Chapter 630: Act 373 – Requiem XXIII
“Antinna, step back a bit. I’ll attract its attention,” Brendel said softly without looking back as he let go of the aide’s hand.
“Lord, please be careful,” Antinna replied, but ultimately complied and stepped back a few paces.
Even though she had walked back and forth on the path of the deceased, leaving her with a thousand words to say to Brendel, she understood that everyone had to do their utmost to fight against the fate that belonged to Erluin.
Brendel raised the Sword of the Earth and let out a roar. He charged at the Titan statue like a lion, facing its gigantic fists that resembled mountains.
It was a war of ants against giants.
The Titan’s arm, poised in mid-air, had already transformed into an electric current, and it slammed its fist down towards Brendel’s position. But Brendel didn’t evade; he charged head-on.
Antinna let out a cry of surprise and quickly covered her mouth.
“Brendel, are you crazy?” The elfin senior sister could hardly believe her eyes.
The sparks of electricity exploded around Brendel, radiating outward in a burst, like the lines of a fireworks display.
Brendel was certainly not crazy.
But he understood that evasion was futile; this was the highest work of Wizard Bud, and the Titan’s lightning attacks could not be dodged. Rather than struggle futilely, it was better to settle the outcome in one blow.
It was either victory or defeat.
There was no third way to go.
Countless bolts of lightning pierced his skin like blades and completely penetrated him, scorching and curling the surface, his hair catching fire and burning. Brendel moved forward step by step, like a giant walking in a storm, with nothing able to block his path.
In an instant, his life force dropped to its lowest limit, his state shifting from healthy to deathly pale, marked by two large characters: Death.
Yet Brendel continued to advance.
His unyielding talent burned like the last ember, powerful laws poured into his body from the void, supporting his flesh and soul, allowing him to stand firm on the ground.
The lightning storm finally passed.
But Brendel still held his long sword high, looking at the Titan, with only one phrase to express the wildness in his heart at this moment.
“Come again, bastard!”
He raised his head and roared, his voice piercing through the battlefield. The Titan statue hesitated for a moment, or rather, the operator controlling the terrifying war machine was taken aback.
Perhaps they never imagined that after taking their full power strike, this young man who was merely an elemental manifestation at the peak of the golden tier was still not dead.
But it accepted Brendel’s provocation.
The Titan raised its left hand, a bolt of lightning seemingly responding to its summons striking down from the sky to hit its palm. The surging electricity gathered into a bright lightning sphere in its hand; at that moment, it was the deity who ruled over lightning—the giant of storms, Talamiro.
The Titan grasped the lightning sphere, stretching it like a tangible object into a long spear of lightning.
Since you seek death, then I shall grant you death. Lightning brings fire to civilization across countless worlds, but it also decrees destruction. The Titan hurled it forward, and the lightning converged into an infinitely bright point aimed directly at Brendel.
“Dodge!” Saint Ausoor completely did not understand what Brendel was trying to do; she thought this young man was utterly insane. She had never seen him display such a wild side, facing the power of death without any reservation.
In that moment, she recalled the night with Buche, when she first saw this young man—only because of the same power did she truly decide to make him her successor.
But this scene replayed itself.
The young man, like a lion with bristled fur, charged relentlessly toward his enemy—or rather, death. For him, this was a slim chance remaining.
A roar that seemed to tear the heavens and earth asunder. Lightning splattered across the meadow, the densely coiling electric arcs distorted into a scorching, platinum-colored gaseous substance, sweeping over and turning everything it touched to ashes.
But an unbelievable scene occurred for all witnesses.
Brendel, like a god of thunder descending, was surrounded by lightning. His hands parted the white gas clouds, charging through the storm with an unstoppable momentum. Everyone saw the black flames rising from his eyes, the same power surging within his body, the fury of the dark dragon engulfing this moment of Brendel.
His eyes were solely fixed on the Titan.
He leapt.
In that leap, he unleashed unimaginable strength, shooting upwards like a cannonball aimed at the Titan’s chest.
That was the location of the lightning core.
The Sword of the Earth split the mist like a silver line, stabbing down directly into the hard granite. But amidst the sparks flying, the indestructible Sword of the Earth merely bounced back against the hard surface, as invisible ripples emerged from the countless magical arrays on the bronze surface, pushing the sword away completely.
Immediately, the lightning on the protective array began to counterattack.
Countless arcs of electricity shot out from the Titan’s chest, each one whipping against Brendel’s body like a whip. But it was already meaningless; Brendel could not become more ‘dead.’ As long as his head and heart remained intact, within these ten minutes, he would continue to live.
Ten minutes were enough for Brendel to accomplish many things.
The retaliating lightning also triggered some of the powers within Brendel that had yet to awaken—his Blood of the Sun. Every bolt of lightning striking him would be met with a counter-lightning of the same golden-red color.
Only at this moment did Brendel’s long-planned scenario finally unfold, as his counter-attack skill began to show terrifying power supported by the unyielding talent.
