Part 12 - Surpassing limits

Volt was very confused but opted to ignore the statement and focus on the battle.

Valkus took a moment to study the vastly different Volt. The dwarf’s previous elderly looks had regressed to the point that he now looked like a young adult, his black hair had been dyed sky blue with streaks of scarlet red, and his eyes sparkled with blue thunderbolts tinged with red at the ends.

His usual blue heavy lightning aura armor had transformed, becoming a medium armor that was more focused on speed than defense. There was also a new blood colored cloak that waved in the storm of wind and lightning that gathered in the area. 

In Snorri's eyes, Volt's gallant figure contrasted against the battlefield filled with scattered bone weapons and a fight between green and orange flames, which only made her sink deeper into this unknown feeling throbbing within her chest

>Sword Intent: Reforge<

Volt shouted as he held Snorri in one hand, placing the other on Ritter’s tattered mecha to allow his lightning to devour the sword intent within.

Oh? Is he planning to ignore me?

“Hey, I said marry me,” Snorri stated, tugging a bit on Volt’s beard.

“Can’t we leave this for later?”

Volt questioned Snorri’s current thought process while moving his hand slightly on mecha halfway done being reforged into a blade. Although her actions confused him, Volt kept his eyes on the lich Malous, who was busy staring at his severed arms.

He dodged my beheading strike. He’s dangerous.

Silence reigned in the area as Volt worked on forging his blade, Snorri quieted down, and the lich summoned a flaming barrier, gathering the surrounding bones and even its own weapons to reform his hands. 

Bishop quietly sent over a formation to heal Snorri while Valkus reset his bones and mended his torn muscles, ready to go back into battle the moment the lich moved. 

A droplet of sweat fell from Volt’s brow as the dwarfs mentally and physically prepared to resume the fight. Luckily the group managed to get into full fighting strength before the lich’s flame shield fell, revealing a weaponless lich with reinforced arms that looked more metal than bone. 

It’s evolving in order to take us down.

Volt scowled at the changes, wondering if he could still cut off the lich’s hands as he held the newly crafted white bone sword both filled with and surrounded by blood lightning. 

“Are you ready?” Volt asked as he let go of Snorri.

“Ready for you anytime, honey!” Snorri chirped with a smile as she shifted into speed.

Even if I survive I still have to deal with her.

“Ready to go,” Valkus called, wrapped within his spear aura.

When did he learn how to speak normally?

“Formations placed, I'll be ready to support when needed,” Bishop called, snapping Volt back to the fight.

Lighting sparked off his body as his bloody lightning cloak transformed into wings, “Follow my lead.”

With a single step, Volt disappeared from the other three’s lines of sight.

BANG!

Lightning and flame clashed, sending out shockwaves as Volt’s sword crashed against the lich’s arm as Malous protected his neck.

I only dug a few inches into his arm...

“Tough bastard, aren’t ya?”

The lich roared and swiped his hands outwards to tear chunks out of Volt’s smug face. 

Using his lightning to empower his nervous system and reflexes, Volt managed to dodge the strikes and continue his attacks aiming for Malous’ boney neck. Yet even if the lich couldn’t land a blow upon Volt, it still blocked every attack Volt sent at it.

Before Snorri or Valkus could even think of interceding in the battle, the two had already exchanged dozens of blows. 

This lich has gotten faster! Valkus thought as he stabbed forth with his spear, aiming for the lich’s defenseless back only to be blocked by a metallic arm that twisted out of its socket and lashed back at him like a spear. 

Blood trickled down from Bishop’s face as he cursed. He had overtaxed his mind in order to write formations faster in the hope to help tip the scales, but... This lich’s reactions are on another level even with all of my formations hindering it. How is it still getting stronger?! If Volt hadn’t shown up when he did, we’d have all died. But.. how is he keeping up with a tier 5 existence when he's only entered the beginning of tier 4? 

Snorri sent a kick towards the lich’s elbow, but only managed to redirect it by three inches. It was enough to prevent Valkus from being hit, but...

I can’t affect its joints like I used to! It's like I’m kicking a block of spirit metal.  

>Lightning World<

Thunder shook the battlefield as the wind kicked up, forming a vortex where origin fire, necromantic fire, and lightning battled for dominance. 

