Hero of Darkness

The 7th Hero of Nature had taken out the two mages of the Hero's Party right when things seemed going the right way for them.

In the following moments, he did not even give them time to absorb this shock and attacked the Hero's Party incessantly.

Brutus created a meteorite made of fire and magma and launched it at Maximus. Maximus on the opposite end, created thousands of slingshots with Ice boulders in the centre.

Brutus then created a dragon made of Lightning, in response, Maximus created hundreds of spears made of Darkness element.

Brutus tried to shift the gravity and made the attacks fall on Maximus, using his own powers against him but Maximus simply changed the direction of the attacks in the opposite side.

Brutus controlled reality but while using Progenitor of Nature divine ability, Maximus had control over all his elements and Brutus could not affect or control them in any way like previously.

Both side then created massive 300 meters tall long snake-like creatures that started attacking each other.

Brutus made one from magma while Maximus created one using Ice.

Swoosh!

At the same time, a blue figure hopped onto the body of this ginormous creature and started running on its scaly surface.

While slithering and dodging through air, the two serpents clashed against each other, twisting and turning their bodies over each other while trying to bite off big chunks of mass from the opponent.

Screeches and battlecries filled the surrounding 20-kilometer radius.

[Quick! I have only 5 more minutes!] spoke Maximus to Kahn.

Swoosh!

Kahn started running across the gaps between these two monsters and leaped off drom between them like he was completely unaffected from the scalding magma and freezing ice.

[The best way to take out an enemy who can create things just by imagining it… is to overwhelm their senses and brain so much that they can't think fast enough.] spoke Kahn.

This was their plan.

However, why was Kahn openly attacking Brutus if their plan was to overwhelm him?

"You think this type of petty trick will work on me?" said Brutus and the very next second, he moved from his position and attacked on his left with a swing of his left forefinger.

Slash!

Out of nowhere, a figure appeared from thin air and a blue wolfkin was cut in half.

"I know you can use doppelgangers. I saw it when you fought Sylvana and Zolvik.

I also know you have a natural immunity against darkness element. I know all of your aces already." proclaimed Brutus, completely unfazed.

Bang!

Suddenly, a hundred meter long icicle dropped from the sky at attacked Brutus. This was Maximus attacking from a distance.

Shing!

Shing!

Soon, a massive net of light element that was stretched for 3 kilometers in radius materialized and covered the sky while hundreds of metallic spears shot from the ground covered in lightning.

"So persistent." scoffed Brutus as he gestured his scepter and tilted it horizontally.

Crackle!

Dozens of spherical shields made of darkness were created to stand against the onslaught of these spears.

As for the massive and inescapable net was attacked from several stone boulders that Brutus lifted from the ground that was once nothing but hard rocks.

The whole transforming the sand into stone, metallic spear and even lightning attacks took mere seconds as Brutus was changing the composition of matter with ease, changing the elements with absolute no effort using his divine ability.

"Not yet, biatch!" BOOM!!

Suddenly, an extremely powerful punch hit Brutus in his back.

Shoot!

Like a bullet shot from a gun, the Necromancer Hero was shot below from that single punch, breaking multiple sound barriers in his wake.

BOOM!!

As his body descended and colluded at the stone peaks below and the magma shot upwards like an erupting volcano, the surrounding 2 kilometers was devastated.

"How? I'm sure I killed the real you!" exclaimed Brutus as he leaped from the magma and looked at Atreus who just attacked him.

In a sense, he wasn't wrong.

However the Atreus he killed wasn't Kahn but his cosmic replica.

Unlike the dopplegangers, the cosmic replicas could imitate his exact aura of 5th stage saint as if it was the real him. Forget Brutus but even Maximus was fooled when he saw the former cut Atreus in half.

"That's where you're wrong." Woosh!

Woosh!

Soon, 4 more versions of him, each emitting the exact world energy signature appeared in the sky.

"They're all the real me." announced Kahn and all the 5 copies of himself attacked the Necromancer Hero after spreading in multiple directions.

"Fenrir's Wrath!" shouted one Atreus.

"Waterblade Hurricane!" shouted another one. "Azure Dragon Fist!" spoke the 3rd one.

One after another, a volley of powerful attacks containing the might of a 5th stage saint launched from multiple sides.

Even with the mind of a 6th stage saint, despite having a mental capacity of mutiple people at once, what Brutus could not overcome was the constraints of time that was taken while transforming the world around him to make his counterattacks.

