Building My SSS-Rank Universal Empire: From Trash to Cosmic Overlord-Chapter 229: Blood and Fire

Blood and fire fell on Vale, and he turned, his shadow joining him.

Martin and Grey were frozen in sheer surprise. Vale raised his brows at them. "Let me guess. You thought this was a fight you would win easily? That you would kill me and be done with it in time for your afternoon wine?

"And then take my head to the capital?"

Vale took some joy in seeing the fear on their faces. He turned and began to walk toward them, casually speaking. "To be honest, I’m very impressed with you guys, and it pains me that you are two-faced bastards. You would have made great contributions to my cause, but now..."

He let the last word hang. "You especially, Martin. Your sub-essence in making shields is powerful, very."

Vale raised his hand and began to make countless fireballs around himself. Unlike when he was a Knight rank, he could now make them faster and with much stronger quality.

Grey and Martin didn’t know what technique he was planning, but they weren’t going to allow him to finish it. They shared a look, and their faces hardened.

Winds warped around Martin, a gust that made his cloak flap and ring against his armor. Slowly, the wind picked up speed until he was surrounded by a controlled storm that hardened and formed into a figure above him.

It was a giant with a head that reached the ceiling of the room. The hardened storm was carved in the shape of Martin. The giant storm raised its hand, and a sword of hardened air formed.

Martin was hunched beneath the figure, his face twisted in pain but also with joy. "This is my most powerful technique, Vale! Do you think you can win against such a thing?"

It was indeed impressive, more than Vale expected. The wind figure could cleave him in two should he be careless, and he could only imagine what it could do on a battlefield.

’...No wonder they are Lieutenants... they are strong...’

But it seemed they weren’t done because Grey gestured, drawing a symbol that glowed red in the air. The symbol hung there for a while and then dissolved into the wind figure, which glowed red briefly before the ground around them erupted.

Lava blew outward, liquid fire that warped around the hardened air figure, giving it a torso and legs. It continued, flowing into its back, and for a moment, hardened wind and lava boiled together, turning into something more.

It was still the same figure, but now it had four hands. One held a sword, another a whip, and from the last two, one carried a bow while the other shaped an arrow of lava.

’...A combination attack? I’ve heard about it, but this is my first time seeing one... it’s strong...’

"Then I can only give you the best of my attacks as well!"

"Don’t be foolish, Vale. You are dead the moment you allowed us to create this technique. To think we would have to resort to this just to kill you. Maybe the son of a tiger is a tiger as well!" Grey said and pushed his hand forward, straining slightly as if he were pushing something massive.

The monstrosity they created took a step forward, and the space shook. The prison Vale had created twisted as if it would shatter. It began to draw the arrow on the bow.

But Vale wasn’t fazed. "You should have made the whole army attack me. I don’t know how many I can kill, but I can assure you I will wreck you."

He had finished binding dozens of infernal fireballs and compressing them into a thin wire that he held between his fingers. It was small, but the amount of fire compressed in it dyed the haze around him red, and cracks began to form beneath him.

Even he was beginning to get uncomfortable under the heat. He was getting hot, and his eyes were stinging with water that dried immediately as it appeared.

He lifted the thin wire, and for a moment, he felt some pity for Martin and Grey.

’...I really should rename this technique to something more fancy and fitting... but for now, it will do...’

"Bigger Infernal Ball!"

The world went slightly red, or maybe it was the color that suddenly filled the space. The heat was so intense that there was no explosion. There was simply a wave of fire, and then ashes. The two Lieutenants felt brief moments of pain, and then they knew no more.

The prison had shattered, and the tent was half gone since most of it had melted away, and was still melting. The ground outside was running with lava as the earth turned to liquid fire.

Vale scowled. "Maybe I should have made the fire less hot, let them feel some pain. Ah, but really! They were strong enough to give me some trouble."

Vale walked out of the tent, stepping on the melting stone with bare feet. Outside, the fight and the last attack had drawn the soldiers, their armored bodies pressed tight against the barriers that separated the command from the others.

Their faces were wide, and the murmuring died down when they saw him. The air seemed to freeze because Vale wasn’t hiding his power, they felt the force that rolled off him.

He stopped walking when he saw Patel, who was looking at the melted tent in a daze. He didn’t know what she expected, but he was sure she didn’t think he would walk out of the place alive.

Vale raised his voice. "I, Vale Athrimir, have brought judgment to Lieutenants Martin, Grey, and Hall. They were brave men, but they fell to greed and betrayed their Commander, who now lies dead!

"Just like my brother betrayed my father and now sits on his seat! But I declare him a liar! I call him a kin-killer! A betrayer—and I name him Clan enemy!"

The silence grew heavier as they hung on every word that came out of his mouth.

"I am Vale Athrimir, and I am now the Clan Leader of the Athrimir Clan by right and by the law of vengeance."

He stopped speaking and waited silently, his eyes burning like raw gems and his hair like a cloak of darkness flapping around him.

Patel was the first to bow. She fell to her knees and lowered her head, her fist slamming into her chest, the armor clanging hard and sharp in the air.

Then another followed, and another. The ripple spread, and the Knights bowed to him.

And for some time, the camp was filled with the sound of metal fists striking metal chests.