"I've only heard stories about the catastrophe, I would never have thought that it'll come so soon."

The Demon Lord spoke with a worried tone, it was clear she didn't know what to do in such a situation. Her power alone is not enough to protect her people from the Divine Beasts.

She looked at the ash-haired man and resumed:

"The elves from the East and even the Holy Church contacted me, they want to form an alliance to fight the invaders… I have yet to reply to them."

"What about the place? Do you have any idea where will they strike?"

Arthur wanted to know that piece of information the most. He already sent Swain to investigate the four continents and see which one is doomed, which one has the shadow of death looming over it.

He knew that Swain's ways are weird to many people but it is genuine and the most efficient one, he only asked the Demon Lord to not waste time, if they knew where it'll happen, it'll save him some time.

This time, the princess talked, she shook her head and said:

"Unfortunately, we don't know which continent will be attacked. In the previous catastrophe, all the continents were attacked with the Eastern one suffering the least, followed by ours then the central continent."

'This explains why the Western Continent is so deserted and dead. Not only did many wars occur there, the Divine Beasts also attacked it, rendering it almost uninhabitable.'

"Nonetheless, we began our preparation and started evacuating citizens to safer places prepared by our ancestors. Sir Arthur, only your sect hasn't contacted us, it is strangely quiet lately and with all the things that had happened, we didn't have time pay a visit."

The Demon Lord kept a respectful attitude, she knew that acting bossy around Arthur will do her no good, even her big sister failed in her act and became obedient, much less her.

"I'm as clueless as you guys, I'll stay here for a few days and wait until my servant have scavenged the four lands. He'll tell me where they'll strike so I'll tell you too so you can choose a wiser place to hide."

The princess along with her mother bowed to Arthur, showing their sincere gratitude. This wasn't a simple matter and bowing means nothing in comparison to their race's survival. As a ruler, the Demon Lord wanted to prevent the extinction of her kin and ensure their wellbeing, so knowing where the four Divine Beasts will

"Thank you, Sir Arthur!"

Arthur waved his hand nonchalantly and replied

"No need, this world is my home too."

The small meeting lasted for only a short period of time, Arthur disappeared after uttering those words, leaving only the princess, Lucas, and the Queen.

For the rest of the day, Arthur went to that cave deep underground and entered the ARK to test a few things. [Thousand Waves] is his most powerful skill if he's able to finish it all, unfortunately, even after possessing Rozak, the Sovereign, he still isn't able to unleash its full potential.

Not only that, the skill consumes a mind-numbing amount of Nether Energy, the amount is literally doubled if he were to use pure Mana.

The safest choice is Dark Mana, but then again, it'll take a bit more time to unleash the successive waves if he used Dark Mana since it takes a couple of milliseconds to transform Pure Mana into Dark Mana.

One more problem Arthur faces is multicasting, it is barely doable, however, it is very taxing to the mind.

To unleash two skills at the same time could give him a humongous advantage in the midst of a battle but that comes at a great cost and if he were to use it successively, the backlash would be so heavy that'll either drive him mad or kill him.

[Blood for Blood] allows him to use the same strong skill over and over again but that's not multicasting.

The ancient mages of Astria were able to do such a thing but that's only after chanting for several seconds, which is something Arthur won't do since a few seconds is more than enough for the enemy to finish him.

Arthur first thought it's due to his low amount of Mental Power or his Realm but that's rather unlikely. The problem is most likely talent and nothing else.

Like those inborn prodigies who could cast without chanting on Astria, he was born as a normal Human.

Maybe his inborn talent followed him after his reincarnation and even after possessing thousands of bodies and obtaining their talent too, it just wasn't enough.

Mayhap multicasting requires one's own talent and the one he 'borrowed' from others. Arthur remembered the words of his copy inside of the ARK and concluded that a time will arrive where his Racial abilities will be useless.

A time where only his talent matters, his dedication, and hard work, not the powerful skills that he gained from elsewhere.

He tried very hard since his reincarnation, but apparently not hard enough, not like Lucy who cultivates every day, who's also very talented.

For example, she could fuse two opposite attributes, which is something one else could do, not only that, she has a special Yin body that strengthens her physically.

By no means did he feel jealous of her, in fact, he was joyous that she grows strong every passing day. However, what Arthur does not want is to become a burden to her, that he becomes unable to protect her and Saly.

He knows for sure that if he continues like this, a tragic thing will happen sooner or later, he knows that he needs to find an alternative way, something that can boost his own talent and power.

…

Inside the endless white space, with Makaze in his hand, Arthur panted heavily as his aura weakened and the ancient flames vanished as if they were never there.

This space could not be damaged no matter how powerful the skill he uses is, even Rizaki would do nothing.

As he pondered over a solution to his dilemma, Arthur heard a clapping sound and knew it was none other than his copy, which appeared behind him, showing the usual friendly smile.

"I have to say, that's a powerful sword skill, I would definitely rank it in my top five."

Arthur remained silent, not wanting to waste words with his copy.

The copy stared deeply at Arthur for some time before he said

"The Azure Dragon of the East, The Vermillion Bird of the South, The White Tiger of the West, and the Black Turtle of the North, the four Divine Beasts that are known by everyone since ancient time, their myth is everlasting and their story is unforgettable. What do you think, Arthur, are you prepared to fight them, or are you going to bring your people and flee from this place?"

Arthur looked at his black katana in a daze and replied with a bitter tone

"I don't know…"

"You're a fan of numbers, aren't you? So, do you want to know the percentage of your win if you were to fight against them?"

Arthur was intrigued, he lifted his head and looked at his copy, expecting the latter to continue.

"No more than one percent. Your sword skills, powerful techniques, and all your trump cards won't let you break through the threshold of one percent."

Hearing this, Arthur frowned but didn't retort. He heard that the Divine Beasts are strong and their power scale with the overall strength of the world they're attacking.

With the existence of the World Tree and himself, of course, the invaders won't be mere Gods.