*Roar*
"They are here," Hildegarde mumbled upon hearing the loud roar. The faces of the twins turned pale upon hearing the roar and feeling the power contained within it. Now that they were wielders they could feel just how vast the gap between them and the Mythic Class Magical Beasts were.
"This presence is much stronger than Vital Orange's," Lam gritted his teeth and spoke amidst labored breaths. The power that was contained in that one roar was a few times stronger than Vital Orange's aura. It was so strong that even they could feel it. Mane's countenance remained unmoved even after hearing the powerful roars of the Apex Monkeys. Although he did look a bit uncomfortable seeing Lily and Lam's pale expressions. He struck his sword against the ground softly, and the auras of the Apex Monkeys were extinguished like weak flames.
"Step back a bit," Mane informed the twins. With his aura expanded no weak creature dared to get any close to them. And he would keep an eye out so that if anything entered the 100 meter radius he would deal with it quickly before it could hurt the twins. He wasn't worried that another Mythic Class would interfere. Mythic Classes weren't close to each other, so even if a Mythic Class wanted to join in on the fun, it would take some time for it to get here. The fastest would require about ten to twenty minutes, and their gigantic bodies would make it very unlikely for them to make such good time. Mane was confident that everything would be done within that time frame.
"Watch the twins and the surroundings Hildegarde. Alert me if anything dares get too close. Don't worry about whether or not I would be distracted. Just do so." Mane ordered his fairy and took a small step forward. Hildegarde wanted to say something but changed her mind when she saw that Mane had already walked forward. She knew this was his way of asking her to just listen to him and not say anything else. So she just nodded her head and flew to the twins.
Mane stood silently with his eyes closed. Suddenly, his eyes snapped open and he struck out with his sword as he performed a defensive technique his 7th master taught him.
"Prideful Sword: Guard of the Half-Moon"
What was the difference between the 7th and the 8th really? Unlike the 8th who had no defensive techniques at all and only focused on offense, 7th who was the master of the Prideful Sword, balanced out his attacks and defenses. But because of this 7th's strongest attack wasn't nearly as powerful as 8th's most powerful move. This was because unlike 7th, 8th was unrestrained in his attacks and his spirit was infused into every strike.
Soon the reason for Mane's use of the technique made its appearance, and the twins recognized it immediately.
"Apex Monkey!" Both Lam and Lily exclaimed. They recognized the beast famed for its strength and seemingly limitless stamina. And they grew worried for a minute.
"Mane! Apex Monkeys are battle thirsty beasts. They grow stronger as the fight progresses and have powerful instincts. People say that they move like they have studied fighting techniques themselves. Be careful!" Lily screamed out what she knew about Apex Monkeys. For once she was grateful that Lam always liked to talk about Magical Beasts. It was because of Lam that she knew this.
"Got it," Mane replied expressionlessly before a huge fist came his way.
*Boom*
A large fist almost as wide as Mane's sword crashed into the light sword and caused it to creak uncomfortably under the pressure of the punch. However, the one holding the sword didn't panic. If he thought that one sword wouldn't be enough to block the blow from the Apex Monkey, he would have used the other one to guard as well. He borrowed the power of the fist and flew towards another direction as he prepared his own attack.
"Prideful Sword: Dance of the Half-Moon."
*Bang*
Mane glided through the air gracefully like a butterfly and struck out with his sword at seemingly nothing. A thin sword light flew from his blade and into a large shrubbery, and a loud noise was heard. Another Apex Monkey jumped out of the shrubbery, its eyes filled with confusion as if wondering how it was found out. It was just as large as the other Apex Monkey. The only difference was that it had brighter fur and livelier eyes. It looked alright, yet there was a large wound on its left hand; a wound caused by Mane's attack. A nonchalant strike from Mane's sword was enough to split a High class Magical Beast into two. Yet a technique powered cut could only do so much to the Apex Monkey. This was enough to display just how powerful their bodies were! The wound soiled the ground with blood, yet the Apex Monkey ignored the bleeding and jumped to the side of its partner.
Seeing the bleeding hand, the other Apex Monkey's eyes flashed with rage as gave a loud roar and dashed at Mane.
*Roar*
Its already spiking aura grew even stronger as its rage superseded its battle lust. It opened up its fist and formed a claw with its fingers. Then it came crashing down on Mane. The other Apex Monkey didn't dally either. It burst out with speed not in any way inferior to its partner and arrived next to Mane in a second. It clenched its huge fingers into fists and brought them down viciously.
