Esdeath's death aura was overwhelming. It suppressed Ethan's righteous aura, turning several people into meat paste. Others coughed up blood and knelt on the ground, facing an intense feeling of despair.
Even Krona and Belta weren't spared, but since they weren't as powerful as the others, the feelings were low and didn't affect them much. For Caesar, however, it was bad news. His methods relied more on soul damage and mental attacks, like giving enemies depression, intense laziness, fear, and eventually killing them, even if they were physically stronger than him. Righteous aura could block these effects, but what about death aura?
It was like a fight between despair and depression, and of course, despair would win. Death aura was completely dominating in this field. But Caesar didn't show it on his face and kept his confident expression while flying in the air.
Ethan immediately surged forth his righteousness aura more, creating a stalemate. This gave the whole army a chance to catch their breath and get back on their feet. But those who turned into meat paste were dead for real.
"Attack!" Krona shouted this time. Dwarves ran towards Esdeath with hammers, while the rest of the human army stretched their bows and fired fireballs. Caesar, Ethan, and the others didn't give Esdeath time to focus on the army. They rushed towards her to attack simultaneously, creating a chaotic situation that would confuse anyone about whether to fight with Ethan's team or the army.
But at that moment, a bright light came from high in the air, cutting the ground and killing dozens of people on impact. Everyone looked up and saw a bird, but this bird was not ordinary at all. It was built with metal; it was not a living being but a robot.
At that moment, several other birds came, and behind them were dozens of robots of different sizes. They weren't as numerous as the army of six thousand, but their bodies were sturdy, and elemental attacks had little effect on them.
Krona had fought with those machines several times and knew quite a lot about them. "M.A.L.I.C.E.'s army? What bad luck! It had to attack just now? Is it a coincidence, or is he trying to help her?" Krona thought to herself, but this was not the time to ponder these things.
Caesar gestured, and the army engaged in an all-out fight with those machines instead. They became a great distraction and gave Esdeath the opportunity to focus on Ethan and the others.
At that moment, Cassandra spoke up. "I have a plan. I'll use my strongest killer move—Eternal Slumber. This move is something even demon lords will find tricky to escape. Just make her stay still for three seconds, and our victory is assured once it hits!"
Eternal Slumber was a Rank A killer move. Once hit, it directly put the target into a perfect dream. In this dream, with no realisation that they are in a dream, the person would have everything they desired. Want to be the strongest? Done. Want to be the fastest? Done. Want to be charming and handsome? Done. Whether it was women, money, or power, everything would belong to you. The world would be beneath you, except that world was a lie.
The only catch was that there would be one thing missing, one need that the person craved. If someone craved for that particular thing more than anything, they would eventually get tired of the world and break free from it. But it was easier said than done. Once a person had power, beauty, money, and everything else, they tended to forget the things they liked in the past. Those things would become nothing more than hindrances to them.
The original owner of this killer move was the demon lord of nightmares. This move was so fatal that even those who were hit but eventually rescued went insane and wanted to go back into their imaginary world again. They no longer had any attachments to the real world. It caused a lot of havoc, so any research on it, or learning or replicating this move, was banned. Yet Cassandra didn't care and learned it anyway.
Even for demon lords, although they would eventually realize that this was not the real world and get their consciousness back soon, it was still enough to trap them for at least two whole minutes. Compared to them, Esdeath was nothing; she would definitely be trapped for at least fifteen minutes, or even more for sure. This was more than enough time for them to kill her at least ten times.
Ethan had full confidence in Cassandra's words. He immediately nodded, and Caesar flew towards them and landed beside them to attack together with Ethan. Ethan clenched his sword hard, and it got filled with golden light. It even extended and penetrated the ground.
"Let's go!" Ethan roared.
"Genesis!" Caesar shouted, and a tall, foggy ghost holding a scythe appeared. It looked extremely scary and powerful. It went together with Ethan to attack Esdeath. But before they could, they suddenly felt that everything was moving slowly, even their thoughts.
"A time path move? Not good," Ethan thought as his thoughts turned very slow.
Esdeath smirked as her ZK-20 changed its appearance again, turning into a giant cannon and resting on Esdeath's shoulder.
"Oblivion Nova!" she shouted.
And the next second—light... white light... it was everywhere. The whole battleground felt intense white light. It was from the cannon beam. The light directly went towards Ethan and the foggy ghost, Genesis. Genesis, being at the front, was immediately obliterated by it.
"Dream solvent!" Cassandra was the first to react. An illusory dark pink flower petal emerged and blocked the cannon's power, but it wasn't enough at all. This offensive killer move just contained too much power; it even damaged Elara's Rank A clone back then.
"Block;", Emma shouted and an huge earth wall formed.
"Symmetry!" Caesar shouted, and another ghost flew out and turned into a gravestone, blocking most of the beam. Even still, some power penetrated and shot at Caesar's stomach, damaging him.
"Tch!" He put his hands on his stomach. Even though he got wounded, it wasn't life-threatening; he could continue to fight. But it just showed how powerful the killer move was.
"Such a powerful killer move, this is all because of that weird weapon!" Caesar bit his lips.
Ethan was going to advance, but Violet immediately stopped him.
"Don't go recklessly. What if she slows down time again and hits you with that killer move again? It'll be fatal!" Violet said in a concerned voice.
And her words were absolutely logical.
"But she can't use that powerful killer move multiple times. It'll be a huge burden!" Caesar said.
