"Augh," Yuya groaned after an exhausting battle. "This is too bothersome. Gojou was still out of reach, where the hell are they?!" he looked at Ao, "What are we gonna do now?" he questioned, exchanging glances with him.

"First let's help the other teams to win the battle. I can sense them all throu–" Ao stopped in the middle of his words, widening his eyes after feeling something pierced his body from behind. "A-ack!" He angled his eyes down his body and saw a black iron rod sticking out from his stomach. There's someone behind him, he can feel it, everyone felt it's overwhelming presence. 'What's this?' That's the only question he has in mind.

[WARNING!]

DAMAGE RECEIVED

HP: 1489/14000

"Ao!" Yuya couldn't do anything but look, his feet was clinging to the ground and couldn't move. "What the..." he did nothing but to be surprised on how the person went unnoticed despite Sena's enhanced perception.

"Seems like you look well Ao Satsuki." The person behind Ao spoked in a sloppy manner . His face was unfamiliar to Yuya but one thing is sure, that person in front of them is surely strong. His presence alone will send shivers down anyone's spine.

"What are you..." Ao started coughing blood due to the stab wound he received.

"I'm gonna borrow him a bit." The man smiled. "I'm gonna return his corpse later. I'mma put it in a box filled with flowers." He chuckled and furiously glance at them. He lifted Ao and carried him on his shoulder. He was obviously looking down on them.

"Bastard," Yuya clenched his teeth, all muscles in his body tensed. 'Move... move... move... Tsk, my body won't move." he tried forcing his feet to move and forcibly lifted a foot during the process. In one push, he managed to close the distance between them. He tightly gripped his katana and swinged it.

"Sixth Offensive Form: Roaring fla–... huh?!" Yuya was startled, he saw the person in front of him suddenly vanished from his sight. Before he even noticed all he can see in front of him are bunch of steel rod that slowly pierced his body. Luckily, his heart was unharmed, but his stomach didn't escaped. He felt the pain all over his body escalated.

[WARNING!]

DAMAGE RECEIVED

"Your not fast enough." The person spoke. "Well atleast I'll give you my respect for moving a feet." He smiled before chanting, "return," and a portal appeared behind him. He entered the portal and vanished from sight, carrying Ao with him. Sena can't do anything, her whole body was completely frozen after witnessing the scene. All she can do is to watch Yuya suffer in pain, he's dying and she can't do anything.

---

On the meantime, Haru was struggling against his opponents after two more opponents appeared in front of her. "H-How did it come to this?!" Haru groaned, struggling to stand. "They're really strong." She looked around her. "On top of that, they got an army with them. There's no way..." She couldn't hold her thoughts after coughing blood. She was on her knees and begging for her life. "Should I use my–"

"Hahaha, what a weak creature!" One of the enemies spoked. "Humans really are weak."

"What did you say?!"

All of the enemy was startled after hearing a load sound coming from somewhere above them. Before a large explosion occured, hearing a deafening sound throughout the battlefield. Haru was blown away by the explosion. She quickly stood on her knees and opened her eyes. With all the dust, all she saw was five human figure in front of her. She blinked a few time before recognizing the persons. "You're..." the person's face was finally revealed.

"Guildmaster Ryouma of the Flaming Tigers guild. What are you... I thought..." Haru mumbled with a surprised look on her face.

"Shut up woman, I didn't come here to save you. Stand on your own." Ryouma spoked with arrogance.

Haru quickly recognized the other four who's standing beside Ryouma, wearing colored cloaks. "These are guildmaster Gojou's personal strike team." Haru mumbled. "What are they doing here?" Haru asked.

"This sh*t heads came to my training ground on Gojou's order so I hurriedly came here and here's what I found." Ryouma face his enemies with bloodlust. "Three awfully looking bad guys beating a poor woman. What a pathetic strategy coming from foreigners." Ryouma spoked in fluent english. Fear was painted on the enemies faces as they looked at him.

"How the hell did you break the barrier?!" One of the guys named Erwin stood and angrily spoked, trying to hide his fear. 'This guy is on the threat list provided by Richard,' he kept on his thought, 'I should be careful.'

"That cheap barrier of yours was too focused on holding Ryuga outside. That's why the top area of the barrier was thin." Ryouma replied with a grin. 'Why are they keeping him away from the battlefield anyway?'

"I see, then let me ask you this." Erwin smiled widely. "Do you really think your more than enough to beat me?!"

