Radiance didn't have nearly as much strength as Darkness did. Even if she was his direct opposite and a perfect opponent for Ythmagobla, Lone simple didn't possess any Radiance skills or Radiance primal energy, both of which he had plenty of when it came to Darkness.

While she tried her best with the help of Saturn, she was getting beaten fairly one-sidedly. Thankfully, her nature as Radiance allowed her to self-heal Lone's body without having to use up too much of his mana or stamina points.

"I will enjoy watching him kill you," Radiance said in an uncharacteristically venomous tone. Even if Garadia had been reborn, she could never forgive Ythmagobla for his cruel murder of her only child.

"I was shocked at first to see you inside the body of this mortal, but you have put my mind at ease. Now that I know that Garadia is no more, I can afford to use a bit more of my strength to crush you and this mortal. You are all that stands between me, the tree, and my grand goal," Yhtmaoglba claimed boldly.

The words of ancient magic flowed out of his mouth and formed a magic circle around his maw. Radiance moved to stop him, but she wasn't strong enough to both prevent him from launching his magic and to block the claw swipe that he had thrown at her to defend himself.

A gargantuan pillar of dark-purple light escaped Ythmaogbla's mouth. Soph, who was in the forest, immediately recognised this skill and could tell that it was a far superior and immensely more powerful version of the skill that Itchy had used to carve her way out of the cave.

This beam of purple light viciously slammed down onto Radiance who tried to endure the attack by covering her front with all nine of her tails. Saturn was spinning with incredible speeds in an attempt to dissipate some of the attack's force. It was lucky that it had infinite durability, otherwise, there was no doubt that the poor weapon would have been turned to dust.

The size of the Darkness Breath - as the skill was called - was so massive, in fact, that a large majority of it actually slammed into the world tree's barrier even as it was fully enveloping Radiance.

Elestia, sat within the core of her dungeon, scrunched up her eyebrows and closed her eyes. She focused her energy on boosting the barrier at the points of impact. Seconds ticked by. When the attack was finally over, Elestia wiped the sweat from her forehead and frowned. "Forty-percent from a single breath? How many more times can he do that?"

Radiance scowled. Lone's tails, hair and eyes all returned to their natural colours. 'I'm sorry, Mighty Mortal. Bringing him down to fifteen-percent of his total mana points was the best that I could do.'

Lone shook his head. 'It's fine. You did great. Sky, can you help me as well, or am I on my own now?'

'Unfortunately, My Lord, I need to focus on restraining Void now that Radiance is exhausted. Normally, at your current rank, I would be able to grant you a tiny amount of my power, but all I can offer right now is off-setting the stamina cost for your skill, Sky Walk,' Sky replied apologetically.

Lone smiled. "Free flying, huh? Not bad."

Ythmagobla was wary of the confidence that was oozing out of Lone. He was still employing his Dragon Fear skill, but it was apparently having no effect at all on the mortal. "Have you any tricks left up your sleeve, Mortal?" the Dragon asked.

"Yeah, actually, I do." Lone grinned before he used Mental Destruction a total of nine times in a row on Ythmagobla. He could use that skill ten times a day now since he was an S-ranker, but he was saving that final use for something else that he was honestly hoping wouldn't happen, but he was preparing himself for it regardless.

Ythmagobla groaned in pain and he lost his balance before toppling over. "What magic is this? You're damaging my soul... No soul oracle can do this to an Ancient being! No one can!"

Lone didn't humour the dragon by replying. He took advantage of Sky's help and sprinted through the air as he held Saturn tightly. He landed on Ythmagobla's back and shoved the blade end of the Immortal Slaying Swordspear right into the flesh he was standing on.

Lone ignored the blood-curdling scream of Ythmagobla's and proceeded to run along his spine as he dragged Saturn's blade with him, tearing flesh and severing arteries on the way. Blood completely covered Lone's entire body.

It was only after he was about to reach Ythmagobla's head that the Dragon regained most of his senses and successfully shook the small man off of himself.

Lone retreated via the air and created some distance between himself and the beast. "I'm surprised I was able to do so much damage. Mental Destruction did a real number on you, huh?"

Ythmagobla didn't reply. He could sense the nine people waiting to pounce on him the second that he gave them a chance. He wasn't confident any longer that he could deal with Lone, those nine and then the general army as well as Elestia herself.

A low laughter filled the air. "I have been bested. I am no fool. You will regret this one day, Mortal."

"We'll see," came Lone's dismissively reply.

A smile could be seen on the blood-covered and wispy lips of Ythmagobla. "I suppose you shall. But for now, I will allow you to feel the same sorrow that I am forced to feel in my dying moments."

