"—!" A spell was fired at his head at that moment.
It wasn't by any means strong so he didn't flinch a bit.
'Is this…' he turned his head.
Tanaera was standing next to the stairs, in the hallway leading to the west wing of the palace, with her hands pointed at him.
'So she wasn't running away, after all…'
She was only giving herself enough time to get her class back.
Tanaera glared at him in disgust.
Arnold stood up, his raging erection dying down. He put his armor piece back on.
Caerwyn hurriedly covered herself and gained distance from Arnold. Her face was bloodied and a few teeth were missing.
"So, this is your true self…."
'What does she mean by that…?'
"I have no choice but to attack with the intent to kill," Tanaera surrounded herself with magic circles, "Otherwise I'll be the one to die."
Arnold held out his right hand. His light sword flew into his hand.
He wasted no time in bursting towards Tanaera and swinging. She vanished.
He obliterated part of the wall as if slicing through butter.
Black lightning suddenly surrounded his body and wrapped around his limbs like chains.
He turned around. One of Tanaera's magic circles had black lightning coming out of it.
Petrify Lightning, a 6th rank spell, falling under the Black Magic section of the Arcane Arts.
Arnold tried cutting the lightning with his sword but the lightning maneuvered around his sword as if it were alive.
Arnold's movements were slowed down immensely by the spell. However, he wasn't petrified as was this spell's purpose because he was too strong to give in to the spell completely.
Things would've been a lot easier if he wasn't wearing such heavy armor though.
Now knowing how useless it is to charge at her, Arnold threw the greatsword, aiming right for Tanaera's head.
The caster of [Petrify Lightning] can't move from their position so this was the perfect opportunity to kill her. One hit from his Ultra Light Greatsword can crushed her body in an instant.
However.
The sword went right through Tanaera's body as if she wasn't even there.
'She's using [Black Dimension], huh.'
Black Dimension is a spell that gives black magic users the ability to move through the fabric of reality in the form of a spirit. To put it simply, she was a phantom capable of interacting with the real world.
Being a high ranking spell and all means that the spell is extremely exhausting to cast for long periods of time. Arnold wasn't certain how much mana Tanaera has or how long she'll hold out while casting big spells in the process.
Physical attacks won't work. He'll have to attack with energy-infused attacks.
It seems his body caught on to this as it was releasing its aura.
"Must… Follow… My… Order!!!" the levels of aura he was releasing skyrocketed. His aura was even reaching the ceiling.
"I'm glad you're just some wild beast now," Tanaera said in a monotonous voice.
Magic circles surrounded her body. Black mana came out of every circle and was sent flying in various directions.
Arnold noticed that the mana was heading to the dead bodies of Siana's knights.
'She's planning on using them… I see, necromancy.'
Their corpses rose unnaturally as if they were puppets picked up by their strings.
Arnold took off the Chaos Chain and wrapped it around his right arm, with a few meters of it dangling freely.
He swung the chain, obliterating the top half of one of the dead knights.
Despite that monstrous display of power, the undead kept coming.
What is Tanaera up to?
Arnold couldn't turn his body that well while under the "Petrify Lightning" spell so it was difficult to swing the chains properly.
He couldn't get all the knights. Two latched onto him from behind.
'Huh? They're just grabbing onto me? They're not attacking?'
Something bad was going to happen but his body—driven by just Kalda's command—was incapable of seeing that.
Soon Arnold's arm and body was held down by several of the dead knights.
Moving got even more difficult.
Arnold continued seething and foaming at the mouth, trying to shake them off.
Four of the knights were holding down his right arm so he couldn't use it to pull them off. His left arm was free but was much too weak to actually exert any strength.
'She got me this quickly….'
Tanaera was putting that insanely high Intelligence stat to good use. She had three high rank spells active and even more magic circles ready to be used as backup.
What's more dangerous than a dark magician with a high intelligence stat? Well, the answer is a dark magician capable of multicasting.
A shadow suddenly crawled out of Tanaera's chest. It has the figure of a human.
'She's even using a Phantom Avatar. What the hell is she up to?'
Going by what she said earlier before their fight, it wasn't anything pleasant.
The copy stood up. It had the same features as Tanaera, only it had no pupils and runes were all over its naked body.
Those runes are a sign that Tanaera gave most of her power to this phantom.
Which means…
'Whatever she's going to do next is going to be big.'
Arnold's body seemed to know that as it tried harder to break free.
A giant jar appeared and floated next to the phantom as it approached Arnold.
It reached Arnold.
Black mana surrounded its hands. It struck its hand right through Arnold chest, ignoring his armor as an obstacle.
'She's trying to rip out my lifeforce!?'
Arnold had seen this magic before.
Elizabeth used to use this magic in the game to kill her enemies quickly without wasting too much power.
A person dies completely once every ounce of their lifeforce is forced out. Your soul, the energy you use to fight, basically your entire existence is forced out. A person with two or more life phases is not an exception to this.
This spell can kill anything with a lifeforce, gods included. The strongest being that Elizabeth ever killed with this spell was one of the demon lords.
