Aedar then pulls himself up and feels some of his blood had been destroyed when it was exposed, and he pulled back some of it towards himself to heal the long gash across his torso.
"You are quite an annoying bunch, aren't you?" Aedar's gaze was truly livid.
With his blade broken, Aedar slowly leans forward, and before any of the two lightning Epics could see a thing, the pale Aedar suddenly turned paler, and then he disappeared. Before anyone could tell what had happened, Dorn exploded into a bloody mist, and the same was true for many around Aedar, especially those who were near the place he had been fighting Dorn and Miria. Miria, who had barely escaped the onslaught with most of her body mangled beyond repair, was barely standing, and Aedar, who was right by her side, was holding a blood blade plunged in her heart.
The move he used had a horrifying mental strain, and despite the strong look he radiated, his mind was barely keeping it together. If it weren't for the bond he had with his sister, there wouldn't be much left of his mind after that. The burden he shared with his sister due to her whispers had made his mind tolerant to the strain. After all, the move he used literally shattered his mind by projecting most of his consciousness to the surrounding blood that had a connection to him, thus enhancing its effectiveness in killing while at the same time all blood extracted from his victims became mist. This created an environment that both enhanced his power and allowed him to heal faster.
The downside is that the part of the consciousness that remained in his main body would be completely shattered and devoured to serve only one purpose, and that was all. This is essentially killing himself, and he wouldn't try this if there are not enough lifeforms to create the blood mist. A great risk is involved when considering that for him to continue existing, the consciousness that are scattered among the blood have to find their way to him. Otherwise, he'll turn into a soulless being, and thus the blood needs to make contact with the body.
It is not impossible to create the conditions, but the wily consciousness that has been set for carnage in the blood blades wouldn't really come back if there was more to kill away from him. And thus, with the blood mist created from carnage having a connection with each fragment consciousness around him, the smallest contact with it allowed the fragment consciousness to be anchored to the main body. With more life reaped and one mist making contact with another, the mist simply merged together to anchor more fragments to the main body, thus in a sense creating a strong 'main' consciousness that can call back all others. The greatest downside is that the fragment used by the main body disappears and leaves his consciousness wounded and tired, but due to the strengthening by the fragments, his blood quality rises faster in the long term. The move itself is self-harming, but desperation was slowly setting in, and the window of opportunity was closing fast.
Aedar's aura was no longer restrained with his consciousness wounded, and it was simply oppressive. This move slaughtered more than a hundred people and wounded two Epics, killed two, and had Miria fall into Aedar's hands. He had used his main body to get rid of Dorn as the main objective, turning him into mist while effectively making contact with more of his mind fragments, which allowed him to be conscious enough to continue to attack Miria.
He slowly leaned in and whispered in her ear, "Consider this our meeting present."
With that, the strong bloody aura on the blade disappeared into her body, and her eyes rolled back, and she dropped to the ground.
He then sent a mental message to Jake, who was now in his vicinity and had finished taking care of the wounded Epics.
*'We need to get to the tank now. This is slowly turning disadvantageous, and we are already in such a bad state.'*
*'No shit.'*
The blood mist in the air disappeared into his body, leaving the little he couldn't take in wandering around, and his aura flared stronger, but it was a little unstable. Jake wasn't in the best condition either. The energy-infused attacks were harder to heal, not to mention they were so many, including those from Epics. His aura was also a little unstable, showing the wounds were more than physical. The two wasted no time and disappeared towards the tank.
*'With our auras flared and unknown, we are gonna have trouble dealing with what comes without being compelled here because all who come from now will have some confidence to either stall us or deal with us entirely, so we need to hurry,'* Aedar said gravely.
*'How strong is the explosion if we were to use it against ourselves?'* Jake asked.
*'We wouldn't survive if we were within 50 meters of it if it explodes right, and even from here, a mortal will probably be gravely wounded if not outright dead.'*
Jake seemed taken aback for a second and looked skeptically at Aedar.
*'What? You think I would half-ass my escape plan that I kept as a last resort? Of course, if it explodes wrong, it would mean either we can't use the path or we are just as dead as our enemies. But if that occurs, the explosion will be irregular—I think.'*
*'Then we need to be there to ensure we survive then, else we can't make them regret coming after us.'*
The two could see the tank that was about 30 meters away, but just as they got close, a strong aura flared close to them but from the opposite side of the tank. But before they could react, a stronger one flared from behind but further behind them. Aedar could also feel another three auras closing in from afar.
*'Don't stop—the situation is already desperate. We have to maul the one who comes from the front, Aedar. We can't afford to stop.'*
*'Are my senses shit today or something? How comes we didn't notice them till now when they were within the range of our aura? Also, there are three more, so we cannot afford to slo...'*
Before he could even finish, something ripped through Jake's right side, and before he could react, a sense of dread enveloped him. And when he thought of reaching Jake, the feeling became stronger, so he jumped left while waving his right hand at Jake. He turned a little pale as Jake, who was falling from the hit, was hit again—but this time by a bloody dark red aura on his right side as it enveloped him, and he stumbled away as something whistled through the air toward the tank ahead. A hole appeared on the concrete tank as a sense of dread enveloped the two siblings.
The two, even after the attack, had not sensed nor could they feel what had attacked them. Aedar was only able to instinctively dodge due to the attack coming at him and had instinctively pushed Jake in order to have him avoid a predetermined movement that would lead to a follow-up attack while using a blood shield on him. Despite the two falling, they still leaned towards the tank as they knew that the situation was truly desperate—more so after the attack. The attack hitting the tank indicated the attacker was behind them, and even considering another hidden attacker being in front of them other than the one they were aware of, they had no choice but to move forward. After all, stopping was no closer to being dead than turning back to fight, and both these options offered no more salvation than going forward. At least forward, there was an option despite the dwindling hope.
Their auras flared stronger as they reached for the tank faster. They were barely 5 meters away when a large wave of fire hit them from the front, and they braced themselves to receive the attack. The heat was searing, and layers of skin and muscle were immediately flayed off their bones, and the two siblings knelt down in a pitiful state. From the attack, they realised that the attacker was far stronger than them, and to make the situation worse, none of the auras they felt was responsible for it.
As the fire died down, the two looked like mangled flesh. Aedar turned to where Jake had been and realised all his senses were no longer active, and he could only instinctively sense his general position. Only then did he truly realize how hopelessly desperate their situation was. Such a situation was beyond his calculations. Before they could come to terms with what was happening, seven strong auras assaulted them, and Aedar felt Jake's lifeforce and aura weaken considerably.
Of the seven auras, three were as strong as them in their peak form, three outclassed them, and he knew that fighting against either one of them, even in their top form, would end in defeat if he didn't try to squeeze out an escape—not to mention their number or the siblings' current condition. The last one had a strong aura, and if not for his already screaming instincts warning him of the dire situation, he was sure he would feel just as hopeless in the presence of the person. There was also another aura, but this one was weaker, and it was on top of the tank with the original presence they had sensed in front of them before.
"Well, well, looks like you were right about a great opportunity for us here, Aisha," the voice in front of the tank said in glee. "Looks like bringing the strongest of The Abstract was the right call—otherwise they'd probably squeeze out an escape."
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