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2 years after Bam began training with Enryu, he received a letter from the Lo Po Bia Family to discuss terms, stating the Lo Po Bia Family wished to turn away from the Jahad Empire and would like to personally discuss matters with him regarding a potential alliance between the Lo Po Bia Family and the UFH. Bam found this letter to be suspicious, as the Lo Po Bia Family had always been known for their utmost loyalty to Jahad, but agreed to attend, with Enryu alone coming with him as he was more than capable of annihilating the entire Family, even if Traumerei was still alive.
As soon as he arrived into the Lo Po Bia Family Mothership, Bam was greeted by Lobadon, the new Lo Po Bia Family Head. As his oldest surviving descendant, Lobadon was the only one fit to replace Traumerei as the Family Head. They discussed terms on the personal quarters of Lobadon, where Lobadon professed he understood why Bam slew Traumerei.
He stated Traumerei once used to be better but Jahad and other factors caused Lobadon's father to become the ruthless tyrant he used to be, and while Lobadon still served him over the war, he could no longer do so as Traumerei became obsessed with victory and seemed to no longer care about his Family. Rather than blaming Bam and the UFH, Lobadon declared he wished to avenge his father's misery on King Jahad and the Empire, and he was nothing but sincere.
While Lobadon remained composed, Bam could tell he was grieving over the death of his father and he understood that feeling. In the end, the Lo Po Bia Family, like the other 10 Great Families, was just as much of a victim of the reign Jahad had made, no matter how much they had served. Even Enryu told him he could sense no deceit in Lobadon, so Bam, having always had special pity on the Lo Po Bia Family and unwilling to exterminate them when it was their Head that was responsible for their flaws, agreed to an alliance.
Lobadon was quite grateful, and swore his loyalty to Bam straight away. He told Bam they would hold a public signing of the terms of the alliance, and Bam was fine with that. He hoped this would truly break the Lo Po Bia Family's bonds to the Jahad Empire, too. That said, Lobadon stated that he wished to secure the alliance by marrying certain members of his Family to Bam.
Now, this made Bam skeptical, as he didn't want to force women into marrying him, so he tried to decline while assuring Lobadon he would honor the terms, but Lobadon wisely pointed out that Bam already had about 16 women as his lovers, and that he was doing this to prove his loyalty, while assuring Bam all of the women were willing.
Still, Bam wanted to see them first to clarify for himself, and Lobadon had already expected this. The first one to come in was Lo Po Bia Lefav, and Bam was surprised to recognize her. He had seen her with a hood on, but the gun she was carrying was an obvious giveaway. It turned out she betrayed the Lo Po Bia Family, and with nowhere else to go, during the Battle of the Nest, she had became an on-off mercenary for the UFH.
Bam had seen and worked with her on numerous occasions, and she had grown from being cold to opening up to him about how she and her family were branded outcasts. Bam had expressed his earnest sympathies and offered to help them, but while she refused, she was touched by his offer. She had even kissed him on the cheek twice, but Bam didn't see her since the war got more intense. It turned out she had been doing some background work, being responsible for some of the Lo Po Bia that signed up for the UFH, helping him in her own way.
Well, Bam was surprised and grateful to her. At some point, she had worked alongside the rest of his friends too, saving them, so Bam owed her a lot. Still, Bam asked her if she really wanted to get married to him, as he absolutely refused to allow forced marriage in any kind. Lefav then stutteredly confessed she would rather be married to him than anyone else, and to solve the tension, Enryu cast a truth spell on her by using a ring to compel her to tell the truth. It was a spell that would burn the ring if the woman was lying about her feelings of love, and it didn't burn, confirming her willingness was true.
Lobadon then stated the other women would be those directly descended from him. Bam was honestly surprised when the second one was none other but Lobadon's daughter, Lo Po Bia Laura, the mother of the Lo Po Bia Twins. She was a wife of Traumerei, so why would she so readily agree to marry him after he killed her husband? Bam wasn't ashamed to admit he was a bit uncomfortable when his question was answered with how Laura entered the room and bowed as she arrived and called him the savior of the Lo Po Bia Family, while thanking him for freeing her from her "marriage" to Traumerei.
Even Lobadon admitted Traumerei was a ruthless husband, and it said something about how little incest mattered in the Tower that Traumerei would marry and abuse a descendant of his. Anyway, Bam could tell she had no ill-will and wasn't against being married to him, but as he hadn't interacted with her before, he didn't want to automatically marry her. Bam had made up his mind of not marrying until the war had came to an end, and Lobadon agreed to accept that, but he insisted that Laura be taken as part of his women, a term Bam didn't see any point in rejecting.