Demon lords are essentially demigods, which Elizabeth could kill easily.
The difficult part about this spell is that you have to immobilize your enemy before using it. It's a long and arduous process to remove a lifeforce.
"Huuk!" Arnold involuntarily groaned when a smidgen of his lifeforce was already in the phantom's hand.
The phantom stepped back while pulling the lifeforce out.
"Uuk! Hiik! Grrrr!!!" Arnold tried to grab the phantom's hand to make it stop but his hand phased right through it.
Nothing was going to stop Tanaera now. Her life is on the line and she vowed to end his to keep it.
'So, this is how I die... as someone's puppet….'
He always imagined himself dying while in battle against a great foe.
What's more cool than dying in a fight against someone who's strong?
He could picture it: Each of them fighting with their blades, one trying to break the other's posture to finally deliver that killing blow.
Both are equally matched, with not one overwhelming the other easily. Dying or killing someone equal to you in strength is a warrior's greatest honor. It shows that you struggled to get the upper hand. If a warrior fights someone weaker and wins then it brings regret; if they fight someone much stronger and lose then it brings shame.
However, if's someone equal in strength then it brings honor.
Sebastian taught him this.
Arnold will just have to accept his death as there is nothing he can do.
He closed his eyes, embracing slumber.
◇◇◇
There was suddenly a rumble.
The ferocious roar of a dragon soon followed.
Did that roar just come out of Arnold, thought Caerwyn as she peeked out from behind a pillar.
The copy that came out of the magician girl let go of that energy that it was pulling out of Arnold.
A gigantic head came out of the black mana in Arnold's chest. It looked like a serpent, no it had horns so maybe a dragon-like creature?
The figure's head was pitch black and it had only one arm.
The creature grabbed the phantom with its one arm before biting the phantom's head off completely and throwing it aside.
'What… What is that…?'
Is this some kind of monster that Kalda summoned? Why was it coming out of Arnold?
"[Solurn Amoor!]" Tanaera shouted.
Several black spears manifested around her before shooting at the serpent-like creature.
The spears managed to hit but the creature didn't seem affected at all.
[Solurn Cretaru]!"
Black phantom crows shot at the creature. They exploded upon impact, leaving a black mist behind. More crows manifested and shot at Arnold.
Instead of exploding upon impact, the crows detonated immediately when they reached the black smoke.
The black smoke exploded, engulfing Arnold and the creature in the blast.
The magician girl clutched her eyes and groaned. She also coughed up blood.
She fell onto the ground.
"….."
'Did she win?'
Caerwyn squinted her eyes.
"!!"
The creature's hand flew through the smoke and grabbed the magician girl by the throat.
The magician girl was smashed right against the wall behind her.
"No matter the times… No matter the world… A human stays a human: Weak."
A deep voice came from the smoke as the sound of boots hitting the ground resounded.
Arnold emerged from the smoke.
The black lightning's magic circle broke apart, allowing Arnold free movement.
Arnold gripped the two blades at the end of the chain around his arm. They were covered in an eerie red aura.
The magician girl kicked and hit the creature's hand but it didn't budge.
There was fear in her eyes.
"It's over…" the woman, who had helped Caerwyn stand up, said beside her.
Indeed. They had lost. And it all took a single individual to turn the tide of the battle.
There was no way they were going to win against Kalda and Arnold.
Arnold stood in front of Tanaera like the reaper standing over the dead. The dragon in his stomach was menacingly glaring at the knights, daring them to interfere.
"I… I have to help…"
Even if she knew that she was no match for Arnold, she wanted to buy Siana some time to escape.
'Her Majesty is watching. She'll know to escape while there's enough time.'
Caerwyn will gladly lay down her life for Siana.
Her hand was suddenly grabbed.
"No, Caerwyn," Her friend was the one who grabbed her hand, "We lost. There's no reason to save that girl. We'll be next anyway."
"Rika…."
"I don't regret standing up with you, Caerwyn. I'm sure the others share this sentiment. But… Kalda won. She's going to kill us all. Still… I'll die with no regrets."
Rika smiled. It was a smile of someone who accepted their death.
Caerwyn smiled as well, only hers lacked the confidence and acceptance like her friend's smile.
She shut her eyes, unable to look at the scene in front of them.
A knight who is unable to save someone in need is no knight; they are a disgrace. This is what Caerwyn believes.
"Don't close your eyes, Caerwyn. We have to look at the girl. She was the last one to stand up to the black knight." Her friend put a hand on Caerwyn's shoulder.
Caerwyn nodded and slowly opened her eyes.
'Why is he holding his left hand up to his face…?' Caerwyn noticed his strange gesture. His finger was pointing straight at his temple.
Why does he look unaware of his own action…?
It was at that moment when Arnold held the blades of the chain near the magician girl' neck…
Caerwyn, no, every single onlooker looked in shock at what happened next.
A beam of energy was shot from his fingers.
An aura blast was shot at Arnold's head from his own hand!