Chapter 613 Challenges Daimon & Nethereal sisters, Jazmine's version (part 2)
Daimon who was at a loss for a second, returned to the real world as he felt the many intense stares being directed at him from the resting area, surprisingly the kiss she gave him was the lesser "evil" in this situation, as she didn't try to take it too far, it was one of the most innocent pecks Daimon has ever received.
Which was confusing by itself, considering her clearly teasing intentions, one had to give it to Sarah, she really knows her stuff, but that wasn't the end of it, as Daimon was also transported back to the resting area, in preparation for the incoming fights, where all the eyes fell on him the very moment, he came out of the space portal.
"As one would expect of the one, I admire enough to let him represent me", jokingly said Calvin as he gave thumbs up to Daimon, only for him to be glared at into oblivion by the Risha sisters, Reyne and in a really rare occasion even the normally sweet Jazmine, looked at Calvin with a dark void in their eyes.
Not to mention, Loren who had a smile that wasn't a smile as she turned to see Calvin to then say.
"Oh, would you care to explain what the source of that admiration might be?", Calvin felt a chill running down his back due to the combination of all those angry stares and Loren's question.
"Ahem, of course that's because he helped both that purple haired girl and her mother to get rid of a pest, isn't that right, Daimon?", said Calvin to Daimon while praying in his heart, only for Daimon to shrug at him.
"I seem to remember someone asking to receive "lessons" after learning about me having both Liz and Elaine as my fiancées and now with miss Bell being mentioned and you getting such a positive reaction, I'll lookout for my female relatives in general if I were from a certain light attributed family in the beast faction", he casually said, putting the last nail in Calvin's coffin.
"Gah!", Calvin nearly had a heart attack on the spot, for his bad luck, Loren… does have an older and sister, as well as an aunt who could be considered rather pretty in all the meaning of the word, her mother as well but her father is in the picture so she didn't come to mind for Loren.
"Mm… I'll be sure to tell grandpa Solomon about someone's new sand affinity", mumbled Loren, as she puffed her right cheek and looked away, refusing to five Calvin the slightest mercy.
Old man Solomon knew Loren's father due to his connection with Richard as he served with him in the army, so she was allowed to call him "grandpa" not to mention the old man found Loren to be a good and talented girl, and even affirming she was too good for his lazy ass grandson, now add to that, the fact that Ivy also added.
"I bet my grandfather will be thrilled to team up with teacher Boris to give you a "good time" at our obligatory service time at the army".
"Mm", Leslie, Liliana as well as Reyne and Jazmine and even Scarlet and the others nodded in agreeance, the poor desert coyote young master, became a subject in which all the girls could reach an agreement with ease, unfortunately for him.
With Calvin feeling depressed about his grim nearby future and Michael laughing at him as he said.
"I swear one day that mouth of yours is going to be your downfall".
Daimon gazed at the crazy girl like saying "This matter hadn't ended", since he wanted an explanation from her, regarding her previous words, which made Sarah giggle and shield herself behind Jazmine as she said.
"Now it's little Jaz's time to get all the attention, we'll continue were we left it later, my king~", she then feigned ignorance while she whistled and looked in another direction, Daimon felt a vein popping on his neck, but he ultimately sighed, there was no use in getting angry at her.
'I guess, I'll get the answer when we get to fight the Lords after this round… considering she went so far to take the attention away from the fact that she didn't use the "crown" innate ability she obtained a moment ago like Reyne did', he thought.
That's right, Sarah's revelation of her insane nether manipulation talent and the fact that she awakened a second nether for a completely different element, not to mention her clear provocation to the Asmadian Lord by she snuggling up to him and even mentioning her mother just to add salt to the wound.
As to why Daimon knew she got a new innate ability like Reyne, that's because he has seen the process with his infinity eyes once already, so even if the crazy girl perfectly disguised it with the usage of her purple royal nether, he could still discern the moment her lineage took a quality jump in the middle of the battle.
