Chapter 181: Iron-Scale vs Jason, Gulag vs Chloe

Jason swung his sword in a wide arc, and Chloe immediately fired a volley of arcane missiles over his shoulder to cover his blind spot. They fought as a flawless pair.

Jason provided a terrifying frontline defense with his golden sword beams, allowing Chloe to rain down magical artillery from the rear without any interruption.

Iron-Scale ducked under a wave of radiant energy and studied Jason’s footwork.

’He wields immense power, but his form is incredibly sloppy,’ Iron-Scale analyzed, parrying a thrust with a flick of his wrist. ’He relies entirely on overwhelming force rather than actual martial discipline.’

Chloe glanced past the chaotic melee and spotted the Vanguard engineers finalizing the coordinates on the alchemical cannons.

“They are setting up artillery!” Chloe warned. She raised her sapphire staff high above her head. A swirling vortex of volatile blue mana gathered at the crystal tip as she prepared to incinerate the entire backline in a single massive blast.

General Gulag roared and lunged toward the spellcaster. The giant Troglodyte raised her bone club high to crush the girl before the spell could unleash.

Jason pivoted smoothly to protect his partner. He thrust his glowing blade forward to intercept the charging giant. The golden sword pierced right through the natural gaps in Gulag’s dense bone armor and sliced deeply into her thick shoulder.

Blood sprayed across the rocky canyon floor. Gulag stumbled back with a furious bellow.

The sudden, searing pain completely erased Iron-Scale’s previous command from her mind. Her eyes rolled back in pure, unrestrained rage. She gripped her bone club with both hands and swung it directly at Jason’s skull with absolute lethal intent.

Jason widened his eyes and frantically tried to pull his sword free from the bone plating to block the incoming blow.

Iron-Scale moved faster. He darted right into the narrow space between the two combatants.

Then, he struck the flat of Jason’s blade with the pommel of his dagger, instantly destabilizing the Herald’s stance and knocking the sword completely out of Gulag’s shoulder.

Iron-Scale then twisted his star-iron sword around Jason’s wrist and delivered a precise kick to the side of the man’s kneecap.

Jason’s leg buckled entirely under the precise strike. The sword flew from his grasp and embedded itself into the dirt several meters away.

He crashed to the ground right as Gulag’s massive club smashed through the empty air where his head had just been. The kinetic force of the missed swing cracked the stone floor beside him.

Iron-Scale pressed the tip of his sleek blade directly against Jason’s throat before the man could even attempt to stand back up.

“Yield,” Iron-Scale commanded with a metallic hiss.

Chloe saw her partner fall and panicked. The swirling vortex of blue mana at the tip of her staff wavered uncontrollably. She lost her concentration, and the massive spell fizzled out into a harmless shower of blue sparks.

Commander Novus sprinted past the disorganized frontline and leveled his own longsword at Chloe’s chest. Dozens of Vanguard infantry instantly surrounded the blue-robed spellcaster, pointing their alchemical rifles directly at her head.

“Drop the stick,” Novus ordered with a sharp grin.

Chloe looked at the weapons surrounding her, then down at Jason pinned entirely to the dirt by the Kobold commander. She let out a frustrated growl and tossed her sapphire staff onto the ground.

Red watched the visual feed on his main monitor with absolute disappointment. He rested his chin on his knuckles and sighed at the display.

’They fight like brawling children,’ Red thought in annoyance. ’They possess god-like mana, yet they fall for a simple leg sweep.’

A sudden spike on his energy readouts caught his immediate attention. The golden and blue auras radiating from his former classmates refused to fade upon their surrender. The energy began to compress and multiply exponentially inside their bodies.

[ Iron-Scale, something is entirely wrong, ] Red projected his voice into the Kobold’s mind. [ Do not let your guard down. Move back. ]

Down in the Shattered Maw, Iron-Scale instantly tensed at his Sovereign’s warning. He pressed his star-iron blade deeper into Jason’s throat. A single drop of blood trickled down the man’s neck.

Jason ignored the cutting edge and let out a chilling laugh. He looked across the dirt at Chloe with a wide, unnatural grin.

“You actually thought we were trying our best?” Jason mocked. “They think we are just regular mages, Chloe.”

Chloe smiled back and allowed her blue robes to flutter in a sudden, violent updraft of wind. “Show them, Jason.”

A blinding pillar of golden light erupted directly from Jason’s chest. The concussive force of the blast threw Iron-Scale backward through the air. He dug his claws into the rocky earth to stop his skid. Across the encirclement, a matching pillar of brilliant sapphire energy exploded around Chloe, blasting Novus and the Vanguard infantry completely off their feet.

The sheer output of divine power shattered the stone floor of the canyon.

Jason rose from the crater suspended perfectly in the air. His silver-trimmed tunic burned away to reveal a physical form crafted entirely from radiant, hardened light. Brilliant golden wings sprouted from his back, and his eyes burned like twin suns.

His sword ripped itself from the dirt and flew directly into his glowing hand, transforming into a massive blade of pure divine fire.

A few meters away, Chloe ascended into the sky to join him. Her physical body shifted into a translucent, aquatic-blue entity crowned with a halo of floating arcane crystals. She no longer needed a staff to channel her magic. Pure destruction swirled around her fingertips.

They had awakened their true forms. They looked exactly like descending deities ready to cast judgment upon the mortal realm.

’This energy output is completely irrational,’ Iron-Scale thought while shielding his eyes from the blinding glare. ’They just bypassed the physical limitations of mortal vessels entirely. It feels as if their god had descended into them, but they are gods themselves.’

Jason looked down at the Vanguard army with absolute contempt. His voice now echoed with a booming, celestial resonance that shook the canyon walls.

“Let us see how your little iron swords fare against actual divinity,” Jason proclaimed.

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