"Mnnghh" Groaned the one she had set ablaze.

He could not be blamed, combustible as it was, Rita had not been after torture but instead was interested in a direct hit that would aflame the target from the inside out and drained him of his essence to feed it to her.

As such, the victim had no choice but to groan from the pleasure he felt from the hit... before the flames went out a second later and he was left a mere husk.

Hal put a hand over his face as though he were embarrassed,

"Why are you so impatient? The least we could do was hear him out" he said with a sigh.

Melinda turned a fraction in his direction,

"Pfft, what's the point? I agree with Rita, Let's just get this over with"

Rita smiled and nodded with satisfaction before she turned and nailed the Plebeian forces with her now, purple eyes,

"Thank you Melinda" she said and drew the purple string of Essence Stealer to form another flaming arrow which she released on another assailant.

This one was not caught off guard and was quick to surround himself with Cosmic Energy.

The Cosmic Energy succeeded in negating a majority of the arrow's energy.

"Tsk, that's a shame." She said but it did not look like it at all.

The one who had succeeded in negating the flame's energy looked confused at her natural expression, at least he was until he noticed a small, almost tiny tongue of flame on his Cosmic Armament.

His eyes widened and he hurried to disperse of his armament in hope that it would get rid of the flame but before he could, the little tongue of flame became larger and enveloped him in a second.

And just like the one before him, it siphoned all his essence and left him as a mere husk.

Yet, Rita did not spare him a glance.

That's right, as soon as she said what a shame it was (sarcastically of course), she had turned to someone else and in the second it took for the whole event of Combustion to take place, she was already aiming another arrow at someone else.

This time, when her eyes nailed them, no one took it for granted and despite that, she was only one woman outnumbered by many men, There was fear in their eyes, until...

*Slash*

... a sword severed the head of one of them.

As blood spewed from the stump that was his neck, attention was directed at the woman who had done the deed.

Melinda stood with her sword held almost loosely at her side. The white Armament was stained with blood and looked especially deadly.

"I'm still here you idiots" Melinda said and it seemed a welcome break as a lot of them now focussed on Melinda who, judging by the fact that she was using a sword, was a melee fighter.

If so, then it was clear what they had to do.

As one, they condensed powerful Cosmic Energy and sent it towards her. Evian was the only one not yet involved in the battle, merely attempting to coordinate from behind.

Melinda smirked. From the get-go, individually, they were all outmatched by her being at the Early stage of the Cosmic Armament Realm when she was at the Mid-stage.

The only way they had a chance was by attacking together and even then, there was only a little hope for them.

Melinda condensed a Cosmic attack of her own and slashed with her sword, adding just a little quantity of her Bloodline's light gold flames.

*Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!*

So great was the explosion from the collision of the Cosmic attacks that it let out consecutive sounds and caused an eruption of dust.

When it cleared off, Melinda was no longer where she had been...

"Ack" groaned one of the Assailants as Melinda suddenly appeared in front of him and stabbed his chest.

She did not stop there and within minutes she was crossing weapons with multiple opponents. Each strike of her sword bending their hand due to its heavy force.

Hal watched it all happen with a smile and set his eye on the only Mid-stager on the scene; Evian.

Evian noticed his look and just as Hal had ordered him, he put on his game face.

Even so, he could not completely keep quiet,

'Master, I'm not comfortable with this' he told Hal telepathically.

'Think of this as a sparring session. One in which, if you are not careful, I'll kill you' Hal told him

'Um, Master...you'll take it easy on me right?' Evan said in a nervous voice.

He had no notion that he could defeat Hal. After all, when Hal had been in the Cosmic Pearl realm, he had beat him senseless.

He was hoping for leniency though.

Alas...

'Hahahaha, Take it easy? No, that would be suspicious. I'm coming at you with everything I have. Without making use of my Bloodline of course'

... Hal had no intention of doing so.

That said, the fact that Hal would not be making use of his Armament gave him solace.