Again, as chaotic and random as her actions might seem, when she proposes it, all of them fulfill a specific purpose to reach her goal, which is what causes Daimon to suffer a headache when dealing with her.
Leaving the crazy girl who was happily humming while cheering for her younger sister, while pestering Reyne now, instead, the participants of the next round gathered near Daimon.
The first one being Michael who smiled at Haylee, wanting to show off a bit in front of her girlfriend, followed by Liliana whose excitement was easy to notice in those pretty eyes of hers which are usually cold an emotion-lacking.
Next there was Cassy who walked alongside her best friend and the queen piece of the incoming round, in other words Jazmine who couldn't help but cutely stealing gazes at Daimon from time to time, after seeing Sarah's bold actions and listening to her even bolder words.
Then we have Loren who was still feigning to ignore Calvin, though her cheeks were a bit red as the shameless desert coyote young master cheered on her from the sides with a really loud voice.
"Hey, shrimp, don't you dare try and steal the limelight from my Loren, or I'll kick your ass!", he shouted, getting back at Michael for kicking him when he was down earlier.
"Piss off, Calvin bastard!", retorted Michael back at him", that being said they both then nodded at each other, it was a sort of "Don't you dare die" kind of secret exchange between those two.
And last but not least, Chris who felt a bit strange given that the one she came to support, in other words her young miss and childhood friend, Daphne, wasn't present, meaning that she originally felt she had no place here, only for her to be received with open arms by Jazmine and the others, with the exception of Sarah and Reyne who aren't exactly prompt to take the initiative to socialize with others too easily, on the other hand she was hyped up after listening about Daphne's wellbeing from Daimon earlier.
The little jewel girl, Ruby gets an honorable mention since she wanted to participate too, but couldn't due to her lack in battle experience, lower realm compared to the rest of the girls and also the fact that the challenge didn't allow her to take part in it, so she had to be comforted by her older sisters who were still suspiciously glaring at Sarah from time to time, only to be ignored by the crazy girl.
Jazmine slowly approached Daimon who smiled at her to reassure her that everything will be fine, and as if it was timed to happen, the preparation time ended and the group was transported to the initial stage of the incoming battle, which is the ground below queen's battlefield up in the sky.
"What take you so damn long!", exclaimed an annoyed slightly rough, female voice, it belonged to a tall woman, past the two-meter mark, she had a peculiar skin tone a mix between a tanned tone but with a tinge of red added to it, short red hair and a noticeable muscular body shape, all the previous without losing her feminine appearance.
"Well, I guess those three did go above and beyond to tailor their queens to fit their tastes", casually said Daimon, earning an angry glare from the enemy queen.
"Humph, don't put us the warriors from the Balax family in the same group as those filthy undead and the disgusting slaves from the Bane and Asmadian families in the same group, we were all created to be equal, I'm the one leading them because I earned my position with my own merits", she proudly said.
Her mannerism, the way her subordinates nodded in unison and the fact that there weren't pirates, or magic beast guys from the Maelstrom Sea, nor any of Ereth's weird controlled guys, made it clear that unlike the Bane and Asmadian Lords, the Balax one had more than enough subordinates to make his team and that they were much more organized.
On the other hand, this was a last-minute change, because originally Walford, who is under Arlion's wing, was a part of the Balax Lord's team, but was apparently replaced after seeing what Sarah was capable off, not necessarily because he is weaker than these guys, but because he is ultimately a third party and thus is a less effective option when it comes to team strategy.
"You all, take your leave!", with a clear and firm voice, the enemy queen's whose name is Erika, gave the order and her subordinates spread as they moved towards their respective targets.
Michael who is a mage and a knight piece was chosen by a female mage and male knight who were a bishop and a rook piece respectively, Liliana a mage, had a male who was both piece and path knight as her opponent.
