Chapter 334 - Battle Maniacs.

Another participant died somewhere in the midst of the fight of others.

Ozul was completely unconcerned about the announcement. He wouldn't have had to work so hard if he had stopped to think about it. It wasn't difficult to keep fighting until the other five people died.

All he could think about right now was defeating the Sovereign!

He was enjoying the fight more than he thought he would.

Ozul never thought himself to enjoy a fight, and he never did. However, it had become one of the very few things in which he could let himself out.

He had voluntarily run towards the Sovereign so the fight would be far away from Raven and Blaze. Protecting them while fighting her would have been impossible. Now, however, he was feeling something.

'I want to win...'

He had also realized it. He wanted to win the fight!

The Sovereign was the perfect match; maybe even stronger than him. But that was all the more reason he wanted to win.

Since his birth, there hadn't been many things he could win right away. He had to wait decades before he could be whole again. He was extremely patient with everything. But now he had a challenge in front of him that he could actually win without having to wait so long and still feel so empty.

The desire to win was fueled by more than simple curiosity. He had to find out what was on the other end now.

. . .

Back to Raven and Blaze, their roles kept switching back and forth.

They slowly tried to move out of the middle area, but there was no end to people attacking from left and right.

"They won't stop for a minute if I just yell at them, would they?!" Blaze shouted as he shielded an attack aimed at Zier.

"You can try."

It was faint, but amidst all the explosions left and right, he could still hear Raven's reply.

"Tch!" glancing at Zier who was continuously cursing, Blaze shook his head, "If it could, it would've already worked by now..."

"Figures," Raven dodged an arm coated with ice before her dagger swiped towards the arm.

The ice shattered instantly, but it gave enough time for the man to move away. Unfortunately, Raven was a little faster. Although she couldn't cut his hand, the dagger still grazed past the skin, leaving a deep wound.

Blood gushed from the man's hand as Raven felt the stamina and Mana seeping into her from the dagger. 

At the same time, the man felt himself getting weaker. The horrified look in his eyes made it apparent that he noticed what had just occurred.

The implications of this simple fact made him take a step back, but that was his biggest mistake.

"If shouting isn't working, we just have to join them..." Raven muttered as another dagger stabbed right into the heart from behind. Instant death.

-4 left-

"Oh well... My hands are tied right now. If I go all out, there is no guarantee this 'squirrel' stays alive," Blaze said as he witnessed the clean kill.

He then continued to deal with two guys at once before he jumped and landed in front of Zier. Looking straight into his eyes, he spoke with an annoyed expression, "Just why did you have to save us?"

Meanwhile, Zier kept thanking God for the day he decided to stick with that strange quiet man and these guys.

There was no telling if he would still be alive if he hadn't gotten involved with them.

Currently, he was trying his best to avoid any attack but he was failing miserably. Despite his trump card, this was the situation he would have no chance of escaping if it wasn't for Blaze and Raven protecting him from all four sides.

'If I live to see another day, I promise I will not forget your kindness.' Zier thought with watery eyes.

At the same time, Blaze managed to find an opening and finally had the chance to attack.

It was a direct hit!

-3 left-

The whisper made everyone feel hopeful.

Those struggling in a fight felt like they only had to hold on for just a couple more minutes.

As the weakest man here, Zier heaved a sigh of relief. There were still a couple of people fighting around him but it had gotten better than before. He had it easier to look out for sneak attacks.

Even Raven and Blaze barely had to look out for anyone coming after them. The other man fighting Blaze ran away as fast as he could when he saw the fate of his friend.

Just when the duo thought they could have room to breathe, a shout came from the back.

"There you are!" the tall man shouted with his lungs out.

He was Berk who had been wanting to go for either Blaze or Raven all this while but only now had the chance to do so. 

"Looks like someone you know," Raven said with a straight face before she jumped back to Zier's side.

From the looks of it, the man rushing in was probably some hot-headed idiot who wanted to prove his strength by defeating them. She would rather have Blaze deal with this.

