Take on Another World with My Best Friend Vol. II Ch. 10

The Vesuvius led the troops of Mercia. From afar, he is just as towering as a building. He did not ride the horse. He is in a chariot, pulled by 5 warhorses. The warhorses are even more significant than the horse the cavalry rode. The horses' brown mane was flowing lusciously as they ran. "He's the one that took you in?" Akira stood there, silently. He just nods. He is unsmiling. He did his best to suppress his bloodlust. Vesuvius, on the other hand, is smiling, letting out a more significant intimidating presence with a slasher smile. "I don't know how you got captured by him. He looks like a gigantic idiot to me" "Damn, Talos. What's with you today? Why are you like this?" "Sorry, boss. Given who, or what you are. It seems like this is some stupid joke" Akira doesn't reply. When a sarcastic servant makes every bit of sense when he's serious, he can't deny that Akira does some stupid stuff. Stupid stuff that gets his friend killed. "I sense that the soldiers are splitting. Do you want to split up?" "No. I need you here. You're right. I need to be careful" "Yes, boss. But I took the liberty to create a bronze legion hidden within the city. When they approach the wall, they will take them by surprise" "Sentient?" "Not fully. I'm the only sentient robot here. They are just a puppet" "Good. Thanks" Vesuvius charges toward Akira. The warhorse doesn't seem to be stopping after galloping toward full speed until the completely stops just centimeters in front of Akira and Talos. "The Slave King. How have I missed you!" Akira said nothing. "Y'know. The Emperor, although a woman, she's a strong one. But she's not only she's proven to be quite a strategist, a competent ruler, even than the previous one. We found a common ground, and from there, we found something we'd agreed on" Akira stays silent. The soldiers are closing in. Talos looks calm, but he is ready to fight. "We agreed that the strong will defend the weak, in turn, the weak will serve the strong. We also agreed that war should be cruel and swift. But we do have something we disagreed with. She said that Men and Women should hold equal power. No. I believe that women shouldn't be our equals. Men are made to be physically better. Women, they're only good for making food and sex. Adult, young. It doesn't matter" Talos opens his mouth. "Make your point, idiot" "Right. My point is, I'm here to take you back to her" But Vesuvius pulls out his great sword and swung it close to Akira's head. "But what good a word of a woman? I am going to kill you, right here, right now. After that, those weaklings you're protecting. After that, I'm going after your woman. I heard she became a queen because she's good in bed" Akira is like a dam that is about to break. He clenches his fist so hard, he's starting to bleed. "With her hands..." Talos senses that Akira is angry. "Angry" is not the word he's looking for. "With her ass..." He. "With her woman hole" Is. "With her mouth." LIVID. "So I-" Before he could speak any further, Akira smashes Vesuvius's chest piece with a punch so hard that a building-sized chest piece shatters into pieces, breaking his hand in the process. The near-invincible Vesuvius is wounded. Vesuvius was flying back a few meters with a bruise. Mercia's soldiers are charging, but this time to attack. Talos fend them off by cutting the first row that charges with his katana. The swiftness of Talos's attack and the strength of Akira's punch struck fear into the enemy's heart. "Boss. Your hand" But Akira is deafened by his hatred. He is blinded by fury. "What the-you...you punched me!" Akira doesn't listen. With a broken hand, he crushes the helmet with his elbows, but the heads inside it do not shatter as the helmet does. "PALADINS! TO ME!" Dozen of paladins are rushing to Vesuvius, breaking through the formations of the cavalries and the foot soldiers. They ran through them like a bull rushing toward their targets. One paladin is aiming their crossbow at Akira. But it was not a normal crossbow. Their crossbow is the size of a ballista, and one paladin is carrying one ballista. Akira cuts the bolt of the ballista with a Celesword like it was a knife cutting a twig. With the lightning channeled from the sword, it made his broken hand heals at rapid speed. One bolt grazes him on his shoulder, but the lightning he channels to the celesword channels back to him. "You're done now, sl-" Before Vesuvius finishes his sentence, he grabs Vesuvius by his leg and throws him towards the paladins. Akira grabs Vesuvius's sword. The sword is as twice as big as him. He lifts it with