Chapter 74: Assassination Attempt [2]

Louis met the barrage with his own Sword and Lance techniques, using all four arms to block and counter. He overwhelmed his opponent with raw power, then drove a brutal kick into the knight’s face. This time he pursued, with a determination on ending him.

“That’s it. I’m going to kill you first, you damn nuisance.”

“Nnngh?!”

The soldier groaned as a gigantic hand of Ashen Frost erupted from beneath his feet, seizing his entire body and beginning to freeze him solid. Louis realized he should have used it from the start but had been uncertain of its range while airborne. Now, with his Stats increased, the reach proved far greater.

“Y-You will die today, Mad Prince!!!”

The elven knight roared in defiance. His Aura exploded outward as three Spirits emerged from his Soul: a small thunder bird, a giant mole bear, and a towering walking tree. The translucent beings poured their power into him, shattering the brittle Ashen Frost and fueling a ferocious counterattack.

Louis evaded the long-range spear strikes that streaked upward like beams of chromatic light. At the same moment, another barrage of arrows rushed toward him, seeking to pierce his body once more.

The Lancer and the Archer had pinned him, but where were the two heavily wounded swordsmen? Louis scanned the battlefield while dodging, spotting them creeping below, slowly charging Sword Energy into their Spirit Swords for a surprise strike from beneath.

Louis smiled coldly. He channeled Void Magic into his fingers and unleashed hundreds of Void Bullets. The explosions disrupted their charge and bombarded them relentlessly. Exhaustion showed clearly on their faces as they were forced to retreat and hide once again.

The prince had no time to pursue them. With the Lancer and Archer pressing their assault without pause, he had to choose which threat to eliminate, leaving the other free to strike his back.

Then an idea struck.

In the heat of battle, Louis did the unthinkable: he dug into the ground.

BOOOM!

With every ounce of strength, using all four claws like a mole, he tore into the earth and vanished underground. The Lancer and Archer froze in confusion, searching the skies and surroundings. They had never expected the proud prince to resort to such an unorthodox tactic. But Louis believed there was honor only in victory, none in defeat and death. No matter the method, he would bring honor to his family by surviving and winning.

“Where is he?!” the Lancer demanded. “Damn it, did he run away?!”

“Underground?” the Archer called from afar. “Unlikely, we should—Ugh?!”

The Archer sensed a powerful presence surging from below. He leaped aside just in time as a pair of silver claws burst from the soil, narrowly missing their mark. A second later and he would have been cleaved in two.

“Run and hide! I’ll face him!” the Lancer shouted. “Now, Prince Louis, prepare to die—Gah?!”

However, to his surprise, another claw burst from below, piercing his left leg and slicing it clean off. The Lancer screamed in raw agony, losing balance and crashing to the ground. Louis surged upward from the earth and struck without mercy! The Lancer panicked but seized his spear. His three spirits cooperated to block the assault, yet the prince slashed them apart with ferocious swings of his blade and pierced them with relentless thrusting spear attacks.

“B-Bastard! Weren’t you somewhere else— Wait, your appearance…!”

The Lancer instantly noticed the change. Louis now looked like his original self except for four arms and those skeletal wings…

That meant the “Louis” chasing the Archer wasn’t the prince at all, but…

“Kuaaaahhh!”

“No!”

The Lancer’s blood ran cold as the Archer’s agonized scream tore through the air. He whipped around to see a grotesque, ghostly creature impaling his ally’s chest, ripping out the still-beating heart, and crushing it in an instant.

“This is what it means to fight a Spiralwalker. You’re never fighting just one person, fool.”

“Tsk!”

The Lancer infused his Aura into the stump of his missing leg, forming an ethereal replacement to stand once more. He gripped his lance tightly and channeled every ounce of his power. At the same time, a Rune on his right hand flared to life, glowing with fierce intensity.

“Summon!”

“Oh no, you won’t!”

Louis lunged forward, piercing the Lancer’s hand just as the summon began, but he was a fraction too late. The Lancer endured the searing pain as a magic circle bloomed beneath Louis. A monstrous creature started to rise! The Lancer smiled with grim pride, brows furrowed.

“I got you, Prince Louis!”

“You!”

Louis swung his sword toward the Lancer’s head, but the knight parried swiftly with his lance and then smashed a fist into Louis’s face, driving him backward, straight into the gaping maw of the summoned Entity. The creature, a colossal frog over five meters tall woven from dark green vines, opened its jaws to reveal an endless abyssal void and swallowed Louis whole before he could react.

“P-Prince Louis?!”

“No!”

Robert and Juliette finally slew the soldier they fought, but both stood on the brink of collapse. Seeing the prince devoured, they charged forward, only for a beam of rainbow light to slam into Robert’s shoulder, tearing away flesh and bone in a brutal chunk. He screamed in torment.

“Guaaaah!”

“R-Robert!”

Juliette rushed to his side as another beam arced toward her back. Her eyes flashed deep crimson. Darkness erupted around her, and her horns lengthened threefold.

“I didn’t want to do this! Demonic Form: Release!”

