Primordial Expanse: I have the Strongest Talent!

Varkoth's scream echoed through the battlefield, a sound that pierced through the air like a banshee's wail.

For the first time in this fight, the Red Demon prodigy was caught off guard instead of Alex being the one.

Inside his soul space, Varkoth found himself surrounded by a nightmarish void.

The space, once a sanctuary that housed his soul, had turned into a prison of unimaginable torment.

Shadows formed around him and clawed at his very soul with their intangible hands, tearing his soul to pieces bit by bit.

Varkoth tried to summon his strength, to push back against the onslaught of horrors that assaulted him.

His claws were once again readied for combat, but no matter what Varkoth did, he couldn't summon his penetration talent in the soul space.

Every swipe he took at the shadows, only seemed to pass through them with ease, as if they were made of smoke.

Yet each touch, each whisper of darkness, sapped his strength and dragged him even deeper into despair.

The pain alone was beyond anything Varkoth had ever experienced.

It wasn't just physical pain like he was normally used to, it was spiritual and it targeted his soul directly.

Alex's soul fire had invaded his mind, his soul space, and was now fully unleashed, burning away at his arrogance and exposing the raw fear beneath.

But outside, Alex knew that he was strapped for time to get as much damage in as possible.

He had used the same ability on Gormak when he fought the elites, which had ended up killing him after 10 minutes or so had passed.

But Alex instinctively knew the moment Varkoth made contact with his soul fire that the effect would only last 30 seconds or so on him.

The disparity in strength between Gormak and Varkoth was great it seemed, as Varkoth had a much tougher mental will than him.

To be able to shorten the effect of Alex's soul fire down to 30 seconds was a great feat for Varkoth, it proved that he deserved the title of a top tier prodigy.

His only downfall was that he had met Alex, who was a prodigy unlike any other.

30 seconds may not seem like a lot of time for Alex to do anything to the average person, but to people at the level of Alex and Varkoth, it was practically an eternity.

This whole time, Varkoth's body would be completely defenceless, as he would be too preoccupied with fighting off the pain of the soul fire in his soul space to be able to deal with Alex.

Which gave Alex the perfect opportunity to finally strike back.

Without hesitation, Alex surged forward, his body moving with the precision of a finely tuned machine.

The crimson flames of his Phoenix fire riled up as he prepared to deliver his strike.

He didn't need his soul fire to be active anymore, as they had already dealt their damage to Varkoth, and their presence would only suck Alex of what energy he had to spare.

As Alex reached Varkoth, he didn't attack immediately. Stay connected with m-v l|e'm,p| y- r

Instad, he let the momentum of his energy build, focusing all of his power on a single point.

Varkoth was still covered from head to toe in his penetration energy so Alex had decided to be cautious.

If he was going to strike, he was going to make sure it was as powerful as he could manage!

Since Alex knew that the moment his sword neared Varkoth's scales, the penetration energy would instinctively attack him even though its master was currently unable to defend himself.

He focused, channelling all the Phoenix Fire around him into the blade, intensifying its crimson glow.

The flames danced along the edge of the sword, growing hotter and more intense as if they took on a life of their own.

Alex could feel Virtue's Edge vibrating with energy.

In fact, the sword was vibrating too much.

Alex knew that it wouldn't be able to take such stress for much longer.

The power surging through Virtue's Edge was nearly all of the Phoenix Flames that Alex could summon at once.

The tip of the blade glowed with an intense crimson heat, seeming ready to explode any second.

He took a deep breath, steadying himself, calming himself.

The battlefield around him was eerily still, except for the Red Demons at the bottom of the cliff who were all roaring and shouting for Varkoth to wake up, as they watched Alex practically walk all over him, while Varkoth did nothing about it.

They wanted to intervene in the fight, but with the Humans also on the battlefield keeping an extremely close eye on them, it would be impossible for them to without reigniting the war between them.

Finally, the energy in Alex's sword reaches its peak, with it practically roaring at him that it couldn't take anymore.

It was said that Virtue's Edge was indestructible, but that didn't mean it couldn't still take damage.

The sword knew that too, which was why it was so adamant that Alex stop pumping it full of energy after a certain point.

And finally, with a swift, fluid motion of the sword, Alex moved from his spot.

The blade cut through the air with a speed that made it invisible to the naked eye.

The force of the swing was intense, carrying all of Alex's strength behind it like a tidal wave, concentrated in a single, devastating strike.

The moment the blade connected with Varkoth's scaled skin, the battlefield erupted in a blinding flash of crimson light.

It was like a supernova had just graced the battlefield, with every soldier, no matter if they were human or Red Demon, in a 50 mile radius all closed their eyes and shielded themselves from the light.

Alex's Phoenix fire was unleashed in its full fury, and it collided with Varkoth's own Penetration energy.

The two forces clashed in a spectacular explosion of power.

Varkoth's penetration energy flared in response.