CHAPTER 181: | GREATER GOOD TRIUMPH OVER GOOD

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  The valkyries, all of them with human-like appearances and expressions, wore a dignified face as the frontlines charged at the commands of their leader. "Those heretics whose eyes had been tainted by darkness shall be wrought to their end!!!"

  The leader shouted as she lifted her hand and the archers, numbering in the hundreds, prepared their loads as she pointed not at the charging sentient crystalline seraphs but at the clerics conjuring a ball of radiance to heal their allies, as she shouted, "Fire the heretics, oh sisters!!!"

  The valkyries, no, the archers, smiled softly as they took their aims at the heretics with great precision, as their smiles which were picturesque could be seen on their faces, while these valkyries figures alone could topple nations, what about their alluring smiles that were as sweet as the apple of the beginning that Eve took a bite in?

  But before fools could think of how sweet it was, the valkyries' figures letting go of their arrows were a striking image of Athena participating in a hunt in Mount Olympus as all of them said in unison, "THE FIRST ZEN OF DISTORTION: VALKYRIE STYLE: CELESTIAL SPEAR OF THE TWELVE TWILIGHT."

  Then like the celestial constellations on the night skies, the cavern was covered in their brilliance as all of the arrows, no... more like the celestial twilight spears of the heavens, broke through the sound barrier then traveled through space like a constellation, as the sentient crystalline seraphs at the frontlines tried to intercept the spears with their own bare bodies, since all of them knew that the clerics could restore their bodies like it was nothing in an instant.

  But letting these spears kill the clerics would mean that their deaths would spell their demise, since the ten thousand valkyries that they fought, though they weren't individually powerful, but with their sisters covering their weaknesses meant that all of them was a nightmare on their own right, since their coordination couldn't be broken unless one of them successfully killed the leading valkyrie that commanded their ranks, or else they would be overwhelmed with their numbers.

  This was a cruel battlefield where no mercy could be spared to a single soul, and all of the sentient crystalline seraphs, being unable to block the celestial twilight spears of the heavens, or what they called it, were all doomed the moment the arrows sniped their clerics, killing them in an instant as the valkyries that could be seen in the frontlines smiled like angels of death as all of them coordinated with their sisters and decimated the remaining sentient crystalline seraphs in a moment of notice.

  Thus they thinned their numbers in the tens and pushed all of them into a corner surrounded by all sides, as the valkyries, unsatisfied at their opponent's vigor, frowned, though their frowns were inherently cute rather than intimidating, as all of them moved forward and took a single step as they vanished from sight and into a streak of light that then rained down their enemies with their spears like the twilight of the heavens striking down all of the foul invaders that dared to lay their feet in their holy land.

  The leading Valkyrie rapped the butt of her banner into the solid air as she commanded, "Finish these foul imitations of our holy selves and drive them into the land of punishment!"

  Hearing the leading Valkyrie's words, all of them nodded their heads amidst their blurring speed as they shouted in unison, "THE FIRST ZEN OF DISTORTION: VALKYRIE STYLE: SPEAR OF THE HIGH HEAVENS."

  Notifications rained down on Alister's view, indicating that the death of the hundreds of sentient crystalline seraphs signified the completion of the first phase for the sentient crystal, whose arrogance could pierce through the heavens, and it was now time for this entity to transition into its second phase, much like what he had read in some classics, where such shifts marked the true escalation of power.

  It was a fact that a woeful villain cannot die so easily, for they possessed two forms, similar to his own transformation where his first phase was that of a human, and then the second phase was that of an armored asura, where his strength would skyrocket through the roof.

  Though he could for sure say, that he was the hero this time, but also he could be considered a villain that becomes so immensely powerful once he transforms into an asura, or more like a demon king that a hero needed to defeat with the power of friendship to unleash his ultimate trump card to vanquish the evil villain that plagued the world as a demon king or something along those lines to oblivion, so that the world could regain peace or something along those lines yet again...

  Then, observing the sentient crystal undergoing its transformation, as its featureless humanoid form gained some semblance of demonic features, Alister chuckled, noting that the sentient crystal's bluish colored crystal like form had became more amethyst-like, a royal purple, as great antler-like horns that exuded elegance protruded on its forehead and into its back, like they became its hair, and its nails became elongated, more primal, more beastly, taking the form of claws, while a tail appeared on its tailbone, lizard-like, no...

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  It looked more like a dragon tail, as the purple crystalline scales with whitish hues covered it, and its mouth became more shark-like, more brutal, more serrated, making it even more terror-inducing compared to his own set of teeth, while impressively massive wings, nearly fourfold the size of the sentient crystal, stretched in the horizon as the sentient crystal leaped to the air, then spread both of its arms to enjoy its glorious form in the collapsing cavern.