"Then let's test it out." Ryouma smiled. "The four of you, split up and find Gojou. I can't sense that guy from here. It will be bothersome if that guy die." he ordered the four to look for their master.

The four just nodded in respond before swiftly dashing to different directions.

"Now then," Ryouma furiously looked at his preys. "Let's get this started." he lifted his finger and moved it upward.

The enemy was confused of what he was doing, but their fog of ignorance was blown away when they sense some small shockwaves coming from below. Without hesitation, they jumped away from the area before they saw something emerged from underground. Something long and sharp, orange in color.

"A spear?" Haru is the first one to recognize the item.

[Enchanted Spear]

[Unique effect]: Deals 30% more damage to armored enemies.

'Tsk, they dodged it.' Ryouma manipulated the movement of the spear using his fingers and moved it closer to him, pointing at the enemies.

[ERWIN]

LEVEL 51

HP: 13080/16000

[LUCAS]

LEVEL 41

HP: 12000/12000

[ANDREW]

LEVEL 36

HP: 8745/9300

'Aside from this three, there are many enemies in this area.' Ryouma carefully looked around him. 'We're surrounded huh, not to mention this girl has no plan on standing up.' he thought, 'what an annoying girl.' he took a few glance before angling his gaze to Erwin. "Oii, how long do you plan on sitting there?" he asked Haru, watching him from the corner of his eyes.

"Ahh, sorry." Haru quickly got up. "I was a bit ahmmm... spacing out." she apologize and already back on her feet.

'This guys are all ranged types, if I switch to the cursed arm, they'll have the upper hand.' Ryouma thought. 'It'll be better this way.'

Swoooosh!

It's too late to react, after hearing the sound, he instinctively moved his feet away from the enemies. "What was that?!" He safely landed on his feet and stared at a slash-mark engraved into the ground. "I got lucky, but that was fast." He glanced at his enemy to find who among them is the attacker.

"You better watch out, that guy," Haru pointed at Erwin, "can cut you in halves if you let your guard down."

"I see, so it was him huh." Ryouma mumbled. "Multiply!" he suddenly chanted, the flaming spear started dividing itself. "Engage!" he chanted as if he was commanding an army.

[NOTICE]

SKILL [EXPLOSIVE MULTIPLICATION] HAS BEEN USED

[Effect]: By multiplying the number of enchanted spears in the battlefield, the danger will be split up, but the accuracy rate will rise by 70%.

The spears flew toward the enemy, engaging them with massive explosion sounds throughout the battlefield. All of them perfectly landed like a missile with a boom.

Haru stared in amazement, 'what just happened?' she covered her eyes from the dust getting blown away by the shockwaves.

"Don't let your guard down," Haru spoked with worries, "they can use barriers too."

"I know that," Ryouma replied and touched his right arm and charged toward the enemy. "There's no time to hesitate. Cursed arm: Bakuto!" he chanted. His arm glow with smoldering flames, as the molter rocks covered his arm. The enemies was covered in smokes and dusts, but thanks to the spear, he was able to pinpoint their location.

Ryouma didn't waste any time, he jumped and punched through the smokes, causing it to be blown away. "Huh?" He hit something inside the smokes. When the smokes cleared out, he can finally see the barrier blocking his fist. "A barrier huh. My timing was a bit off." Ryouma's disappointment was painted on his face.

"You think your damn decoy would work against us." The voice spoked behind Ryouma. That's definitely Erwin's, he was moving behind him from a distance. "Slashing magic," he was preparing to land a slash. "Dev–"

"Frost magic: Ice wall!" Haru quietly chanted. The land between Ryouma and Erwin completely frozed and raised up from the bottom.

Erwin was startled, he completely forgot about Haru. Now an ice wall was blocking his way to Ryouma. But this didn't hold him back, he raised his hand and prepared to chop the ice.

"Move away!" Haru shouted at Ryouma.

Erwin's slashing magic can slice any physical objects even ice of course. But Ryouma didn't run away and use the ice blocking Erwin's vision to his advantage.

Erwin dropped his hand, hand-chopping the ground below him. The attack divided the ground along with the ice, but the moment he laid his eyes behind the ice wall, he didn't saw Ryouma. He sensed the danger, but from where? He can't find him, until he looked above and saw Ryouma riding his spear, floating.

'He's flying,' Erwin thought, 'I thought he can only use cursed enchantment item and curse technique one at a time. How can he used both at once?!' his expectations was broken by Ryouma.

"Don't underestimate me," Ryouma spoked from above, looking down at Erwin, "underestimating me will kill you." he talked with eyes full of bloodlust. 'The barrier user runned away and the other one disappeared somewhere. what the hell are they planning?' Ryouma asked himself.

