After eliminating Drakas's minions, which were his secondary trump card, General Genevieve turned her gaze to Drakas, who at this moment trembled under the gaze of a young man dressed in a tattered, oversized burlap gown.
What is the identity of this person? An assassin sent by the kingdom to assist me? No, I doubt it. I can't sense any strength from him. Then… could he be Drakas's superior?
Many thoughts flashed through General Genevieve's mind as she observed the unnatural scene of Drakas cowering under the gaze of a weak-looking young man.
As much as she would like to get to the bottom of what was transpiring before her eyes, she hadn't come to solve mysteries. Her only mission was to execute Drakas, the betrayer of humanity.
As for the identity of the young man? She could verify it by attempting to end the life of Drakas.
With a cold glint flashing through her eyes, General Genevieve acted right away, taking advantage of the situation to silently appear behind Drakas. Her Holy Flame Sword was raised above her head, poised to end the life of Drakas.
Simultaneously, the primal survival instinct of Drakas immediately kicked in, awakening him from the negative status of fear. He immediately turned his head behind him, his hand instinctively propped up to guard against the incoming attack.
But he was too late.
At a shocking speed, a golden flame sword expanded in his field of vision, very soon reaching his body as he abruptly felt a sensation of spinning in the air before dropping to the ground with a resounding thud. He rolled on the ground a few times before stopping.
When he finally stopped moving, he caught sight of his upper body, still standing in the same position with its hand propped up, but the only difference was that his head was no longer attached to his body. That was when he realized that he had been decapitated by Genevieve through an ambush.
Damn you, Genevieve! This isn't over!
Drakas's severed head wore an expression of fury and resentment as he cursed her, his vision slowly fading.
Genevieve didn't pay him any attention. Instead, she immediately set his upper body ablaze with holy flame; the flame burned all the dark energy in Drakas's body before reducing it to ashes. But as she approached the head to do the same, an abrupt surge of dark energy burst forth with a powerful force.
BOOM!
The force sent her flying backward. From a distance, she watched a swirling mass of darkness consume Drakas's head with a deep scowl on her face. She was immensely disappointed. On her countenance, a scowl slowly manifested as she observed the mass of darkness.
So It has come to this. What a shame. I thought I could incinerate his entire body before he transforms, but I guess I underestimated the nature of Dark Thaumaturgists.
Before General Genevieve and Elias's watchful eyes, the mass of darkness coalesced to form an illusory figure wreathed in dark flames, exuding a malevolent aura.
An Evil Spirit.
Indeed. Drakas had transformed into an Evil Spirit following his death. Due to his abrupt death, his indignance, coupled with his resentment toward his killer, which reached its peak, fueled his resurrection through his Dark Thaumaturge Sigil.
"HYAA–!"
Drakas, now an Evil Spirit, let out a high-pitched cry imbued with mental attacks, his power level rising to an astonishing level.
Just as the rumors stated, they do become as strong as their killer. This is going to be troublesome.
While blocking the dreadful mental attack with a mental artifact and her sheer willpower, General Genevieve was shocked to discover that Drakas's current strength as an Evil Spirit had risen to mirror hers, a 9th Stratum Enlightened Stage Thaumaturgist.
Before his death, Drakas's original power level was at the 5th Stratum of the Enlightened Stage, but his rebirth had propelled him to the same level as Genevieve. A trait that only newborn Evil Spirits exhibit.
When Dark Thaumaturgists died, they would gain the strength matching their killer briefly. This would allow them to kill their murderer, fulfilling their revenge, before reverting to their original power level.
This was why Dark Thaumaturgists were feared by many. Additionally, they were practically invincible when they had just revived.
Even if you managed to kill them again, they would revive at a terrifying speed, leaving one in absolute despair. Fortunately, their invincibility has a time limit. However, this limit varied among Evil Spirits, making it harder to kill them even with ample preparation.
As long as the time duration for the invincibility has not been reached, Evil Spirits would continue to revive after being killed. Only when the time was up and they returned to their original strength would they become vulnerable and be easy to kill.
…
The moment Drakas finished powering up, he coldly glanced at Genevieve with eyes blazing with murderous intent. He had already proclaimed her dead. Without warning, he turned ethereal, disappearing from sight.
General Genevieve became alert. Sensing the shift in the air around her, she swiftly spun around to block an attack from her side, the impact making her skid on the ground before stopping a considerable distance away.
Regaining her foothold, she took the initiative to attack Drakas instead of being passive. Drakas was annoyed by her unflinching demeanor, but he flashed her a grin, revealing his jagged, razor-sharp teeth, addressing her with a hint of mockery.
"Genevieve, do you think you still have the advantage in this fight? Forcing me to transform into an Evil Spirit was the biggest mistake of your life. Now, watch carefully as I render your attacks useless."
As he spoke, he waved his hands, pieces of illusory, dark flames splitting off from him. These pieces turned into spectral figures. Thousands of souls bound to him appeared before him, brandishing various weapons as they stood poised to engage with Genevieve.
At this moment, the Blazing Phoenix returned to General Genevieve's side. It eyed the thousands of spectral figures that looked terrifying but were in fact just illusory creatures created from the souls of Drakas's minions. They were significantly weaker compared to their previous state. Recognizing this truth, Genevieve turned to her contracted beast.
"Can you handle them?"
She asked, her eyes filled with expectation.
The Blazing Phoenix nodded affirmatively, behaving like a human.
"That's good."
With that affirmation from her contracted beast, General Genevieve felt reassured.
"Then, I'll leave them to you."
With that statement, General Genevieve slowly floated off the ground, her intention clear. She wanted Evil Spirit Drakas to fight her above ground to avoid implicating her contracted beast. Drakas felt irritated that Genevieve still looked down on him even after he had reached her height. With a scoff, he confidently floated up. When their eyes met in the sky, he addressed her.
"I wonder how long your contracted beast can last. No matter how special of a beast it is, it is still a beast, with no intelligence to speak of."
"That is none of your concern, Evil Spirit Drakas."
General Genevieve addressed him as an Evil Spirit, infuriating Drakas greatly. In retaliation, he immediately disappeared and reappeared, this time, behind General Genevieve, his dark claws aimed for her life.
"Die!"
General Genevieve scoffed.
"Do you think the same trick will work on me?"
She easily parried his sneaky claw attack before the two became locked in battle again. This time, however, Evil Spirit Drakas was not at a disadvantage in terms of power level. With their power levels matching, Evil Spirit Drakas was confident in defeating her, but with his invincibility added, he was certain he could kill Genevieve after a few bouts.
BOOM—!