On the Royal Throne, the clash had just begun
Cael dashed toward Auel at incredible speed
Auel lowered his stance, one hand resting on the scabbard at his waist
He waited
Just before Cael reached him, the Cardinal suddenly smirked and stopped his charge
Several sharp thorns shot toward Auel
He had no choice but to draw his sword and knock them aside
Clang!
At the same time, Cael already right in front of him
His blade swept toward Auel's neck
Auel continued the motion of his draw, deflecting the attack
For a moment, he was surprised
It was only a feint
Cael spun around, shifted to Auel's side, and thrust his blade toward him
Auel turned his sword and blocked the attack once again
"Tch…"
Cael leaped backward, creating some distance between them
"You're not bad"
Auel sheathed his sword and took his stance
Cael's expression became more serious
"Enhance Agility!"
They both activated the same buff and began another clash
On the other side of the throne room, Aren's wooden clone charged toward Erin
"Earth Wall!"
Erin casted her spell and the wall immediately rose up, created wall separating them
But the clone simply moved around it and swung its sword at her from the side
"Lighting Spark!"
A bolt of lightning shot from the tip of Erin's staff
It moved its shield and blocked the attack
The clone immediately launched a counterattack by thrusting its sword
Erin ducked beneath the blade and raised her staff again
"Earth Wall!"
Another wall erupted from the ground, this time directly beneath the clone
The sudden force pushed it backward
She reached behind her waist and pulled out two arrows from her smaller quiver
"Ricochet Shot!"
She fired both arrows
They flew in different directions before suddenly changing course in midair, bouncing off invisible angles and converging on the clone from opposite sides
The clone could only block one of it with his shield while the other hit it right on the other arm
The arrow didn't do much damage, but it didn't stop there
"Explode!"
The arrows started glowing and then-
BOOM!
Both arrows exploded
The blast tore apart the clone's arms, leaving it defenseless
Erin already raised her staff
Magic circle glowing at the tip of her staff
"Flame Snipe!"
A tiny fireball shot forward at tremendous speed
Without its shield the clone couldn't blocked the attack
BAM!
The fireball destroyed the clone's upper body, leaving only its lower parts
But something strange happened
The lower body still standing
The burned wood and roots began to shed from its body
New roots emerged from the remains and rapidly intertwined, rebuilding its torso
Within seconds, the clone had completely regenerated, like nothing ever happened
"W-what!?" Ashley startled
Then it dashed right at Ashley
Looking at the clone coming at her he pulled an arrow from the quiver on her back
"Power Shot!"
A powerful arrow flied right at the clone
It blocked the arrow, but the immense power pushed the clone back
"Flame Snipe!"
Another fireball shot with an immense speed
BAM!
The clone raised its shield just in time
The impact destroyed the shield and blew apart the arm holding it
Once again, the burned roots and wood fell away
Slowly its regenerating a new arm
"Tch… how the hell we should beat it?"
Nearby, Aren swung his sword at Gramm
Gramm sidestepped the attack and raised his axe
"Enhance power!"
His muscles tensed as the axe came crashing down with tremendous force
Aren raised his shield
"Perfect Wall!"
BAM!
The blow slammed against the shield
Aren held his ground
"Tch…"
Gramm pulled his axe back and immediately swung it from the side
"Warrior's Might!"
The axe swung at Aren from the side
Again, Aren shifted his shield to blocked the attack
"Perfect Wall!"
Aren blocked the attack easily and charged his sword
"Warrior's Might!"
He swung his sword at Gramm's body
He reinforced his body at the last moment
"Enhance Strength!"
BAM!
The sword struck his armor and pushed him backward
He didn't have any shield to blocked the attack
The thick armor absorbed most of the impact
It didn't stop there; Aren rushed forward with his shield raised
BAM!
The shield slammed into Gramm's chest and sent him staggering backward
Aren kept attacking, now his thrust his sword at Gramm's head
Gramm quickly recovered and moved his body right in time
The sword grazed his shoulder armor
Gramm immediately stepped forward and slammed his body into Aren, forcing him back
He followed with a powerful swing of his axe
But Aren raised his shield right in time
"Perfect Wall!"
BAM!
