"Damn it, this guy's way too strong. Why haven't Yugami and Hyōken dealt with the Time Law Witch yet?" Raiken complained, his whole body tense.
"Looks like the two of us won't be getting support from Hyōken and Yugami after all," Agol said with a bitter laugh.
"We'll stall him for as long as we can. If we really can't hold out anymore, then squeeze out every last drop of magic power. Even if we die together with him, we can't let Arlen walk away unharmed," Raiken declared firmly.
"Alright. It's just a shame we won't get to see Lord Byakuya complete the plan and defeat the Abyss Beast. Oh-ho-ho-ho," Agol cackled strangely, though his voice carried deep regret.
While Raiken and Agol stood there reminiscing like martyrs heading to their deaths, Arlen, who wasn't too far away, was already getting annoyed.
They were treating him like he didn't even exist.
"You two done talking?" Arlen interrupted coldly.
"Lord Arlen, we admit we're no match for you. But if you think you can pry useful information from us, give up on that idea," Agol said.
"That's right. You may be strong, but I refuse to believe we can't make you pay some kind of price," Raiken said, standing ramrod straight with unwavering resolve.
The corner of Arlen's mouth twitched.
What is wrong with these two? Their expressions, their poses, even the way they talk… anyone listening would think I'm the villain here.
Too lazy to argue further, Arlen raised Alaya Consciousness horizontally before his chest. The ice-blue blade gradually turned azure, crackling with violent lightning. His silver-white hair and silver-gray cloak fluttered wildly without wind.
"Use your strongest attacks. Whether you live or die from this strike will depend entirely on your abilities."
"Secret Art—Azure Dragon Break."
As his words fell, a massive azure dragon over twenty meters long coiled behind him, roaring toward the heavens with an earth-shaking dragon cry.
"Looks like we'll have to go all out too. Let's use our strongest attacks. Oh-ho-ho-ho," Agol laughed bitterly, even his strange cackle lacking energy now.
"Hmph. Then let's decide this in one strike." Raiken had already prepared himself for the worst. After fighting this long, his magic power was nearly depleted, so he intended to pour everything he had left into this final attack.
"Full Body Take Over—Green Wyvern!"
"Lightning Make Magic—Thunder Cannon!"
Agol transformed into his strongest Take Over form, the Green Wyvern—the very same one that had attacked Aiso and the others during the S-Class Trial in the Dragonspine Mountains.
Lightning surged wildly around Raiken as he clasped his hands together before spreading them apart. Enormous amounts of lightning magic rapidly condensed between his palms.
"Interesting," Arlen said with a slight smile. "But not enough."
He swung Alaya Consciousness horizontally.
The colossal azure dragon split into two sky-piercing pillars of lightning, carrying enough destructive force to annihilate and devour everything in their path as they thundered toward Agol and Raiken.
"Maximum power Thunder Cannon—fire!"
Raiken thrust both hands forward, unleashing an even larger and more destructive lightning beam directly at the approaching azure thunder.
"Gale Breath!"
Agol opened his ferocious dragon jaws. All of his magic power poured into his mouth before a dark cyan spiral wind-blade tornado erupted outward.
Then, an astonishing scene unfolded.
Agol's spiral wind tornado actually fused with Raiken's Thunder Cannon, transforming into a golden spiraling storm of lightning blades.
"Those two are absurdly lucky… They actually created a fusion technique." Even Arlen's pupils shrank slightly in surprise.
Fusion techniques were unbelievably rare, but their power increased exponentially. Countless people spent their entire lives attempting to master them, yet successful cases were practically nonexistent.
And somehow, these two had managed it by sheer accident.
Agol and Raiken clearly understood what had happened as well. Their eyes widened before excitement burst forth within them.
With this sudden magic fusion, maybe—just maybe—they could truly contend against Arlen.
At the very least, they could buy more time.
In the next instant, Arlen's Azure Dragon Break collided head-on with the duo's fusion technique.
The moment the attacks met, terrifying waves of energy exploded outward, obliterating everything along their path. Grass, trees, and clothing whipped violently in the shockwaves as the entire sky seemed dyed in azure and gold.
On the other battlefield, Ultear, Yugami, and Hyōken all paused instinctively when they sensed the overwhelming surge of magic power, turning toward Arlen's location with solemn expressions.
Arlen snorted coldly.
The magic power erupting from his body surged once more.
The stalemate shattered instantly.
The two giant pillars of lightning merged into one, swallowing Raiken and Agol's fusion technique whole before crushing forward with unstoppable force.
Fusion techniques were powerful, yes—but this one had formed by accident and lacked stability. On top of that, Raiken and Agol's magic power was far inferior to Arlen's from the very beginning.
Their defeat was inevitable.
Raiken and Agol roared furiously, desperately squeezing every last ounce of magic from their bodies, but it was meaningless.
Faced with the advancing Azure Dragon Break, they no longer had any means of resistance.
The two men were swallowed by the lightning pillars as agonized screams echoed through the skies. The raging thunder transformed once more into a soaring azure dragon that roared toward the heavens before finally dispersing into crackling arcs of electricity.
The battlefield was left utterly devastated.
Grass and trees had been reduced to ashes, and the earth was carved with enormous trenches. Where Raiken and Agol once stood now lay a massive crater.
The two men lay motionless at the bottom, their bodies charred black.
Yet upon closer inspection, faint rises and falls could still be seen in their chests.
They had merely fallen into deep unconsciousness and suffered catastrophic injuries—they were not dead.
At the final moment, just before the azure lightning completely consumed them, Arlen had withdrawn part of the attack's power, enough to spare their lives.
After all, he wasn't someone who killed indiscriminately.
Besides, with the condition they were in now, surviving at all was already a miracle. Recovering fully would take an incredibly long time.
But the larger reason Arlen spared them was simple:
He genuinely wanted to know what exactly they were planning.
And who was this "Byakuya"?
Why were they willing to follow him so fanatically that they would rather die than reveal anything?
Was it Byakuya's personal charisma?
Or was it because of whatever grand plan they were pursuing?
Arlen was deeply curious about all of it.
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