The battlefield had become silent as both fighters stared at each other with intensity. Their surroundings were a mess, uprooted trees, and destroyed vegetation.
Arthur held Excalibur in his hand, ready to move, in an instant but patiently waiting for his foe to make the first move.
Zesshi heaved a sigh, her brows furrowed and eyes looking intensely at her foe. Her weapon was tightly gripped in her hand, and she could feel the sweat on her hand, but it wasn't to the point that she couldn't grip it properly.
"Am I nervous?"
She questioned herself. However, she shook her head. She wasn't nervous but excited. This would be the second time she had had to use one of her trump cards.
As the half-elf held her weapon tightly, her body glowed white, and her eyes shimmered a similar glow before a pure white sphere slowly exited her chest and then once it was a couple of paces in front of her, it grew in size while slowly changing shape.
Arthur watched with interest as Zesshi finally revealed something familiar to him, The Valkyrie. He didn't really know if it was as powerful as the one Shalltear had. However, he was prepared for a battle nonetheless.
"What is that thing?!!"
Gagaran was the first to speak as she and the team watched the ball slowly shape itself into the form of the woman it came from, essentially becoming a clone of the woman.
"I don't know, I've never seen such a skill before, but from what I'm seeing, it looks like a clone of sorts"
Evileye easily guessed, and it took no time for her and Lakyus to realize what that may mean.
"We need to back up Arthur. If she's going to get help, we should help him too"
Lakyus reasoned, and the twins nodded in agreement. However, it was Evileye who objected just as Lakyus was about to jump into the action.
"Lakyus, wait! Let's wait and see!"
She suggested, her gaze shifting from Zesshi to Arthur. The man showed no signs of worry. In fact, there was a grin on his face as if he were letting this happen.
"What do you mean? Arthur could die. We can't jus–"
The look of worry plastered itself on the face of their leader. However, Evileye assured her.
"Look at him. Does it look like he needs our help?"
Hearing such a question forced Lakyus to focus on Arthur and realize that the man was quite relaxed and showed no signs that he might need help; however, despite all that, she still felt the need to jump in and help.
Her face morphed into a complicated expression, as she doubted whether she should or shouldn't help him.
"Let's wait. If it looks like he needs it, we'll jump in without hesitation"
Evileye uttered, and Lakyus reluctantly nodded to her words.
"Don't say this is unfair, I'm only using a skill"
The half-elf explained herself with a mischievous grin on her face while her clone mirrored her stance.
"Don't worry, your clone won't matter much. You can't win this"
Arthur responded, his tone dismissive and only served to make the half-elf a bit displeased at being underestimated.
"humphf!"
'Martial art: Greater wind stride'
With an exhale and the use of martial arts, both she and her Valkyrie launched themselves at the foe before them. The ground cracked as they took off, their bodies becoming a blur as they moved.
Arthur's eyes bulged in surprise as his opponents reached him, displaying speeds he should have expected.
'martial art: Steeled arm strike'
Zesshi activated another martial art, and her Valkyrie mirrored her and did the same. Both swung their scythe, The Valkyrie slashing low, while Zesshi slashed above.
However, Arthur's body glowed white before he threw Excalibur to the sky and then he bent his body backward as if attempting a backflip and then used his legs to launch himself back, narrowly slipping right between the two scythes avoiding their synchronized attack like an expert gymnast.
Unfortunately, Zesshi and her clone were quick on the uptake and quickly gave chase, going after him before he could touch the ground.
Arthur landed off his hands; however, he quickly realized they weren't going to give him time to recover as they were already on him; he tried to back up using his hands as his feet; however, he wasn't experienced in doing that, so he wasn't fast enough.
"Shit"
Seeing the disadvantage, he immediately focused his blut vene on his legs, making them much more durable, before using them to block the two scythes that had slashed down on him and then kicking them back, causing his opponents to slide back about two meters allowing him to quickly get back on his feet.
Excalibur came back down and stabbed into the ground right beside him.
'Woah! I forgot about that'
He inwardly thought. It would have been stupid if his own sword stabbed him because he had forgotten that he threw it up in the air.
"I have to say you're good. I thought I had you there"
Zesshi praised him, already rethinking her attack plan. It was obvious to her that it was going to be much harder to land a hit on him. He was oddly agile.
