(Denzel's POV):
I turned to Rika for a second who was about to make an interference out of worry. I restrained her by hugging her from behind and returned to watching. Gayle seemed to have dodged that ability and is now having issues on coming close to Flora who is sending in countless offensive barrages.
He continued to mix various types of elements and create powerful attacks that need to be dodged. What's more is that he doesn't seem to stop. He keeps sending an arsenal of attacks like there's no tomorrow. I checked the his mana and noticed that it isn't dropping a single bit at all. I narrowed my eyes in suspicion and almost opened my mouth to call out but Malech seemed to notice that and stopped me.
"That's the high risk skill Flora has, it's a mixture of five elements. Air, Mystic, Dark, Light, and Null, pretty sure it was named: 'Gray Mana'." - Malech
I turned my gaze to Malech who seemed to know the answer.
"Explain."
"Hmm, let's see... Gray Mana is an ability that will separate five different elements from mana. It will then merge and generate a new kind of mana which will be used instead of a person's mana. Exhausting it isn't a problem, but it will devour lucidity of a person's consciousness beyond that." - Malech
"So you're telling me."
"Since his adjustment with the size is quite a strong risk. He shaved off fifty percent of his mana to create gray mana from the select elements." - Malech
"How is she able to hold out after that much?" - Thrish
Thrish asks Malech about how Flora is about to hold out that long chain-casting. Thrish! Don't be fooled! Flora's a dude!
"Well, he's the prominent elementalist after all. Rather than that, Gayle's dodging all of them pretty well." - Malech
I turned my gaze to Gayle who is dodging continuously without stopping. She performs difficult dodging tricks up to wall running. Hey! No fair! Even I can't do that!
"She has used the 'Peaked-Out Concentration' huh." - Thrish
Peaked-Out Concentration? She has that? Speaking of which, her eye color turned red. I tried asking Thrish about it and it seems she has some history about it.
"Gayle is the only person I know who has an ability that will sharpen her skills beyond the limit and could initiate assassinations effortlessly. She is able to detect any hostile targets within the area with her concentration. It's like her reaction time skyrocketed." - Thrish
"That's explains her skillful interference between me and Miguel for most of the time." - Malech
Thrish turns her gaze to Malech and starts pouting for some reason.
"That's because you two often get in fights!" - Thrish
Heee~ So it's like that for Thrish huh?
"Well it's because of his incoherent mouth that keeps spouting bullshit and made us lose Rika!" - Malech
"The hell did you say?!?!" - Miguel
Miguel was angered by Malech's complaints and drew out his sword. I turned towards him and poured in killing intent.
"What are the rules in the crystal palace?"
Miguel starts sweating like a waterfall since the killing intent was directly poured into him. The others gulped their saliva from the terror they felt. Bella, May, and Ashley shrugged it off since they were used to me pouring this much. Miguel responded with halting language even while the duel is still continuing.
"Uhh... N-no stu--" - Miguel
"Incorrect!"
No stupid arguments? That rule is in the castle not here. I poured in more killing intent to the point that it could traumatize a normal person. His eyes start swimming around and saw the poster that has listed all the rules in the entire palace and for this room alone.
"No drawing of weapons inside the dojo if it's in use!" - Miguel
I loosened up the pressure and returned my gaze towards Gayle who is actually closing in. Miguel sat down with loosened legs after receiving the pressure from me. Don't think that's the worst, Seymour has the strongest pressure after all.
Gayle finally closed in the position towards Flora and made a large swing. Flora's staff moved away like a hoverboard and carried Flora who was a bit exhausted. Both of them are breathing roughly from different kinds of exhaustion. Gayle caught up and kicked the staff, making Flora lose his fall but has launched a powerful fire blast towards Gayle.
"Gloriosa!" - Flora
But that doesn't mean Gayle has run out of cards.
"Mystic Rift!" - Gayle
Gayle summoned a portal and redirected the fire blast in an entirely different spot from the dojo. Flora was stabbed directly into the chest and fell down to the floor. Gayle landed and fell on her knees from exhaustion. She didn't notice Flora's left hand glowing with brownish color.
"Micro Sandstorm." - Flora
A small sandstorm enveloped Gayle for a while. We couldn't see anything inside the small sandstorm as it kept dealing damage to Gayle. The micro sandstorm finally stopped which left Gayle in tatters.
"Gayle!" - Rika
"Duel end! Winner is Gayle!"
