Chapter 373 Brink of Madness  

Alex's mind was in the battle for control with his emotions and instincts, as the very thought that they were keeping their heads higher than him, and they were breathing the same air as him, filled his mind with rage and made him want to go on a rampage and slaughter all the insignificant creatures surrounding him.

Alex was aware that these maddening thoughts did not belong to him, yet no matter how much he tried to empty his mind and try to calm himself down, they only grew louder.

Alex instinctively knew that the world was testing him to prove that he was worthy of wielding its laws that he should not at his strength, and if he failed this test, he would go on a rampage for thirty minutes, destroying everything he could lay his eyes on.

Alex also knew that the test would last for the duration the skill stayed active, getting worse with every passing moment, and as he understood these things, he questioned if he should stop using it and get killed and lose a month of progress or quickly run far away.

Maybe the city would survive long enough for the reinforcement to arrive, but if he lost control, then only ruble would be left after thirty minutes.

The few moments Alex spent enjoying his newfound strength before facing reality were the longest and most horrible moments for Vakural, as he felt like he was staring at a monster that grew bigger and scarier by the moment, and he was nothing more than an ant waiting to be crushed.

Vakural couldn't believe how he was afraid of an ant, who he had just beaten to the inch of his life, and even though his instinct screamed at him to run, his pride as the best King didn't allow him to do so.

Seeing Alex stand in silence made him feel like he was being humiliated, but in his state of fear, he also thought the sudden shift in aura just had to be a trick to scare him away, being the reason he was not being attacked and the more time passed, the more he felt confident in his deduction.

So, not wasting the opportunity, he instantly moved with his spear pulsing with death mana and thrust it forward, sending an energy beam at Alex, who stood lost in thought.

'I am not a coward, nor do I have a weak will, so bring it on,' Alex roared in mind at the voices who were screaming at him to let loose.

Alex raised his head, already having sensed the massive beam of death energy pulsing with the potent concept of decay moving closer to him, and with a mental command, he made it complacent, turned to mana, and scattered into the surroundings in the blink of an eye. Alex didn't feel surprised by what he did, as with his current control over various laws, erasing a simple energy attack came as naturally as blinking to him.

However, for Vakural, things were not the same because he knew that what he just saw was elemental dominance, which should only be possible if he was battling against an Elemental Ruler.

The first thought that crossed his mind was to run, so he instantly raised his spear and sent a barrage of attack at Alex before he quickly turned around and moved at his fastest, grabbed the semi-conscious Muutra, whom he came to save, and tried to make a run for his life.

Alex used the fantom walk and manipulated darkness to form chains, catching the running beast king, who, with his brute strength, broke free but was a bit too late as a sword was plunged into his shoulder, pinning him to the ground and sending the other hulking figure rolling away.

"I did not like this,"

"BAMMMM"

"DO YOU like this,"

Alex made chains grip Vakural legs and the lower part of his back, held his head by both of his horns, and started smashing his head into the ground with his voice getting raised with every word he spoke.

Only fifteen or so seconds had passed, and Alex was already losing his reasoning because the sane him would have happily allowed the Beast king to run away, but the current him wanted to kill him, and Muutra and he did not care about the consequences.

Vakural roared as he sent a shockwave of decay energy, sending Alex flying back, also destroying the chain binding him, and he swiftly wielded his shield and spear, knowing he needed more than a distraction to run away.

Alex did a flip in the air as he used the skywalk to move back at the beast king, who stood ready, and as he met him blow by blow, he used darkness to send piercing spikes at his back while simultaneously making the ground turn into a hole and chains that move to grip him.

In the current state, Alex could execute any elemental phenomena that his mana could handle, and he understood the fundamentals, so seeing Vakural cloak his body with a death veil, he instantly let go of his sword and created two Ebon Lances. Alex made the lances using death, decay, and darkness law, burning through hundreds of thousands of mana points, making them far surpass the strength of any typical sixth Rank spell.

Wings of darkness similar to his chaos wings sprung from his back as he threw both lances at the death veil, which went off into a massive explosion that sent him hurling back, but he barely received any damage. He followed it by creating tens of Ebon Lances around him and making them rain on the ongoing explosion, and amidst the bombardment, a booming roar echoed, followed by a massive beam of energy that ripped through the explosion and came directly at Alex.

Alex held his hand forward and used Nihility Purge, making the surrounding darkness come alive and devouring the beam of death and decay in its entirety.

At this point, Alex's mind was a chaotic mess as he struggled to understand his thoughts because his mind was filled with loud voices that told him a hundred things.

"Elf, Let us leave, and you can kill my remaining clan members, and no one will come for revenge but kill him and me, and our clan leader, who is a middle-stage Elemental Ruler, will come for your head for killing his beloved son and second in command." Vakural roared, his eyes reflecting his fear as damage from the previous attack was visible on his body.

"Letting us go is yer best chois--" "Die Already, you dumb animal," Alex roared as he summoned his sword, threw an elemental slash at Vakural, and followed right behind it.

Alex did not understand a word he heard because of all the chaos in his mind, and the only reason he was still sane was because, back in his mind, the thought of killing these two was what he needed to do to stop using the Monarch Aura and be free from this torture was still somewhat clear.

Their weapons clashed, with none having a clear advantage in speed or strength, but with Alex manipulating the darkness and Vakural own state of mind, opportunities were created, and damage was being dealt.

Alex cloaked his sword with the law of darkness, with every strike that landed, leaving behind eroding energy that acted like poison, and even with Vakural also delivering deep wounds, the battle was far from shifting in his favor.

Alex was winning the battle, but he was not faring better as, mentally, he was on the edge of losing it, and when he felt he was on the edge, he gambled his life for a last attack.

Alex bombarded Vakural with Ebon Lances from all directions, chains, and spikes moving toward him while he also closed the distance, plunged his sword through his chest, and, in turn, having the spear tore through his own heart.

Yet at that moment, Alex clasped his hands around Vakural's skull with a mad smile as he continuously executed the darkness blast spell, which, powered by the darkness law, did the same damage as any mid-rank fifth-rank offensive spell.

Vakural screamed at how he could even use mana with his heart destroyed as he bached his shield in his head while struggling to pull back his spear, but his struggle ended as just three darkness blasts at point blank tore through his skull and brain, killing him instantly.

Alex instantly stopped using the Dragon Monarch Aura, Ruler Pride, Mana Amplification, and Mana Overdrive, and like waiting for the moment, his brain shut itself down, making him fall face first onto the headless corpse of the best King with a spear going through his human heart.

"You did great, so now rest well," Elder Darrien said with a rare smile as he stopped Alex's body from falling while pulling the spear away and also healing his destroyed heart.

Lady Margaret also appeared by his side with a bright smile on her face, and while the dome of pitch darkness was crumbling, she shifted her eyes toward Muutra, who was a bit injured from all the elemental explosions but alive.

But that didn't last for even a few more moments as his head was decapitated clean and flung away, and his body swiftly experienced many injuries. Having claimed the kill that Alex rightly was going to take and making sure his condition was stable enough for him not to die while leaving all the injuries as is to show how much of an arduous battle he went through, both guardians vanished.