Magus Supremacy-Chapter 828: The Aetherborn’s Clan Technique

Chapter 828

A few meters away, an ashen portal yawned open, and three figures emerged from the swirling void.

Noelle staggered forward, a dazed, glassy look on her face as she stared around at her surroundings.

Leo stood directly beside her, wearing the same bewildered expression as he processed the near-death experience they had just survived.

One moment, Noelle was a single step away from being diced into ribbons, and the next, she stood safely beside him.

From the portal behind her, two figures walked out with audible sighs of relief.

"Such a relief," the woman spoke up, her voice steady despite the chaos.

Noelle turned around to stare at the tall newcomer.

Beside her stood a man clad in a dark, heavy robe with his features hidden behind a deep hood. His pale hands were visible, however—ghastly and tinged with a sickly green hue, like someone suffering from a terminal illness.

"Guess the Supreme Magus has quite the good sense of timing," the man—Ash—added, his gaze fixed straight ahead, never wavering from the threat.

With a deep frown, Noelle demanded, "Who are you both?"

Without turning to acknowledge her or even glancing her way, the duo spoke in unison, their voices overlapping in an eerie harmony.

"Allies of the Supreme Magus."

Noelle’s face contorted in further confusion.

"Supreme Magus?"

Leo, turning around just in time to catch a glimpse of Grey’s eyes shutting as he returned to his meditation, finally understood the connection.

"Oh! You mean Grey?"

They nodded silently.

Noelle spat a thick mouthful of blood onto the debris as she proceeded to slowly rise, her movements hindered by a painful, sharp grimace.

The hairline crack on her whip had increased in size, but she didn’t mind the damage as she stared intently at the dust clouds that were finally settling.

Pulling a sharp arrow from her quiver, Lilly nocked it with a look of mounting confusion.

"I don’t understand. What was that just now? I could feel something akin to a dozen invisible swords pointing directly at me."

Leo sighed and shifted into a low combat stance, as if instinctively knowing what horror came next.

His slender sword began brimming with a vibrant, humming energy.

"That’s the Aetherborn Clan’s signature technique. A deadly ability that creates an invisible barrier around the user or their weapons. Anybody or anything that comes within that fatal range gets diced or sliced up instantly."

Noelle frowned as the realization hit her like a physical blow.

’That’s the same technique I learned? It’s so much more powerful than what I can currently manifest.’

Lilly gulped audibly at the weight of Leo’s explanation. "... And what’s her effective range?"

Before Leo could provide a reply, he turned to see that Selene was back on her feet.

Her face was twisted in a mask of pure, unadulterated rage as she stared at the four people standing roughly six meters away from her.

She took a single, deliberate step forward when Leo suddenly shouted, "Move back now!"

Nobody even thought to question his reasoning; they all bolted backwards just in time, only to witness the ground where they had just stood being diced into thousands of tiny stone fragments.

"How—?" Ash muttered, landing on the ground with a deep frown etched on his face.

Finally, Leo decided to give the answer to the question he had been asked.

"Her range is exactly six meters. Anything within that circular area would get split apart into a dozen jagged pieces."

*****

Turning to stare at the man, Lilly narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

Seeing as he knew so much about the specific intricacies of the clan’s technique, she figured that he could very well be the Vice Leader of the Aetherborn Clan.

"And what’s your range?" she asked pointedly.

"Three meters. And unfortunately, I can only channel my own barrier into my sword," Leo admitted, his jaw tight.

Noelle held her side, feeling the deep, radiating pain from her previous injuries.

’And my range is just one paltry meter, and also limited to my weapon.’

Seeing how debilitating and one-sided their situation was, Lilly was forced to almost surrender to despair.

"What a monster. Why did the Supreme Magus have to drop us off here, of all places?"

Ash, who hadn’t spoken for a while and had been merely observing Selene’s movements, finally broke his silence.

"I don’t know why the Supreme Magus dropped us here, but he must have a calculated reason. We already promised him not to disappoint."

Lilly scowled as she pulled her bowstring taut, the tension mirroring her nerves.

"And how are we supposed to not disappoint? We can’t even get close enough to actually cause any real damage."

Leo, listening to the debate, suddenly snapped his fingers as an idea sparked. "We could actually do somethin— BACK!"

Immediately, they all jumped backwards as the ground where they stood splintered again under an invisible pressure.

"—I came across an ancient article back in the clan archives. To actually bypass a Clan Leader’s barrier, one’s own barrier has to be of equal strength or frequency.

That’s the only way to get close enough to land a hit. Since she can summon a dozen simultaneous strikes, we need to be able to match that same overwhelming level!"

Lilly clicked her tongue in frustration, the gears in her head turning as she assessed the tactical nightmare before them.

"So basically, we have to fight fire with fire."

Leo sighed, his grip tightening on his hilt until his knuckles turned white.

"Exactly. But unfortunately, we don’t have a single person of that caliber here. So, our situation is basically dire."

Noelle listened to the exchange intently without adding a word, her gaze locked onto Selene.

She watched as her mother lifted a foot, poised to take a predatory step forward.

Clenching her fist, Noelle was ready to speak up when Lilly frowned and pulled her bowstring taut.

With a sharp release, two arrows whistled through the air, flying forth with lethal speed.

They hadn’t even traveled a single meter toward their target when they were instantly dismantled in mid-air, sliced into useless splinters by the invisible field.

Leo didn’t hesitate; he channeled a massive surge of Ki into his sword and swung it forward.

He didn’t relent after the first strike.

Many more followed in a blur of motion, and in a flash, more than twenty visible Ki slashes burst out with full force.

All of them were streaking toward the clan leader, who stared at the incoming barrage indifferently.

Soon enough, the barrier activated, the air rippling as it began rapidly clashing with the slashes, focusing entirely on neutralizing the energetic projectiles.

Noelle stared intently at her mother.

Selene just stood there, letting her barrier do all the heavy lifting.

Some of Leo’s slashes actually managed to bypass the initial field, but soon enough, Selene’s whip moved on its own, dismantling the stragglers with surgical precision.

’So basically, it’s going to be a three-versus-one. The barrier, her autonomous whip, and then the woman herself. Wait...’

Noelle frowned as she watched the mechanics of the defense.

Her mother’s weapon wasn’t even being held; Selene remained standing like a cold statue, observing how her barrier took care of both the slashes from Leo and the persistent arrows from Lilly.

’Why isn’t she—? Oh!’

"Guys! I found a loophole!" Noelle shouted to the others beside her.

Leo’s face was becoming dangerously pale from the constant drain on his reserves as he kept unleashing wave after wave of slashes.

He was pushing himself to the brink for a specific reason: he wanted to keep Selene rooted long enough for them to figure out a viable strategy.

If she were to take even a single step forward, they could all be dead before they even realized what hit them.

"Loophole?" Leo replied, his voice sounding hoarse and strained.

Without even explaining what she intended to do, Noelle lifted her whip and swung it in a full, rapid circle.

She allowed the weapon to curl around her frame, the length of it hugging her body firmly like a suit of metallic coils.

"I’m going in," she announced, her voice echoing with a new, grim resolve.

"Wait! Go whe—?"

Before anybody could move to stop her, the girl poured half of her remaining Ki into her feet—specifically focusing the energy into her soles—while the rest was used to coat her body and her coiled weapon.

With a clamorous bang, she exploded forward fiercely, leaving only a violent cloud of dust in her wake as she charged headlong into the fatal six-meter zone.