Epic of Caterpillar
chapter-160

"Huh?!" Shouted Reynold, in surprise over what Evan had just said.

Evan didn't want to continue their conversation as he looked right into Reynold's eyes. For a moment, Reynold felt something else glaring at him beneath the bright green eyes of Evan, something darker.

"A-Ahh…? A-Are you really Evan?"

"…"

Step by step, Evan approached Reynold, while his body began to swell up thanks to his magic and skills, increasing Evan's musculature.

As Evan advanced towards Reynold, the Elemental Knight of Holy felt something eerie about the boy's aura, something different. Intimidated by this new type of presence, Reynold, for the first time, felt fear against Evan.

Evan, who had his face dirty due to the blood and dirt on the battlefield, had his left eye covered by his shining golden hair, however, beneath all of this, he showed a very mature and indifferent expression.

"How did Evan become like this?" Reynold thought.

However, The Elemental Knight of Holy wasn't able to keep these thoughts for so long as Evan suddenly became a ray of pure light as he pounced over Reynold in less than a split second. Completely cutting down all the distance that Reynold had managed to create between the two.

Suddenly, Evan appeared right in front of Reynold, and while using his light-speed movements, his arms and blade created countless mirages of himself, as if he had thousands of arms, he began to release hundreds of [Techniques] once again.

As Reynold wasn't prepared for such a thing, he had to receive every attack head-on, the immense amount of sharp hits blows, and bangs began to even crack his golden armor.

SLASH! CRASH! CLASH! BOOM!

In the split-second were Evan released his attacks, a massive phantom made of light resembling a giant hammer hit Reynold right into its stomach, shattering his armor and causing heavy internal damage, the blow was so strong that it created shockwaves all around his body and sent him away through the airs.

BOOOM!

"Guuaaakkh!"

As Reynold was flying through the airs due to the powerful propulsion force created by the Light Phantom Hammer, he suddenly felt the presence of another incoming attack and used all his strength to twist his entire body through the air, falling towards the ground.

SLASH!

Just as he predicted a colossal phantom made of light resembling an ax sliced the area was, he was sent towards, if he didn't evade this in time, he would have most probably lost a limb or two.

Overwhelmed by Evan's amazing technique combinations, Reynold quickly conjured a healing spell, which showed itself as the white light of purification. In less than three seconds, his broken bones and internal damage was partially healed, however, the fatigue and pain were not healed.

FLASH!

"H-Heavenly Fortress!"

Once again, Evan flew like a ray of light towards Reynold, but this time, Reynold activated a special skill, which showed itself as a massive fortress made of blinding light.

However, Evan didn't stop his rush as he released once again his onslaught over his step-brother's defensive spell.

Once again, a shower of phantoms made of light resembling countless weapons rained over Reynold, who managed to keep himself safe inside of his [Heavenly Fortress].

CLASH! CRASH! SLASH!

Utilizing Evan's naivety, Reynold used the time he had before his [Heavenly Fortress] broke to encapsulate Evan on another [Heavenly Fortress].

Suddenly, Evan felt trapped inside a massive fortress made of blinding white light.

"I got you, little brother! I will crush you to death!"

The [Heavenly Fortress] trapping Evan inside started to suddenly compress itself, ultimately, Reynold planned to crush Evan to death using what seems to be only a defensive spell.

As the four walls that came up the [Heavenly Fortress] approached Evan, the boy only did what he has been doing since he started the fight. Concentrating all his mind into his own body, Evan enveloped every vein and muscle with his magic, using a technique that Kireina's servants taught to him. This technique is a very advanced ability that only a monster know naturally, while humans usually take years to master.

As he felt the element, he has been familiar his whole life, Light, fill and warm his muscles and blood, Evan suddenly received a massive boost in his capabilities, increasing all his stats, especially Speed.

As if his golden blade was another extension of his own body, Evan shared his magic across the blade surrounding it with a shining yellow light. For a split second, Evan stopped breathing.

"Myriad Onslaught"

Coming out of thin air, thousands of mirages made of phantoms of light that resembled countless weapons suddenly began to appear all around Evan. As if they had their own will, they slashed, crashed and smashed against the Holy Light walls.

Perhaps if it were just a couple techniques, the walls wouldn't be disturbed, however, the countless attacks pilled up to thousands, thousands of attacks showered the entire [Heavenly Fortress].

