"Authority of Genesis, Absolute Justice!" Astaroth's blood spills down onto the ground and lands on the scales.

In that moment, Qiang steps in front of Helena with his dagger in a fighting stance. With a small smirk, Astaroth walks forward and swings the sword of Justice in his right hand only to get blocked by Qiang's dagger and is stabbed, making Astaroth jump back, the dagger having only ricocheted off his skin and leaving no wounds or cuts.

In that moment, Qiang understood what has happened, his attacks had grown stronger and faster and his skin thicker and more durable. In this moment, he was not fighting with the Principle of Justice any longer. No. Something worse, something far more malevolent. On the roof of the now almost destroyed palace stands Yue with Azazel, both of them taking eyes off their fight and looking over at the battle below, looking at the new form Astaroth took.

Astaroth takes a few steps back and turns around, begining to chant: "oh, rivers of life, oh vile sinners... Bathing in the pool of dispair, birthing divine resentment... Be cleansed with the rivers endless flow and berid of your suffering; bask in the flame of repentance..." Large scales materialise from water in front of him, a large key-hole in the center. "Realm: Embodiment of Justice." He puts the sword inside the key-hole and rotates it ninety degrees, blue energy surging around his body as the scales dissolve onto the ground.

Realm, embodiment of justice, instead of summoning a realm and dividing space, it instead summons the realm that, once the ability is activated, allows the user the power of the realm without sacrificing large amounts of energy or summoning a wide landscape. The ability's activation now ensures that the power the sword of Justice once held is now imbued into Astaroth's entire physical form, making every single strike of water or his fists to be as lethal as piercing someone's heart directly. On top of that, his ability "Authority of Genesis, Absolute Justice" allows Astaroth to always have an edge over his opponent, allowing him to always be stronger, faster and more durable, as long as he, deep in his subconsious, believes the person he is fighting is evil.

This fact alone is why he is considered to be the greatest fighter among the Principles, second only to Azazel.

Despite the apparent increase in Astaroth's power, Qiang still remains rooted in the ground with a grin on his face. Helena stands behind him, her left wing slowly reconstructing itself and regrowing the crystaline structures.

Qiang grounds himself, his dagger in reverse grip as he simply stares at Astaroth with his empty eyes, sensing, almost even seeing his manna fluctuate. Astaroth creates a spear and slashes down towards Qiang who dodges masterfully, each attack thrown at him is blocked and evaded as if he had recieved a divine gift of precognition.

"This man is supposed to be blind?" Astaroth thinks to himself, noticing his own speed and strength increase doesn't seem to change a single thing in their fight, he is getting predicted by this blind man he thought of as a bug he could easily crush, who is even fighting against him on equal footing?

"Commendable." He says, stepping back, "you truly have peeked my interest." He lifts his arm up and steel rods come out of the ground, impaling Qiang in his back and dissappearing the next second. Astaroth chuckles and steps closer to Qiang, "just as i thought..."

Qiang lifts his head up before promptly falling to his knees, "what...?" He says, his voice strained and weak.

"You're blind, and yet you can sense my movements... It took me some time to figure it out but i realised you used Manna to 'see' your opponents and even predict attacks. And so, i used an attack with no Manna to injure you." Astaroth laughs, "clever, huh? It would be enough to kill you instantly if my realm had taken effect, however, it didn't..." He seems perplexed for a moment.

"Perhaps i am so righteous the sword didn't recognise me as a sinner, huh?" Qiang jokes before standing up, "as you can see, i can still fight!" he looks back at Helena who is still injured, "and you will not reach her, even if i must die!" Astaroth's eyes widen at his honorable words and he chuckles, begining to percieve Qiang almost like a chivalrous knight, a warrior who fights with honor no matter the cost.

"You... Are truly a beautiful person..." Astaroth cuts off Qiangs arm with a second spear falling from the sky and then kicks him into the wall of the palace, knocking him unconscious before he turns his attention to Helena.

Helena, however, seems to have been prepared; her hands in front of her body, her palms open and between them a perpetually growing bubble of water. "Hydrokinesis, supreme art!" She chants in preparation which makes Astaroth step back in fear. She puts her hands into the bubble but before she is able to release the attack, Azazel steps between them to prevent their altercation.

Helena lets the bubbles dissipate as she looks at Azazel who grabs her roughly by her wrist, a scarlet red eye opening in space, like the sky itself is divided by a portal with a lone crow flying above as Helena falls into the eye and dissappears from sight as it closes. Azazel turns to the opponent before him, Astaroth, who seems smug as he sees Azazel with sword in hand.

"Oh, lord of war, could it be your daughter softened your battle hungry heart?" He says, the faces on the side of his head then begin to laugh, taunting the Principle of Order.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Astaroth then blinks and upon opening his eyes he is met with Azazel's sword piercing his chest and blood gushing down his whole body. He furiously flaps his angelic wings which begin to slowly melt away along with his arms, clothes, faces and legs. The sword apears to glow red from the heat of Azazel's hand.

On the rooftop of the palace, Yue is charging an arrow towards both the Principles, chanting the words; "Manna output, sixty percent!", her hair glows red and her Vanguard glows more brightly than ever as she releases the bow string and sends the arrow flying towards them both. The crimson arrow nearly reaches Azazel as he is prepared to dodge but when he tries to jump he falls downwards, the "eye" opening beneath them and teleporting them away. The arrow continues to fly, however, and eventually hits the ground, redirecting the force of the Manna upwards and creating a wave of Manna that eviscerates an entire section of the forest, leaving nothing behind except scorched earth.

