Chapter 769 - 769: A fundamentally different kind of enemy (part 14)

'She wasn't manipulating the light energy of her companion right, she outright used light affinity on her own', thought the first.

Laila had the ability to manipulate other elements with her black threads, so the first wouldn't have been surprised to see her taking over Sera's techniques or light energy, but that was clearly not the case earlier.

Not only did Sera used darkness energy and contrary to all the techniques she had used so far, she did so in an "underhanded" way since the attack was impossible to detect even by the first which shouldn't have been the case considering his current state, but we'll talk about that later, Laila also used light energy and for a straightforward and stupidly powerful attack technique as well.

While the enemies were completely lost about how the previous happened, Sera and Laila exchanged knowing gazes and then both couldn't help but laugh.

"To think it was such a simple thing and we were overlooking it", said Laila.

"Mm, that must be why "Gabriel" specifically mentioned the arch rank before leaving, he always has a plan how cool~", added Sera in a soft voice.

As you saw they were now speaking in the open, and the reason for it is simple, the restrictions of "concept" on them were gone, Laila didn't need to be so secretive and Sera didn't need to almost shout anymore.

This is what they achieved by using their previous techniques with which they basically used the opposite of their affinity, as to how they did it, it was indeed simple, they resorted to cliché, but before explaining which one it was, let's mention what is it that they were missing to further progress in their challenge.

The answer was "themselves", they who had been oppressed all their lives suddenly gained freedom basically all thanks to a single reason, Daimon, both Sera and Laila are good people, and they were impressed by Daimon's way of living, it was normal for them to feel respect and gratitude towards him.

You could see the previous in how their techniques which were the culmination of the part of their challenge which they had understood from the very beginning, were shaped, the "winged pendant" with the design which was taken from the improved version of Ariel's vessel after she entered a contract with Daimon and the term "demon" instead of devil for Laila's grimoire, were their ode towards the one who had freed them.

Now, don't get it wrong, they didn't just change a bad "master" for a decent one, this also came with benefits for those two, the powers they had shown so far were corrections of bad things they had witnessed during their dark times, they made bad cliches "right" by their own judgement and interpretation, Daimon had no influence in that, those two had lived and seen enough to have realistic and proper views of right and wrong and like previously stated were good people.

So, then you might wonder "why doesn't that count as "themselves" if things were up to their interpretation" and the answer is simple, because they were still encased in the roles of a "hero" and a "villain", light and darkness.

Which was honestly not their fault as that's how they had lived their whole lives, also it's not like that was a "bad" thing, they had corrected it fit their views through their techniques, it's just that the origin of said roles in their lives was imposed onto them and so, deep in their hearts it was a "shackle" that kept them from advancing.

And here we take a pause from those two and reintroduce Daimon into the explanation, why did he mention the limit of the arch rank before leaving and how is that related to their previously stuck situation.

Well, the arch rank is quite an important step for mages and knights, let's leave aside power, improvement and all of that which was not the reason as to why Daimon mentioned it to those two, you can know that because he praised their strength by saying that they took Ereth by surprise with their fight.

The key aspect and the little "hint" Daimon left to those two is the "individuality" of the arch rank, because even for those who share the same affinity, lineage, training or raising, their domain or battle avatar won't be the same, the differences in some cases like for twins, might be impossible to notice at first, but no one has the same domain or battle avatar as another person, each one is unique.

Amusingly enough, it was this lack of "individuality" that originated from the fact that those two were unknowingly limiting themselves to act as a "hero" and a "villain" what was blocking their progress to the Arch rank.

As to how Sera, because she was the one who realized this, noticed such a thing, when Laila is clearly more the type to use her head, that's simple, smart people are prompter to overthink, she overlooked such a simple answer to their predicament.

Sera on the other hand, simply connected the pieces when she heard Laila say "I would not be included since I was not the subordinate of a hero", if their past roles were that important for their challenge, then they wouldn't have shared the exact same challenge, which they now knew was for them to be free.

