Among the five great races of Britannia, the Demon Clan and the Goddess Clan are, of course, the strongest. After them come the Fairy Clan and the Giant Clan as the second tier. As for humans, whether in lifespan or ability, they hardly bear mentioning in comparison to the other races.
As the king of the Fairies, who command the forces of nature, King's strength is naturally considerable.
So when Charles declared war on him, he scoffed. He simply didn't believe some human who'd appeared out of nowhere could defeat him.
Then he realized how naïve he was. Before he could even react, Charles crashed headlong into him with a greeting blow.
King never saw how Charles moved—one instant Charles wasn't there, the next instant he was right in front of him.
At such distance, it was too late to control the Spirit Spear; he could only rely on his body to brawl with Charles.
Except…!
Charles's tight hook smashed into King's abdomen, doubling his entire body over.
As for King's hand-to-hand ability… well, as Meliodas puts it, he can't even beat a cat. In his stat spread, the Strength category is literally zero.
Even so, Charles had pulled that punch. Otherwise, King would already be out cold.
Gritting through the pain, King called the Spirit Spear back.
"Second Form: Guardian!"
Behind Charles, the spear morphed into a giant green plush-bear guardian and swung a fist down at him.
Among all the weapons Charles had seen, the Spirit Spear Chastiefol was one of the most unusual. Not only could it shift into multiple forms, each form had its own properties and applications.
Its Second Form was a massive guardian beast composed of the moss attached to the Sacred Tree.
Moss it might be, but the Guardian's power was by no means weak. Its hardness wasn't high, but its toughness absolutely passed muster, making it perfect for restraining foes.
And with the water content in the moss, it had noteworthy resistance to flame as well.
That still depends on the flame. Charles struck once, and a searing blaze curled up and wrapped the Guardian's descending arm.
The transformation failed to hold; the Spirit Spear reverted and was knocked back, the tip glowing red-hot from the burn.
Fortunately, King didn't need to grip the spear to control it, or he'd have been burned for sure. Even so, he felt his control over it turn sluggish under the lingering effect of Charles's flame.
King's eyes turned serious. He already understood that the opponent before him possessed power equal to or beyond his own. If he didn't take this seriously, he'd really be taught a harsh lesson.
While he used his magic to purge the flame's interference from the spear, King recalled Chastiefol and shifted it to the Fifth Form.
Midair, the spear rapidly split apart into a cloud of throwing-knife–like mini-spears.
King swept his arm, and the mini-spears lined up and flowed at Charles like a river.
"Fifth Form: Increase!"
Charles exhaled a puff of white vapor, and Dragon-Slayer and Evil Dragon wrapped his hands.
An Innate Armament is the materialization of the soul, and as Charles grew, its appearance had changed many times.
After obtaining Ignia's power, the look of the two gauntlets changed again. Dragon-Slayer absorbed Charles's newly awakened flame power; its plates became sharper-edged, turned white in color, with orange-red tracery. Evil Dragon fused with Ignia's destructive flame; its scales grew more ferocious, like the talons of a true dragon, and it turned deep crimson, overlaid with the black striping found on Ignia's own body.
Once Charles manifested his Innate Armament, not only could he wield both flames simultaneously, their power was vastly amplified.
Feeling the surge of power coursing through him, Charles punched.
Both forearms all but vanished—merely a visual error caused by overwhelming speed.
Any mini-spear that entered a certain range caromed away. Not a single one could cross the line.
"How… how is that possible? What kind of monster are you?" King felt the scene before him break every piece of common sense he had.
He could judge that Charles's magic was flame-based. Faced with a concentrated volley from Increase, it would have been normal for Charles to counter with a high-powered blaze.
He hadn't imagined Charles would swat every mini-spear aside with his bare hands. The speed, strength, and reaction time required—King couldn't even begin to imagine it.
Teeth clenched, King recalled the scattered mini-spears and sent them surging again, creating an unending stream of attacks. He wanted to see whether this guy's stamina was really infinite.
Charles had no intention of humoring him. He pulled back the hand clad in Evil Dragon, splayed his fingers, and clutched at the air in front of him.
As his arm fell, a giant claw of deep-crimson flame swatted the river of mini-spears, batting them in every direction.
With the little spears sent flying, Charles set his sights on King hovering midair and launched himself up.
King hooked his finger, and the spears behind Charles merged back into a lance and shot at him in a flash.
Charles tilted his head and let the spear whistle past, while King used the moment to back off even farther.
As if. Who would let a monster like that get close? Having taken one of Charles's punches, King was sure his scrawny frame wouldn't withstand a serious hit.
The spear transformed again, becoming a colossal vine at King's side. A giant bud opened at the tip, a disk surrounded by seven petals glowing yellow as it began to gather massive magic.
"Fourth Form: Sunflower!"
The enormous flowerhead turned into a magic cannon and fired a tremendous beam straight at Charles.
Charles brought his hands together, the two flames coiling around them fusing into one.
"Radiant Flame of the Fire Dragon God!"
Of all his techniques, this one had gained the most from Ignia's power.
The essences of the two flames merged; the force they unleashed was not merely doubled.
The fused flame turned a gorgeous rose-crimson and erupted from between Charles's hands to meet the Sunflower's beam.
It couldn't even put up a fight. King's attack didn't last a single second before it was crushed outright by Charles's flame.
The heat wave ruffled King's short hair straight back; the vine that was the spear was forced back to its original form.
King swallowed hard. Before he could recover from the shock of that one strike, Charles's fist was there.
Charles drove a punch straight into the bridge of King's nose. King's head snapped back, and twin streams of blood geysered from his nostrils.
Ban raised a hand to his brow like a visor and watched Charles lay into King.
"Is this okay?"
A girl's voice sounded behind him, and a soft look appeared on Ban's face.
"It's fine. There's no killing intent from Charles. I don't know how King offended him, but he's just giving him a lesson. Forget them… I finally get to see you again, Elaine."
A globe of light behind Ban took on a petite human shape, then resolved into a girl in a pure white dress.
Elaine, the saint who guarded the Fairy Clan and the Sacred Spring—Ban's beloved—her soul had finally appeared.
(End of Chapter)
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