Chapter 340 - Sanguine Duel

Reivyn felt a flash of irritation. He was a bit surprised by his own response, and it quickly dissipated, but he felt as if his fight had been unduly interrupted. They had only just barely begun sounding each other out. He hadn’t even started using his Rhythm of War Skill, much less his Magic. Sure he had felt worried during the fight because of their opponent’s power, but it was more of an overall thing with the other enemy powerhouses fighting the Elders and all of that combined. He hadn’t been worried about their personal fight, per se. He was just getting into it.

The enemy disengaged from them, hopping back just out of range to address the arrival of Aeriella and Gulley, whoever he actually was. The man clearly recognized the pink-haired girl, and he quickly bent a knee. Reivyn was tempted to dash forward and take advantage of the situation, but that didn’t feel right to him considering the circumstances. If the enemy had been brutal like the ones Refix had first ran into, he wouldn’t have any compunction taking any and all advantages, but these particular foes had been fairly civilized, all things considered. It was the honorable thing to do to wait. He didn’t know if that was a mistake or not, but it was his decision.

“Princess,” the man said, acknowledging Aeiriella, but he quickly recovered his stance, maintaining his vigilance toward Reivyn and his Party.

Hmm, so it was a feint, Reivyn thought. He was prepared for a sneak attack, having never actually let his guard down. Good thing I didn’t rush forward, then.

Reivyn kept his face neutral, not revealing any of his internal thoughts. He and the others kept their stances, ready to engage in combat at a moment’s notice. The other robed powerhouses continued fighting against the Elders in the distance, their forms flashing back and forth as Magic and Skills were activated and parried or evaded in turn. Lights flashed and sounds boomed all around their little pocket of peace in the middle of the conflict. The soldiers of each side continued to fight against each other further in the distance, neither side showing signs of backing down or retreating.

Aeriella narrowed her eyes at the man.

“I’ll deal with you in a moment,” she said before turning to Reivyn and the others. “Surprised to see me?”

Reivyn shrugged his shoulders. Kefira stepped forward to stand with her shoulder pressed up against his side, glaring at the other girl.

“Not really?” He replied. Aeriella quirked an eyebrow at the statement. “Well, I guess you could say I’m surprised that you’re not Gulley. I thought for sure he was you.”

Aeriella smirked at that. She covered her mouth as she giggled as if she had succeeded in a practical joke.

“I couldn’t have you seeing me as a man,” Aeriella quipped. “Unless you’re into that sort of thing. No? I didn’t think so. This is Sukai.” She gestured for “Gulley” to step forward. “Sukai, you know this is Reivyn. He’s my future fiance.”

“I’m his fiance,” Kefira interjected. She was doing her best to murder Aeriella with her eyes.

“This is Kefira, one of Reivyn’s fiances,” Aeriella introduced to Sukai without missing a beat. Kefira flung a Space Blade Spell toward Aeriella without warning. Aeriella leaned back without looking, narrowly avoiding the Spell. “She’s feisty, but you will show her the proper respect.”

Sukai glanced back and forth between Reivyn and Kefira standing together and Aeriella. He chewed on his lower lip, clearly unsure of how to respond to the situation. It didn’t phase Aeriella in the slightest. She turned back to the pair.

“I didn’t plan on appearing in front of you like this, but we can’t always control everything around us,” she shrugged. “It’s a bit annoying, but it will have to do for now.”

“You really didn’t have to appear at all,” Reivyn replied.

“Well, I couldn’t very well let my future fiance die, now could I? Especially not to one of my family’s generals. That would have been especially poor form.”

“Nah, I think I would have been alright.”

“He was clearly overpowering you and your entire Party.”

“We had barely even begun fighting.”

“While it’s true that you hadn’t used any of your real skills or abilities, yet, the same thing is true of your opponent. He was just testing the water like you.”

“Of course he was. I wasn’t thinking he didn’t have anything else to add to the fight. I still think it would have been fine.”

There were many different abilities that Reivyn could rely on in a pinch that Aeriella didn’t know about. He had come a long way since their last encounter. That didn’t even factor in the support he could receive from his Party members, especially Kefira. Despite knowing Kefira’s talents, Aeriella was sure underestimating her.

Reivyn felt a sort of burning off to the side. It wasn’t literally hot, more metaphysical, but there was something slowly ramping up in the background. He had his attention on his conversation with Aeriella, ,and he didn’t notice anything from his opponent who was within his Divine Sense’s range, so he didn’t pay it too much attention. He just noted it for now.

“That’s your opinion,” Aeriella said. “I couldn’t take the risk. Or I should say, I couldn't let you take the risk.”

