Logail and his opponent were unaware of what was transpiring on the fourth fall.
All they knew was that it was relatively peaceful.
Unlike their battle.
This entire part of the third floor had been destroyed, with barely any ground left to stand on.
The tall man was breathing heavily as he was running out of energy, while Logail was sweating profusely.
The golden radiance around him had reduced a lot, but it still felt as threatening as it did in the beginning.
"You annoying pest!" The tall man cursed out.
Since when could people from Absolute Light remain unscathed after taking a hit from Darkness?
The snake-like veins had reduced in length and width.
If this goes on, I won't be able to manifest more Dark powers and I'll completely be on the losing side. Shit! I'm a rank stronger than this light pest, why can't I deal with him?
Both sides paused to catch their breath, while sizing each other up.
Logail's palms felt numb.
I've probably struck this guy over a thousand times. How are his bones still intact? Fortunately, those Dark things he manifests can't easily touch me. If not…
"I can't believe I have to use a named attack on such a weakling." The tall man said.
He pushed a palm forward and the clouds of dust seemed to come to a stop.
Logail's eyes trembled as he sensed the danger to come.
Let's just try it!
He thought to himself. Suddenly, the golden radiance around him was tinged with red.
The unmistakable aura of Blood Force permeated the area, becoming something semi-solid.
Logail felt as if his body was about to burst. He could feel and hear blood rushing to his ears and eyes.
The air he inhaled tasted like iron. His skin turned red, as though he was boiling on the inside.
The combination of his Blood Force and his special ability was too much for his body to bear, but he didn't stop mobilizing the two energies.
All of this, the period between their previous clash and this charge-up, happened within a few seconds.
Just then, Logail felt his breath seize. His limbs became heavier, as if he had fallen into a pit of mercury.
He was unable to move. His instincts screamed at him to move, but he couldn't.
It was as if the world didn't permit him to.
Only one thought passed through his mind. "Am I… going to die?"
"Logail!" Marcus's voice cut through the chaos of his thoughts, reminding Logail of why he was here.
Milord, I have… failed you. Logail managed to close his eyes.
A stretch of silence ensued.
And then, time seemed to come to a crawl in Marcus's eyes.
From the moment Cassir looked at Logail, he pointed a finger and conjured a dark bead from nothing.
To Cassir saying: "That is not a child of Absolute Light. He's an anomaly that should die."
To when the dark bead shot at Logail.
Marcus's mind pushed to overdrive.
The threat and devastation that this bead of darkness made him feel was crippling.
Move!!
He had only processed this thought but his legs had taken two steps forward.
Faster!
Marcus urged, however, because everything in his sight had slowed down, even his movement felt aggravating to him.
With a thought, he forced more than two thousand points of mana into his right leg.
The ground beneath his right foot caved in, forming a web-like crevice.
Whoosh!
Like a sharp gust of wind, Marcus vanished from his position and appeared in the path of the
Boom!
Suddenly Marcus appeared above him.
The cloth on his right leg, as well as his shoe, was no more. Violently shredded by the energy he mobilized.
Looking at this bead of darkness, standing in its path. Marcus truly felt as though he was at the jaws of death.
Despite the tiny size of this bead, it carried enough power to obliterate him.
He knew that he couldn't stop this bead with his power, and yet, here he was.
At the moment, Marcus wasn't even thinking anymore.
He pushed his palms forward, quickly activating the enchantments on his gauntlets.
Immediately, two circles of runes, one on each gauntlet, appeared and began twisting clockwise.
A powerful repulsion energy burst forth from the two gauntlets working in sync.
The dark bead was only an arm's stretch away from Marcus when it paused.
Dum!
A shockwave exploded, destroying the entire third and fourth floors. Logail was pushed away, buried somewhere underneath the rubble. Same as the tall man he had been fighting.
"Argh!!" Marcus cried out as he continued to resist the bead.
His bones ached, tethering on the verge of breaking, and his mana reserves quickly diminished.
