Primordial Expanse: I have the Strongest Talent! - Chapter 525

Chapter 525: A battle of life and death (5)
The Lux paused in its tracks after the resulting shockwaves rendered its detection methods useless. Its silvery blue form flickered in the cascading bursts of fiery light and sound that echoed endlessly across the dark expanse, as if there was no wall or ceiling within reach for them to bounce off of, only the ground.

It was clearly disoriented, swivelling its head erratically as if it tried to regain its bearings amidst the chaotic vibrations. The overlapping shockwaves threw its perception into disarray though, and for a brief moment, Alex felt a rush of vindication.

But there was no time to celebrate.

‘This is my only chance!’ Alex reminded himself, gripping Virtue’s Edge tightly.

The sword pulsed faintly in his hand, producing some small vibrations that were too small for the Lux to pick out amongst the myriad of shockwaves Alex had caused.

In an instant, every muscle in Alex’s body coiled like a spring.

He lunged forward, turning his figure into nothing but a blur as he propelled himself through the chaotic battlefield. His teleportation had taken a toll on his energy, and he wouldn’t like to have to use it again unless it was a necessity like last time. Thankfully, the opportunity he had created for himself meant he wouldn’t need to use it to launch a surprise attack.

The Lux would be blind to his approach regardless.

It was only a few metres away after less than a second passed, and its confused state left it exposed to Alex.

Alex channeled the soul fire in Virtue’s Edge to the highest concentration, not wanting to skimp out on energy since the Lux was so strong. The sword felt weightless in his hands, as if it was an extension of himself – his very soul.

“Take this!” He roared, bringing Virtue’s Edge down with all the strength he had to offer.

He knew shouting was a stupid thing to do in such a situation, but he too close for the Lux to respond in time anyway.

As expected, the Lux sensed the incoming danger too late thanks to the aftereffects of the shockwaves still roaring across the vast emptiness. It turned toward Alex just as the edge of his blade made contact, picking out his position thanks to his shout, but completely unable to do anything about him in time.

The sheer force of his strike sent the Lux hurtling backwards, and its sleek form crashed into the ground far off into the distance in a spectacular manor, like a meteor striking from above.

The resulting shockwave rippled outwards, combining with the effects that still lingered from Alex’s previous dozens of explosions, prolonging the effectiveness of his block on the Lux’s detection.

Alex landed a few metres away, breathing heavily, and keeping a keen eye on the Lux’s movements.

‘It worked!’

He wasn’t hopeful that the kinetic energy from his attack had killed the Lux, as it was far too strong for him to even deliver any serious injury through such methods.

But the one thing he was hoping for, was his soul fire to get to work!

The dust and debris settled for only a moment before a faint blue glow began to shimmer in the distance, piercing through the settling haze like a lighthouse on an empty shore.

Alex’s chest tightened as he gripped Virtue’s Edge even harder, recognising the movements of the Lux through his spatial perception.

He knew his soul fire had landed — he felt it connect through the blade’s contact with its skin when he struck it. Originally he wanted to stand back and wait as the fire corroded it from the inside out, dissolving its very soul from existence while Alex stood on the sidelines and recuperated from his injuries, but it seemed things wouldn’t quite go his way just yet.

The faint blue glow in the distance, whatever it was, somehow brightened into a pulsing, rhythmic light that the Lux was using to suppress the effects of his soul fire.

Alex narrowed his eyes.

“It’s resisting… of course it is. It’s stronger than I thought.” He muttered to himself under his breath.

He wasn’t worried about his voice giving his location away, since the Lux was currently far too busy trying to combat against Alex’s soul fire.

‘Fuck, the gap between our ranks is just too huge for the soul fire to attack with its full effect!’

Alex realised the problem almost instantly, as he could feel the connection with his soul fire that struck the Lux’s body gradually being fought back against.

His Phoenix Flames were S+ rank, and his soul fire was made out to be something almos taboo, able to instill fear and destruction into any living life form that made contact with it.

But all things had their weaknesses, and it was clear that his soul fire, while incredibly powerful, wasn’t able to take out the Lux with Alex’s meagre C+ rank Variant class power alone.

If the two were evenly matched at the same rank, then things might be different, but that simply wasn’t the case.

Very soon, the ground beneath Alex’s feet trembled ever so slightly as the Lux began to stir up a fuss. Its movements were slower than before, and its sleek body rose from the ground with a deliberate movement of provocation. The soul fire was doing something, Alex could tell, but it wasn’t enough to completely take out or incapacitate the Lux it seemed.

‘It seems that against awakened of a similar level to myself, the soul fire is deadly and can take them out from just the tiniest bit of it coming into contact with their soul. But for those stronger than me and of a much higher rank and class than myself, it only acts as a weakening effect. Sort of like a debuff…’

Alex had learned something new about his Phoenix Flames today, and made a note to himself to experiment with this at a later point.

The Lux stood fully upright now though, and its glowing eyes narrowed as they locked onto Alex, who had long since forgone with surrounding his Virtue’s Edge with his soul fire to mask his location.