"Tiffany, Bob! I know you’re here. Come out!" Travis shouted, his voice echoing through the abandoned village.

Adrian, Winnie and Tiffany heard Travis' voice and were startled. His voice was enhanced with a Wind spell, so it was loud enough to reach every corner of the abandoned village.

"Adrian, Winnie, stay inside the house. Do not leave, no matter what." Tiffany went out in a hurry. The children ran upstaris to observe their parents.

Bob emerged from another house. He noticed Tiffany and walked toward her. Travis and Julie were standing at the entrance to the village. Upon noticing Bob and Tiffany, they walked toward them.

"Hey! How are you doing? I really miss you." Travis said, raising his arms and appearing quite jubilant.

"Drop the pleasantries, Travis." Tiffany said. "I am not in the mood to talk." Travis reminded her of the prison stay. She spoke with animosity and her tone was anxious.

"How do you know we’re here?" Bob inquired in a serious tone, he was also not in the talking mood.

"After my mission, I thought I could give you a better burial. However, those corpses were not yours. The guards in charge of the execution claimed to know nothing." Travis answered. "I don’t know how you did it. However, if you escaped, you must be heading to the capital to look for Joseph; and this is the shortest path without passing through any checkpoints." To Bob's and Tiffany’s surprise, Travis actually answered, and he continued. "Now, after my full explanation, would you be so kind to let me know how you were able to escape? You see? You just gave me more work to do."

Ten out of ten! Such an honest and complete answer! Bob and Tiffany suddenly felt like they should be honest with him in response and tell him about N. But of course, they would not betray their savior.

"You know we wouldn’t answer. So, why don’t we get started with the killing? I will never forgive you for involving my wife and children." said Bob as he and Tiffany released their Auras to their vicinity.

"Oh, as expected from demons. So violent! It looks like after killing the two of you, I need to kill everyone in this village for being demon sympathizers." Travis answered as he and Julie extended their Divine Power.

There were a lot of speculators around the village, namely Noland’s group. Unlike N, who tried to frighten and subdue the bandits without killing them, Bob, Tiffany, Travis and Julie were fighting with the intention to kill each other. The animosity in their Aura was trying to reject and destroy foreign Mana. Many from Noland's group immediately fainted as soon as the four released their Aura. Noland knew that this would happen and had already run to the furthest house as soon as he heard Travis. He was still watching from a distance.

The clash of their Divine Power resulted in occasional electric shocks to the vicinity. As adversaries, they did not allow their opponents’ Aura to reach into their territory. Otherwise, attack spells could be activated at point-blank range to them.

"Divine Spells: Iron Wall, Reinforce Blade, Enhance Strength, Stone Skin, Elemental Shield." Bob, Julie, Travis and Tiffany said together. These are the strengthening spells that all high ranking knights would use during battle. These spells activated one by one.

"Iron Wall. Elemental Shield." Adrian and Winnie suddenly heard a voice behind them. They looked back and it was N. He cast the spells on the house to protect the children. "This fight will be a valuable learning experience for the both of you. Although you may not understand it now, it will be useful in the future. So, observe closely." The children also noticed that N was negating the effects of the Divine Power to keep them from fainting. His dark silver Mana was extended around them.

"Divine Spell: Flamethrower." Travis cast a spell toward the couple. Julie started running to the right side of the couples while chanting "Divine Spell: Stone Bullets." Bullets made of stone and sand raised from the ground and shot toward Tiffany.

"Divine Skill: Phalanx." Bob and Tiffany chanted together. Hexagon shaped stone blocks formed in front of their shields and united like a beehive, forming a single enormous stone shield that the two of them held together. They charged toward Travis as Julie was casting Stone Bullets. This allowed them to avoid Julie’s Stone Bullets, which were fired from the side, and the giant stone shield blocked the fire from the Flamethrower spell in front of them.