SLASH! CRASH! CLASH!

Thousands of weapon phantoms and after-images began to crack the [Heavenly Fortress] walls, quickly destroying it from the inside before it could crush Evan to death.

At this moment, Evan was in a total concentration of his techniques, as if his mind and instincts combined into something else as if his attacks were an automatic reaction, similar to an automatized being. He didn't need any thoughts to release his onslaught and did all of it without any thought or fatigue on his mind other to wanting to kill his brother.

However, his mind began to think once again as he reinforced his body and released a ray of light, the last attack needed to completely shatter the [Heavenly Fortress].

"Piercing Light Spear!"

FLASH! CRACK!

As the magic dome resembling a fortress shattered into pieces that slowly dissipated into thin air, Reynold had already prepared another surprise for his brother.

Reynold knew that Evan surpassed him in close combat, and that trying to fight him that way would be suicide, so he took a different approach as he used all the Holy Light Spells he has learned since he became a Holy Knight. Always being confident on his owns strength, Reynold has barely used such techniques until now, where he was doing his all to survive and to fulfill his utmost goal, assassinating Evan.

As Evan glanced at Reynold, he found his step-brother inside a Holy Light Sphere, which had the properties to float in midair. As he stared at his surroundings, he found himself surrounded by thousands of strange pillars of Holy Light. The moment Evan broke out from the [Heavenly Fortress], these pillars started to shoot hundreds of thousands of Holy Light Beams, each beam had the power to melt steel, generating thunderous explosions as they destroyed the battlefield.

"This bastard!"

Evan used his enhanced senses and psyche to evade them as much as he could while using his Onslaught of Techniques to defend himself. He began to destroy the pillars while trying to catch up with Reynold, who evaded his movements from the sky.

"Reynold! He's trying to tire me…"

After destroying half of the pillars, Evan tried once again to catch up with Reynold only to be attacked by thousands of Holy Light Beams from his back.

FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!

"Guuaakh! W-What?! Myriad Onslaught!"

Evan was sure to have destroyed those pillars. Suddenly, Evan realized that Reynold was behind the regeneration of them and that his true intentions were to overwhelm and tire Evan's Stamina, afterward, he would easily kill him on his worst condition.

Evan's healing magic wasn't as developed as Reynold, so the holes on his back remained, as they painted his entire body on a scarlet red. As much as he tried, he couldn't catch up to his brother. However, when he was about to falter, a strange red-colored slime surged from beneath Evan's armor and spread itself through his wounds, completely regenerating them.

"These are… Kireina's Slime Clones…? So, she even put some on my armor…"

The cautiousness of the Sin of Lust knows no bounds, spreading her own flesh into small slimes, she has spread them through all her soldiers and servants. Due to this, Evan had the possibility of a second breath, and to fight more recklessly.

Evan also noticed that after being healed by Kireina's Slime, his body was suddenly reinforced, after checking his status window while evading the Holy Light Beams from Reynold's pillars, he found out that he has received a great buff on all his stats, even including Luck. Alongside this, he gained a positive status [Super Speed Regeneration] and [Symbiosis]. It seems that the Slime not only healed him but fused a great part of its mass into his body, which while using the skill [Symbiosis] made the Slime share its power with Evan, increasing his stats even further.

"In the end, I still needed your help, Kireina… I need to train more, so I won't need it anymore in the future!"

As Evan said these words, Reynold was greatly impacted by his little step-brother surge of power, his body became stronger and sturdier, and when he tried to use [Appraisal] on Evan, he would get instantly blocked by a strange skill that protected the boy from information leaking.

"W-What…? Tch! As if it's going to do any difference! One Hundred-Eyed Heavenly Pillar!"

Even after seeing the sudden change in Evan, Reynold didn't falter, he began to once again conjure his Heavenly Pillars, who immediately started to shoot thousands of Holy Light Beams at Evan.

However, this time, Evan was even faster than the thousands of beams, as he covered his legs with an intense concentration of Light Magic density and in one jump, he flew through the skies like a shining ray of light.

FLASH!

Evan's speed once again surpassed Reynold's expectations, as he quickly approached his step-brother in less than a second. Raising his golden sword, which he coated in bright shining light, his eyes shined on a yellow light, completely changing from his usual emerald pupils.

"Unique Art: Shining Onslaught of Myriads Meteors!"