"Oi, guildmaster Ryouma, I'm gonna follow the other one. Please handle Erwin." Haru shouted in a distance while running.

"Huuuuh?" Ryouma confusedly looked at Haru. "Don't give a damn!" he grumbled and glance back at his opponent. "I'll take him down in less than five minutes." he grinned.

'He's flying?'Erwin looked up at Ryouma, 'did he find out my technique's weakness? No, that's impossible.' he convinced himself. 'I better use the item that Richard gave me.' Erwin took something from his inventory and held it on his hand.

[Blessed item: Holy water potion]

Item class: ??

' I better drink this befo–' Erwin's thoughts was interrupted when Ryouma suddenly appeared in front of his eyes. 'what... he closed the distance?'

"Explosive punch!"

The punch landed with a massive explosion, Erwin was blown away, still holding the item tightly in his hand. Ryouma don't want to miss the chance and swiftly followed him and throw another blow using his cursed arm.

"Explosive punch!"

Another explosion occured, but this time, Ryouma's fist was blocked by Erwin using his barehands. "Wha–" he was surprised, but he managed to stepped back to recover his stance.

Ryouma looked at Erwin's hand. Seems like Erwin used the item he was holding earlier. After taking that explosive punch barehanded, he was still uninjured, that's impossible.

[Blessed item: Holy water potion]

Item class: ??

Bonus stats:

+ 50% speed

+ 70% magic power

+ 30% HP

[Usage]: Drinking this potion will regenerate any received damage for 20 minutes.

"I see," Erwin murmured, "since I can't use blessing zone, I have to rely to this 'instant regeneration item'."

[ERWIN]

LEVEL 51

HP: 20800/20800

'Seems like he have some sort of hidden tricks.' Ryouma thought while looking at Erwin's player indicator, 'this is quite irritating, especially that grin on his face.' he annoyingly stared at Erwin. "Tsk," he displayed an annoyed smirk and leaped forward with a clenched fist, all the muscles in his body tensed.

Ryouma was expecting to land a blow but to his surprise, Erwin disappeared from his sight and reappeared behind him with open hand. 'Crap! He got faster.' Ryouma knows what he's about to do, but the movement was too fast that it took time before he can even react. Erwin was about to land a hand chop behind his back while watching him from the corner of his eyes.

"Slashing magic: Divide!"

The sound of air getting slashed was music to his ears as Erwin hand-chopped the air behind Ryouma. "Die, bastar–" Erwin shouted before his joyful smirk got interrupted by an object blocking his way. Ryouma's spear appeared in front of him. "What?! How did..." his confusion marked his face with a nervous expression.

"You won't survive this time," Ryouma spoked behind Erwin. He jumped behind him and chanted, "Explosion magic: Explosive meteorite!" before punching Erwin with all his strength. Although he missed his target, his hand went straight and buried itself onto the ground. Creating an echoing explosion, large enough take down a towering building.

Smokes and dust once again filled the air. "cough...cough..." Ryouma started coughing, he inhaled some dust and smokes. He's losing his breath. The explosion leave a shallow crater onto the ground, causing him to loose his balance from the unstable surface and fall down deeper into the crater. "What the... Did I over do it?" Ryouma stared at the completely messy surroundings.

"Nahahaha" a loud amused laugh can be heard throughout the crater. "I almost died you bastard!" Erwin appeared from the smokes with a fired up expression. He intentionally laughed to his heart content like a die hard villain. "Interesting, I didn't know that this will be interesting. I guess guildmasters are really strong." he pointed at Ryouma and suddenly stopped laughing, "do you have any stronger techniques or that's the strongest you can get." Erwin arrogantly spoked, taunting Ryouma.

'His completely unharmed again,' Ryouma glanced intensely at Erwin, carefully observing the situation. 'Is it because of that item?!' the image of the potion that Erwin drank suddenly popped up in his mind. 'the I should find it's effect first before he finds out mine.' Ryouma constructed a made-up plan inside his head. A plan that will lead him to use his last ace up his sleeve.

Erwin on the other hand was having second thoughts. 'That guy managed to escape earlier. Even though I'm at full speed.'he wondered, 'maybe I should be more cautious or he might find out my trick.' Erwin convinced himself not to attack first.

And just like that, the idiocy started. Both of them were stupidly waiting for each other to strike. Standing still, eyes looking at each other, and guard up. They carefully watched each other's movement.