The Walker Of Voids
Chapter 25 Killing A First Commandment Hobgoblin [3]

[Aspect of Void]

The purple runes on Null's blade suddenly started seeping out a purple light that gradually covered the entire blade, yet before that could happen, Null had already jumped off the drone and began to shoot down toward the stunned goblin chief.

Before the goblin chief could regain its senses, pain surged from its right side before an audible thud entered its ears.

Looking toward the pain, it was forced to clench its teeth while watching blood spurt out of the open wound where its arm was supposed to be.

The cut was completely clean and silent as if a blazing hot knife cut through butter.

The goblin chief let out an ear-piercing roar that traveled throughout the entire floor, causing the entire forest to tremble as if a magnitude 7 earthquake had hit it, yet this did not seem to affect Null, who had already entered a zone of his own.

His violet eyes were cold, while his aura was as calm as an unperturbed lake.

Suddenly, Transcendent shot through the air and slammed his foot into the goblin's torso, making it blast backward before being forced to slide and take several steps back.

Using shadow movement, Null appeared by its side, sliced its calves, and disappeared before the goblin could turn around in time.

Null knew that taking a hit from the goblin chief would mean instant death, but now that he had [Aspect of Void] on his blade, he felt like he could take on anything and everything the goblin chief had in store for him.

He felt like he could cut through time and space itself, yet he chose against it since his instincts told him it was best if he avoided doing so at his current level, especially in front of so many cameras.

Before the goblin chief could fully turn around and meet Null's eyes as he submerged himself in his own shadow, Transcendent appeared again and swung his blade in an arch to decapitate his enemy.

The goblin, however, had other things in mind. Without thinking twice, it shrouded itself in flames and forced Transcendent to leap back.

When Null finally left his shadow, the duo looked into each other's eyes for less than a split second before nodding and dashing in two different directions.

The goblin chief found itself forced to only focus its attention on one thing at a time, as due to Null being the one who sliced its arm off, it turned to him with the conclusion that he was a much more dangerous opponent than the one who kept kicking it every now and then.

However...

*Boom*

A green arrow shot through the air and hit the goblin on the torso, yet it exploded and released a poisonous green mist instead of penetrating or bouncing off the skin.

Simultaneously, several arcane spells were created purely from mana shots and curved in the air like mana missiles homing towards their target.

The goblin raised its hand and made a wall of orange flames, yet those flames froze alongside every ember and flame on the battlefield, as if time itself froze.

Without a wall of flames to stop the incoming attacks, the mana missiles barraged the goblin chief, causing several explosions to go off while kicking up a dust cloud in its wake.

When the dust cloud finally dissipated, one could see a severely injured goblin being ravaged by blue flames and screaming out in pain and terror, yet when its eyes fell upon a figure that had appeared in front of it, the fear within its eyes only increase in intensity while the terror in its screams became more audible.

The goblin chief, who had already become a hobgoblin, looked into Null's eyes with visible rage before lifting its fist and shooting it directly toward Null's face.

The fist's power rippled the air around it, and despite seeing that, Null still took a step forward.

*Sching*

In an instant, the blade transformed into a purple light arch that tore through the air and sliced the incoming fist into two pieces.

The goblin opened its mouth to let out another roar, yet what came out were muffled screams as Null shoved its fist into its mouth while stabbing it through the stomach, causing blood to spurt out from the other side.

The goblin's screams echoed in the air as its eyes started to bulge out, and with a flick of his wrist, Null pulled out the blade.

It continued to struggle, and right before an attack fast enough to land on Null came his way, A man with a white and gold shield appeared in front of Null before slamming his hammer down and creating an illusory, much larger ethereal form of himself to block the incoming attack.

Another man with a shield shot through the air and slammed into the goblin from out of nowhere, and while this might have only made it take a few steps back to regain its balance, it was enough for Null to enact the final step of his plan.

From the beginning to the end, he had already calculated and thought of all the observable possibilities and therefore had planned everything for it to go in his favor.

Submerging into his own shadow again while using most of his remaining mana, Null appeared behind the struggling goblin and swung his blade in an arch.

His blade flashed purple as the aura covering it sharpened and made the blade more powerful than ever before.

For some reason, Null felt like he was holding a blade of the second commandment, yet instead of focusing on that, his eyes flashed with the coldness of a frozen tundra as his blade tore through the goblin chief's neck, beheading it in the process.

The headless corpse fell to the ground with a thud, and as the blood pooled around it while the purple light on the blade gradually started to fade.

Null jumped up and landed on the headless corpse as he looked down at it with a hint of disdain.

"I must say..." Null breathed out as power began to surge into his body, making him feel a million times stronger than before.

"This experience has been a disappointment from start to finish."

"Disappointment, my ass! We almost died on several occasions!" Transcendent complained while falling onto his backside and unsummoning his blade.

"Are you two okay?" OracleOfFlames landed right beside the two and asked with a tilt of her head. Her expression didn't display any worry, nor did her tone of voice, making it seem like she was simply asking out of respect rather than worry.

"Yeah. The fight was mediocre at best." Null shrugged.

"I want to punch you in the face so bad. The only thing stopping is your injuries, so... Oracle, can you heal him, please." Transcendent asked with a seemingly innocent smile, yet Null could see that hidden petty intention behind it.