The Stone Bullets that missed the couple destroyed the trees and houses on the side like raging machine gun fire, causing smoke and debris to fly everywhere. As the couples were closing into Travis, their giant stone shield started to melt and became covered in lava, which was by itself a powerful weapon. Travis stopped his spell and bashed his kite shield against the lava Phalanx. Boom! The clash of their Divine Power at the shields caused a shockwave. On impact, lava and stone fragments flew away from the giant stone shield.

As Travis was getting pushed back, Julie ran behind Bob and Tiffany. "Julie! Formation C." Travis shouted. "Roger! Divine Skill: Phalanx." And she began charging toward the couple. Tiffany broke off from the Phalanx, faced and moved toward Julie.

"Divine Skill: Stone Wall." Travis and Julie cast two walls, one on each side of the couple. Travis was in front and Julie behind them, trapping the couple.

Bob was now fighting Travis one on one with their swords; and Tiffany was fighting Julie.

Bob used a sword style from the Death Blade School, which focused on powerful strikes that could end opponents in one hit. Travis, on the other hand, used a sword style from the Thousand Blades School. This school utilized fast sword plays, feints, and complex moves combined with multiple spells to catch opponents off guard. Their opponents often felt as if they were surrounded by a thousand blades with no where to escape.

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Travis tried to attack Bob’s legs to disrupt his stance; then he kicked Bob’s shield in an attempt to make him lose balance and at the same time cast an attack spell behind Bob. However, all his efforts were futile. Bob had infused so much Mana into his sword that its cutting range and sharpness surpassed Travis’. Bob wielded his long sword with two hands and he had a small wooden shield tied to his left forearm. No matter what kind of complicated swordplay or tricks Travis tried to use, a simple swing of Bob's sword could force Travis to evade or block, halting his advance.

"Death Blade School counters the Thousand Blades School." N explained to the children. "No matter how complicated your sword play is, a single powerful killing strike would stop it all."

Julie used a sword style from the Phantom Blade school. She moved extremely fast around Tiffany with complicated footwork, delivering fast attacks and stepped back before Tiffany could counter. On the other hand, Tiffany used a sword style from the Shield Blade School. From Julie's perspective, Tiffany’s defense stance was like an immovable castle. All of Julie's spells and strikes were calmly seen through by Tiffany, who deflected or parried them skillfully without any damage on her shield or sword at all. Tiffany was impervious to Julie's attacks, preserving stamina while Julie darted all around her. Whenever Julie tried to catch her breath, Tiffany would attack, never letting her rest.

"Shield Blade School counters the Phantom Blade School. Phantom Blade School’s footwork is very good. However, they always evade as soon as they land a strike, making their attacks less powerful than the other styles. Consequently, Julie can’t break through Tiffany’s Iron Wall." N continued to comment.

"Then, everyone should just learn from either the Shield Blade School or the Death Blade School." Winnie said, amazed by the fight.

"Not really. It is because Thousand Blades School’s complex sword play can sip into Shield Blade School’s solid defense. Phantom Blade School, on the other hand, can evade Death Blade School’s slower attacks and counter them." N answered.

"This is a bad match up for Travis and Julie." N told the children again. "However, because your father is way stronger than the blue haired girl, they could not switch opponents."

"Divine spells: Stone Lance, Stone Wall." Bob chanted and a stone lance attacked Travis from his left. At the same time, Bob delivered a strike to Travis’ front. Travis jumped back to evade the attacks. Bob’s Stone Wall then blocked Julie’s water slicer aimed at Tiffany. The Water Slicer and the Stone Wall exploded into mist and stone debris as they collided, sending another shock wave through the entire village. Some of the debris hit Tiffany and Julie, but with Stoneskin active, they continued to fight without flinching at all.

"Dual casting!? Bob, you really trained hard after leaving the Knight Order." Travis smiled and commented, noticing that Bob had activated two spells at the same time.

The children had never known that their parents were so strong. The spells and the impacts between swords and shields vibrated through their body. Since N assured them that their parents had the upper hand, rather than getting scared, they were excited in watching the fight.

Observing the situation, Travis analyzed. "Tiffany has not cast a single spell at Julie and is only defending. I see… it is about time."

"Julie! Split up! Defense up!! The Kill Zone spell is incoming!" Travis suddenly shouted at Julie.