However, soon enough, Lo Po Bia Lillial barged into the room with a disgruntled Lo Po Bia Shilial and stated they wanted to issue a challenge: They asked Bam to have Endorsi fight them, one-on-one, as they wanted to test if his "tastes" would be good enough for their mother. Bam didn't want that, so he tried to peacefully back down, but Lobadon agreed to it. However, Lobadon decided that if they were willing to challenge Bam that way, that meant they would also have to face consequences if they lost.
To put it simply, Lobadon stated if they lost the match, the twins will also have to marry him, leaving Bam stupefied at the idea of marrying a women AND her daughters simultaneously. Enryu saw fit to calmly remind him that Traumerei married Laura despite the fact she was his granddaughter, and there were many other instances, so incest didn't really matter, and Bam realized it himself as Laura even seemed a bit eager while Lilial clenched her teeth but agreed to.
When Enryu teased Bam by reminding him further of examples like Enne, Irure, and Tiara, along with Hana and Yihwa, Bam had rushed out of the room as Enryu chuckled a bit and left the Lo Po Bia, an agreement having been set.
Needless to say, when Bam spread the news amongst his lovers, Hana and Enne were understanding, Yuri didn't protest, Hwa Ryun and Repellista worked together to tease him about his "growing awareness of women", while Miseng, Yihwa, Aria, and Irure, as people who had been saved by Lefav, agreed out of gratitude. Elaine surprisingly didn't mind, even admitting she would be interested in hanging out with fellow Lo Po Bia women, having been accepted back into the Family as part of the agreement and even hailed a heroine.
On the other hand, Soo-Oh wasn't amused as she chopped at his head and asked if he really was a secret womanizer. Sophia Tan looked thoughtful, as was Garam. Endorsi, the one who would accept the challenge, was quite infuriated that she would have to fight someone to add into Bam's list of women, especially people she saw as rivals, and threw a tantrum, throwing pillows at him for asking that of her, while Anaak gave him the silent treatment, clearly irritated as well.
Things only calmed down on Endorsi's part when Hana took the lead. After a few more bickering, Hana got up and "calmly" slammed her hand on the floor, causing it to crack, silencing Endorsi's argument with the others. She then asked Bam to kindly leave with a spark on her eyes that caused Bam to immediately obey. He had rarely managed to make her angry, but he knew better than to test his luck.
As soon as Bam had ran away to train with Enryu, Hana then gave a firm but moving speech on how they had all agreed to tolerate and respect Bam's decision. She reminded that they all had promised to themselves they wouldn't be greedy, and they would support Bam no matter what. This still didn't move Endorsi, as she shouted that Lilial and Shilial were unlikely to be good company, so she was protecting Bam.
Hana then stated that personally, she pitied Laura and her daughters, and compared their situation to Endorsi: Endorsi might have worked hard to become a Princess, but Lilial and Shilial had been groomed from birth, harshly trained on, and had the misfortune of having an apathetic father. Meanwhile, Endorsi did have the presence of parents back before she ruined it all. Hana said she knew because Bam told her about it, Endorsi's confession happening in their first one-on-one session, where she confessed she really did miss them.
Hana then asked Endorsi if she wanted to be better than her demons, and Endorsi, looking down, admitted that she did. Thus, Hana told Endorsi to fight for Bam AND to be better than the ones who looked down on her by offering them a second chance. She said by doing this, Endorsi would prove to Bam that she truly had became a better person because of him.
And so, after another sound defeat at Enryu's training, Bam was relieved to hear that Endorsi had agreed to accept the challenge. She had been quite tsunderish about it, though, and stated Bam would have to take her on a 3-day date AND have sex with her after she had kicked their asses, but Bam was just grateful as he hugged her and told her he was happy to see her let go of old grudges, and THAT caused Endorsi to smile softly as she playfully shushed him.
At the same time, though, Aria also brought up the sudden suggestion that the Lo Po Bia Family be sent backup from the UFH, as she happened to know Poe Bidau Lyborick Khun and assumed he would most likely know of the Lo Po Bia's planned betrayal. If Lobadon was going to leave the Mothership, then that meant the Lo Po Bia Family could be under threat. As such, Aria suggested to form an alternative squad lead by her, Yihwa, Hwa Ryun, and Elaine, as they would need to be subtle and still be strong enough to help the Lo Po Bia Family.
It was decided that Lilial would be the first to have a go at Endorsi, as she was the one who primarily saw her as a rival, while Lilial held her more neutrally. They didn't make any grand stages for the fight, as most of the Lo Po Bia Family just saw her as vainly struggling against the inevitable and Lobadon didn't want to waste time or resources. Instead, the fight was held in one of Bam's training rooms, as Bam used to have many specialized ones until Enryu's arrival made him no longer require such rooms.
