"Would you perhaps be looking for this?" Isaiah materialized, in his hand was a simple gem which he threw up in the air and caught back repeatedly, "I didn't expect to see an item like this here."
Isaiah obviously didn't just simply leave the rubble knowing a full-blown battle was raging outside. Instead, he made his clone act as if he was getting out of the rubble to draw any attention while he searched the auction's vault for valuable items, especially the item he guessed the terrorists would have attacked the auction for.
The moment he saw all the items within the vault, his eyes opened wide with a smile adorned on his face. A man blinded by greed would have spent too long there and got himself killed eventually, but Isaiah, while greedy, definitely wasn't blinded by it.
His mana spread across the vault as he immediately identified what the terrorists were most likely there for. It wasn't even hard how weird the energy this little gem let out compared to any other item within the vault.
The gem he was playing with in his hands right now was a space gem, a type of mana gem composed of pure space energy. Its value was mind-boggling, so high that it probably wasn't going to be auctioned there in the first place. Seeing how ready Sir Isaac was in handling the cultists, he guessed it was used as bait to fish the cultists.
It would cost an entire dukedom to purchase such a little gem of space energy. It was pure luck whether you could get your hands on such an item, and its use cases were plenty.
The moment his presence became visible to the Masked Duke, he immediately rushed at him. His feet took a blitz as he leaped towards him, the ground beneath him cracked as he arrived next to Isaiah in a heartbeat, his body was half-turned as he twisted it forth to unleash a devastating claw covered with immense sparks.
Isaiah's smile didn't fall. He managed to react just as the Masked Duke's claw was about to hit him. A sword of light materialized to clash with the claw. SIZZLE! SHINE! With a sound akin to glass turning to dust, his light sword broke, but the force he was sent back as a result was enough to dodge the attack.
The Masked Duke straightened his position, his hands still covered in lightning. He was surprised that a mere Rank 1 could take his attack head-on, "I have to kill him right now." He knew if Isaiah was left alive and was to prosper, it wouldn't bode well.
Before he could react, his vision was turned alight as all his eyes could perceive turned to pure white. BOOM! He felt a huge force press on him, which he neutralized via his lightning. BOOM! Another explosion rang as Isaiah unleashed another Light Cannon on him. It did little damage due to their Rank disparity, but it worked well to blind his senses, buying Isaiah precious time.
With his upgrade to Rank 1 Middle, his casting time on Light Cannon had been lowered to just a mere minute. He could also double cast it with both of his hands a lot easier now.
Before another Cannon could block his vision, the Masked Duke exploded into a fury of thunder that exploded in the shape of a dome. When the next Cannon came, it barely obstructed his vision as it was destroyed by the dome around him before it could reach him.
His gaze searched all around for Isaiah. Seeing that he couldn't find him with his sight alone, he spread his mana to sense his location. His eyes widened as he sensed something, but it wasn't Isaiah.
ROAR! A loud roar was heard as a huge flaming lion rained upon him from the sky. In response, he punched towards the sky, the lightning from his arm ascended to form a dragon of lightning. Two monstrous attacks clashed, the sky was a mix of blue and red.
The maws of both creatures of elements clashed. This didn't look like a clash of spells at this moment but a clash of two titans. As the Masked Duke was blocking Richard Incendio's flame lion with his lightning dragon, he felt a kick to his gut all of a sudden. He couldn't sense the arrival of the kick due to all the chaos going around. SHOO! He was sent flying towards the air.
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Terry followed up his kick by leaping up at him to the sky. Richard descended down from the sky with fists covered in flaming maws of lions. Two brothers were raining destruction upon the Masked Duke.
Just as the kick and the punch were about to hit him, the Masked Duke twisted his body so hard that a cracking sound was heard. With his hands covered in lightning, he managed to catch both brothers' attacks.
This didn't mean he was let off, as his arms were burned. Also, the clash was still ongoing, and the brothers were slowly overpowering him.
It didn't help when he saw from the corner of his eyes that Isaiah was walking towards them with a devious smile on his face. In his hand was a blinding sword made of light as he leaped and attacked to his front, his second most vulnerable spot right now.
Formations exploded below Isaiah's feet, sending him flying towards the Masked Duke held by the brothers. Seeing the arrival of death, the Masked Duke used all the energy he had left from dealing with the brothers to cover his vitals with armor.
SLASH, BOOM! Isaiah had a clean cut on his left arm from his forearm, causing the kick from Terry to be let loose and hit the Masked Duke right on his face, sending him flying into the arms of his brother, who smashed him down with his fists covered in flaming lions.
Isaiah, like a reaper, followed up, rushing down at the Masked Duke with a blinding sword in his hands once more. Just as he winded up and let loose a clean cut with its trajectory being a clean cut to the Masked Duke's neck, SLASH!
His sword was stopped by a hand that had rushed to save the Masked Duke. As one hand broke Isaiah's sword, the other rushed to crush his neck.
Isaiah countered the man's attack with his palm covered in light, responding with a Light Cannon. BOOM, He propelled himself back from the clash of both forces, avoiding certain death once more.
Isaiah got into a defensive position, but the man covered in a hood didn't attack. Instead, he picked up the Masked Duke's body and escaped the scene.
Isaiah couldn't run after them as it would be a death sentence for a Rank 1 like him if he tried to deal with a Rank 2 by himself. Even in the fight just now, most damage his attacks did was simple stretches that were implemented at strategic times to let others' attacks do the real damage. Also, him making his allies invisible and blinding the Masked Duke's senses to make the attacks unsuspecting couldn't be counted out.
Isaiah went back to the rubble with the space gem still in his hand; he hadn't lost it. "That guy seems ominous," Isaiah took a mental note of the hooded figure. His hood didn't have a number unlike the other cultists but rather simple red strikes.
...
A woman whose beauty couldn't be described with mere words stood right in the middle of an expansive lake, her curvaceous body adorned with thin fabric that barely covered any of her otherworldly assets.
Her crimson lips widened into a beautiful smile as she sensed the arrival of a figure. "Your senses are still as sharp as ever, Emperor," her head tilted up as her beautiful crimson eyes gazed towards the floating figure in the sky.
Jacob Silvershine, The Emperor of the Silvershine Empire, was the one floating above. His body was adorned by a white suit with silver strikes, a floating silver crown above his head, and ten silver rings on each hand, each with a distinct color.
His back stood straight, but his gaze fell below. "Seems like witch hunting season came early this century," his laugh reverberated, shaking the very ground beneath.
While her smile was as beautiful as ever, even going as far as to let out a mind-meltingly seductive chuckle, it was clear his words had a certain effect on her as her Rank 3 Aura was unleashed as it rushed towards him.
His Rank 3 Aura was unleashed in response as it clashed with her Rank 3 Aura. The clash of auras made the clouds part ways, and the vegetation below withered. Huge waves appeared on the lake that she stood upon.
Now with the clouds gone from the sky, Jacob's silver attire shined brightly under direct daylight, giving him a holy aura befitting an emperor. He raised his right hand as the silver ring on his pinky melted, turning into an ocean of liquid silver. "I shall remind you who the true ruler of this planet is."