TBATE-ALLIANCE

Chapter 27

3rd Person POV

Arthur's eyes narrowed on Nicht, and he coated Despair in aether. Nicht levitated in the air, staring down at Arthur casually, waiting for him to make a move.

'Ready, Slyv?' Arthur asked.

Sylvie gave a mental nod, 'Ready.'

Arthur godstepped to Nicht's left and swung Despair at his head in a horizontal slash. Nicht blinked, sending out a gravity shockwave that crashed into Arthur and knocked him back. Arthur uncontrollably flew through the air and crashed into a stone pillar with a grunt, feeling his broken bones and ruptured organs from Nicht's attack.

Sylvie raised her arms, gathering mana in her palms. She thrust her hands, firing five mana missiles toward Nicht. Nicht raised his arms like a cross, creating a violent cyclone of void wind around him. The mana missed and collided with the cyclone, breaking apart on impact.

Nicht waved his hands and fired a barrage of void wind slashes toward Sylvie from the black wind swirling around him. Sylvie quickly took to the air, moving intricately to avoid being hit by the decay magic.

Arthur suddenly godstepped in front of Nicht inside the cyclone, with Despair clad in aether. Arthur thrust his blade forward toward Nicht's chest, but Nicht quickly coated his hand in soul fire and grabbed Despair by the blade. The black flames lept off Nicht's hands, dancing around Despair, clashing violently with the aether. Nicht grinned while Arthur stared at Nicht with hatred evident in his eyes, their arms shaking as Arthur pushed his sword forward.

"You'll have to come up with better tricks than that!" Nicht yelled as he pulled Despair toward him.

Arthur's grip on Despair was tight, so he stumbled forward in the air and went wide-eyed. Nicht suddenly wrapped his large hand around Arthur's head and dove straight toward the ground like a lawn dart. Arthur gritted his teeth and sent out multiple sound pulses at Nicht to break his heavy grip, but it was useless, as Nicht didn't even flinch. Nicht closed in on the ground and slammed Arthur into the earth head first, sending out cracks beneath him. Arthur's eyes rolled back, and his head felt lightheaded from the intense impact.

Nicht's grip on Arthur's head tightened, and he coated his hand around his head in soul fire. Arthur gritted his teeth and quickly surrounded himself in a veil of aether. The aether burst out from Arthur like a dome, knocking Nicht off him, blowing the hand that was wrapped around his hand apart, and slicing the hand that held Despair's blade open.

Nicht tumbled through the air and was knocked outside the void wind cyclone. He tried to regain his balance in the air with a powerful mana beam that came in from the side and struck Nicht in his chest with a violent explosion. The explosion knocked Nicht down, and he slammed into the earth with incredible velocity.

The black cyclone dissipated as Nicht's concentration broke apart. Sylvie looked toward Arthur, concerned, seeing him slowly stand up. He had blood running down his face from the head injury sustained in Nicht's ground attack, but it was already almost healed.

Arthur gritted his teeth, "Don't give him a second to breathe!!"

***

Rohan shifted his feet, controlling the shadows beneath Sameer. Sameer's eyes flicked down, and he quickly took to the air as black spikes shot up from the ground right where he was just standing. Rohan stood up and waved his hand, firing soul fire at Sameer. Sameer quickly coated himself in his acidic aura before bursting it out like a dome. The aura and the soul fire clashed and danced around each other violently before slowly canceling each other out.

Sameer's eyes flicked to Rohan, and he burst toward him, creating a liquid green spear in his hand. Rohan coated his sword in soul fire as Sameer quickly closed in and thrust his sword forward. Rohan swung his sword down vertically, and it clashed with Sameer's spear, sending out a shockwave. Rohan gritted his teeth, and his arms trembled as Sameer pushed Rohan back slightly, with Rohan's feet sliding across the ground.