"You should put your pride to one side and do what is best for everyone, and if you don't, then this place is doomed," Vorinax said as he appeared next to Alex, and as he did, Galatan's face instantly turned from anger to a serious look.

Alex was about to use Monarch Aura because he was too close to victory to give up, and he also didn't have enough time to try convincing Galatan that only by using the weapon do they have a chance of victory, but just before he could give the command to use the skill but he stopped as Vorinax arrived and made Galatan react that was very unexpected.

"I will need a few minutes to prepare the weapon, and while death in battle is noble for my people, please save as many as you can in my absence," Galatan said, and his words were met with a nod of understanding from Vorinax, and the Elemental Ruler vanished into a beam of light, leaving Alex perplexed.

"What did you do?" Alex blurted out the question, knowing Galatan wouldn't have a change of heart after a single statement from Vorinax.

"Just changed the vibration frequency of his heartbeat, making it stop beating for a moment," Vorinax said, and seeing Alex's puzzled look, he continued.

"I can sense vibrations and can manipulate them to a certain extent, and as everything in the cosmos is made of matter that vibrates at different wavelengths, I could recreate any phenomena if I have the understanding and manipulating the intricacies of the vibration are within my ability," Vorinax said, before he shifted his attention back to Daenal.

Daenal obliterated the meteor with a single strike, showering the area with debris of dust, rock, and flames.

As the remnants rained down, he stood amidst the aftermath, his lifeless eyes looking toward them, having seen and heard the entire interaction, but instead of eagerly rushing to stop Galatan, he stood with his eyes fixated on Vorinax.

'He can manipulate atoms?' Alex thought as he tried to make sense of what he heard through the logic of science.

The concept that everything in the cosmos has a vibration was rooted in understanding quantum mechanics and wave-particle duality principles.Essentially, it suggested that all particles, atoms, and molecules possess inherent vibrational properties at the most fundamental level, with these vibrations manifesting as fluctuations in energy levels, electromagnetic waves, or even physical movements at the atomic and subatomic levels.

Alex knew just the basic definition of these complex concepts, and he understood little with his imagination and understanding, so warping his head around the whole vibration manipulation was very much a mental challenge.

'So basically, the vibration can arrange the wavelengths of atoms in a specific order, in turn rearranging them and creating the phenomena,' Alex thought, shifting his attention back to the matter at hand, pushing his curiosity to the back of his mind.

Alex knew that he was in a magical world where arranging mana runes in overlapping circles to write a specific sentence would create a magical phenomenon, but even then, vibration was a pretty fascinating element, and knowing what it could do, he was a bit lost in thoughts.

'Chrono Displacement,' Alex used his best defensive skill as he gripped his sword in his right hand and the space knife in his left with the remaining three knives floating around him.

'What is he doing?' Alex thought after seeing Daenal's pupilless eyes stay fixed on Vorinax, who also kept his focus on him.

"So not only can you hide your secrets from me, but you can also block law curses," Daenal said, breaking the silence after a few seconds, a wide smile stretching across his face.

"And you, little weakling, somehow located the lost core of the weapon, which is the only thing that could threaten my life," Daenal said as his eyes made contact with Alex.

"You must be wondering why I let Galatan leave."

"I did it because giving him false hope and then shattering it will only elevate the satisfaction of my revenge, and for giving me this gift, I will not kill the two of them for the next three minutes," Daenal said, his smile unnaturally contorting his face, before he vanished and reappeared before Alex.

"But, You will wish that I was not so merciful to you," Daenal said as his hands moved for Alex and Vorinax.

'I can't match him in raw stats or elemental might, but I am not a weakling,' Alex thought, pushing his eyes off the ancient to the limit, making him perceive his surroundings with newfound clarity.

Daenal's stats were reaching closer to 520K, which was on the weaker side for Elemental Rulers, but they were still around 50% more than Alex's, and that was not even his strongest suit.

But Alex was not expecting to put up a good fight because he knew the gap between a peak Elementalist and a true Elemental Ruler, no matter how weak and mentally retarded the latter, was still massive, and his only objective was to stay alive and keep Daenal from going on a killing spree forcing Galatan to return.

But it seemed Alex still overestimated his abilities a bit much because even though he successfully used fantom walk to avoid the attack and create distance, the moment he regained his footing a few meters away, he felt a hand grip his face and hurl him flying through the air.

Alex was thrown at Vorinax, who similarly moved back, and seeing his partner moving toward him at a blinding pace, he raised his hand and froze him in place.

'The difference in speed is much worse than I thought, as I could sense his location with void sense but not see him or react in time to counter or avoid it,' Alex thought, a chill going down his spine as the reality of the situation settled on him.

Alex realized that not using the Monarch Aura was no longer an option, and even though he was hopeful that he might not need to use it as his summon was a huge help, at the back of his mind, he knew that when Daenal really wanted to leave, tricks were not going to stop him.

"Boy, you have some fascinating magic, able to block my curses, summon a meteor, and now even freeze space, and on top of that, you can respond to my movement with ease," Daenal spoke as he looked at Vorinax.

"Summoner, Do you want to switch places," Vorinax said as he materialized next to Alex.

"Nope," Alex said, as he used Arcane Trance to burn through all his stamina to propel his mental capability by 400% and recover half of it in the next moment using his mana.

'Arcane Trance will last for 200 seconds, just good enough for three minutes, and then I will utilize the Monarch Aura,' Alex thought, with his sword pulsing with newfound life as he concentrated the sword aura and mana on its edge.

Alex swung his blade, and Daenal, who stood upright in place, avoided it with a minor shift of his body, and then he approached for his neck, all in a fraction of a moment.

But now Alex could see things and could respond to them, so switching his wrist and pushing his arms and back muscles to their limits, he swung his blade upward in a clean motion.

Daenal reacted quickly enough, but this time, the surrounding space paused at the right moment, making the blade point enter his chest and slice cleanly through his chest, neck, jaw, and part of his face.

Alex followed with another strike but was forced to parry the spear that approached zooming for his neck and as their weapon clashed, he was pushed back, and right then, the space before Daenal cracked, and a shock wave hit him at point black right in the chest, and he was sent hurling back.