Chapter 55 – Keepers of Shiromori - Part 2

SIEGFRIED AND BRUNNHILDE easily blocked the attacks of the two Royal Knights that confronted them at the border. The knights immediately followed up their initial attacks, to which Siegfried and Brunnhilde both simply dodged.

Ronan was then taunted by Siegfried and chose to follow him while Garanin changed target and charged at Mirana.

“Two swords. That’s very inefficient if you ask me,” Ronan commented.

“Or maybe you’re just that unskilled,” Siegfried mocked. “Incompetent even.”

Ronan did not take the insult lightly and lunged towards Siegfried. The long handle of his sword, the Supernova, required Ronan to use both his hands to make a swing. Siegfried tried to block Ronan’s attack, but the sheer force was enough to make him slide back. Ronan jumped and struck his sword downward. Siegfried blocked the attack again, which pressed him to the ground.

“You’re...strong,” Siegfried struggled.

Ronan pressed even more. “You’re making this way too easy for me, kid!”

The Supernova’s blade started to glow bright red, then orange. Ronan then pulled the Supernova which ignited the blade and followed up with a sideways slash. Siegfried managed to dodge by leaping back.

“So that’s the purpose of that sword's long hilt, huh? Can’t stand the heat?”

“Mock all you want, kid. This sword will not only cut you in two pieces, it’ll burn you to ashes as well!”

“Well then, let’s see whose sword is hotter.”

Siegfried changed his stance. He held his swords in a forward grip in front of him, placing one over the other where similar runes were overlapping.

“Yggdrasil Style: Blamuspelheim!!” The two runes started to glow and as he scraped his swords back, the blades ignited and became shrouded with eerily reddish-orange flames, and once again held his swords in a reverse grip.

“I'll show to you that the flames of my Supernova are far more superior!” shouted Ronan.

Ronan charged towards Siegfried. He jumped and slashed downwards. To Siegfried’s surprise, the blade of Supernova ejected a burst of flame that sent it faster towards him.

Still, Siegfried managed parry the Supernova with his left sword, then followed up with the right which managed to make contact with Ronan's armor.

However, Ronan didn't mind. He simply continued his onslaught at Siegfried with ceaseless heavy strikes, leaving a trail of flame from where he slashed.

Siegfried backed away as Ronan gets surrounded by the flames that oddly burn randomly everywhere even though there was nothing to feed the flame, except for oxygen maybe. In fact, the flames stayed midair as if they were floating, like they were painted.

“Interesting…So that sword could leave a trail of flame,” Siegfried muttered as he created distance between him and Ronan.

Ronan walked through the flames. As his armor got burned, the damaged on it started to fix itself.

“And a self-healing armor. Great,” said Siegfried.

Indeed, the Supernova has the ability to produce flame and leave a trail of it from where it was slashed. The blade of the Supernova is heavy, but with its ability to eject a burst of flame, the wielder is capable of making quick slashes. And to complement the Supernova, Ronan is wearing an armor that regenerates when in contact with fire.

Ronan then made the Supernova's blade produced more flame. “We are not Royal Knights for nothing, kid!”

Ronan again charged towards Siegfried. Siegfried was able to block and parry every swing of Ronan, but even he could feel the heaviness of every attack. Worse, the longer the fight goes on, the more flames were being left by Ronan's Supernova, making it difficult to move without getting burned. And his armor was not immune to flames.

Siegfried tried to use his speed against Ronan, but Ronan wasn’t a Royal Knight for nothing. He wasn’t some fodder soldier. Ronan was able to actually match Siegfried’s speed.

Ronan then released a heavy downward strike that towards Siegfried. Siegfried was going to block it when he noticed that the Supernova was burning even more intensely, prompting him to dodge.

As the Supernova hit the ground where Siegfried used to stand, an explosion occurred and the impact left a huge crater. The explosion missed Siegfried, but the shockwave still caused Siegfried to be knocked back.

It was Supernova’s true strength; to cause an explosion on impact.

As the explosion subsided, Ronan reappeared unharmed and continued to attack Siegfried. “Forgot to tell you that I could also turn you into smithereens!”

Siegfried managed to get up just in time before Ronan could deliver another explosive slash. Ronan then continued to attack Siegfried, not giving him any chance to counter.

As the battle go on, Ronan managed to release three more explosive slashes, all missed Siegfried, but enough to knock him back.

Tired, Siegfried stood his ground. “Is that the best explosion you’ve got?”

Ronan laughed as he charged the Supernova. “Take this!!”

Ronan then released another heavy downward strike directly at Siegfried. Siegfried, instead of dodging, blocked the attack. When their swords met, an explosion occurred.

However, the explosion was significantly weaker.

As the smoke subsided, Siegfried was on his knee, still blocking the Supernova with his own flaming swords. Though Siegfried struggled, he was still able to do so.

