Sacred Brother

The forest near Tegralle has always seemed dangerous and somewhat mysterious to most of Tegralle's inhabitants. Few chose to venture deep inside because they knew that many animals and possibly newly awaken deviants could threaten them.

However, no life form could be seen in this instant.

The usual rulers of this territory chose to hide or escape in front of the devastating scenes currently unfolding.

*Boom*

A violent explosion suddenly occurred. Just like hundreds of times before, the strength of the magic was enough to uproot the few trees still standing around while the blast projected a massive amount of dirt and rocks around.

*Bam*

Seledia's fist hit Vated's own fist at full speed. A sound totally different than human flesh colliding, once more resonated. Every time Seledia hit Vated's body, she had the impression to hit pure metal.

However, she didn't stop her attack.

She took a quick sidestep and immediately sent three quick successive glowing red punches toward her opponent.

This time, Vated didn't meet them with his own fist.

He took a heavy step back to avoid the first punch, but he couldn't do the same with the others. He used his axe to block one, but the last one hit him straight in the stomach.

However, Vated didn't seem to mind and violently countered with a round kick that forced Seledia to retreat.

She was faster than him. This advantage became even more obvious when she powered and accelerated her punches with her fire magic. However, his defense was just too strong.

If she wasn't protected by her own magic, her own hands would have been broken already.

In front of his violent kick, she had no other choice but to use her superior speed to retreat backward.

However, she also used this time to concentrate her fire magic. Her right fist, glowing with a fiery red light, abruptly turned blindly white while she loosened her hand. Instead of a red fist like before, a white palm distorting the air around welcomed Vated's assault.

"Ahhhh"

With a loud scream, Seledia released her magic with a wide circular movement as if she was trying to cut the air in front of her with her hand.

Even Vated's face, darkened by his protective magic, seemed to turn pale in front of this sudden deadly attack.

With surprising reflexes, honed by years of practical combat along with innumerable life and death situations, he quickly interrupted his attack and awkwardly threw himself to the ground.

*Woosh*

The white arc of burning light passed just a few inches above his head and continued its course for hundreds of meters while cleanly cutting in two everything in its path.

Vated didn't need to turn around to see the result of her devastating attack. He didn't have the leisure to do it either.

Immediately after avoiding, he rolled away just in time to avoid Seledia's downward kick aimed at his head.

However, he couldn't avoid the fireball that crashed into his face immediately after he straightened up.

*Bam*

The quick attack didn't have enough power to pierce his abnormal defense even without the enhancement of his artifacts. However, it was still enough to rob him of his sight for a few seconds.

Unbalanced and unable to see her next move was more than enough for Seledia.

With impressive speed, she appeared in front of him with her glowing red fist ready to strike.

*Boom*

This time, the ferocious attack landed on his head and sent him flying at high speed. Even his defensive magic wasn't enough to protect him.

However, just like several times before, Vated immediately stood up without any injury. Only the sound of the destroyed artifact that protected him at the last second, testified that her assault was a success.

"Just one more!"

Seledia furiously roared while launching herself forward at high speed with her magic.

After nearly an hour of a devastating battle, Vated was left with only a single artifact to protect his life. With this single dark rink remaining, his proud appearance and provocative face were nowhere to be seen anymore.

She could win.

Vated also realized this.

Even in his wildest dreams, he could never have imagined that Seledia would be this hard to defeat.

Without his impressive collection of high-grade artifacts gathered over the years, he would have already died several times.

He thought that those years of peace would have dulled her battle senses, but that didn't seem to be the case at all. Her deadly attacks and unbelievable fast movements were enough to crush his determination.

If he had the choice, he would have retreated already.

However, a single look at her was enough to understand that she wouldn't stop until he was dead.

*Bam*

Vated used his axe powered by his magic to defend against another of her violent attack.

Before he could counter, she was already above him to deliver another one of her downward kicks.

With his artifacts almost all destroyed, he didn't benefit from their advantages anymore. His earth magic was still amplified, but all the artifacts that allowed him to preserve and regenerate his mana were destroyed. His defensive magic was incredibly powerful but its consumption was equally enormous especially when he had to keep his entire body constantly covered with it.