“I appreciate your concern - oof,” Reivyn winced as Kefira elbowed him in the side, “but it’s wholly unnecessary.”

Aeriella put a hand on her hip as she prepared to continue arguing with Reivyn.

“ENOUGH!” A loud bellow interrupted the two.

Reivyn could feel the wrath in the voice and was nearly pushed back a step by the wind carried on its breath. He turned and observed the robed powerhouse standing with an aura screaming of murder burning off of the man. He realized that his Divine Sense hadn’t picked up on the Aura of the man and had thus not pinpointed him as the simmering rage he had felt. It reminded him that his Skill Level was actually still technically low. It showed him Mana and the material world in perfect detail, so he had just assumed it would also pick up on things like Aura, but it was apparently not incorporated into the Skill, yet.

“How dare you interrupt me!” Aeriella turned back to the man.

“Silence, princess! You’re not currently in the chain of command, and I’m in the middle of an operation. I have the last say, here, and I say this man dies!”

Aeriella narrowed her eyes at Reivyn’s opponent.

“You’ll be punished for this,” she promised.

“Maybe, but not as badly as you seem to think. Your father wouldn’t appreciate you interfering in my command.”

Aeriella wrapped her arms around herself, pouting.

“Dad appreciates everything about me!” she mumbled more to herself, but it was loud enough for everyone to hear.

“No more banter. Time to die, boy.”

Reivyn’s Danger Sense went haywire, and he shoved Kefira away from himself. Because of this action, he was off balance as the robed powerhouse slammed into him. He went flying through the air, tumbling end over end. He coughed up a mouthful of blood, and it went spraying behind him in his wake. He hit the ground and continued to tumble for another dozen yards before coming to a stop.

Reivyn immediately reinforced himself with his Mana as he sprang up, shield held in front of himself and bracing for another impact. A huge force was transmitted into his shield, but he wasn’t flung away this time. His feet dug into the earth, leaving large gouges in the dirt as he was pushed back tens of feet.

The other Party members were out of position, though Kefira and Ameliyn could still pepper the man with Spells from a distance. They immediately began launching their Spells at him, though his Mana shield was still up. It absorbed all of the impacts. The two ladies changed up their styles and started pumping more Mana into larger, more complicated Spells, but they were still just working on bringing the Mana shield down.

Reivyn maintained his stance and managed to swing his sword out to engage the powerhouse as he closed the distance in an instant once more. The two furiously exchanged blows, blocking, dodging, and countering each other in a whirlwind. Reivyn began summoning his Mana to add his Magic to the mix.

Refix came crashing into the pair, his material and ethereal weapons slamming into the robed powerhouse from the side. Reivyn noticed that some of the blows actually nicked the man and blood was drawn. Teilon was hot on Refix’s heels, once more stabbing at the man’s back with his daggers.

The powerhouse’s eyes were bloodshot and stared at Reivyn, ignoring all others on the battlefield, though he was still able to respond. After the initial attack from Refix, he managed to once more incorporate dealing with the additional attacks into his assault on Reivyn. Kimberly and Serilla were right behind Teilon, adding more things for the man to deal with.

Up to this point, other than deflecting incoming attacks from the others, the powerhouse had only actually actively attacked Reivyn. If he let himself get surrounded by the full Party once more, it would only hinder him from unleashing his full might on his enemy. He took a step back and brought both arms in toward his sides, his elbows bent and his fists held up. His aura once more exploded forth as he bellowed in rage.

The man’s Aura was a tangible thing at this point, and it pushed the melee Party members back a step, breaking their concentrated attack on the man. He took the opportunity of the slight lull to dash to the side, slamming his full body into Kimberly’s exposed stance. She was sent sailing through the air much like Reivyn had been.

The man spun in place, lashing out with his sword, fist, and kicks, knocking Teilon and Serilla back. Teilon took a kick straight to his stomach, and Reivyn saw him collapse to the ground several feet away, clutching his ribs. Serilla had managed to bring her sword to the side to block the slash from the man’s sword, but the strike sent her flying away, as well. Her sword was flung from her grasp, twirling through the air off into the distance.

Refix stabbed the man in the back as he performed the maneuver, though, drawing even more blood. The man snarled at Refix as he brought his sword down with both hands in an overhead chop. Refix used his actual sword plus a majority of his summoned ethereal arsenal to block the strike, but the power behind it drove him to his knees.

Reivyn dashed in and slashed the man in the side as he did so. More blood began to pour out of his wounds. His black robe was made darker from the copious amount of blood soaking into it, and the grass at his feet was dyed red. Reivyn followed up the slash with another shield bash into the man’s face as he once more turned toward Reivyn.

