"What's your choice, surrender or die?" Edward confidently asked.
"Not very appealing, either way, I'd die."
Edward just smiled and drew his sword, "Too bad, now do me a favor and die."
With the request, Edward coated his sword with wind, producing a wind slash much more powerful than what Rowan could produce. And without a sword, Rowan was at a severe disadvantage. He couldn't even escape easily due to the ice wall made by Freya behind him.
Rowan smoothly, but barely dodges out of the way. The wind slash was so precise that it didn't even dent the ice wall behind him, which was what Rowan was hoping for.
Edward uses another wind slash, noticing that Rowan struggled against the first one. Rowan, once again smoothly but barely dodged. He was sweating a bit now.
"What's wrong? Cat caught your tongue?" Edward mocked using another wind slash.
Rowan swiftly dodges out of the way before stomping hard into the ground, crushing the ice and floor under him. Using his earth magic, Rowan shoots many rocks back at Edward, who uses his wind magic to easily blow the rocks away.
Rowan was starting to get frustrated, Ryan and that ice princess fucked him over.
[I didn't think I'd have to use him.]
Rowan performs a hand gesture, before quickly chanting, "In shadows' grasp, Beelzebub awake, From depths unseen, his form to take. By moon's dim light and darkness' sway, Beelzebub, come forth, obey."
Ending his chant, the ground around the two shook violently, destroying the buildings around them. Arising from the ground was a giant bug-like creature of shadows. Its 4 bug wings flapped smoothly and its roar brought about the dark, night sky.
Rowan laughed maniacally, "Yes, Beelzebub, I know you're hungry. Wreak havoc throughout the city. Tonight's the night they'll finally fear us, the Dark Legion!"
Edward stared at the sight in concern, [This is not what I signed up for.]
-----------------------------------------------------------
Somewhere else…
Freya could be seen dragging Ryan down the street, trying to flee from the fight scene when the sky suddenly turned dark. The roars of Beelzebub rang through their ears
"Huh, who turned off the light," a barely awakened Ryan asked.
"Just shut up and rest, you're literally on the verge of death."
Ryan just started laughing, "I've been close to death a few times, I'm used to it by now."
Freya just rolled her eyes before continuing to drag the bloody Ryan down the street, looking for a safe place to seek refuge.
-----------------------------------------------------------
"Argh, that bastard Rowan. What the fuck is he doing now?" one of the shady men complained. "Can't we both just go steal that gem on our own."
"Xander, the mistress wanted Rowan alone to complete this task, she only assigned us to watch him."
Xander just rolled his eyes, "Can't we help him a little? I'm sure the mistress won't mind."
The other man just sighed, "Do what you want, it's your death wish."
Xander tore off his hood and mask, hopping off the roof with a smile on his face.
[Maybe I could get a promotion for this.]
-----------------------------------------------------------
Crowds of people ran in fear as mysterious shadow creatures arose from the ground. The situation in the city became dire due to the summoning of Beelzebub.
Titania was doing her best to take out the shadow creatures, but there seemed to be no end to them. She and the other Imperial Mages had given up on their lookout for the criminal, now focusing on dealing with Beelzebub.
"Dammit, there's no end to them!" A B-rank mage yelled while shooting light attacks at the shadow creatures.
"Keep up your assault, we must reach that monster before the situation gets worse," Titania commanded.
Most of the civilians had been evacuated from the area, but there were still many who were killed by the shadow creatures.
Titania ran forward, burning many shadow creatures as she made her way toward Beelzebub. Many of the Imperial Mages followed her example.
As soon as Titania was in range, she shot a giant fireball attack at the giant-bug creature. When the attack collided, it blew a hole right through the bug.
But before they could celebrate, Beelzebub had already begun regenerating. Once its wound was regenerated, it shot a giant ball of shadow magic at them.
In response, the Imperial mages began forming a shield around themselves. They used chants to enhance the shield as much as they could, but the shadow ball attack was much stronger than their shield. The shield broke under the pressure, and the mages were sent flying back.
Titania, struggling to stand back up, looked at the monster in fear. It just broke a barrier created by 10 mages. They even added enhancements to the shield, but it didn't seem to help at all.
Beelzebub roared once again, summoning even more shadow creatures in the surrounding area. At this point, around 30% of the city had been taken over by the creatures.
[At this rate, it'll take over the entire city.] Titania thought as she prepared to fight the shadow creatures once again.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile…
Edward and Rowan were still in the middle of their clash. Rowan had managed to knock Edward's sword out of his hand, evening the playing field.
"Not so mighty now, huh Emerald Knight?" Rowan mocked as he noticed Edward struggling under the pressure of his assault.
Edward remained silent as he parried Rowan's punches, eventually finding an opportunity to toss Rowan away before using wind to slam Rowan through a wall.
Rowan walked out of the building with blood dripping down from his face, applauding Edward.
"I'll give you props, you're the strongest guy I've ever fought. I'm really at my limit here."
Edward just stood unfazed by the compliment, charging a giant ball of wind energy. "Would love to chat, but I'm going to have to kill you before that creature you summoned takes over the entire city. You seem to be the source of that thing's power."
"Great observation Emerald Knight," shadows begin erupting from behind him, forming a ball of black, "Unfortunately, I'm going to have to kill you now."
"Dark Void!" "Zephyr Burst!"
BOOOOOM!!!
The two of them launch their elemental attacks, and the balls of elemental energy collide creating a giant explosion that causes the ground to shake throughout the city.
-----------------------------------------------------------
"There's no end to them," Freya complained as she continued to freeze more and more shadow creatures.
Ryan lying on his stomach kept annoying her continuously as she dispatched more and more of the shadow monsters.
"Can you make yourself useful and help?!" Freya shouted at the boy on the ground.
"I'm literally bleeding out right now."
Freya rolled her eyes, holding out her hand to freeze Ryan's stab wound.
"There, now can you help?"
Ryan just rolled onto his back and stretched his arms.
"Give me a few minutes. You seem to be doing just fine on your own."
Freya felt like strangling him, but held back that thought, instead using her ice magic to keep all of the shadow monsters that started surrounding them at bay.
Seeing her easily deal with the monsters, Ryan just closed his eyes.
BOOOOOM!!!
The ground around the two violently shakes, in the distance a giant, green colored explosion could be seen.
Ryan jumped from his spot startled.
"What the hell was that?!"
Freya pointed in the direction of the explosion.
"It came from where Emerald Knight was fighting that guy."
Ryan after hearing that just calmly closed his eyes again, annoying Freya.
"Don't you care about your mentor, that white-haired guy is really strong?"
Ryan just looked at her with one eye open.
"Relax, Edward will win, I'm sure of it."