Things will take time to manifest even if your mind could think about them in a microsecond. And this was one of the limitations of the Visionary's Reality divine ability.

A second was more than enough for a 5th stage saint to make the killing move.

BOOM!!

The sky rumbled and hundreds of lightning bolts dropped and attacked Brutus as he was busy defending against Atreus.

"Don't forget about me. I'm still here." spoke Maximus in his Progenitor form with a visible mocking expression.

Bang!

Another wave of attacks hit the Necromancer Hero hard and his entire body suffered immense pain from being electrocuted.

"Shameless bastards! Do you not have any honor of a warrior?! Ganging up against a single enemy like a bunch of cowards!" he exclaimed furiously.

"Heh? Says the guy who summoned a gang of full-fledged Saints against a group of Semi-saints.

Who's the coward here then?" asked Kahn, taunting the Necromancer Hero as if the latter was a 3rd rate villain.

"This…" the 7th Hero of Nature bit his lips in embarrassment but his haggard and hunched body that was hit by several attacks for the first time stood enraged.

"This won't work on me again." he spoke, angered to his core.

This was a realm of his own creation and even the air worked at his will. But now he was being thrashed by a bunch of outsiders in his own battlefield.

But it was this very moment, he sensed something was amiss.

Swoosh!

Brutus quickly dodged an invisible attack as if it came from a different dimension itself.

[Oh, so he can sense me from the True Dimension. I guess this realm affects my presence in the true dimension somehow.] spoke Kahn who had been waiting for this opportunity from a while.

He quickly then switched with one of his cosmic replicas in the real world.

"Wait… if that was also him, then it makes on;y 4 of them.

Where is the fifth one?" A harrowing realization dawned on the Necromancer Hero as he remembered the exact numbers of Atreus when the battle started again.

Clank!

Clank!

While he was lost in thoughts for a mere moment, Maximus had also cast a powerful skill on his end.

Shatter!

Shatter!

The entire realm started shattering on its own as if some sort of heavenly tribulation had struck from the outside world.

"You keep forgetting that I'm still here. I feel neglected now." spoke Maximus in a kingly voice as he was done breaking down this realm.

"This.s. how is that possible?!" bellowed Brutus in utter bewilderment as he could not believe his own two eyes.

"The light elemental net I created… it was just a temporary decoy, made to seal your senses as Atreus attacked you in that small space.

Meanwhile, I have been attacking and decimating this realm from the outside using my divine ability while you were busy fighting just a single opponent." iterated Maximus with a smug and prideful grin.

This was the plan all along.

To force the Necromancer Hero solely on the battle with Maximus and Atreus as the former actually attacked the realm while the latter created multiple attacks to distract Brutus while the former sealed them in a secluded battlefield.

Rumble!

Just as he finished his words, Brutus suffered an immense backlash.

Blergh!

From the shock of his realm being thoroughly destroyed, Marcus Brutus suffered heavy damage both to his body aka his core and also his soul since divine abilities were directly tied to a hero's soul.

This was the second time his soul was damaged in a row and now, his body was on the brink of falling.

"You wretched insects!... I'll kill all of you even if I have to self-destruct myself!" bellowed Marcus Brutus with a vengeful expression as he finally lost all of his composure.

"Not so easy, sunshine." a grim voice whispered in his ears.

Woosh!

Right from the Necromancer Hero's own shadow, the fifth and the real Kahn appeared.

And because of his damaged state, the 7th Hero of Nature could not even run away.

Shing!

Kahn's eyes suddenly turned golden-yellow and Marcus Brutus closed his eyes from sheer fear.

However… the next moment his eyes opened, the entirety of the battlefield had changed.

He was no longer in the vast expanse of the white sand desert but in a grand hall made of stones and intricate architecture. This place was filled with chairs, multiple layers of pavements and wooden desks as well as chairs, resembling a council hall.

"This… This can't be! Why? Why the hell am I here again?!" spoke Brutus in complete disbelief as he recognized this place from a life long forgotten.

"Why am I back in Curia Julia?" he spoke to himself.

"Why did you betray me, Brutus?!"

Suddenly, a grim and resentful voice landed in his ears.

Brutus' entire body was filled with shock and goosebumps as he instantly recognized the person to whom this voice belonged.

He mustered his courage and turned around, only to see a face that haunted him even in his new life as the Hero of Nature.

"How… how are you… still alive?…" stuttered Marcus Brutus as if he had seen a ghost and finally spoke the name of this entity…

"Julius Ceasar."