“My turn!” said Siegfried.

Siegfried released himself from being pinned down by Ronan and slashed him with both of his swords. However, the flames simply fixed Ronan's armor.

“Impossible…How could you survive that explosion?!”

Siegfried extended both his swords forward and the flames that Ronan left started to gush towards Siegfried's sword. Even the flame from the Supernova and the flames from the torches in the area got absorbed.

Ronan tried to activate his sword, but flames won't come out.

“Our weapons are alike. They needed mana in order to work. And it seems you’re out of juice. Also, I hate using my swords’ abilities because my mana gets depleted very quickly. But let me show you just how hot it is in the realm of Blamuspelheim,” Siegfried said as his swords burn intensely. Soon, the blades of his sword looked longer with an enigmatic reddish-orange hue. “Taste the wrath of the realm of fire!”

Siegfried slashed forward that sent out a burst of flame towards Ronan in the shape of an X.

As the flames got closer, Ronan got struck by fear, unable to move, and the flames hit him that sent him flying back. Not even his regenerative armor was able to stand the flame from Siegfried's swords and it was destroyed completely.

* * * * *

Garanin was not having it any easier with Mirana. Despite having a sacred weapon, he could not land a clean hit. His giant battle-ax, the Rosetta, only hits the air and, occasionally, the ice that Mirana make to block his attacks.

“First time fighting a mage?”

Garanin clicked his tongue. “You Karma users and mages think you’re all-powerful! I’ll make sure to cut you in half!!”

The head of Rosetta started to spin. Garanin spun counter-clockwise then released the rotating head towards Mirana at high speed.

Mirana barely dodged the rotating blade.

Rosetta’s spinning blade entered the forest, cutting down several blancipress trees on its way then came back to the handle of the giant ax.

The head started to spin again. Garanin slashed downwards that sent the blade toward Mirana vertically. Mirana chanted a spell that produced ice spikes from the ground to deflect the spinning blade, but the head of Rosetta simply went through the ice spikes. Luckily enough, it changed trajectory and missed Mirana. The head sunk to the lake, but after a few seconds, it returned to the surface and then to Garanin.

“That thing’s annoying,” Mirana muttered.

“We're not done yet!”

Garanin threw the spinning head again towards Mirana. This time, Mirana released a more powerful version of Nixeve Ventaoi. The cold wind raged around her. The head of Rosetta got caught with the wind that sent it upwards. The rotating head was encased in a block of ice and then fell to the ground.

Mirana charged toward Garanin for close-range ice magic. Just when she thought that she already have Garanin, Garanin smirked as he extended the handle of Rosetta towards Mirana.

The head of Rosetta started to spin and shattered the block of ice and went towards Mirana's back.

“Die, woman!” Garanin shouted.

Garanin laughed hysterically as Mirana got hit directly by Rosetta’s spinning blade. Luckily for Mirana, she managed to protect herself with her magic and only got disoriented by the blade’s impact.

“Too bad for you, Rosetta works far better when in cold temperature. That’s just how magnetism work,” Garanin said as he prepare for another attack.

Mirana slowly stood up. Then, a pair of icy fairy wings slowly manifested behind her as her Everfrost glowed brightly.

Garanin didn’t wait for Mirana to do anything and sent out the spinning head of Rosetta towards her.

Mirana aimed the Everfrost at the spinning blade as she released a beam of ice. Mirana struggled to stop the spinning blade. At the last second, Mirana dodged the blade but was scratched ever so lightly.

Garanin used Rosetta’s magnetism to recall the blade, but Mirana interfered.

Using her magic, Mirana encased the blade of Rosetta in layers of ice. Even with the ice encasing the blade, Garanin was still able to move the blade. But Mirana didn’t give in easily. She continued to create more layers of ice and compressed it, locking the blade in place.

Soon, the blade no longer move and Garanin was out of breath.

“Heh. Too bad for you, I have more mana than you have,” said Mirana. “Without mana, your weapon’s magnetism is useless.”

“Damn you!!” shouted Garanin.

Mirana made her Everfrost glow and her pair of fairy wings glowed as well. She aimed at Garanin and released one final Glacio Lux. And the ice beam engulfed Garanin, encasing him in a block of ice.

As the light from the beam subsided, Mirana's fairy wings dispersed with the wind like snowflakes.

Mirana walked past the frozen knight and approached Siegfried who was inspecting a piece of armor from Ronan.

Siegfried noticed the approaching Mirana and got up. “Should we go inside that kingdom?” he asked.

“Hmmmm...Let’s just wait for them to return here. I’m almost out of mana anyway.” Mirana sat down near a toppled mobile tower.

Siegfried sheathed his swords. “Yeah, good call. Let’s just rest for a bit. There are no soldiers here now anyway.”

Inside the toppled mobile tower, archers covered their mouths, hoping that the “Keepers of Shiromori” would not find them.