Hearing her introduction, Arthur nodded. “Nice to meet you, Ms. Fiere. However, I must inform you that you and your crew are trespassing.”

Anne smiled,” you know, it’s common courtesy to introduce your self when meeting someone for the first time.”

Arthur shook his head. “That’s on the premise that we will be meeting again.”

Hearing this, a mock despondent look appeared on Anne’s face. “How unfortunate, I definitely wanted to get to know such a pretty girl.”

‘Pretty girl?’ An already annoyed Arthur felt his annoyance level rise by another level. Everyone that chose the path of Sovereignty despised being talked down to the most. Though Arthur could be considered a tolerant person, for a reason he couldn’t place a finger on, he was in an incredibly irritable mood.

“Girl?” Asked Arthur with an eyebrow raised.

“Yes, gir-. Wait, you aren’t a girl?”

“No, I am not.”

“Whaa, but your skin looks so soft, and that face. Are you sure? Have you checked? Like you know…”

Feeling his annoyance rise by another level, Arthur took another deep breath.

“It doesn’t matter, you are still trespassing.”

Feeling a bit ignored, Anne, pouted. “How am I trespassing? This is a free zone.”

“It was a free zone, I’ve made a claim to it, so it is mine,” Arthur answered, albeit through gritted teeth.

Hearing this, Anne began to look around. “I don’t see a name written anywhere, though.”

Arthur’s mouth twitched. ‘This woman.’

“You should leave.”

“No can do, I have business with the brown-haired boy on that ship and a bone to pick with one of his friends on land. I’m just here to return a favor.” Smiled Anne.

Fed up with this banter, Arthur stretched out his right hand. “So be it. Excalibur!”

WHISH!

A flash of red and gold whizzed through the air as a sword appeared in Arthur’s hand.

Seeing this, Anne grinned as she grabbed her two rapiers. “Rosiel, Runiel.”

As Anne grasped her dual rapiers, the flaming crow under her began to wrap around her figure as a pair of flaming wings appeared on her back.

WHOOSH!

Flapping, her flaming wings, a torrent of fire filled the surroundings as Anne dashed towards Arthur.

Seeing this, both Henry and Cisse shared a similar thought. ‘She’s gotten stronger.’

Arthur, on the other hand, upon seeing, grasped Excalibur tighter.

Step. Cut.

Disappearing off his piece of ice, Arthur appeared beside Anne with a downward slash.

Reacting just in time, Anne, furled her wings, rolling the side.

It was at this moment that Arthur paused as if he’d realized something and immediately began to plunge towards the sea below.

CHK! CHK! CHK! CHK!

Landing on its surface, Arthur began to freeze the sea, as his hairstreak turned from blue and back to white.

During the month-long training, everyone had improved by leaps and bounds. With the most growth coming from Arthur himself. Courtesy of his Devourer Constitution, he had been able to absorb enough energy to bring himself to the peak of Tier One Terrest Body and Lunar Core. And considering his capacity is six times the average person (five for the Celestial and one more for the Terrest Soul Body), it was safe to say that he could easily compete with someone at the peak of Lunar Crust.

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However, that wasn’t what Arthur was proud of. What he was proud of was his grasp over his golden aura. And from what he could figure out, it particles could accelerate or reverse the behavior of anything it came in contact with. It was a strong ability, with the price of high energy consumption. However, since he had yet to test this ability in combat, this encounter with Anne was the perfect chance.

Regardless, upon seeing Arthur’s action, Anne wasted no time as she flapped her wings and dived towards him.

As she dived, a golden aura burst forth from Arthur enshrouding his entire body.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Two flame thrusts descended downwards as a golden slash rose.

WHIISH!

As the two attacks met, rather than an explosion of energy, the flame thursts were torn through as they simply fizzled out of existence, whereas the golden slash continued its ascent towards Anne.

Anne, seeing this, panicked as she forcefully rolled her body to the side, barely evading the slash.

However, due to her momentum, she ended up crashing into the land of ice that Arthur had just made, creating a plume of white ice crystals.

Seeing her crash, Arthur sent another golden slash ripping through the ice at her.

CRACK!

An area of ice suddenly rose, intercepting the golden slash.

