"Judgement of the Serpent Lord!" Derick bellowed, his voice vibrating as a crimson-gold sheen washed over his heavy armor. A savage, berserker tide of energy surged through his veins, boosting his physical attributes by thirty percent.
Upon attaining Spiritual Convergence, a Saint Knight broke the traditional boundaries of physical warfare.
Much like a Magus wielding complex spell models through spiritual force, a Saint Knight wove their internal spiritual force directly into the fibers of their physical vitality, turning every muscle fiber and pulse of blood into a direct conduit for magic power.
Derick raised his massive cleaver skyward, invoking the name of his master to construct his next spell.
"O Holy Son of the Unending Night, Future God of the Astral Plane, Morning Star that pierces the cosmic dark... lend your servant the authority to judge!"
Wright felt the rapidly escalating threat. His golden, slit-pupiled eyes snapped toward the encircling knights.
"Insolent gnats!" With a fierce twist of his torso, all six of his fox tails elongated into iron-hard whips, lashing out in a blinding, thunderous arc.
BOOM!
The resulting shockwave blasted the knights backward, sending them tumbling through the mud dozens of yards away with cracked ribcages.
Meanwhile, Derick's broadsword flared with blinding golden radiance as his chant completed.
Rays of condensed spiritual light tore through the storm clouds, raining down directly in front of Wright with terrifying velocity. The velocity and magical power of the descending rays made Wright's face turn instantly pale.
"Blood Sacrifice!" Wright screamed in desperation, biting down hard on his tongue.
A towering, scarlet-and-pink fox projection burst from his body, enveloping his body like an ethereal phantom armor. The projection's surface was lined with vibrant red and pink runes, its eyes glowing with an intelligent radiance.
PENG! PENG! PENG!
The scorching rays slammed relentlessly against the scarlet fox projection, echoing through the rain with ear-splitting shrieks.
Cracks spiderwebbed across the fox's surface, yet as fast as it splintered, the projection devoured the residual energy from Derick's attack, miraculously knitting itself back together.
Derick observed the odd phenomenon through narrowed eyes, his expression turning cold. Even relying on a forbidden blood technique that burned his vital essence, Wright was a Master Sergeant Tamer touching the threshold of the Lieutenant Stage.
Yet, through his beast fusion and blood sacrifice, he was unleashing an offensive and defensive output matching a Peak Lieutenant.
This validated Leylin's core theory on regional power dynamics: within their narrow domain, a Beast Tamer of equal standing possessed explosive, direct 1-on-1 combat lethality superior to a standard Magus.
While Magi held unmatched versatility, resource efficiency, and research longevity, Beast Tamers sacrificed those to become singular, brutal war machines.
"Die, insolent brat!" Wright roared. His six tails hardened into pitch-black, spear-like appendages, thrusting forward like a barrage of ballista bolts.
Derick parried frantically with his heavy cleaver, sparks flying into the rain, but one spear-tail slipped past his defense. It grazed his shoulder, leaving a searing gash that instantly burst into azure flames.
Derick leaped backward, circulating his spiritual aura to smother the fire. However, the heat was so intense that his steel pauldrons melted into his flesh, causing him to grit his teeth in silent agony.
Seizing the opening, Wright flashed across the mud, dodging a desperation pincer attack from two of Derick's surviving knights.
With a brutal swipe of his claws, Wright unleashed a pair of glowing, crescent-shaped energy blades.
SLASH!
The crescent rays sheared through their heavy steel armor like parchment, cleaving both knights in half at the waist. Their severed torsos hit the mud, dead before their blood mixed with the rain.
Wright landed lightly, turning his fox-like gaze toward the distant spires of the Rose Petal Royal Academy. An unsettling dread pooled in his gut.
The battle had been loud, explosive, and prolonged yet not a single academy patrol or city guard had arrived.
"Distracted during a fight, old fool?" Derick mocked, wiping blood from his lip as he stood his ground. "Save your breath. No one is coming. This entire place has been sealed off from the world."
Right on cue, a tall, gaunt figure clad in dark robes melted out of the shadows beneath a nearby oak tree. It was one of Leylin's Rank 1 Magus summon.
In its clawed hand, the summon held a glowing glass globe. A high-tier spatial isolation spell enveloped the entire battlefield within an invisible sphere; to anyone walking mere meters outside the perimeter, the road appeared entirely peaceful, silent, and empty.
Derick channeled his remaining strength, hurling a concentrated silver aura blast at the weakened fox projection.
KACHA!
The scarlet barrier shattered into glittering fragments.
Wright snorted in rage. Rather than retreating, he lunged forward, engaging both Derick and the final surviving knight in a wild melee. His body emitted intense heat, charring their armor and steadily forcing them back.
"You have proven far more troublesome than I anticipated, but your little rebellion ends now!" Wright snarled.
Channeling the last of his fused beast energy, Wright summoned two massive, spectral fox phantoms. The towering constructs charged forward, draped in roaring blue flames.
Derick raised his cleaver, barely absorbing the impact of the phantom charging him. The force shattered his remaining breastplate into iron shards, driving him back into the mud.
Beside him, the last surviving knight was caught directly in the jaws of the second phantom, his body violently torn to pieces in a shower of blood.
Wright turned his bloodshot eyes back onto the battered Derick, raising his claws to deliver the final strike but before his foot touched the ground, an overwhelming, suffocating pressure descended upon the muddy road.
The ambient temperature dropped so violently that the rain instantly froze into falling sleet.
A bone-chilling dread gripped Wright's soul, freezing his muscles solid.
Derick let out a tired, breathless sigh, noticing the sinister purple light enveloping the space behind Wright. "I guess... I failed to finish it myself."
Materializing from thin air directly behind Wright stood a colossal, imposing shadow, the Vanguard of Requiem. The purple-armored spectral knight towered over Wright, holding a gargantuan black-iron broadsword that radiated dread.
"C-Captain-stage?!" Wright shrieked, his voice cracking in sheer terror.
In a frenzy of panic, Wright bit his tongue again, spraying a fountain of blood as he executed his ultimate defensive secret art. Thousands of thick, metallic-white silk threads erupted from his skin, rapidly weaving together to form an impenetrable, spherical cocoon around him.
SSSII!
The Vanguard of Requiem did not even pause. A sea of dense, dark-purple spiritual force erupted from the giant knight, entirely engulfing the white cocoon.
Within the purple aura, millions of miniature sword-qi projections manifested, spinning like a meat grinder. The needle-thin blades pierced through the tight weave of the cocoon, driving straight into Wright's flesh.
HISS!
Bloodcurdling, agonizing shrieks echoed from within the sealed sphere as Wright was flayed alive inside his own ultimate defense.
BOOM!
The white cocoon shattered from the internal pressure, bursting into a cloud of red-dyed silk and blue flames. Wright was flung out onto the mud. He was a horrific sight, his limbs shredded, his fox features mutilated, and his vitality almost entirely drained.
Wright desperately raised a trembling, blood-soaked hand toward the imposing spectral knight.
His lifeless eyes pleaded for mercy as he rasped out his final word: "Mercy—"
SWISH!
A single, casual flash of purple sword light cut through the rain.
Wright's words were permanently cut short. His severed head detached from his neck, rolling across the soaked mud before coming to a stop in a puddle.
Derick pushed himself up from the mud, dragging his battered, bloody body onto one knee. Bowing his head with reverence toward the imposing, dark figure before him, he spoke softly: "Lord Vanguard."