Loren a mage and a bishop piece, was faced by quite a bulky looking male knight rook, as for Cassy and Chris who are both mages, they were chosen by male knights who are a bishop and a knight piece respectively.
All the participants left to their respective battlefields, leaving only the queen pieces as well as Daimon, who then ascended into the sky, to then be separated by the barrier that prevented them to fight each other until their pieces finished their fights, this ending the preparations for the first round to start as soon as the signal was given.
As it happened in the previous rounds, the first battlefield to be enabled was the one where two of the enemy queen's pieces fought against a single opponent, in other words Michael was first, very much to the liking of the latter.
The very moment the barrier separating both sides from attacking each other, Michael's body blurred disappearing from plain sight, what followed was the sound of metals clashing, echoing in the vicinity.
"Clang!", the cause of said clash, was a dagger which was now half a centimeter into a small round shield, the dagger was held by the right hand of a blue haired skinny young man, while the shield was positioned at the forearm of the knight piece, a surprisingly balanced man who appeared to be in his twenties.
"We already know that the ones who take on two enemies at the same time, are among the strongest on your side, so such a thing won't work against us", said the knight as he unsheathed his short sword, he was a not usually seen knight who used both a shield and a sword at the same time, they were on the smaller side to make the wielding easier, it was a tactic expected from a battlefield veteran.
It's not like great swords, or tower shield users were weaker, but this set up was much more balanced, of course ultimately it depended on the user.
"Not to mention that attacking the support is an unspoken rule", a female voice could be heard coming behind of Michael, as the enemy's bishop appeared a few meters away from them, with her staff pointed at Michael.
"Booom!", a ray of red nether was shot from her staff, causing a loud explosion the next second.
"You nearly hit me with that you know?", said the knight who was now standing beside the bishop.
"That wouldn't have killed you anyway… just like it didn't do anything to him", answered the bishop as she gazed in a specific direction, right before Michael appeared there.
'So, they can't see me moving but they can predict where will I appear, a knight to hold me of and a bishop with support and long range, truly a strong match up tailored to deal with me', he thought.
Michael was now able to move at the same incredibly fast speed that he was used to, but without causing a loud explosion unlike before, which is why he was able to bypass other people's mana sense and even the battle instincts of a knight with ease.
Hence why he was indeed surprised to see a defense type knight catching up with his surprise attack which was aimed at the bishop.
Also, unlike other knight and bishop pairs, this one seemed to have previous experience working together and at leas the basics of team work and trust in each other, since the bishop wasn't getting too far from the knight.
On the other hand, it's not like Michael didn't get anything out of the initial clash, he now knew that the bishop was using some sort of spell to keep a track of him, as the red gem that kept glowing at the top of her staff suggested.
'Let's see where the limit of that woman's tracking skill, lies at', thought Michael, to then move his left hand as if he was waving at the enemies, but with the palm facing him instead, he had disappeared before the movement of his hand finished.
In other words, his speed had reached the point where he could leave partial residual images behind.
The knight looked in every direction, inspecting the vicinity in order to be prepared for the incoming attack, his eyes looked at the left as he slashed with his short sword.
A few tinkling sounds and sparks were produced as the sword blocked a couple of small flying daggers that were aiming at his left shoulder and chest, but that wasn't the end of it.
"Humph!", the knight then raised his shield at the center of his body to block a dagger that was coming from below, Michael had used his lower stature to aim at stabbing the knight's abdomen and be out of the easy range of defense.
However, the knight had a better maneuverability than one would expect from a defense type knight, that being said the knight's pupils contracted like needles, before he could react, Michael used the tip of his dagger which was lodged into the battle aura layer of the knight's shield and the momentum of his own movement to demonstrate his own high maneuverability skills.
As if pole vaulting, using the dagger to take off, Michael swung upwards, barely passing above the head of the knight, successfully bypassing his blockage to then flash in order to reach the bishop who was standing not to far behind of the knight.
