"Wood Attribute Control Skill: Falling Autumn Maple".
The moment those words left Arthur's lips, the red coloured tinge to his leafsword exploded, dying the entire blade red. The leaves that created the sword shifted, becoming much larger, much thicker, akin to the same kind found on maple trees.
Their clothes rippled as a huge burst of wind was released from Arthur's body, almost causing them to have to close their eyes and avoid looking at him.
The sudden transformation of the leafsword caused the other fours eyes to widen, and Iryna couldn't help but try and speak over the enormous gusts of wind.
"What the hell! I thought you said nothing too extreme!?".
Arthur smiled.
"I'm not using my Law am I?".
His reply shocked them, but the four teammates just shared a glance before nodding and getting behind each other.
Parvan was in the front, followed by Iryna, then Zlatanna and the Milena. All of them activated their strongest defences as Arthur waited for all of their Fae to activate.
He could let it off now, but he wanted to see just how powerful this pseudo-Attribute Control Skill was, and how it would affect the defences of these four.
Arthur could count every single Fae that all four of them activated.
All of which used Rank 1 Fae.
Stone Barrier Fae.... Stone Bulwark Fae.... Earth Pillar Fae.... Dirt Mound Fae.... Wind Barrier Fae.... Tempest Arm Fae.... Corpse Soldier Fae.... Corpse Pond Fae.... Bone Shield Fae.... Blood Shelter Fae.... Poison Hair Fae.... Even a variation of Iryna's variant Golden Poison Lance Fae, the Bone Piercing Lance Fae....
It's defences were twice as high, and the thickness of each spider lance was more than double the Golden Poison Lance Fae.
Arthur's one handed leafsword had transformed into a crimson coloured maple leafsword. He too had used numerous different Fae in order to achieve this new Attribute Control Skill, most of which were Wood Attributed or Blood Attributed Fae.
The red colour, didn't just appear because Arthur wanted it to look cool....
The thousand year old reincarnate let out a deep breath, and in one single motion, slashed down his crimson coloured leafsword.
A brightly coloured crimson crescent appeared from out of the sword, slicing through the earth as it travelled forward, in the blink of an eye colliding with the Corpse Soldier Fae on the outmost section of the shield
With the time it took to think, Arthur had cut through every single layer of defense that these four had tried to put between him and them. Even the Bone Piercing Lance Fae, did very little to stop the blood coloured crescent that Arthur launched towards them.
The sound of a bloody scream filled the air, as the scent of blood wafted over too.
Iryna, who was behind Parvan in the line, felt a splash of hit liquid on her face, freezing where she stood as she looked down at Parvan's figure beneath them.
She had only seen wounds like this during the beast tide, and if you counted the fight between Arthur and Randolf, then the self-inflicted burns that Randolf gave himself during the fight.
Arthur had nearly cut Parvan's arm clean off. The veins and bones had been cut cleanly through, and only a small portion of muscle still attaching both sides let the appendage hang loosely at his side.
Zlatanna and Milena both saw the state that Parvan was in, in addition to the sheer amount of pain that he was currently experiencing.
They kneeled before Parvan, raising they hands helplessly before they turned towards Arthur who walked towards them slowly.
"What the hell Arthur! Why the hell were you so heavy handed!".
Milena stood up and tried to grab Arthur's shirt, but was only pushed aside by the taller teen, as he kneeled down beside Parvan, letting his hands glow with a brightly coloured light.
He was actually using multiple Fae at the same time, but don't let that fact get in the way of how impressive that actually was.
The younger man looked up at Arthur, trying to avoid looking at how his muscle tissue, bones and veins were being put back together.
"You guys did pretty well to block that. Or, should I say, you did pretty well to block that Parvan".
Parvan looked up at Arthur, a weird combination of gratitude and anger marred his face.
He had quite heavily injured him, causing him the most physical pain he had every experiencing in his life, but then was healed by Arthur.
Arthur shrugged his shoulders slightly, noting the slight redness in Parvan's shoulder.
"I know what you're all thinking. "Arthur, how can you be so heavy handed and aggressive with that final strike. It could've killed us". Now.... I admit, that was a little bit over the top. However, I need you guys to tell me, where you went wrong in that situation".
Arthur could feel the angered gazes of all four of them on him, but he just smiled, his gaze moving between each one of them.
Milena, the one who Arthur was sure, if he remembered correctly, liked Parvan, narrowed her eyes.
"You tried to kill Parvan and then have the guts to say that we did something wrong!? What the hell is wrong with you!".
Arthur narrowed his eyes for a moment, tilting his head to the side.
"I thought you four wanted to become stronger, which is why I wanted to team up with you. If you were worried about your potential deaths, then just stop being a Fae Master in the first place. This isn't an occupation, its a choice".
Milena's expression grew even more furious and the girl's origin essence burned brightly as the only person present who had hadron quartz origin essence.
Iryna and Zlatanna also felt like saying something, but their opinions towards Arthur was different from Milena. Milena only had a slight affection towards Arthur, while those two had a huge amount of affection for him.
It was like comparing the affection for a distant unknown relative, to someone you had known since childhood. The gap was just to wide.
"No Arthur! The problem is that you just nearly killed us! I don't expect have to worry about dying during training! How can we work together when you might accidentally kill us during-".
"So its okay for other people to try and kill you but not me? I'm trying to help you guys not get killed, not actually kill you".
Arthur pointed to the fifty metre long, one foot wide trench in the ground. The result of the Falling Autumn Maple before it actually hit Parvan and the rest of them.
"You might think that due to the thickness of this whole, the attack itself was a foot in width. However, the attack only severed Parvan's arm, something that I can easily fix with Fae. If I had chosen to attack with a horizontal slash, you wouldn't have to worry about Parvan's arm being chopped off, you would have to worry about getting the right coffin for him".
Arthur used another Falling Autumn Maple, cutting down numerous trees as he used a horizontal slash against them.
Even Parvan, who was still on the ground, slightly wincing at the trace amounts of pain wracking through his body, saw this and felt a wave of cold sweat on his back.
If Arthur had actually used that against him, then he would've most definitely not being able to block, or evade such a thing.
His eyes landed on the crimson coloured leafsword in his hands, as he let out an unsteady breath.
"The thing that you all did wrong was that you tried to block it instead of evading it. It may have a long range, but the actual attack itself is quite limited in terms of reach. Sidestepping to the side would've been the best option, and the safest".
Before Milena could speak, Arthur continued.
"I understand that you may feel threatened, or unsafe in front of me, especially after that. I did just mortally wound Parvan of course. However, under my care and under my guidance, I never once attacked you with the intent to kill. If you doubt my words, feel free to ask what that feels like from Randolf.
"I can't guarantee that you won't feel scared of me, or even fear me because of what I can or might do. But know this before you come to any conclusions, I won't ever hurt you without some sort of purpose behind it. I won't ever hurt you either, with the intent to cause actual harm. The Fae Masters and spirit beasts outside the Clan won't give you any time to gather yourselves, so why should I during your training?".
"If you can't accept that, then perhaps being a Fae Master is not for you".
Arthur didn't glance back at the four of them as he walked away, pretending as though from there, it was their own choice to make.....
He gave them the illusion of a choice.
They could either give up trying to become strong, remaining as weak and helpless as the were before.
Or.... they could make a deal with the devil.