Lightning swords clashed against Elowyn's golden swords, and the moment they collided, the golden weapons were pierced through, continuing directly toward the princess.
Elowyn reacted quickly, creating a sword beneath her own feet and using it to move through the air, dodging the blades that passed by her.
"Destructive Lightning!"
A lightning bolt crossed the air and struck one of the golden swords, causing it to break into several pieces.
Elowyn, now fighting in desperation, summoned several golden bows and created arrows that were fired simultaneously toward Kalleb.
The attack covered a large area, but Kalleb simply disappeared.
"Lightning Speed!"
He appeared behind her in an instant, a lightning sword already in his hand.
The blade cut her back, making Elowyn hold her breath because of the pain, but she endured it and continued moving. Several golden swords appeared beneath her feet and, the moment golden lines connected between them, an explosion occurred, surprising Kalleb and forcing him to retreat.
"Good attack. Too bad it did nothing."
Before Elowyn could react, another slash struck her stomach.
Kalleb appeared in front of her with that arrogant smile and, raising his sword, advanced with a thrust that almost pierced through her body. Elowyn managed to create a golden sword in the path of the blade, preventing the attack from piercing her, but the force of the impact still sent her flying backward.
'Again.'
She was losing again to someone in the Second Circle. When she had almost been defeated by Enrico days ago, Elowyn had trained nonstop and had even managed to create a new magic.
She had tried every possible way to reach the Second Circle, believing that she would finally be able to overcome the distance between herself and those above her.
'How can I be losing this badly?'
Elowyn got up angrily and made dozens of golden swords appear around Kalleb. He simply remained smiling as he dodged every single one of them. Instead of simply destroying them, he seemed to be enjoying himself, allowing some to come dangerously close before dodging at the last moment.
"This is fun, but I think fighting that masked boy would be better. It's a shame he'll be killed by my brother, so I won't get to have fun with him."
"Having fun?"
Elowyn gritted her teeth and created an enormous golden sword above Kalleb.
The weapon descended violently, but he blocked it with his lightning sword. Even in front of a gigantic blade loaded with magic, Kalleb remained calm.
Lightning began escaping from his body, increasing his strength, and he pushed the golden sword back toward Elowyn, striking her directly and making her fall onto the platform.
"I think I hurt the little princess too much..."
Kalleb approached and stepped on her face, pressing her head against the ground.
Elowyn raised her eyes and saw the dark essence surrounding his body, moving as if it were trying to swallow him. That essence even seemed to be enjoying her suffering, and that made her anger increase even more. How dare he do that to her?
He had to die.
"I'm going to kill you."
"Try."
A kick struck her face and made her body rise into the air. Still dazed, Elowyn could only see Kalleb raising his sword to deliver the final blow. That arrogant smile remained on his face, the same smile she already hated.
'I have to kill him.'
When the attack was about to reach her, a water spear struck Kalleb and sent him onto a platform to the left. Elowyn remained lying down for a few seconds until she noticed a shadow approaching.
When she looked up and saw those red eyes, she immediately knew who it was.
"Is this the princess of Sanos? I have to admit that you're a disappointment. You don't deserve to have a prodigy title like me."
Kael looked down at her, as if he were standing before someone so inferior that she could never be considered his rival. Elowyn's heart began beating faster, and her body seemed to burn with anger.
"How are you here? Where is my brother?"
Ten lightning swords were launched at Kael. He grabbed Elowyn and jumped to another platform, avoiding all the blades. From his expression, it seemed that the princess really had been a disappointment.
"I thought you would be able to become stronger during this fight, but you were just a disappointment. Now I'll have to fight someone who has an advantage against me... Though it might be fun."
Kael created a water spear and clashed it against Kalleb's lightning sword. Lightning traveled through his hand, but instead of showing concern, Kael smiled, keeping his eyes fixed on his opponent.
"As for your question about your brother, let's just say he wasn't as strong as I imagined."
"You!"
Kalleb's body exploded with lightning. Furious, he launched a lightning slash with his sword.
The blade struck Kael's chest, but even while injured, he continued smiling, while Kalleb believed he had found an opening to finish him off and make him die slowly.
"Looks like you're really weaker than your brother... How boring."
Kael brought his hand to the cut on his chest and, before Kalleb's eyes, began to heal himself.
"You bastard."
The opponent exploded with lightning again and charged forward, trying to hit him in every possible way. Kael continued dodging, maintaining that smile on his face that was conveyed through his eyes even with his entire face covered, while analyzing every movement and trying to find a way to turn the battle around.