He knew he would soon lose the ability to totally protect his body. Against her terrifying speed and offensive magic, any other form of defence would no longer be sufficient to face her in a direct confrontation.

Seledia's pale face and body covered with bruises and blood testified that she wasn't going to last much longer either, but even so, she currently had the upper hand.

Vated knew that he was going to lose if he continued to fight her directly.

*Bam*

Once more, Vated couldn't avoid Seledia's punch and stumbled backward as a result. It wasn't enough to hurt him, but after exchanging so many blows with her, he knew that she would use this kind of attack to slowly build an opportunity to deal another fatal blow.

"Scram!!!"

With a violent movement, he stomped his feet on the ground and rotated his muscular body to cut her with his axe.

Another burst of flame sent her into the sky, just above Vated's axe. With a flip, she used her momentum to deliver another furious kick from above.

"Avalon"

Unable to keep up with her speed and her ability to fly around him, Vated had no other choice but to use this magic.

Just like earlier, an enormous wave of earth formed and condensed around him at high speed before rushing to crush Seledia. Their long confrontation had long destroyed the earth around them making it easier for Vated to launch quick earth magic.

Even so, Seledia's ability to fly proved once again to be the perfect counter for this magic.

She quickly flew several meters into the sky to avoid the violent attack.

The mighty wave of earth spread around Vated and finished destroying the last remaining boulders and trees still standing around them.

Seeing the end of his attack, Seledia prepared to launch forward once more when Vated abruptly raised his right hand toward her.

"Earthball"

This attack was by far the simplest magic he has used so far. It was a barrier magic of the earth element and was as a result widely spread even among common mages.

Even so, Vated was still a true Saint mage. Even this kind of basic attack wasn't so simple in his hands.

The earthball, as large as a boulder, was launched at an astonishing speed.

However, it was still useless against her especially when she was flying more than ten meters away from him.

With a burst of flame, she gracefully avoided the attack, that continued its course unhindered in the blue sky.

"Earthball"

Despite missing, Vated didn't give up and immediately launched the same attack. This time Seledia was completely prepared and, while easily avoiding, she clearly saw him gathering the earth around his feet to form his magic.

This feat would have been difficult if the earth around him was still a cohesive whole, but after his last wave-like attack, the ground was completely destroyed making this earth only slightly more difficult to gather than water.

This trick allowed him to quickly launch more powerful attacks while conserving his mana.

It was completely worth his previous effort and would have been quite dangerous for anyone else, but against Seledia, all of this was worthless.

She continued to stand proudly in the sky while avoiding attack after attack with a simple burst of flame each time.

Despite his complete lack of success, Vated still continued tirelessly. He even let go of his large axe to use both of his hands at the same time and launch faster attacks. However, despite his efforts, boulder after boulder missed their mark before flying into the sky almost beyond his sight.

Seledia didn't understand why he was continuing, but against this kind of uninterrupted series of attacks, she couldn't come closer.

This was probably the reason for those attacks. Without his artifacts, he was unable to equal her in a direct fight because of her speed so he tried to hit her at a safe distance. Indeed, all she could do in front of this kind of assault was to stay away while continuing to avoid.

However, she knew that it was a desperate struggle.

Several minutes later, Vated's attacks finally slew down. A large part of the earth around him was missing making him look like he was standing on a lonely pillar of earth ready to crumble at any moment.

His face wasn't covered by his defensive magic anymore revealing his brutish face almost completely devoid of color.

Seeing the numerous beads of sweat dripping on his pale forehead along with his quick breathing finally allowed Seledia to relax.

It was over.

Even with his trick, launching so many earthballs still quickly depleted his mana and left him in a weakened state. Even if Seledia was equally pale and tired, she knew that victory was right in front of her.

If she could destroy his last artifact, he would be at her mercy.

As if to confirm her thoughts, Vated's muscular body seemingly strong enough to resist anything suddenly swayed. With a loud noise, he finally put a knee on the ground.

Just like a last struggle before his defeat and doom, Vated still raised his hand toward her, but no magic answered his call.

Seeing this, Seledia didn't drop her guard. She slowly descended from the sky while looking coldly at this man who attacked her family and who tried to take away her daughters.