Reivyn had experienced enough of the fight that he was able to find the pulse of the battle. He called forth his Rhythm of War Skill as the two once more engaged in furious combat. The man’s Aura was like a fire, and he channeled it into his sword much like how Reivyn used his Elemental Weapon Skill.

The man used his Aura and finally began using Skills with his sword in the fight, causing Reivyn to dig deep into his Rhythm of War to avoid or redirect the deadly attacks. Huge gouges were carved into the ground all around them as the remnants of the Skills tore apart the land. Trees in the distance were slashed in half and came crashing down. Small hills received a shave and became tens of feet shorter with a flat top.

Reivyn didn’t let the man use his Skills without retaliating. His Hero Skills had taken over his active Class Skills for the most part, but he still had his Magic. He started pulling spikes of stone up out of the ground, aiming to impale the man or trip him up. He used Air to knock the man’s strikes off course or hinder his movements.

He turned the ground into mud, using his Transcendent Ability to sap the willpower from the man, though the only noticeable effect was a dimming of the man’s bloodshot eyes and a marginal decrease in the intensity of his Aura.

Reivyn summoned a ball of Plasma to hover over them in the sky, raining down Plasma Lances automatically as he concentrated on other aspects of the fight. He used Ice to freeze the man to his bones, though it barely slowed him down.

The man’s Mana Shield protected him from most of the projectiles, though Reivyn had a Transcendent Ability that was slowly eating away at the energy fueling the shield, along with the continued efforts of Kefira and Ameliyn in the back. Reivyn didn’t have time to pay attention to his other Party members at the moment, but he did know that they weren’t completely out of the fight just yet.

Reivyn dodged, blocked, parried, or redirected most of the attacks sent his way, but they still accumulated damage to his body over time. Even if he successfully blocked a strike, the vibrations were powerful enough to shake his internal organs. If he completely dodged a slash, the Aura would extend just a bit and nick his flesh.

Both of the combatants were covered with blood over their accumulated wounds, and Reivyn’s Health Stat was slowly dipping over time. After nearly ten minutes of frantic fighting, it was closing in on the half-way point.

The man didn’t let up with his furious assault, and Reivyn met every one of the attacks and continued to reply with his own. Reivyn didn’t know how high the man’s Stats or resource pools were, but he could tell by the man’s breath that he was at least coming close to his limits on his Stamina. The Mana shield was also starting to grow more flimsy under their continued attacks.

Refix, Teilon, Kimberly, and Serilla, once more armed with her sword, once again dashed forward to join the fight. With their added distraction, he was able to make eye contact with Kefira, giving her a silent message. She nodded her head, and her body exploded with her own Aura.

Kefira had spent 99% of her efforts and training on her Space Affinity, but 1% over close to two decades wasn’t nothing for her Time Affinity. She wasn’t powerful enough to affect too much with the Affinity, but what she could do was enough. It was only a blip, but it was one that Reivyn had been prepared for. He hadn’t been able to communicate the tactic to his other Party members, but that was fine. Their opponent had no idea it was coming, either.

The world completely froze for a fraction of an instant. The difference was that Reivyn and his Party members weren’t affected by the shift in Time at all. As one, all of their attacks that they had been in the middle of performing bypassed the powerhouse’s defense and left their marks on the man. Refix was able to react fast enough that he managed to direct his attack to a more fatal target with not only his sword, but several of his ethereal arsenal as well.

Reivyn performed a picture perfect lunge, his sword stabbing straight through the man’s heart and out his back.

Time resumed its normal course, and the robed man screamed. This time it was in pain instead of rage.

He ripped his body from Reivyn’s and Refix’s fatal stabs before leaping even further back. He stumbled and collapsed to one knee, though he wasn’t outright killed. He had enough Health still that even taking multiple fatal attacks that would cause close to 100,000 points of Health damage didn’t kill him.

He turned a baleful gaze toward the Party as he took out a bottle from his storage device and downed its contents. There was nothing the Party could do to stop him, and the man’s wounds recovered at a visible rate. Not just his wounds, but his breathing steadied and his Mana shield solidified once more. He was back to full power in just a couple of seconds from whatever concoction he had consumed.

Kefira, on the other hand, stumbled and collapsed to the ground from manipulating Time like she had. It had taken everything out of her. More so than just the Mana cost. She would need to practice and build up to being able to wield both Space and Time together before she could do so without consequence. Last time she had hasted Reivyn and his soldiers. This time she had affected the world.

The difference in outcome was clear, but nobody had thought the man would have some miracle cure in his possession. Reivyn knew that alchemists and other crafting professions other than blacksmiths existed and could make marvelous things, but what the man had used was clearly something that couldn’t be found in a Tier 4 Region.

