MIGHT AS WELL BE OP Chapter 1101: The Shadow Soldiers-2

Beru was the first to arrive; he screeched with manic glee, his blue eye shining as, the instant he reached his foe, his claws jutted out further. With a vicious, shredding might, he swung down, his overwhelming physical strength distorting the surrounding vacuum.

The Vampire observed the incoming assault with chilling composure. His own hand blurred upwards with a speed that warped perception, catching Beru’s attack head-on by the wrist. He instantly halted Beru’s strike as the cosmic wind exploded outward with violent, bursting force, rippling through space like a shockwave of devastation.

The Vampire showed no signs of slowing. The moment he secured Beru’s attack, his other hand drove forward with brutal intent, his fist hurtling towards Beru’s chest with enough power to shatter celestial bodies. However, Beru was no novice. His wings beat through the void as he sidestepped, his eyes blazing intensely, savoring the chance to finally fight after enduring the suffocating stillness of the shadow realm for ages.

As he dodged, the hand still held by the Vampire twisted sharply at the wrist, contorting unnaturally. He slashed out with his elongated claws, catching the Vampire off guard. With savage brutality, Beru tore apart the Vampire’s arm from the elbow down. The Vampire instantly blurred backward, another arm regenerating within a split second with grotesque, almost instantaneous efficiency, as if such damage were of no consequence to him.

Beru did not hesitate; he closed the distance once more, his wings propelling him with increasing speed, like a predator perfectly adapted to the void of space. As soon as he neared, his claws darted forward again with deadly intent, but the Vampire countered with an entirely predictable move: a Light affinity-based assault.

The Vampire’s mana surged outward violently as chains forged from condensed light erupted into existence. Their blinding radiance lashed out towards Beru, aiming to bind him in place within space itself. Beru immediately aborted his attack mid-motion, flickering backward and narrowly evading the binding chains with precise, calculated movements.

Yet, the Vampire was far from content. He seamlessly transitioned into another assault without any pause, once again employing Light-based magic. It seemed he had already decided that Beru, a creature of shadow, would inherently be susceptible to such an element.

His mana roared outward like a collapsing star as he invoked Mana Zone, dramatically amplifying both the deadliness and the range of his spell to terrifying degrees. In the ensuing moment, a colossal golden construct materialized—a radiant box spanning nearly a kilometer across space, completely engulfing Beru within its confines. The light inside the barrier began to flicker and intensify erratically, as though it intended to erase, purify, and annihilate Beru from existence itself.

However, Beru was not so easily constrained. Just because he favored close-quarters combat did not mean he lacked access to potent magic. Beru possessed a devouring ability, one that allowed him to absorb the skills, talents, and even the instincts of those he consumed while they were still alive. Among those Beru had devoured were not only mages... but also Demons.

In the very next instant, an immense torrent of chaos energy violently erupted from his body, swirling and expanding outward. The energy was dense, corruptive, and suffocating. But unlike the beings native to the Acarnis Galaxy, who depended on cores to house and regulate their mana, Beru was not bound by such limitations. He wasn’t even an inhabitant of this Universe; its rules, laws, and restrictions held no sway over his existence or his devouring power.

A corrosive force surged outward, slamming directly into the light barrier that imprisoned him. Almost immediately, it began to rot, decay, and corrupt under the influence of his chaos energy. While Light could purify darkness and chaos, this purification was not absolute. The Light needed to surpass its opposing force in strength, and in this instance, it failed to do so.

Cracks rapidly spread across the golden barrier like fractures in glass as the Vampire poured even more mana into sustaining the spell, his expression tightening slightly. But it proved futile. Beru did not possess a finite reserve of chaos energy like Demons; he could unleash it endlessly, an inexhaustible force defying conventional limits.

With a thunderous, shattering explosion, the barrier collapsed completely.

Instantly, Beru launched himself forward, a black blur with an ant-like grin of sheer excitement plastered across his face. His knee met the Vampire’s side with the crushing force of a celestial body. The impact was devastating; the Vampire’s torso contorted unnaturally, his ribcage exploding outward as he was propelled with immense momentum directly into a nearby sun.

Beru shrieked with joy and gave pursuit, his form streaking through the void towards the incandescent star. Without a second thought, his claw descended once more, poised to rip apart both the Vampire and the star itself in one swift, fatal blow.

However, the Vampire reacted with lightning speed, dissolving into a cloud of blood mist to completely evade the incoming strike. Beru’s claw plunged into the sun, instantly destabilizing its core and initiating a violent structural collapse. Yet, neither combatant acknowledged this celestial catastrophe.

Beru maintained his relentless pace. The moment the Vampire dissipated into mist, Beru raised his hand, fluidly transitioning his power source from chaos energy to mana. With a single, decisive action, a torrent of time-and-space-freezing ice burst forth, rapidly expanding to encase the Vampire even in his dispersed form.

Yet, the Vampire had foreseen this tactic. He instantly reformed into his physical state just as the ice reached him. The instant he materialized, he unleashed a powerful punch, cosmic winds violently constricting around his fist before erupting outwards, colliding head-on with the encroaching ice.

With a deafening roar, the cosmic winds annihilated the ice, shattering it into countless fragments that dispersed into the vastness of space. Beru, however, was completely unfazed. He moved again without delay, his form a mere blur as he reappeared beside the Vampire, launching another fluid and continuous assault.

The Vampire’s eyes darted sharply towards Beru. Despite possessing inherent vampiric might, he knew, with absolute certainty, that his physical prowess paled in comparison to this monstrous insectoid. It was a deeply humiliating and insulting realization, yet undeniably true. The Galaxy had always been a realm of utter absurdity.

His crimson energy exploded outwards, manifesting as a wall of solidified blood that sprang into existence beside him, serving as an immediate bulwark. The moment it solidified, Beru’s claws tore into it with ferocious glee, shredding the defensive barrier effortlessly with a single, decisive strike.

But the Vampire had already pressed onward.

Mana surged outwards once more, and a colossal volume of blood materialized, forming a massive cocoon that swiftly enveloped Beru entirely. As the enclosure became complete, the Vampire clenched his fist violently, and in an instant, the immense cocoon imploded, compressing down to the size of a basketball.

A flicker of confusion crossed the Vampire’s face; he couldn't feel the sensation of Beru's body being crushed.

Before he could fully process this disconnect, space itself warped and tore open beside him, revealing a portal from which Beru’s clawed hands emerged simultaneously. With a fluid, merciless motion, they slashed across the Vampire’s neck and waist, instantly cleaving him into three distinct segments.

The Vampire’s regenerative abilities kicked in immediately, his body knitting itself back together in less than the blink of an eye.

Beru, however, remained unconcerned.

To him, this perpetually regenerating Vampire was merely an inexhaustible, self-mending training dummy—a living canvas upon which he could unleash the pent-up fury and bloodlust that had festered for far too long within the silent, desolate depths of the shadow realm.