Building a Kingdom and Conquering the World - Chapter 128

Chapter 128: Gift
The dragon-like mouth gulped down the arrow in a single bite, spitting out a fist-sized purple fireball aimed at the magician. It flew so fast that the robed man had no time to conjure a complete shield in time. Instead, his hurried hands waved, forming a half shield to provide a timely protection. Unfortunately, the fiery projectile still bounced on it and flew upwards, grazing his hood and face, burning his cheek and forcing him to tear off his hood and toss it away.

“Such an old dog has come running to my kingdom” – Henry’s raspy voice echoed through deep breaths as he analyzed the white-haired old man before him, whose face was etched with wrinkles – “I needed to give a welcome gift to such an important guest.” – Henry tone was filled with mockery as he looked at his enemy’s injury.

The old man shot a look of hatred at Henry, feeling the fiery mana painfully burning his cheek, like a leech sucking away his blood. The mage struggled to guide his Mana to counter it, but the purple mana presented a greater obstacle than he anticipated.

“You! What kind of evil sorcery have you inflicted upon me?” – he shouted, realizing that, though small, countering the Mana required more concentration and energy than normal. It persisted like a virus that, no matter how many times he extinguished it, kept coming back. It also hid and run, making difficult to locate the Mana.

Henry spat blood on the floor and sneered, saying – “Not telling you, old hog. Now…I will have to give you another gift. We, northerns, are receptive people after all” – Henry’s hand made a grabbing gesture to his chest, and like magic, a sword handle appeared. As he pulled it, a fully black sword materialized in his hands.

“Let’s go for the second round.” – The king vengefully stated. The purple fire enveloped the sword and Henry simultaneously. The fire seemed to possess some kind of healing property, as the injuries on his arms healed rapidly, until no scars remained.

Observing this scene, the old man grinned coldly, deciding to deal with his injury later when he had the time. Furthermore, the situation in front of him was more appealing than stumbling upon a spirit gold mine – “It seems like my luck is not bad. I have chanced upon another interesting thing. If you give me that fire technique, I will give you a painless death. What do you think?” – He inquired with a smile, one that made him seem a character of a terror movie.

Henry didn’t respond and stood silently holding the two-handed Caelum. He could feel that ever since Caelum came to the outside world, his heart was beating faster and faster, and he could even hear the thumps. His body was overloading with Mana and energy, giving him even more power.

However, his body and heart were too weak to bear the sudden influx of energy feeding the purple fire and the sword – “Ten seconds. I can only maintain it for ten seconds.”

“I won’t ask twice!” The old man shouted again through gritted teeth, his hands shining in red again, the pain spreading from his cheeks making him even angrier. “Give me that fire!”

“Shut the fuck up! I will give you your gift already.” Henry shouted and kicked the ground beneath him. The Mana circling through his heart and circuits made it seems as if his whole being was a bomb, one ready to explode.

“One…Two…”- Henry counted as he closed in on the mage, giving him no time to cast an attacking spell. Caelum was already lifted diagonally, ready to tear the enemy apart.

The old man hastily conjured another half shield that immediately shattered upon touching the sword’s edge. However, the shield gave him enough time to duck and evade the deathly attack. Yet, Henry seemed to be expecting such failure. He used the energy behind his previous attack to twirl his body and launch a powerful kick at the enemy’s head.

“Four!” Henry counted amidst his attack, hoping for his attack to connect. However, when his leg was about to reach the enemy, he felt his movements being impaired by something. His legs and arms were being held by fire chains that burned his skin, which kept being constantly healed.

“Five!” – The purple fire covering his body seemed to be like a living being and strangled the chains, freeing the king. However, again, it gave the mage sufficient time to create some space between them.

“Six!” – More than half of the time passed, and Henry could feel that his heart was already near a collapse. It was bumping so much energy that his body was accumulating damage, cracks appearing on his skin, from which mana was slowly pouring out, like smoke.

Again, Henry dashed towards the old man, who had already conjured another fire arrow and sent it hurtling towards him. The king didn’t dodge; he raised the sword and directed the purple fire to the edge of his blade – “Solfire Cleave!” – The king shouted, tightly clenching the handle in his hands as he attacked the thin air, aiming at the old man. A purple slash coming out of his sword, but being projected only a few feet away.

“Eight!”- Henry counted as the purple fire swallowed the fire arrow, creating a mist that blocked their vision. He continued to dash forward, rapidly closing in on the old man, whose eyes were filled with a desperate feeling as he saw Henry’s figure emerging from the mist.

“Nine!” – Henry continued, his hear about to explode, the energy allowing him to exert even more strength and speed. He felt that he was at least twice as fast and powerful as before. This overload state even allowed him to project the attacks a few feet away from his body, as he did with Solfire Cleave.

Henry looked deeply into those desperate eyes as he shouted – “Fading Sun Slash!” = The second attack recorded in the Sun God Battle Manual was executed, a fast slash powered by Mana that suddenly exploded in his legs and arms, aimed to behead the enemy in single strike.

“Ten!” – The countdown came to an end as Henry performed the last attack. However, when the sword was about to touch the neck of the man, a shiny silver light was projected outside of the man, blocking the sword that was about to behead him.

“I didn’t think that I would be using the Angel’s grace here” – he heard the old voice.