As she continued to rain down death across the vast distance, the interference strength seemed irrelevant to her. Her spells carried their full power from start to end! This was unsurprising since Elizabeth's arrows were Magic Energy in a highly condensed form. She took advantage of the fact that interference worked in waves to whittle down a spell, meaning it was not an instantaneous process. A sufficiently 'dense' spell or technique could resist the interference strength for some time. Of course, the degree of this 'whittling effect' varied on the interference strength. A complete dead zone had the effect of negating absolutely any skills in that area; however, the Ten Dawns were almost out of the dead zone, and it was a relatively weaker dead zone too. This allowed Elizabeth the ability to attack from this long range without worrying about her spells dissipating!
As for double-casting, it was the culmination of all her efforts from training under Rena. She could finally divide her concentration to cast two spells in parallel! It was not easy. The focus, technique, and control required to grasp double-casting merited its status as a near-legendary skill. It was no wonder only a small handful of talented Arcanists could do it! Though, Elizabeth had to smile bitterly. When she remembered Rena casually mentioning that the standards outside the human world were five-casting, she felt humbled. She was very far from reaching that point! Freon could grasp the skill as well, thanks to his already deep proficiency in magic. He might have been a Low Gaseous Fog Arcanist for that time, but he had excellent control and dexterity over his energy. When he and Elizabeth exchanged training methods and insights, they could multiply their progress many times over. Nevertheless, her Half-Condensed Drop Core did not have the capacity for a prolonged engagement. That job was left to Benedict and Shirley!
Meanwhile, Shirley applauded Elizabeth in her mind. It was a timely assist! She glanced at Benedict, and the two nodded. Having fought for more than a year together, they could communicate without words. Martial Energy welled up inside them as their auras blasted out with explosive power. Their auras were actually strong enough to repel the aura monsoon from the hundreds of Perception Realms charging at them! The difference in their Martial Energy mastery was evident at a glance. Benedict pulled his sword back, assumed a stance, and thrusted his sword forward! Cloud Sea Style: Spring Rain! The immense wind pressure generated transformed into hundreds of tiny droplets like a rainstorm that charged forward to meet the incoming swarm of flying strikes head-on. He chose to defend with overwhelming power! While it seemed hotheaded, this was the correct decision. Flying strikes were formless, so conventional defenses were useless. This was the only way he could reasonably defend himself and everyone behind him.
Shirley took a deep breath and then mirrored Benedict's actions. Pulling her halberd back, she assumed the Cloud Sea Style's stance. Everything, down to Benedict's individual breathing patterns, the specific angling of his joints, and even his Martial Energy circulation, was perfectly copied. It was almost uncanny how similar they looked! This was not as simple as it looked because it required absolute mastery over her body, and absolute understanding of Benedict's actions. Even for Perception Realms with their transcendental senses, they would find this a tall order and yet, Shirley could do it almost instinctively. Her ability was frightening to behold! Of course, Shirley was unable to do this normally. She was only a Half-Perception Realm, and her Mock Perception was too weak to capture every single detail. It was her Bloodline Ability, Echo Image, that enabled her to do so!
Her Bloodline Ability was to copy one martial technique perfectly. It was a painfully simple ability, but that made it extremely dangerous too. For example, she could take an enemy by surprise and return their attack towards them. Or she could use it like now, where she copied Benedict's Spring Rain to perform two simultaneous large-scale attacks. Her proficiency in swordsmanship or the Cloud Sea Style did not matter. The one limiting factor was in her Martial Energy reserves, and whether it was physically possible for her to execute it. Trying to copy something beyond her means, like the Sword King's techniques, would result in failure or worse, a heavy backlash. She had to be quite careful in using it. Most importantly, she could only copy a martial technique using Martial Energy. A pure martial technique without energy, or a spell, could not be copied. This limited her uses by a lot. Nevertheless, her Bloodline Ability, Echo Image, was a highly flexible and dangerous ability!
Benedict and Shirley unleashed Cloud Sea Style: Spring Rain at the exact same time, sending almost a thousand projectiles forward. Although it looked random or chaotic, every single projectile was masterfully directed to an opposing enemy attack. Benedict once used this very technique to split apart hundreds of leaves while training. Since then, his technique only matured, allowing him to use it with ease. All Shirley had to do was copy it. Boom! Hundreds of tiny collisions resounded throughout the battlefield as the two sides negated each other's attacks. In a shocking turn of events, not a single attack remained! Benedict and Shirley had actually managed to fend off the attack of hundreds of Perception Realms by themselves! And that was excellent timing too, since the soldiers that went around Freon's spell had recovered from Elizabeth's nonstop assault. She had finally run out of Magic Energy. Benedict and Shirley stood back-to-back, facing the hundreds of Perception Realms charging at them once more. Despite how many things happened, everything elapsed in less than half a minute.
Shirley adopted her own style, while Benedict smoothly transitioned into the Hawken Style. The first stance, which emphasized footwork, and the second stance, which emphasized prediction… What was once two separate stances were beautifully mixed and elevated under his sword. There were no longer two stances, but a single all-encompassing one! His Major Sword Form attainment was not for show! He blocked a powerful downward strike, pivoted his foot, and countered the people behind him with a broad stroke. Bending back, swords crisscrossed his afterimage, as he fiercely defended every direction. His eyes, sword, and feet were constantly moving in a majestic display of swordsmanship. Although he was outnumbered and outranked by the Perception Realms, he surpassed them all through sheer skill alone. It was incredible!
But try as he might, he could not last forever. Cracks began to appear in his defense, as he attracted more and more attention. Eventually, someone slipped through his defense and used a point-blank flying strike. Benedict could not defend in time! The flying strike sliced through his body, or at least, that was what the soldier believed, but… what was this response? It sounded as though it collided with something hard, and not flesh. Their flying strikes had the cutting power to slice through an entire person, armor and all, so how was it blocked? Their thoughts ended when Benedict cut off their head. Until they died, they had no idea what happened.
The other soldiers stepped back out of fear. They had seen for themselves how the flying strike landed on Benedict's bare body and was repelled. Was his skin harder than steel? It was unthinkable! It must be a trick! Only Benedict knew the truth, that this was a product of his Bloodline Ability, Rain Weaver Arc! This ability, like Shirley, was also simple, yet powerful. Using it, he could weave his Martial Energy into extremely thin and fine threads, reminiscent to a weaver spider. These threads would then take on a tangible form with supreme toughness to be used for either offensive or defensive purposes. Currently, he could only make a handful of such threads, and they were limited to his body, but they were already strong enough to resist a flying strike without suffering any damage. Their durability had exceeded plate armor! However, Rain Weaver Arc was not without flaws. The energy and concentration required to make one such thread was high, and he had to be very precise with his positioning. A hair too far, and he would have really died just then!
Benedict and Shirley, empowered by their newfound Bloodline Abilities, Rain Weaver Arc and Echo Image, were an impressive combination. Benedict defended using Rain Weaver Arc, the Hawken Style, and the Cloud Sea Style. Shirley attacked using Echo Image, Mock Perception, and Energy Acceleration. Moreover, their coordination was immaculate as they freely swapped positions, stepping in whenever the other needed support. Their power and resilience shocked their opponents. Not even this many Perception Realms using Martial Energy could topple them! The brief skirmish was enough for the kingdom's forces to regroup and rush in to support Benedict and Shirley at the front. As the formation was gradually rebuilt, the two exhaled heavily and sheathed their weapons. The exertion involved was no laughing matter. Thankfully, Elizabeth and Freon helped a lot with their double-casting. Without it, things might have been scary.