Life and Death Battle I

A few minutes earlier…

[Lightning God's Descent]

It was the aura art that his mother had given him upon learning that his aura has the attributes of lightning.

Now feeling the powerful lightning surging within his very being, Killian turned into a streak of yellow lightning.

Facing the countless balls of fire that wanted to burn him, his mind went into overdrive.

Lightning God's Descent was an aura art that erupted lightning both inside and outside his body, this not only resulted in an increase in power and speed, but also an increase in one's mental capacity.

Normally, his brain wouldn't be able to keep up with the speed of his body, but the aura art also compensated for it through the lightning that stimulated his brain.

With the combination of high speed movement and thinking, Killian felt as if the world slowed down.

The three seconds in which he could maintain the aura art, seemed to expand to tens of seconds, then to minutes.

Arriving at the first ball of fire, Killian thrusted his sword towards the tiny red dot at its center with utmost accuracy.

Fwooo—

The ball of fire soon disappeared into wisps of flickering flames.

'This is amazing…!'

Killian didn't know what kind of ability Regis casted, but he didn't need to know.

He only knew of his purpose: to eliminate all the balls of fire that rained from the sky within three seconds.

And so, he did just that.

He was like a yellow trail of lightning that continuously zigzagged as the balls of flames disappeared one after another.

Still, three seconds was three seconds.

Mustering all the strength he had left, Killian propelled himself towards his companion.

His body was at its limit.

It was to the point that he could not even make a proper landing; only helplessly crashing in front of Regis.

***

Present…

Regis held Killian with a worried expression.

He only heaved a sigh of relief upon feeling his companion's pulse.

Although it was weak, it was there.

'Thank goodness he's alive…' Regis then laid Killian carefully on the ground.

"I didn't expect the Gladius Family to still have a trump card up their sleeves!" Count Orpheus's laugh could be heard from afar.

Regis looked at him and asked with a desperate voice, "Why would you do this, Count Orpheus!?"

"Haha! Why are you outraged? Why don't you show me the brave expression you showed earlier? Have you finally realized the situation you're in!?"

Count Orpheus laughed even harder as he looked at Regis's teary eyes.

'It seems like he's quite immersed in his emotions… let's try something.'

Regis thought in his mind before shouting at the Count, "Why must you be so evil!? Don't you feel remorseful about your actions!?"

"Remorseful? Remorseful!? Do you even know of the sacrifices I've made for this fortress!? I did everything! And what did they do in return!? They took my wife from me!"

A crazed expression appeared on Count Orpheus's face as he went on a rant.

Regis didn't know what among his words were true, but he wasn't so naive as to blindly believe them.

And even if he did indeed have a sad backstory, it still wouldn't do justice to all the children that he locked up in the dungeon.

"...now, do you think that what I'm doing is still wrong, huh!? What would you feel if the very thing you devoted your whole life to, takes your loved one in exchange!?"

Count Orpheus shouted with all his heart as he questioned Regis.

However, Regis also shouted in response, "But what about the children!? What are you even planning on doing with the children you locked up in the dungeon!? I'm sure your son wouldn't like this."

'Hmmm, I'm quite liking this… I should do this more often. This is fun.' 

If the Count knew what was going on in Regis's mind, then he would have long casted his most powerful magic spell.

At this moment, realization seemed to have struck upon the Count as his expression began to calm down.

"Yes, yes. My son is still young, after all. He wouldn't have liked it if he saw his father being like this. So I guess I must finish this now…"

"Ehhh? That's the conclusion you came up with!?" Regis felt shocked, 'Wasn't he supposed to feel a little remorse!?'

He could only watch with wide eyes as the Count raised his wand once again.

Mana gathered at the tip of his wand, forming gusting winds in the process. A testament of the magic spell's power.

'Tsk, do I really have no choice but to rely on my demonic power!?'

Regis felt frustrated in his heart.

He had formed a star using both aura and mana. Yet, it didn't suffice.

The aura arts he knew were limited while magic spells were out of reach for him at the moment since he couldn't just copy them.

However, there was something that was holding him back: Pandora.

He could clearly see that although she couldn't move, she was aware of everything that was happening.

'Wait… I can just use it as a last ditch effort. For now, let me try something else.'

As Regis thought this, he turned back and hurriedly ran towards the manor much to the Count's surprise.

"Haha! What are you doing!? You were the one who found out about the barrier I erected! You must know that escaping is useless!"

(Yo! What's up? I'm back. Looks like you're in a pinch, are we gonna die?)

At this moment, a feminine voice sounded in his mind.

'Shut up, Vanessa! Now's not the right time!! Rest first so we can talk later about what I'm going to do with all of you.'

(You're mean. Oh well, I'll hope that we'll be able to talk later. Goodluck!)

"Phewww, okay let's do this."

At this moment, he heard an ethereal chant behind him. A chant that seemed to move the mana in the vicinity.

[High Rank Magic]

"Oh shit! Faster!" Regis put all his strength in his legs as he sprinted.

If Killian was awake, then he would have been shocked at the fact that Regis's speed kept increasing.

[Ice Beam]

Hahhhhhmmm— Pew!!!

A light blue colored laser suddenly shot out of Count Orpheus's wand, instantly arriving at Regis's back.