CHAPTER 122: DEEPER TROUBLES

Mardonio’s fury erupted, his movements losing their careful grace. He became savage, his strikes wild and desperate.

"You wretch! How dare you do this to your own daughter!"

His swordsmanship, once polished and precise, now burned with raw emotion. Each swing came faster, harder, powered by the desperation of a grandfather who had nothing left to lose.

The Dark Fate members laughed, their cruel amusement filling the air like a choir of demons.

"Hahaha!"

"What a fool!"

"Does she think the Lord Commander can be touched?"

"Blood alone cannot make you his equal, girl. Your strength is worlds apart."

BOOOOM!

Their laughter stopped.

The ground shook as golden flames exploded from Austaire’s body. Her figure was consumed in a radiant blaze, armor forming over her frame, gleaming with divine light. From her back, two immense wings of fire spread wide, blazing like an angel’s wrath.

The mocking voices fell silent. Awe replaced their sneers.

Austaire rose slowly, her golden eyes burning with unyielding determination.

Once dismissed as weak and foolish, she now stood revealed in her true form.

Aurelus chuckled, his lips curling upward in both pride and mockery. "So, you have reached that stage too. Tell me, did the phoenix spirit guide you?"

"I... I promised them," Austaire cried, her voice breaking but her resolve hardening. "The whole Katana family. I will avenge them!"

Her wings flared wider, golden feathers of flame scattering embers into the air. With a roar, she charged forward, blade raised high.

RAAAAH!

But Aurelus only scoffed, calm and unshaken.

"Not bad, but still not enough."

CLANG! CLANG!

BOOOOM!

Steel clashed, aura collided, and the yard exploded with power. Austaire’s golden fury combined with Mardonio’s desperate strength, both pressing Aurelus at once.

Yet he stood firm, his grin widening, his parries were flawless. One thing is clear: he is far stronger than they thought.

"That’s right, keep it up," he said coldly, arrogance dripping from his voice.

"You are all going to die here anyway."

...

Far to the east, Auren’s eyes snapped open.

For a terrifying second, he thought he was dead, swallowed by white nothingness.

But what he saw instead was a dome of radiant light around him, glowing runes crawling along its surface.

The sphere shielded him from the hail of offensive spells crashing down like rain.

The soldiers, mages, and archers surrounding him paused, their eyes wide with disbelief, unable to penetrate the shining barrier.

This... Auren’s gaze dropped to the ring on his finger, and his lips parted in realization.

It was the elven queen’s gift, given to him after his graduation- a token of gratitude for training the younger elves. The ring’s protective magic had activated in his darkest moment, saving his life.

"Hahaha! I love you, elven queen!" Auren shouted, his voice echoing with manic relief.

But his laughter cut off abruptly as the runes began to fade. The light dimmed, the protective dome cracked. With a shimmer, the sphere dissolved.

"Oh, shit."

The enemy commander’s voice bellowed through the chaos. "What are you doing!? Keep firing!"

"Gotta go!" Auren muttered quickly.

Zzzt- BWOOSH!

Mana surged into his MJ boots, launching him high into the air. He darted upward, twisting through the sky as arrows and spells shot toward him. With [Falcon Focus], his eyes sharpened, and he weaved between them with terrifying precision.

"Hurry! He’s heading for the other side!" the commander roared, scrambling his men.

But Auren had no intention of charging through their defenses. Instead, he smirked, pulling a small orb from his pouch- his last flash bomb. He tossed it down with a quick flip behind him.

Zzzt- FLAAASH!

A searing light exploded, blinding the battlefield and his pursuers.

"AAAGH!"

"My eyes!"

Cries of pain erupted as soldiers staggered, rubbing at their faces, their formation breaking.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Auren descended silently at a distance, activating his stealth skill. His figure melted into the shadows, unseen.

"Damn it! Find him!" the commander barked, his voice desperate.

But the cheeky rat had already vanished, weaving through the darkness with a grin tugging at his lips. Soldiers scattered east, convinced he had fled toward the forest.

In truth, Auren slipped the other way, heading west toward the secret tunnel he and Austaire had planned for their escape- unaware that a bigger surprise was waiting for him.

Meanwhile, the battle between Wilfred and Magnus raged across Austerra Castle.

[ICE CLONES]

[ICE LANCE]

[FREEZING FIELD]

Magnus unleashed his ice skills one after another, layering the battlefield with a zone spell that favored him, doing everything he could to pin down the speed maniac that was Wilfred.

But with dual swords in hand, Wilfred broke through his offensive spells with terrifying attacks of his own.

