Chapter 396 - Result?
Chapter 396 – Result?
Chapter 396: Result?
Before Ilastov's palm could touch the snake, Aakesh shot an arrow, aiming at the elbow, successfully deflecting the attack.
The one-horned snake was already angry due to its early and failed transformation, but seeing it coming to its death a moment earlier, made it furious.
The snake could only sustain itself for three seconds, and one second had already passed. There were only two seconds left, while there was a wide gap between the strength of the snake and Ilastov.
The one-horned snake made its mind of what to do next. The snake began to swell for self-destructing while Ilastov raised his hand again after failing the first time.
"Boom!"
The next moment, a loud explosion rang in the area as the snake exploded. Ilastov, who was very close to the explosion, was thrown backward from the force released by it.
Fortunately for him, the explosion wasn't very destructive due to the snake being a failed transformation. The maximum amount of injury he received was a shallow burn for being close to the blast.
"Whoosh!"
Suddenly, an arrow came flying toward him. Ilastov casually flicked it before it could reach his chest.
"Boom!"
Suddenly, the arrow exploded. It wasn't enough to even put a scratch on Ilastov, but he couldn't help but frown.
During the explosion, Aakesh shot around a hundred of the same arrows, which triggered a chain of explosions.
Ilastov was still unhurt, but the number of arrows had now exceeded the thousand mark.
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
If Ilastov dared to stop the arrow, it would explode. If he didn't stop it, it would still explode. So, Ilastov had no choice but to stop them before they could reach near his vitals.
Tens of such explosions at the same time wouldn't create any issue for Aakesh, but what if the number breached thousands or tens of thousands. Ilastov couldn't take that chance to test his durability.
Time flew by, and ten minutes had passed since the battle between Ilastov and Aakesh began.
Aakesh had blue blood leaking all across his body, but fortunately for him, there was no serious injury. The majority of the bones he had broken had already gotten restored.
Ilastov, on the other hand, only had shallow injuries. He didn't have a single blood-leaking wound for now.
Currently, there was a clash going on between Aakesh's arrows and Ilastov's punches.
During these past several minutes, Aakesh had shot inferior Nihility of the Beast twice, which had done nothing except give a second of relief to Aakesh. As for the Voice of Antiquity, he had shot it once, but at that time, Ilastov had used his full strength to destroy the arrow straight away before it could gain any momentum.
Aakesh suddenly stopped shooting arrows and sat down on the ground in a cross-legged posture. After that, he placed one of his feet on top of the opposite thigh, with the sole facing upward and the heel close to the abdomen. He then placed the other foot on the opposite thigh.
He then joined the tips of the little finger, ring finger, and thumb together, while the other two fingers remained relaxed and stayed away from the joint. He then rested his hands on his respective knees, closed both his eyes, completely relaxed the body, and began chanting a mantra. It took less than time to think for Aakesh to do this.
(A/N: It's Prana mudra.)
"Aum Namah Tatsuvae…,"
Ilastov felt stumped for a moment, seeing Aakesh. He was only fighting his arrows a moment earlier, but now he sat down in meditation and was chanting a mantra.
Ilastov couldn't let this go on, as he had no idea what power the next chanted arrow would bring.
He appeared right in front of Aakesh. The sclera in all three eyes turned black as the light around the area also disappeared. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a flash appeared in the darkness, and in no time, it engulfed the entirety of Aakesh, sitting in meditation.
It was one of Ilastov's most outstanding offensive skills. It was called Flash of the Darkness. As its name suggested, it was a light created by complete darkness, and it belonged to the element of disintegration.
The next moment, Ilastov's eyes returned to normal. Similarly, the darkness also disappeared.
Ilastov couldn't help but frown, as he could still hear the chant of the mantra, but when he looked at the spot where Aakesh was meditating, there was nothing present there except the undamaged bow lying on the ground.
But when he looked closely, he found a single drop of blue blood lying on the ground. It was also the source of chanting.
Ilastov's expression turned grave, seeing the scene. He never expected Aakesh to survive one of his top skills.
"…, Nasham Tuartam Brahmanam…,"
Ilastov decided to use his most destructive attack and end this battle for once and all. He had only thought of this when suddenly, he stumbled due to the sudden shaking of the land.