Every bolt of lightning striking him elicited a reaction from the Blood of the Sun, counterattacking the Titan with the same golden-red lightning. The counterattack skill finally displayed its might under the support of the unyielding talent.
Even if it was only 50% damage, that was still the Titan’s own power.
The Titan was attacking itself.
The operator inside the Titan noticed something was off in an instant—countless lightning bolts countering Brendel’s attack returned with an equal amount of retaliation from the Blood of the Sun. But conversely, the counterattack from the Blood of the Sun trigged a new round of retaliation, creating a vicious cycle that couldn’t be halted from the very beginning.
The entire Titan was instantly engulfed in a radiant light as bright as a newborn star.
In that moment, the near-ten thousand counterattacks overwhelmed the Titan, causing it to falter. In the blink of an eye, countless fine cracks appeared on its chest.
The Titan trembled violently in that blazing light.
Brendel also let out a howl— or rather, a scream. The immense pain almost drowned out all of his senses. He exerted every ounce of strength he had left, letting out only one sound:
“Ahhhhh—”
With the final flicker of rationality, he thrust his clawed left hand—the one marked by the crimson blessing—into the crack on the Titan’s chest.
Then he raised the Sword of the Earth, beginning to strike violently at the gradually exposed lightning core of the Titan.
Now.
There would only be one outcome for both—killing each other, or being killed.
If the operator inside the Titan still harbored a glimmer of hope, Brendel knew better than him that at least for ten minutes, this colossal entity could not kill him.
But could the Titan withstand his nearly ten minutes of all-out attacks?
The answer was clearly no.
The Titan would be killed by its own rebound damage, a method of death that was perhaps the most constraining since its creation.
And it could no longer turn back.
Brendel had also lost the ability to think, completely falling into a state of madness, attacking this monstrous beast almost instinctively like a wild animal. The hellish pain provided no space for thought, leaving only a shred of clarity that turned into an enraged roar:
“Antinna, run! Now, run! The portal!”
His voice rang out far and wide.
……
The aide pressed one hand to her chest, looking at the blinding sphere of light transformed from the Titan with an indescribable emotion—she knew that within it, Brendel was engaging in a desperate battle with that terrifying enemy.
She felt powerless to change anything, only able to pray silently.
But until Brendel’s roar echoed—
“Antinna, run! Now, run! The portal!”
Antinna shivered; that roar didn’t sound like her lord’s voice, twisted with pain, almost like the howl of a beast. She felt as though she had been stabbed, immediately gritting her teeth and rushing towards the portal.
One hundred meters, only a moment’s distance.
But perhaps she hadn’t expected that just after taking her first step, glaring electric light suddenly burst forth from the Titan statue. The light flashed violently, and then all the lightning died down one by one.
Antinna instinctively turned her head back and saw Brendel, drained of power, falling from the air, crashing heavily to the ground in an arc.
“Ah…”
She gasped in worry, then noticed that the terrifying Titan statue was collapsing, teetering where it stood.
Did they win?
The aide opened her eyes wide, but her heart sank immediately. Because she saw the giant wobble back to its feet, as if it would fall apart at any moment, but it had not completely perished.
On the contrary, her lord was indeed lifeless.
Her lord lost…
Antinna felt an uncontrollable sting in her heart, and finally realized something; tears streamed down her face. Antinna had thought more than once that she might die in this war, thought Erluin might perish, but she had never imagined Brendel would die.
Her lord was omnipotent, like a beacon guiding everyone forward, but she never expected that even the last flicker of hope could extinguish.
Brendel had never expected either—
The Sword of the Earth, due to its element properties, was indestructible; he perhaps had never considered it could break. In fact, even under the Titan’s assault, the Sword of the Earth remained completely unharmed.
But this misconception made him forget one thing.
Not every piece of equipment on him was called the Sword of the Earth.
When he saw his crimson blessing melting and finally breaking under the lightning, he finally realized this point.
“It’s over.” At that moment, he had only one thought.
And then he was violently hurled away by the lightning, crashing down hard on the ground. He felt like he was embedded in the earth; the unyielding talent was burning the last flicker of flame within him, but it was almost extinguished.
He could no longer move, his eyelids growing heavy, endless fatigue wrapping around him.
Was it coming to an end?
He wanted to glance over at Antinna’s direction one last time, but all he could see was a dark, narrow vision. Because of ruptured blood vessels, his view was drenched in crimson, like a view before the apocalypse.
Everything seemed to quiet down.
In that silence, he saw another bolt of lightning descending from the sky, and then transforming into another Titan. Misfortune compounded, it was completely over.
He thought.
Until a familiar, clear voice pierced through his black thoughts.
“Brendel!”
……
(PS: Second chapter, thanks to everyone for their support over the past two months. More to come~~~ Hehe, I enjoy sudden bursts.) (To be continued. If you like this work, please consider voting for me on Qidian (qidian.com) with recommendations or monthly tickets; your support is my greatest motivation.)
