Rise of the Lustful Evil Monarch (Re)-Chapter 301: Clash in the Cloud (1)

Third Person's POV

His anger was immense, and it was evident by the sheer pressure of his aura slamming into the air like a battering ram.

Electric arcs danced along his armor like mad serpents and the energy was so dense that it distorted the very air around him into a shimmering haze.

His black blade still crackling with his merciless black lightning streaks that gleamed under the broken sunset as he hurtled toward Ethan's back at a speed that split the air with sonic booms.

"You dare mock me?!" the knight's rough bell-like voice bellowed and reverberated across the ruined meadow like the howl of a vengeful storm.

Listening to the voice and the booming shockwaves it left behind, Ethan's instincts screamed louder than the thunderous echoes crashing through the air.

He didn't even spare a glance backward and he didn't need to.

His senses flared, and the blood coursing through his body surged, and every fiber of his battle-hardened being told him that death itself was roaring towards him from behind.

The Dark Demon Knight was like a black comet of vengeance, barreling forward with terrifying speed and his killing intent slashing through the atmosphere.

It wasn't just a charge, but it seemed like a declaration of carnage and a madman's sprint through the battlefield that dared fate to try and stop him.

But even in this reckless, suicidal charge, the knight wasn't blind.

He sensed that Ethan's accelerating pace and the glint of strategy behind his unyielding sprint.

Even though the Dark Knight was fast and moved with his full power towards Ethan in a seemingly suicidal charge, he still knew that Ethan had taken this opportunity to get ahead of him, and he would not be able to get close to him in the next few seconds.

Realizing this deeply with his instincts, he crossed his massive broadsword over his chest while his muscles coiled, his veins bulged, and his eyes glowed with malicious resolve.

Dipping into the nascent realm in his body, he summoned a storm of mana.

With a bone-chilling roar, he expelled a torrent of mutated dark lightning mana and channeled it with merciless focus into the very bones of his blade.

A black thunder blade erupted from the tip like a shriek from the abyss and howled across the sky.

The blade streak was unstable and screaming while lashing out in wild arcs of sizzling death.

The crackling monstrosity didn't just target Ethan, but it seemed to be consuming the very air around it and cutting through every path of retreat, like the fangs of a predator sealing shut around its prey.

Ethan's crimson eyes flared with challenge.

He smirked because in any other moment, without the choking cloak of poison coiling around them, he would have no choice but to face that brutal attack head-on.

But not now.

Not when he had the cover, and it was obviously not a wise decision for him to push back, as a better opportunity for that waited for him.

So, he didn't slow, didn't hesitate, and didn't fear.

Still dashing towards the colossal serpent flapping high above in the misty heavens, Ethan suddenly threw his arms behind him with a snap.

Twin black chains exploded from his palms with a shriek of tearing dark energy.

It twisted and hissed like awakened serpents drunk on vengeance as he seeped a significant portion of his mana inside it.

The lightning blade screamed towards him with its glow intensifying with each meter closed.

And in the final breath before impact, the black chains spiraled into a chaotic cyclone of death and collided headlong with the electrified slash.

The world exploded in sound.

Sparks burst like miniature stars, and screaming metal shrieks pierced the evening, and arcs of all-consuming black lightning danced violently across the chains.

The entire space around them lit up like a battlefield of gods.

Then, came a sudden thunderous crack.

A bolt of pure lightning surged out and cut through the chains like divine judgment.

As expected, they fractured and splintered into ash and black light.

The dark knight smirked inside his helmet as the chains broke and the dark thunder energy blade continued unabated towards his hated enemy, but in the next fraction of a second, something happened, and his smile froze.

In that split-second explosion of elemental chaos, Ethan had used the recoil of the volatile clash.

And not disappointing him, it rocketed him upward like a phoenix born in the heart of lightning.

And before the knight could blink, his silhouette vanished into the seething purple-black clouds above and was swallowed whole by the toxic veil.

Within the cloud's suffocating embrace, his enemies expected him to choke, expected his lungs to burn, his vision to blur, and his mana to falter under the toxic onslaught.

But all of their hopes were dashed.

The venomous miasma sizzled and hissed against the shimmering dark-golden barrier encasing him and was unable to breach its defenses.

A low hum echoed in his ears, and then a tingle raced up his neck.

He quickly noticed that the thunder blade was still after him with its sinister hum unwavering and slicing through the poisonous mist with tireless resolve.

It gleamed with malice and remained unbroken by its journey.

Ethan's eyes narrowed, and he knew that he couldn't afford to underestimate this weapon, and definitely not when its creator himself might not be blinded by the choking clouds.

Without hesitation, he dove deeper into the swirling poison and spun through its dense layers like a phantom.

His short ice spears shot through the haze and clashed with the lightning blade again and again.

Sparks erupted like miniature stars as he attempted to whittle away its power and ferociousness.

He also hurled his ShadowFrost Nova orbs, and their blasts cracked with frozen rage and thunderous lightning that made booming sounds whenever they collided.

Each impact chipped away at the thunder blade's integrity, but even so, for the first time, Ethan felt the crushing truth.