"Did you miss me?" A figure said on top of a decapitated King Abyssal Leopard.
Everyone who saw the figure was in disbelief. The person in front of them was Antares but they heard he was supposed to be out for months. The first person to move was Lycaon as he lunged forward.
Bang!
"What do you think you're doing?" Sebastian asked, angered by Lycaon's aggression.
"Don't think I don't know about it! You wield him, don't you!? That demon!" Lycaon shouted at him.
"Demon? What are you talking about?" He tried to defuse the situation.
"That armor! I bet that's part of him too!"
Lycaon aimed a hook at Sebastian's head, only to abruptly come to a half. The onlookers were baffled by Lycaon's sudden aggression, but Baron wasn't as he was there when the beast had explained everything.
Bang!
Sebastian retaliated by delivering a forceful headbutt to Lycaon, followed by a powerful hook of his one. The blow connected and sent Lycaon hurtling across the ground.
"What's the meaning of this?" Sophie asked.
"Antares wields the blade of Murasama! A demon that wishes for the destruction of the world." Lycaon quickly explained.
The ice giant from before regained to momentum as it began to advance toward them. Startled, everyone swiftly dodged out of the path of the giant's footsteps.
Before long, a massive fist loomed overhead as it targeted Sebastian. Without hesitation, he brandished his shield and braced himself, meeting the blow head-on.
Bang!
The collision between the shield and the fist reverberated throughout the entire valley. Eventually, his strength faltered, and he was pushed back.
Bang!
Thrown against the valley wall, he coughed a mouthful of blood, and witnessed as the giant was closing in on him. Struggling to free himself from the wall, he realized his body was immobilized. It was at that moment he became aware that almost every bone in his body was shattered.
'Heal!' His face lit bright red as he tried to speed up his recovery.
"Demon… Wielder~!" The ice giant spoke, angrily.
'So, he wasn't dead after all…' A deep voice reverberated in Sebastian's head. 'Draconis Ice Monarch…'
'You know him?'
"Of course… me and him used to fight every five years and left destruction in our wake. Though, he did hate me since I managed to sway the world's opinion and made him out to be more dangerous than me.'
As the duo was talking in Sebastian's mind, the giant was busy forming a giant ice spear. Those who stood by and watched the situation, felt the need to intervene. They didn't know why Lycaon had tried to attack him but he was a person that helped them.
"Stop! Don't you dare try to help!" Lycaon commanded.
"For the last time, you're not our leader! You're a temporary replacement until Sebastian returns!" Baron rebuked with anger.
What he said was true. None of them felt like Lycaon was their true rightful leader. Maybe because they came from the same village but they just felt like Sebastian was the true rightful leader.
They may not have known the person in front of them but they felt like they needed to help him as Sebastian would have done the same thing for them. Deep down, they knew he deeply cared for them but he wasn't the best at showing it.
"It'll take some time but I'll focus on making another meteor." Lendell said as his dark purple mana began to surround his hand.
"I'll target its eyes and other parts that will stagger its movement." Katlynn said as she summoned multiple golden swords.
"Then I'll deal with those damn leopards while you think of a plan, Baron!" Sophie said before becoming a lightning bolt and zipping through the air.
"Lycaon, I hereby revoke your title as the leader. You will be and forever be the second-in-command." Baron declared.
Just as he said those words, the surrounding area around Lycaon changed. It went from a calm demeanor to a rageful one.
"Did you not hear me? I said he wields Murasama! THE demon capable of destroying the world! And you want to save him!?" Lycaon shouted in rage. "If you want to save him, then that makes you an enemy of the world!"
Lunging forward, Lycaon transformed his hands into claws and coated them with Space Magic. Baron, in response, erected a wall of icy earth and blocked his attack with just enough time to escape.
"You worry about protecting Antares! It's about time I show Lycaon his place in our hierarchy!" Baron shouted at his worried friends.
Lycaon then clasped his hands together before releasing a purple flamethrower. Quick to react, Baron flash-stepped forward with his fist covered in the icy earth and threw a quick jab at his face.
Bang!
Baron's fist collided with Lycaon's face, or so he thought. Inches away from his fist, he had forgotten about Lycaon's ability to create a slow field around him.
"You were always the smart one!" Lycaon shouted.
Slash!
Right in front of his eyes, Baron saw an aura slash coated in space magic cut his hand off. This surprised him greatly as Lycaon himself said that it wasn't possible unless he lied to them.
While they were having their own fight, Sebastian had recovered and equipped his Chained Blades. He wasn't in good condition as he wasted nearly all of his energy to get to the Northern Mountaintops within time and he didn't recover a lot of his life energy back.
Twirling the blades through the air, he was ready to attempt to cut the giant spear in half. He did hear the conversation his friends were having and was charmed by Baron's words and actions.
"Well, I can't allow myself to be beaten. Oi! You damn giant! Don't be getting cocky just because you got the height! The bigger you are, the slower your attacks!"
Rushing forward, he threw one of the chained blades into the valley walls and pulled as hard as he could to propel himself up toward the giant. After being propelled, he threw his other chained blades toward the giant and stabbed it into its shin.
