A flash of lightning ran through the skies, followed by the crackle of thunder.

To the thousands of barons in the layer, it was as though the world itself had reacted.

Raziel Voss, whose staff had been shooting towards Magnus, was halted midway. He found himself suspended in the skies, unable to move an inch.

Magnus, the princess, and her subordinate stared at him with wide eyes just as he began to laugh. They each shot back, creating distance.

"Ah, right!" Raziel said with gleaming eyes, "almost forgot the fucking rules!"

A god could only battle another god. Fighting a champion was forbidden. He'd done just that, and the world had stopped him.

"Alright, alright! I got it!"

He smiled just as the hold on his body waned, then vanished, and movement returned to him.

He clicked his tongue.

"Unfortunate…"

"Godspeed Grace."

The temperature surged to insane heights. Raziel spun, then squinted his eyes at Atticus, who had settled into a stance in the distance, crimson Will shooting into the sky.

'He's not there.'

Atticus suddenly dispersed into the air. Raziel's eyes snapped to the side just as Atticus appeared before him in a blaze of roaring fire, katana tearing toward his throat.

Raziel narrowed his eyes.

'He got faster.'

His arm blurred up, staff rising to meet the katana. A burst of light erupted as they clashed, but Raziel's expression darkened a second later as Atticus' blade split his staff clean in two, still blazing toward his neck.

'He cut it?'

Raziel twisted midair, narrowly avoiding the lethal arc. Even so, the sword carved a scaling line across his neck.

Smoke rose from the sizzling wound, but Raziel barely acknowledged it.

His eyes were fixed only on Atticus.

'I want him.'

The first few clashes with Atticus had told him everything he needed to know about his target. Atticus was strong. Surprisingly so.

He'd expected nothing when he'd been given his target. To kill or recruit.

Raziel had never been one with the patience to convince a random. He'd rather spend that time trying to get stronger.

His goal from the outset had been to kill and absorb the fragment. But something unexpected had occurred. His interest had been piqued.

'He also knows the path of Logoth.'

How could a random rising god possibly know the ancient technique of the usurpers? Especially to such mastery! It was a mystery his grandfather would be far too keen on learning.

'I must have him.'

Unfortunately, there were problems that needed taking care of before that could happen.

His life had been absent of a rival for as long as he could remember. Someone to challenge him, push him to want to do better and reach higher.

Raziel had seen it in Atticus' eyes the moment he saw him. He had the same goal, the same mindset of the world. Atticus had the potential to be the one he'd been searching for.

'But he's not there yet.'

His cold eyes flashed to Magnus in the distance.

'He's still stuck carrying useless baggage.'

The strong should only follow the strong. Weaklings trying to latch onto power were nothing but leeches. Deadweight whose only purpose was to drag them down.

'I need to kill him.'

Raziel's eyes flashed black and his Will flared around him. His word dropped the world.

"Absolute Weight."

The air trembled, and Atticus felt as though the universe had slammed into him. He dropped from the skies, crashing toward the ruined city.

"I'm doing you a favor!" Raziel said, pointing his arm at Magnus.

"You'll thank me later. Kill him."

A shadow peeled off his back, solidifying into a figure dressed entirely in black, an exact mirror of Raziel.

He shot toward Magnus, erasing the distance in an instant. Black Will flared around him as he thrust his staff with such force gales rippled out in spirals.

Magnus' eyes turned cold.

'I have to defend.'

Not much time had passed since his last battle, and he still hadn't recovered his Will. But there was no choice.

Lightning crackled around him as he transformed into an Eldorian and braced himself. But the closer the champion came, the more certain Magnus became.

He wouldn't survive this clash.

The attack was about to land when the princess' champion flashed between them. Her sword met the staff in an explosion of gold and black.

"Hrk!"

The force blasted both her and Magnus backward in a streak of gold.

"Kiara!"

The princess screamed, then glared at the champion. Her Will flared, but though it pressed down on him, he didn't so much as glance at her.

His eyes were fixed only on Magnus. His target. He raised his staff and was about to strike again when a cold voice froze him in his tracks.

"Endless Blade."

The vast, endless clear skies vanished as an incalculable number of slashes materialized and descended on the world in a barrage of flaming strikes.

The princess, the champion, and Raziel found themselves bombarded from all sides.

"Watch out!" the princess screamed, twisting away from the lethal slashes. The champion, however, didn't move at all. Any strike that neared him froze midair, as though the world itself forbade it.

The dark energy around Raziel flared and the air grew heavy. Every slash that came close to him simply dropped from the skies.

Raziel locked eyes with Atticus. Even with his ultimate Will Art active, even with the weight of the air multiplied, Atticus still hovered in the skies untouched, Will blazing around him.

He smirked.

'He's perfect.'

The sheer Will required to stay unaffected… he needed to gain this boy at all cost.

"Make sure you kill him!"

The champion nodded, but the princess golden will flooded the skies.

"Who the hell do you think you are!"

The princess glared at Raziel.

"Call off your stupid minion or I'll crush your skull."

Raziel chuckled and waved lazily.

"Stay out of this, tiny. Adults are speaking."

The princess' eyes ignited in a golden light that flooded the space. She vanished, reappearing before Raziel in a burst of gold. Her hand morphed into a massive fist that rocketed toward him.

He raised his arm, and his Will rippled out into a round shield as her fist crashed into it in a detonation of force.

Raziel's eyes glowed through the haze settling over the sky.

"I warned you."

His Will flared and gravity warped. Wide eyed, the princess dropped from the sky in a streak of golden light.

Raziel's gaze snapped toward Atticus, only to see he was gone.

'Where did he go?'

His eyes darted upward. Atticus hovered above him, katana already flashing from its sheath.

"Endless Blade: Weightless."

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