That doesn't mean the way they developed their energies, in other words with concepts of "hero" and "villain" is wrong, they simply have to be the ones that choose to use them and at the same time they shouldn't limit themselves to that, that's all.

'The hero is the villain', said Sera, that was the cliché she used for her "black betrayal sword" technique, it's something she had lived and experienced firsthand, since Adam was a piece of trash.

'The villain is the hero', added Laila, that was the cliché she used for her "brilliant descent" and it's also something she had lived and experienced firsthand, because from Marcus's point of view, the evil one was Daimon, his group stole the lioness who was his most loyal subordinate from him, not once, but twice and while in both occasions it wasn't even done forcefully or with tricks as they willingly changed sides, for Marcus that must have looked like the devil, no, like the work of a demon, yeah, Daimon's methods ended up terrifying someone who was supposed to become a devil king.

Anyway, back to Sera and Laila to be the focus, those two broke away from the concept restrictions with those techniques, you can see it because they used energies completely different from the ones, they have affinity in a moment ago.

Sera gained all the good aspects of a decent villain, the darkness affinity, the secrecy and the capacity to easily pull the strings behind the scene, as a result her white bursting sword turned into the black betrayal sword, which also had an inversed function when compared to its light version, this is probably because for Sera, Adam represented everything a real hero shouldn't be like.

Laila on the other hand, used the cliché to attain light affinity and straightforward stupidly high-power attack, which turned her demon grimoire into a holy grimoire, the techniques casted through it were still brutal though, it simply changed in name but the essence remained the same, loyal to the term of demon which is not tied to either negative nor positive orientation, but on doing whatever the hell one wants.

The first was right in something though, those two couldn't use both extreme negative and positive oriented elements at the same time, unlike the nethereal sisters who have that capacity thanks to the Ivory's lineage, as it is not a commonly found trait, in fact out of those three only Sarah realistically approached Daimon's capacity of being able to directly use both light and darkness at the same time, because that crazy girl englobed everything in her "lust" concept.

That being said, if Sera and Laila hadn't gone all the way from one extreme of the spectrum to the other one, they would have probably been able to obtain a second type of energy of the opposite orientation than their original one, a moment ago, they were talented enough for that, but they instead chose to become able to switch from light to darkness using the previously mentioned cliches.

But before we get to the reason as to why they advanced in that direction, we have to go back to the battle.

'Are you kidding me, we made the adjustments to counter their fighting styles and the strong points of their energies and they casually switched them around, that's nonsense!', inwardly cursed the third to then say.

"Don't stay still like fools, let's finish this stupid fight at once!", the third turned into a grey-blue sand storm which then disappeared into space, just for the first's eyes to contract like needles as he gazed at Sera who smirked in response.

"Wait third!".

"Your space manipulation capacities are not as good as you think", casually said Sera whose body went from shinning in bright white light to be enveloped in a black energy haze, another thing worth mentioning is that her winged sword which was floating next to her a second ago, was nowhere to be seen.

"Third, Black Fierce Seabed Rock Rush!", the second who like he first just realized that Sera had changed to darkness but used an illusion so that they wouldn't notice and managed to trick even the first's senses, tried to charge at the girl from the church of light.

"Holy Grimoire, White Burning Sword!", but he was met with Laila who flashed and appeared in front of him, the holy grimoire was open and a white energy blade grey out the pages, while a hilt had grown out of the cover, so with the book in the middle, it seemed to act as the guard of the sword.

"Clang!", Laila's sword was slashed at the grey-rock layer that grown on the second's body and sparks were produced, not only because of the clash, but because unlike Sera's bursting sword, Laila's burning sword literally burned the enemy, as the white flames which lit up on slashing marks that Laila was leaving on the second's body, suggested.

The second gritted his teeth and didn't let out a peep though, his mind was focused in keeping advancing to reach Sera in order to interrupt her so that her sword wouldn't reach the third who was moving in a spatial tunnel, but he was forgetting something important, if Sera was now in "villain mode", what guaranteed him that the Sera he was looking was the real one.

