“This is as fast as it goes…” Lera said, pouring more and more of her Wave into her chariot Cast as it sped up further and further with the ground rushing by underneath them. However, despite all of the speed that she managed to squeeze out from that simple Cast, the Cerberus’ gallops seemed to be even faster still.

Ver eventually had to jump in the game of pursuit, creating a second set of Whirlpools that teleported them right behind the Cerberus, however, the legendary beast sensed the shift in the local Wave fields and nearly stomped their face in with a kick if not for Lera raising a shield Cast immediately.

A reckless measure for sure, but a necessary one to close the distance as quickly as possible.

“It's my turn now,” Wu said calmly, lying flat with his rifle set up along the edge of the chariot. Then, he waited for the moment when the Cerberus formed yet another blue platform under its legs before pulling the trigger. The Void Domain laser sliced through the air and shut down the Wave platform immediately as the legendary beast's paw hit the air and slipped straight through.

Confirming the first hit visually, Wu then held his shot, twisted the rifle and swept the Void Domain laser across at the second blue platform on the second back leg. That lack of support immediately sent the Cerberus' body into a spin as it fell down, the two front legs grasping onto the first two platforms and trying prevent itself from falling.

Rache and Rote turned around while riding it, and as Wu lined up for a shot of the Wave, the Cerberus let go as the shot whizzed straight over their head.

"Shit!" Wu cursed, charging up yet another far weaker shot and tracked the Cerberus as it fell down, "Too obvious!"

If there’s Wave usage, Void Domain can disrupt it, and that’s what Wu has and will continue to exploit. However, once that pattern of exploitation is adapted to, then Wu needed to rely on his other tricks.

As the legendary crashed down onto the beach down below, Ver then created a set of Whirlpool before bringing them right next to Rache and Rote. When she emerged, Rote had already been waiting there with his entire body glowing red hot as he slung his fist forward.

The Kraken’s shells instantly formed around Ver’s body as armor before she deflected the punch and drew out the Sky Splitting Sword all in the same move, expanding it to the size of a two-handed long sword and drawing a literal line in the sand, force Rote back. Wu and Lera emerged from behind her, and Rote regrouped with Rache and the Cerberus meters away.

“Deactivate the defensive Casts right now.” Wu said, “What’s the point of ruling over a realm that’s completely decimated?!”

“Well…PORA has plenty of supply of meat puppets.” Rote said with his arms crossed, “Don’t you worry about it.”

“And you think the people in each of individual houses are just going to accept it? All that you are doing here is to plunge my realm into total war!” Ver said before looking at Rache as he held onto his broken sword, “Please, Rache. He is tied to your house right now, and if the other houses learned of what has happened today, then they will all come after House Fisher…”

“I…I do not care for House Fisher anymore…” Rache lowered his head before reaching out to the side and touching the armor of the Cerberus, “I…I am fine with only Rote by my side.”

Rote smiled triumphantly before Ver charged forward, her rapid movement creating jets of sand underneath her feet that jetted backward before she clashed against Rote, who surprised her with his raw strength despite the Kraken's physical and Wave enhancements.

“Back off, or I will blow up the Vaughan family next,” Rote said, as Ver’s eyes turned red and she roared angrily. Tendrils grew out from her back and slammed into the ground before she used the extra support to lift herself up and slam Rote into the ground.

His body bounced up once before Ver held the Sky Splitting Sword above her, blowing it up like a balloon toy before slamming it down.

The Cerberus roared, and it’s left head spit out a massive ball of flames towards Ver. Lera immediately stepped in to stop that attack with a shield Cast before Ver emerged from behind the shield and the flames, the continuation of her strike cutting through the ball of fire and smoke as Rote was about to be cut in half without being able to do anything.

“Don’t estimate the power of PORA’s regional leader!” Rote shouted, throwing both hands up to catch the blade as the legendary weapon carved into his skin. Blood started jetting up from his palm, tainting the blade red and streaming down his arm as his body glowed even brighter with his hair turning completely red, “Ah...I haven't felt liks this in a long time, Vaughan girl...”

“Rote!” Rache called out when Wu rolled in front of him and fired a series of shots that was then blocked by the Cerberus. With a fast spin, Rache took cover behind his Manifest.

“You are staying right here,” Wu said when the Cerberus lunged at him with a powerful pounce. As the shadow of the beast covered his entire body from above, Wu fired a point blank shot of Wave before moving out of the way as the Cerberus stomped onto the ground, creating a small mushroom cloud of sand as Wu rode the wind and moved even further.

However, Rache was moving even faster than he could have imagined. As he leaped off the back of the beast, he drew the broken blade from before and stabbed it at Wu's stomach.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

At the last moment, Wu forced his Rifle to the side as the blade smashed against the metal cover of the rifle. Then, he swung it like a stick as the long barrel snapped off once it made contact with Rache's armor. Now staring down at the dark barrel, Rache watched Wu as he pressed his finger against the side of the rifle, activating the One-Shotter gemstone and firing off another orb of Wave right into Rache’s chest, launching him into the air like a ball while the recoil also sent Wu tumbling back.

As Rache's body traveled through a parabola and slammed into the sand with a pained grunt, Lera created her trapping Casts that surrounded and bound onto Rache’s body as the Cerberus leaped over the shield and continue to attack Ver alongside Rote.

