The trio turned, looking in front of the temple where there was a giant green bonfire with a lot of people wearing priest robes and hundreds of others bowing before the flas while chanting.
All had frightened faces, having erupted into frantic screams at the sight of the four teenagers.
The harsh cadence of an unfamiliar language echoed across the temple grounds, making the trio frown as they did not understand what these people were saying.
They seed to be performing so sort of ritual or ceremony, and the giant green bonfire in the centre was the altar where they placed their burnt offerings.
'Language Comprehension is not picking it up?'
Evan was a bit surprised that the sa skill that let him learn the language of Aramis was not responding even though it was still active.
Glancing to his side, neither Artemisia nor Beatrix understood as well.
But Arthur? He understood every bit.
"Olympian."
"…what?"
"They're speaking a native Olympian language."
Arthur made his declaration confidently, recognizing the language of these people from Iklaque as foreign to this universe entirely.
"Foreigners have arrived at the temple, The warriors are defeated, Supre god, accept our holocaust and give us strength, "god, don't punish us—
—that's what they're saying."
Arthur translated, his gaze narrowing as he pointed toward the green flas roaring at the heart of the temple grounds.
"That's Olympian fire. The sa type of fire Protheus stole."
Evan knew a bit of Olympian Mythos, so Arthur's words made sense to him. The Titan god Protheus stole fire from Mount Olympus and gave it to humanity in the form of technology, knowledge and, more generally, civilization.
"Then…how is it here?"
Arthur had no answer to Evan's question. But people who may have the answer were approaching fast
From within the temple, four Legendary presences rushed towards them, and sensing this, the two goddesses tensed, readying for battle.
Artemisia reached out, touching both Evan and Arthur's shoulders, using 'Evolve Ally' on them before reinforcing herself and Beatrix as well.
'Blessing of Destruction.'
Evan activated BoD, then slot in so magic stones into the Energem Reclair before activating Limit Break right after.
He couldn't afford to hold anything back against Legendries, so he transford into his Draconic Mode as well.
Just then, four armoured figures burst through the temple doors, their presence igniting cheers from the priests and worshippers around the green flas.
They shouted with fervour, their voices filling the air with the titles of these new arrivals.
Translating their words, Arthur discovered they were called 'Holy Knights'.
The Holy Knights' black armour glead coldly under the morning sun, their weapons etched with silver markings pulsing with divinity.
"Those markings are similar to the ones on Idrilla's clothes…"
Arthur noted the resemblance imdiately. Like Idrilla, these Knights were channelling divinity from an external source through the markings, likely empowering their bodies and weapons with sothing beyond mortal comprehension.
But the question remained—where was this divinity coming from?
"OUTSIDERS WHO HAVE TRESPASSED INTO OUR HOLY LAND OF IKLAQUE! DIEEE!!"
The axe-wielding Knight roared as he and the sword-wielder charged Arthur. anwhile, the spear-wielder lunged at Evan, and the bowman unleashed a flurry of arrows at Artemisia and Beatrix.
The Spear Knight's charge was fast, his spear a blur as he closed the distance to Evan. He channelled divinity through the silver markings woven across his armour and weapon to strike, and Evan t him head-on.
Crimson gold energy surged from Evan's body as he blocked the first series of strikes with his shield, parrying the last attack and then thrusting his sword forward.
'Vortex!'
The spiralling mass of energy hit the Knight point blank, but the man protected himself with law energy, minimising the damage he took before lunging at Evan.
The spearhead moved at blinding speed and Evan, using Ti Difference, dodged, feeling it skim across his face. He then teleported behind the man and used Blade Cannon, knocking him forward before Space Warping to his left and following up with a lightning-infused punch aid at the Knight's exposed side.
The Knight twisted, barely blocking with the spear's shaft, and the clash sent a thunderous shockwave rippling through the ground, scattering loose stone and dust.
He spun his spear, trying to sweep Evan's legs, but Evan jumped and kicked his face, spinning to generate montum and throwing another kick to the side of his head.
This second kick, however, was blocked as the Knight raised his spear, but before he could counter, Evan vanished and appeared at his back.
On instinct, the man thrust his spear behind him, only to pierce empty air as Evan ducked and delivered a low sweeping kick that knocked him off his feet.
The man quickly cast wind magic to regain his balance, barely blocking Evan's destruction essence-coated sword.
The Unforged Vale's blade's edge shimred as it t the Knight's spear, and they locked, strength against strength.
The Knight's strength bore down, but Evan's power held, his stance solid as he pushed back with Shockwave.
Seizing the split-second advantage, Evan drew his left arm forward and punched the Spear shaft with Fracture, his fist colliding with it in a burst of lightning.
The spear vibrated, and the Knight staggered, his stance montarily broken.
Not one to waste an opening, Evan followed with a series of strikes, his sword ablaze with prismatic fire. The flas burned through the Knight's armour, searing the silver etchings and Evan activated Stoneheart's Embrace Pierce guard, stabbing through the opening and petrifying a bit of the man's body.
Evan kicked him in the leg, making him fall to one knee and raised his sword for an overhead strike. Though unbalanced, the spear Knight spear to counter Evan's strike, when suddenly, the Bow Knight who had attacked Artemisia and Beatrix earlier careened into him.
