Gael assumed that because of his attacks and the ash trees, Ereg was unable to reach the full potential of his ability, especially in its final stage.

To some extent, Gael was right, because the stronger the clones became, the more crimson layers they had, and the more energy they needed to control them.

However, Gael didn't even suggest that this could have been Ereg's plan, who was doing all this on purpose, for one purpose only - to unleash all his power on his opponent - at the very end.

"Hehehehe, Gael, you often act calm and polite to others, looking with disdain at those who act overly arrogant, but what about you?" Alucard chuckled evilly, looking at the confused expression on his best friend's face.

"Among the two of us, it is you who is the most arrogant and Ereg seems to have realized it since it is quite difficult to feel it. Your arrogance is different from the others because it's not based on strength or superiority in skills like the others, the reason for your boundless arrogance is your absolute certainty that you can't lose. In your world, in your worldview, it's simply impossible."

Alucard spoke aloud, though rather quietly, but everyone listened attentively, for this was an opportunity to learn things about Gael that others might not have even suspected.

Whooooooooooooooooooooooooooosh.

Before the light blade could reach Ereg, ten crimson clones turned into streams, in a heartbeat ending up in front of Ereg and embedding themselves in front of his body.

Then, Ereg glanced around as his eye reflected the glint from the blade that had already almost reached him.

A light plume remained from the blade and the space trembled due to the hidden power within it, capable of permanently splitting Ereg into several pieces.

"Oh... That looks dangerous." Ereg smirked before turning into a bloody whirlwind, easily escaping from the roots that tightly held him, piercing his body in multiple places.

The roots tried to hold on to their target, but there was nothing they could do as with a light sweep of his claws, Ereg cut the roots into hundreds of pieces.

"What do you think? Surprised?" Ereg smirked, spreading his arms out to the sides.

His wounds were rapidly healing while a powerful crimson aura emanated from his body, like a flame burning brightly above him and displaying his strength.

A split second was enough for Gael to realize that it was a temporary power, after a while the flames would completely dissipate and Ereg's power would return to normal, but he would definitely take advantage of it in time to cause Gael serious trouble.

"Hah, I see that it is. However, that's not all. Look!" Ereg exclaimed before taking a step to the side.

Whooooooooooooooooooosh.

With scarlet wind streams, Ereg found himself a few meters away, oddly enough right in front of the light blade that kept frantically moving forward.

Gael's received a puzzled look, for he did not understand what Ereg was doing or what his plan was.historical

However, those who were watching the fight, or rather some of them already realized what Ereg was going to do.

'Well, well, now Gael will have to face the consequences of his actions.' Alucard inwardly uttered with a devious smirk.

Crackle. Crackle. Crackle.

Ereg stretched his hand forward, clutching the light blade tightly between his long claws. In a normal situation, the light blade should have easily cut him in two, turning his arm into a bloody mess, but that was impossible now.

Droplets of blood rushed out, due to the vibrating light blade, but Ereg didn't suffer any more damage as the thick crimson aura headed towards his palm. At the same moment, his defenses increased manifold and the light blade gradually stopped.

Gael was shocked, he didn't understand how Ereg could stop his light blade with just his bare palm, and then he began to realize what was happening here.

'No!' Gael internally exclaimed, throwing his hand forward.

Out of the trees, new ashy roots emerged, quickly approaching Ereg. There seemed to be no way for Ereg to defend himself as he had to fully concentrate on blocking the light blade.

"Well, it looks like Gael hasn't realized what Ereg's new ability is yet, or rather what the essence of the clones he summoned was." Wain muttered, watching Gael's actions carefully.I think you should take a look at

"However... I doubt you can blame him for that, realizing that Ereg had such a cunning plan and ability that doesn't fit his character in any way is quite difficult, especially during battle."

Sven shook his head, "I think it was something else - Gael's arrogance. He was too focused on the fact that it was Ereg who screwed up, rather than on the fact that he was the one who misunderstood something. Well, now he's going to have to face the consequences of his actions and lose, and then again and again and again. He'll have to go through this cyclical cycle until he gets rid of his arrogance."

Marlis's eyes went wide as she looked at Gael, "Hmm? Do you really think Gael will lose completely? Why would he give up his arrogance? It seems to me that such a thing is only possible if he actually loses and loses his title."

Sven shrugged with a slight smile, "Well, I could be wrong. It's just my guess, that's all. However, if he continues to think he's a few levels higher than Ereg, he's going to fall into similar traps. I have to admit that Ereg surprised me pleasantly. Before this fight, among all the Progenitors, I rated him as one of the weakest, along with Nitra."

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

The light blade trembled, slowly coating itself with cracks in Ereg's hand, about to shatter, but the ash roots were already too close. Ereg didn't have enough time to deal with the light blade and dodge the roots.

"Hey, do you really think I'm still afraid of them? I don't need to run away from the roots or defend myself with the clones anymore, because they've already accomplished their task!" Ereg smirked before stepping forward, treading on the ground with immense force.

Such a step, caused crimson streams of energy, throwing the roots aside and preventing them from getting any closer to their target. The roots tried to do so, but Ereg simply used more energy, and the roots shattered into tiny particles, turning into nothingness.

Gael's eyes went wide at this scene, but soon enough he was to be surprised once more as the light blade clutched in Ereg's hand began to shatter.

Crackle. Crackle. Crack.

Hundreds of shards separated, slowly approaching the ground, but Ereg wasn't about to let them disappear as his goal was something else.

Crimson energy, headed towards his palm in an even larger volume, turning into a small vortex, quickly spinning and attracting everything around him - especially the parts of the light blade he had just destroyed.

The shards quickly entered the vortex, disappearing into it and transferring their energy to Ereg.

in fact, the same thing had been happening all the time since Ereg had summoned the clones, the only difference was that without the crimson aura, he needed to take damage and sacrifice himself, letting the wounds cover his body.

"Fuck..." Gael muttered with a dazed expression as a chill ran down his back. It was the moment he realized why Ereg kept running away and why his clones seemed so useless.

"Bastard... All this time you've been absorbing the power of my attacks, that you'd end up turning them against me..." Gael said with a trembling voice.

It would be wrong to say that Gael was now afraid of Ereg, however, Gael realized that his attacks possessed incomparable destructive power. Also, his defense was tens of times weaker than his attack, so... like any of his opponents, Gael had to be careful with attacks of such power.

"Hah, it seems like you've finally figured it out. In that case, I hope you're ready! Don't you dare die! This isn't over yet!" Ereg exclaimed with an excited expression before turning into a crimson flash, approaching Gael with lightning speed.

Ereg was right, this was definitely not the end for them, after all, in mortal combat, Gael could activate his large or giant scars, however... There was no way he would do that since their round was still not over.

Even if it was a defeat in the round, he wasn't ready to admit it himself - only if Ereg forced him to do so, naturally by brute force.

Crackle.

Ereg's claws came down on Gael, who managed to put his sword above him at the last moment, defending himself from the attack.

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

With a shudder, crimson streams of energy spread when the ground was left with the marks of dozens of cuts like the claws of wild beasts.

Then, several scratches appeared on Gael's body, caused by the overall power of the attack and the random wind currents coming from Ereg's claws.

"I see you're surprised that someone is stronger than you now, right? Well, it's not over yet. I always wanted to fight like a warrior, like Beastfolk, but not like a wild beast. Agh... You probably don't understand me, so I'll show you this." Ereg muttered as he turned around and kicked Gael in the stomach, throwing him aside.

At the same moment, Ereg's claws disintegrated into particles, turning into energy enveloping his fists.