one hand, without any magic. Talos realizes what's about to happen. He shouts loudly to the soldiers of Mercia. "IF YOU DON'T WANT TO FIGHT, RUN RIGHT NOW!" The soldiers hear this. Two-thirds of the soldiers run away. But even though lots of them ran away, there are still countless soldiers to fight. "COWARDS! COME BACK AND FIGHT!" One of the higher-ranking soldiers is pulling the soldiers back to fight, only to be cut down by the fleeing soldiers. Akira throws the gigantic swords toward the soldiers. From behind the troops, Ken and Erik are punching their way through the flank of their forces. They let the fleeing soldier run away. The soldiers are trapped back and front. "Erik, they're fleeing already. Is it okay to let them run?" "They won't be a problem. There were rules during wartime. I intend to follow those rules, no matter where we are" Erik punches the fighting troops without his minotaur transformation. Ken is following Erik's lead. They make their way with their fist. Erik is fine with fighting barehanded since he has the strength and experience to do so, but Ken is using his dragon gauntlet. They fought in perfect harmony and perfect destruction. They punch and kick through the horde of soldiers, but not without some damage. Some small slashes and stabs are lacerating their flesh, although shallow. Their numbers are reduced, but the numbers of soldiers are still not decreasing fast enough. "Erik. Don't you think it's time to use the minigun?" "Not yet!" Erik and Ken are rushing doing their best to reduce the number of soldiers. They steadily but surely decrease their number. Meanwhile, Akira is fighting the Paladins except for Vesuvius. The Paladins themselves prove a match for this Akira all at once. His celesword is parried every time he tried to attack them. They dodge and parry. When they attack, Akira turned the celesword into a celeshield. The force of the greatsword is enough to send Akira to fly back several meters. Luckily, his celeshield is indestructible. A normal shield would be sliced through. Vesuvius joins in the fight. He commands the paladins to attack in a coordinated manner. "Brutus, Cassius, Gaius. Use the phalanx and corner him. Magnus, cast a strength buff on me, quick. The rest of you, hold that bronze moron and make sure he doesn't help him" The paladins quickly execute the plan Vesuvius command them to. Akira is cornered. He is boxed inside a wall of shields and were hold down with the spear. Magnus finished casting a buff spell on Vesuvius and Vesuvius charges towards Akira. Talos, overwhelmed after getting surrounded by the paladins, tries to break through. "BOSS! NO!" Akira's celeshield took a pounding until it cracks. Vesuvius keeps punching the shield with every strength. "I BROKE YOU ONCE! I'LL BREAK YOU ONCE MORE" Akira is holding on like his life depends on it, until the celeshield breaks into pieces. Vesuvius is greatly excited he finally can blow a killing blow to Akira with one final punch. He puts everything in this final punch, and he punches Akira on his head. A sickening crunch can be heard. "Here I thought you're strong. I don't know what the emperor sees in you" Akira stood fast, but he swayed back as if he were going down. But he's not. He regained his second wind and went to headbutt Vesuvius's right arm as hard as he can be. A similar crunch can be heard, but it sounds more violent. Magnus put together what happened. It was not a crunch from Akira's skull. It was a crunch from Vesuvius's arms. "Thank you for snapping me out of my trance. Now..." Akira raises his hand in the sky. The celeshield that was destroyed earlier gathers in Akira's hand, dust per dust until it forms a straight short sword. The cloud is still in his command even though he lost his power. The sky is getting dark and thunders are drowning the sounds of war. The cloud gathers around Akira and a series of lightning strikes Akira as if God is smiting Akira. Vesuvius couldn't come close and the paladins that corner him are fried from the lightning torrent. As of now, Akira's body is enveloped with lightning. It whizzes out a hum every time the spark jumped out of Akira. He's a walking Tesla Coil. "Let's get dangerous!" Akira teleports toward Talos. Just near him, Talos is getting a channel of lightning while the cloud is still striking Akira. "Boss?" "Let's get this quick" Talos nods. Akira and Talos are attacking the soldiers with lightning back to back. With a conductivity of bronze and constant lightning from Akira. Talos has become a temporary battery. Akira shot lightning out of his hand while Talos is attacking with his katana, enhanced