[This is bad. You used too much mana in the previous battle and you're still fighting with an elemental disadvantage.]
'Well... I guess I'll have to figure something out and adapt somehow.'
Elowyn, still lying down, watched the two fight fiercely. Neither of them seemed to give the other enough time to counterattack; whenever one attacked, the other had to concentrate all his attention on defending or dodging. Even so, there was something bothering Elowyn.
Just like Kalleb, she could see that confident smile on Kael's face and had the feeling that he was holding back.
'Am I going to fall like this? I should be the one who will one day rule the strongest territory. So why?'
She bit her lips, trying to contain her frustration. For the first time, tears began falling from her face, and that was completely unacceptable to her.
Elowyn should be someone who remained above others, someone who did not allow herself to be dominated by her feelings. Since she was little, she believed that she had been born to be evil, to be despicable, and to not care about the suffering of others. So why was she feeling this now?
She pressed her own chest and began forcing herself to stand. Her father had once said that she needed to learn to have more feelings instead of living without emotions or finding entertainment only in the suffering of others. Now, however, Elowyn was beginning to understand that feeling she had already experienced when she faced Enrico.
'I won't be surpassed.'
She bit her lips hard until blood ran from the corner of her mouth. What she felt was frustration, but it was not the same frustration as before. That feeling had grown far beyond the previous ones.
She had seen how inferior she was in front of that man, and at that moment, all that frustration exploded inside her, fueled by a single person.
Kael covered his hand with water and caught a lightning slash that came toward him. Even with electricity running through his body, he managed to contain the blade and redirect it back toward Kalleb.
He had already devised a strategy to end that fight and was about to put it into practice when he noticed Kalleb being forced to dodge his own attack.
'I'll finish this quickly.'
Creating a spear in his hand, Kael prepared to launch the attack toward one of the traps Cláudio had created.
Even after his death, those traps would remain active for some time.
However, before he could act, an explosion of mana appeared behind him, coming from the direction where Elowyn was. Kael and Kalleb stopped fighting and looked at that presence at the same time.
"Wait... that princess..."
"Finally. I really thought she was going to disappoint me."
The explosion was clearly the manifestation of someone who had just reached the Second Circle.
'Well, I've done my job here.'
Kael decided to jump backward and sit on another platform while watching Elowyn approach. Kalleb, noticing the change, thought about following him immediately. Even though she had reached that level, his goal remained to kill Kael.
"Come back here, bastard—"
"Where do you think you're going?"
Both of Kalleb's hands were pierced by thin golden swords, but they were loaded with an absurd amount of condensed magic.
"Aahh."
He managed to remove the blades, only to point his sword toward Elowyn, who slowly advanced with her face filled with anger and frustration.
"Even though you've evolved to the Second Circle, you just reached this level. You're still no rival for me, princess."
Kalleb created a second sword and delivered two lightning slashes, planning to finish it quickly.
The attacks, however, were interrupted by two golden shields that appeared in front of Elowyn and shone intensely. With her evolution to the Second Circle, her golden magic had increased significantly, allowing her to create more weapons and defenses at the same time.
"Tsk."
Kalleb increased his speed, surrounding his body with lightning as he tried to pass by her and attack her back.
"Golden Chains!"
Golden chains appeared at Kalleb's feet and restrained his body. At the same time, the magic began absorbing part of his mana. Before he could react, an enormous golden sword descended upon his position. Kalleb tried to defend against it as he had done before, but this time the force of the blow was much greater. His body was driven into the ground by the blade.
'She just awakened... so how?'
Several thin swords appeared around Kalleb and pierced his body while the chains continued holding him in place. Unable to escape, he could only watch Elowyn approach with a golden sword in her hand and a cruel smile on her face.
"This is what you deserve for putting me through this, you piece of trash."
The sword descended and cut off Kalleb's head without hesitation.
Elowyn felt an intense satisfaction at finally defeating him, but as soon as she turned toward where Kael had been, she realized that he had disappeared. She wanted to see his reaction now that she had reached the same Circle as him, she wanted to know what that person who challenged her so much would say upon witnessing her evolution.
"...Looks like I won't get to see your reaction, Enrico."
She smiled slightly. Elowyn had realized that Kael was Enrico from the very first moment she saw him. After all, he was the only person who possessed that emptiness around his body without hurting her eyes.
"I won't stay behind anymore... I'm waiting for our rematch."