Enryu simply conjured a seated riser with 5 chairs, limiting the amount of onlookers to 6, and Bam sat beside his uncle on the right while the Lo Po Bia sat on the left side. Enryu, at Bam's request, announced the beginning of the fight by simply clapping his hands and creating a see-through barrier as the "area" of the match so the attacks won't reach them and destroy their seats. He also announced that the goal was to knock the other off the barrier to be the victor, as they weren't fighting to kill, and Lobadon approved of the rule.
Lilial had cockily asked Endorsi if she was ready after being a let down in their first fight, and Endorsi, for once, didn't bother to make any retort. She simply just gestured at Lilial to come, telling her it was about damn time she and her sister got a reality check of just how little they really are in the grand scheme of things, and why Endorsi was now so much better than her BECAUSE she chose Bam long before the Lo Po Bia chose to turn away from Jahad.
Taking this as a challenge, Lilial immediately charged forward with a few high-speed kicks that Endorsi effortlessly blocked before she casually tossed her by the leg away with one arm. She didn't get thrown very far, but that was more than enough clearly to make it clear just how things were going to go differently compared to back then. Endorsi then calmly stated that the reason why her Ranking was now 250, the same Rank as Shilial and 3 steps above Lilial, wasn't just because she had been kicking "weak asses", but didn't say anymore as she exerted more of her power.
Bam was glad that she was taking this seriously, to be honest. She had always been so confident in herself at first, but that confidence slowly began to wane over the course of the war. Seeing just how much everyone, including her, was at risk, Endorsi started to really learn responsibility, taking her own training seriously and stopping her "flirty mood" around him, and Shibisu commented her attitude while fighting was always cool, only mocking enemies when they were down and the battle was over or cursing when she got hit.
However, it was only after losing two of her teammates and Rak, and seeing Bam isolate himself like that, that Endorsi finally fully matured. By this point, she started to wore specialized equipment when heading out into the field without caring how she looked on it, choosing the most practical equipment for her battles and keeping a stoic face in the battlefield. Even while dating, she certainly had gotten more soft and her style became more modest, as if she finally realized Bam liked her more if she was natural than trying to act more beautiful.
Without any further ado, Endorsi pushed the offense with her exceptional kickboxing skills, launching tens of knee strikes and strong punches with great accuracy, leaving the shocked Lilial barely able to avoid taking hits as she was forced to defend herself. She chose kickboxing because it made her efficient both in ground and aerial, and she could use all her limbs too, and coupled that with her intensive physical training under both Bam and Yuri, and her hand-to-hand combat stood out as one of the two best alongside Miseng.
Lilial's fighting style was always more on the side of kicking, so Endorsi's fighting style happened to be an efficient match for her. After 2 minutes, Endorsi landed the first hit by kicking her hard enough in the face to throw her almost to the edge of Enryu's barrier, and all Endorsi had to give was a small smirk that swiftly faded as she took a serious neutral stance.
This, naturally, infuriated Lilial with how prideful she was. She composed herself and soon fought back, the two of them exchanging swift and powerful strikes, causing the ground to form craters as Lilial, having experienced a measure of Endorsi's fighting style and realized she was a tough opponent, seemed to be able to keep up with her now, the two of them going back-and-forth. Endorsi was unfazed, though, even as she calmly acknowledged this was a good "test-drive", shrugging off the hits Lilial managed to land as they scored a 7-8 hits after 5 minutes, making even Lilial curtly admit Endorsi had gotten stronger.
From what Bam analyzed swiftly, Lilial's fighting style might still be specialized in kicks, but she had also gotten accustomed to fighting with her hands too while focusing still on her legs, even mastering leg grapples and reversing Endorsi's own grappling. Her fighting style was somewhat similar to Endorsi, actually, except she seemed to prefer moving in and out a lot rather than adjusting to the enemy's own movement.
Endorsi, though, didn't limit herself to hand-to-hand as she calmly formed 10 huge love darts and threw it at Lilial, who merely narrowed her eyes as she summoned 10 spears and threw it at Endorsi's darts. Jumping to avoid the explosions of the colliding weapons, Endorsi used Reverse Flow Control to stop Lilial's ounch before pushing her back with shinsu, a trick she learned from Bam of course. Lilial's 100 baangs were then reflected against her as Endorsi was proficient enough with Flow Control to do such a feat, even causing Shilial to admit Endorsi surely was powerful and a worthy contender for her.