"I gotta say the same, that clone of your adds more difficulty in this, still can't beat me tho"
He said and once again caused Zesshi to feel a twinge of displeasure. She did not like being underestimated.
"That remains to be seen"
She said preparing another attack, however in a sudden movement of his wrist, Excalibur launched itself towards the Valkyrie forcing the clone to block the attack, and the sound of iron against iron echoed in the air.
Unfortunately for the Valkyrie, despite blocking the attack, the force was enough to push it back several meters.
This sudden attack surprised Zesshi as she did expect the blade to move independently, and unfortunately, she couldn't react properly, allowing Arthur to arrive before her, his fist already in motion.
She barely got time to block before the attack connected and sent her flying backwards and crashing onto trees.
"That's a few seconds"
He said before he used [Ruler's authority] to control Excalibur in the same manner as Harlequin (King) from the seven deadly sins controlled his spirit spear Chastiefol.
With minor movements from his hands, Arthur easily manipulated Excalibur, controlling the sword to attack the Valkyrie relentlessly. However, the clone blocked and parried each attack, even dodging some of the sword's slashes.
"So it can act independently… good to know"
He uttered and then called back Excalibur to his hand before unleashing multiple cleaves on the Valkyrie, planning to eviscerate the clone.
It took Zesshi mere seconds to return to the battlefield only for her to witness her Valkyrie being eviscerated by a multitude of slashes, like a cow being butchered.
"Dammit!!"
She screamed, seeing her clone drop to the ground lifelessly, and she contemplated releasing the skill but quickly decided against it and instead let it stay there.
Releasing the skill would mean having to wait for a cool down, although she had another trump card that would be far more effective, she wanted to use that when it's necessary and so far it's not necessary
"That's one trump card down!"
Arthur said with a devious smirk on his lips before he easily jumped back, avoiding an attack from Zesshi and opening the distance.
There was one thing he hadn't used ever since arrived in this world, this was mostly because he didn't think it was part of the same technique so he assumed that since he got Cut and cleave or fillet and Dismantle he wouldn't have gotten it and that was The fire arrow.
He stabbed Excalibur in the ground, and Zesshi immediately halted her advance, mostly because she saw he could control that sword remotely, so getting close was ill-advised.
Arthur smiled, seeing this, noting her caution, and jumped back further before taking the appropriate stance, flames ignited at his fingertips, and he stretched them out as if drawing back a bow.
This display was shocking to the spectators. To them, it appeared as if Arthur was using magic, like a mage, and as far they know, he was nothing of the sort.
"Gun to ya head, spit a birdman verse"
He said with a chuckle before releasing the arrow, and it flew towards his opponent. It cut through the air at blinding speeds. Despite having seen it, Zesshi had little time to think before the arrow made contact and exploded.
The ground shook from the impact, and the heat of the arrow scorched the very earth and burned all the nearby trees as it spread out, charring everything in its path. The shockwave was powerful enough to uproot trees that were much further away from the centre of the impact.
Both Arthur and the members of Blue Rose were forced to retreat and avoid the fallout. Arthur had forgotten that the fire arrow had a shit tonne of destructive power, enough to destroy damn near half a city.
The explosion ended, leaving behind a barren earth, charred trees, and black smoke that slowly rose to the sky.
Arthur waited a few moments to give the smoke enough time to clear before he dropped from the trees and walked towards the point of impact, stepping over the charred ground and trees on his way.
He arrived and witnessed his opponent barely standing inside the large crater he just created, once again scarring nature with his power.
He saw his opponent, one side of her skin was burned, charred even and the white side of her hair burned off creating a bald spot and she was using her scythe as a crutch.
"like I said, one Trump card down"
He expressed as he looked at Zesshi, coughing endlessly as her body slowly healed, but the Valkyrie was gone.
'She probably used her Valkyrie as shield from the arrow, but the resulting explosion should have gotten her'
He thought before their eyes met, he saw the determination and resolve in those eyes. After she was done coughing, she spoke.
"My clothes are high tier artefacts that provide resistance against magical attacks *cough*"
She explained as she had seen that he was surprised that she survived.
"You are the strongest the theocracy has ever had, so I should have expected as much… but let's wrap this up"
He announced while watching her heal, She had one more trump card left and he wanted her to use it and once it fails, he'll unleash his Domain expansion and show her the foolishness of having attacked him.
.....
A/N: Sorry for the delay, this was meant to be posted yesterday.