Yarra's Adventure Notes-Chapter 89 - 14 Battle of the Demigods_1

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"This... this is the Land of the Dead? Your domain?" Magic energy pulsed violently inside Antuin’s pupils, "Is this the sort of world you were fighting in?"

Half of the forest had already been engulfed by the bone-strewn land as vast as a mountain. The environments of two Inherent Psychic Domains took up half each, interwoven at the center of the original forest.

"Yes, a world of desolation, emptiness, nothing but barrenness and death."

"So, you revived her... in your domain?" Antuin said incredulously, "Or has her soul been with you this whole time?"

"I wish that were the case." Pannis stared greedily at Nellie’s face, "Unfortunately, it’s not."

"I see." Antuin nodded, "This is just a shadow of her in your memories, given form by your Inherent Psychic Domain."

"Not entirely. To others, indeed she has been given a form, she will attack, she will defend, her fighting abilities and skills are exactly as I remember her." A bitter smile crossed Pannis’s face, he extended his shaking hand towards Nellie but it passed straight through her body as if she didn’t exist, "But for me, she won’t smile at me anymore, won’t talk to me, and even... I can’t hold her hand again."

"Sin and Punishment’s Abyss Hell, a fitting name indeed, you’ll always see her, but never get a response. For you, this is indeed an eternal punishment." Antuin suddenly laughed, "I am more and more curious now, exactly what did you do in that moment they all missed that left you in such agony?"

"People who didn’t participate in the war have no right to know." Pannis snorted coldly.

"Let’s play a guessing game." Antuin, seemingly not in a hurry to conclude the battle, said leisurely, "Some rumors say you were dispirited and collapsed because of Nellie’s death in battle. Yet everyone who knew you both would know that’s nonsense. In your character, dying a warrior’s death for the sake of your own justice is glory, not suffering. So, something else must have happened, something that went unnoticed, right?"

Pannis’s face darkened, he flicked his fingers forward and a crescent-shaped wave of sword energy dashed towards Antuin. All the trees in its path were precisely bisected, unable to obstruct the sword energy.

Without batting an eye, Antuin stretched out a finger in defense. The sharp sword energy dissipated into thin air the moment it came into contact with his finger. Antuin chuckled again, "Seems I guessed right. Let’s continue guessing what happened. In the past hundred years, I’ve heard several veterans describe the situation. The Divine Soul charged at you, and then Nellie ran up. She let the Divine Soul possess her, impaling her own heart with a thrust, severely injuring the Divine Soul. Looking back, Nellie was right next to you, and theoretically, you’re faster than her. So, in the moment she charged, what were you doing? I think I understand, you hesitated in that moment, didn’t you?"

"Things are far more complicated than you can imagine. You will never guess correctly." Pannis’s expression kept shifting between pain and reminiscence, but eventually settled back into the laidback and unrestrained demeanor he had outside of the Psychic Domain, "You’re more than welcome to keep guessing- don’t worry, even if you do guess it right, I won’t be confirming it."

Now it was Antuin’s turn to wear a solemn expression, "I underestimated you, you’ve recovered so quickly."

"It’s because your psychological warfare was just as childish as it was a hundred years ago." Pannis smiled lazily, bending down to pluck a blade of grass from the ground to chew on. He rested his hands on the back of his head, "Not a single shred of growth in the past hundred years."

Antuin looked at Pannis’s actions with a peculiar gaze, "Apart from everything else, you were able to pluck a blade of grass from my domain. You couldn’t control your energy to this extent a hundred years ago."

Pannis scoffed, "Did you truly think that I was restricting my power to the Silver Rank for fun?"

"You decided to start again? Fitting, it would naturally enhance your ability to control energy greatly." Antuin smiled in understanding, suddenly spreading his arms wide. A beam of white light connected him to the Magic Tower deep within the forest, "But no matter how strong your control over energy is, it won’t matter in this world. Here, I and my Magic Tower are one, and every strike I make carries the full force of the Magic Tower’s attacks."

As he spoke, Antuin moved his arms and legs and produced torrents of magic energy, stirring up the abundant energy in the domain and transforming it into magic energy storms that continuously assaulted Pannis. However, Pannis simply stood still in his original spot, allowing the energy assaults to strike nearby, only for Nellie’s phantom to block them completely, leaving nothing to chance.

"Too bad, even the full force of your Magic Tower’s attack can’t break through Nellie’s defense." Pannis tightened his grip and gave a small smile, "Now, it’s my turn."