Bam had to smile approvingly as Endorsi immediately unleashed a Piercing Technique she developed with his aid. Endorsi-Style Piercing Technique: Pink Butterfly's Wings. Intense amounts of pink shinsu in the shape of butterfly wings was unleashed at Lilial, but Lilial made it clear she didn't earn her Ranking just for being still a Princess, as she formed her hands into a circle. Lilial-Style Shinsu Control: Silveir Barrier. A green barrier emerged that was able to block Endorsi's attack, but Endorsi didn't let up and pointed her fingertips before firing bullets of shinsu that was able to pierce the weakened barrier and force Lilial to dodge.
Clenching her teeth, Lilial generated a powerful blast of yellow shinsu before punching it at Endorsi, but to her shock and even Shilial's impression, Endorsi simply reinforced her hands and punched through the attack, taking only minor burns as her punch connected squarely to Lilial's face, almost throwing her off the arena. This only further irritated Lilial while Endorsi didn't pursue her, simply eyeing her enemy cautiously. Shilial shook her head as Bam realized they both had the same conclusion: Endorsi wasn't going to fall for any traps or deceptions, and it would be Lilial falling into Endorsi's trap that would settle the match.
Lilial formed the shape of a huge lionfish that she swiftly threw like a spear, which actually made Endorsi take a step back even as she used a barrier to block the attack. She threw a couple of arrows at Endorsi that Endorsi dodged. Lilial summoned thunder strikes while also throwing thunder baangs, but Endorsi easily dodged them all as she charged at Lilial, a well-concealed feint, Bam had to admit. Lilial, taking the bait, grinned. Lilial-Style Anima: Lethal Move - Rampage of Predators.
A lionfish and a spear shark was unleashed at Endorsi, and Bam knew Endorsi was quite capable of fending off this attack, but allowed herself to be pushed back as she summoned her lighthouse and used it to protect herself, taking only minimum damage combined with her proficient Reinforcement. When Lilial tried to punch her out of the arena, it was all over. Endorsi grabbed her fist mid-punch, and then focused her strength, successfully grappling Lilial out of the arena and winning by ring out.
The speechless look on the haughty ex-Princess of Jahad didn't even make Endorsi smirk as she simply turned her attention towards the other Lo Po Bia Princess. Shaking her head, Shilial chastised Lilial for falling towards the obvious trap as she made her way forward. Enryu healed Endorsi first so it would be a fair fight, as Bam, taking pity on her, gently lead her to sit beside her mother and grandfather.
Laura had been watching the fight with a small, guilty smile as she revealed she had been expecting Lilial to lose all along. She agreed to allow Lilial to challenge Endorsi because she knew Endorsi would make her finally realize the simple fact that bloodlines didn't really mean much, and she had to learn to temper her arrogance and be strategic from now on. Lobadon simply nodded as he assured Lilial she was strong, but she needed to reign in her personality.
And so Shilial and Endorsi squared off. As expected for the mature one of the Family, she cordially acknowledged Endorsi was definitely a worthy contender, but made it clear she wouldn't go down like Lilial did as she activated her Arms Inventory, followed by Endorsi. Pink swords clashed soon enough, Shilial easily avoiding the kick Endorsi made after the collision of their weapons and forcing her back with a forceful kick upwards as she leaned down, causing Lilial to cheer and Bam to look a bit worried as Shilial calmly walked forwards, making it clear this was going to be definitely harder.
Endorsi held her sword with one arm as she tested Shilial's sword skills with fencing and normal sword techniques, fighting sporadically with great precision, but even still, Shilial aptly blocked them all and was able to see through Endorsi's feints and counter her ripostes, causing Endorsi to comment Shilial must have lied that she had no talent for swordsmanship, causing Shilial to merely smirk as she confirmed she was one of the best sword fighters in the Lo Po Bia Family, good enough to even defeat a normal Arie or Ari Ranker.
Endorsi swung her sword then with shinsu, unleashing a tornado of slashes that Shilial easily cut through. They both continued to duel until Endorsi managed to land a reinforced elbow on Shilial's face and disarm her of her sword, but Shilial caught Endorsi's sword mid-swing using shinsu to create a miniature shield around her hands, a feat that Bam had to admit was fairly impressive for someone of her level, before kicking at the hilt of Endorsi's sword and tackling her to the ground. Endorsi managed to push her off, but Shilial didn't bother to reclaim her weapons as she simply kicked Endorsi further to the ground.
As soon as Endorsi avoided the next high-kick, she launched a spinning kick that Shilial blocked without much effort and the two started fighting in hand-to-hand. Endorsi had somewhat held back against Lilial back then, of course, as Bam knew she didn't want to reveal all her cards when she had to fight someone even stronger. It was fortunate that Endorsi was able to exploit Lilial's arrogance against her, but now Endorsi could go all-out.
