The heroes were slightly pushed back by the pressure of Eribyōko's aura until it died down, allowing the heroes to regain their bearings.

"My apologies, I got a little ahead of myself; I'm supposed to wait for you to attack first," Eribyōko remarked as he rested his chin on the back of his hand. The heroes quickly huddled together before muttering amongst themselves.

"Is now a bad time to say we're probably going to get completely trashed?" Kel-Ku whispered to the group, with Atlas rolling his eyes at her comment.

"You're always such a pessimist, Kel," Tobias mentioned before he did a quick glance at Eribyōko.

"But you're probably right," Tobias added, causing everyone in the group other than Atlas to mutter amongst themselves. Atlas angerly sighed before loudly clapping his hands together to regain the others' attention.

"Look, we're summoned heroes; something as simple as the possibility of losing shouldn't be a problem, besides the demon lord guy doesn't seem like a bad guy," Atlas remarked with the others looking dumbfoundedly at him.

"Not going to lie, that sounds kinda dumb, bro," Nevi boldly whispered with Kel-Ku and Tobias agreeing with her; Atlas awkwardly rubbed the back of his head and chuckled.

"I know but I mean if he was evil then he would have killed us before we even knew he was here," Atlas explained. Nevi was about to say something but was interrupted by a strong wave of lime-green mana rushing past the group.

"I know I said I'd wait for you to attack first but I'm not some mindless NPC who'll wait forever," Eribyōko unamusedly explained as he stood up causing the three trinkets(a claw, metal foot and a kunai) attached to the end of his cloak to rattle.

"R-right," Atlas nervously said as he whispered to the others to go with the usual attack strategy. The others nodded before Atlas and Kel-Ku sprinted for Eribyōko, while Tobias created a magic barrier around himself and Nevi as she began to gather mana into her staff.

“Well, it’s about time; Lightning Amp,” Eribyōko said as his body became encased in an aura made of dazzling purple lightning. Eribyōko took a single step forwards before instantly zipping in front of Atlas and Kel-Ku; Eribyōko attempted to clothes-line(that thing where wrestlers knock over their opponent with a T-pose) the duo quickly ducked under Eribyōko's arms and spun around to face Eribyōko.

"Don't you think that was pretty obvious-" Atlas managed to snark before being swept off his feet by Eribyōko pulling the carpet from under Atlas while Kel-Ku managed to jump off the carpet before it could trip her over.

"That was the idea," Eribyōko snarked back, as Atlas landed on his back and made Kel-Ku disappointedly facepalm. Atlas stumbled to his feet as Kel-Ku chastised him for being careless and mentioned that even Onyx could have evaded it.

"You don't have to rub it in," Atlas voiced as he gritted his teeth and tightly grasped the handle of his swords.

"Struck a nerve did I, you're not jealous of Onyx are you~?" Kel-Ku cheekily and extremely smugly remarked as she deviously grinned at the very agitated Atlas.

"I am not!" Atlas shouted with a faint blush on his cheeks.

"Kuu~?" Kel-Ku cued as she nudged her shoulder into Atlas' shoulder while she continued to pester Atlas. The duo continued to bicker with each other, as Atlas kept getting more agitated and Kel-Ku continued to get more and more smug until they were broken up by Eribyōko lightly chuckling.

"What's so funny?" Kel-Ku asked with her normal annoyed-sounding tone.

"Nothing you two just remind me of people I used to know is all... or was it two characters from fiction?" Eribyōko remarked before he pondered which was the correct one. Eribyōko eventually shrugged his shoulders after giving it some thought.

"Although, in all honesty, it doesn't really matter at this point in time," Eribyōko added before he dashed at the duo, who frantically got back into fighting-ready stances. As Eribyōko fought Atlas and Kel-Ku, Nevi continued to gather mana into her now brightly shining staff as she and Tobias watched the battle.

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"It sure sucks we got given abilities that makes it difficult to help Atlas and Kel," Tobias mentioned as he casted reinforcement spells on Atlas and Kel-Ku.

"I know but it's probably for the best," Nevi meekly said in response.

"Definitely, I mean could you imagine only having DPSs in a party, the only time that'd be a viable strategy if you knew you were vastly stronger than your opponents," Eribyōko remarked as he lay on the ground next to Nevi and Tobias. Tobias' face cringed up as he forced an awkward smile.