by Akira's lightning. Ken and Erik notice this. They can't help feeling jealous. "Erik. Don't you think it's time?" "Right! Get it out of your inventory and leave it open" Ken takes out the Minigun and the bullet is connected to the Inventory Storage. Erik turned into his Minotaur form. He picked up the Minigun from the ground. "I always wanted to do this! RATTLE 'EM BOYS!" Erik revved the minigun and fired toward the soldiers of Mercia. Seconds passed and Erik is laughing maniacally. "YAHAHAHAHA!" The bullet riddled the soldiers with holes, and everyone that was not aware was killed. Shell casing are falling down until they piled up. One by one, soldiers fell down. No armor, no shield not even magic can stop the bullet from killing them. The soldiers that survive either run away or play dead. Too afraid to fight. Ken knows what was going on and shouts. "Erik, stop for a moment!" Erik stops shooting. "THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE! IF YOU DON'T WANT TO FIGHT, RUN!" This time, everyone ran away in fear. From where they are standing, Akira and Talos deliver a beatdown on the paladins. Vesuvius watched in horror. The Tides of War has been completely overturned. They started with 500000 soldiers, and now only Vesuvius and Magnus remain. Magnus tried attacking Akira with magic but was cut down by Talos before he can cast his attack. Erik and Ken approached Akira and Talos over the wounded and defeated Vesuvius, seemingly losing his mind. "M-MONSTER! ALL OF YOU! MONSTER" Vesuvius screams loudly. The mighty Paladin has been reduced to a screaming madman. Akira looks at Vesuvius with disdain and utter disgust, but he can't help feeling bad after looking at the casualties caused by this war. Except for the gang, the soldiers of Sabea, including Commander Khalid, a hardened, experienced war commander are in awe and fear of how 4 men can create so much death and destruction in the span of several hours. The stench of blood is hitting the nose of a Sabean soldier. Nonetheless, the Sabean soldiers approached Akira, with Commander Khalid wedging his sword to Vesuvius's neck. Vesuvius might be strong, but the edge of Khalid's sword is no match for human flesh. Vesuvius starts bleeding, and his windpipe are flooded by his own blood. "Commander Khalid. Is everything okay?" "So much death in a blink of an eye. What did you do?" "We stop holding back" "Is this the true might of Newlight?" "What's wrong?" "This...I shudder to think what would happen if we oppose Newlight" "I assure you, Khalid. As long as I lived, I promise to never lay a hand on Sabea. For I am indebted to King Halim" "Still, the balance of the world will shift in your favor" Akira laments that the fight brings distrust to his allies. But this is wartime. He can lament as long as he likes later. King Halim has recovered and was disturbed by how violent the lightning from before was. He and his wives are visiting Akira. "Salaam, King Akira" "King Halim. You have recovered. I just wanted to say thank you for everything you have done for me" "And I you. For my people and my kingdom" "What are you doing here?" "I wanted to say goodbye before we evacuate. And make sure you are doing okay. But seeing the corpse of Mercian soldiers behind you, I'd say you did fine on your own" "There was a blunder on my part. Almost got killed by it" "Do you have a habit of dying or do you really like dying that much?" "Neither. I prefer to stay alive as long as possible" "Then why do you rush in head first?" Akira doesn't have any good answers to provide. He acknowledges that he is impulsive. A trait that is a big negative as a king. Halim scoots closer to Akira's ears. He whispers something to Akira. "Just a warning. If you keep this up, you'll die for real" Akira's eyes widen. Deep down, he knows that, but he refused to acknowledge that what he is doing is reckless. Ken, Erik, Mina, Shin, and now Halim. "I'm telling you this because you're my friend and I like you. Your queen really loves you. Your people love you. What will happen if you died? What will happen to your people? Your queen? Your friends? Think this through, please" Akira does not move from where he is. He stood there silently, thinking about what King Halim said. He usually ignored what advice his friends gave him, but what makes Halim's advice the one he listened to, is because what happened to Marcus in Romolo. "I'll be going. I arrange transport for my citizen and the slaves. Good luck!" Halim climbs up to his carriage, pulled by camels and guarded by the royal guard on the camel's back. The carriage driver steers the camels to get out of the