The troops of Quartez laid waste to those of Niton and struck them aboard their horses.
Those who fled came back atop their horses with fiery eyes of vengeance.
Within seconds, the Nitonians were besieged on all sides, by numbers twice theirs.
Nitonian Masters were attacked by two or more of the enemies.
The guild masters were now the ones held up by their opponents as their attacks demolished building after building and they could not afford to look away.
The battle was dire with Nitonians being slaughtered left and right.
But that changed with two words.
"Jebas, NOW!"
From within Villa, a figure burst out with rapid strides.
Jebas made himself known in an attire of brown leather while wielding a single edged blade made entirely from onyx steel.
Immediately, his arrival prompted a subsequent massacre of the enemy forces.
With his passing, Knights had their bodies separated or their heads cut off.
Masters were not spared. Rather, they were the primary target.
The two cloaked men abruptly stopped as the Emperor expected. They must have forgotten about him.
Before they could separate, the Emperor gave Leerstrom a lasting punch to the ground and struck out lightning towards them.
They swiftly dodged, but that gave the Emperor enough leeway to get close enough.
"Where do you think you're going?"
He grabbed them both and took to the ground in a dive.
The first unleashed ice on the Emperor's hand, which proved ineffective as it broke off just as fast as it formed, while his other hand stabbed the Emperor with a dagger.
The second Grandmaster had his two arms enlarged into those of a beast, tearing his sleeves to reveal blue and furry skin, before exposing a row of teeth within his palm, which bit into the Emperor's arm.
It was futile as the Emperor stayed steadfast in his dive.
The fire mage woke up at this moment, spitting blood, before his eyes opened wide to the shadow looming over him.
Worst of all, the shadow was getting bigger.
His eyes popped out in fear as he grasped the shadow's owner.
With a pained grunt, he dug himself out of his hole.
Alas, he was too late.
All he saw before the collision were two back cloaks and a trail of lightning.
*BOOM!*
The Emperor smashed the two upon him and began pumping out punches laced with lightning into their abdomen, plunging them into the ground even more.
Each punch let out a sound wave that had the two men grunting.
The fire mage had it worse with the backs of the two constantly being smashed against him.
The old man felt like crying, but he wasn't even allowed to. He could only let out muffled grunts as his bones suffered greatly with each punch.
'Dammit all!-
The old man's anger peaked, prompting him to take drastic measures.
-Let's all die!'
He clenched his staff and his eyes became brighter, before being smashed in once more.
Enduring the humiliation, a red magic circle appeared before him.
Without consideration, he releases his fury in the form of blazing flames.
With his instincts ringing out, the Emperor did the opposite of anyone's expectations.
He imbued his fists with more power than before, causing a lot of veins to pop out, and punched out.
This punch, and the release of flames, happened simultaneously.
*BOOOOOM*
The spell, which would have released a geyser of fire, was blown in all directions when two Grandmasters smashed against it.
Such a heavy collision knocked the old fire mage unconscious, which subsequently caused the magic circle to shatter, and had him consumed in his spell.
A circle of fire expanded from his position, breaking up the ground from underneath and burning it.
The likes of Leerstrom was blown back from the resulting wind pressure alone.
Its effects were devastating, to say the least.
But it was the two Grandmasters caught in between such attacks that were truly pitiful.
Their abdomens were pounded with punches, while their backs were burnt to the bone.
Yet these two didn't let up. The dagger and the row of teeth only dug deeper onto the Emperor's skin.
Likewise, the Emperor was also not done.
The two Grandmasters received another rain of punches.
This one was twice as deadly as the Emperor went for the kill.
His punches were now aimed at their heads. Unlike his overwhelming appearance, beads of sweat were beginning to form on his head.
'These b#stards are using poison!'
The dagger and the row of teeth were laced with poison.
Poisons lethal to Grandmasters were very rare, but not impossible to find.
The Emperor wasn't taking any chances.
His fists disfigured their faces, subsequently peeling away the skin. And to finish them off, he struck their necks, killing them.
Taking rasp breathes, he had their bodies sucked into his ring, before gazing upon the old man's charred figure.
He wasn't dead since the Emperor could hear his heartbeat.
Too bad, the Emperor wasn't so merciful.
Gripping his head, the Emperor snapped his neck, before sucking him into his space ring.
The Emperor drank a healing potion from his space ring to recover his health.
But his eyes widened as he felt the poison take a large chunk of the potion, leaving little to nourish his body.
His gaze grew frosty, such a poison was unheard off.
And because of its strange effects, the Emperor couldn't heal his sore body.
'Not good'
He knew where his limits lay.
The neck snap resounded loud and clear.
He turned around to see Leerstrom standing afar with widened eyes.
The Emperor's hand was subtly quivering, and that gave him an idea.
'If I kill too many of them, I'll be risking an all-out war'
At this moment, Leerstrom turned in the opposite direction, baffling the Emperor.
But his eyes popped wide as he understood Leerstrom's intentions.
"NO!"
He burst forth, ignoring the pain.
But there was no way he could get there in time.
Using his sound technique to blend his sound into his sword, he releases it.
Thereafter, the mountain split in half.
The moment that happened, Leerstrom took to the air with fast steps.
But he didn't expect to escape with the Emperor catching up to him moments later.
Another skirmish came underway, with the fatigue weighing down the Emperor beginning to show as his strikes became lighter and his speed noticeably decreased.
But he was hot with fury. If nothing else, this b#stard had to die!
Alas, it seemed he would fail in his endeavor because Leerstrom was still full of power.
Midway into the fight, something changed…
'He's grown tired! If it's this much, it might actually be possible'
Leerstrom, whose original aim was running away, had a burst of confidence and began dealing deadly strikes.
Things didn't seem to go in favor of the Emperor.
Elsewhere, Gaga faced off against Raven and Jebas, who had slaughtered most of the Masters, prompting the rest to run away, and this time, they didn't look back.
They fought while constantly on the move, their feet never stopping.
From rooftops to alleyways, the Grandmaster's battles had demolished almost all of Villa's buildings.
Worse still, the roads were broken apart with their stomps.
Gaga's swordsmanship was astonishing, as his sword took on a red hue, occasionally releasing wisps of steam, signaling his affinity with fire, while his eyes glowed.
His hand was moving at crazy speeds, parrying Raven's staff and Jebas' sword, and even landing solid hits some times.
Both men were sweating as they sought to contain him.
'This guy is no joke!'
In reality, they were the ones being contained. Their bodies showcased numerous burns and cuts, from which they bled.
Gaga held a large burn on his head, courtesy of Raven's staff, and a few cuts here and there.
"Hmph!"
With an arrogant puff, Gaga increases his speed, forcing the two into the defensive as they grit their teeth.
At this point in time, Raven caught a glimpse of the Emperor's battle.
So he spoke in haste…
"Jebas, help Andrew!"
"You'll be-"
"GO!" Raven wasn't having any of that.
Before Jebas could move, Gaga's attacks suddenly increased.
"Who said you can leave?"
He struck, determined to keep them both at bay.
*Clang!*
Bright sparks burst out from the collision.
Raven parried and answered…
"I did"
Immediately, his body lit up and his eyes turned yellow.
"Your opponent is me!"
Gaga answered in kind by having his sword sizzle with more vigor.
With that, both men matched blow for blow, causing even more destruction.
By now, Jebas was long gone.
The Emperor's condition wasn't good.
With little insight, the Emperor losing to Leerstrom was the predicted result of this battle.
That is…until now.
Unable to fly, Jebas grit his teeth and pushes his speeds to the limit.
*VOOM*
With a quick dash, he ran up the mountain and took to the air.
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