>Twelve Thunder Blood Swords<

Volt called as he traded blows with Malous.

Bloody lightning broke off from his wings and formed into twelve floating swords that swirled around Volt. They slashed and hacked at the lich who had grown two more pairs of arms in order to block the dwarf’s attacks.

>Lightning World - Reversal<

Within the vortex in the sky, lightning began to devour the Urist’s and Malous’ flames. Soon countless floating balls appeared inside the chaotic storm. 

Using his lightning-infused senses, Volt dodged a fist aiming for his head, smiling widely as the wind pressure from the attack left a slash on his face. Volt counter attacked with a downward slash, but as Malous blocked the blow with an arm, two Thunder Blood Swords slipped through his defenses. The blades ruthlessly hacked one fourth of the way into his neck before the lich flexed, forcing the blades out with a boom.

Volt didn’t stop his movements, aiming one attack after another at the lich as its blows tore away chunks of his lightning armor. Wounds gradually piled up upon his body as Volt danced on the edge of death with his blood flying along with the wind. 

Snorri and Valkus weren’t idle, setting up attacks for Volt to capitalize on. 

In the background, Volt’s orbs were sneakily moving behind one still semi-standing buildings in the area. By now Volt’s blue lightning armor had turned scarlet from absorbing his blood, kicking his speed up by another notch. 

As the lifeblood drained from his body with each exchange, Volt felt something click within his head. His swordsmanship, movements, and reactions improved as he sharpened himself in the battle against the lich.

Volt’s movement speed kept increasing, as did his sword and lightning strikes. With his greater speed, Volt was able to parry the wind pressure with his lightning, all while landing more and more blows with his swords. 

The exchange of deadly blows continued, and Volt felt the world around him begin to fade away until there was just him, his sword, and the lich. As he entered a battle trance his battle power shot through the roof. Volt focused as everything he had learned up to this point began to be distilled and transform something within his chained sea of energy. 

A bloody, pebble sized seed resembling a walnut was forming within him.

If his master could see him now she would surely be smiling. She would congratulate her student for finally forming his seed of slaughter. 

But Volt didn’t notice the seed growing in him, only feeling the extra boost of power flowing through his body as it fully formed. His speed rocketed up by fifty percent, his armor reforging itself to take the lich’s glancing blows, and his thunder blood swords doubled in number, up to twenty four. 

His soul felt like it was being strangled but Volt didn’t have the time to care as he picked up the pressure to the point that the lich went on a full defensive, only sending out an occasional attack.

The newer arms were severed, the reinforced arms were cut to hell and back, and black blood now leaked out of the bones of this cursed foe.

Is Volt going to kill that monster?  Bishop wondered from below as he set up more formations.

When Volt felt a chance to hack this lich to ribbons and finish this fight once and for all, the lich abruptly let out a piercing wail. 

The tens of thousands of bone weapons stuck in the ground suddenly shifted and moved at high speeds, heading straight towards Malous.

“Fall back!” Volt bellowed as he raised a hand to the sky. 

Snorri immediately grabbed Valkus and dashed into one of Bishop's formations. 

Blood lightning arched out from his armor, crawling along Volt's arm and gathering in the palm of his hand to form a lightning ball that quickly grew to have a diameter of a meter. Lightning then stuck down from the sky and impacted the red ball of chirping lightning that immediately grew to a dozen meters in an instant before Volt roared and shot the orb off into the sky.

>Red Thunder Drop: Obliterate<

The heavens rumbled as blue lightning shifted colors to a bloody red and tens of thousands of lightning arcs swarmed through the clouds. Lightning coiled together to form a sword pattern that shone for a brief moment before breaking apart into a violent thunderstorm. 

The storm tore into the incoming bone weapons,destroying a massive chunk of their mass. Yet even then ten thousand survived and stabbed into Malous, directly melding into his body. The lich’s body began to expand and shift, rapidly growing larger and taller. The air around Malous began to crackle and explode from the mere force of his transformation.

Guess I am going to have to pull it out.

“Now!” Volt commanded with his sword above his head.