It perfectly blocked
Aren raised his sword and swung
A downward slash
Gramm hid behind his axe handle to blocked it
Then raised one of its legs and kick him back
At the opposite side of the throne room, Veyn was locked in combat with Elric
Veyn swung his dagger at him but Elric effortlessly stepped aside
An arrow suddenly appeared in his hand
Veyn twisted his body and dodged the projectile
"Roots!"
Roots erupted from the floor and whipped toward Elric
Slash!
Suddenly Elric's bow transformed into a sword and cut the roots
He immediately followed with a counterattack
Veyn jumped backward, widening the distance between them
"Thorns!"
Roots burst from the ground and launched a barrage of sharp thorns
Again, his sword transformed one more time
This time into a shield and blocked the incoming projectiles
Then the shield changed again
This time, it became a spear
Elric lunged forward
He thrust and swung the spear several times, forcing Veyn to retreat
"Roots!"
More roots emerged beneath Elric, twisting around his legs
He sliced through every one of them before they could catch him
His spear transformed again
This time, it became a massive hammer
Elric leaped into the air and brought it down toward Veyn
"Earth Wall!"
The ground raised, created a wall
BAM!
Veyn didn't stop and cast another spell
"Earth Spikes!"
Sharp spikes erupted from the wall and shot toward Elric
But the hammer transformed right in time into a shield and blocked the attack
Elric jumped back and created a space between them
The two stared at each other from opposite sides of the room
Meanwhile, Erin and Ashley were still struggling against Aren's wooden clone
No matter how much damage they inflicted, it simply regenerated
Every burned branch and shattered piece of wood was replaced by new growth
Tch…
How are we supposed to defeat it?
Ashley watched the clone carefully
It keeps regenerating
And I'm running out of magic arrows
The clone suddenly charged toward her
Ashley jumped backward and reached for another arrow from her waist quiver
She fired while still in the air
The arrow struck the ground after the clone sidestepped it
"Bind!"
The arrow began to glow
A golden ring appeared around it and rapidly expanded toward the clone
But the clone jumped backward and escaped the ring
Several fireballs immediately flew toward it
The clone raised its shield and blocked them
Then it threw away its damaged shield
New roots grew from its arm, forming another one
Ashley narrowed her eyes
Something was different
Does its shield get smaller?
She quickly drew another magic arrow from her waist quiver
"Ricochet shot!"
The arrow bounced through the air several times, changing direction with every ricochet
The clone tried to evade it
But the arrow continued changing direction until it struck the arm holding the shield
"Explode!"
The explosion destroyed the clone's arm
Once again, roots began growing from the stump
A new hand formed
Then another shield
Ashley stared at it
This one was noticeably smaller than the previous shield
"I knew it… Erin, keep burn that thing"
She nodded and raised her staff
"Fireballs!"
Multiple fireballs shot directly at the clone
The clone moved to dodged every hit
"Power Shot!"
The clone couldn't dodge it right in time and the arrow hit its arm holding the sword and blew it
The clone immediately began regenerating
Ashley smiled
"We're wearing it down"
The clone suddenly charged toward her
"Earth Wall!"
Erin casted another spell and the ground raised, separating the clone with Ashley
"Fireballs!"
Another barrage followed
It simply dodged every single of it
But Ashley already behind the clone and shot an arrow at it
HIT!
The arrow stuck behind the clone
"Bind!"
A golden ring appeared around the arrow and expanded
This time, the clone couldn't escape
It was bound in place
"Erin now!"
Ashley moved away from the clone while Erin casted her magic
"Incinerate!"
A torrent of flame erupted from her staff and engulfed the wooden creature
The clone struggled against the binding
Its body burned away
Eventually, only its lower half remained
The roots tried to regenerate
But the process was slower now
Much slower
"Fireballs!"
Erin fired repeatedly
The remaining roots were engulfed in flames
One by one, they burned away
Finally, the regeneration stopped
The clone collapsed into a pile of ashes
Ashley looked down at the clone ashes
"Whew… finally, you could regenerate after you do it multiple time right"
Then she looked at Erin
"Hey you can still fight, right?"
