Chapter 548 - This Isn't Over
"This will be your miserable end, Irene," Ruthren said in a venomous tone as he raised his hand to deal the killing blow.
*Crackle!*
But before he could release any attack, a huge jet-black lightning tornado manifested before him and began to devour his water dragon, much to his surprise!
He knew this was Damien's handiwork, but this lightning tornado was way bigger and fiercer than the previous ones that almost destroyed his imperial army. He could even see the fabric of his robes getting pulled towards the tornado, and the skies only seemed to get even darker.
This was a man who never had to become shocked at anything for centuries, and now seeing his ethereal manifestation getting broken apart, he felt as if this was all a dream.
The jet-black lightning tornado seemed to induce the worst feelings in him and made him feel like the claws of despair were about to grab him.
But then he noticed that this tornado contained the presence of other ethereal auras as well, making him realize that the Forsaken experts probably amplified Damien's attack using the ethereal formations. However, Ruthren had no idea that this large ethereal formation the Forsaken were using right now was designed and created by the first Zirian Emperor and was known to be an extraordinary ethereal formation with profound abilities.
This was why Irene even decided to make this place the main base for the Forsaken so that they could stand their ground in an unexpected situation. But she never thought that they would get betrayed from inside by the entity they trusted the most.
However, the lightning tornado only seemed to get even stronger as it continued to devour the water dragon, and since the water dragon was his ethereal manifestation, Ruthren's expression became dark as he tried to wrest back control of his water dragon and save it from getting destroyed.
Otherwise, if it gets destroyed, he won't be able to manifest another one for a while, and if something terrible were to happen, he didn't want to count on his imperial army, who were confused and destroyed mainly by Damien's lightning tornadoes.
Damien, however, disappeared from within the barrier as he zoomed towards where Irene was lying to pick her up while Ruthren was being kept busy by the jet-black lightning tornado.
"Senior!" Damien became worried to see that Irene was in a very bad shape and gently lifted her into his arms as he dashed back to the barrier.
"Where do you think you are going?" Ruthren caught notice of Damien trying to rescue Irene and quickly sent out his ethereal energy to grab hold of Damien, but the lightning tornado sucked up that ethereal energy as well as if it got magnetically attracted towards it.
Since Ruthren's ethereal energy had the essence of his water elemental seed, it was like a source of energy for the lightning tornado, which became even stronger and had devoured half of Ruthren's water dragon by now.
Reva couldn't help but relax her breath, seeing that Ruthren failed to catch Damien, who was moving at a lightning-fast speed and could only be seen as a jet-black streak moving through the battlefield.
If this lightning tornado had been placed below, near the imperial army, at least half of them would have gotten shredded to bits within seconds, even if there were tens of Peak Heaven Ethereal Realm cultivators within the army.
The supreme commanders, who were all aged and had cultivations at the Profound Ethereal Realm, quickly used their own ethereal energies to help their emperor, but they had no idea that they would only be feeding the lightning tornado with even more energy, making it stronger and fiercer.
"Stop making it worse, you fools!" Ruthren roared, making the supreme commanders quickly withdraw their ethereal energies with a frightened expression like scared cats. They had zero experience in dealing with lightning ethereal energy and had no idea that they would only be putting their emperor in more trouble.
But if their ethereal energies could only make the situation worse, how were they going to help the emperor?
Ruthren's expression became firm as he clapped his hands together to form a terrifyingly powerful shockwave that destabilized the lightning tornado before him. By now, he knew that only his physical strength could be of any help and was able to regain back control of his water dragon as the lightning tornado began to lose its momentum and energy after the powerful shockwave disrupted it.
However, right when he was looking for Damien to catch him, he saw that he had already entered the barrier and was getting ready to teleport away!
"Destroy that barrier, right now!" Ruthren ordered as his voice shook even the most injured man on the battlefield to get up with every last ounce of energy left in his body since it was like a command they couldn't dare disobey.
All the generals, commanders, and even the supreme commanders began to combine their powers to strike at the barrier while Damien, who was still holding onto Irene, was standing inside one of the teleportation circles. And beside him was a worried Reva who was trying her best to stabilize the injuries of her grandmother by using her ethereal energy to direct a healing pill inside her grandmother's mouth.
The other teleportation circles were not left unoccupied as the other Forsaken experts quickly got into it, including Shania and Blake, as the formations began to power up.
*BOOM!*
The ethereal barrier around the Forsaken base formed huge cracks as the combined attack from the imperial army, including even Ruthren's, shook it violently and seemed as if it would definitely collapse with just a single attack from even an Earth Ethereal Realm cultivator.
Ruthren himself rushed towards the barrier to break through it and grab hold of Damien, but Damien smirked as he showed him the middle finger, and all the teleportation circles shone with a bright azure light before everyone in it disappeared.
*Crack!*
"This isn't over…Damien Godwin…" Ruthren, who had made through inside the barrier forcibly, muttered with a dark expression as he looked at the now-empty teleportation formations.