The pressure this man exudes… It’s like fighting against the ocean’s fierce currents! He’s most likely getting serious now that his shawl is off. The aura that envelopes his whole body is now the color of a golden nugget, as if he’s wearing a suit of armor. His calm demeanor, and his raging aura… Is this the true power of an archbishop? Or is he hiding more power underneath?

“Hey, Archbishop Zolvo!” Isaac yelled. “Show us your final form already! Your spider buddy showed hers! You should have one too!”

Final form? What is he talking about?

“You have no right to witness the blessing I have received from the gods themselves,” he spat with distaste. “How presumptuous of you!”

Upon hearing Isaac's words, Archbishop Zolvo advanced. The earth beneath him split and he thrusted himself forward. Isaac extended a single hand in the direction of the advancing bull, Zolvo. He clicked his tongue when nothing of note happens.

“Tsk. As I thought. Now I’m sure why [Energy Manipulation] doesn’t affect the archbishop’s golden light.”

Isaac avoided archbishop Zolvo's punch, who then created a gigantic crater in the ground. Myra unsheathed two daggers strapped to her legs and charged, with Zelke following along with her. Myra would attack archbishop Zolvo from behind while Zelke took the front. Isaac was just about to join in on the fight until I pulled him back.

“Uh, what are you doing?” he asked.

“I have something important to say. Back then, when I was about to die, a weird message popped up in front of my eye-“

“Second Mana Formation completed, right?” Isaac answered quickly.

I raised my eyebrow in bewilderment. “If you knew what I was going to say, does that mean you underwent the same thing too?”

“Yup. After I lit the Arachne’s ass on fire, Myra shot a big ol’ arrow at her, but the spider lady had a shield up against it. When I was about to die, I took the chance to exhaust all my mana by using fire, and that was when something resonated within me. Long story short, I roasted her ass, giving Myra the chance to land the kill shot.”

Hm… Hearing Isaac’s story, we had one part in common. Our magic evolved to a new level when we were on the verge of death. Does that mean when you’re in a life-threatening situation, your magic can soar to new heights?

I locked that thought in a brain compartment. “Okay. I’ll keep this short. I went through the same process. Now, I can use guns too instead of just blades.”

Our heads turned instantly at the three combatants duking it out. Zelke received a hard blow to the stomach and was launched through several homes. The warrior jumped out of the rubble, bleeding and bruised, and launched himself back into the fray.

“We’ll talk more about this later. Right now, go help Myra and Zelke.”

“And what are you going to do?”

I took one glance at my hand and stared at the archbishop. “I want to test out this new power. A mere gun I just whipped up in a hurry scratched him. Now that I feel better and more focused, I could give him more than a scratch.

Isaac knew what I was up to and nodded. Sword in hand, he joined Zelke and Myra.

“Status…”

Status Inventory Name: Laila Rank: Undecided Strength: 21 Agility: 37 Durability: 23 Mana: 31 Masteries Marksmanship: Lvl 2 Swordsmanship: Lvl 3 Mana Weapon Construction: Lvl 5 Heat Resistance: Lvl 1 Night Vision: Lvl 2 Poison Resistance: Lvl 1

As I thought, [Mana Weapon Construction] increased by just a level. [Marksmanship] increased by one level too. Most surprisingly was mana. It jumped up by a whopping five points. Undergoing a mana formation probably increased it by that much.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“Alright, that’s enough looking at my Status. It’s time to end this fight, once and for all.”

****

“Don’t worry guys. Yours truly is now here!”

At the sound of my voice, Zolvo pushed Myra away and moved back to assess the situation. Noticing there was one of us missing, he let out a condescending sneer.

“Didn’t I say for you all to come at me? What is the reason for the female human to remain at a distance?”

“She’s tired right now and is healing her injures since a bitch of an archbishop hurt her,” I mocked; my tone laced with animosity.

“Please. I saw you feed her one of those Torqinite crystals. From my observations, they can heal the injuries of you humans for whatever reason. You’re planning something, aren’t you?”

Shit, he’s on to us. He probably knows I’m here to buy her time to unleash some wicked power. Why am I getting some serious déjà vu right now?

In quick succession, the archbishop amassed some power into his hands and projected two powerful blasts out of his fists, aiming for my sister. I jumped right in front of its trajectory and used my sword to cleave both in half, the magic dissipating soon after. I breathed a sigh of relief after making it just in time.

“As if I’ll let that happ-“

Zolvo closed the distance between us in the blink of an eye. With a straight face, he had his arm up, ready to punch the living soul out of me. In a frenzy, I imparted mana to my body and held my sword in a defensive posture, just as his attack connected. The force of the punch had me skidding across the damn street like I was roller-skating on ice. A glance up revealed Zolvo once again delivering a punch. I quickly shifted my body away from the swing and thrust my sword up at the man. The man retreated from the swing by taking a step back, however Myra had already moved to his rear. Gripping the daggers tightly in her small hands, she tried to immobilize the man by cutting away at his foot’s tendons, but archbishop Zolvo did a graceful backflip high above her. While in the air, he unleashed a rainstorm of yellow blasts released from his fists. Peering at the spectacle above, we did the only sane thing a person would do in this situation.

We ran.

“Oh fuck, oh fuck!”

I ran around, dodging each blast like a mouse evading the talons of a hawk. Since [Energy Manipulation] doesn’t affect these things, and there’s no shelter around here, all I could do was cut away at these things and dodge the best I could. Luckily, a saving grace arrived. Zelke used an attack I have never seen him use before. With legs far apart, he slashed his sword at the sky, aiming for Zolvo. A flash of blue was soaring at the archbishop at an incredible speed. The attack hit its mark, and an explosion of blue sparks rang out.

“Nice shot Zelke!”

While the warrior had hit his mark, he wasn’t relaxed. Zelke was even tenser than before as he glared at the sky. Taking a step back to gain a better view, I understood why the man was mad. Archbishop Zolvo landed safely back onto the ground without a single scratch on him.

“If the Aura Blade had no effect on Volken, it’s natural to assume it wouldn’t work on me. I am stronger than him, after all. I’ll be frank. You rats are indeed good at dodging. I have taken longer than I expected, which is why I considered an alternate approach.”

Zolvo raised a hand with two fingers pressed against each other and snapped them. After the snap, Laila appeared right in front of him. She was in the middle of constructing a weapon in her hands. Even though it was halfway done, I could tell from a glance that it was a gun. Zolvo had an arm outstretched the moment she appeared and was about to grab her by the neck. Laila's reaction was not overly shocked, almost as if she had anticipated the outcome. In fact, she was even smiling.

Laila set aside the half-finished construct to her left hand, and in an instant materialized another gun to her right hand, a gun I recognized: a short-barreled shotgun. She pointed the small gun and aimed it right at the archbishop’s chest. Just before his fingers could curl around her neck, she fired the weapon.