Inside the Throne room, the clash still continued
Aren and his clone charged toward Gramm and Rikka
They were forced to stop when Gramm swept his axe across the floor
Both Aren and his clone leaped in opposite directions to avoid the swing
Rikka took the opportunity to close in on the clone
His flaming blade came down
Clang!
The clone raised one of its swords and caught the blow
But Rikka kept swinging his sword at the clone
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Their weapons collided again and again
With every clash, the flames from Rikka's sword spread farther along the clone's blade
Soon, the fire began crawling toward its arm
Before the flames could reach its body, the clone jumped backward
Its burned arms suddenly fell apart, shedding the charred wood
New roots sprouted from its shoulders and quickly formed a fresh pair of arms
"Tch… What the hell, you can regenerate too!?"
Rikka tightened his grip
"Fine let's see if you can regenerate from this"
The flames around his sword suddenly flared brighter
He leaped forward and brought the blade down
Clang!
The clone raised both of its sword to blocked the strike
This time the flame spread even faster
Rikka continued with a thrust
The clone jumped aside, narrowly avoiding the blade
Rikka immediately turned and swung again
The clone brought its sword up to defend itself, but the moment their weapons collided
Crack!
Its sword crumbled into ashes
Rikka smirked
He drove his flaming blade straight into the clone's chest
Shing~!
"Got you!"
Slash! Slash! Slash!
Rikka unleashed a flurry of strikes, tearing the wooden body apart
The severed pieces were consumed by the flames before they could regenerate
Meanwhile, Gramm charged toward Aren
Aren thrust one of his swords forward
Gramm stopped his advance and twisted his body aside
Aren's second blade immediately followed
Clang!
Gramm raised the shaft of his axe and caught the strike
Aren swung his other sword upward toward Gramm's head
Unable to block it, Gramm pulled his head back
Screech!
The blade scraped across his armor
Gramm shifted his shoulder forward and rammed into Aren
Aren twisted his body aside, completely avoiding the blow
Before Gramm could recover, Aren raised both swords overhead
He brought them down with tremendous speed
"Enhance Agility!"
Gramm activated another buff and he turned his body
At the same moment, he swung his axe toward Aren with all his strength
Aren abandoned his attack and brought both swords in front of him
CLANG!
The impact was overwhelming
Aren was sent flying backward and crashed into the wall
Gramm planted his feet and prepared to leap after him
But his body suddenly froze
A thin stream of blood dripped from his nose
He wiped it away with the back of his hand
Tch… is this all I can do?
Four different buffs at the same time…
No… This is not enough
"War Cry!"
His nose began bleeding again, but Gramm ignored it
He launched himself toward Aren at tremendous speed
On the other side of the Throne Room, Helen, Gill, and Erin were still keeping the golem occupied
Erin raised her staff and quietly cast her spell
"Roots!"
Roots burst from beneath the golem and wrapped around its enormous body
With a single movement, however, the creature tore them from the ground and broke free
"Ice Blast!"
Helen casted an ice shard and shot it at the golem
The golem raised one of its hands and blocked it
BAM!
The ice pierced through its palm before spreading across its arm
Frost quickly covered the entire limb
"Flame Snipe!"
Erin fired a concentrated burst of flame at the frozen arm
BAM!
The golem raised its other hand just in time and took the hit
"Earth Missile!"
Helen sent a drill of earth straight toward its remaining hand
This time, the golem failed to defend itself
BAM!
Its hand was completely destroyed
The creature lowered its damaged arm and pressed the stump against the ground
The earth began to rise
Stone and soil gathered together, forming a new hand
"Roots!"
Roots emerged once more and wrapped tightly around the newly formed limb
But they couldn't hold it for long
As the golem stood, the roots tore apart effortlessly
"What the hell, why does everyone could regenerate so easily?"
Erin quickly ran behind Gill and handed Helen a mana potion
"H-here, drink this"
Helen looked at the bottle
"What? But it's yours"
"No, I'm fine, I still got some mana"
"Well, thank you then"
Helen quickly took the bottle, opened it, and drank it
The golem began advancing toward them
"Tch… You two get ready!" Gill said
Its heavy footsteps shook the floor as it approached
But suddenly, the golem stopped
Its head turned toward the crown
The crown was falling from the ceiling after slipping off the arrow that had pinned it there
The golem started walking toward it
At the same time, Sylffie rushed toward the crown
"Quick, stop the golem" Gill instructed Helen and Erin while he ran toward the golem's leg
"Roots!"