Combining his powerful Light Magic alongside his Unique Technique: Myriad Onslaught, Evan converged the light phantoms in the shape of weapons that represented his techniques with his pure Light Magic, generating a new Art. The power of the attack was devastating as it showed itself like giant weapons made of pure gold, that shined in bright yellow light. Lances, Spears, Axes, Maces, Arrows, Swords, Claymores, almost every type of weapon descended from every slash and thrust that Evan released.

CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!

The massive onslaught of attacks overwhelmed Reynold who was currently inside of a Heavenly Sphere, as he saw with horror how the massive golden weapons started to crack his shield.

CRACK! CRACK!

"H-How?! W-What are you?! You are not Evan! Tch! I'm not going to die by pathetic trash like you!!! Holy Arts: Heavenly Assault!"

Suddenly, the Elemental Knight of Holy released a series of masterful consecutive techniques, resembling Evan's Myriad Onslaught, however, these only resembled his Holy Blade, and held immense pressure and weight, as if each stroke weighed a ton.

Using this attack, he was able to hold off Evan's showed of techniques for a moment, however, due to his own attacks, the shield protecting him shattered into pieces.

CRACK! CLASH!

"Eh?! N-No!"

After being distracted by his Heavenly Sphere shattering into pieces, Reynold lowered his guard for a split second, enough time for Evan to generate a giant golden Axe, which he threw at him at max speed.

FLASH!

The golden phantom descended at light speed, and in one single slash, it detached Reynold's left arm.

SLASH!

Suddenly, an immense pain covered the Elemental Knight of Holy's mind, as he saw his amputated arm in the ground, sprouting a river of blood.

"Gyyaaah! M-My arm! H-How dare you?!"

Due to losing focus, another golden weapon descended, which Reynold was not able to evade neither guard against. The weapon was in the form of a small long sword, completely made of shining gold.

SLASH!

The sword stabbed Reynold's right shoulder, which stopped the release of his Art's attacks, slowing him down due to the tremendous pain as he fell down the ground.

"Guuaaaaahh!!!"

As Evan saw his step-brother fall, he did as well, stopping his Arts release, the propulsion of the attacks stopped keeping him in midair, as the natural gravity pulled him to the ground.

Evan used this opportunity to use the light on his legs to speed up his fall, reaching Reynold in midair, and with a single stroke, he stabbed the Elemental Knight of Holy's heart.

"Guaaakh! N-No! T-This is not how… Ghh… H-How the gods said that it would be…! Gggaaaahh!!!"

On his last breath, Reynold used his Holy Blade to stab Evan's stomach, ravaging his innards outside, alongside his intestines, which were completely sliced.

"Gaaagh! Y-You damned bastard!"

As Evan began to vomit blood intensively, he used his remaining strength to stab Reynold's neck repeatedly. As he saw his step-brother vomiting blood as well while his neck began to sprout an endless river of scarlet blood.

"Gaaaghh! Guuaaghh! Ggghh…"

Then, Evan saw the last seconds of life on Reynold's eyes, as the one who once made his childhood a living hell finally died.

THUMP! THUMP!

When Evan and Reynold reached the ground, Reynold Body was blasted into pieces, while Evan was protected by Kireina's Slime, which extended itself and worked as a cushion for him.

When he fell to the ground, Evan had too much fatigue, which was paired up with the massive hemorrhage on his belly alongside all of his sliced and bleeding organs. Kireina's Slime worked as fast as it could to heal the young and reckless boy, fusing itself with his internal organs or what was left of them. Intensively using [Symbiosis] to replace the boy organs.

When it finished, the Slime has completely fused with Evan, maintaining his life while passively regenerating the lost tissue.

Meanwhile, as Kireina approached the Elemental Knight of Gemstones, she received a system message.

"Hm?"

[Conflicting [Epic], [Greater Epic of Reynold Goodwill, The Undying Chivalrous Heart] has been annihilated by [Servant/Subordinate] [Future Hero of Shining Skies; Evan Godfrey]

[Servant/Subordinate] gained a prize reward] [Legendary Relic of The Undying Chivalrous Heart]

"Ohh? It seems that things went quite well for him. I knew deep down that he wouldn't disappoint me. Well, I will call some of my servants to protect him while he's unconscious… Well then, it seems that the Gemstone Knight is having some trouble…"