Unlimited Power 02 - The Ranger's Domain

Chapter 713 - Last Straw

 When the massive curtain of dust caused by the explosion disappeared, one could see a deeply wounded massive dragon trembling on the ground trying to stand up, and a few hundred meters away from Ryan, one could also see Thanatos standing. However, he also suffered severe damage. He had lost his right arm, thanks to that, and he was holding his scythe with his left hand.

"I knew you were a dragon that originally made a pact with him, but I assumed that you were free from the pact when you assumed a human form," Thanatos said.

"Most people would think that, right?" Femradiel asked. "That was one of the reasons why I chose a human body but didn't end the pact. It is a bit different from you people, but I obtained my own immortality like this."

"Pretty smart, but that won't work twice," Thanatos said.

 Even Thanatos couldn't heal a lost arm so quickly, at least not by using his mana alone. Rebuilding a human body and a god's body was different, after all. Still, he easily solved the problem by raising his scythe. After doing that, numerous souls coming from that hole showed up and entered Thanatos' body. Once that happened, his lost arm began to grow at an astonishingly fast pace.

"This is bad… he was damaged by that much corruption and still can heal himself like that," Femradiel said. "Hey, Ryan, it is time to wake up. You are too old to let your anger control you."

 Femradiel was inside Ryan since her body sustained critical damage, but she couldn't talk to Ryan even there. In fact, she felt like she was inside an unfamiliar body. When she is usually inside Ryan, she can perceive things from his perspective, and she feels like she is on a cold island. While it wasn't that welcoming, she was used to desolate environment since she was an ice dragon. However, now Femradiel couldn't see anything inside Ryan. She was in a dark vortex of pure hatred.

 Despite saying that, Femradiel didn't notice any response was coming from Ryan. Just like before, the corruption was spreading around his body and healing his wounds. While that was convenient, it wasn't natural. How come such a vast amount of dark energy that is supposed to destroy the minds and make their vessels go crazy could do that? It was obvious that it wasn't healing Ryan by normal means. Another reason why Femradiel assumed that was that she couldn't use much mana while she was there.

"What a troublesome fellow," Thanatos said as he massaged his shoulders after healing himself completely. "Now, I will have to destroy his soul after obtaining the information that I want. I can't let a human who manages to wound me at this point exist in any plan of existence."

 Although he said that in a calm manner, Femradiel could tell that Thanatos wasn't joking, nor was he calm. She needed to make Ryan wake up, but that didn't seem like a good idea either. None of Ryan's plans would be that useful against Thanatos. He only survived until now because the corruption made him much stronger.

 In the end, Ryan flew toward Thanatos again. Femradiel's words weren't reaching him. This time, Thanatos dashed toward Ryan as well and swung his scythe to stop his charge. He actually succeeded but didn't stop there. When Ryan opened his mouth to fire another breath, Thanatos suddenly hit his head by making a small meteor fall on Ryan's head. Even his control over other elements was pretty good. Still, Ryan soon recovered from the attack.

 Thanatos sighed. That human was causing far too many problems for him. Using the tactic to steal his rage might calm him down and even undo the effects of corruption, but Thanatos would need some time, and perhaps the last thing will repeat itself again. That wasn't good. Besides, Thanatos wanted to kill him and then bring him back as a zombie in that form. So, using Anger Manipulation wouldn't help this time.

 Thanatos suddenly made a few small meteors fall on Ryan's head to stun him and then used that chance to move away. When Ryan recovered, Thanatos had already disappeared in that dark sky and then began his preparations. While holding his scythe with both hands, Thanatos began to focus all the power of his Death Manipulation on the blade. A single attack like that was the only thing he could use to kill Ryan completely while making sure that the corruption won't protect or heal him.

 Eventually, Thanatos gathered so much energy that his scythe began to emit a weird sound. Almost like a scream of thousands of souls screaming in agony. It has been a while since he fought seriously like that, but with that much power, he was one hundred percent sure he will split Ryan in half from head to toe.

 When Thanatos began to fly toward him, Ryan's instincts alerted him of the danger, and he found the enemy. Just like before, Ryan charged at him like a mad dog, but this time Femradiel noticed that things would be different. Even without her body, she could feel shivers just by looking at the shadow around Thanatos' scythe, forgetting about enduring the hit. She was sure that Ryan would be split in half in his Draconic form. 

"Wake up, Ryan!" Femradiel shouted.

 In the end, there was no response, not even when to steal his mana. Nothing changed. However, at that moment, she noticed that she had access to Ryan's mana pool again. She couldn't understand the reason, but it was probably because Thanatos used Ryan's anger against him. Either way, it didn't matter. In the last moment, Femradiel accessed Ryan's spatial storage and then summoned Poseidon's trident. Even Thanatos was caught off guard when he saw the weapon firing toward him alongside Ryan. Retreating now would make him lose momentum, and any attack that Ryan uses will make the energy in his scythe dissipate. Without any other choice, Thanatos decided to split both of them in half.