Helen and Erin cast their spells together
Roots erupted from the floor and wrapped around the golem's legs, trying to slow it down
Gill swung his hammer into its leg
BAM!
The golem barely moved
It simply tore through the roots and continued forward
Its fist began to tremble with power
At the same moment-
Sylffie's hand reached the crown
She caught it
But something strange happened
The crown began to glow in her hands
Sylffie stared at it
"W-What's happening…?"
The light grew brighter
Everyone in the room noticed the sudden glow and turned toward her
The crown began expanding around Sylffie's body
Vines of light traveled from her hand toward her other hand, where she held her bow
The golden growth spread across the weapon
Slowly, the bow grew larger
Larger and larger
Until it was nearly as tall as Sylffie herself
A brilliant green glow surrounded it
Sylffie stared at the transformed weapon in disbelief
"W-what, what happened to my bow?"
The entire room fell silent for a moment
Everyone was stunned by the transformation
But the golem didn't stop
Its enormous fist came crashing toward Sylffie
"Sylffie shoots the arrow!" Veyn shouted at her
Sylffie quickly reached behind her and pulled an arrow from her quiver
She nocked it and drew the string
Green light gathered around the arrow
The golem's fist was right in front of Sylffie
Then-
Whip!
She released the arrow
It shot forward like a beam of light
BAM!
The projectile tore through the golem's hand and blasted apart nearly half of its body
The force of the impact threw Sylffie backward and the bow slipped from her hand
The weapon suddenly began shrinking
The green glow faded, and the bow split apart into two objects, the normal bow and the crown
"What the hell was that?" Helen asked, staring at the devastation
"I don't know" Gill answered
The golem attempted to regenerate
It lowered its damaged body toward the ground
But nothing happened
The earth remained still
It couldn't regenerate
"Roots"
Helen and Erin cast their spells again
This time, the roots wrapped tightly around the golem and held it in place
"Tch…How the hell is that girl could have that much power?" Elric said in disbelieve
Then Veyn ran toward the crown to retrieved it
Aren then moved toward the crown tried to stopped Veyn
Slash!
Rikka attacked from the side
Aren was forced to jump away
Gramm immediately followed, swinging his axe at him
Aren refused to take the blow head-on and leaped backward
The two of them kept him occupied, preventing him from reaching Veyn
At the same time, Elric tried to stop Veyn
"Power shot!"
An arrow came from the side at him
He transformed his weapon into a shield and blocked the attack
The impact pushed him backward
Veyn kept running toward the crown
Closer and closer
Cael suddenly dashed toward him from the side and thrust his blade forward
Auel intercepted him
Clang!
Their swords collided
Auel shoved Cael away and immediately pursued him, keeping him away from Veyn
Veyn kept running, and finally he reached the crown and grabbed it
The crown glowed once more
This time, the transformation spread across Veyn's entire body
The crown became armor, covering him in brilliant white armor decorated with golden patterns
His cape transformed as well, becoming longer and darker green, with golden patterns running across its surface
Even Veyn's appearance changed
His face became more refined, resembling that of a majestic king
His hair grew longer and turned golden
Finally, roots emerged from the top of his head, twisting together to form a golden crown adorned with several seed-like gems
Veyn slowly raised his head
"Now, let's end this"
With a single motion of his hand, enormous roots burst from the ground
They spread across the Throne Room, reaching for the Cardinals and the golem
The golem couldn't move at all and instantly pinned down
Cael relied on his speed, weaving between the roots as they attempted to catch him
But smaller roots emerged from the floor, moving even faster
They wrapped around his legs and trapped him
Aren tried to cut himself free, but every root he severed regenerated almost instantly
More vines reached for him
Before they could catch Elric, he raised his weapon and began casting
A magic circle appeared beneath the Cardinals
But before he could complete the spell, Veyn raised his hand
"Disturb Magic!"
The magic circles shattered
Elric was immediately caught by the roots
One by one, the Cardinals were restrained
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief
All of them gathered toward Veyn
"What the hell? You are the king all this time?"
"Well, yeah" Veyn scratched his head awkwardly "Kinda"
"You know that you owe us a lot of explanation, right?" Sylffie said while crossing her arm
Veyn let a short sigh
"Fine"
"I'll tell you everything"