Suddenly, the runes began to fade.
Seeing this, Marcus infused every single point of mana into the enchantment and pivoted his body to the side.
Like a ball that's been deflected with a bat, the bead changed direction and flew out of the mansion.
At the same time, Marcus was sent flying, crashing through the second floor and into the ground floor.
His descent created a hole in the ground. The moment of impact forced him to cough up a mouthful of blood.
All of this happened within the space of six seconds.
"Hmm?" Cassir frowned.
In his eyes, and the eyes of everyone else watching.
Marcus had moved faster than they could react, or rather, faster than they ever expected.
Not only that, he withstood an attack that was sure to kill someone of his level.
That was definitely a Grade-2 Formation enchanted onto his gauntlets.
Before this, Cassir's respect for Marcus totally came from his father's legacy.
However, now, the man seemed to like the tenacity the young lord showed.
"He's injured," Cassir muttered before kissing his teeth. "Damn it! Why did you have to block the attack? It wasn't for you!" He became annoyed.
"I had no intentions of harming you!" He began complaining as though there was someone keeping him in check. "This better not come back to bite me! It will? No, it won't! Yes…? No, I have to offset the causality." Cassir paused and looked down at Marcus who was already struggling to stand up.
"Damn it! Fine, I'll just do it. Better Maney than you! I'll just pay the price for both! How nice of me, I shouldn't have." His voice, and words didn't match his expression.
It was like watching a madman conversing with himself.
Cassir's body rose into the air and he floated to the ground floor.
Marcus noticed this and forced himself to step back, putting a bit of distance between them.
"You ask me how to beat Maney. In a fight, as long as you attack him first, you will die. In a fight, if you're swayed by his words, even if it's just a bit, you will die. But if what you want is not to kill him then just… destroy the item that he is doing all of this to revive. That will anger him, but it will also send him away."
As soon as he finished speaking, Cassir raised his gaze to the ceiling and paused. As though his gaze could see past that, peeking at the secrets that many couldn't see.
"Pesky rat." He said.
Suddenly, his walking cane rose and fell on his elbow.
No one had expected what happened.
Thud!
The man's hand was severed, and the rest of his body vanished.
"I have paid my harm to you with an answer to your question, and I have paid the price for the answer. Now my mood is crappy."
Even though there was no body, his voice echoed in the mansion before silence ensued.
Cassir had left, alongside his underlings.
Marcus looked at the severed hand for a while. Blood seeped out of his hairline, rolling down his face.
His ribs felt like they had broken. His stomach churned painfully. Marcus could only suck in sharp breaths as he resisted the pain.
Wrapped in the sleeves of the suit Cassir was wearing, it didn't bleed.
In fact, it didn't even look real.
Just as he approached the arm, a voice stopped him.
"Don't get too close, it can corrupt you!"
Looking to his side he saw Veronica reaching out to grab his shoulder.
"Why are you just appearing now?" Marcus asked with an icy gaze.
Seeing this, Veronica frowned and wondered if she had done anything wrong.
But she couldn't think of anything.
"We… I had to deal with the attack you deflected, lest it wreak havoc on other parts of the city." She said slowly.
Suddenly, Marcus fell to his knees holding his chest.
He was seriously injured.
However, his physical injuries weren't what hurt the most.
The fact that he was totally at the mercy of an enemy… that was an embarrassment that ate at his mind.
Veronica crouched to pick Marcus up. "Stop! Don't touch me." He said heavily.
"You're injured."
"Leave me alone," Marcus said.
Veronica paused and observed this young lord for a few seconds.
Is this how he is when he loses? A sore loser?
"You don't tell me what to do." She said and forcefully put her hand below Marcus's armpit, drawing him close to her side, before rising.
This move caught Marcus off guard.
"I said leave–"
"Shut up before I knock you out." Veronica threatened, and she meant it.
Hearing the threat in her words, Marcus swallowed his complaint and calmed down a bit.