"Take this!" The giant's voice shook the valley,
Releasing the spear, it flew toward the floating Sebastian and nearly grazed his face. Thinking, he attached his chained blades onto the spear as it flew on by.
'Shall we test how long these chains are willing to extend? Fifty-fifty chances of me dying and being ripped in half.' Sebastian thought.
A few seconds passed and the chains finally came to a stop as Sebastian was pulled toward the spear at a fast pace.
Swoosh!
"AHHH!" He screamed in pain.
After being pulled toward the spear, the chained blade connected to the giant also came to end as he was being pulled from both sides of his body. He was able to tell that the spear was still going forward and made him curse himself for coming up with a stupid idea. He didn't know how far the valley stretched and only assumed it wouldn't stretch very far.
Unable to bear the pain any longer, he pulled the chains with all his might and tried to close them but didn't budge. After a few seconds of pain, he felt his pain subside and noticed one of the chains started to become limp.
'Help me, you damn demon! Didn't you say you wanted to return?!' Sebastian shouted in his mind.
'I do but I can't be wasting my energy here.' The demon replied.
_______
While Sebastian was going through his dilemma, Baron and Lycaon's fight was coming to an end. From behind, Lycaon was struck by a giant lightning bolt. Although he could create a slow field, he didn't do it in a three-sixty. The reason being is because he would drain his mana faster.
Stab!
Before he could recover from the strike, he felt a blade pierce through his body and come through his shoulder.
"Augmentation: Lightning Taser!" Sophie shouted.
ZAP!
A sudden burst of electricity entered Lycaon's body and sent pain coursing throughout his body. As he continued to be shocked, he felt his consciousness fading.
'Why?! How can I lose?! Is it because I don't want to kill them?!' Lycaon thought.
"Just give it up! You can't win against us!" Baron demanded.
"Baron! Antares is gone! He got pulled by his chains!" Katlynn informed.
"What?! Go after him!"
"T-Take this… I found two of these flowers. I was gonna give both of them to Jason so he could turn them into pills for Antares but one should be able to replenish his life energy…" Lycaon said, throwing a flower at Baron.
Inspecting the flower, Baron realized the flower had a unique mana resonating around it. The mana signature far surpassed what he could sense as all he saw was rainbow mana.
"Its name is Peony." Lycaon said before passing out.
"Why do you want to help now? Dammit! Sophie, forget about the leopards, let's go help Antares!" Baron instructed
"Let's hurry up then!" She replied, zipping on by.
"Easy for you to say!"
As they ran toward Sebastian, he was doing fine. The giant's slow movement made it easy to escape but he did know that he had to kill it right now, otherwise it would leave the Northern Mountaintops and hunt him.
'Hmm… I can use its spear against it but how will I make it trip… Lendell's Meteor! I just need to distract long enough until he fully forms it!' Sebastian thought.
Twirling the chained blades with such speed, the chains extended to an astounding twenty meters. Within a few seconds, the giant made its appearance as another ice spear was already formed in its hand.
"Where are you demon wielder~?!"
"Right here!" Sebastian shouted.
Releasing the chained blades into the sky, the blades flew through the air and embedded themselves into the giant's abdomen. He then pulled hard onto the chains as he propelled himself in front of the giant and swung his blades toward its neck.
Slash!
"Do you think my followers are any means weak!?"
As the blades made contact with the giant's neck, they ricocheted off and flew in the other direction. The next moment, the giant slashed downward with the spear and struck Sebastian across the chest.
Splat!
Bang!
"Meteor Impact!" Lendell's voice could be heard.
Turning its head, the giant saw a giant meteor descending fast in its direction. In a panic, the giant formed a shield in its hand and aimed it into the sky to block the attack. While it was distracted, a few golden blades flew past its head and stopped in front of its eyes.
"Don't forget about us!" Katlynn shouted on top of her summoned swords before launching them into the giant's eyes.
"ARGH!" The giant bellowed in pain.
"Do you know the problem us male suffer from? It's that we have the biggest exposed weak point on our body!" Baron shouted as he erected an earth pillar beneath the giant before launching it toward his private area.
Bang!
"AARRGGHH!"
"The bigger they are, the harder they fall!"
Bang!
A massive lightning bolt struck the giant square in the chest and slightly staggered its movement. With the giant's defenses down, the meteor slammed into the giant and made it fall over to the ground.
With its head beneath the spear, Sebastian saw an opportunity and attached his chained blades onto one edge of the spear before giving it a slight tug.
"Requiescat in pace…" Sebastian said as the edge of the spear broke off and proceeded to fall down onto the giant's head.
Stab!
In front of everyone's eyes, they saw the edge of the spear pierce through the giant's forehead and kill it on the spot. The girls that saw this felt bad for the giant as they knew it wasn't in control of its body but they had no choice but to kill it.
"What shall we do with Lycaon?" Lendell asked, with Lycaon over his shoulder before placing on the ground.
"I would say leave him for dead but I understand his thought process." Sebastian replied, surprising everyone.