The Founder's POV

Chapter 55: Fight's End [1]

The lightning hammer fell on Cassian like a giant truck, slamming his body into the ground with great force.

Eldrick didn't say a word, continuing to swing the hammer relentlessly, each collision causing significant damage.

Eldrick remained in perfect condition, clearly having not been hit even once. On the other hand, Cassian's upper clothes were completely torn, leaving black marks from the lightning on his skin.

Blood flowed from the side of his head, and his right leg hurt a lot, but somehow he was still standing. He managed to block some hits with his sword. Unfortunately, he couldn't deflect them using {Dream Descent} as he did in the first three attempts.

If he could use the first step of his martial art - {Dream Descent} - as much as he wanted, things might have been a bit different now. Perhaps he could do that once his mastery of the first step reached 100%, but that seemed far off at the moment.

Although being beaten increased his mastery of the Commandment of sloth significantly, the breakthrough didn't seem imminent.

"Damn it!" Cassian gritted his teeth as he was thrown toward a distant tree, probably breaking a few ribs in the process. He could barely move now, but he stood up anyway, looking up where Eldrick was currently hovering.

=+=

"Your time is up. I must admit you are truly impressive..." Eldrick spoke briefly, and I noticed that his golden hammer began to glow with an intense blue light.

"You survived for seven minutes against the Sky/lightning formation. You are a human talent worthy of respect." As soon as he finished speaking, I heard the sound of tearing winds around me.

The size of his wings expanded, and the metallic feathers became more prominent. 'He wasn't using his full power?' I felt despair.

If I don't do it now... I might really die. I gritted my teeth and uttered a single word.

<Summo->

I stopped abruptly, realizing there was no need to summon Jin right now... as someone with a familiar appearance stood in front of me.

With broad shoulders and a skilled sword stance, Daristan stood before me, a smile etched on his face. He held his white moonlight sword in his right hand, pointing it at Eldrick, who was flying towards my current position.

Wearing black pants and a white shirt, traditional puppet clothing... it seemed my guess was correct... he had been there just like Elara and Gilbert...

I tried to catch my breath as I looked at him. No need to worry since he seemed confident; he was a prodigy character after all.

But where did he come from? His arrival at this specific time seemed too coincidental...

Wait, is he the person Killian brought with him?! Thinking about it... Killian never allowed anyone to see that person's face except for Jin...

Even when he carried him, he always covered his face with a white cloth...

The sound of clashing metals echoed everywhere, interrupting my miserable thoughts. Eldrick's hammer and the moonlight sword collided, with no clear winner apparent.

"!!!"

"!!"

Eldrick and I were equally surprised to see the sword slightly cut into the golden hammer.

The moonlight sword suddenly slipped, and Daristan sidestepped. Due to the great force exerted by Eldrick's wings, he ended up flying towards the ground and hitting it instead.