"Battle Cry!", unable to react with his body in time, the knight turned around and imbued his voice with battle aura to then shout, producing a loud battle aura explosion in the overall direction of the bishop.
Unfortunately, what the knight expected to happen, which would be Michael being forced to reappear due to his movement spell being interrupted by his martial art, so that he could block him once again, didn't happen.
Instead of that, Michael's voice, forced him to look above.
"Mm, so you are still restricted by the difference in reaction time, that makes things easier, I just need to be faster than one of you", he said to which the bishop snorted.
"Clang!", a nether barrier blocked a couple of daggers that appeared in front of her, they were thrown by Michael earlier when he made that faint to discover if the knight could exceed his reaction time thanks to the bishop's tracking spell.
In a simple way to explain it, Michael made a feint, since he pulled off such a skilled maneuver to bypass him, the knight naturally thought he would directly aim at the bishop, and that was indeed the case as he threw a pair of daggers at her.
But they weren't the direct attacks that the knight expected, since he threw them sidewards and when he flashed it wasn't with the intention to clash with the bishop, but to get out of the attack range of the knight.
Which proved to be the right move, as he completely avoided the battle cry martial art of the enemy and also got to know that the bishop had an active nether barrier around her, to act as her last defense line.
Michael is after all an assassin, Zane drilled into his mind the fact that he has to obtain as much information as possible before aiming for the kill, making his fighting style much more precise and refined than the one of his rival in other words, Calvin, so this was a habit for him at this point, of course not all the "targets" needed such preparations, once one became strong enough then the requirements for a successful hit diminished.
However, the enemies he was facing were both Lord ranks, had good team work and experience in battle so they… were perfect for Michael to discern how much has he improved since that time when he had to let himself by captured by the women from the Black Night race as that was the most efficient and safest option, to protect Haylee.
"Mm, you can keep up with four daggers, but how about ten", said Michael as he moved his hands at high-speed taking daggers out of the many secret compartments hidden in his clothes, accessories and the like so that he was holding four flying daggers with the spaces between the fingers of his two hands while holding a regular dagger with each of his hands, for a total of ten.
Michael then waved his hands in complete opposite directions, disappearing before his movement finished so that the enemies would be uncapable of seeing how many daggers did he throw with said movements.
"Damn it", the knight cursed as he released some of his battle aura, this time he manifested battle aura armor instead of only focusing on his shield and sword, previously he was combining both the real time feedback he was getting from the bishop with his own surprisingly good for an earth element nether knight, reaction time to block Michael.
But after the previous, Michael had perfectly measured his reaction time, so the daggers he threw now escaped his senses alone, and he had to guide himself solely based on the tracking spell of the bishop.
The bishop also reinforced her defenses and increased the detection of her tracking, especially around herself, since she was the "easiest" target out of the two of them for an assassin like the enemy to dispatch right away.
And just as she expected, she soon detected three daggers coming at her from different directions, she waved her staff at them and a layer of nether expanded with her as the center, blocking the three daggers.
But just as she was focusing on detection again, a fourth dagger which was one of the regular sized ones instead of the flying ones from earlier, appeared seemingly out of nowhere, manifested a few centimeters away from the bishop's face.
Naturally the first reaction of the bishop as someone who has experienced battle was to use her arm to cover, she had her defensive spell so even if the dagger pierced it, the wound would be superficial.
"Clang!", the sound of metals colliding made the bishop release her guarding position, since the knight had appeared behind of her and used the shield positioned on his right forearm to block the dagger which actually pierced through his aura armor and reached the shield itself.
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"That shield is annoying so let's get rid of it first", unfortunately just as the bishop smiled at the knight, Michael's voice like the one of a ghost came out of nowhere.
"Aghhh!", what followed was the arm of the knight all way from his elbow, being severed by Michael who descended from above with his remaining regular sized dagger firmly held by his right hand.
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