Still, Shilial was a more aggressive but also more fluid of a fighter. She was good at both her arms and legs, using swift accurate strikes and easily changing from offense to defense, pragmatically using shinsu reinforcement on a surprisingly regular basis that easily surpassed regular members of the Ha Family to make her blows more harmful. She was also more skilled at wrestling than Endorsi, and it proved troublesome as she even managed to supplex her to the ground numerous times.
After a while, they both reclaimed their swords, Endorsi arming herself with another sword while Shilial equipped her arm with a green shield. They both started fighting seriously, Shilial parrying Endorsi's attacks aptly with her shield and even bashing her in the face, while Endorsi managed to slip through Shilial's shield at times and cut her in the face or shoulder. Neither of them commented on the attack at the face, simply continuing to fight, and Bam asked Lobadon and Enryu if they should put a time limit to the match.
Lobadon stated he was fine with it if that was what Bam wished, as Bam got the feeling they would reach a stalemate, and Enryu came up with the time limit of 10 minutes, still needing 3 minutes more, as Shilial and Endorsi separated. Lilial, on the other hand, teased if Bam was afraid Endorsi would lose. Shilial gave a polite salute as she finally admitted that Endorsi was capable despite not having the blood of the 10 Great Families, which caused Endorsi to finally show some of her snark by thanking her and promising to make it "nicer" for her, causing Bam to shake his head fondly.
Shilial manifested what Bam recognized as both fire and wind quality before she mixed them into a huge fire wind bullet that caused Endorsi to reveal her own shinsu quality of water and wind, firing a water-wind bullet that was able to neutralize the attack. Both charged up huge amounts of shinsu before clashing their Piercing Techniques.
Endorsi-Style Piercing Technique: Lethal Move - Velvet Fairy's Slam that emitted a huge image of a red-velvet like fairy clashed with the fanged serpent of red conjured by Shilial-Style Piercing Technique: Lethal Move - Fangs of the Red Snake, throwing them both back and causing them to cough up blood. Clashing Piercing Techniques always caused internal damage unless one were to be much stronger than the enemy or could protect themselves with skillful shinsu control.
Endorsi took out a Hook next and began to whip down at Shilial while also unleashing blasts upon blasts of shinsu, having been trained until she could do both masterfully and with no loss of accuracy or efficiency in either. It didn't take long before Shilial got close, however, as she responded by telekinetically controlling her shield to intercept Endorsi's Hook proficiently while she used Flow Control to disperse baangs after baangs, even throwing some straight back at her.
This caused their fight to be briefly that of Hook vs Shield, with Shilial getting a brief upper hand and landing a slash with the sharp edge of the shield until Endorsi summoned her sword and landed a slash of her own, evening the odds again. They started throwing spears at one another, testing each other's accuracy, and proved able to fire at the same level of speed as the other.
Just as they both finally seemed to be about to go all-out, Shilial manifesting her Fishbowl and Endorsi activating Bong-Bong, the time had reached it's limit, and Enryu demanifested the barrier to signal the end of the fight. As Lilial lost but Shilial was able to draw, Bam, in an effort to show consideration towards the family, decided that it should be up to Laura whether or not her daughters should join her.
Before Laura could answer, a Pocket call reached Lobadon, stating the Jahad Army had attacked the Lo Po Bia Mothership. After giving proper respects, Lobadon hurried back to his Family alongside his daughter and granddaughters. Bam wanted to go after them, but was stopped by Enryu, who said simply "This is a moment of truth for the ones you call your loves. They don't need you stepping in for them and claiming the victory they deserved to have solely to themselves".
True to Enryu's words, the battle was a victory for the UFH, and his girlfriends had achieved personal wins, although Bam wondered if Enryu purposefully stopped him because he planned for Shilial and Lilial's reaction to the whole thing, as well as the reaction of Sophia and Soo-Oh, who participated in the fight.
10 minutes before Shilial and Endorsi's duel began, that was when the Fourth Army Corp arrived with the full brunt of it's forces, demanding the Lo Po Bia Family to surrender and face judgement from the Jahad Empire. Of course, the backups sent by the UFH arrived soon enough and declared they had accepted the Lo Po Bia into their ranks.
Thus, the fight began soon enough, and unlike before, the UFH was equipped with devices to neutralize the weapons used by the Empire and means to defend from it. The focus on the fight was to remove Poe Bidau Lyborick Khun and Kallavan, the strongest warriors on the side of the enemy, and take out the weapons. Hwa Ryun quickly proved her mettle as a Guide by swiftly coordinating the main fighters of the UFH for the job. Yihwa, Elaine, and Aria would face Lyborick, while Jinsung would face off against Kallavan, while Hwa Ryun worked on destroying the weapons with the help of Sophia and Soo-Oh.