No matter what, she couldn't forgive him.

Her beautiful blue eyes seemed to turn red with anger when she remembered what she had almost lost today.

Finally, her feet touched the ground a few meters away from Vated. He was on his knees with his head down while his right hand was still raised toward the sky as if he didn't have the strength to aim at her anymore but was unwilling to give up.

She slowly raised her right hand just a few inches away front his pale face.

The entire forest was finally silent. The animals and vegetation around them had long since disappeared. In this instant it seemed as if they were alone in a desolate world.

Time also seemed to have stopped until a blinding white light slowly emerged front Seledia's hand. For long seconds, the light intensified, until it became impossible for Vated to open his eyes anymore.

"Wait!" He desperately shouted.

"I won't"

She had nothing else to say to this man. She had to crush his last artifact first before extracting information from him.

With a thought, the white light left her hand and engulfed Vated still on his knees.

It was impossible to avoid or to resist this kind of magic at point-blank range.

Even with his defensive magic, the only way for him to survive was by using his last artifact.

The blinding attack didn't last long. The secret to this magic was to compress and concentrate her flames before raising the temperature to the extreme limit. The result was her most powerful direct attack, but the effects dissipated quite quickly.

Sure enough, after a couple of seconds, the heat of her magic quickly disappeared.

However, the blinding white light didn't.

She didn't understand what was happening in front of her, but sensing that something was amiss, she moved backward at high speed while putting her arms defensively in front of her face on instinct.

*Bam*

Immediately after, she felt her entire body being crushed by a huge pressure sending her flying uncontrollably dozens of meters away.

She nearly fainted on the spot because of the violence of the shock. Fresh blood flowed around her but she was unable to determine where it was coming from. Her fleeting consciousness couldn't process what was happening.

*Boom*

After what seemed like an eternity, she violently crashed against the ground while coughing an impressive amount of blood.

Her right arm was bent in the wrong direction while her entire body was covered with bruises and blood. A large cut on her forehead let blood flow on her left eye and further disturbed her sight. However, she was still able to see that the cloth covering her stomach was gone revealing a gaping wound from which fresh blood continuously flowed.

She had troubles focusing her gaze, but she still quickly put her left hand on her stomach.

"Ahhh!!!"

Seledia couldn't restrain a scream of pain when she used her fire magic to close the wound and stop the bleeding. She did this numerous times when she was still adventuring on her own, but it had been years since then and she had troubles to bear the sudden outburst of pain.

Still disoriented, it was the noise of someone running who brought her back from her muddled state.

Vated didn't miss this opportunity and ran toward her as fast as he could with his giant axe raised above his head. His previous weakened state seemed to have completely disappeared.

"Die!" He furiously roared.

Seledia couldn't process how the situation changed so quickly. She just had enough time to use her fire magic to jump into the sky. However, her mind wasn't clear enough to use her magic to fly away. It was too complicated to use this kind of high-level magic in her current state.

All she could do was to propel herself several meters backward to put some distance between them. When she landed on the ground, she immediately clenched her last valid hand and concentrated her magic into a red fist.

Without thinking, she immediately punched forward after seeing Vated less than five meters away.

*Bam*

A violent gust of hot air was immediately sent from her glowing red punch. Vated was too close to hope to avoid this kind of magic.

However, a blinding white light immediately engulfed him and absorbed her magic.

Seledia widened her eyes in shock when she realized what was happening. Almost instantly, she rolled to the side.

The pressured ball of hot air she just sent returned at high speed and landed exactly where she was standing just a second ago. If not for her quick reaction, she would have been hit by her own magic.

She fixed her posture just in time to see Vated with his axe raised just in front of her.

Unable to counter or back away with her magic, she quickly bent her body and lowered her head and avoid the fatal axe strike destined to cut her in two.

However, she couldn't avoid the powerful kick that followed.

With surprising agility, Vated used the momentum created by his previous attack to kick her right side with the full strength of his left leg.

With Vated's defensive magic on his leg acting as a reinforcement, the strength of this blow was well beyond what her body could endure.

She felt her ribs cracking under the impact and had just enough time to jump back to soften the blow and avoid a fatal injury.