"Y-yes" Erin answered
"Good, let's help the other"
Meanwhile, Auel and Cael were fighting with an insane speed
Their weapons collided again and again
Cael dashed at Auel, aiming his blade at him
Auel prepared to block
He kept getting closer, until he stopped and spun his body
He raised one of his legs, and kick Auel
BAM!
Couldn't anticipated that, Auel got hit and pushed back
Didn't stop there, Cael kept his aggressive attack by dashing at him
Auel blocked it with his sword
Suddenly fireballs came right at them
Looking at it, Cael immediately jumped back to dodged the attack
But Auel didn't move, instead he blocked the fireballs and sheathed his sword
Then Auel rushed toward Cael and then slashed the air with his burning sword, creating multiple flame arcs
"What!?" Cael startled
Cael twisted his body, narrowly avoiding each one
But Auel was already upon him
He swung his flaming blade
Cael moved aside
The sword missed his body but sliced through part of his robe
Then Cael launched a counter attack by swinging his blade
Auel casually stepped backward, creating distance between them
"Auel, are you alright?" Erin called and stood behind him
"Yes, just leave this guy to me, help Gramm" Auel answered casually while sheathed his sword
Erin nodded and immediately went to help Gramm
"Heh, you got a big mouth huh?"
Cael slowly lowered his body to the ground
"Extreme Enhance Agility!"
Then he vanished instantly and reappeared directly in front of him and swung his blade
Auel unsheathed his sword to block, but suddenly Cael vanished again
He reappeared behind Auel and thrust his blade at him
Auel twisted his body
Stab!
Cael moved really fast that Auel couldn't dodge it in time and got his body stabbed
He vanished again and reappeared on the side, Cael swung his blade
Auel moved his body and raised his sword to blocked it
But Cael disappeared again and appeared behind Auel
Stab!
Auel got stabbed from behind
Cael continued his assault, swinging from another angle
Clang!
But Auel blocked it with his sword
"Tch…"
Cael jumped back and immediately vanished
Auel sheathed his sword and put on his stance
For several seconds, Cael was nowhere to be seen
Auel remained completely still
He closed his eyes
A faint sound of movement came from behind him
Cael reappeared
His blade swept toward Auel's back
But Auel didn't move, he took a slow breath
Then he unsheathed his sword and vanished
Cael missed the attack
"What!?"
Suddenly Auel reappeared behind him and sheathed his blade
Slash!
A delayed attack came and hit Cael on his chest
Blood splattered from the wound
"How!?" Cael stared at Auel in disbelief "How could he see my move?"
Despite the wound, they remained standing
They raised his blade again
On the other side, Aren rushed at Gramm, swinging his sword at him
Gramm dodge it and jumped backward
"Bind!"
Multiple golden rings appeared around Aren
They rapidly contracted
But Aren moved between them and escaped
Then Gramm rushed at him and swung his axe at him
"Perfect Wall!"
BAM!
Aren blocked the blow with his shield
Gramm immediately jumped backward
"Incinerate!"
Erin unleashed a torrent of flame
Aren raised his shield and blocked the attack
While Aren was occupied with the flames, Gramm moved around him
He attacked from the side
"Tch… Magic Barrier!"
A magic shield appeared and block the flame for him, while he raised his shield toward Gramm
BAM!
Gramm's axe slammed against it
The impact damaged the shield
Gramm didn't let up
He swung again
Aren raised his shield once more, and block the attack
BAM!
CRACK!
Aren's shield shattered
He immediately jumped backward
Erin stopped her flames and moved behind Gramm
"Tch… annoying"
Then he roots grew around his hand, but instead of creating a shield it created another sword
On the other side, Elric rushed at Veyn and slammed him with a great axe
BAM!
Veyn dodged it right in time
The attack destroyed the floor and could end his life
Elric transformed his axe into a spear and dashed at him
Suddenly, an arrow flew toward him
Elric stopped and tilted his body asidw
Immediately he jumped back
Ashley appeared beside Veyn, bow already drawn
Two against one
Elric's spear transformed into a sword and shield
Veyn and Ashley prepared for attack
But before they could move, the Throne door suddenly opened
Everyone turned toward the entrance
Helen stood there, breathing heavily
She had something in his hand
Something glowing
Something golden
The King's crown
Then, she raised it up
"We've got the crown!"