  "Huhuhu, how intriguing..." Not wanting to be outdone by the sentient crystal's transformation, Alister too transformed, as the cereum armors that plated on his bones broke free from the constraints of his skin and covered his body, in a golden armor with a cloudy texture, in an instant, his armor was ever glorious, ever beautiful, ever demonic, stretching from his feet to his head, leaving no gap for him to see nor any gap for his opponents to exploit.

  Although he had already known that such designs, ought to bring as much weakness as advantage, but he didn't care, for as long as his core remained, he should be alive, so even when his body is obliterated into blood at the impacts of his opponents' attacks, he didn't care, since for as long as his core remained protected, remained standing, Alister was invincible, like an unkillable adversity that even heaven itself would not be able to shrug off easily.

  More so his transformations didn't end there, since in the next moment, his skull split open as stumps appeared on his forehead, then in the next moment, his armor broke as twin horns grew on his forehead that elongated like there was no tomorrow, before they circled once, then twice, taking the form of a ram horns, and in the next seconds...

  His back split open as millions of veins, no, more like tendrils, broke free from his back like bloodied wings, but in the next instance, all of the millions of tendrils conjoined together as they formed into eighteen pairs of tendrils that appeared on his back, but before they could settle there, they yet again broke into millions of pieces, but instead of taking the form of a pair of arms that sat on his shoulder nor that of an eighteen seraphic wings.

  This time all of the tendrils fused into Alister’s own armor, making his already demonic form far more grotesque, far more menacing, as thousands of veins could be seen pulsing on his armor like they were alive, pulsing with a rhythm that mocked the frailty of lesser beings, as he stared at the sentient crystal levitating in the air and gazing at him with arrogance only found in gods.

  "It seems that I've made a mistake to call you a mere human, when you were a monster after all this time... in the guise of man..." the sentient crystal said in acknowledgement.

  Then it gathered ten thousand units of its mana at the tip of its fingertips, which then hovered into its back like a constellation in the night sky, forming into a formation that hovered at its back like a halo of a god, as a hundred more gathered.

  The sentient crystal slowly closed it's eyes, as it stared at Alister using it's field of perceptions, then it continued. "Allow me to apologize for my mistakes, and let me give you the honor of knowing my own name before you perish... the name is Triton, the progenitor of the sentient crystal race in the Mara world."

  Then, Triton glared at Alister as it asked, curious about this impudent man's name. "How about introducing yourself, oh monster?"

  Alister, albeit he was intrigued at the sudden shift in its personality, smiled, then stared at Triton for a while as he observed its facial expressions, bodily movements, and its intents, in an attempt to choose his words carefully so that he could agitate Triton, as he said softly. "The name is Alister Von Fai, your destined master."

  Triton chuckled at Alister's arrogance to have the gall to declare him as his servant, Triton was clearly agitated at Alister's words, though he didn't show it in his actions, but to Alister, who could read his intent like the back of his hand, it was a success, as he observed Triton say his words in a suppressed manner. "Then prove yourself, why you're worthy to be my master."

  Like what Alister had expected from an agitated opponent, Triton vanished from the sky and charged at him in a speed far greater than his field of perception nor eyes could track, but he didn't need to worry, since he could just read its intents to track its attack pattern and counter it.

  So Alister continued to observe Triton's actions as it left a trail of hundreds of afterimages in its wake that acted as decoys to fool his eyes, as Triton reappeared right next to Alister, then behind him, as Triton waved its hand and pointed its finger at Alister, and the hundreds of constellations that looked like a constellation of a god shot through its back like it was a rail gun, and like the downpour in the rain, hundreds of bullets sniped at his back, with each of them carrying the weight of nearly a hundred zen.

  Which was powerful enough to one-shot Alister in his current state, as Triton, also knowing the durability of Alister's armor, smirked in its victory as it saw one of its volleys meet Alister's armor, which was the end of this fight, or so it seemed in that fleeting moment of overconfidence.

  Their fight should have ended there, but to Triton's dismay, before its projectiles could pierce through Alister's armor, its vision distorted along with its field of perception, as time reversed five seconds in the past, and there Triton could be seen dashing throughout the cavern in a show of its speed, as it reappeared next to Alister, then behind him, as it unleashed the volleys of projectiles at him, and one of them successfully connected to Alister's armor, but before all of them could pierce through Alister's armor, time itself seemed to reverse yet again for the unknown time...