As he ran, Berk's whole body was consumed in flames, threatening to hit Blaze like a giant fireball.

Responding quickly, Blaze first seemingly surrounded himself in a wall of ice.

Just before Berk hit the wall, the heat was already enough to start melting it. As he made contact, a loud explosion occurred, blasting the whole wall down.

Under the smokescreen of the debris, Berk didn't know whether he was successful in hitting Blaze or not. Just as he was wondering, a cold feeling emerged from behind his neck.

And even though Berk always considered himself fast in reaction, he was a tad bit too late.

"Ah! Fuck!" he instinctively cursed.

Blood gushed from the side of his shoulder. He was able to save his head but in the end, wasn't fast enough.

Even though he hadn't missed, Blaze still looked a little shocked.

'That Mana clearly belongs to a Middle-Stage Rank-8 Mage; he shouldn't have been able to sense it before his head went flying,' he thought in his mind before quickly creating a distance between them.

"Seems like you have a lot of experience in fighting," he complimented Berk while staring at him.

The attack which would have usually destroyed a giant boulder could only leave a cut on his shoulder. 'If those are not pills, he is most likely above Rank-8 as a Fighter,' he figured.

"Heh, and here I thought this would be easy. Though it's better this way. It wouldn't have been fun otherwise!" Berk shouted before a yellow-ish aura enveloped the fire around him.

Blaze looked quite curious as waited patiently, letting Berk do whatever he was doing.

Strands of fire tried struggling out of the aura, but the efforts were futile. Before anyone could comprehend how that aura had appeared, it started shrinking!

Wrapping itself around Berk's body, it solidified into a golden armor!

From his original wild appearance, he now looked like a dignified army general. The golden armor covered all the vital parts of his body. Even the air around him seemingly changed directions. Appearances aside, he felt like a completely different person.

"Ancestor! If you are watching, forgive me. But how long would we hide this?! Isn't it the perfect time to show everyone who the LEONARD DYNASTY IS!?"

He spread his arm in the air, his roar overshadowing everything except for the battle between Ozul and the Sovereign.

Ripples of Mana spread out with him at the center!

The temperature instantly soared. A burning desert may have been a better place than around him right now.

Berk moved his gaze down, locking his eyes with Blaze, "You shall be the first outsider to feel the wrath of our Armor of Heavens!"

The savage smile plastered on his face contrasted the exalting bearings of the armor. He currently looked just like the man any mother would warn her children about.

"That..." Raven stared at Berk and muttered to herself. That smile was so familiar, she had seen it before-

"haha..." a laugh came from the opposite end, attracting all eyes previously staring fearfully at Berk.

"Of course," Raven sighed with realization. How could she forget?

A smile no less ferocious Berk's.

Complimenting that wild look was the freezing air around Blaze. Spikes of ice emerged all around him.

It felt as if an Ice Spirit King had shown himself on mortal land! Even the Element of Ice itself seemingly created a throne around him!

"Oh, how long have I been waiting for something like this?!"

With Blaze's shout, the temperature dropped sharply and it had created a phenomenon one could never hope to find in nature! On one side, the land barely withstood the heat and held itself together from melting, while on the other side, even the air was turning into ice crystals!

The clash of two elements was visible to even someone like Zier who was only a Fighter. All he could do at the moment was stare, mouth agape, at these two savages who craved nothing more than a bloody battle.

There was no doubt about it. Both belonged to the same strange breed of humans who enjoyed nothing more than fighting and dominating their opponents on any battlefield!

The two didn't wait another second before shooting towards each other like falling stars.

*BOOM!*

"AGH! GHAHAHA!"

"HAA! THERE IT IS!!"

'I should have known better...' 

Raven sighed as she listened to the two crazy laughs resounding all over the hill.

Though debris obscured her view of what was going on, she and everyone else could be certain of one thing.... These two battle freaks were already having the time of their lives!