Unlimited Power 02 – The Ranger's Domain

Thanatos hit the ground and then stayed there for a few moments. That caught him off guard, and the attack hurt quite a bit. That was surprising since the only thing was arms made of only bones.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Ryan's howl made the entire area tremble, and his body completely turned dark. He turned into a cursed dragon much faster than Thanatos had predicted. If he had known that killing Femradiel was the easiest way to make him lose his mind, he would have done it a long time ago. However, instead of being satisfied, Thanatos was confused. When Ryan's arms approached his body, it took the full force of Thanatos' Death Manipulation, to the point where every single trace of life vanished, leaving only bones behind, but now… after being enveloped by a dark aura, his arms were back to normal.

"As expected, there is something different about him compared to the others…" Thanatos furrowed his eyebrows.

Thanatos assumed an offensive stance the very moment Ryan flew toward him. Even his speed increased exponentially, thanks to it, faster than an eye could blink, Ryan attacked the place Thanatos had been standing a moment before. Thanatos jumped backward and escaped the attack. Still, he was close enough to see his Death Manipulation eat away the flesh on Ryan's body. That happened, but only for a brief moment. The corruption around Ryan's body began to emit a miasma that covered his whole body like an armor. His body was suffering damage, but Thanatos won't be able to kill him with his presence alone.

"Amidst his range, how can he control his corruption like that?" Thanatos asked. "… Let's see if that can stop him."

Thanatos tried to use Summon Zombie on Femradiel's body, but much to his surprise, the skill didn't work. That was a first, and he finally realized that he couldn't sense her soul anywhere. It was almost like she hadn't died, but that should be impossible. Thanatos couldn't feel any presence coming from her body.

Thanatos reacted too slowly thanks to the surprise when Ryan dashed at him, he almost touched his body and ripped his flesh apart, but his spear stopped the attack. However, the next moment, the dark aura around Ryan's body dashed forward as it had a will on its own to devour Thanatos as a whole. Thanatos' sliced it with his scythe and easily split it in half. Still, then the dark aura attached itself again and enveloped his scythe. Before anything could happen with his weapon, Thanatos teleported away from Ryan.

"Even my scythe that can show the true might of my powers wasn't enough to kill that… it isn't a living being," Thanatos frowned. "It is just a mass of dark thoughts. Is he just an ordinary cursed dragon?"

Ryan looked around and finally found Thanatos. He then opened his mouth and used his Dark Ice Breath. Thanatos furrowed his eyebrows once again when he felt that smell… that was dangerous. Thanatos teleported to high in the sky to analyze the effects of the attack. In the end, he found a small mountain that was created by the breath… a mountain of dark ice. The ice was so powerful that it didn't emit any cold. It was just the absolute cold of outer space… Ryan managed to fire an attack that emulated the total lack of heat and made it even more powerful thanks to the corruption in his body. Thanatos knew someone who could do the exact thing, and that someone was Hades, the Greek god of the underworld. One of the few elder gods that Thanatos respected and considered a friend.

In any case, Thanatos realized that he won't go anywhere relying on his power as a god of death alone. When he tried to cause damage on Ryan, he immediately found him. He protected himself with the miasma while he flew toward Thanatos.

Thanatos raised his scythe, and then the atmosphere changed on the dark hole that was one left side of his throne. Numerous purple shadows emerged and then flew toward Ryan. As if causing death wasn't enough, he even used the souls of the dead to torment Ryan. They entered his body and tried to pull him down by screaming as they tried to touch his soul. Ryan's speed decreased a little, but in the end, Thanatos and his souls weren't fast enough. When Ryan tried to slash him apart with his claws again, Thanatos was forced to protect himself. He couldn't do those things at the same time.

Thanatos tried to buy some time by teleporting too far away. Still, Ryan immediately found him whenever a new soul entered his body. Despite his madness, his instincts and skills still were there.

"He is by far the strongest cursed dragon I have ever fought," Thanatos muttered as he tried to escape Ryan just by flying.

As if that wasn't enough, even though Ryan was using the miasma and the corruption to protect himself, it didn't seem like the energy was getting weaker. It looked almost like his rage was endless… which gave Thanatos an idea. While he was flying around his castle, he pointed his scythe toward Ryan, and then a dark-red energy began to leave his body and gather at the point of his scythe. Thanatos was manipulating Ryan's anger with Anger Manipulation. Perhaps by doing so, he will gather enough energy to put him down with a single strike.

It didn't take long for a massive sphere of red and dark energy flying above Thanatos' Spear to form. Still, even Thanatos was having a hard time controlling all that energy since Ryan was directing all his fury toward him. In the end, Thanatos decided to use it instead of gathering more energy. He teleported to behind Ryan and then swung his spear toward him. Still, before he could finish the swing, his hands were suddenly enveloped by ice, and that stopped him.

"I can't let you do that," Femradiel said.

Femradiel bought just enough time for Ryan to turn around and then blast the sphere of hatred with his own Dark Ice Breath. The two attacks collided, causing an explosion that made the entire world tremble.