"We can't take the risk. As a general, you should charge first, not let students do it!" Violet was more worried about Ethan than anything else.
Even though Esdeath was alone standing while the opponents were many, they were hesitating about who should go at the front and take Esdeath's moves. But what Caesar said was true; Esdeath's time-slowing skill was on a countdown, and she couldn't use it for the next few minutes. She wouldn't carelessly use it.
But still, she chuckled and jumped in her place as if doing a workout, even stretching her limbs.
"What happened? Didn't you come to kill me? C'mon, I'm ready!"
She was literally rage-baiting them.
At that moment, Belta walked towards them and put her hands on Emma's shoulders. "Belta will go!" she said with determination.
"You sure?" Cassandra asked, and Belta nodded confidently. "I'll support you," Sylvania came forward, her voice steady and reassuring.
To be honest, Sylvania, Emma, and Violet were in contract with star constellations. They were a lot more powerful than they imagined themselves to be. It's just that Esdeath had killed Valeria in the first few minutes, which was a great shock, causing them to underestimate themselves.
Red lights surged around Belta's body. This time, her fur didn't grow, but her hair turned as long as touching her feet, looking very wild. Her nails also grew like claws, and her height increased by a few inches. Her muscles tensed, and intense red light seemed like her body was overheating.
"Red Monarch Tigress!" Belta activated her strongest transformation killer move.
At the same time, Sylvania flew into the air and bathed in soft blue light. In an ethereal voice, she said, "I'm ocean!"
RUMBLE!
The ground shook so much that it felt like an earthquake was happening, and then, out of nowhere, a large amount of water came like an ocean wave of a tsunami. It was big, grand, and majestic. Even Caesar looked in awe and was impressed. It was like a grand water show, and Sylvania looked like a goddess of water.
"The younger generation is surely leaving the older generation behind!" Caesar thought to himself, a mix of pride and surprise in his mind.
The ocean wave directly enveloped Esdeath as if washing her away, and at that moment, Sylvania let out a soft breath. "Ice age!" she whispered.
ZOOP!
The whole water turned into ice. Many robots froze, even flying bird robots froze in the air, and most importantly, Esdeath's whole body froze.
But at the next moment, tremors happened in the ice field, and with a clank sound, Esdeath broke free. While this was happening, Cassandra had extended her hand, making a pose of taking pictures with both of her palms, clearly aiming at Esdeath.
"One!" she said, her voice echoing with anticipation.
Esdeath finally broke free, but the next moment, Violet's voice echoed in her ears. "20X gravity!" she shouted.
At once, a huge pressure poured onto Esdeath's body, causing her to kneel on the ground. Even the ground beneath her cracked. At the same time, Belta closed in and hugged her from behind, catching both of her arms and blocking her from moving anything. She wasn't afraid of being hit by Cassandra's killer move. Even if she did fall into slumber, Cassandra was her subordinate and would soon wake her up anyway.
"Belta will be the main reason you die!" she declared, her voice filled with determination.
"Two!" Cassandra said, her eyes focused and intense.
But instead of struggling, Esdeath only grinned and turned her head up to look into Belta's eyes.
"Tell me, does fingers shoot?" she said in a chilling voice.
Instead of freeing her arm, she just moved her hand knee and pointed her finger straight at Belta's head.
"BANG!"
Belta's eyes widened as a huge amount of pure energy burst forth, combined with her black death aura. It was powerful, too powerful. In a split second, it beheaded Belta's head. Her head flew a few meters away, rolling on the ground and then stopping with her eyes still wide, leaving everyone else shocked.
At this moment, Cassandra felt like it was an unsuccessful attempt and started to undo her killer move. But then, Belta's body actually gripped Esdeath even tighter. "
What?" Even Esdeath was shocked by the sudden movement.
Even though Belta's head was blown away, she was a beast kin, and her instincts were very high. Even though her head was blown off, she still had her intense instinct to put Esdeath in one place, and this primal instinct caused her to still stand after being beheaded.
"Three!" Cassandra said, her voice filled with hope.
A pure pink light shaped in a ball surged forth and directly hit Esdeath. Belta finally let go of Esdeath, and her body fell. While Esdeath's pupils dilated, and her body went numb, she took a fall to the ground, falling into slumber.
"Kill her!" Violet shouted, her voice urgent and commanding.
Ethan didn't waste a heartbeat. His hair turned white again. "Sword general!" he shouted and jumped high into the air, putting his strength into his sword. His hair cracked with white lightning as he fell towards the ground.
"ESDEATH, DIE!" he shouted with all his might.
He was ready to behead the lying Esdeath once and for all. But before his sword could reach, Esdeath's eyes opened, and she blocked the sword with her hand. Half of her hand got pierced by the sword, but she managed to block it.
The sudden movement shocked Ethan and the others to the core. Everyone froze in their places. Ethan immediately retreated several meters away in shock.
"Impossible, how can this be?" Cassandra's emotionless face faltered. She couldn't believe it at all. This was a genuine killer move; there was no doubt about it. How could Esdeath even wake up in just a few seconds? It defied all common sense and logic.
On the other hand, Esdeath casually stood up and patted the dust off her clothes. She then looked at everyone and said, her voice echoing in the field,
"I saw a dream. In the dream, I was immortal. Unaging , Omniscient and omnipotent . I had everything...
...but Lortell wasn't there!"