"What do you mean?" Lone's senses weren't nearly as astute as the senses of a being at the Ancient-level. He couldn't feel the nine people hiding in the nearby forest. They were just out of the range of his soul-perceiving talents.

Ythmagobla's smile deepened as he turned his heavily bleeding back on Lone and opened his mouth. Lone was confused. Why did it look like he was charging that breath again? Firstly, he had enough power for that? Secondly, why was he aiming at the forest?

Lone chose not to mull over this for long and simple launched a fierce assault on Ythmagobla. However, oddly enough, no matter how much Lone attacked, no matter how much Saturn chipped away at the dragon's flesh and battled with his Ancient soul, the breath's magic circle simply wouldn't collapse.

Just as Lone was starting to get frustrated, he got a telepathic message from Soph. It was short but it conveyed enough meaning for Lone's expression to change drastically. 'Lone! We're where he's pointing that spell! We can barely move because of his aura, but no matter where we try to move to, he keeps adjusting to hit us! Yo-Your sister is with us!'

'What?! This bastard?!' He didn't know how or why Hazel was here, but he wasn't going to ignore Soph's words. Even if she hadn't mentioned his sister, Lone would have been just as panicked were she not there. 'How can I stop this fuck's magic?!'

'Master, as fun as it is to watch you struggled, my arm is being twisted to tell you something. I may have gifted Little Purp with my blessing which allows him to finish casting any skills he initiates. A fairly useful trick for last-ditch efforts. It shouldn't be too long before I can bless you with this as well, so chin up.' As always, Darkness' words made Lone grit his teeth.

'If I can't stop it, then I have to block it! There's no way I can redirect it, not at my current strength!' Lone tightened his grip on Saturn and sprinted through the air until he was right in front of Ythmagobla.

A distance of maybe two-hundred feet separated the two. The Darkness Dragon was seemingly smirking at Lone. It was like he was laughing at the mere notion of the puny mortal trying to block his skill. Without the help of Darkness or Radiance, Ythmaogbla was certain that Lone was simply killing himself, something that didn't upset the Ancient-being one bit.

Lone covered himself with bone armour twice as thick as usual, expending a fair chunk of his mana. He then created several layers of Lightning Waves, which, while not defensive, could at least help to lessen the impact of the breath... hopefully. This was all he could afford. The rest of his mana points had to be saved to heal himself and restore his armour.

"Saturn, use up every soul inside of you if you have to, even the vampire's. I'm sorry for this, but I'm going to have to use you as a shield," Lone said in a sad and apologetic tone.

Saturn left Lone's hand and rubbed up against his cheek with the Divine Soul Prison before voluntarily moving in front of him and spinning far faster than a propeller blade ever could. The only way that Saturn was going to be able to deal with the sheer force behind that breath from earlier would be by literally cutting it apart. Having infinite durability meant nothing right now since Saturn was unable to expand its size in any way, shape or form, so this was the best that it could do.

A few seconds passed by, each one seemingly lasting a century. Lone readied himself in the time, and soon enough, Ythmagobla's skill was prepared. Like a tsunami crashing down onto a pitiful sailboat, Lone's Lightning Waves were shattered immediately.

The vast majority of the Darkness Breath was being successfully torn to shreds by Saturn, but its size was severely limiting it. In a split-second, Lone made the decision to use up even more of his mana to expand his bone armour into a large concave-shaped shield to reflect the breath away from the forest and towards the world tree's barrier.

He was sorry for Elestia, but Soph mattered far more to him that the world tree did. Plus, he was certain that she could withstand this much at least.

Lone's shield could only maintain itself for exactly seven seconds before every last dreg of his mana was gone. He didn't overwork his mana organs. He still needed to keep them functional for what was yet to come, however, immediately, that decision to not cripple his mana organs almost overwhelmed Lone with regret.

He didn't know how, but he could feel Ythmagobla's soul fading. No, it was being used as fuel. 'The bastard's using his own soul to charge up another spell?! I can barely block this one, there's no way I can block another!'

Lone was panicking. The target for this new Darkness Breath wasn't the world tree, nor was it the forest, no, it was Lone himself.

Lone wasn't the only person who could see this second spell being powered up. In the treeline, Ele'hunda looked at Scott and asked him a question. "You, Boy. You can amplify a skill, yes?"

"What?" Scott was, like the rest of his companions, struggling to move in the wake of Ythmagobla's Dragon Fear. It was only thanks to Lipsilk and Eolande's combined efforts that they could even talk and move. "Y-Yes, I can. Why?"

Ele'hunda's only remaining fist bulged up and his veins could clearly be seen pulsing beneath his skin. He grinned before he said, "I need you to amplify a skill, of course."