Up at the waterfall, Kael was fighting as hard as he could to dodge the attacks, his clothes tearing apart so much that they could see they were made of water. The order to protect this identity had to be followed.
"Hahahaha, you can't do anything now."
'Shit, he's right.'
While the fight was happening, Arvanys, back to normal, was leaning against a tree without hope. All three had managed to wake up, and when they saw the two seeming to have evolved, they thought they could survive, but now it was impossible. Enrico had already been sent flying away, and the only one still standing was Kael.
"I have to go help the professor, I have to become the strongest…"
Surprised, she looked at Kaela trying to stand up. In her eyes was an incredible determination; it was clear she hadn't given up.
'She wants to be the strongest?'
Seeing Kaela in that state, she couldn't believe she could reach that level, especially since there were so many monsters on this continent with more potential.
'Maybe she can go far if we survive… if I survive, I promise I'll go further too, so please win, Kael.'
She couldn't even move a finger properly, so it was the only thing she could do, and she hated it. Kaela was managing to stand little by little—it was slow, but giving up wasn't something she did. Lan, who had just woken up a short while ago, was standing against a tree, trying to see if he could find an opening to join in, but the level was too high for him.
'Why are there so many people stronger than me?'
"Hahahaha, very well, you're strong. Let's see if you can withstand my magic that I just created."
"Stop laughing, you bastard."
"What, only you can laugh?"
Everyone except Kaela, who also wanted to evolve, was surprised and looked at Kael. To them, this guy was having fun even at death's door and never stopped wanting to evolve. That was simply insane to them.
"Ripping Rivers."
Placing his hands in the river water, several currents formed around them, and from many directions, slicing water was launched from these currents, cutting through rocks and even Tilios's remaining arm, who was caught off guard by the new spell.
'Why do I suddenly feel like he's stronger?'
'Time to switch again.'
Enrico, who had swapped places with his clone, switched again to where his fire clone was gathering fire magic. When he switched, as soon as he got under the hood, he moved to the water clone. He did all this quickly so no one would suspect.
"I think it's time."
In his hands, his bow was a bit larger from the amount of fire mana he was pouring into it. His arrow now had white circular patterns running from the tip to the back. All the water in that river disappeared whenever it came within three meters of Enrico, evaporating as if there was a hole the waterfall couldn't fill.
"Bow of Burning Desolation: Single Shot."
Releasing the arrow, it flew up the waterfall, evaporating all the water along the way. With a sigh, his vision changed as he switched places with his water clone, just in time to almost be struck by a shadow spell shaped like spikes.
"I'll kill you."
"You didn't realize your level dropped back to Circle Three?"
Tilios looked in shock at Kael's red eyes, the first time in the fight he had seen them, and he had a bad feeling about it. Determined to kill him, he tried to stab, but Kael moved quickly to the side and spun behind him. When Tilios noticed, an arrow of incredible power pierced his chest, tearing it open with sheer force, going right past Kael.
"It's not over yet."
From Kael's water spear, he made a slash, decapitating Tilios without giving him time for anything strange to happen. The three, seeing that, looked in awe, because to them, it was a perfect teamwork between the two. Arvanys quickly assessed with her thoughts.
'Even when Enrico was thrown away, he trusted that he was fine and waited for the right moment. And from the looks of it, the arrow slightly diverted so it wouldn't hit Kael. These two are a perfect duo, as if they had mental communication. Even before that, their teamwork was incredible.'
"Did these two really just meet today?"
Seeing Kael's exhaustion, Arvanys and Kaela, worried about their professor, tried to stand up, still unable to fully, but at least trying. Lan stood, looking at where the arrow had come from. The gap between them had widened so much it was hard to describe his feelings—a mix of envy and admiration.
'How does he improve so fast?'
He started moving to help the others up, but then a noise that made Kael stand again echoed. Lan looked at where the body had been and saw it expanding like an explosion.
'Shit, I already killed your sacrifice, damn you, filthy evil god, are you really going to break your own rule?'
"Everyone, retreat!"
Creating two water lances, he moved them under the girls, who managed to hold on, and sent them behind him where the waterfall descended. Lan ran alongside, using lightning magic in his feet. Kaela wanted to help, but since her body couldn't move properly, she could only stay atop the lance.
The body tore apart, and then an explosion began to grow as they retreated. Seeing there wouldn't be time to escape in their condition, Enrico had no other choice. Everyone who looked back saw a firelight appear in front of Kael, and Enrico appeared.
'Damn, I'll have to use it.'
What he meant was the protagonist's final attack, used to kill an evil god when he reached Circle Eleven. Since it came from pure mana itself, anyone could use it—but it had a price.
'Just now that I reached Circle Three… when I can, I'll kill that Raul.'
Clasping his fists together, he pointed them at the incoming explosion. The protagonist's stance was different, mainly because he used a sword, but that didn't matter. A white magic circle surrounded his fists like a mana heart, spinning at high speed. An enormous amount of magic was drawn from both inside Enrico and outside.
"Final Circle."
The dark explosion was a meter away, and then from Enrico's fists, a white ray shot out with a deafening sound, clashing against the explosion and at least stopping it from advancing further as Enrico held firm, resisting. The strain made the veins in his arms begin to bleed.
"AAAHHHH!"
The explosion started advancing again, dragging him backward little by little. The others were already far enough to be safe, and his clone Kael pushed his body forward, trying to keep him in place.
'Am I going to die like this? No way.'
The explosion grew larger, so Enrico did everything he could, pouring almost all his magic into that circle. It sucked all the surrounding magic, starting to absorb energy from the explosion itself thanks to being so close. Clenching his teeth, he let out a determined roar to stop the attack and survive.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Summoning Lunaris to transfer even more mana to him, Enrico began to condense that ray into a single point, piercing into the explosion.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
With one last push, that ray pierced through the explosion, forming a hole where all the magic was scattered outward. With a strong wind, Enrico was blown back through the air.