Aria would get her personal victory over Lyborick for forcing her to centuries of a life of suffering with help from Yihwa and Elaine. Of course, it was a difficult fight, but she did it in the end. Lyborick's skills might have befitted that of a Squadron Commander, but he was fighting against 3 Top 300 High Rankers, so while he dealt some considerable injuries on all three of his opponents, the three women eventually overpowered him.
Aria's role was essential: As the one with the most military experience, she was able to develop the proper plans to counter Lyborick's abilities and ultimately secure the victory that ended the live of the man who had earned the nickname "Traitorous Leader of the Poe Bidau". She already had foreknowledge of what Lyborick was capable of from her time as his minion, and while Lyborick might have improved his strength for the war, she also noticed certain characteristics and tendencies that hadn't faded, which ultimately proved enough to secure victory.
Lyborick's Spear-Bearer might be exceptional, but his skills leaned more towards the Poe Bidau style rather than the Khun, which was why he couldn't develop a proper lightning spear technique. He might prefer being part of the Khun more, but his Poe Bidau traits still shone through, making him more of a Wave Controller than a Spear Bearer. Of course, as a Squadron Commander who had existed for centuries since the Age of Genesis, Lyborick was capable in most fields of combat, and his wealth of experience still made him a formidable opponent.
Yihwa, who had also grown into one of the best Spear Bearers in the Tower, was able to counter Lyborick's lightning spear techniques with her own that made use of her special fires that allowed it to hold against even Lyborick's powerful spears. Her accuracy was also supported by her "sufficient" lighthouse skills, allowing her to initially square off reasonably evenly with Lyborick.
However, when Lyborick started to pull his new Water Vapour spear techniques, that was when things got more difficult, as Yihwa needed to focus her fires in order to neutralize his spears that now contained the opposite quality to her own, and those spears were also hard to see even for powerful High Rankers as Lyborick used the gaseous form of the Quality to make it invisible and they carried more explosive power as Lyborick mixed his lightning technique as well masterfully into it.
Fortunately, Yihwa had developed a shinsu technique that was based from Bam's Moonchild Seekers, which she used to compensate for her relatively normal levels of heightened senses compared to High Rankers. She named it Fiery Metamorphosis, as she created dozens of high-sensory butterflies made of fire. It allowed her to expose all kinds of invisible attacks and weaken them through the heat of the fire composing those butterflies. It proved helpful as Lyborick's spears were neutralized.
Yihwa's flame proved to be the MVP, overall: As expected for the girl who had such strong flames from birth even Rankers can't control them, Yihwa was one of the most powerful Hwaeyomsa in the Tower, and she masterfully used her fires to burn out attacks that came close to killing her fellows by surrounding them with spheres of fire and healed them of any potential lethal wounds. Yihwa was also able to create Blazing Orbs as a Wave Controller, having mastered the use of 3 of them after learning from Evankhell, and often traded blows with Lyborick's shinsu skills outside of his spears as she unleashed massive explosions and streams of fire that was able to either cancel out or even overwhelm Lyborick's shinsu.
Elaine performed as a middle-range Fisherman, mainly providing support to Yihwa and Aria, while Aria was mainly the close-ranged Fisherman and Defender, protecting the others while also going the most head-to-head.
Elaine now could control up to 5 High Ranker level creatures, having access to 3 wolves and 2 badgers. While those creatures wouldn't be a match for Lyborick even together, Elaine had mastered some of her family's specialized Anima techniques, allowing her to fuse those creatures into a single one, making them more of a threat. The result was a wolf that could administer poison through claw swipes strong enough to somewhat affect even a Top 100 High Ranker and a badger that could swiftly tunnel through the earth and launch strong hard-to-detect attacks from behind.
Her Archery and Reel skills were also enough to be somewhat of a threat to Lyborick as he was forced to erect a barrier or unleash a particularly strong attack to break through her combinations as she assailed him with chains upon chains of consecutive projectiles. Elaine had came up with dozens of techniques by now that allowed her approach to be enhanced by shinsu and also be controlled remotely, so even someone of Lyborick's level had to take it seriously.
Aria armed herself with her light dagger that she could channel shinsu into so she could fight as though it was a sword or a spear while not having the weight wear down on her, and she specialized in a close-range style that mixed acrobatic kicks with weapon strikes. It proved to be a surprise for Lyborick at first, but not for long. Still, Aria did manage to intercept a few dozens of Lyborick's attacks, but she took quite the most injuries, be it from protecting the others or from fighting him directly, with how Lyborick still outclassed her in close-range.