The power she had suppressed exploded free. Abyssal darkness surged outward, taking the shape of countless howling specters that swallowed the incoming attack and left the Lancer stunned.

“What the…! That’s a Spiritias Demon?!”

“Half-Demon!”

Juliette roared. She conjured dozens of spears of pure darkness and hurled them at the Lancer. He dodged and weaved with desperate speed, then leaped onto his tamed Entity, riding it like a mount.

“We got him, retreat!”

He shouted for the survivors to flee. With the Archer and the Fifth Soldier dead, only he and the twin Swordsmen remained. They bolted, using movement techniques to cut through the farmlands.

“B-Bastards…! They’re taking Lord Louis away!!!” Robert screamed, dragging his bleeding body forward.

“Robert, don’t move!” Juliette urged, using her darkness to crudely seal his wound. She spread wide demonic wings. “I’ll catch them!”

“Juliette…! Just how strong are you?!” Robert gasped. “I had no idea…!”

“I am a maid, but I also serve as an assassin for the government,” Juliette said quietly. “I was an agent assigned to protect Mirai at all costs. I’m sorry for lying about my true origins, but that’s the truth.”

“…!” Robert nodded, finally understanding the secrets she had carried.

FLASH!

Before he could say more, she vanished in a streak of black thunder. She reached the frog-like Entity in an instant; claws charged with concentrated darkness and unleashed a single devastating beam of pure void.

“Demonic Void!”

BOOOM!

“Wha…?!”

“Damn it!”

“Agh!”

The three knights riding the Entity screamed as its upper half detonated. It vomited Louis back out. Without wasting a heartbeat, Louis roared and drove his lance straight through the Lancer’s chest.

“Die, you nuisance!”

“Kuaaaghh?!”

Even with his heart pierced, the Lancer clenched his teeth and thrust his spear upward, crushing half of Louis’s skull and splattering brains across his face. He smiled wickedly, convinced he had at least taken the prince with him.

However…

“That hurt.”

Louis stood alive. Half his head was gone, yet it rapidly regenerated. A strange, eerie hand emerged from his shoulder and healed him completely in seconds.

“W-Wha…! How can you…! Are you Immortal?!”

“Sure, let’s go with that!”

The prince slammed his lance into the ground, shattering the earth in a massive crater as their clashing Auras erupted, scorching the surrounding spiritual herb fields.

“Haaaaahh!”

Even without a heart, the elven knight roared. He absorbed the ambient spiritual energy and gathered every last fragment of strength for one final strike before death claimed him.

“Prince Louis…! You must…! DIE!”

He poured his entire lifeforce, soul, and will into his Spirit Lance. A colossal thrusting beam erupted toward Louis. The prince knew that even with Death Sense, total disintegration would leave nothing for Handy to heal.

Unable to dodge in time, Louis fused every power he possessed. He merged the Ashen Frost Blade into his White Lance, combined the Four Pugilists Arms into a pair of massive metallic limbs, charged them with kinetic energy, and thrust forward with everything he had.

At the same moment, his skeletal wings—formed from the Necromancer’s hand—transformed and enveloped the spear, turning it into a gigantic, ghostly weapon radiating auras of countless powers and elements.

“HAAAAHH!”

Both attacks collided with cataclysmic force. Louis seemed to falter. The Lancer had sacrificed his very life—lifeforce, soul, heart—into this desperate final blow. No ordinary strength could overcome such a sacrifice.

However…

“Turn Despair into Hope!”

With a thunderous roar, his Fantasy Heart pounded wildly, unleashing shockwaves of rainbow light. All his Energies converged into a blazing Aura. Louis channeled that Aura directly into his lance and thrust with unrelenting might. A faint, ghostly silhouette of a colossal dragon materialized, roaring in fury.

At the same instant, the Gravewalker barely reached Louis, not close enough for a rear sneak attack. The Incarnation chose instead to merge with him, granting one final, overwhelming surge of power.

Ashes transformed into radiant light. The Gravewalker, a being of ash, became pure brilliance as he fused with Louis.

And…

“Holy Dragon Lance Style.”

“Third Form!”

“Heavenly Dragon Ascent!”

“ROOOAAARRRR!”

RUMBLE!

A mighty draconic roar thundered from Louis’s Aura. The Gravewalker became an entity of pure light, merging completely and—temporarily—shifting Louis’s form into something resembling a majestic Holy Dragonoid.

Even if only for a fleeting second, Louis tapped deeper into his mother’s inherited Legacy. He channeled every ounce of power he could muster and unleashed a colossal dragon of light. It soared upward, piercing through the Lancer’s attack before its jaws opened wide, engulfing him in eternal, blinding radiance.

“T-This is…! Queen Benladra…?! Please…! I didn’t…! I didn’t know that you were… Aahhh! PLEASE FORGIVE MEEEEEEEE! AAAAAHHHH!”

The Lancer screamed in pure terror as the heavenly dragon devoured him. His body disintegrated instantly into ashes that scattered on the wind, followed by a massive explosion.

BOOOM!

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