Ilastov's expression turned gravely. When he attempted to fly, he found himself unable to do it.
"…, Otsyam Taivet Namah|"
"Boom!"
Suddenly the chanting came to a stop, and the sound of an explosion rang in the area.
The bow that had been peacefully lying on the ground floated in the air.
"Rumble!"
The land shook, the sky rumbled, as Ilastov helplessly looked at the situation. He decided to activate his strongest attack straight away, as for the first time since the start of the battle, he felt a sense of extreme danger.
The bowstring on the bow automatically got pulled, only to stop when the bow had turned into a perfect circle.
Soon, the outline of an arrow began taking shape, while the bow maintained the perfect circle as if invisible hands were doing it.
The nock appeared first, followed by the tail feathers, then the shaft, and finally the arrowhead, presenting an arrow.
Only from looking at it, everyone could feel that it wasn't an ordinary arrow.
The tail feathers were completely white, as pure as anything could be, without even a hint of blemish on it, while the arrow shaft was golden, with strange patterns engraved in orange color on it from top to bottom. A silver lotus replaced the arrowhead, on which an unrecognizable being was seated.
Beings on top of the lotus were seated in the same posture that Aakesh had made during the chant. The eyes of the beings were closed.
The being seated on the top of the lotus was none other than an avatar of a Deva. The arrow was called 'The Son of Death'.
Even though an avatar of a Deva sat on the lotus, it didn't mean that the arrow would be equivalent to their strike.
Its destructive power was equivalent to the peak of the dimension the archer was located in, only limited to the first two dimensions.
It was a reward to one of the devotees of the respective Deva, just like the Qi cultivation system given by Laozi.
It was a single kill arrow and had the destructive power to destroy everything in the Primal dimension, except the continent of Kashi in Visteerna.
It also had a side-effect like the majority of the chanted arrows. It was the lifespan of the user. Anyone who used it would lose one-third of their lifespan.
As for Immortals, they would permanently lose their Immortality. Similarly, for the non-Immortals, they would never be able to become one.
It also had a requirement for shooting, it was never to be aimed at someone weaker than the archer, or there will be a destruction of them.
One more limitation of the weapon was that it could be fired only once in a lifetime.
Aakesh had taken an enormous risk with this situation.
At the start of the meditation, he had transferred all his lifeforce to a single drop of his blood that could only survive for three seconds. The chanting duration was only one-and-a-half seconds, so he still had one more second to live.
If Ilastov died in that second, he would win the training round since he would still be alive. If Ilastov survived, he would need to enter the training again.
"Boom!"
The perfect circle got broken as the invisible hands released the bowstring.
The arrow, tearing through the space, appeared in front of Ilastov straight away.
Ilastov had already activated his strongest ability. Red blood was continuously leaking out of all his three eyes as the eyes turned dark red.
The next moment, the arrow cracked like a mirror into several pieces.
Ilastov, instead of feeling joy for destroying the arrow, felt disappointment.
The arrow that had just cracked like a mirror restored itself.
Ilastov had only opened his mouth to smile wryly when it suddenly got frozen.
The arrow pierced Ilastov's heart. Instead of stopping there, it passed through him.
After leaving his body, the arrow began fading, and soon, it disappeared, ending its existence.
Ilastov, who had gotten frozen, exploded suddenly with such intensity that his blood flew across hundreds of meters.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, an endless blue light appeared and engulfed the entirety of the area.
A drop of blue blood, peacefully lying on the ground, showed a sudden movement in the presence of the blue light.
First, the blood multiplied into platelets and then several drops of blood. It then gave birth to a heart, then a skeleton, and then other inner body parts, then skin, and finally, Aakesh, in perfect health, appeared.
The next moment, a blue window appeared in front of Aakesh.
It had two options; first, whether Aakesh wanted to increase the difficulty by a level, and the second, if he wanted to continue the same round.
Aakesh decided against both, as the next difficulty level would take his opponents at the level of the Sacred dimension. For continuing the same round, he had no current interest in it.
He was here for a purpose, and now that he had completed it, it was time for him to end what should have never happened in the first place.