Hugo watched Percy get swallowed into the ground and considered giving up and just jumping out of the window behind him.

Things were out of control.

Strangely enough, the walls and floors weren't absolutely eviscerated by the movements and attacks of the powerhouses in here. The only person in the room that seemed capable of even affecting the room was the Rank 4 Spiritmancer, Lethel.

And even then, he barely left burn marks on the ground and just managed to keep sparks of his flames going for fire-shifting.

In the meantime, Hugo was barely keeping up with someone nearly as fast as Thalos. Griffon appeared in front of him, white wings glowing behind him, mercilessly swinging with his two morning stars.

The spiked steel balls came down on Hugo in a flurry of black, two strikes trying to smash his skull in and the other trying to disembowel him.

He jumped back to save his head. But Griffon had the advantage while he dodged and swung the morning stars at his stomach.

When it seemed he was done for, the Hugo that just got disemboweled disappeared into a puff of white smoke. Griffon frowned and turned back to find Hugo panting behind him.

"You won't attack?" He asked.

"You already knew I was behind you, and you're even faster than me," Hugo said, shrugging. "You would have just killed me."

"You're rather pitiful," Griffon said with a smile. "Why not just die and stop wasting my time?"

Because I don't want to die, you psycho.

He adjusted his daggers in his hands, watching Thalos and Lethel fight out the side of his eye.

It looked like a nightmare, two people just appearing and disappearing with bolts of flames so fast and hot that he only saw the aftermath, not even the casting.

He couldn't add anything to the fight, so he had to just focus on killing Griffon, who was unfortunately both a Rank 3 Spiritmancer and a Rank 2 Arete user.

It wasn't too common to find people like this, especially since most Spiritmancers that can reach Rank 3 will not consider Arete worth their time.

Even Hugo only started seriously training his Fighting spirit when he got stuck at Rank 2 as a Spiritmancer and became Rank 2 in Arete only a couple of years later.

He was already pushing the limits on Rank 2 Arete, but he didn't want to advance without…

Hugo suddenly smiled, raising his daggers with a renewed light in his eyes.

"Go on, let's continue."

Griffon's smile wavered, but he still tried to look pleasant.

"What the hell are you smiling for? Have you finally accepted your destiny?"

"I just remembered why I decided to look for Hecate in the first place," he said simply. "So I can't die yet, until I do what I came to do."

Griffon chuckled and leaned forward, his white wings fluttering as disappeared, smashed down through Hugo.

Another wind illusion.

His morning stars hummed as they smashed into the unbreakable floor of the tower, sending a jolt up his arms.

Hugo used this to his advantage, sending five daggers at Griffon and casting a spell under his breath to enhance his own speed again. Griffon batted the daggers out of the air with sharp movements, then shot towards Hugo, smiling.

Daggers and the two morning stars sang through the air as they danced, Hugo flipping and sliding under attacks to poke at Griffon's blind spots. But his opponent's speed and momentum were too great, and the attacks were often deflected or stabbed air.

George was busy stopping Sebas from interfering with Thalos' fight, so he was on his own. Not that George could do much here, as earth spells didn't work on the floor of this room. He would simply slow Hugo down.

And he was already too slow. A morning star caught him in the chest and sent him flying towards the wall, but he used wind to change directions, just as Griffon came tearing through the space he had just occupied.

He threw some daggers, coughing blood, and touched one of the magic tools Percy had given him, sacrificing some spirit energy to it. A green glow surrounded him as the healing tool soothed his burning lungs and splintered bones.

Griffon scrunched up his nose as he saw Hugo healing.

"That Amphene brat will be very useful. Why don't you just die yet? Do you not understand your place in this world?"

"You're asking questions that don't make sense, mate. Nobody wants to die."

Griffon shook his head, laughing softly like Hugo was some foolish child that couldn't understand.

"It is your destiny as a weakling to die. The moment you met me, the moment Thalos met Lethel. You will submit before the will of the strong or be disappointed when you break."

Hugo smirked.

"Break me then."

Griffon rolled his eyes, and something changed in the air, which was filled with green spirits dancing behind Griffon's wings. Earth spirits suddenly began appearing around the man, brown lights casting their glow over Griffon's blonde hair.

"It is my pleasure."

○——

George slashed his axe through Sebas for the fifth time after dodging one of the giant sand hands. The man wasn't even focused on him, simply trying to get at the terrifying fight between Thalos and Lethel behind him.

George couldn't believe there was only one rank of difference between him and Lethel. His attacks seemed hot enough to consume the world, so fast that they just happened, no time to even read the spirit energy.

Albeit, Earth spiritmancy wasn't usable on the top floor of the temple. This room would make any earth Spiritmancer much weaker, as you couldn't control the earth here.

But he still had a block of stone he brought from the hallway, and he could use a spell to enhance his physical abilities on earth.

He was already a Rank 2 Arete user, just recently though. But this allowed him to be far faster than Sebas' attacks.

It was his favorite combination of powers—overwhelming force that would keep getting stronger as he rose in ranks.

If he became a Rank 3 Arete user, it would be even greater. But for now, it wasn't enough; Sebas was just immune to all forms of physical attacks.

George dashed around Sebas, slashing him apart from five different directions, but he simply fell apart and reformed. It slowed him down for a second but also allowed him to form multiple hands from sand to attack.

Heavy pillars of sand with heavy thuds against the ground, trying to squash a fleeting George, who jumped between them all, slashing with a cackle.

"You don't feel any pain? How dull." George mused. "Pain is at the center of combat, of life itself."

"No," Sebas said harshly, mouth forming from the sand. "Pain is a curse the gods have inflicted on us for supporting Mother Gaia. I have ascended beyond you, now die."

Something pushed against his back and clothes, and George suddenly remembered all the sand falling around him as he moved.

He's using it to push me towards him?

Sebas reformed and stretched out his two hands, which became larger than three men and formed spikes as they closed around George.

"You want to flatten me, huh?" George chuckled and cast his last resort. The arms closed around him, darkness settling on his smile before he disappeared.

Sebas seemed pleased at first, but his smile fell the next moment.

The sand surrounding George exploded outward, and he reappeared unscathed.

"Repulsion?" Sebas muttered under his breath. "How does a lowly knight know such a spell?"

George raised his hand to his hair, and an invisible force rippled through his hair to blew away all the dirt.

"We can't hurt each other. So let's wait till Thalos kills that scary fire guy, or Percy finally throws in some wild card."

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