As the words sounded, Pannis was standing still. But when the words ceased, Pannis who stood in place suddenly transformed into a distorted image and disappeared, his actual body having already appeared at an extremely fast speed next to Antuin, the sword in his hand, which had been drawn out god-knows-when, cut across Antuin’s body, severing him into two.

Despite his successful strike, Pannis exhibited no joy, looking coldly at the body that had been severed in two. "That’s why I said, I hate fighting with you. Your combat style, being able to instantly morph into any object in sight and then swap places with the target’s main body, requires absolutely no defence, it’s simply against the rules."

"Ha, only you’re not qualified to say this about me now." The severed body slowly twisted, turning into a small tree that had been chopped in half. Where the small tree once stood, Antuin’s body appears there. "Speaking as if you don’t need any defence right now, if anyone is breaking the rules, it’s both of us together. The last humanoid Inherent Psychic Domain to appear in the Yarran World was seventeen hundred years ago, no wonder the older generation always sighed that such psychic domains were a headache, it really is true."

Although Antuin had been speaking all this while, the magical energy storm had not ceased. Countless magical energy rays which possessed powerful energies fell like rain from the Magic Tower, but they were always tightly surrounding Pannis within a three-metre radius, not wasting a single bit. Nellie’s phantom held a gun in one hand and a shield in the other, following Pannis as he moved. Regardless of how Pannis moved, the phantom would block any magic energy rays coming from any direction, leaving no gaps.

"Such fighting is quite dull." Pannis’s one-handed sword disappeared like a magic trick, as though it had never been there before.

"Very boring indeed." Antuin motioned for the magical energy rays filling the sky to stop with a wave of his hand. The forest that had been destroyed almost beyond recognition immediately returned to its original state. "So, what’s your opinion?"

"If you want to kill me, show me some sincerity." Pannis sneered. "Or do you think you can succeed with these little games?"

"Alright then, let’s up the stakes." Antuin’s body slowly elevated, at the moment when his shadow dragging on the ground touched the Magic Tower, his body and the Magic Tower became one and the whole domain was immediately filled with powerful energy. Even the trees, unknowing of this, trembled instinctively under such power. "The only question is, do you dare to follow?"

"What do you think? We await your pleasure." Pannis’s face was expressionless, and he habitually stretched out his left hand, but only caught the air, what used to be a familiar hand is now only a phantom. Amid Antuin’s smug laughter, Pannis’s lips twitched slightly. He pointed a finger mockingly at the Magic Tower in the distance, his cold eyes devoid of any emotion. "There have been many people who wanted to kill me, but in the end, I’m always the one who survives. They themselves all died. Will you be next?"

Antuin didn’t respond nor needed to, the screech of the sword tearing through the air, the rumbling echo of the magic energy was the best reply. For a moment, the domain was filled with the collision of swords and magical energy, the tearing sounds. What remained was the unending glory – a brilliance so blinding, it would stab one’s eyes blind at a mere glance.

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It was class time, Starshine Academy was quiet, even the small lake in front of the academic buildings was also silent. Blue skies, green lake, the reflections of the trees, everything was as peaceful as a painting, only the sound of insects in the distance reminded people that this was, in fact, the real world.

The quiet at the lakeside was suddenly broken, two figures appeared simultaneously on the lakeshore, both stumbling back several steps. One’s clothes carried five scorched marks, the other one’s robe had been slashed open at the back.

Antuin frowned, staring at Pannis who stood unperturbed with his arms crossed over his chest. After a long period, he humphed loudly and walked away. Yet Pannis remained standing as he was, a smug smile playing on his lips, watching Antuin depart.

"By the way, there’s something I forgot to tell you." Antuin, who had walked far off, suddenly stopped, a slight raspy quality lingered in his voice. "The Empress bade me tell you that the incident hundred years ago probably is not that simple."

"What do you mean?" Even Pannis’s voice was a bit strained.

"The Empress said it, how would I know what she meant." Antuin replied flippantly. "She said, there may be someone else behind that matter. If she uncovers anything, she’ll let you know right away."

"I see." Pannis nodded, narrowing his eyes. "I’ll remember it, thank you."

"Humph." Antuin snorted again, striding away without stopping.

"Phew." Pannis, who had remained standing for quite some time, let out a long sigh. He unfolded his arms and held out his hands in front of him, staring in a daze at the tens of trembling fingers on his hands.

"Ding dong, ding dong." The crisp sound of bells came from each of the academic buildings, signaling the end of the morning classes. Hearing the bell, Pannis froze, stunned, his gaping mouth revealed an expression of bewilderment and anguish. He cried out in pain: "Oh my God, is it class dismissal already? What about my morning snooze? Give me back my sleeping time, you bastard Antuin, I won’t let you off, you just wait."