"What the—?"
Evan blinked in shock as his opponent was abruptly smacked out of sight. His gaze followed the tangle of Knights as they collided and he finally understood how Arthur must have felt when he suddenly threw Faldo in his direction yesterday.
Arthur leapt into the air, summoning his sword and filling it with enough energy to intensify its gravity by fifteen tis! He plunge-attacked, aiming at the two knights tangled atop one another.
The Spear Knight, sensing the danger bearing down on him, shoved the Bow Knight aside and rolled away just in ti.
Arthur's sword drove into the Bow Knight's abdon, slicing through armour and flesh before embedding itself deep in the ground beneath her.
The force was imnse; the impact split the earth, crumbing half the hill they were on and toppling rocks and debris down toward Iklaque's streets.
Though critically wounded, the Bow Knight was alive—Arthur had made sure he didn't kill her. He then pulled his sword free and spoke to Evan.
"Finish it, Evan."
Imdiately after saying this, Arthur charged at the Spear Knight, and Evan, not one to reject free EXP placed in front of him, ignited his sword with flas.
"No hard feelings."
He brought the sword down, the flas flaring brightly as it severed her neck cleanly.
[Level Up]
…
[Level Up]
As her head rolled to the ground, Evan kicked off the ground and dashed to join Arthur who was already clashing with the Spear Knight.
A surge of silver light shot from Arthur's sword, sending the Spear Knight spiralling into the air. Arthur teleported behind him, his fist crashing down with the weight of ten tis normal gravity, sending shockwaves through the man's armour.
Evan dashed in, creating a rose of flas on the falling man's jaw and uppercutting him with Fracture.
He then spun, using the montum to drive five more precise punches into the man's stomach, each strike releasing potent electric shocks that surged through the armour, leaving the Knight gasping and his defences crumbling.
As Evan's final blow connected, Arthur's sword found its mark from behind, piercing through the Knight's chest and sliding back out, leaving a ragged wound.
Evan didn't waste a mont—his blade plunged into the open wound, igniting with a fierce blaze.
Flas erupted, engulfing the Knight from within until his upper body exploded, leaving only a charred and bloodied ruin.
By then, Arthur had already turned his attention to the Sword Knight. Without hesitation, he launched a brutal punch that sent the Knight flying back into the city centre, barely able to raise a defence.
Arthur followed up, punching him over and over, with each blow resounding across the desolate streets, sending stone and rubble cascading as Arthur drove the Sword Knight through buildings and walls, leaving Iklaque's cityscape reduced to rubble in his wake.
Leaving Arthur to handle that, Evan turned his focus to his Status Board, wanting to check his EXP from killing two Legendries.
Just as the diaphanous board materialized in his line of sight, an alarm blared in Evan's mind, the urgent warning of his Danger Sense.
Instinctively, he spun around, summoning the Gazebind Aegis, but before he could fully orient himself, the world faded to monochro.
'Ti Sto—!'
**BAAMM!!
The thought shattered as a cataclysmic force collided with his side, the impact resonating through him like thunder.
He felt the sharp crack of his ribs, his body catapulted through the air before crashing violently into a series of buildings, the structure crumbling around him.
Dizziness flooded his senses, and through the haze, he caught the echo of another shout, quickly followed by Beatrix's scream of anguish—she had fallen victim to the sa unseen force that had struck him.
The attack had been an amalgamation of lightning, water, and death law energy. Genuine law energy, aning his attacker had at least been a Level 700.
From the speed they moved and the fact he was barely able to react even in his buffed state, they were at least as strong as Idrilla was—and they had the attack power to match the level unlike her.
Evan's brain couldn't compute all this as the lightning law energy surged through him, its electric tendrils igniting every nerve ending in a searing blaze, while the water wrapped around him like a frigid embrace, seeking to immobilize him.
But it was the malignant death energy mixed within it that truly terrified him. It seeped into his wounds, a creeping darkness that flowed into his veins, overwhelming all his resistances and defences with horrifying ease.
Gasping for breath, Evan forced the words from his throat, each syllable a struggle against the encroaching darkness.
"sarthim: Yellow... PURGE!"
In an instant, vibrant yellow flas erupted around him, consuming the malignant death energy that had seeped into his veins. The flas guzzled his magic power and crackled with life, burning fiercely against the dark corruption.
But the death energy was not so easily defeated. It writhed and contorted, resisting the purifying flas as if imbued with a will of its own.
Despite the yellow fire's fierce attempts to cleanse him, the dark power clawed back, entwining itself deeper into his flesh.
**BOOOMMM!!!
Another explosion rang out in the distance and Evan sensed Artemisia's presence close in on his location.
She pulled him out of the rubble, and when light entered his vision, he saw the scene of Arthur fighting against soone in the sky—a Fifth Legendary they hadn't known about.
"What happened?"
"…That guy just appeared out of nowhere and whacked with sothing. It was like he hit us with a combination of elents and next thing I knew, I was flying through buildings."
Beatrix responded to Artemisia as she tried to get to her feet, only to stumble and collapse again. Glancing down at her legs, she was horrified to see a patch of inky darkness spreading rapidly across her skin, devouring her divinity with an insatiable hunger.
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