Is this really a Game?!

Chapter 1020: The Leader's Breakdown

Reign nodded, his focus unwavering as he continued his relentless assault. The enemy leader, driven by rage and frustration, gathered his soul power, but as Aethion predicted, his emotions made him sloppy. With a swift motion, Reign countered the attack, his own soul power meeting the enemy's in a fierce clash.

The battlefield shook with the intensity of their clash, the very air crackling with power. The enemy leader, realizing he was unable to win in a battle of soul power like this, tried to retreat, but it was too late. Reign's soul power was matching his own, but Aethion's attack had only started.

Compared to how the two were currently using their soul power, merely sending it forth with full force in an attempt to brute-force their way through, his was much more refined, as well as more dangerous.

If one described the soul power attacks that both the leader and Reign used as two attacks made by amateur boxers, then the attack coming from Aethion was akin to a world champion that had reigned for years.

His attack appeared right in the middle of Reign's burst of soul power that was holding back the leader's soul power in check. It was like a hidden dagger that suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Aethion's attack pierced through the leader's soul power, not ripping it apart or destroying it, merely going through it before striking the leader whose eyes widened upon noticing the attack.

His body convulsed as he briefly lost control over his soul power. The corruption that shrouded him shook a bit and almost left his body thanks to the attack, but he persevered and managed to pull himself back together and defend against the soul power coming from Reign before quickly retreating, using the moment when Reign's focus was a bit off.

'Hmmm … I definitely didn't expect one attack to do too much damage, but this is quite interesting, the wound left by my attack should be larger, and more difficult for him to heal.'

'Kid, there's something different about this guy's soul, I just can't put my finger on what it is exactly.' Aethion said in a low voice as he stared at the enemy leader with a bloodthirsty smile.

'I can't wait to find out just what is different about it.'

Reign chuckled upon hearing Aethion's words. He even felt a bit bad for the enemy leader, after all, if the chance presented itself, he would definitely try to take his soul and allow Aethion to interrogate him, allowing them to learn much more about the corruption, as well as the faction they were fighting against.

Reign briefly glanced at the others who were still fighting their own battles. They were still holding out and were managing to push back their enemies, but this was no longer the same battle as before as many of their enemies were nearly immortal. In order to win, they would have to deal with the source, which was the origin of corruption below them, not kill their enemies.

'Should I help them out a bit?'

'That won't be necessary, your reinforcements have arrived.' Aethion said with a chuckle as Reign's eyes slightly widened and he smirked upon sensing three familiar auras approaching the battlefield.

Greenie and the two mercenary leaders managed to defeat their opponents before they were empowered by the corruption like the rest of them were, and had now arrived at where the base once stood and were charging to help the others out.

With the present, they would be able to hold on for much longer, that was certain.

Greenie was already in his Vajra form, his red body passing through the corruption without a care in the world. Nothing would be able to corrupt a Vajra ogre in this form, it was one given to them thanks to their bloodline, one connected to a deity that was known throughout the universe.

No corruption could taint the body of Vajra, their blood itself was capable of annihilating the corruption, which Greenie was currently showing as he had cut his palm and then splashed his blood around them, forcing the corruption to turn into smoke and dissipate, making it much easier for him and those near him to battle against their enemies.

Of course, Greenie could only use a bit of blood to do such a thing, the blood present in his body during this form was not the same blood that was usually present in his body, and replenishing it took a lot more time, not to mention that a single drop was valuable and losing too much would weaken him.

"Well look at this, my guys are handling themselves quite well, not to mention that he is able to destroy the corruption like I can, I wonder just what you can do now, after all, your end is close, you know?"

"Soon, you'll die, the corruption will die down, and everything else will disappear as well, I think that's quite nice, after all, I don't think our world needs such a dirty thing present here at all." Reign said with a smile as the leader stared at him with hatred.

"You, you are not fighting alone!" The leader shouted as Reign stared at him in confusion.

"Well, of course, I'm not, you've seen my teammates since the very start, saying such a thing is quite silly of you."

"You know that is not what I meant!"

"I see, you're like me, you have one too, don't you?!" The leader shouted at Reign who now narrowed his eyes and was staring back at the leader with a serious expression.

"I have one too?"

"How … how did you get him to help you like this, how did you make him do that?!"

Reign continued staring at the man with slight confusion as Aethion's smile deepened.

'I see, it's not that his soul is different, he just has someone, or something inside it, similarly to how you have me and Jared, but it seems that whatever found its way inside is not in the same relationship as the one we have."

"Did 'that' tell you about the corruption by any chance?" Reign suddenly asked as the leader stared at him before his eyes narrowed.

"You will not take it away from me, I will not let you!"

Suddenly, the corruption around them moved, swirling around Reign and the leader as a large portion that covered the chamber was taken by the leader, using it to suddenly attack Reign, sending torrents of corruption at him.

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"This is new, I never thought you could control this much of it." Reign said with a smirk before light suddenly erupted around him.

"It doesn't matter, however, you can use as much as you can, it won't be able to do anything to me."

"Yes, yes, I will do it!" The leader suddenly shouted, his eyes turning bloodshot as more corruption appeared around them.

Reign first thought that the leader was talking to him, but he was wrong as the leader continued speaking, seemingly to himself.

'I see, the way he used soul power, how sloppy it was, the way he fought, the way he did everything until now, this is the true him, the leader we had constructed in our mind was the one being controlled by whatever entity is inside of him.'

'The entity is probably what created the phantoms and placed the soul shards inside the fake Tier VI combatants as well, I doubt he even has that much ability by himself.'

'Poor bastard, it seems like he has been used by somebody from the very start, he probably never did anything he wanted to do, always following and listening to whatever he was hearing inside his head.'

Reign stared at the enemy leader, who by all accounts, seemed to have lost his mind in this moment.

It was like he wasn't even capable of doing anything in this moment but rage, shout at whoever he was talking to, and call forth more corruption to himself.

Reign's light shielded him from the corruption, none of it managed to drop on his body or even get close to him. He was currently using the full power of his light manipulation and using a ton of mana to make sure the light was being blasted around him at full strength.

No matter what the leader tried to do, no corruption would be able to harm Reign, no matter how much of it there was.

Suddenly, however, Reign moved.

His wings flapped as he moved to the side and what looked like a sharpened vine made out of corruption passed nearby.

'I see, the corruption around you was just a distraction, he was compressing it, making weapons out of it to use against you.'

'Sorry to tell you kid, but even your light won't be able to purify and destroy the corruption fast enough to make you invulnerable to such things, you'll have to move quickly and take this bastard down, it's time to end this already.'