Bia looked toward the sky as she saw a fireball followed by lightning enter the clouds. 'What's going on?' She thought to herself
"Lady Bia! It's the same attack that killed my men last time!" The assassin shouted
"Oh, so this is it? I want to see what it does. Tell your men to fall back."
"Fall back, everyone! Fall back!" At his command, all the assassins stopped pursuing Joren and Tessa and retreated to a distance that assumed was safe.
A few seconds later, the sky rumbled as a massive bolt of lightning descended from the sky, but instead of aimlessly striking the ground like last time, the lightning danced in the sky and in a diagonal pattern and struck Bia.
"Lady Bia!" The assassins shouted. Some of them knew how powerful the lightning was as they experienced it firsthand. They assumed it had the same strength as someone in the 5th circle and were horrified as it not only stuck near them but also struck the most important person there.
"So this is the power of his lightning huh? Not bad." As she was unprepared for the lighting to strike her, she only managed to put her defenses up at the very last second, because of that, the lightning forced her to one knee.
She held one hand above her hand, slightly protecting herself from the lightning that engulfed her. "But this is only as strong as a 4th circle spell at best." A fire burned wildly in the hand that was close to her waist. Standing up slowly, she got into a martial stance.
"Something like this-" She punched the lightning with all her strength. "Is nothing to me!" A massive jet of fire rocketed inside the lightning bolt, bursting through the clouds as it reached the top. The clouds dispersed and the lightning went along with it.
Joren, who watched from afar, was flabbergasted at what he just witnessed. "You've got to be kidding me!" The most powerful attack he could pull off, one that required outside help, was just brushed aside as if it were nothing.
"Although I didn't expect her to be severely hurt by the attack, I at least hoped she would be out of commission for a bit. Welp gotta do this the old-fashioned way." Five lightning formed behind him as ten lightning bullets formed over his head. He then bolted toward his enemies.
"He's coming! Prepare for his attack." an assassin ordered
Bia stood still, her arms crossed as looked in the direction where Joren was coming. "I want to see how he fights so I won't be joining you at the start."
"Yes, Lady Bia." The assassin then turned towards his men. "Everyone, attack!" Every assassin, no matter where they were or what they were doing all charged at Joren.
"I didn't know I was so popular! I would have brought a pen so I could give you my signature. Well, I guess your blood will do!" He extended his hand forward and the ten mana bullets tore through the air targeting ten people.
The assassins ganged up on him but Joren wasn't worried. He had sensed their power and just like last time, the majority of them were in the 2nd circle. The only difference was that instead of 80, there are now 100 of them here. Not that big of a difference, but enough to tip the scales if not careful.
"Hehahaha! Come on! Show me what you got!" He plowed through a group of assassins, his hands charged with lightning and his lightning swords cutting away at anyone who happened to get too close. "Yeah! That's it!" He grabbed one by the head and zapped it until it exploded.
"Kill him!" The assassins shouted.
Now that Joren didn't have to worry about Tessa, he could fight to his heart's content. Moving like a bolt of lightning, Joren appeared in front of an assassin, shoving his hand in the man's chest crushing his heart in the process. Someone tried to take advantage of the short interval where Joren removed his hand from the assassin's chest, but the lightning swords behind him blocked the attack.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Joren grabbed one of the lightning swords and sliced the man's head off. Extending his free hand, he willed the mana bullets to fly around the battlefield impaling everyone in its path. Some managed to dodge, while others were unfortunately caught and were either injured heavily or killed instantly.
Joren moved around like his lightning bullets, punching assassins' heads off, piercing their chests, cutting off their heads, or electrocuting them to death. No one who came in his path was spared.
"Don't tell me that's all you got?!" He kicked an assassin square in the chest, breaking his ribs. He followed up by appearing behind him and kneeing the assassin in the back, breaking it.
"Die you bastard!" An assassin came down from the trees, daggers in both hands aiming at Joren's head, but he simply sidestepped, grabbed the assassin's head, then snapped his neck.
Another one came at his back but was met with a hand to his face as his entire body got electrically fried in an instant.
"Surround him on all sides!" An assassin woman shouted.
From every angle, from the sky, from the shadows in the ground, the assassins surrounded Joren, but was he scared? Absolutely not. Mana surged around him, his body pulling the energy in at a rapid pace. He crossed his arms in an X shape and lightning crackled around him with such ferocity that it seemed as is he was a thundercloud itself.
"Stop him!"
"Don't let him pull that attack off!"
Smiling, he extended his arms above his head, and with a massive explosion of lightning and mana, he blew up his surroundings alongside the assassins who were unfortunately caught in the blast.
Once the dust settled, Joren looked around to dozens of dead bodies and many more injured ones. He tilted his head towards the sky, locking eyes on Bia, who was smiling at him. She started clapping slowly and descended from the sky.
"Bravo. Bravo. You truly amaze me, what was it, Joren?" As soon as his feet touched the ground, an overbearing pressure forced Joren to one knee. He could feel something grabbing his throat but that wasn't all. It also felt like something was stabbing him, slicing him into many pieces, and chopping off his head. He could feel intense hatred.
Beads of sweat dripped from his face as he struggled to stand, but even then, he still had a smile on his face.
"You truly are impressive. For someone of your level to withstand my bloodlust, I'm truly impressed. But that's it, only impressive." She increased the intensity of her mana putting more pressure on Joren as she increased her bloodlust.
"Ugh, t-that's all you got? For someone in the 5th circle, you're pretty weak, heh." With all his willpower, he lifted one of his hands and released a powerful stream of lightning at her face. "Hahahaha! Take this bitch!" Honestly speaking, Joren didn't expect this to do anything, he had just hoped it would be enough to distract her so he could attempt to escape.
"As I said, for someone of your caliber, you're ONLY impressive." She walked forward, not even phased by Joren's lightning. She didn't use her mana to block his attack, she didn't dodge, and she didn't even block his attack with her hands, to her, he was so weak that she didn't even need to avoid his attack and took it head-on.
When Joren saw this, his eyes widened with shock. 'I know she's in the 5th circle but is it that much of a gap?! That's insane!'
"Now, what was that about me being weak?" Bia, who stood right in front of him questioned.
"Y-You might not know this, b-but I like to j-joke a lot, and what I said b-back there was just a joke." He smiled innocently
"Is that so? Well, your jokes suck." She kicked him in the ribs, breaking some of them on impact. He was flung into trees and tumbled on the ground.
"Arrhhkkk!" He held his side as he convulsed on the ground, wincing in pain. He slowly got up, using a tree to aid him, as he saw Bia appear right before his eyes.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait!" He shook his free hand telling her to stop.
"What?" She asked with an authoritative tone
"Are you like this with every man you meet? If so, then you won't find a husb-ARHHHHHGG!" A punch to the gut stopped his speech as he flew through the tree he was using to prop himself up.
Appearing behind him, Bia kicked him in the back with such force that his spine snapped in two.
"AARRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" Joren cried in pain. Being in tune with the mana in his body was a good and bad thing. It was good because he could sense what was going on in his body, but it was bad because he could sense what was going on in his body, therefore, he could feel his spine snapping on a deeper level than a normal person would.
Bia however, didn't care about his situation and kept beating him senseless. She grabbed his head, slamming it into her knee, breaking his nose. Throwing him in the air, she gut-punched him which only sent him further into the air, then jumping with such force that the ground beneath her cracked, she appeared above Joren and blasted him with fire until he hit the ground.
Joren, once lively and full of energy, was now beaten, bruised, and mangled. He couldn't speak, couldn't move, and it was hard for him to breathe. There was no part of his body that wasn't in pain and because of that, he passed out.