When Ver sensed the Wave of the beast and glanced at him, he opened the mouth of the middle head and screamed directly at her as the Kraken formed its helmet around Ver’s head. However, despite the Kraken’s projections, Ver was still dazed for a moment, and that allowed Rote to push away the Sky Splitting Sword and kick Ver in the legs while the Cerberus pushed her to the ground.

“Get off her!” Lera shouted, activating the Void Domain all around them as Ver’s anti-Void domain became activated automatically. As the Cerberus’s body became stiffened, Ver freed herself through a set of Whirlpool purple right up against her skin, skipping the Cerberus and rushing straight towards Rote.

“You are done!” Ver said, raising her fist against Rote when he smiled lightly and raised his own fist too.

Their armored knuckles clashed, and a shock wave exploded outward, blowing back sand in all directions. Ver’s eyes opened up wide, and she blinked with confusion.

“Ah…yes…” Rote bit onto this lips, “How does it feel to see your strength being matched by someone like me? Do you feel lost? Angry? Desperate? How does it feel to see your trump card of a Cast completely and utterly overcame?”

“H…how…?” The Cerberus asked as he suppressed all of the Wave in his body, and he slowly moved back towards Rache, biting off the vines and freeing him with his raw physical strength. Though he retained all of his natural characteristics as one of the legendary beasts, the Manifest part of him was still going to be hard countered by the Void Domain.

“This strange Cast of yours.” Rote looked at Lera as she appeared stunned from what Rote’s been able to do, “It’s powerful, but not invincible. So long as I am driven by my rage, my power will continue to increase…and eventually, your Cast would become too weak to handle me…”

Turning her fist into a grasp, he latched onto Ver's fingers and yanked her close before he dug his free hand straight into Ver’s chest plate, bending it as Ver suddenly felt a struggle to breathe with the Kraken screaming in her mind, “I…sense your counters here.”

Then, he clawed out the piece of the Kraken's shell and the anti-Void Domain Cast written right underneath her chest plate. The light around Ver vanished, she became bathed in the full effect of Void Domain.

“Lera! Shut it down!” Wu shouted as the darkness around them instantly vanished when Rote sent his fist into Ver’s chest. With her strength returning, Ver opened up a Whirlpool right over her chest and behind Rote’s back as he ended up punching himself and sending himself flying forward past Ver. His body bounced a few times on the beach before coming to a stop eventually.

“Come.” The Cerberus said, sensing his power returning before gesturing for Rache to hop on.

“Even more tricks. Great.” Rote rose up slowly as more anger boiled within him, “Now…you’ve truly pissed me off.”

Taking out his Revolutionary Manuscript, Rote then pressed his hand onto it before smudging his finger into where the Fog city was on the map, “Say goodbye to the rest of Vaughan family!”

“No you won’t!” Lera threw her hands out, creating a Void Domain shield layer around all of them as the output signal from the Revolutionary Manuscript became instantly trapped within them, “You may be able to counter the Void Domain on your own, but the Manuscript itself still runs on the Wave!’

“And you are not going anywhere.” Ver said as the Cerberus leaped over them and landed right next to Rote, “Not while we are standing.”

Rache and Rote shared a glance, and they nodded at one another.

“If you wanted a fight to the death, then it's what I will give you!” Rote said, cracking his neck as veins that seemingly glowed like hot iron bulged along his forehead. He turned the slow walk forward into a full-on sprint, and Ver matched his speed with her Sky Splitting Sword besides her and clashed against him.

For the instant after contact, Rote’s overwhelming strength pushed back the combined effort of Ver and the Kraken before he dug his fingers into the surface of the Sky Splitting Sword and smoke started to rise from the points of contact.

"How is this possible? He's far stronger than before!" The Kraken gasped.

Ver shared the Kraken's shock as Rote slashed his hand through the air while pinning down the Sky Splitting Sword. He was about to nail Ver across the face when she injected a surge of Wave into the sword and caused it rapidly expand, awkawrdly shoving Rote's own hand into his body. That single move created some much needed space in between them, and the impact jammed Rote's body against the blood as more blood jetted out from the open wound. He roared, clamping around the blood and ripping it out like an unhinged animal.

“Are you insane…” Ver murmured before pulling back as Rote turned his palm towards his face and smelled the iron in his blood.

“No…just angry.” Rote said through gritted teeth before he vanished from right in front of Ver.

While Ver clashed with Rote, Wu and Lera quickly surrounded Rache before Lera divided her attention between maintaining the Void Domain shield layer outside and keeping Rache and the Cerberus trapped right here. However, that left Wu with the assignment of keeping the two of them occupied.

With his enhanced pistols on either side and the long rifle now back on his back, Wu stared down at Rache as his heart raced and adrenaline pumped through his veins. He watched Rache closely, and he tried again, “You don’t seem too convinced by what’s happening, right? You think that he is going too far, that this isn’t what you really want…”

“You have no idea what I want…” Rache tossed the shattered blade onto the sand before he pressed both hands against the back of the Cerberus and started leaning forward, "Leave me alone, or you will get hurt way beyond what your puny body can heal from."

"Let's find out then."