Chapter 1582 - Curse Of Darkness (Part 2) It was then that he saw the purple marks on Zinya's cheeks, the split lips, the blood coming out of her mouth, and the tears streaming down her face. Filia and Frey lay still between her arms as if they were dead while they had just fainted from the terror. Until that moment, Vastor wanted to protect her from the ugliest side of him and from the horrors of battle. Humans weren't undead that would conveniently leave behind just a pile of ashes. Killing monsters in front of her made him a hero whereas killing people would just make him a murderer. Yet after seeing how the Balkor copycat had messed her up, none of that mattered and the Master's eyes turned pitch-black. A two meters (6'7") tall man clad in a full suit of Orichalcum armor exploited Vastor's shock to swing his mace in a downward arc meant to burst his head open. The Yggdrasill Staff lunged forward, making up for the gap in their arm length. The movement was quick, efficient, and so strong that a hole the size of a watermelon appeared where the mercenary's heart had been until a second back, letting the people in the backline see the god of the battlefield's enraged face through the layers of bleeding flesh and broken metal. Several tier five War Mage spells like Raging Sun, Frozen Maw, and Chasing Night rained upon Vastor from every side, yet he just flicked two fingers to conjure his tier five Chaos Array, Curse of Darkness. A six-pointed star with uneven sides appeared below his feet, covering an area of 20 meters (66 feet) around him and a humongous tendril of Chaos emerged from each of its points. They moved as fast as a bullet and as precise as a surgeon's hands, snuffing the incoming spells out as if they were matches amid a storm. The tendrils smothered the purple flames, devoured the tornado filled with ice spikes, and consumed the darkness-infused bolts of lightning without letting a single speck of energy get past their boundaries. Vastor threw a small red mana crystal at Tezka's Spirit tail, giving him full control of the array so that the Master could focus on the sea of enemies in front of him. A female warrior, whose face possessed both a rare beauty and savagery, exploited that moment of distraction to swing her two-handed greatsword at Vastor in a vertical slash while spitting a cloud of acid from her mouth. Even if the short Archmage dodged the sword, the acidic breath would have hit the woman and children behind him, turning them into a puddle of melted flesh and bones. 'He has no way out. Either he takes my blade and dies, buying my marks a mere second, or he runs away and I kill them.' The woman was actually a Lindwurm shapeshifted into human form. The lesser Dragon had yet to learn the secret of Awakening and the only way she had to obtain the resources she needed for her magical research was through the black market. They cost a pretty penny, but a single mission with the Grim Reapers usually earned her enough money to buy ingredients to perform a few Forgemastering experiments. With the prize that the blue-robed man had promised to the guild who completed the mission for him and what he had already paid in advance, she would be able to work non-stop for weeks. "Please, Zogar, run! There's no point in dying with us!" Zinya said amid tears. Even though she was ready to give her life to protect her children, she wouldn't resent him for abandoning them. The Professor had already done enough for her. He had given her sight and fought to the death for her against the undead during Night's attack. The life of a commoner woman was nothing compared to that of an Archmage and she couldn't ask Vastor to risk everything he had to protect the children of another man. Yet Vastor didn't move, grabbing the greatsword with his bare hand and taking the acidic breath square on his face. The Dominator armor effortlessly repelled the Orichalcum blade while a thin mist of Chaos got rid of the acid before it could reach him. The Emperor Beast weighed a few tons so the impact from the attack made the ground under the Master's feet crumble until he was waist-deep into the ground. He could feel the joints in his elbows and knees crack from the strain despite the Adamant Armor protecting him, yet he didn't flinch. Vastor ripped the blade off her hands with the sheer strength of his grip, making the woman stumble forward. She exploited his pull and added it to her own speed to punch the Master square in the face with a perfect counter. He let go of the blade, using his now free hand to intercept the fist when it was centimeters away from his nose. "Emperor Beast or not, touching an Abomination is a mistake that no one lives to regret." He whispered to her ear as his hand turned black. The mere contact drained the Lindwurm's strength and gave Vastor new energy, healing all the wounds that the previous blade strike had inflicted upon him. The punch lost all of its momentum and Emperor Beast fell to her knees. The woman felt dizzy for a second before falling asleep. Her body turned into dust in front of her flabbergasted companions who had no idea what had just happened. "Are you dumb or what?" The leader of the Black Dragons said. His confident voice allowed the mercenaries to shrug off the fear that had paralyzed them until that moment. "He's an Archmage of the Kingdom, but he's still just one man. Stop attacking him one at a time. Charg-" A black dart from Vastor's extended forefinger put an end to both his speech and life. 'This guy is exactly like the little fox monster. Take darkness magic away from him and he's nothing.' The Wardens among the mercenaries thought while casting their best sealing arrays as fast as they could. Yet Vastor could see thanks to Life Vision the mana flow of all the opponents in his line of sight and Bytra had taught him how to understand who was casting what spell. A wave of his hand unleashed his tier personal tier five War Mage spell, Tetrastrophe. A pillar of fire, a hail of frozen lances, a deadly quicksand, and a thunderstorm, each one with the destructive power of a tier five spell appeared amid the enemy lines, scattering their formations and killing the Wardens. The mercenaries attacked in groups and died in groups. Then, once they managed to coordinate again, they attacked in waves and died in waves. The Chaos array blocked the incoming spells while Vastor got rid of anyone that dared to step forward and face him. He circled around Zinya and the Spirit tail with the grace of a dancer and the accuracy of a surgeon. Unlike Tezka, close-quarter combat didn't stop him from weaving new spells with every movement that he made and unleashing them as soon as they were ready. Seeing their front lines dropping like flies made the mercenaries step back and bought Vastor the time that he needed to conjure one of the most prized spells of Kigan, the Blood Wind of the Desert and one of his Abomination hybrids.