Once her feet left the ground, her body was projected so fast that it wasn't possible for her to fix her posture. Fortunately, no tree for several hundreds of meters survived their long confrontation.

Therefore, her mad and violent course wasn't brutally stopped.

It took her several long seconds to fix her posture with her flames. She used them to end her course as she had done many times before. However, this time her movements were far from her usual elegance.

Her feet touched the ground, immediately followed by her knees when she finally stopped.

She coughed a mouthful of blood, tainting her dark tattered clothes.

Several of her ribs were broken by the previous impact. Even she couldn't easily overcome this kind of injury.

"You're done!"

With a large motion, Vated raised his hands above his head while furiously roaring.

"Avalon"

The wave of earth was much smaller than previously. Its height and width couldn't be compared with his previous attacks. However, this time Seledia couldn't fly into the sky to avoid.

The small wave of earth quickly appeared in front of her.

"Overload!!!"

She concentrated her mana to destroy this attack with her overwhelming powerful magic, but the stabbing pain of her stomach flared at the most crucial moment and prevented her from correctly using her magic.

The weak ring of flame she created wasn't able to protect her.

She could only helplessly watch the wave of earth crashing at high speed and engulfing everything around her.

*Boom*

A deafening rumbling sound once more echoed inside the forest.

The violent noise continued for long seconds before being replaced by the first true silence since the start of their fight.

From where he was standing, Vated could only see a large cloud of dust forming around Seledia. If this kind of attack had landed on anyone else, he would have already burst into laughter while mocking his defeated opponent.

However, Seledia has already far exceeded his previous predictions and continued to shock him over and over again. Therefore, he didn't relax and carefully looked at the giant cloud of dust being dispersed by the blowing wind.

He couldn't see anything but a strange yet familiar whistling sound made him react on reflex. With a thought, his muscular arms turned dark and were placed defensively in front of his face.

*Bam*

Immediately after, a violent attack crashed against him. This kind of attack wasn't able to pierce his defense but its nature made him dumbfounded.

It wasn't a fire attack.

It was an earthball.

He quickly lowered his arms from his face to look ahead, only to see a man suddenly appearing in front of him.

His posture was lowered so that it seemed as if his upper body was almost touching the ground. It wasn't possible to see the face of his assailant.

Only the glint of a sharp sword appearing in his view almost immediately.

With a swift and quick motion, the man's entire body immediately rise from his previous posture along with his sword.

Vated could only take a heavy step back to avoid being cut in two.

However, this time he didn't react fast enough.

He couldn't avoid a fatal injury from this violent sword strike. However, just like many times before, blood didn't follow. Only a sudden but brief light followed by the crumbling of an ordinary-looking dark ring on his finger.

"Bastard!!!"

With a loud scream of anger after the destruction of his artifact, Vated immediately punched with his right dark hand. However, the man didn't seem to want to continue his assault. Before Vated's punch could reach him, he already jumped backward at a speed inhumanly impossible without the use of magic.

With his attack missing and his opponent backing several meters away, Vated was finally able to observe the face of his assailant.

"I should have killed you back then!" He growled in anger.

"Yeah, you should have." Simply answered Millodas.

His clothes were tattered and covered with dust after his previous fight with Vated and the mercenaries. However, his back was straight and it was impossible to see that he was injured and completely depleted of his mana just a couple of hours earlier.

"You should have stayed down. You're not my match. This time, I will really kill you!"

Given his current state, Vated didn't have the luxury to follow Dano's instructions and spare Millodas.

This time, he was determined to kill him.

"You're right, even in your current state, it will be difficult for me to defeat you." Admitted Millodas with a wry smile.

Seeing his serious yet relaxed face made Vated's anger erupt once again. With eyes that could kill, he prepared to rush forward when he heard the steps of another person.

His face couldn't help but distort when he saw the thin figure of Seledia slowly walking out of the disappearing cloud of dust. Her face was deathly pale and greatly contrasted with her bright red hair and profound blue eyes. Her clothes were also in tatters and covered with fresh blood showing the grievous wound she just suffered.

Even so, her steps were firm as she slowly walked to stand on her husband's right side who clenched his sword tighter while declaring with a strong voice.

"That's why we will finish this together!"