The robed powerhouse smirked as he began leisurely walking back to the Party, his sword held out to the side, Reivyn’s blood dripping from the tip. He had a sadistic look in his eye.

Reivyn and the others resumed their stances, ready to continue the fight. They would have to dig deep to overcome this opponent and not give him an opportunity to use such a treasure again. It would be doubly more difficult as Reivyn didn’t think Kefira would be able to pull off a similar trick a second time.

“That’s enough of that,” Aeriella’s voice rang out from where she had stood watching the fight.

A huge shadow appeared out of nowhere, and a giant limb materialized to slam down on the powerhouse, pinning him to the ground. Reivyn took several steps back before he could control himself. His gaze followed where the limb was crushing the powerhouse back to where it originate, and he spotted a spider sitting on Aeriella’s shoulder.

The limb was one of the forelegs of the spider. The level of control to polymorph one body part to that size without affecting anything else around it was astounding.

“Wait, is that…” Reivyn furrowed his brow as he focused on the little spider. He hadn’t sensed it at all with his Divine Sense earlier, and even looking at it, he couldn’t sense the part of the leg that was within range of his Skill, either.

“This is the little guy I captured from the desert in Drallo,” Aeriella nodded with a smile. She absentmindedly reached up with her arm and used her finger to pet the spider on her shoulder. “Isn’t she just adorable?”

Reivyn gulped as he relaxed his stance.

“Sure… adorable.”

Reivyn could feel the burning fury of the powerhouse pinned down by the spider, though it was beginning to finally wane. After several minutes of the man struggling to no avail, he finally sighed and the aggression in him winked out.

“That’s better,” Aeriella nodded. The spider limb vanished as if it had never existed, and the spider crawled down into a little pouch area inside Aeriella’s clothes where it could comfortably hide.

Aeriella strolled up to the powerhouse as he recovered his footing.

“Did you really think I didn’t have a way of dealing with you?” She quirked an eyebrow at the man. “I let you have your little duel, and you lost.”

The man grit his teeth.

“I didn’t lose! I’m at full Health, and they’re on their last legs!” He shouted, pointing at the Reivyn and the others.

“Are you shouting at me?” Aeriella asked in almost a whisper, her body language radiating hostility toward the man.

The powerhouse reeled back and he shook his head vigorously.

“No, princess, never!” He said. “I was shouting, yet, but not at you.”

“Well, keep your voice down.”

“Yes, princess,” the man bowed his head.

“You’ve accomplished your main objective. Take your spoils and return to the empire.”

The powerhouse shot one last murderous look toward Reivyn before turning on his heels. He pulled something from his storage device and activated it. Reivyn could see the Mana pulsing from the object, and a large flare was launched into the sky where it exploded in brilliant colors, illuminating the entire battlefield.

With their own fight going on, Reivyn had almost forgotten that the whole region was in conflict still. Soldiers were still fighting everywhere, and the other robed powerhouses were still fighting the Elders.

Horns blared all around, up and down the line. The invaders backed off from their assault and the other robed powerhouses stopped their fights with the elders to converge together on the commander. Reivyn sensed more objects like the one their opponent had withdrawn, feeling them with his Mana Sense skill. He felt them activate and portals sprung up all along the lines behind the invaders. As one, they turned and began funneling through the various portals.

It only took about six or seven minutes for all of them to disappear from the field. The various allied soldiers watched the retreat with varying expressions. The elders appeared with the commanders who had converged near Reivyn’s battlefield. They all looked winded and sported various wounds across their bodies. They had managed to put up a fight against the enemy powerhouses, but they were clearly on the losing end.

Who knows what would have happened if the fights had been allowed to continue for much longer.

Aeriella didn’t follow the retreating invaders, instead she turned and walked over to Reivyn with “Gulley,” Sukai, following on her heels. Kefira stepped in front of Reivyn, blocking Aeriella from reaching him.

“That’s far enough, Jezebel,” Kefira said, her eyes once more screaming murder at the other girl.

Aeriella just chuckled.

Without anyone able to react, Aeriella lunged forward and wrapped Kerais up in a fierce hug. After a second, she pulled back and planted a wet kiss right on her lips.

Kefira stood their with her eyes wide open, unable to react at all. Aeriella stepped back and pinched Kefira’s face.

“Aren’t you just the cutest,” she said. “Don’t forget. I said I was going to nab both of you.”

She winked as she turned and brought out her own device. A portal sprung up, and she and Sukai stepped through.

Reivyn and everyone else just stared wide-eyed at the place where the girl had disappeared, unsure of how to react to the situation.