Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Chapter 295 Make Your Choice [Part 4]

Lucius had been fighting against the fire mage and the assassin for almost twenty minutes. He had plenty of stamina left, but he could not penetrate their defenses without exposing himself to too much danger.

"[Dagger Arts: Dual Strike]!"

"[Flamma: Fire Spear], [Flamma: Fire Bolt]"

Lucius twisted out of the way with ease to avoid the spells and was able to barely block the mana blade from the [Dual Strike] thanks to his [Lightning Charge]. The actual blade strike barely glanced at his shoulder and left a light cut, but it was only enough to draw blood and no real damage occurred.

The broken hilt was classified by his skill to be an improvised weapon, so he strengthened it with a [Savage Strike] and attempted to bash it across Hetha's chest. Her quick movements made it seem simple enough to dodge, but Lucius would not let her get away easily and was able to zap her with a bolt of electricity before she could respond.

It was not a powerful hit, but enough to hurt and make her disengage. He quickly took that opportunity to leap back and cast one of his stronger spells, [Roaring Thunder]. Lucius added in mana from his [Merciless] skill, giving the ensuing lightning dragon a streak of red.

Fighting against two Advance Rankers at once was reaching Lucius's limit for fighting above his weight class. With the proper preparations, he could have probably taken them from a distance, but immediately being forced into close combat made it difficult for him. Getting space to cast [Roaring Thunder] was what he had been trying for during the past twenty minutes, and he was finally able to.

The dragon flew at the two fighters, primarily targeting Eron, who had fewer defenses. However, just as the spell was about to hit, a flash of yellow intercepted and dispersed the spell. "[Shield Arts: Grand Barrier]"

Lucius had been so distracted trying to create his opening that he failed to notice a newcomer on the battlefield. For a moment, a flash of joy settled within his heart as he realized that it was Kalliope who had joined the battle.

"Oh! And it looks like our newest Advance Ranker has joined the fight! Welcome to the arena... the Feral Mutt!"

Lucius clicked his tongue and vowed to kill the announcer for insulting Kalliope like that. Surprisingly, Kalliope did not seem to mind. Or rather, she seemed completely indifferent to everything, even the fact that he was there in front of her.

"Kalliope! I came for..."

"A word, Titan!" Itorin's voice echoed throughout the chamber, "Your dear friend there agreed to defeat you to save a friend of hers. Things have changed, you see. So don't go expecting any help from her! Ah, but a gift, I suppose."

A magical, flaming spear launched straight at Lucius. One tendril each pulled away from Kalliope and Hetha to try and block the attack. Lucius also finally gained the ability to move and attempted to slice the spell with a swipe enhanced by a [Savage Strike].

The tendrils and weapon managed to block enough of the spell to not allow it to pierce his body, but it still shredded through the tendrils and slammed into his chest with enough force to toss Lucius a few feet into the air.

Smoke and steam rose from a hole in the black chest plate. Searing, white hot pain flashed across Lucius's whole front side as he moved to stand. Hetha and Kalliope were already on him as he tried to recover. Eron was also preparing another spell.

Lucius quickly fired out two [Lightning Bolts], one aimed at Kalliope and Hetha, as they were the closest.

"[Shield Arts: Barrier]" Kalliope once again blocked the magic, though this time with a weaker version of the skill.

"[Flamma: Fireball]"

With both hands occupied casting his spells, and being physically impaired by the pain, Lucius was unable to fully dodge the Fire spell. The four remaining tendrils formed a sort of shield as the spell erupted from behind him. The heat was immense and the force threw him face-first into Kalliope's [Barrier].

Lucius still had the armor active but only one tendril remained. He used it as leverage to fling himself away from the two warriors, barely dodging another set of strikes from them. The landing was far from graceful, but he dodged the hits nonetheless.

"Three's the limit, eh... Damn..." Lucius mumbled. "Any minute now though..."

Lucius looked up at Kalliope with a smile and saw that her ears had twitched. It seemed like she had heard it, too. Off in the distance, there was a faint series of shouting followed by a small explosion.

The audience, which had been roaring for blood earlier, suddenly began to scream and shout. Realizing the explosion did not come from the battle taking place in front of them. Kalliope and Hetha were on top of him now.

"[Sword Arts: Heavy Slash]!" Kalliope swung her sword angrily and with a flash of light, Hetha's head rolled onto the ground at her feet.

"Good choice." Lucius laughed. The mana filling the armor on their bodies vanished without a trace. A moment later, the barrier separating the arena from the stands vanished, no longer being powered by the crystal in Itorin's office.