A second later, a giant glyph appeared underneath everyone. To be precise, it was formed by eight glyphs.

"Divine Spell: Stone Wall." Bob cast a wall that lifted up himself and his wife like riding an elevator. They stopped fighting at close range and were now watching Travis and Julie from above.

Travis jumped away from the Stone Wall, moving away from Julie. Julie was confused and looked at Travis like a helpless child. After seeing what Travis did, she immediately tried to copy him and jumped back, away from her enemies. However, as she was nearing the Kill Zone spell’s glyphs, a Stone Wall suddenly appeared and prevented her from leaving. "Stone Wall trap." Julie murmured, looking at two of the eight glyphs.

The eight glyphs lifted up vertically, surrounding everyone in an octagon. Julie immediately began chanting anxiously. "Divine Spells: Ice Wall, Stone Wall." On the other side, Travis gathered Divine Power into his sword and swiftly released a flying slash at one of the glyphs. However, Bob blocked it with a Stone Wall, which was shattered by the slash.

Finally, the Kill Zone spell activated. It consisted of eight spells: two Stone Walls, two Flamethrowers and four Stone Bullet spells. Each of the knights was attacked by a Flamethrower spell, two Stone Bullet spells and had their escape route sealed by Stone Walls.

The high density Stone Bullets, like heavy machine gun fire, kept chirping away and breaking through their Stone Walls, forcing them to recast constantly. "Divine Spell: Stone wall. Divine Spell: Stone Wall..."

Now, Julie understood why Travis had asked them to split up. If they stood together and all six glyphs attacked the same location, the heat from the two flame spells would become very deadly.

Occasionally, Travis cast Stone Walls and Ice Walls to protect Julie instead of himself, allowing some Stone Bullets to hit him directly. At the same time, the constant fire had heated up the air so much that they began to suffer from burns. Travis also suffered more injuries because Bob was casting Stone Bullets and Stone Lances at him.

The Kill Zone spell was maintained for eight seconds. After the spell ended, Bob slowly dispelled the Stone Wall platform that they were standing on. The sinking platform brought the couple back to the ground like an elevator.

Julie fell to the ground, exhausted and succumbing to her wounds. Travis suffered more severe injuries; he fell and sat on the ground.

Tiffany moved to apprehend Julie. Seeing that, Travis dropped his weapon and raised his hands.

"You've already cast before we talked, did you? That’s why I never heard you chant those spells." Travis commented after his defeat. However, his tone was rather relaxing, unlike someone who just lost a fight.

"That’s right." Tiffany replied.

Travis asked again. "Wait, if you had already started Octa-casting Kill Zone before the fight, how did you cast the defensive spells? Tiffany, you can simultaneously cast nine spells now?"

"No, Bob cast those for me. I just pretended to be casting." Tiffany explained.

Travis smiled. "Figures."

Bob pointed his sword at Travis’s neck.

"Please spare Julie, for delaying the execution and for the dinner." Travis's tone became more serious, but it was not for himself.

"Ok, any last words?" Bob agreed. The family was able to escape because Travis asked the judge to delay the execution. Therefore, they owed the knight.

"You know this is nothing personal." Travis said, closing his eyes.

"I know. You always do your job professionally." Tiffany said, then stressed with frustration, "However, I am not my mother. She has nothing to do with me."

"I know, Tiffany. I know." Travis nodded in agreement, "But as a knight, I must follow orders. Maybe that’s why I took in Julie. To lessen the burden on my conscience."

In the Kingdom, there was an unspoken rule that death penalties of the parents could be extended to their children. The holy teaching implied that it was a form of mercy.

Travis smiled at Bob and said, "Do it. No one will pursue you anymore. Daniel is unaware that I am here."

"No! Please don’t. Take my life instead if you have to!" As Bob readied his sword for the final blow, Julie shouted and struggled as she was pinned down by Tiffany.

Julie's helmet had been knocked off by Stone Bullets earlier, revealing emerging dragon horns on her head.

"Dragonoid?" Tiffany asked in shock.