When a knight acquires their ego weapon, they gain an increase in power, a temporary increase in mana, an increase in the soul's characteristic, which is necessary to reach the pinnacle of the Ego Weapon, this being the reason why soul points exist.
Name: Enrico Solcren Ferreira
Fire Magic Circle 6 1%
Water Magic Circle 6 0%
Mana Amount: 1786
Unique Skill: Elemental Clones/Transformation
Soul: 119
The greater the soul, the stronger the ego weapon would be, but the way to evolve one's soul was even more limited than the amount of mana or other characteristics, with the greatest possibility being advancing circles, with the difference that they would not almost double like mana when leveling up.
[ I think she will endure for forty seconds ]
'You think? I say she will endure thirty-six'
With a grip on his bow, Enrico pulls the string, assuming an archer's shooting stance. A gray arrow appears as he draws the bowstring. Aiming in Durnstag's direction as she moved away in the air, Enrico begins to grow disappointed as he realizes his enemy is fleeing.
"I need to get out of here, so what if I leave this hybrid behind? We can get another sacrifice."
Durnstag reached Hao's barrier, grabbing a magic cancellation stone. This stone had been difficult to obtain after they stole it, being something completely new created by an alchemist who should have been a novice, and now it would be used in this way—undeniably a great humiliation for them.
'Either way, we were thinking of kidnapping her'
Placing the stone on the barrier, she was beginning to activate its ability, canceling part of the barrier, since it was still a circle nine barrier even if he hadn't used everything to build it.
'Great, now—'
An arrow pierced both her wings, making her start falling to the ground in shock. As she fell, she turned to try to land smoothly, but Enrico appeared above her, placing his own foot on her face. He smiled with slight sarcasm at her escape attempt.
"Running away is a smart decision, so I don't judge you."
Pushing his foot down, he buried Durnstag's head into the ground. With her face covered in her own blood, she pointed her finger at Enrico's stomach.
"Concentrated Shot"
With a burst of mana shooting from her finger, her attack managed to push Enrico back a few meters, smoke rising from where the blow had hit. A small wound appeared, showing she wasn't weak.
'Was this all I could do?'
This was her best spell, so she couldn't help but run away, firing that same spell again and again with her finger pointed backward.
'Even if it only caused that damage, it still caused something, so I have to use it even if my mana runs out.'
"It would be interesting to have you on our side, but you wouldn't come."
To Durnstag's surprise, Enrico was crouched in front of her with that same amused yet cold expression. With a surge of mana coming from his arm, she immediately knew what would happen, terror completely overtaking her face.
"Advanced CC Impact"
The flames around his arm spun at great speed. With a simple movement, his arm vanished from her sight and returned to its previous position. When Durnstag's eyes lowered, she saw her body with a large hole separating the upper half from the lower half, and moments later several more holes appeared throughout her body, making her disappear from the place without leaving a trace.
[ If you ask my opinion, a hundred punches was exaggerated ]
'Really? Well, I didn't ask for your opinion.'
As if his body was finally resting, Enrico's body began to relax. Rubbing his left shoulder, he seemed to unwind for a moment.
'I think I'll rest my body completely this week, it won't have another limit break for a long time.'
[ Well, your body deserves it, especially since it broke its potential limit twice inside the barrier ]
'You're right.'
Indeed, in those two years, his body had managed to break its limit twice; his potential had now reached the level of mages slightly above normal without using any of his techniques. With the techniques, his temporary higher potential was only below Victoria and Kai in terms of evolution, excluding the pact he made to rise to circle six.
"I can feel his mana starting to evolve in that direction, it's very possible he will evolve today too."
A smile appeared on his face, but not like the others; it was simply a genuine smile from seeing his companions again after so long. Turning his head to the right, Enrico began walking toward where Kai was.
'Should I help? No, he's the protagonist. Besides, he must have noticed me and sensed my power.'
His friendly smile turned a bit darker as he realized it was very possible that a Nartheis was fighting Kai.
'I pity that Nartheis.'
[ Hey Enrico, the girls— ]
Enrico felt three bodies crash into his back with force, making him fall forward. On the ground, he calmly turned his head toward the three trembling figures clinging tightly to him. His eyes softened, and he hugged the three of them.
"Hic… Master… hic…"
"Why… did you have to worry us so much?"
"Never do that again, my Ketsumei."
Rina, Aoi, and Yumeha had tears in their eyes with expressions of pain on their faces. They had missed him so much that every second apart felt like an eternity. For them, those two years hadn't just been two years—they had been at least twenty. Stroking their heads, Enrico tried to calm them with patience.
"I'm sorry, but I couldn't let you risk yourselves."
"But—"
"Even so, I won't lie to you about what I went through in that place, and—"
He helped the three of them stand, though with some difficulty since they still clung to him without letting go even for a second, tears still rolling down their faces.
"To be honest, I missed you all a lot in there."
The three of them widened their eyes with a mix of happiness and lingering sadness. Those words were something they had wanted to hear, because it was the same feeling they had had out here.
"Master"
"Dear"
"My Ketsumei"
The three laid their heads on his chest with smiles of happiness beginning to overcome the tears streaming down their faces.
"Welcome back."
With his expression becoming calmer, he decided to spend some time there with them and let Kai handle that problem, since Enrico had complete confidence in him.
"I'm back."