Realm of Myths and Legends

Regardless of whether he had gone mad or not, Ourami did not intend on letting what was before him slip through his fingers.

"Hmph, if I want you to live, then you must live. If I want you to die, you must die. Do not fall under the illusion that the choice is yours to make." Ourami said as he held out the palm of his hand and clutched it into a fist.

When the pillar's hand closed, the chains that surrounded Izroth grew restless and increasingly chaotic as they lashed about viciously. However, the Ethos contained within the chains had undergone a minor transformation.

The striking power of the chains was cut by nearly 50%. But, at the same time, the unique melody the chains released started to occur more frequently. In addition, the melody became louder with every passing moment.

Izroth, who had repositioned himself amidst the Melodic Chains of Kleides, immediately experienced the effects of the abrupt shift in the behavior of the chains.

At this point, unless one was at least at the late stage of the legendary realm, they would have already fallen unconscious. And, if not for the fact that he recently entered the Mind of Craft, boosting his overall awareness by 300%, Izroth may have also suffered the same fate. But, right now, Izroth was also to resist the hypnotic-like melody produced by the chains.

As he pushed through, Izroth swung his Sword of the Storm and Scorched Inferno's Fang outward simultaneously.

Dink! Dink!

The sword and spear hit two chains that narrowly missed Izroth and rushed past his sides.

The weapons bounced off the chains and the rebounding force caused Izroth's arms to slightly tremble.

'Even with the Earthly Golden Bones and Strength of the Ancient Colossus, it feels like my arms would have been blown away along with my weapons if I underestimated it. This is going to be a little more troublesome than I anticipated, but...'

On the two chains that passed by Izroth, two tiny fractures appeared in the spots he struck with his Sword of the Storm and Scorched Inferno's Fang!

Just now, Izroth did not simply strike the same spots one time each.

He used one of the effects of his Dual Wielding skill known as Link.

Link allowed Izroth to, just as its name entailed, link his attacks to each other.

From an outside onlooker, it would seem that he only attacked once. But, in actuality, Izroth hit the same spots five times.

Soon after Izroth attacked, the arms of lightning at his back mimicked his actions.

Just like Izroth, each arm of lightning also attacked five times in rapid succession. The original pace of 100 attacks per 10 seconds had soared to 500 attacks!

While Izroth's arms of lightning did not copy skill effects, technically, "Linked" was not categorized as a skill effect. Rather, it was more like a massive attack speed buff that lasted for a split moment and had reached the pinnacle of speed. Therefore, to the arms of lightning, it was no different from five normal attacks. Because of this and one more element...

〈System Alert: The skill «The Unbounded One» has been activated.〉

The arms of lightning had temporarily bypassed their own attack delay restriction!

In the blink of an eye, a hail of lightning arms raged on around Izroth. Without the attack delay out of the way, there was virtually no rest time in between each strike.

In addition, unlike before when each arm of lightning would follow soon after the other, the arm of lightning did not wait as each was able to attack without having to wait for the previous one to complete its strike.

If it were just one or two strikes, it would not make much of a difference. However, when striking out 500 times, they were able to disrupt the flow of the chains along with the melody it brought forth.

Of course, Izroth was not moving around without purpose. During this time, he carefully managed his movement to control the striking point of several arms of lightning.

Izroth targeted the weak points in the chains that were displayed by his Deep Insight and Gifted Expertise of An Artisan.

With each step he took, new tiny fractures appeared on certain links within the Melodic Chains of Kleides. And, by the time his final arm of lightning finished its attack, Izroth stopped his movement.

In the distance, a look of disdain appeared on Ourami's face as he watched Izroth's futile attempt.

"Trying to break the Melodic Chains of Kleides with brute force--it looks like he really has gone mad," Ourami commented with a grin.

In terms of durability, while the Melodic Chains of Kleides may not stand up to something that was bathed in the flames of the Primordial Forge, it was virtually indestructible. Even someone like him would not find it easy to break those chains with brute force alone.

If even he, who was called Heaven's Strength, would find difficulty doing so, then what hope was there for others? That's why Ourami found the whole situation to be fairly amusing.

However, as Ourami saw thunderstorms brewing in the distance, the pillar understood that he could no longer afford to play with this person from another realm.

"As much as I would like nothing more than for Yia to fall here, it is not yet time. With the loss of the Teraidi, the Hearts of the World have become too vulnerable. If a pillar were to fall here, that vulnerability would only become more apparent to the celestials. But, first-" Ourami said to himself.

He then turned his attention back towards Izroth, "I must secure what belongs to me."

The only one who knew of Izroth's existence among the pillars beside himself was Yia. It would not be too difficult to hide away his property and keep it away from prying eyes.

Ourami also knew that someone with a somewhat calculative personality like Yia knew what should and should not be asked given the circumstances.

"It seems that I will have to take the matter into my own hands, after all. Return to me." Ourami stated as he called back the Melodic Chains of Kleides.

However, there was no response.

Ourami frowned and repeated, "Return."

Once again, there was no reaction from the chains.

Suddenly, Ourami felt a powerful sword intent wash over him, colliding with the natural protective aura formed from his physique.

That's when the pillar noticed something was wrong. Not just with the chains, but also with the protective aura around him!

Ourami looked down at the ground and saw that the thin layer of natural Ethos was being stripped away from his feet. No, to be more precise, it was disintegrating!

A similar phenomenon was happening all over Ourami's body, as well as to the Melodic Chains of Kleides in the nearby distance.

Not too long after, Ourami felt something warm on the palm of his right hand.

The pillar lifted his hand and saw a thin stream of red liquid flowing from a small cut located at the center of his palm.

Ourami's mind went blank for a moment. How many cycles had passed since he last witnessed this red liquid leave his body?

The chains around Izroth fell to the ground and were disintegrating rapidly into the sky.

Izroth released a controlled breath as the arms of lightning on his back spread wide.

'The feeling is still familiar...'

Skill Name: Tenth Sword Form: Life Closing Raze

Skill Creator: Izroth

Skill Level: 1/4

Skill Rank: SS

Charges: 1/3

Requirements: Sword Equipped.

Active: Releases a powerful sword intent in a 35-meter radius that affects all enemies, hostile forces, and objects with «Disintegration». All enemies struck by this sword intent will receive 750% of the user's attack as physical damage. The effects of this skill can be amplified up to [500%] depending on how strong the target's attachment to life is. Restores 1 charge every 12 hours. [MAX: 3]

«Disintegration» - For the next 10 seconds, the target's movement speed and healing are reduced by 50%, and all shields and defenses are reduced by 100%. In addition, every second over the next 10 seconds, the target will receive 1% of their maximum HP as pure damage. This damage increases by 1% every second until the end of this effect's duration. The target can be affected by multiple stacks of Disintegration.

Special Note: This skill can only be leveled up through repeated usage and proper execution.

Cooldown: 0.25 seconds

Ourami slowly lowered his hand as the entire atmosphere around him changed. The look in his eyes transformed from amused to a cold indifferent gaze. At the same time, the Fourth Heart of the World began to tremble as if it were responding directly to Ourami's mood.

The pillar took one step forward, causing an earthquake to occur as the ground where he stepped instantly fractured apart--as though it were unable to bear his steps and had to give way.

Ourami casually walked forward. With every step he took, a powerful earthquake was sent out and he appeared to move twice the distance.