Failing his attack, without even having to use step, Arthur disappeared from his initial position and reappeared above Anne’s.

WHIZ! WHIZ! WHIZ!

Three burning daggers ripped through the plume of ice, whistling towards Arthur, followed by a chunk of ripped ice.

Block.

Deflecting the three daggers, Arthur flipped himself backward, landing a few meters from Anne.

WHOOSH!

A pillar of fire suddenly burst from Anne’s position soaring into the sky, causing the ice land to give of giving off tendrils of steam. As the plume of ice melted, an annoyed Anne appeared with a leg slammed into a risen chunk of ice.

“Oi, Oi, Oi, hasn’t anyone taught you that you need to be gentle with women, especially beautiful ones. Courtesy of your actions, I must now charge you with the crime of harming one of nature’s beloved. Your verdict? Guilty. Punishment? Trial by fire.”

Suddenly Arthur felt a warm sensation surround him.

Sensing danger, Arthur slashed at the ice land, propelling his body into the air just in time to avoid a thin streak of fire. The streak zipped past where Arthur used to be, followed by a...

BOOOM!

An explosion of fire ripped through the ice sheets creating an arced shaped hole in its wake.

In the air, Arthur looked at the devastation Anne’s moved caused, and frowned.

Landing gently on the ice land, Arthur looked at Anne, “Interesting.”

Anne responded to his look with a nonchalant gaze as a thin flaming whip in her hands, condensed back into her dual rapiers.

Bursting forth with a greater surge of power, Arthur smiled. “Let take this up a notch.”

Seeing this, the surrounding people’s gazes couldn’t help but turn serious. The amount of energy Arthur was giving off, felt suffocative to the point that they felt their abilities slightly suppressed.

Regardless they could only watch on and not interfere with both parties. A golden rule of Pandora prohibited others from interfering in the combat between leaders. All subordinates had to observe and accept the outcome.

CRACK!

Shattering the ice beneath him, Arthur stabbed Excalibur into the ground. “Aurum, SPLENDOR!”

FIZT! FIZT! FIZT!

Three giant golden balls of appeared above Arthur, bathing the surroundings in a golden light.

Sensing danger, Anne’s gaze turned serious. “Rosiel, Runiel. CROW FALL!”

WHOOOOSH!

As Arthur’s three orbs began to move, countless small crows of fire suddenly filled the air. With a screech, they all began to rush towards the three spheres.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

As the two attacks collided, Anne’s birds didn’t fizzle out of existence like her previous fire thrusts but exploded.

Interestingly, after being bombarded by countless crows, Arthur’s three orbs began to decrease in size but somehow maintained their energy.

As the orbs traveled, they continuously shrank until they became the size of ahead.

WHIISH! WHIISH! WIISH!

Zipping through the air, the three orbs dashed towards Anne with unprecedented speed. Leaving golden trails in their wake, the orbs began to shuffle their possible, masking the area in gold light.

Anne, seeing that her crows were ineffective against the approaching orbs, braced herself.

But then she felt a breeze behind her.” Don’t be too distracted by their splendor.”

CLANG! BOOM!

Barely managing to intercept Arthur’s attack, Anne was sent flying across the ice land with Arthur’s three orbs in hot pursuit.

BRRRR! WHIZ! WHIZ! WHIZ!

Tearing through a few meters of ice, Anne stabilized herself just in time to see Arthur’s three orbs approach her from three angles.

Rolling to the side, flipping, and sidestepping. Anne began to deftly dodge the orbs as continued their hot pursuit of her. Sheathing her rapiers, Anne grabbed some of her daggers, skillfully deflecting and intercepting the orbs as she continuously moved all over the ice land.

After a bit, she once again felt a cold breeze brush by her side.

BANG!

Sent flying once again, Anne flew for a bit before her eyes shone an angry light. “ENOUGH!”

WHISH! WHISH! WHISH!

Throwing three flame enhanced daggers, Anne intercepted the three orbs of light, shattering them.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The thrown daggers upon collision, exploded, creating thick mushroom clouds.

Arthur, who was standing off to the side, seeing this, seemed to nod in approval. ‘Not bad, not bad at all.’