Tales of the Endless Empire

Chapter 368: Kaelir vs Thalion (1)

The air above Thalion vibrated with raw power radiating from the aura of the chosen elf hovering above him. His fiery hair flowed behind him like a burning banner as he floated twenty meters high, a wrathful angel preparing his judgment. He pointed one of his staffs toward Thalion, and a powerful jetstream of fire erupted from its tip.Normally, fire-based skills weren’t known for their speed. A fireball was relatively easy to dodge, but not this one. The blazing torrent was even faster than Thalion’s lightning beam, and he barely managed to evade it with a telekinetic dash. The ground where he had stood moments before melted into glowing lava from the sheer heat of the attack.

Good thing Thalion hadn’t decided to test his durability against the elf’s fire magic. Normally, fire should empower him, yet he wasn’t sure if that still applied when his divine ability clearly failed to affect the chosen’s flames. There were other ways to test his resistance, however.

His divine rarity skill also extended through the Sanguis Impera, which was why Thalion fired a bloodthorn toward the elf, who was currently turning the mountain beneath them into a volcano with his overwhelming fire. The elf raised his second staff, and from Thalion’s perspective, it looked as if the air itself was boiling. The bloodthorn began to shrink mid-flight, losing nearly half its size before the elf dodged to the side, watching it vanish into the distance with a puzzled expression.

“Hah, so you have high fire resistance,” Kaelir commented a moment later.

Thalion had to admit, the elf was quick to piece that together. The heating spell he had used earlier also seemed immensely powerful. Should Thalion even try to get close, or would he be burned before reaching him? Would his armor withstand such heat? Probably not.

Kaelir ended his fiery stream, which had already reduced the palace floor to molten rock, and began channeling a new spell. The Heart of the Sanguine Archon in Thalion’s chest pounded violently as he swung at the elf and unleashed a manaslash. He hoped it would interrupt the casting before the elf’s heat magic could destabilize his attack.

Kaelir’s body ignited into flames as he dodged, reappearing directly in front of Thalion. His danger sense screamed as the elf released a fiery shockwave at point-blank range. Thalion was too close, too slow. The blast struck him full force.

Pain erupted across his body as his armor shattered in multiple places, and he was hurled backward like a cannonball. Before he could recover, he slammed into the palace wall, hard enough to taste metal in his mouth. His armor was fractured and glowing, already struggling to repair itself. He was lucky nothing seemed broken; at least he could still move.

That was good, because the chosen wasn’t letting up. Six streams of fire shot toward him, each one following its own unpredictable path, making them almost impossible to dodge. The sheer force behind them nearly tore his sword from his grip as he sliced through one of the flames after realizing he couldn’t avoid it.

This was going very differently than Thalion had anticipated, but that wouldn’t stop him. His conviction burned brighter than any flame. Even if he had to flee, he would return stronger. This battle was far from over.

The elf had revealed a few of his cards; now it was Thalion’s turn. He unleashed his full aura alongside the Sanguis Impera, activating several skills at once. A dark crimson jungle burst to life around him, and red-black flames ignited in the air. His gaze locked onto Kaelir’s, and he invoked crimson gaze.

The result, however, wasn’t what Thalion had hoped for. Kaelir merely frowned as one of his rings cracked, likely from resisting the mental strike.

“Interesting,” Kaelir said calmly. “No one mentioned that you could command flames to such an extent. Was that detail hidden from my Patron?”

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Thalion was done listening. He moved. He conjured several blood spikes, enhancing them through his armor’s enchantments to reinforce their structure and added an explosive charge to each. The blood would vaporize anyway, so he might as well make it lethal.

The eight crimson spikes shot toward Kaelir. The elf once again heated the air around himself, pouring even more mana into the spell this time. The spikes detonated upon contact, the shockwave flinging him backward.

If Lucan had influenced the enchantment, Thalion was certain of one thing: those explosions would be monstrous.