area. Khalid and his troops stay behind to guard the city. "You're not coming with the?" "No. I have my task, and I intend to accomplish it. Go ahead. We'll be fine. Do us a favor and bring destruction to Romolo" Akira nods and runs in the direction of Romolo. Meanwhile, in the air, Ivanov and Shin are hiding behind a cloud, looking at the orb pedestal. "Uncle Shin. What are we waiting for?" "I'm waiting for Akira to approach the gates. Lucky you can talk, big boy. I'm proud of you. Without you, this might go bad to worse" "Hehe. I'm happy, uncle" The big dog chuckles like a kid. This demon dog whose appearance was demonic before has become a white adorable, fluffy, and smart dog. "Ivanov. I might space out for a moment" "Yes, uncle. I understand" Shin opens his skill menu, and he maxed out his worldly eyes, but a new category opens up for him. Celestial's Eye. He reads the description: "Celestial's Eye is a telekinetic eye enhancement that does what the user commands. An upgrade from Worldly Eyes that is only able to analyze. This eye can be for precise aiming. Warning, prolonged use may injure the user due to enormous Magic consumption" Since Shin and Akira have been hoarding their skill points, Shin instantly maxed out the skill, along with Magic capacity, MagicRegeneration, Enhance Brain Function, and Magic Marksman skills. After confirming the skill upgrade, Shin feel overwhelmed. The feeling rushes in like a kid absorbing every drop of ocean water in the world. Shin, is getting more powerful. Possibly stronger than his best friend. "Whoa. That feels...surreal" "Uncle. I feel something is rushing through you. Are you alright?" "I am a great, big boy. I might be stronger than your Father right now" "You do? That's cool. The feeling I sense from you, overwhelming would be a great understatement" "Do you want to be stronger, kid?" "I do" "Say 'Status'" "Status?" Ivanov's status are appearing in front of him. At his current screen, he is no longer a subspecies of Barong. He is a Celestial Guardian. "Look at the skill menu, and choose it with your mind" Ivanov chooses the skill menu from his mind and it shows his level and skill points. Ivanov has 925 skill points. "Uncle, what do I do with this?" "Pick the skill you like and choose them with your mind" "Is it okay to spend it all?" "That's up to you, big boy" Ivanov chooses to save the skill points until he thinks it's necessary. He chooses to max out Flight, Magic strength, Howl, and Leader of The Pack skill. "What did you choose?" "I choose my flight skills, My magic strength, intimidation, and Leader of The Pack" "Leader of The Pack?" "I can call other canines to help us fight" "That's good. Great choice, boy" "Uncle, look. There's Father" Shin looks down. His eyes zoomed in without the assistance of the sniper scope. Akira, Talos, Ken, and Erik are running as fast as they can. Akira and Talos with their lightning, Erik with his Marine athleticism, and Ken with a short burst of explosion, making him fly instead of running. They are running towards the gate. "Ivanov. Hold steady" Shin looks up to the scope and the world seems to slow down. OATS is kicking in. He tags every orb that is guarding Romolo. With the assistance of Celestial's Eye, he channels his magic toward his sniper rifle and his bullet and shot. The shot was loud enough for Akira to notice, and the bullet moves a lot faster than the normal bullet. In an instant, The orbs are destroyed along with everything that is in its path. The barrier is reduced to nothing. Akira looks up in the sky. Even though he cannot see Shin, he gives a salute while running. Akira, Ken, Talos, and Erik are rushing in. They are blocked by the Town Guards. Some of them look afraid, but there are some eager guards. Determined to kill them. "Do we kill them?" "No. Go for the alternatives. Talos and I will jump over the wall. You two, punch a hole in the wall. Make another entrance" Ken and Erik nod. They break off to the right, leaving Akira and Talos alone. "Well, let me see if I still got it" Akira and Talos jumped up the wall. They jump the 20-meter walls with their lightning sprint and the guards are looking at them in awe. Meanwhile, Erik and Ken are running toward the wall away from the gate guarded by the Town Guards. "Ready, Kid?" "Sure thing" Ken charges up his first with pure magic, and Erik is turning into his Minotaur mode. They punch the wall with all their might, explosively. The wall shakes from one side of the wall to the wall on the other side of the city. The shockwave of the punch affects the surrounding. Instead of a hole, it destroys the whole wall. Not one side