"Crack!", above in the sky at a random spot, the space cracked and a battered figure emerged from it, it was the third whose body had black spikes coming out of it.

The third turned into a grey-blue sand storm that shot itself towards where the first and the fourth who had spells ready to be casted were.

"Tsk, I guess black betrayal sword is not enough to kill you in that state", said Sera who also came out of the spatial crack which closed the next second, she had the black winged sword floating behind of her.

The white bursting sword has a physical impact and an energy release, but the black betrayal sword works the other way around, it moves in energy state which is why it's hard to detect and once it reaches the target it releases a physical impact, namely those black spikes that shredded the body of the third, it's a sneaky but brutal technique.

The problem is that the third's regeneration allowed him to move around and avoid the spikes from growing out of his vitals, which is why Sera couldn't kill him within the spatial tunnel, that being said, the third was really terrified this time around, because the backslash of having to move faster and for a longer period of time within space as Sera chased after him, alongside the attacks of the black winged sword and the spikes growing out of his body, nearly killed him.

'Well, he won't dare to jump into space so boldly now, so I'll take it as a win', added Sera in a voice that only Laila could hear.

"You might have a knack for the evil one role you know", said Laila who had ended her clash with the second as he had rushed back to the third's side when he reappeared earlier.

"I like to see you getting more cheerful when you play hero too~", said Sera as the darkness energy she had around her was dispelled and her winged sword returned to its normal state.

'I… find it a bit embarrassing though', mumbled Laila as her grimoire returned to its normal state as well.

Their assault on those four hadn't ended yet though, after nodding at the other, Sera slid her left middle and index fingers over the runes engraved on her winged sword and to the first's surprise… their domains regained the parts that had been taken away from them.

'This is…', the first this time managed to react and gazed at the second, just in time before a bright white light and a deep black haze, dyed the vicinity of those same colors.

"Boooom!", a loud explosion made the atmosphere tremble, the four domains of the seconds in command which had just grown as they recovered what they had lost, not only had their borders damaged, but they were also pushed backwards as two new spaces, one filled with dazzling white light and another one with deep black darkness, both standing side to side, appeared on the battlefield.

"Domain", said both Sera and Laila in unison, that was the second change they had gone through after learning how to change from hero to villain concepts and the other way around as well, they had crossed to the Arch rank and were able to use energy domains now.

What's more, they were strong enough to force back four domains which were working together, just by manifesting theirs, in other words, each of their domains was strong enough to collide with all of the ones from the seconds in command.

'Hey first, what the hell is going on, you are supposed to be able to foresee things, so why the hell didn't you warn me about that woman, nor did you tell us that they could now use domains as well!', exclaimed the third who had finally recovered from his wounds.

With their lineage release, each of the top four among the seconds in command gained an aspect of the black fierce sea shark, which were based in actual aspects of a shark magic beast, for example the fourth had those mana condensed fins on his forearms and upper back, which improve his mana gathering and processing capacities, just like how a shark uses said fins to move as it lacks a swim bladder.

The third has "unlimited" regeneration, just like how a shark is able to grow back its teeth as many times as it is needed, in exchange it's not instantaneous recovery so he has to go through the painful part of the process.

The second has that rough armor-like skin covering his body which increases his defensive capacities, simple but effective, however the real annoying one is the first.

Sharks have a sixth sense, thanks to specialized organs, they have electroreception which they use to detect the electric impulses caused by muscle activity or heartbeats.

That was the origin of the first's extra sharp senses which he had demonstrated since the beginning of the fight, the interesting part is that he had a capacity based on that trait before the lineage release, after that it grew way stronger than before, which is why the third said that he should have been able to "foresee" those kinds of things, but in truth it's just sharp senses and instincts.

The first who was lost in his thoughts until a moment ago, calmly answered.

'I can detect and foresee their movements in their normal state to a certain extent, that's how I helped second save you earlier, but I can't do the same when they switch their affinities like that, because their signals are too chaotic to give away their movements'.

