“You…really know a lot,” said Paragon Sasori. “Even my secret identity. Who are you?”

The others looked at Paragon Sasori, backing away from the sudden admission from his mouth. Gaius instinctively understood that with that single sentence, the others around him would not live to see the sunset. The brighter ones began to flee, putting on as much speed as possible.

“I don’t think you’re worthy of finding that out, damned Constellation,” the Phantom Blade replied.

“Really?” The Constellation clenched his fist. “Skill: Hidden End.”

The fleeing Lords and Knights turned into crimson blooms, their bodies turning into mush that rained upon the already bloody fields. Constellation Scorpio smiled. “How about now?”

She shrugged. “Nothing impressive.”

The Constellation stared at his opponent for a second, and a robe of dull brown rippled into existence all around him as he murmured another set of words under his breath. Holding on to a barbed sword that appeared out of nowhere, the Constellation exchanged glares with the Phantom Blade, and in sync, moved forward at speeds that left afterimages behind.

Sparks flew as the two closed into arm’s reach. Gaius, who was sitting quietly and observing the fight, counted over fifty exchanges within ten seconds, but from the get go, it was evident that Constellation Scorpio was at the losing end. The sheen of light covering his weapon dimmed slightly with every strike, and Gaius could tell that the Phantom Blade’s attacks were creating too much force for the Constellation to withstand.

The boy could spot his arms tremble every time Scorpio blocked or parried the frenzied storm of strikes his opponent was sending out, and narrowed his eyes slightly. The Phantom Blade was using a technique that he himself used in almost every fight — oscillating or vibrating when her blade met that of the Constellations, depending on the direction of the attack — and its effects were taking an incredible toll on Scorpio. Even from afar, Gaius could spot the weaker veins in his arms beginning to break and rupture, turning into bruised patches.

Against opponents of equal strengths, martial techniques were usually the aspects that gave one an incredible advantage. This battle was proof of that. Furthermore, the Phantom Blade’s flight control was also far finer than that of her foe — Gaius had the feeling that were they on the ground, Scorpio would not have been backed that quickly into a corner. As it was, however, the Constellation was facing a hail of attacks that came from a blind spot every so often.

“Enough!” Energy blasted outwards in all directions as the robe of energy around him detonated, and the Phantom Blade reeled from the impact. Without waiting to see what she did next, the Constellation flew backwards, energy gathering around his cruel sword.

Brown arcs of energy, each a few hundred meters tall, stormed towards the shaken Phantom Blade, each attack carrying enough force to level Seireiden’s city walls. Trees broke into sharp fragments as the onslaught of energy rushed towards the Constellation’s target, creating sharp fragments that would probably wound anyone in its path.

Narrowing his eyes, Gaius focused on the Phantom Blade, whose overly-calm demeanour was incredibly eye-catching. Most likely, she was talking to her intelligent artefact, but Gaius was obviously unable to hear their conversation. Without much fanfare, she took out something like a card, and tossed it in front of her.

A wall of energy, one that somehow managed to match the dimensions of the incoming barrage of attacks, appeared in front of her. It was obviously a one-use artefact, given that the card had burned into ashes, but the thing about one-use artefacts were that these baubles were far stronger than normal ones.

Violent gusts of wind lashed at the boy, as the torrent of attacks slammed into the defences the Phantom Blade had tossed out. Blinding light spread out from the point of impact, and Gaius squinted for a few seconds, while making a mental note to make some sunglasses next time.

When the light died out, all Gaius could see was a huge patch of ruined land. Earth had been overturned, whatever trees that had survived the approach of Scorpio’s offensive had been obliterated, and even the weaker adventurers that were fleeing for their lives were dead.

“You managed to block that?” Constellation Scorpio asked, his voice clear in the land of death all around him. “How?”

“You can ask the Human God when I send you to him,” replied the Phantom Blade. “My turn to take the offensive, then.”

Constellation Scorpio was, for some reason, unable to move. He was probably immobile from the exertion of so much power in that devastating barrage earlier, a point that the Phantom Blade didn’t miss. Her presence abruptly ballooned as she pointed her sword at Scorpio, and a faint boundary began to expand outwards from her.

“Hah…hah…so, you were a Paragon after all,” said the Constellation. “To think that you have a Dominion…looks like you aren’t going to give me any way out, are you?”

“Why ask when you know the answer?”

She closed in slowly, the faint boundaries denoting her Dominion an advancing wall of doom for the Constellation. Gaius wasn’t sure what a Dominion was, other than the cobbled-up explanations from Nexus and Isabelle, so it was a good opportunity to observe one. His eyes sharpened, taking in every bit of the Constellation’s last moments as death approached him.

A leer appeared on the Constellation’s face as the Dominion grew close. “Fool.”

Gaius felt a chill run down his spine as Scorpio shot forward, his dull blade ablaze with a nebulous energy.

“Psyche-Splitting Strike!” The Constellation’s eyes gleamed with triumph as his attack bore down upon the Dominion itself. At that sight, Gaius instinctively understood that this attack was targeted at the Dominion, and if it landed…Constellation Scorpio would most likely walk away with the win.

“No. You’re the fool.”

The Dominion vanished right before the attack landed, and in the next instant, the Phantom Blade appeared right beside Scorpio, bringing down the blade of blue energy upon his defenceless body. Time seemed to slow for a moment as the Constellation attempted to grab the weapon. A howl followed as the weapon swerved to the side and severed his right arm, but the noise itself was abruptly cut off a second later as Scorpio vanished — evidently, the Constellation had activated an escape artefact of sorts in the precious few seconds he’d obtained from tossing aside his arm.

The Phantom Blade looked around warily, before putting away the weapons she was carrying. “These guys sure are slippery.”

“Indeed, Partner.” After looking around for a few more moments, she warped away, leaving nothing but a ruined battlefield behind. Gaius took that as his cue to return — within the next few hours, someone was going to discover this place and start an investigation he had no business to be involved in.

Shaking his head, he returned to Seireiden.