At first I thought it was a tie, but Gayle is still conscious while Flora is completely asleep now. The others seem to not agree at first, but they immediately understood when I explained that to them. In that timing, Ashley arrived with two duel health potions which we administered to both of them who have fallen. The two were immediately healed like nothing had happened and gave my insights.
"Both of you made splendid use of your skills. For instance, Gayle who managed to dodge a barrage of elemental attacks."
"Ehehe~ it's nothing big." - Gayle
Gayle seems to be happy after her victory and her display of prowess. Flora doesn't seem to be bothered much also has some great insights.
"With your display of power, you are more than enough to fill in the back line of my own group that's separate from the Asylum. To be able to keep your distance from an assassin alone and to create a sure-kill technique that you could use as the last resort in case you failed. Impressive!"
"Well, it's just practice." - Flora
Everyone still seems to be here in which I told them that everything is pretty much done. They then returned to their plans for the day.
"Denz!" - William
I heard a *cling* noise as William called me. I turned my gaze towards him while catching the coin he flipped.
"Got the job done?"
"Yep, nicely built at the outside but it's still incomplete internally." - William
Well, he tried his best for the last few days. I guess I'll take over naturally once I'm back.
"Alright, I'll take it from here. Make a written summary of what you finished in two days and place it in the diary. I'll check the state of affairs in the two houses."
"Got ya~" - William
William left the living room while I start on thinking about how should I do the internal works. These houses are two-story buildings despite being a simple looking house. At least it makes a person feel at home despite it being not connected here. They're still allowed to enter my crystal palace though, it's just that they're limited to using the areas.
Welp, I guess I got no choice. I stood up from the chair and moved to the exit.
I went out of the palace and was immediately greeted by a beautiful pathway made with ice and hardened snow.
"Damn William."
I followed the path which led a turn to the left before reaching the two houses facing each other. I first went to the house on the left and knocked on the door.
No response after thirty seconds.
However, the neighbor opened his own door and called out to me.
"Oh, it's you Denz. What brings you here?" - Leo
I turned to my back where Leo is. I then moved to his own house instead.
"Did William complete the decorations inside?"
"No, but I think we can do this part ourselves. So you don't have to really worry." - Leo
Well, that relieves some of my duties.
I cancelled the visit and assistance since they pretty much didn't have any more complaints. I then returned to the palace on foot. Alright, I should check on the others specially the first timers.
I moved to the 6th floor where all the rooms for the entire female group are placed on. I made one lap and entered Gayle's room where Gayle, Jilean, and Angel are hanging around talking to each other. I couldn't hear the topic but Gayle noticed me immediately the moment I entered the room.
"Barging in for a bit."
"Denz? What do you need?" - Gayle
Angel and Jilean turned their gazes to me while still a bit shy. I simply smiled and asked them of their current life.
"How's life in the palace?"
"It's great, even though it's only two days. There are so much rooms!" - Gayle
"Yes and, there is a lot you can do in here to prepare for anything." - Angel
Angel started talking about her opinions of the crystal palace with interest.
"Say, did you have any references when making things?" - Angel
Crap, straight to the gut huh.
"Uhuh. I did have some references when making the a few weapons."
"Heee~" - Angel
Angel seems to be interested from the possibility of my weapons being referenced from some anime I remember. However, she returned her attention to Gayle.
"Jilean, what about you? What do you think of the palace."
I turned my gaze to Jilean this time who seems to be smiling as well.
"Well, though there isn't a lot of people here in this biome but the palace itself is pretty large. It's hard to remember which rooms are which." - Jilean
"Well, you all are free to stay for as long as you want but please take note of the rules. Specially about the 'Blue Coin', it's one of the top rules here."
"I understand, aside from those rules, it's fine to just stay here for most of the time." - Jilean
Gayle and Angel also nodded in agreement to the severe-ish rules I planted on the Crystal Palace.
These rules are maintained for the first month on new residents to prevent any form of trouble. Yet, I allowed William's group to do as they please since they're valuable personnel.
"Alright, if you guys have any requests or some issues to discuss, you can just tell me directly. I won't get angry or kick anyone out but that'll depend."
"What do you mean?" - Gayle
Gayle narrowed her eyes to my words in suspicion. It's natural that I'd consider it to my utmost but if it goes too far... I won't hesitate to murder the assailant. So I looked back at her while also narrowing my eyes.
"Exploitationetrayal."
"That's-!?" - Angel
Angel starts to panic for a bit but Gayle interrupted her. I sure hope nobody has a stupid idea like that~