Reincarnated in a novel: I am the villain!-Chapter 284: One minute man!

The main battle had started!

The sky above Layer 4 was no longer purple.

It was a fractured mosaic of crimson and steel-grey, violently tearing apart as two calamities clashed in the stratosphere.

*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*

A sound much louder than any thunder resounded throughout the land, it was the atmosphere screaming.

High above, Duke Varic Vane was a blur of red light.

He moved faster than the eye could track, weaving through the air with the grace of a phantom.

"[Abyss Blood Art: Red Rain.]"

The Duke swiped his hand. Thousands of crystallized blood needles, each dense enough to pierce a mountain, rained down from the heavens.

However in response to such a move that could easily end hundreds of thousands if not millions of regular lives, the orc emperor in front of him just laughed

"WEAK!"

Emperor Thraka didn’t dodge. The 8th Order Warlord stood mid-air, utilizing the sheer density of his aura to stand on the wind itself.

With a smile on his face, he swung his massive axe.

CLANG!

The impact shattered the blood needles into red mist.

Thraka charged through the explosion, his Abyss Steel skin glowing with the terrifying Red Aura of Azazel.

"Is that all, Blood Rat?" Thraka roared, his voice cracking the clouds.

"You have ruled this Layer for centuries, yet you still hit like a child!"

Thraka swung his axe downward.

The Duke raised his arms, crossing them in a defensive X.

A barrier of thick, coagulated blood mana formed instantly.

*CRASH.*

The axe hit the barrier.

The shockwave breaking his shield and the surrounding reality.

*KRA-KOOOM!*

A spiderweb of black cracks appeared in the sky behind the Duke.

Space itself fractured under the weight of the Emperor’s blow.

Duke Varic was launched downward. He smashed through three floating obsidian islands before correcting his flight, coughing up a spray of noble blood.

His coat was shredded, and his obsidian horns were chipped.

"As expected of the Orc emperor, He’s... overwhelming,"

Varic hissed, wiping his mouth. The Red Aura surrounding Thraka was nullifying his blood magic on contact. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

It was a power from a higher dimension, the power of a Demon Lord.

"Give up, Vane!" Thraka descended like a meteor, his axe raised for a finishing blow.

"Kneel before the Iron-Blood! Kneel before Azazel!"

********

[Location: The Ridge]

On the ground, the world was ending.

The shockwaves from the sky were causing earthquakes that turned the rocky landscape into a churning sea of debris.

"I... I can’t see them," Isabelle gasped, shielding her eyes from the blinding flashes above.

"They are moving too fast. I can only feel the pressure... it feels like the sky is falling."

Next to her, Captain Vesper lay broken in the dirt, his consciousness fading.

Elian was curled into a ball, clutching his head as the mana pressure threatened to liquefy his brain.

"They are monsters," Vesper wheezed, blood bubbling from his lips.

"The Duke... he is losing."

Among them, only Damien could see a somewhat clearer picture.

His eyes, one gold and one black, tracked the silhouettes in the sky.

He saw the Duke’s desperate defense. He saw Thraka’s overwhelming, brute-force dominance.

’Thraka is suppressing him,’ Damien analyzed, his mind cold despite the chaos.

’In video game terms, the Duke is a mage-assassin type. Thraka is a juggernaut. In a direct confrontation, especially with that Red Aura eating through mana... Varic is going to die.’

Damien looked at Vesper and Isabelle.

They were battered, bleeding, and useless in this fight.

If Varic died, Thraka would come down here and finish the job.

’It seems it’s still up to me to step up’ Damien thought.

’And I certainly didn’t come here to die in a crater.’*

He opened his System Interface.

[Current Destiny Points: 42,000]

The few he had gotten from the defeat of the Corpse Collector and Warlord Gorr, and other minor changes he had made in the abyss

Hopefully if he managed to stop the orc emperor and Azazel, then he would get another massive payout

Looking at this figure, Damien made his choice.

"System," Damien commanded. "Heal them."

[Target: Isabelle, Elian, Vesper.]

[Cost: 5,000 DP.]

[Confirm?]

"Do it."

A wave of golden light erupted from Damien’s chest, washing over his three companions.

Isabelle’s wounds knit together instantly. Vesper’s shattered ribs snapped back into place. Elian’s color returned.

"Master?" Isabelle sat up, stunned by the sudden vitality.

Damien didn’t look at her. He kept his eyes on the sky.

"Listen to me," Damien said, his voice hard.

"Take Vesper and Elian. Find a hole deep in the earth and Hide."

"What?" Isabelle stood up.

"Where are you going?"

Damien reached over his shoulder and drew the Pantheon Sword.

The blade hummed, sensing the apocalyptic energy in the air.

"The Duke bought us time," Damien said.

"However at this rate it won’t be enough."

"But Master! That is an 8th Order!" Isabelle grabbed his arm.

"You can’t—"

"Go!" Damien roared, pushing her back with a pulse of Will.

"That is an order!"

Isabelle froze. She saw the look in his eyes, she knew he had made his choice

She grabbed Vesper and Elian.

"Don’t die," she whispered, before dragging them into the shadows of the ridge.

Damien stood alone on the shaking cliff.

He looked at his remaining balance.

[Remaining DP: 37,000]

"System," Damien whispered. "I need a bridge. I need to cross the gap between 7th and 8th Order."

[Analysis: Physical body cannot sustain 8th Order output without destruction.]

[Proposal: Temporary limiter removal + External Mana Fusion.]

[Cost: 35,000 DP.]

[Duration: 3 Minutes.]

"Three minutes," Damien smirked beneath his mask.

"Much better than being a one minute man."

"Spend it."

*BOOM!*

A pillar of energy exploded from Damien’s body.

It was a chaotic, swirling vortex of White.

The 35,000 Destiny Points burned instantly, overcharging his Physique to the point where his skin began to crack, leaking pure light.

His mana capacity didn’t just double; rather it multiplied by ten.

The ground beneath his feet vaporized.

Damien crouched.

"Hey, Thraka!" Damien shouted, his voice amplified by the system to rival the thunder.

High above, Thraka paused, his axe raised to decapitate the Duke. He looked down.

He saw a speck of white light shooting up from the ground faster than a lightning bolt.

"What—?"

Damien launched himself.

[System Override: Active.]

[Dual-Core: 500% Output.]

Damien tore through the sky, piercing though the atmosphere.

He appeared instantly between the Duke and the Emperor.

"Are you ready for round two?," Damien grinned, his eyes burning with the light of a dying star.

He swung the Pantheon Sword.

[Pantheon Art: Open the sky.]

*KRA-KOOOOOOM!*