of the wall, but every city wall. "I think we overdid it" "Nevermind that. We got no time to lose" Erik and Ken run inside, meeting Akira and Talos on the inside. "You're overdoing it. Both of you" "Sorry. We underestimate our power" Shin came down from the clouds with Ivanov. He dismounts Ivanov with the sniper rifle he was holding. "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. What the hell happened to the wall?" "We punched the wall" "Do you need to destroy the whole wall?" "That's enough, all of you. What's the plan, boss?" "Right. We'll go straight to the castle. Don't use lethal force unless you have to" "What about guns?" "That counts as lethal force" "What I mean is, if necessary, can we use our guns?" "Only IF necessary. And that's a big IF, especially you, Erik. You have the minigun" "Don't worry about me. Not everyone in the Marines is a gun-toting maniac" Akira nods. The gang continues their run toward the castle with the Town Guards chasing them. After a few minutes, they reached the castle, with several hundred men guarding the entrance of the castle gates. "Shit. This many guards. Can we do this non-lethally?" "Shin, douse them with water" Shin cast water magic on them. It is harmless, but not for long. The soldiers are all wet. Akira cast lighting below his feet. In an instant, all of them were knocked out. Erik cries out. "Oy! Didn't you say non-lethal, you lunatic?" "Relax. I didn't kill him. I knocked them with enough electricity to not kill them" Ken interjects. "Let's just get inside the castle, shall we?" The gang enters the castle, only to find the castle is empty. The echo of moaning filled the empty, silent throne room. "Who was moaning?" "I don't know. But it seems it comes from back there" The gang approached the source of the moaning. They searched the bedroom behind the throne room, where the moans is at their loudest. The gang opens the door, to see the female Emperor riding on a man's penis, up and down. The bedroom was veiled with a translucent fabric screen. The Emperor is reaching her climax when she looks back at the gang, lying on top of the man. "You caught me...at the most pleasurable time" "Give it up, Reyman. You have lost the war. Admit defeat, and we'll let you live" "Why...would I want...to do that?" "Because there's 6 of us and there's only one of you" "Please. There is no need for bloodshed. Would you like to discuss it, from one head of country to another?" Reyman smiles creepily. "I...don't need you anymore. I have someone better" She placed her hand on the man's chest. with her penis still inside of her, he gets up from the bed, with Reyman hugging her. When Reyman moved her head, the gang looks horrified. Especially so for Akira, for the man from the tip of his hair, to the bottom of the sole is the perfect copy of him. "I found someone who could satisfy me the way you never could" Akira is completely still from shock. "Akira, Meet Araki, the commander of the Paladins. Now leave us. We still have work to do" Akira is enraged, he was reproduced without his consent. "This piece of meat here obeys my every command. Every city he conquered, every person he kills, every slave he captures, it was all for me. He satisfies me, in more ways than you could" Araki remains emotionless. His eyes meet Akira's. A blue cold-gazes were met by an angry stare. "This is the insolent meat that was disrespecting the Emperor?" "Now, Araki. I told you it's fine, as long as you satisfy me" "No, Emperor. No one disobeys you" "Shhh. Give me a thrust" Araki pulls out until it was only the tip, and thrust into her roughly. "Ahhn" With a thrust, she reaches a climax. "Emperor. May I ask you to clean up the trash here first? Trash tends to attract flies, and this castle should remain clean" "As...you...wish. Put me down...on the bed. My legs are shaking" "Thank you for granting this lowly one his request" Araki sets Reyman down on the bed. Without putting on clothes, he grabs his sword. Akira is visibly angry, seething red. Shin notices this and shoots his M1911 at Araki. But the bullet only clanks when it hits him. The gang is visibly disturbed by an invincible naked man with Akira's face. "You lot are not worthy to gaze upon the Emperor. Your life ends here" Erik tried to punch him while on his Minotaur form, but it only hurts his hand, Araki unscathed. Araki body starts glowing gold light. "You SHALL NOT HARM HER ANYMORE!" A blast of controlled explosives made of yellow lightning blasts them out of the castle, and into the battlefield they are fighting earlier, scattering them apart from one another. Ivanov is the only one they are seeing