Mane could feel the power of both attacks. The claw was like a vice that aimed to clutch his neck and crash it, and the fist was heavier than a boulder and had the capability of turning him into mush. Both attacks had terror, viciousness, speed, and seemed to cover every route of escape. He finally understood why people said Apex Monkeys had their own fighting style. They moved like martial artists and not animals, and their techniques seemed to have no flaws.
"They get stronger as a battle wears on?" Mane smiled and activated his techniques, "Prideful Sword: Dance of the Moon Butterfly."
Mane twisted his body strangely and avoided both attacks. Just like the technique suggested, he glided upon the ground like a butterfly in the wind and evaded the blows that seemed to leave no escape routes. This was also a technique passed to him by his 7th Master. It was a battle movement technique and was much handier than Star Flicker. However its flaw was the fact that it had to be used in conjunction with a sword. So Mane didn't usually resort to it.
*Bang*
Both strike missed and landed on the ground. Because of the huge sizes of the Apex Monkeys, two small ditches were formed from their strikes. Their eyes glowed with bloodlust upon seeing how easily Mane evaded their attacks and they dashed at him again.
"Star Flicker"
Mane activated his favorite technique and appeared right in front of the charging Apex Monkeys who were stunned to see him gather speed and appear in front of them instantaneously. Mane took advantage of their lapse in concentration and struck out at both of them. With two swords in hand, he filled both weapons with Edict and activated two techniques.
"Prideful Sword: Dance of the Half-Moon"
"Bloodied Blade: Crazed Cut of the Blade King"
*Bang*
*Bang*
Both Apex Monkeys recovered quickly and crossed their arms in front of them like synchronized choreographers. Mane's swords struck both of them and sent their huge frames tumbling backwards and crashing into several trees. Without wasting any more time Mane continued his charge and sent his sword sweeping towards one of the Apex Monkeys as he activated two powerful moves in quick succession.
"Prideful Sword: Dance of the Half-Moon"
"Prideful Sword: Wrath of the Half-Moon"
His swords hummed and creaked as they struggled to maintain their durability under the pressure of the two techniques. Powerful streams of Edict exited Mane's body and filled the swords as two very thin sword lights were produced and struck the Apex Monkey.
*Poof*
*Puchi*
Mane displayed his terrifying accuracy as the both sword lights struck the same area. The first sword light cut into the Apex Monkey and gravely injured it, yet it wasn't dead. But the second sword light completely went through and split the beast in half via the same path the first sword light took.
*thud*
*Roar*
As one Apex Monkey fell, the other was consumed by rage. It beat its chest and roared in fury as its energy spiked, exploded and went beyond what it was before. It jumped at Mane and reached him before he could react as it pounded down furiously with an angry glare.
*Bang*
*crack*
Along with the sound of something breaking, one of Mane's swords was destroyed whilst the other was struck out of his hand. The eyes of the Apex Monkey flashed with fury as it held both arms above its head and struck downwards with an overhead strike.
"Mane!" Lily screamed in worry and tried to get to her friend. Lam was also worried, but he kept his sanity and held his sister back.
"Let's trust him!" he screamed as Lily struggled to escape his grasp. However, her struggles ceased when the dust settled and she saw what was happening. She was so stunned that she couldn't speak, and neither could Lam.
Mane was fine, but his figure was engulfed entirely in flames. The ground around him was now a huge ditch due to the power of the Apex Monkey, but Mane himself was fine. The most fascinating thing was the flames didn't seem to be hurting him even one bit. His aura was stronger than it was before, and the majesty of a ruler was exuded from his being. He looked like a flaming mountain, untouchable and immovable.
"You broke my sword," Mane stated blandly as he looked up at the stunned Apex Monkey that didn't seem to realise that its arms were on fire. He stretched out his hand, and the sword that had escaped his grasp flew back into his arms. Then he calmly unsheathed his heavy sword. Without waiting for the Apex Monkey to recover he struck out quickly. His swords were swift, and each of them was engulfed in flames as Mane struck out.
"4 Way Cut: Perfect Square"
Four flaming sword lights formed a square and struck the Apex Monkey strongly. It was knocked backwards by the power of the attacks and several more trees were snapped in half when its strong body crashed into them, yet Mane wasn't done.
"Star Flicker"
Mane appeared before the beast before it could recover and struck out again.
"Bloodied Blade: Crazed Cut of the Blade King"
*Puchi*
With a small thud, the last Apex Monkey fell.
"Amazing!" Lily squealed in excitement and Lam nodded his head. It was indeed amazing. He looked towards the figure still clad entirely in flames with eyes filled with adoration.
"He truly is strong," Lam mumbled.