"T-that wasn't foreshadowing was it?" Nevi nervously whispered.

"Of course not," Eribyōko remarked before he bursted into shadow(black) mana particles.

"So he can make shadow doubles, he must really be toying with us," Nevi commented sombrely as her staff reached mana full capacity and couldn't store anymore.

Atlas narrowly avoided an unserious punch from Eribyōko and as he readied himself to dodge another, he noticed in the corner of his eye Nevi signalling she was ready to commence the plan. Atlas smirked as he pulled his swords back making Kel-Ku jump far away from him and Eribyōko.

"Got some super move you want to show off?" Eribyōko inquired and made Atlas smirk.

"You could say that," Atlas remarked as he covered his swords in bright red flames. Eribyōko excitedly braced himself as Atlas hurled his blades forward; however, as they were mid-slash, the swords abruptly swung downwards before striking the ground and the resulting explosion from the swords launched Atlas into the air.

Eribyōko attempted to jump and intercept Atlas, as he went over Eribyōko’s head before Kel-Ku pulled an arrow made of ice mana out from a transparent turquoise bubble then shot it at the ground below Eribyōko and encased his legs in ice.

"Now Nevi!" Atlas shouted as he plunged one of his swords into a brick pillar and hung from the pillar. Nevi firmly nodded her head as she aimed the tip of her staff at Eribyōko and narrowed her eyes.

"Maximum Overdrive!" Nevi yelled at the top of her lungs as her staff shone brightly before all the mana gathered into a single point. Eribyōko glanced behind himself and noticed the highly concentrated ball of light(white) mana.

"Oh... so that's what she's doing," Eribyōko remarked. Nevi tightly grasped her staff before slamming it into the ground.

"Purifying Light!" Nevi shouted the ball of light mana started to float towards Eribyōko. Eribyōko sighed as the ball of light mana slowly floated towards him before he easily broke free from the ice trap.

"I was kind of hoping for, you know, a super laser or something," Eribyōko mentioned as he pierced the light mana ball with a beam of concentrated lightning from his finger. The heroes, especially Nevi, defeated sighed as they regrouped.

"It always fails when we're fighting strong opponents," Nevi complained as she placed her staff on her back.

"If it's a common problem, then you might be putting too much strain on your weapon or yourself," Eribyōko remarked as a transparent Lime green bubble appeared behind himself before he reached into it and pulled out a golden staff with a floating pink gem at the top of the staff. Eribyōko inspected the staff before handing the staff to Nevi. The heroes perplexedly looked at the staff as Eribyōko straightened the collar of his cloak.

"Once you've got the hang of wielding the staff and being able to consistently cast that Purifying Light spell, come and rechallenge me," Eribyōko stated as he turned away from the heroes and walked back to his throne. Atlas was about to ask something but felt something being placed in his hands; he glanced downwards and noticed the two white phoenix-themed swords in his hands.

"I could barely keep up with his movements just then... wait is this thing made of dragon bone?!," Kel-Ku surprisedly commented as she looked at the dragon bone bow covered in red metallic spikes and a glowing firey bowstring in her hands.

Tobias glanced at the large snowlion-themed shield before looking over at Atlas, who was still staring at the swords in his hands. Atlas' confused expression shifted to a smug grin as he raised one of the swords and pointed it at Eribyōko, who stopped walking the moment Atlas pointed the sword at him.

"I hope you won't be a sore loser, when we eventually beat you," Atlas remarked as he spun the other sword on his finger like a basketball. Eribyōko joyfully snickered at Atlas' comment.

"I look forwards to seeing you try," Eribyōko mentioned before continuing to walk. The heroes went to leave the room but stopped when the ground below them lit up.

"Oh and I should probably mention, if anyone tries to leave this room without a special key they'll instantly be teleported to the entrance of the dungeon," Eribyōko added, causing the heroes to nervously chuckle.

"This place really is like a JRPG dungeon," Tobias joked as a beam of magical energy shot up from the ground and into the magic circle on the ceiling before the heroes instantly disappeared. The beam instantly faded away as Eribyōko sat down on his throne and rested his chin in the palm of his hand.

"Let's see... Atlas will be flames, Nevi will be angels, Kel-Ku will be mystery and Tobias will be valour; those seem to fit them the best," Eribyōko remarked as he closed his eye and all the torches in the throne room when out, leaving the Heaven Keys to shine within the shadows.