’s lock on him . This was enough to evade the vitals . But high-speed movements under the suppression of the Omniscient seal involved significant blood energy expenditure . Even a marquis wouldn’t be able to hold out for long .

The best way to deal with Blue Firmament was to charge into a melee battle, but Li Kuanglan and Qianye wouldn’t give him such an opportunity .

Li Kuanglan pushed her speed to the limits until she was practically flying around Julio . Streaks of blue splendor poured out from Cold Moon’s Embrace and spiraled around the vampire marquis . Qianye’s attacks, on the other hand, were bold and powerful . East Peak was as heavy as a mountain and every slash from it would always force Julio to move about . One could still trace him while he was moving . He was, on the contrary, more elusive while standing in place .

In this manner, Qianye, Zhao Jundu, and Li Kuanglan attacked in perfect coordination—restraining, attacking, and seeking the opportunity to deal the final blow . For a while, the two parties were evenly matched and none of them could deal with the other .

Qianye and Li Kuanglan hadn’t used their own domains . On one hand, it was to avoid a conflict in origin power, while on the other, it was because Zhao Jundu’s Omniscient Seal was able to restrict Julio the most . With the marquis’ unimaginable speed and unfathomable arts, the trio probably wouldn’t last long if there was no suppression at all . Zhao Jundu never joined the battle, but the drain from constantly maintaining the domain didn’t lose out to that of Qianye and Li Kuanglan at all .

But everyone knew that this situation was only temporary because more imperial reinforcements would arrive as time went on . Julio would likely fall in battle if he didn’t break out of the siege right now . But the vampire seemed completely calm with no sign of anxiety or fear . It was almost as though time wasn’t on the empire’s side .

Qianye became increasingly suspicious as he fought on, but he didn’t dare split his attention to anything else . Julio had been defending all the time, but it would be terrifying if he were to find an opening and launch a counterattack . The highest-ranked among them, Li Kuanglan, was four levels below the marquis . They might not be able to take a single blow from Julio unscathed, even if his attack was merely a spent force .

Finally, Julio seemed to have decided that the Omniscient Seal was too much of a restraint . Following a low growl, blood energy suffused a hundred-meter radius around him and began to fight back against Zhao Jundu’s azure energy .

In a clash between two domains, the azure energy held the upper hand, but the blood energy was far greater in quantity . The azure glow barely held out for fifteen minutes before growing thinner and thinner . Soon, the Omniscient Seal arrived on the verge of collapse .

Qianye let out an explosive shout as the oceanic vortex formed within him . The tyrannical force of his Oceanic Might poured out onto the battlefield, shattering both the Omniscient Seal and Julio’s blood energy domain . The oceanic vortex lasted a mere moment after destroying the two other domains before it, too, dispersed . Qianye’s complexion immediately turned pale—the energy consumption from fighting a domain battle beyond his rank was simply too great .

The three domains had just vanished when an icy blue frost immediately covered the scene, and Julio’s newly increased speed grew stagnant once more . Li Kuanglan had taken action at the precise moment and used her own domain to once again restrain Julio . The timing was perfect .

Zhao Jundu finally made his move as Julio’s movements slowed down briefly .

Blue Firmament rumbled as an azure trajectory appeared through the air . The bullet practically arrived at Julio’s chest after leaving the chamber!

Despite Julio’s rapid reaction and evasion, he only managed to barely move his vitals out of the way . He let out a muffled groan as blood sprayed out from his shoulder .

Zhao Jundu’s aura fell after this shot, but he lifted Blue Firmament once more and took aim at Julio’s blood core .

The battle once again fell into a deadlock .

At this moment, all of them had noticed the gunfire outside of the castle had grown sparse, and the artillery had more or less stopped firing . There were sounds of imperial squads quickly approaching from the distance .

All of a sudden, the wall behind Julio collapsed backward—door and all—revealing an empty hall . Numerous deep fissures had appeared on the floor, and the nearby walls were filled with cracks . The entire building seemed to be on the verge of collapse following their fierce battle .

Meanwhile, a petite figure was standing in the distant wilderness of Evernight Continent . There were hundreds of corpses lying around her, and judging from their clothing, they were all imperial soldiers . There were several generals among them and even a lieutenant general .