As they faced each other, both anticipating who would make the first move, their eyes burning with determination, Noel made the first move, surprising Julius, who thought she was too much of a coward to initiate the first attack.
She burst forward with such momentum that it left a burst of wind behind her, rocketing forward like a bullet that had been unleashed. In an instant, she was right in front of him, surprising him greatly.
She swung her sword forward, aiming for his neck with the pure intention to kill without hesitation, her sword leaving a trail of flames that burned even the air itself. In panic, Julius hurriedly swung his sword back at her, but with the intention to parry, as it was too late to counter, not expecting the move at all from her.
Thinking he could hold his stance, but sadly, his thoughts were broken the moment their swords clashed. With a clang! Their swords met instantly, sending him spiraling in the air. Shock was written all over his face, but it was soon replaced by anger, because a mere woman, even though she was his wife, was giving him such a hard time and was pushing him around like a rag doll.
Noel, not wanting to lose the opportunity, followed in pursuit of him while he hadn't regained his balance yet. Seeing the oncoming enemy, Julius immediately balanced himself and shot back at full speed at her. The moment they met, their swords clashed for the second time, but this time, he did not get pushed back. With a boom! The wind dispersed on both sides, destroying the ground far away from them. They stared at each other, dead set in their eyes, with determination burning as hell's flame in both of them.
That both leaped back, leaving a 100-meter gap between them. Noel, seeing that she could not overpower him physically, decided on a different approach. She raised her sword high, and divine energy started wafting off it in waves.
Seeing this, Julius frowned and got into a defensive stance, knowing that what was coming was not good at all.
The energy increased in intensity and soon formed a huge runic formation that covered a 10km radius. Seeing this, Julius's eyes widened, and he hurriedly shot forward to try to stop her. He shot forward like a rocket, and when he got dangerously close to her, he swung his sword forward, aiming right for her neck. As the sword sliced the air, moving forward unhindered, and just when it was mere centimetres away from her neck, a golden thin layer revealed itself covering her whole body. Seeing this, his eyes widened in horror, realising he had just been lured deeper into the trap.
"Fool," she whispered, but he heard it clearly as day. With haste, he turned back to get away, but it was already too late.
"Divine retribution from the ninth heaven, I summon the golden rain: kyrie eleison!"She said out loud, and the heavens themselves seemed to tremble with anger, responding to her call of injustice against her enemies.
The formation glowed brighter than it ever had before, then suddenly golden beams began appearing, filling the whole 10km radius, and upon seeing this, Julius's panic only increased with a space-tearing zap they fired with an obvious target in mind. They closed the distance between him and them in almost an instant.
Dodging the first 10 shots with unbelievable flexibility, Julius's confidence soared, but soon after, his confidence was thoroughly crushed as Noel's hands descended as if passing down a final judgment.
Suddenly, the beams glowed brighter and moved faster than ever before, and this time, there was no escape.
With a bang!, the first three landed with the others only a millisecond away, and what was truly baffling was that they seemed to have a tracker; once locked on, they would give chase no matter what in the area of effect.
Seeing that the tables were turning against him, Julius opted for a last resort means, which he truly did not want to use, but the current situation left him with no other choice. Steeling his resolve, he gladly called out.
"My life is the price, and I will pay it gladly. Flesh, soul, and spirit — burn as fuel.From the ashes of my dying body…
DEMON KING'S SALVATION!"