After a few dozen rounds of stalemate or victory on either side, being well-matched, the fight ultimately ended with Lyborick's death as Yihwa's Transcendental Skill: Star Heat unleashed a massive wall of fire that forced him to unleash his own Transcendental Skill. While Lyborick was slowly overpowering her with his own wall of lightning-infused water, Aria and Elaine both gathered their full strength for a single attack. Elaine's Style Transcendental Long-Range Skill: Thousand Intersecting Threads. About 130 shinsu-infused combination of arrow and reels were unleashed and helped pierce through the wall.
Aria charged through and gathered the residual shinsu of the collided attacks, super-charging her dagger to where it manifested a huge sword-like energy that pierced through Lyborick's heart, assuredly killing him for good. It was a purposeful move to combine Transcendental Skills, as Aria's dagger was specifically designed to absorb and accumulate shinsu that could be unleashed in one massive attack.
While Aria collapsed soon due to her injuries, she had a smile on her face as she realized she had finally overcame her past.
Meanwhile, Jinsung and Kallavan engaged in what was to be the last fight Kallavan would ever participate. Jinsung had gotten stronger at least, despite his previous reluctance to accept Yurin's offer for more training, and his Ranking rose up again to occupy the Top 50. As Jinsung would later admit earnestly, if it hadn't been for Bam's suggestion, he would have surely lost with how Kallavan had gotten stronger since their last fight.
Still, Jinsung saw Kallavan a bit personally, as he had personally helped Kallavan on the path of becoming a Squadron Commander and felt guilty for not telling him certain truths that could have convinced him to join FUG/UFH instead of the Empire, while Kallavan acknowledged Jinsung's role in his growth into the man he became and wanted to send him off personally and with honor.
And so the final fight began. Jinsung was still the more skilled hand-to-hand fighter, and having learned from his previous fight with Kallavan and further honed his skills with Yurin's further training, Jinsung kept himself constantly reinforced to allow his physical attacks to properly impact and damage Kallavan's tough body. Not only that, Jinsung also focused more on speed-based reinforcements and agility, which allowed him to slowly but surely dominate Kallavan as he nimbly weaved and maneuvered through Kallavan's aggressive attacks, defending himself while also landing strong hits that rattled the former Squadron Commander.
Of course, Kallavan was still an exceptional martial artist, so he gradually began to adapt, revealing his own developments. Kallavan had learned his lesson since Bam first beat him, causing him to realize the importance of defense and learning how to function properly as a Defender rather than just tank hits. He adapted a more cautious fighting style and focused less on offense, which allowed the fight to become a well-matched bout of hand-to-hand combat as Jinsung struggled to pierce through Kallavan's defense.
In terms of shinsu control, they were both fairly even with one another, regularly matching each other as Jinsung and Kallavan could both use up to 2000 baangs and Jinsung's esteemed techniques could match that of Kallavan's Essence of Bravery, such as Red World baangs matching Kallavan's condensed baangs of blue shinsu with Blue Rampage, Annihilation's powerful orange-red wave of shinsu matching Kallavan's Hurricane Shaker, and Jinsung's new technique, Blast of Grace, unleashed an enormous bolt of shinsu that proved equal to Kallavan's Backlash Bomber.
Realizing that hand-to-hand alone wouldn't end the fight, Jinsung decided to pull out twin Needles, the first being the "Dragon Fang" he already had back when he was still one of Yurin's favorites and the second being the "Dark Butterfly" Mirchea gave him as recognition of being part of FUG. Kallavan had a single sword to match Jinsung, an S-Rank blade given to him personally by Jahad.
However, while his weapon was stronger than Jinsung, Jinsung proved to be the superior master of his weapons, as he parried all of Kallavan's attacks with both blades, taking care to avoid clashing too much or often with just a single weapon in order to not have his weapon destroyed, and eventually took the upper hand. Kallavan might have been an excellent swordsman who had killed dozens of High Rankers on the UFH with the blade, along with being one of the strongest and most feared warriors on the Jahad Empire's side, but Jinsung was a more skilled warrior and natural with needles due to his Ha and Ari heritage.
As the fight got more intense, Kallavan started to unveil more of his arsenal, and so did Jinsung.
Kallavan began to throw spears, having learned his fair share with those kinds of weapons after he realized from fighting Bam and losing that he needed to broaden his arsenal. His technique was undeniably precise and efficient, despite how his Spear Bearer was still overshadowed by his Fisherman skills, and he even had a few unique tricks with it as he could make his spears burst, home on Jinsung, or make it release several baangs or beams from the tip. Of course, his Master didn't have much trouble neutralizing them with his shinsu control and reflexes, but it was still somewhat of an hinderance that allowed Kallavan to strike at times.