up in the air and has become the beacon of the gang. They meet where Ivanov is flying. When they rendezvous, Araki flies from the castle, this time, fully decked out with heavy armor, a spear, a shield, and a Warhammer. "Give it up, and die!" Araki charges toward Shin and swings down his hammer, but Erik blocks the hammer, not without taking some damage. His arms are going numb, and his legs are shaking. "Christ. This guy is strong!" Ken punches Araki with his Magic Burst from the Dragon Gauntlet. The connecting punch results in an explosion point blank on Araki's face, but only scrapes on his face. "Wha-" Araki jumps back and swings the hammer from side to side. Hitting both of them at the same time. They flew very far, and they are unconscious. "Strong, but not enough" He puts away the hammer and pulls out the spear. The spear is made of shiny silver and the tip is made of shiny black unknown metal. He thrust the spear toward Shin. Shin dodges it, but at the last second, the trajectory of the spear changes. The spear is about to pierce Shin's shoulder, but Akira Celeshield blocks the attack just in time. But the shield melts. Akira throws it down to the ground, and it disintegrates completely. "No way! What did you do?" "Nothing. This spear has its own mind. It burns whatever it hits until it disintegrates. Prometheum. A metal made out of concentrated magic particles. A gift, from my Emperor" They are thinking the same thing. "One graze with that thing and we're fucked". There are 4 of them, but they are unsure that they will make it out alive, if not careful. "What do we do, Akira?" Akira uses his lightning, but it wasn't enough to hurt him. Instead, it empowers him slightly. Shin shot Araki with his Hecate II. The bullet made a slight dent in the armor, otherwise, he's fine. He tried to shoot Araki in the head, only for the bullets ding his head but it made him disoriented for a split second. "Not good enough" Araki thrust his shield on Shin, but Shin is able to anticipate the attack with his Celestial's Eyes. He jumped away from Araki and tried to attack him with various weapons at his disposal. But not even an armor-piercing bullet works. "Not good! He's unharmed" "Talos! Lightning!" Talos struck Akira with the strongest, and loudest lightning he ever summoned. Akira pools the lightning into a ball and explodes it with them in the Area. The explosion is strong enough to throw Araki far from them. Araki, still on his feet, rushes to Akira and throws the spear toward him. The spear trajectory was heading toward Akira, but at the last second, it impales Talos in the shoulder. "NO!" Talos staggers. Within seconds, Talos melts and disintegrates. The moment Talos disintegrates, a white orb returns to the ground. Disappearing entirely. Shin tries to identify what Araki is, but there is no information provided. "There's only 2 of you now. I'm going to ask you once. Surrender and die quietly" "Akira. If you have any plans, now would be a good time" "No. No plan. I'm at my wit's end" "Fuck. Time to improvise" Shin grabs the spear Araki throws. The spear is incredibly heavy. To be able to lift it off the ground, took everything he has, and the burning sensation to be able to lift it is unbearable. Shin keeps pushing through enough to point the spear toward Araki. Shin channels all his magic to the spear. His magic recovery is working on overdrive. When enough Magic is channeled inside the spear, the spear glows blue. Shin channels the magic inside the spear to shoot a concentrated laser beam. Araki prepares to block the laser with his shield, but the laser went through his shield and armor. In a moment, The shield and his armor disintegrate. Araki is barechested and armorless. Araki is showing emotion for the first time; Surprise. Shin drops the spear, exhausted. "What happened?" "The spear, it can disintegrate things from distances. I remember Ken's Magic Blast hurts him, I decided to do it myself" Araki is too stunned and speechless to reach. Shin, uses his Celestial Eyes to telekinetically throw the spears at incredibly fast speed, but Araki catches the spear just enough to not hurt him. "Insolent son of a bitch! That was a gift from the Emperor" Akira decided not to provoke him. This time, there is no bloodlust coming from him. He was completely and entirely calm. "I want to try something. Shin, protect me while I wake those two up. IVANOV! GET OUT OF HERE, BOY!" "But Father-" "GO AND FIND MINA. TELL HER NOT TO COME HERE. HURRY!" Ivanov doesn't like this order, but the order of his father, he cannot refuse. He flies away as fast as possible. Akira runs toward Ken and