Without a word, a rain of fire and lightning fell around as I blocked with [manipulate shadow]. Rolling to the side, I shot shadow spears and launched stakes of darkness from the ground.
No words? I'll just have to return the favour. Unlike the others, I won't be sparing their lives. They must have sneaked out while I was fighting Sigare. They came prepared and wanted blood. There was no one else here as it was at the back of some buildings. They must also have used wind magic to block sounds, since it was kind of hard to pick up the shockwaves in the surroundings.
Sorry, I'll steal an idea from dear Sigar-chan. Forming threads of darkness all over the ground with [Abyssal dome] raising my accuracy, I flipped over and swung a newly formed scythe. Using a smoke screen, fredarick and seryu dodged my scythe. That's when they dropped their guard. Opening my hand, I let go as the scythe flew forward with immense velocity. Using the shadow thread I attached to it, I swung horizontally at the area. Returning the scythe into my hands, at this point it was like a sickle and chain.
Lunging through the smoke, an explosion rings out as Fredarick pulls his fist back. On the ground, a blur of afterimages formed as seryu radiates electrical energy. A tinge of pain hits my calves as my knees weakened. Scrutinising the ground, I felt that it was incredibly cold. My energy... was being stolen? Using [shadow step], I teleported next to seryu, sending out a kick with all my strength. Seryu blew through the building walls as the air detonated from my kick. Through all the smoke, a fist struck through my back. *Ku..agh!* Tch, why is everyone trying to impale my torso, I won't be able to grow at this rate! Grabbing the arms, my hands seared in pain from the contact as I shot a shadow stake out of my back.
Flying through Fredarick's neck, both his fist and the rest of his body dissipates into smoke as seryu enters the surroundings. Dodging his kick, I shot my scythe out along with shadow threads to keep my grip on it. Using [shadow step] to teleport, I reappear next to Fredarick to swing my scythe horizontally. Quickly dodging my attack, Fredarick sets off an explosion, blinding my eyes. Forming a blade on the other end of my scythe, I spun it diagonally to block seryu's [lightning kick] before flipping to launch shadow stakes at them. Flashing around, seryu launches a barrage of his fist as I block with a shadow barrier.
How are they giving me so much trouble?! Did they start training after the school tournament ended? Compared to them, Jessald may be the weakest heir of the great families now. They seemed to have reached the levels in the 600s. How troublesome. It can't be their parents in disguise as they would be around level 800 and would rather show off their levels to their enemies. Nobles were prideful creatures after all.
Disappearing into smoke to reappear nearby, Fredarick launches his own barrage of fists that were covered in flames. Covering the whole surrounding area in [Abyssal dome], their escape was cut off. Raining shadow spears from the air and raising shadow stakes, I spun the scythe around to block their attacks before counter attacking. Fending off blow after blow and kick after kick, I twisted and flipped around to slash with my scythe. Slowly cuts were appearing all over their limbs that were unprotected by their respective elements and armour.
They've pretty much bridged the gap just by making their body non-physical, how fearsome. Usually only something like Fez's [Abyss fall] would be effective. That's it! I can't exactly use [abyss fall], but I still have my trusty [void beam]. I don't exactly have difficulty catching up, so I just need to connect the hits. Flickering out of position, I reappeared next to Fredarick. Opening [Void beam] from my palm, I connected it to his body as he dissipates into smoke.
Blowing away everything in the surroundings, Fredarick remanifested next to Seryu with blood dripping down his mouth. Seryu took the chance to turn into lightning and gun straight for me. Like my [void beam], his attack power was quite devastating. But I can run faster than lightning, you know~? Stretching my legs, I lowered my centre of gravity before dodging under the lightning. Now that I was "behind" Seryu, I opened fire, dissipating the lightning into the surroundings. Seryu reappears in a similar fashion as Fredarick. Fuh~~, catching my breath I sent energy into my legs as I lunged forward again.
" [Dual element - Fire and electric spiral]" (Both) A large mass of swirling blue intercepts my lunge as a blinding light swallows the alleyway. Closing my eyes, I depended on [mana detection] to get me through this ordeal. Rapidly spinning the scythe, I redirected the energy away, destroying the nearby walls. Going closer, it got harder as more and more of the blue mass struck my body. "Haaaaa~!" Twisting every muscle, I moved as fast as I could to deflect the energy.
In less than a second, I was right under the both of them. Opening my eyes, I spun one last time with my scythe, cutting them in half. Did they run out of mana with that final attack? Gaining a few levels, I set out towards the territory of the Bodem family. Over the next few days, I went ahead into their territories, challenged the lords and seized the power of the kinaur, bodem, zakwin and hofeur clans.
Since I specialised in assassination, getting in was easy. For the first lord of the Kinaur clan, he was caught off guard and immediately killed. The other 3 put up a decent fight, though I was used to dealing with them due to fighting their heirs. When Lord Bodem sent metal stakes, my newly evolved tier 5 [manipulate shadow] was able to blow them away with gravity. It was like [shadow step] but with a wider range of effect.
The metal stakes that flew towards me were torn apart and blown into the surroundings.
Fuh~ concentrating on my surroundings, metal explouded out of my right arm as I sent shadow stakes. Obliterating his body before the battle had been prolonged, I avoided the scenario of being trapped inside another territory. Using 'wrath' to turn back time and heal my arm, I headed back home. If their heir could give me that much difficulty, I had to prepare as much as I can before fighting the other lords. There was also the fact that I needed to do my homework before school starts the next morning.
Having the power of 4 out of 7 great families, all that was left was to negotiate wirh the Wasuri clan and see the Hisonne clan's take on this situation. I wonder if there was a chance to fight James.