'Don't worry too much. San won't just stand by and watch me kill you'

With that, Hal cut off the Telepathic communication and stretched his hand to summon his Cosmic Armament.

A Royal blue longsword with crisscrossing Black veins and two types of edges. On one side was a traditional straight edge and on the other was a Serrated edge that seemed particularly sinister.

It made the sword look more for sawing than for slashing or cutting.

Perfect for sawing through bone.

As soon as he gripped his Cosmic Armament, Hal stomped his leg against the ground and dashed towards Evian.

San who had noticed their one-second stare off (The telepathic communication had been very swift) was a little startled to see Hal dash towards Evian while releasing the pressure of the Early stage of the Cosmic Armament Realm.

*Clang*

In the space of a blink, Hal was bringing his sword down on Evian who raised his sword to block the strike.

The side that had been directed at Evian was the serrated side and the teeth caught the straight edge of Evian's saber. Hal pulled his sword and in turn pulled Evian closer to himself as the other nan had not let his armament go.

Hal then sunk his left fist into Evian's mid-section, or at least he would have if Evian had not let go of his saber and leaped back.

Evian looked up and stretched his hand to summon his Saber Cosmic Armament which had dispersed the minute he dropped it.

He hardly had a minute to breathe because Hal was on him again before long.

*Clang* *Clang* *Clang*

If at first Evian still felt Hal was only joking and would take it easy on him once they began to battle, he no longer thought so.

Every strike Hal dished, was serious and were after parts that could kill him if the strike was successful.

Already, Hal had rapped him multiple times in the ribs with the flat side of his blade but there was no serious hit yet, all because Evian was giving it his all.

'Screw it' Evian thought and leaped back to slash towards Hal and send a Cosmic Attack towards him.

Hal negated the attack easily and followed up with one of his own that forced Evian to topple backward in a shaky manner. By the time he regained his balance and stance, Hal was stabbing at him.

He only moved away at the last moment and even then, the sword went right through his shoulder.

"Arrrgghhhh" he yelled.

Hal's expression was non-committal and he raised his sword as though to execute a final strike and end it all, when...

*Swoosh*

...San's figure was suddenly casting a shadow over Evian.

His eyes were red and he looked ready to spitfire.

Hal chuckled to himself and said in a quiet voice,

"I almost thought you'd let me kill him"

San said nothing. Instead, he looked at the other side of the veil where those at the Cosmic Pearl realm were getting decimated by the wonderful collaboration of the Purple-eyed ladies and the guards.

Even as he watched, San saw multiple Plebeians fall victim. Then he looked at the attacks that were closer to him. Melinda was tearing through the ranks of Cosmic Armament Realm experts and Rita had her back by shooting down anyone who attempted a sneak attack.

Despite not being an expert archer, her senses as a Cosmic Armament realm expert made her capable enough.

Since the first two victims, there had been successful warding off of the flaming arrows, however, it was quite hard to ward it off without paying close attention to her which was hard to do with Melinda cutting off body parts with her sword.

In fact, it was more accurate that they were watching each other's backs with Melinda making sure no one engaged Rita in close combat as just as Rita took care of sneak attacks.

San sighed,

"This is a failure"

He faced Hal full-on,

"It would seem that even after preparing so much and bringing such manpower, I still underestimated you. From the start, it should have been me against you..."

San stretched his hand and summoned his Cosmic Armament as he continued,

"I want to see how you survive me" he snarled.

Hal smiled and retrieved an Array scroll seemingly from within his clothing but it was really from his inventory.

He injected Cosmic energy into it and released the small Rune Dome that only encamped him and San Fidwud. Even Evian was on the outside.

It seemed like an arena.

Hal flicked his Armament,

"Since you are so curious, I might as well show you"

And just like that, for the second time in his life, Hal faced someone at the Peak of the Cosmic Armament Realm.

...

Meanwhile,

While San faced off with Hal at the mansion, the notable Plebeian homes were getting visits from individuals shrouded in Dark fogs.

They all announced themselves as the Emissaries of the Malevolent One!