Chapter 844: A Difference of Paths, Seizing The Seizing!
Before today, the celestials always decided to lay low and stayed out of sight. Therefore, despite their rebellious intentions, none of the pillars paid them any mind.
Regardless, even if they did run into a celestial or anyone else for that matter, they were treated with the utmost respect. After all, not only were they strong, but each possessed a strong army that served under them.
However, that all seemed to change as of late. Now, the celestials were not afraid to openly attack them.
Even more infuriating for Ourami was that a mere lower celestial actually spoke to him as if they were equals! No, rather, that person did not seem to put him in his sights! When had the world turned so far upside down that such a thing was happening right before his eyes?
"Given your current state, are you certain it's wise to go around picking fights with others?" Izroth asked with a carefree expression.
"Do not delude yourself. Even if I only possessed ten percent of my original strength, crushing you would be the same as having a passing thought." Ourami scoffed.
He then continued with a grin, "Or, have you forgotten our last encounter so soon? Do you plan on being rescued again and running away with your tail tucked between your legs?"
"Oh?" Izroth narrowed his eyes as his carefree expression faded.
Izroth was no fool. He knew that Ourami was attempting to provoke him. However, in Izroth's eyes, that was a grave mistake.
The fact that someone as proud as Ourami was using such a method suggested only one thing—he was wary.
If that was the case, it most likely meant that Ourami's strength had gone on a considerable decline after his battle against Tal'Nis and Astratis. In addition, given his miserable state and level of anger, Izroth also speculated that Ourami was caught in whatever mass-scale attack affected his territory.
In other words, before the fight even began, Ourami had already unwillingly shown his hand!
Those who were not used to employing those particular methods were easily seen through. This was even more so when the other party was someone like Izroth who dealt with numerous individuals with a similar personality in the Seven Realms.
'Even if he is weakened, I can not afford to lower my guard. After all, he is still someone at the upper end of the legendary realm. That being said... It has been a while since someone has underestimated me to this extent.'
Izroth's eyes turned cold as he brandished his Scorched Inferno's Fang and Sword of the Storm.
While he would not blatantly fall for Ourami's provocation, in the end, Izroth never had any plans of running away from this fight.
Suddenly, Izroth's figure started to flicker in and out of existence.
Swoosh! Ding!
In the blink of an eye, Izroth appeared behind Ourami after activating his Flickering Steps and swung outward with his Sword of the Storm.
But, just as Izroth's blade was about to slash into Ourami, the pillar managed to adjust his position and defend against the strike.
'He's slower.'
With that brief exchange alone, while Ourami's reaction time was still nothing to scoff at, Izroth could tell that he was much slower than when they last fought. And, it was not just his reaction time, but his overall speed as well.
Before, it was as though Ourami could tell ahead of time when and where Izroth's attacks would come from. But, now, it felt like Ourami was reacting in real-time.
Out of nowhere, Izroth noticed that the power contained within his Sword of the Storm disappeared. However, unlike last time, he knew that this particular was meant to "seize".
Izroth did not walk away from their previous encounter empty-handed!
Swoosh!
In a flash, Izroth immediately released his Sword of the Storm as well as his Scorched Inferno Fang. Then, in one quick and smooth motion, Izroth swapped the weapons. This switched Izroth's Sword of the Storm to his secondary weapon and the Scorched Inferno Fang to his primary.
At the same time, without pausing his actions, Izroth slashed in a cross-motion with both his weapons, causing a powerful gust of wind to slam into Ourami.
"?!"
Ourami was knocked several meters back as his feet slid across the earth, causing a long tear to form along the way.
A look of shock formed on Ourami's face as he could not hide his disbelief. Just now, he was certain that his Epithet of Seizing had successfully taken the power out of Izroth's strike. So, how was he still able to knock him back?
"Are you curious?" Izroth questioned as multiple figures of his flickering silhouette appeared around Ourami.
Zeeeut! Swoosh!
Izroth arrived in Ourami's blind spot and swung out again with a ferocious strike at the pillar. This time, however, he did so with his spear instead of his sword.
"I don't know what tricks he used last time, but I will not be made a fool of again!" Ourami thought to himself as he once again used the Epithet of Seizing on Izroth. And, he made sure to target Izroth himself to allow no room for error!
The more complex the target, the more difficult it was for Ourami to seize its power.
With his current weakened state, Ourami planned to use the minimal amount of strength necessary to subdue Izroth; however, he never expected them to have such a rotten trick up their sleeves!
Seeing Ourami's actions, a slight smile found its way onto Izroth's face.
The power from both of his weapons and body dissipated as Ourami seized away his strength. However...
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Just like last time, Izroth swapped the hands in which he held his weapons as a bolt of lightning crashed down at Ourami's location. It was his Third Sword Form: Collapsing Thunder!
Bzzzt..! Crrrrckle! BOOM!
A small yet contained explosion erupted as the lightning strike kicked up a cloud of dust.
Though the cloud did not linger for long as Ourami used his Epithet of Force to push the dust away from their position.
When the dust cleared, Ourami's face was no longer one of shock or disbelief, but rather one of pure rage.
Could it be that this person found a way to completely counter his Epithet of Seizing? To Ourami, it was simply incomprehensible—an utter impossibility!
Yet, his eyes did not deceive him. Not once, but twice his Epithet of Seizing seemed to work one moment and then abruptly stop functioning the next. This was the first time he ever encountered such a bizarre phenomenon!
"What did you do?!" Ourami scowled as his killing intent burst forth, washing over Izroth in full force!
The fact that someone on the level of a lower celestial could resist his Epithet of Seizing—Ourami had never felt so humiliated!
"Do I have to explain myself to you?" Izroth responded nonchalantly as he continued with his barrage of attacks, unbothered by Ourami's killing intent.
He wanted to frighten him with just that much killing intent alone? Even if it was a hundred times greater, Izroth would not falter to such a weak half-hearted killing intent.
'For someone who lived for so long comfortably at the top unchallenged, it is unfathomable to you. However, for those of us who have started with less than nothing, how can you possibly understand the path we've traversed?'
After his previous fight with Ourami, Izroth spent every moment going over the battle in his mind.
Ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times—Izroth had fought that same battle in his mind in search of a path that led to an absolute victory.
During those battles, Izroth became familiar with Ourami's movements, his decisions, and, most importantly, the way his Epithets functioned.
This was how Izroth discovered a technique that made it possible to "trick" Ourami's Epithet of Seizing.
Izroth realized that Ourami could only seize the power in things within a precise moment. But, even if one knew about this piece of information, it was not necessarily possible to counter it.
One of the reasons Izroth was able to do had to do with his skill Dual Wielding.
Ourami's Epithet of Seizing captured one's power in the moment, but what if that moment could be forced to instantly pass? That was exactly what Izroth accomplished.
By switching his primary and secondary weapons, Izroth's stats changed because of the stat penalty effect of his Dual Wielding skill.
Undergoing such a drastic change at the same exact moment when Ourami used his Epithet of Seizing, Izroth was able to destabilize its influence.
By not being able to get a precise lock on the power it was seizing, Izroth effectively rendered Ourami's Epithet of Seizing useless!
The timing required to pull this off had to be flawless. Also, one had to possess the ability to freely cause their own power to be in a temporary state of flux.
This was something that most people would be unable to accomplish. And, as for someone like Ourami—he would have never thought of it!