>Formation: Fly+Mark<

Snapping his fingers, Bishop called out a dozen more single and dual formations, directing them to land atop Volt’s trump card it shot towards the lightning clad dwarf. A fifty meter long compacted blade made out of countless energy balls crackled and chirped with lightning as it sheathed itself onto Volt’s blade. 

Volt roared as he swung his upgraded blade at the lich, who was close to finishing its transformation.

“>Lightning world - Imperfect Great Lightning Beheader<!”

His massive sword’s strike landed on the lich’s head, causing tens of thousands of molten sparks the size of human heads to fly hundreds of meters in every direction. The veins all over Volt’s body popped up along his skin as he put his everything into the strike, as his blade expanded. 

20 meters...

50 meters...

“I will cut through!” Volt swore.

100 meters...

250 meters...

Carrying his intent, power, and will, Volt’s sword began to cut into the lich centimeter by centimeter. The impact of the contact cut apart the vortex of flames and lightning above, revealing the wide blue sky. The lich screeched inhumanly, digging into its chest as the lightning blade began to devour its skull. 

500 meters...

1,000 meters...

The blade kept expanding until the lich’s metallic bones fractured and cracked, allowing the blade to slice right through the enormous creature, cutting the lich right in half.

2,000 meters...

3,000 meters...

The pure red blade expanded forth, blotting out a section of the sky and splitting the Norkin’s main castle in half. 

Volt huffed and puffed, feeling the strain from controlling a massive amount of sword energy. As his energy sword faded away, Volt watched the lich’s two halves crash to the ground.

Volt turned his head to the sky and roared at the top of his lungs.

Oath be damned, the naysayers be damned.

Nothing can hold me back anymore. I will go as far as my blade will carry me and reach heights I should’ve grasped long ago.

Floating down to the ground, Volt met Valkus, Bishop, and Snorri who didn’t hesitate to give him praise.

“How did you become so strong?” Valkus wondered.

“I broke through a hurdle that's been holding me back. But what’s up with that form Valkus? It looks a little gross.”

“Oh, this?” Valkus looked down at the squirming, snake-like spears covering his body, “I remembered some things. I’ll work on the form later so it isn’t so disgusting.”

“Hey, if it works it works.”

Snorri grabbed Volt’s arm and tilted her head once he turned his gaze to her.

 

“Hey, enough of that it's later now. When are you going to marry me?”

“This… uh… I’m already married. Sor— ” Volt tried to shut her down, but Snorri kept on the attack.

“So? She isn’t here right now, is she? Don’t worry, I’m sure she’ll understand.”

“Look, it’s just that I can’t—”

The exasperated Volt abruptly felt a killing intent and immediately pushed Snorri away.

A longsword came crashing down, cutting off his outstretched arm.

Volt held back his scream of pain as he stared at the attacker.

The lich, who was stitching its two halves back together, dragged the blade back, ready to attack once more.

Utter rage at getting sneak attacked by someone that should have been dead filled Volt’s veins. 

The crystal staircase revealed itself in his mind's eye as Volt pulled his sword up. The once perfect and clear steps were now only floating, scattered pebbles. He knew what this was, an end to his path because of his damned oath. How could he grow, to continue moving forward, when there was nothing left to walk upon?

Even then, I’ll find a way.

Volt took a step forth within his mind along the scattered pathway, and in the real world, he exploded forth, clad in crimson lightning. He felt the chains on his soul dig into his sea of energy, trying their hardest to stop it from expanding. He could feel his soul begin to distort, to hover on the edge of collapse, but still Volt pressed forth, raising his sword hand and striking down without hesitation.

An unyielding aura exploded out of Volt as he cut into the lich, slicing off its right arms and right leg.

Volt had broken through once again, this time reaching the Mid stage of Tier 4.

“No matter how many times you get up, I’ll cut you down!” Volt decreed as the lich screeched at him.

Volt and the lich raised their swords at the same time, intent on going at it once again when the lich abruptly halted.

Its head turned a full one hundred and eighty degrees, gushing bloodlust as it let out a low pitched wail filled with fury.

Then the lich vanished from the battlefield, shooting towards the castle.

Volt was momentarily dumbfounded and watched blankly as the lich ran off.