Is this really a Game?!



During an evolution, one would usually find themselves in a state of unconsciousness, during the early stages, before the warrior realm, an evolution would have them be almost asleep, sometimes they would see visions, visions that were made by their abilities, which would allow them to get a glimpse of what the ability could do in the future.

But when one got to the higher realms, that usually changed. Each Tier that a person tried to break would be a dangerous endeavor, needing full concentration from the person that was evolving in order to pass it.

One needed to hold on to their sanity sometimes so that their soul wouldn't get damaged or destroyed, sometimes one would have to face nightmares that would disrupt them, while at other times, one would actually need to go through a battle in their mental space. Nobody knew just what would happen during an evolution, but one thing was certain, the higher one went, the more dangerous it became.

Soul-based attacks were fairly rare under the Transcendent realm, and even though one would be defended by mana itself during an evolution, that wasn't enough at some times, especially if the enemy had soul-based attacks that could disrupt them, just like Reign had.

Reign started utilizing his soul power, but to his surprise, the souls he commanded wouldn't bring him the desired effect as the pillar of mana would weaken them, and right as they reached Amanda, her own defenses, as well as the souls she commanded, would defend her, making Reign lose some of the souls he had under his command because of it.

"Sound-based soul attacks seem to be the best in this situation, but you have to be careful, you don't want to hit your friends as well, even though you would hit the enemy with it too, making both sides suffer a bit, it wouldn't be nice of you to continuously do that," Aethion said, making Reign nod his head.

He pulled a bit back from the pillar of mana before taking a deep breath.

Suddenly, he opened his mouth before letting out a very short shout while keeping both of his hands on the sides of his mouth while coating them with mana, as well as his light and darkness. The mana coating and his abilities should allow him to somewhat control the sound waves and have them focused in front of him, hitting Amanda and keeping the others safe, of course, that was in theory, practice was a different thing.

His actions did in fact help him with controlling the trajectory of the sound waves somewhat, but Wolf and the others, as well as the enemies, were affected a bit as well, only that they were hit with a much weaker soul attack compared to before, one that wasn't that dangerous, nor was it as painful as before.

As for Amanda, her body shook again, and even the pillar of mana destabilized for a brief instant before mending itself.

"Each time her concentration breaks, the pillar will waver as well as it is connected to the evolution, if you can force her mind to snap out of its trance, you can completely stop the evolution, but you don't have to go that far as you only need to break her concentration further so that the pillar becomes less stable, allowing you to destroy it and reach her." Aethion spoke to Reign who continued shouting at Amanda.

His shouts came one after another, with mere milliseconds passing between them. Amanda's body started shaking more and more, but it wasn't easy for Reign either as he needed to pour his soul power into each shout and control it with both his soul manipulation and mana, which was much easier said than done. He was also doing his best to control his breath and to make sure that he wasn't just shouting uncontrollably.

The control needed for such a thing put a great strain on his concentration and it was much harder for him to continue shouting more and more while still channeling and controlling the mana that was around his hands as well. 

With each shout, however, Amanda's state deteriorated, and the pillar started shaking more and more. It started getting thinner, and the vast amount of mana that was inside of it started dissipating.

"Come on boy, just hold on for a little longer, you're almost there!" Aethion cheered for Reign as the latter's face was completely red. Sweat had built up on his face and was dripping down while the darkness and light that were around his hands started wavering a bit as well.

He had only been at it for half a minute, and yet, for Reign, it was as if he had been doing this for hours. After a couple of more seconds, he stopped before suddenly grabbing both of his swords. Reign suddenly assumed a position before charging forward, his wings boosting him while his lightning exploded around, forming a Kirin underneath him

[ Lance of the Charging Kirin Knight ]

The combination skill that Reign had used a long time ago during the battle against the Death Rider that Drayce had placed in the arena for them to fight showed itself once again. Reign hadn't used it in battle after that one fight, but he still continued training his skills, as well as doing his best to combine some of them.

The combination skills were incredibly powerful, but they were also dangerous, needing a lot of effort, practice, concentration, as well as mana in order for a person to use them. After his [ Lighting Stab ] skill evolved and became [ Lightning Lance ] the skill became even more difficult to be done, but in his transformed state, he had a lot more control over his abilities and mana, allowing him to do things that were nearly impossible before.

Aethion was just about to curse at Reign for actually stopping for a moment to use the skill as each millisecond was valuable to him. He had disrupted Amanda's concentration, but it would soon be fully restored, as well as the pillar of mana. But upon seeing what Reign had used, he stopped himself from talking and nodded his head in agreement as this was probably one of, if not the most powerful single target skill that Reign could pull off right now.

The lance hit the pillar, and instead of being bounced away like each attack was before, the lance penetrated through the pillar, albeit only a bit. Reign's wings flapped as his light and darkness converged on the wings, making them seem larger than before and allowing Reign to push forward with more strength.

The Kirin roared the knight, Reign, gritted his teeth and continued pushing as lightning coiled around him, making him look like a true medieval knight who was riding on a mystical monster that the Kirin was.

The lance continued to penetrate deeper and deeper, with each inch that Reign made inside the pillar, the more the pillar started shaking and dissipating. 

"More, come one, I need MORE!" Reign yelled out, boosting his shout with mana and shaking the pillar, as well as Amanda with it.

A mere shout that was empowered by soul power wasn't that hard to pull off and needed barely any concentration from Reign as the soul power was scattered with the sound waves, and the sound waves were also going everywhere around him compared to what he previously did.

His shout did disturb Shadow and the others, but it also disturbed the enemies who were already on the losing end. Several more of their people died, and even though Shadow and the others didn't have it easy and some of them were injured and low on mana, the enemy was in a much worse state than they were.

They all suddenly stopped fighting as Wolf and the others told them all to cover their ears with mana and do their best to block any sound from reaching them as Reign started yelling again and reaching deeper into the pillar. Thanks to the fact the soul attacks were mixed with sound waves, one could lessen their impact severely by blocking any sound from reaching them.

Even though Wolf and the others were only standing, the enemy wasn't attacking them as Reign's yells started hitting them and causing them pain, forcing them to copy Wolf and the others and stop fighting for a bit.

As for Reign, he had managed to reach deep inside the pillar that was on its last leg. He stared at Amanda with bloodshot eyes before suddenly pulling his lance back. His Kirin disappeared and the lightning that had once coiled around him was removed as well, leaving him all alone in the pillar of mana.

He was merely 2 meters away from Amanda, and upon seeing her so close, Reign placed both of his swords at his waist before slashing them at her.

[ Severing, Light, and Darkness ]

Light and Darkness covered each of the swords respectively before pitch black and pure white blades of light crossed each other, cutting the severely weakened mana pillar in half and causing a storm of mana to suddenly break out in the hall.