Erik. The two are still unconscious. Araki grabs the spear and rushes toward Akira, but Shin is holding them back. He uses his chainsaw to hold him back. He thrust and swipes with the spear, but Shin is able to counter it, albeit almost hurting him. Araki and Shin trade attacks and blocks. Occasionally dodges, but they are at a stalemate. Akira is desperately trying to resuscitate them with the little bit of lightning he has left. With the last of his lightning, he revives both Ken and Erik. "Welcome back. I left the rest to you" Due to the lack of electricity in Akira's body, he is paralyzed and immobile. Ken and Erik try to get him back, but no result. They put them at a safe distance. "We can't afford to be reckless now. Let's watch and adapt to his movement, little brother" Ken nods. they observe Shin fight with Araki. Araki's moves are efficient, but too flashy and too big. Erik thinks this can be exploited. "There's a few opening on him, but our punches is not enough" "Do you remember when we punched him with Magic Blast? He was hurt, even a bit" "Nice observation. Do you have Magic power I can borrow?" "To hurt him, it might be not enough" "Leave it to me. Give me some of your magic power" Ken puts his hand on Erik's fist until the fist glows blue. The glow is so bright, They can see Erik's bones with the light. "Thanks. On my marks, pull Shin back" "Got it" Erik still in his Minotaur form dashes toward an unsuspecting Araki. He jumps over Shin. "KEN! NOW!" Ken dashes toward Shin and pulls him by the collar. Erik punches Araki right in his face. The punch was destructive, but the power is compressed, producing more power than Ken's punches. Araki was blown back, his jaw dislocated. Erik landed his first punch, but he reverts back to his muscular human form. A form that is arguably weaker than his Minotaur form. Araki snaps his jaw back in its place. "Dishonorable. Butting in a man's fight" "Irrelevant" The punch depletes minimal power, Erik still has plenty of magic inside of him. "You sure you can take me on with that form?" "I'll kill you with my bare hand" Erik is fond of this provocation. He put his hands up, like a boxer. He taunted Araki with a "come to me" hand gesture. Araki set aside his spear and grabs his Warhammer. He swings the hammer down, leaving the ground with a crater. Expecting Erik to be dead, he lifted the hammer, expecting to see a red goo under his hammer. But instead, Erik emerges from below and punches him in the chin. Punching the chin in boxing tends to disorient the boxer, at least. At most, it could lead to brain damage. With minimum Magic power and maximum physical strength, he takes on Araki. Erik taunts him again. Araki, slightly disoriented, tried to slam his hammer again, but with a much slower speed. Erik dodges easily and this time a liver shot. The pure magic power is slowly seeping through Araki's body. The liver shot is fatal. Araki is feeling weak and disoriented. Erik's small body makes it easier to dodge and conserve energy. Erik takes advantage of disoriented Araki and throws a barrage of punches. Jabs, Straights, Uppercuts, Haymakers. Araki's body is getting weakened by magic power, he can no longer lift the Warhammer. Forcing himself to fight hand to hand. His military training came into play when overwhelmed. Araki manages to connect a few punches, albeit it was a weak one. Araki was no match for Erik. With bloodied face, broken bones and bruises, Araki asks. "Who...are you?" "Marine Raiders Regiment Critical Skill Operator. Sergeant Erik Papadopoulos" Erik gives his remaining magic power and all his physical power into his last uppercut, decapitating Araki. Green blood spurts from his neck stump while his head lands on his leg. His body slumped over, Dead. "Semper Fi, Asshole" Erik approached Shin and Ken. Who are amazed at his boxing skills. "When we get back, you're teaching me boxing" "Hell. When we get back, I'll train you my military training, little brother. All of them." When they about to rest, Shin sees a flying figure on top of the palace. With his Celestial Eyes, he zoomed in. This flying figure approached them. "Look out. Someone is coming" Upon closer look, Shin recognizes the figure that is flying. The Empire advisor, Lastia. In a demon form. But she's no ordinary demon from what Shin feels. "You finally managed to kill him. Looks like he succeeded in his only goals in life. To weaken you guys" "Advisor?" "Ah. I haven't properly introduced myself" Lastia cast magic on Araki, resurrecting him, but not as he was before. Lastia brought him as a puppet. She puts on a lustful smile. "Asmodeus, Devil of Lust"