'In other words, we have to fight on the front while you are uselessly kept safe in the ba…', the third's words stopped midway, he looked downwards and was welcomed with the sight of the first's hand piercing his chest.

"Huh", that was all the third managed to say before his body cracked and crumbled apart, leaving behind a grey-blue sphere which was being held by first's hand.

"T-Third!", the second whose eyes got bloodshot on the spot tried to charge at the first but he who is taller and bulkier than the first, had his neck grabbed by the first and was then lifted up by him.

"I still don't understand this whole brotherly nonsense you had for third, let me tell you a little secret, the material used to make you was set up by the one of third's, he thought that if he offered his brother, he would be spared but of course that wasn't the case", casually said the first as he dug out a grey-blue sphere out of the second's chest.

"It can't be, weren't we created all at the same time…", the second was tough, he still managed to speak what was in his mind before his body also crumbled apart.

"Clang!", Sera and Laila reacted fast but unfortunately, the first was already being protected by the time their attacks reached him.

"You two have been really annoying, just give me a moment and then we'll finish our fight", casually said the first as he approached the new fourth.

Unlike the third and the second who could somewhat react when the third attacked them, the new fourth had frozen on the spot, it was of course the first's doing.

"I honestly would have preferred to do this to the previous fourth since he was a pain in the ass, but you who inherited his position will have to do", said the first as he pierced the fourth's chest to then retrieve a grey-blue sphere from his body which then crumbled apart too.

"I already had my suspicions about why you were "especial" among the seconds in command, but to think that you willingly sold yourself to that guy", said Laila outside of the barrier protecting the first.

"And then you helped that guy to enslave others, what a piece of trash", added Sera who was floating next to her friend, to which the first coldly snorted.

"Humph, aren't you two the same, to survive you became playthings to that masked bastard didn't you, at least I got myself a proper position of authority in lord Ereth's army, this is the third round of seconds in command I get to kill after all… ack!", the first who was in the middle of speaking suddenly coughed up blood.

His previously overconfident expression crumbled apart as he jumped to the left to then roll his body.

"Crack!", just in time for two holes to be blasted apart on the barrier which was blocking Sera and Laila as a black winged sword and a blood red trident passed through the area where the first was standing just a fraction of a second ago.

"Black Fierce Sea Lord's Holy Blessing!", looking miserable on the ground, the first raised his trident and directly casted his recovery spell, this time he didn't pay any price though and a second barrier appeared around him.

"Clang!", this time it was a pair of white energy swords what clashed against the new barrier, as in both Sera and Laila were wielding light energy swords.

'I-I was affected by their darkness energy!', inwardly screamed the first, what happened is simple, so far, the first was able to resist each and every try of Laila to mess with his mind, which is what was supposed to happen, the first is supposedly immune to such things which is why Ereth confided him with actual important stuff, unlike the other seconds in command he wasn't disposable, but was an actual second in command in Ereth's eyes.

However, and while the previous remained true since Laila was unable to control his mind even after breaking to the Arch rank, with Sera changing to darkness and both using their energies to mess with him, they finally got to affect the first.

He wasn't controlled and his decisions couldn't be altered in the slightest, in other words, him killing the other seconds in command was done out of his own will, that was bound to happen, that being said, those two changed the process which he was going to use for it.

And that's why the first suddenly turned hostile out of nowhere and killed the third in such a way, when he was planning to give his life a better use, like using him as bait to try and get rid of either Sera or Laila.

When he coughed up blood earlier was because he woke up from the altering effect of those two's darkness working together and that's why he managed to survive as well.

"Crack!", seeing those two's light swords being about to break through the new barrier, the first directly casted the second special spell he had.

"Black Fierce Sea Lord's Holy Investiture!", this resulted in the grey-blue spheres which he had removed from the other three's bodies to turn into light streams of the same color which were then absorbed by his body, the previously black barrier dyed grey-blue as well and both Sera and Laila were forced to retreat as the barrier rejected them.