With the explosion, fragments of Thalion’s blood must have touched the elf, because he could feel how the curse took hold. Kaelir swung both his staffs, unleashing a wave of fire that consumed everything in front of him. Thalion was far enough away and summoned a dark red mana barrier in front of him. The shield was torn apart by the sheer force of the spell, but it weakened the flames enough that they only licked harmlessly over him.

Even if his divine skill couldn’t corrupt the chosen’s flames, the empowering aspect worked perfectly fine. Thalion had never felt this strong without the Heart of the Sanguine Archon pushing him into overdrive. Kaelir only frowned at his hand, where a dark red mark was starting to form.

“A curse? That wasn’t mentioned in any report. I wonder...” Kaelir began, but couldn’t finish his thought as vines, thorns, and mana waves surged toward him. The jungle that the Sanguis Impera had created had been partly destroyed by the earlier firewave, but the remaining vines seemed to grow even stronger. After all, the Sanguis Impera could absorb fire and convert it into strength.

Until now, Thalion had never seen such a strong reaction, but it seemed that even if he couldn’t win this fight, he could at least use it to evolve the Sanguis Impera. Maybe he should have burned it himself earlier with his own fireball if the result was this potent.

Still, nothing seemed to surprise Kaelir. He moved gracefully between the attacks, dodging them with effortless precision. This elf was far stronger than Ankhet had ever been. Sure, Ankhet had lost most of his power and had his master fighting for control inside his head, but even at full strength he wouldn’t have matched Kaelir.

The chosen was absurdly powerful. Ankhet’s specters had been terrifying — their strikes could sever a soul in a single hit, but they weren’t nearly as fast as this. Against Kaelir, Thalion was beginning to run out of ideas to deal real damage. His only hope was his curse, but that hope died quickly when the elf activated a new fire skill on himself.

The red runes covering Kaelir’s body began to move like living flames, igniting until he glowed like a torch. It could have been a buffing spell or simply the release of more of his true power. Whatever it was, the curse was burned away entirely. Kaelir smirked arrogantly as a fiery barrier formed around him, blocking every attack from Thalion and the Sanguis Impera.

“You really thought I wouldn’t be prepared? I am the chosen of Pyrael. You have no chance of winning this. Tell me who your Patron is, and I’ll make your death quick.”

“Elf, you can’t threaten me. I always win,” Thalion hissed, launching an exceptionally strong manaslash at the elf. This time, Kaelir’s barrier couldn’t withstand it and was ripped apart like paper by the sheer force of the strike. Not that it mattered much because Kaelir had already moved out of the way.

“You humans are truly foolish creatures. Always blind to your place. You’re not even a chosen. There’s no way you can fight me. Don’t you see how pointless this struggle is? You’re only delaying me from looting more palaces,” the elf huffed in irritation.

Since taunting him with threats didn’t seem to unsettle the elf, Thalion tried a different approach.

“We’ll see. Tell me, if your family somehow survived the tutorial, do you think they can escape me? I need a few more participants for my future experiments,” Thalion said, his voice dripping with malice. It seemed he had struck a nerve as Kaelir’s aura flared violently and rage twisted his expression.

“You dare threaten my family? I’ll show you true power, and then I’ll burn you alive — slowly.”

Kaelir pointed both staffs at Thalion, and from each erupted a beam of fire that widened as it traveled, yet lost none of its strength.

Thalion immediately commanded vines to rise before him as he retreated deeper into the remaining jungle. Now it was time to see just how much fire the Sanguis Impera could absorb and how much stronger it could become.

The entire courtyard of the palace was torn apart as the blazing attack struck. The aura radiating from the chosen could probably be felt miles away. The vines were burned to ash as if they had never existed, and Thalion was forced to use his bloodline skill to escape the inferno.

Kaelir hadn’t noticed the skill being activated and was too slow to react when Thalion appeared right in front of him, swinging the Blade of the Blooded Templar toward his face, the air around the weapon trembling with unleashed power.