Jinsung, meanwhile, unleashed the full extent of his Scout mastery as natural for one of the strongest Ha. His stealth skills were refined enough even Kallavan needed to focus his senses in order to detect him, with Jinsung landing a few dozen powerful hits on Kallavan as a Scout until Kallavan caught on and began to counter. Not only that, Jinsung could use about 50 Observers, some of which had combat abilities beyond simply support, and manipulated them with great finesse to the point where you could mistake the way he used Observers as high-quality lighthouses.
His usage of those Observers varied from keeping his blind spots firmly guarded, transmitting barriers around and behind him, slowing down spears or halting getting impacted to a wall, reflecting shinsu attacks, creating holograms deceiving enough to even make Kallavan struggle to find the real him, and other more.
As they reached a close stalemate, Jinsung only slightly edging over Kallavan with superior skill and versatility, as well as being better at reading situations and coming up with plans, compared to Kallavan's more straightforward approach and on the go competence, both Jinsung and Kallavan decided to settle this fight with their ultimate moves.
Jinsung created a massive baang of his Red World before compressing it to two hand-sized baangs and channeling two high-level Piercing Techniques simultaneously, Crimson Flame and Dragon Tiger Gate, causing wild erratic streaks of shinsu to emerge as Jinsung's right hand was surrounded by blood-crimson shinsu while his left hand was surrounded by golden dragon and tiger projections. Kallavan, in response, created a highly compressed baang of blue shinsu and crushed two projections of the Essence of Bravery into the baang, causing the baang to absorb the maximum output of his Hurricane Shaker and Atomic Explosion.
When they punched their hands forward, unleashing their respective baangs, a massive wave of golden-crimson red shinsu projection of dragon and tiger collided with a huge wave of blasting explosive shinsu, which could have killed even a Squadron Commander protecting his entire Squadron if they weren't so far away from the fight, Jinsung having warped them to a distant part of the Floor. They seemed evenly matched at first, but eventually, Jinsung's attack overpowered Kallavan's, defeating and mortally injuring the Human Hunter.
As Kallavan laid dying, Jinsung approached the man and they had one last conversation. Jinsung assured Kallavan that he wasn't a failure, as he proved himself to be a great warrior and fought to the end, and his will and power would forever be remembered, promising he would not be hated in the new world Bam would bring. Kallavan had scoffed at the idea of Bam defeating Jahad, but stated he supposed dying at Jinsung's hands was a good way to die. He told Jinsung to do whatever he wanted with his body or the Essence of Bravery, stating that perhaps if he died, they could share a drink in the afterlife.
With that, Kallavan was dead. Both the old and new Squadron Commanders perished in this fight. While Lyborick died a hated man, Kallavan died somber with dignity, to be buried in his home.
Meanwhile, Hwa Ryun, Sophia, and Soo-Oh didn't have much trouble dealing with the weapons, having long since prepared themselves for this occasion.
Sophia's lighthouse was more than strong enough to protect them from the weapons, and she easily paralyzed dozens of Rankers with only 3 lighthouses before finishing them off with powerful Wave Controller skills in the form of dazzling butterflies and whirlpools of shinsu. This was her first big fight admittedly, although she had participated in the Battle of the Nest and other fights, but never to this extent as she lead the efforts to destroy weapons that was still considered a menace even with all the counter-measures developed against it.
Sophia made use of spears with great accuracy as well as she pinned down High Rankers with swift throws of small spears to pressure points before capturing them with lighthouse trappings, binding them inside her lighthouse with reddish binds on their limbs. She even dispatched a few enemies in close-range with a spear at hand nonchalantly.
Soo-Oh used her particular Flow-Bending Blue Sapphire Fish to change and redirect attacks launched by the enemies. She needed to use a few dozen lighthouses to reflect the shinsu of the weapons, though, but it surely was worth it as she did her part in keeping Sophia and Hwa Ryun focused on their roles, Hwa Ryun being the primary and better Guide by now.
Hwa Ryun focused on first suppressing the number of enemies, leading her two fellows into doing that and giving sound advice that quickly culled down the number of enemies, also asking that they be captured to extract information from later. After they had captured about 30 enemies, Hwa Ryun next guided Sophia into targeting and destroying the weapons.
With Sophia's great power and Soo-Oh providing the defense, coupled with Hwa Ryun's Guide, it was over the soonest out of the struggles of the others, taking only 30 minutes while the others needed an hour. They also suffered little injuries, even against reinforcements that arrived until they destroyed the Warp Gates connected to the Fourth Army Corp's Flagship.
And so the fight was won decisively. The Fourth Army Squadron, left leaderless and all their weapons destroyed, could only surrender. Thus marked the end of Lo Po Bia's constant loyalty to the Jahad Empire. It was a great victory, both for the UFH as a whole and the women of the boy who would soon rise up and become the bringer of a new age.