"I would, but I can barely stay standing myself." OracleOfFlames complained while ruffling her orange hair.

"Why is that?" Null asked out of curiosity, yet this did not overshadow the cold tone in his voice from the first time the group met him.

While OracleOfFlames was slightly taken aback by Null's commanding tone, when looking into his eyes, she knew that he meant no harm, making her conclude that the mask he was wearing must have changed his voice slightly in order to keep his identity secret.

She wasn't completely wrong since the mask did change Lloyd's voice slightly, but it was not to the extent that it would make him sound could. It would only make his voice slightly deeper.

While this would have been a small measure to keep his identity secret, another factor came into play in hiding his identity, and one that he had not planned in the least.

"Well, despite what you saw, it is not easy to control the flames of a hobgoblin even if it just awakened its elemental affinity and barely became a hobgoblin." She breathed out in exhaustion.

"I can try healing you if you want." A familiar voice entered their ears and made them turn around just to see Grisha shyly smiling at them, her long blonde hair reaching her midsection, while her piercing pale blue eyes looked away when their eyes landed on her.

"You are an Arcane Master. Am I correct?" Null asked dismissively.

"Yeah, but I know a few healing runes I learned a few years ago... Before I awakened, they taught us all the basic runes that we might need to use to ensure that we are ahead of all the other kids when we awaken." She explained.

Null slightly nodded before quickly looking towards his blade that had corroded and weathered beyond recognition.

'I knew that using Aspect of Void would damage my blade, but I had no idea it would be to this extent.' Null was shocked, and his eyes refused to leave the blade in his hand. However, what shocked him most was not only the state of the blade, but the fact that it had gotten to this stage without using the ability's full capabilities.

He knew that the ability had much more than simply increasing the level and quality of the weapon he wields. All he had done so far was using the base features of the ability.

The reasons he had not gone further were both because of the cameras that were being pointed at him, and the fact that he knew that the base abilities of Aspect of Void were enough for the likes of the hobgoblin.

While he was certain that increasing his attack output would have secured his life and made the fight much easier, he also knew that he had already done too much to catch the eyes of the public, and doing any more would only hurt him in the long run.

"I can try fixing your blade too if you want, but I'm no blacksmith or starforger, so I most likely won't have the ability to fully replenish it." Grisha asked while fumbling with the wand in her hands.

"I would be most thankful if you do me this favor." Null bowed slightly before walking to her and handing her the blade, yet instead of looking at the thing that she was being given, Grisha was transfixed by the pair of violet stars that were staring at her from behind the mask.

"You have violet eyes..." Grisha muttered unconsciously while the other two raised a brow.

While Transcendent had seen Null's eyes before, he didn't think much of it since they were in the middle of a battle, and it almost made sense for the guy with shadow abilities to have black or purple eyes. However, now that he thought of it, Null's feats in this battle and his abilities felt slightly off. As if there was something that didn't make sense about him anymore.

'How can he take on a mid-stage first commandment despite not being a first commandment himself?'

'Why does he have so many abilities?'

'Why are his eyes violet?'

'Why was his killing intent so powerful?'

'How did he get on top of the drone so quickly?

OracleOfFlames had many of the same questions, but since she had only seen Null fight once, she was more close-minded about the ideas entering her mind.

After all, why would she be worried? Because he is a void walker? What a joke.

Everyone knew that the chances of a Void Walker reappearing were slim to null. And even if they were to reappear, the government had put so many procedures in place to ensure they would be immediately spotted and killed.

Everything from the Awakening Ceremony and the Adventurer's Association exam to portals and IDs are used to scan if someone is a Void walker or not.

And who would believe some weak boy without a commandment would be a Void Walker? Throughout history, Void Walkers have been seen as forces of nature. Literal walking calamities capable of destroying entire governments with a single attack.

Many believe that Void Walkers are born at the top of the food chain and don't have to work their way up there, so why OracleOfFlames believe something as stupid as Null being a Void Walker?

"Do you not like it?" Null asked, his voice feeling much more chilling this time than his usual neutral-cold voice.

"N-No! I just thought that they were beautiful, that's all... It's just so rare to see someone with violet eyes nowadays so I was slightly stunned." Grisha waved her hands frantically while his eyes began tearing up, making her look like she was on the verge of crying.

The scene would have been considered extremely cute by anyone watching, yet Null simply nodded and turned around before strolling back to his teammates.

"Ophelia..." Transcendent narrowed his eyes at Null, who was getting further and further away before turning his head to the orange-haired beauty beside him.

"Didn't I tell you to not call me that when we are in public? You're lucky we turned the cameras off after killing the big guy." OracleOfFlames shook her head, but she could not help but let out a sigh when she saw Transcendent glare at her.

"I know what you are thinking, but your thoughts are illogical. Just try to think of the chances of him being what you think he is, and if you aren't convinced by then, you can try replaceing the files on his awakening ceremony. I am more than certain that you have the political power to replace his true identity, or am I wrong?" She asked while Transcendent nodded slightly before shaking his head and the thoughts plaguing it.

'If he really is one of those monsters, then it will show in due time. If he is one of them, then he will eventually lose to his bloodlust and lose control of himself. That is when I will end it all for him.' Transcendent glared at Null, his golden eyes flickering for a moment before returning to their previous calmness.