The palace dissappears after, making Yue descend down to the ground. She manages to break her fall with a mobility spell and looks around to see that only water remains of the palace, along with its courtyard.

"Miss Yue! That was incredible!" Ezra screams out while running towards her and hugging her, "you're not hurt, right?"

She chuckles heartily, "of course not." She pats him on his head, he is quite a bit shorted than her. She looks towards Qiang, who is unconscious on the floor, walking over to check and heal his wounds.

She uses "Regeneratus", healing all his injuries but he doesn't immediatelly wake up, which makes her sigh. "The injuries that Principle inflicts... They're very difficult to heal... And it's chilling to know he is only the fifth of the Principles..."

"Yeah... But you had no trouble defeating Belial, right? How powerful could a lower rank be?" Ezra says in confusion.

"In raw power, Belial had me beat by a long shot, the only reason i had won our fight is due to her inexperience. She must've been so used to assasinations that she had no real battle experience."

"Heh... I guess that means i can beat her too, right?" Ezra says smugly.

"Absolutely not. Every single one of the Principles is far more powerful than you." She slaps his shoulder but grins slightly, "don't worry, though... I will teach you once we get to the capital, okay?"

He sighs loudly, "fine..." He says, tired as if he hadn't slept for days. He then looks slightly worried as he stares back to Yue, "where is Helly...?"

"Helly? You're that close to her already?" She chuckles but her expression suddenly turns grim, "we don't know, the Principle took her away but we will get her back, i can promise you that."

"I see... I swear, if they hurt her..." He clenches his fists at his sides while gritting his teeth.

"Don't worry, i believe they're not trying to injure her... With that said, i'm not sure what they're plan is with her... I believe you said she was a former Principle?"

"Yes... She was..."

"I suppose they might try and make her rejoin them? But who knows, let's focus on getting to the Capital and we'll plan from there, i mean, Johan is still missing, right? Now we have to rescue Helena and find Johan."

Yue picks up Qiang, carrying his large body on her shoulder while with her free hand she summons a clone with Manna, giving it an order to find Fa Jin and tell him to leave immediatelly for the Capital. The clone then runs off through the woods faster than any human can manage.

Ezra stares at Yue in amazement, "what spell is that?! Did you invent it?!" Making Yue chuckle due to his naivete. "No, no, it's a very widely known but difficult spell, i might teach you one day."

"Then did you invent any spells?" She chuckles again at Ezra's question, "Of course, regeneratus, which is a regeneration spell, and i also invented a decay spell that works on a similar principle as regeneratus but just the opposite. I'll explain it to you when the time comes." She then spaces out for a moment, thinking of what Fa Jin is doing at the moment.

Meanwhile, at the village, Fa Jin stands across the young tan girl, a gash on her shoulder. His sword drenched in blood and his realm collapsed, he looks into her eyes before an "Eye" opens beneath her, enveloping her entire body before closing again. Fa Jin jumps back a little in shock, his form sweaty and exhausted from the previous battle that unfolded. He looks to the roof of a house and sees a crow, a red glowing eyes on its forehead, its eyes seem to look at nothing as if completely dead while the eye on its forehead looks around the village. If you gaze long enough at the crow, it begins to apear rotten, as if it is already dead.

"Ew... What a strange bird..." Fa Jin exclaims.

"Be not afraid." The crow speaks, making Fa Jin's eyes widen. He points his sword at it, some blood dripping from the edge. "I knew something was off... What is this? Possesion of corpses?"

"You can tell? I'm impressed."

"Who are you, then? A human? A demon? An Immortal?"

"Neither, i am the Principle of Enlightenment."

Fa Jin scoffs and lowers his sword towards the ground, while staring at the crow, "why did you come here in that state, afraid i'd defeat you?"

"On the contrary, i also simply had no reason to. As you saw, i came to collect the vessel, i had no intention to come seeking conflict or battle." Fa Jin continues to glare at the crow before it speaks again, "if you desire to fight me, be patient, that time will come in the near future." The eye on the crow closes and it falls of the roof, now as an inanimate corpse.

Meanwhile, Astaroth is awakening in a carriage on a trail, next to him is Helena and Azazel is sitting near the window. Astaroth looks at the both of them, now in his normal state, feeling shocked and disoriented.

"I see you came with us, huh sister?" He says, coughing a little, "Lord Lucifer has a lot to tell you, you see..."

She grits her teeth, "how did the people of Seelvia not rebel already, under such tyranical rule?!"

"How? Well, Lucifer masqueraded and took the form of the now former Grandmaster of seelvia and created a device that was linked with his blood. He used the influence and trust people had in the former Grandmaster and used it to make the people wear the device and those that refused were shot. Obviously, everyone chose to wear it which made the device connect with their subconscious mind and made them all adore Lucifer and his beliefs, therefore, he controls the population and even the whole millitary of the country which fights for him without a second thought! Is he not a genius?" He laughs, "sometimes, i can't help but think what a mastermind he is!"

"So, why go through all the trouble of taking me away?" She looks at him with a hateful glare.

"Well... It's for a mission Lucifer has prepared for us, Principle rank four and rank six will be there, and of course, you are there will be there as the final step. Just be patient, sis!

TO BE CONTINUED...