[MOON PIERCER]

[BLINK STRIKE]

[LUNARUS TIDE]

Unfortunately for Magnus, Wilfred’s overwhelming power quickly overshadowed his zone spells and shattered the clones, while also dealing significant damage.

They fought non-stop until they crashed into the empty throne room.

CRASH!

The colorful windowpane shattered as Magnus’s body flew inside, landing not far from the golden throne of King Auborn.

"Damn it..." Breathing heavily, blood dripping from his wounds, Magnus forced himself up from the rubble.

His eyes burned with fury, especially from the last devastating kick that had hurled him here.

His protective rings were gone. He fought as if his life was already slipping away. Blood dripped onto the marble floor, yet his mind spun, calculating.

Judging from his power, I doubt I can escape him... I guess I have no choice but to do that.

Tap. Tap.

From the shadows, Wilfred emerged, his eyes glowing an eerie blue.

Though he too had taken damage, his condition was far better, two of his three protective artifacts still intact.

"Let’s stop playing,"

Wilfred said coldly, circling Magnus with lethal calm. "Just so you know, there’s a good chance my next attack will take your head."

His sizzling red aura coated his dual swords as he approached. Magnus summoned another batch of ice clones, but Wilfred had already seen through his tricks.

"You underestimate the Dark Fate too much, imperial dog,"

Magnus smirked, matching Wilfred’s circling steps.

"This is your last chance. Answer me, and maybe you’ll return to the southern lands with your head still attached."

"Here’s your answer." Magnus sneered, casting a wave of flying ice swords through his clones.

SLASH! SLASH!

Wilfred dodged expertly, shattering blades with swift strikes. In return, the throne room became a frozen ruin.

Still, his voice remained calm. "I know you know the answer. Where are you hiding Aurelus?"

Magnus grinned as two clones darted into position, forming a triangle around Wilfred.

"Don’t worry, he is not hiding. You’ll meet him soon enough- though I doubt you are still alive until then."

"You sound confident for a dying dog of Thugnaka. I doubt you have enough mana left for another round of icy paper clones." Wilfred’s eyes narrowed, instincts prickling with danger.

Magnus raised his sword and pierced the ground.

His clones mirrored the motion while all of them were synchronously chanting rapidly.

[ICE DOMAIN: TRIPLE SEALING FIELD]

From their swords erupted mountains of ice that surged together, closing in. Even the ceiling froze over, sealing the throne room in a glacial tomb.

Wilfred’s feet locked in ice. Magnus slipped his true body between the clones, hoping to deceive.

"I see you chose death," Wilfred muttered, unfazed as the icy mountains closed from three sides.

Hmph.

His aura flared, the ice on his legs crumbling to pebbles in an instant.

Hyah!

With a single swing, he unleashed a massive arc of sword energy that cleaved through one mountain and struck the real Magnus.

SHANG!

Magnus’s eyes widened. D

’0amn it! Could it be that not even the sealing domain works on this maniac?’

"Where do you think you’re going?" Wilfred’s voice came from behind. He blinked across the ice and, with one clean strike, severed Magnus’s head.

He reached for elemental transfer, but his mana was suddenly suppressed under Wilfred’s crushing aura.

’Shit-’

SLICE!

The head flew through the air, but his lips stretched into a grin.

Seeing this, Wilfred’s eyes narrowed.

’That’s strange. I know I struck the real one... so why does something feel wrong?’

The severed head spoke.

"Gotcha."

SHIIIN!

Magnus’s death triggered a self-destruct spell.

’No, I can’t channel my mana... Could it be?’

The Triple Sealing Field did more than freeze flesh. It locked the flow of mana, heat, even Wilfred’s thought itself.

Wilfred strained against the pressure, trying to move, to escape.

No... I can’t-

But it was too late. His body and mind freezed together with the whole place.

And just like that, the entire throne room crystallized in ice.

Unable to activate his protective rings, Wilfred was trapped.

Wilfred had slain Magnus- yet the Ice Domain imprisoned him completely, mind and body frozen within its grasp.

Fare to say that it was a draw.

...

Back on the western side, Aurelus stood before Austaire, her body covered in wounds. Though she had fought valiantly, her phoenix form was fading fast. Mardonio stood beside her, also not looking well.

Aurelos took a deep breath as he closed his eyes, then smiled.

"Impressive power. Now let me show you mine."

His body ignited, transforming into a blazing golden sun. In an instant, he snuffed out Austaire’s flames, drawing them into himself.

The burden crushed her.

Austaire collapsed, Mardonio at her side, both forced to stare at Aurelus’s radiant form- the form that marked him as one of the most powerful figures in the Empire of Wha-lah.