After gathering themselves and regaining their mana, they headed out of the bakery with hearts full of determination. Geo and Narbo, sons of noble houses, were about to defy the whole system, fighting alongside Yaku and Emilia.
The streets were empty as the heroes made their way to Doth's palace. Fireballs never once faltered, launching from the palace nonstop. Who knows how many they had killed, but it was probably in the thousands, Yaku thought to himself as they ran toward the palace.
Once they reached the palace, a swarm of low-class noble mages surrounded them—all of them from the House of Fire, Narbo's noble house. Yet Narbo stood against them. They shouted insults at him, but he responded by throwing flames at them. Geo and Yaku immediately started knocking them out as well. They didn't stand a chance against three intermediate-class mages.
Emilia supported them with healing when needed. They kept making their way up the palace until they reached the roof. There, five intermediate fire magicians were conjuring huge fireballs to throw on the outer layer. Doth was standing with them, enjoying the death and destruction from afar.
Narbo immediately placed his hands on the ground, summoning pillars of fire, spoiling their attack and catching everyone's attention. Doth turned around and saw them.
"Two mages with noble house crests attacking us? Have you no shame? I will make sure your heads are hung up on the doors of your families. Mages, ATTACK!" Doth said in his nasally, contentious voice, ordering the mages to strike.
Unfortunately, they were mismatched against Geo and Yaku. Fire magic was simply too slow to counter reinforcement magic, and with Narbo launching attacks from afar, the fight quickly swayed in the heroes' direction.
As Yaku and Geo ran toward the fire mages, they faced fast fire attacks in the shape of small fire bullets. Yaku dropped to his knees and slid under them while Geo jumped. As Geo was landing, Yaku created a mana platform to launch him into the air.
The mages were distracted by Geo, opening a chance for Yaku to close the distance. Four of them managed to jump away, but Yaku caught one off guard, punching him hard enough to launch him off the roof.
One of the mages noticed Emilia and put his hands together to launch a huge attack meant to turn her to dust. Yaku noticed—and it was as if time slowed down. He used 100% of his mana output alongside mana acceleration to reach that mage in a split second. With one sword slice, he cut off both hands.
When Yaku turned off his acceleration magic, it took the mage a second to realize what had happened. His screams filled the air as he looked at his severed hands on the ground, kneeling in pain, blood pouring rapidly.
Only three mages remained. Doth looked at what Yaku had done and seemed impressed—but not concerned. The remaining mages grew anxious and started begging Doth for help.
Doth clicked his tongue in disgust.
"You are useless to me," he said.
In one second, all of the fire mages' heads fell to the ground. Yaku, Geo, Narbo, and Emilia watched in horror as the men in front of them lost their lives in the blink of an eye.
They gulped in fear of how strong Doth truly was.
"Did you see what happened?" Yaku asked.
Narbo and Geo both confirmed. "Yes—curved swords took their heads."
"Good. At least we can all see his fast attacks. We can't count ourselves out yet," Yaku said, though doubt lingered in his voice.
"How much mana do you have left?" Geo asked.
"I still have more than half. Don't worry," Yaku replied.
"I'll try to distract him with my fire attacks while you two close in," Narbo said, faint flames glowing from his hands.
The three stood side by side: Narbo on the right, Yaku in the middle, and Geo on the left. Emilia stayed in the back, waiting to heal anyone who needed her.
"LET'S DO THIS!" Yaku shouted.
Narbo slammed his hands on the ground, summoning a pillar of fire beneath Doth. Geo immediately sprinted left, eyes locked on Doth, trying to read his movement. Yaku stood ready, mana concentrated in his feet, waiting for Doth to dodge.
The fire pillar erupted beneath Doth, but instead of dodging left or right, he lunged straight at Narbo. Curved swords appeared from thin air—aimed to cut Narbo into pieces.
Geo and Yaku's eyes widened. Both lunged with all their might, intercepting Doth at the last second, deflecting his swords as fast as they could. Narbo snapped out of his shock and joined with flames of his own.
Doth backed up, a smug expression on his face.
"His swords… they have so much force behind them. My hands are shaking just from deflecting them," Geo said, worry in his voice.
"Looks like he has a certain range to summon his swords. Otherwise, he would've cut our heads from afar already. We just need to bait him," Yaku replied, trying to calm him down.
---
"When you have everything in life, what is there left to want? There must be more to life than having everything. And it's absolute power—the fear of people as you walk among them. That is the true reason to live," Doth said as swords spawned behind him, fanning out like sun rays.
"You are mistaken. The reason to live is not to plant fear in others. We live to achieve something pure. A mother bear doesn't kill her children even when she has absolute power to do so. Fear and death are not natural. Protecting the people we love—that's what's natural.
Tonight, you will fall. And everyone will breathe a sigh of relief!" Yaku shouted, pointing his sword at Doth with utter conviction.
In the next instant, Yaku's acceleration magic activated. He vanished from where he stood and reappeared beside Doth's right flank, swinging his sword with everything he had.
Three swords materialized, blocking his strike and creating a shockwave that shook the entire palace.
Geo immediately followed, striking from the left. Doth blocked him too, but the double pressure gave Narbo an opening.
"Hellfire, appear from my hands and burn my enemies to dust!" Narbo roared, unleashing an inferno hotter than any flame he had ever conjured. Four great swords appeared in front of Doth, forming a shield. The flames were so blindingly hot they nearly scorched the sky itself.
Doth screamed, forcing mana into the swords blocking Geo and Yaku, pushing them back. His summoned blades moved like trained fighters, attacking relentlessly. All Geo and Yaku could do was block as they were forced backward.
Doth's gaze shifted. He had set his eyes on Emilia.
Geo and Yaku were occupied. Narbo was on cooldown after expending his mana in the great spell.
Doth lunged.
In mere seconds, he was within killing distance of Emilia. A great sword appeared in his hands, raised to slice her in half.
Her face froze in terror. She stumbled back, but there was no escape.
Time seemed to slow as she stared into Doth's dead, merciless eyes.
"Help me…" she whispered in a trembling voice, pleading for her life.