Honor

Keita was speechless at the sight.

'They are strong. Too strong...' he thought, as a droplet of sweat fell from his forehead. 'The mage with the book has the strongest Magic Power I ever felt from a human that isn't a Hero and the other two are just a step behind. But that isn't all. These two...' he couldn't describe what he was sensing with words.

The two rapier users surrounding the human mage possessed something that Keita never felt before, even in his memories as Pride. And that was volume of Magic Power. It's strength already felt as strong as a regular person who wasn't a Hero could attain but their mana...

'If my mana is a cup of water, theirs is the sea.' he thought.

"So they are alive." the Mage said.

"Which one of you is Keita Raigon?" the older of the two rapier users asked.

"It can wait. We can talk later." the other rapier user said with a lifeless tone.

"I guess that's true. I will take the Life Hunter. Raijeto, you take the Death Knight. Jona, you'll be alright against the Lich?" he responded.

"If it was a regular Lich I would be fine but this one doesn't seem to be that easy, Kaito." the mage, named Jona said. "You!" he shouted towards Morran. "You are an Elder Lich aren't you?"

Morran didn't respond. With a wave of his hand, the two Undead changed targets and headed towards the magician and the two swordsmen.

"Are you underestimating me?" Raijeto asked.

"What?" Kaito responded with a question.

"You always do this. Whenever there is a strong enemy, you leave me with the scraps. If I have difficulty with this opponent, there is no way Raijeto can defeat him. Isn't that what you are thinking right now?" Raijeto asked with a piercing glare. It seems some kind of fire has lit in his previously lifeless eyes.

"I'm just worried. You are young and-" Kaito tried to explain.

"I am past the age that you have to worry about me. It's about time I start worrying about you." Raijeto interrupted.

"You..." Kaito was speechless for a moment. "We'll talk about this later. Do as I order for now." he said with the tone of a party leader.

"Got it, got it." Raijeto responded. It seems like he wanted to say these things for a long time but kept them bottled up. That was why, he got so heated even though the enemy was right in front of him. After realizing that this was neither the time or the place, he reverted back to his lifeless look and appearance.

"You two stay back, unless you want to get hurt." the older swordsman said. He was referring of course to Keita and Nao.

"Keita..." Nao said in a frustrated voice.

Keita also had a frustrated expression.

"If this keeps going..." Nao continued after noticing Keita's silence.

Keita's and Nao's train of thought changed in an instance. From wondering if they will be saved by the three that came to their aid, their thoughts quickly changed to "Are we going to stand here and let them take all credit?".

It was a very human way of thinking, Keita thought with a slight smile.

"Keita..." Nao repeated.

'It's easy. Just give up your pride and greed and let them fight while we retreat. Easy isn't it?' he thought.

"Keit-" Nao slightly raised his voice as he thought that Keita might not be able to hear him.

"Nao!" Keita screamed. "Boost!"

Nao smiled in response.

"Hell yeah! No way we are going to let them get all the credit after all this! Let's do it!" he shouted.

'This unbearable frustration. This pathetic feeling of being called weak. No more! I'll never forgive myself if I run away. Easy my ass! If I forsake my honor and pride again, I'd rather die.' Keita thought.

He never wanted to feel weak again. He never wanted to run away from his enemies again. He hungered for strength. Strength other than his, as Pride. His hunger couldn't be fulfilled with something like that. He knew now, if he desired such power, he was going to become Pride once again. It wasn't the same. As Pride, his power consumed him and he threw away everything unrelated. But Keita was greedy. Now he desired this power, without throwing away anything. His comrades, his family, Helene. The path of the strong is a lonely path. Who decides that? If that was indeed true, he was going to carve his own path. One that let him hold everything dear to him and led to the peak. After so many years spend as Pride, he was not going to loose them again.

While Keita was opening his eyes to the path he chose, the three humans and the three Undead were about to start fighting.

The two swordsmen activated their Skills. Their feet were enveloped in a white magic power that soon disappeared and their twin blades shone brilliantly. Showing their team name, Shining Sun, wasn't a forgery. The blinding light coming out of their four rapiers truly shined like a sun.

Keita was a bit surprised.

'Is this Heaven's Path?' he thought. He quickly changed his mind though, since Shroud did not produce such light. He quickly got in position and waited for Nao to circle around.

"So this is an Elder Lich." Jona said. He picked up Morran's staff from the ground. "This isn't bad. A high grade Magic Item like this. It will be good for my collection." he put the staff on his back and opened his book. "Now, show me what you can do."

"Impudent human." Morran said and started chanting. "Melron, Arme, Excol, Murn..."

It was a spell Keita did not recognize but at the same time it was strangely familiar. The chant was similar to the one the Demon Lord used to kill him. At the same time, Jona also started preparing his own spell.

"Grand Lighting Beam!"

"True Inferno Ray!"

Morran's lighting and Jona's fire clashed. The two rays seemed to be even, neither of them giving any ground to the other. The explosions and air pressure produced by this exchange was enough to send anyone standing close flying. Thankfully Nao was already in position, behind Morran who was floating on the sky.

'I beg of you, last until I make it.' Keita silently prayed.

"Heaven's Path: Haste." he muttered and dashed towards Nao.

He only needed a small amount. A small amount of mana was all he needed to get close to Nao who was crouched, holding his mess of a shield on top of his head. His magic power reserves were almost completely empty when he arrived in front of him.

Keita stepped on the shield and bend his knees. His injured leg bled with every step on the way and the pain was even greater when he stepped on.

'What of it?' he thought.

Nao pushed his feet as hard as he could and Keita jumped. He flew high in the sky, behind Morran.

"What-" Morran turned around at the sudden realization.

"Die." Keita said in cold and low voice.

With one horizontal slash, he cut the Elder Lich in half. But he didn't stop there. He cut and cut the remains apart, until he was completely sure Morran's core was destroyed. Dozen chunks of meat, fell to the ground before Keita landed on his feet with a grunt full of pain.

'I tried landing on my good leg too...' he thought as his face twisted in pain. But he remained standing. There was one more thing he had to do, but Nao beat him to it.

Nao walked towards Jona, who couldn't hide his confusion. He stopped the Spell as soon as he saw Keita behind Morran as to not hit both of them but he still couldn't understand what happened.

"That." Nao said in a clear and confident voice, pointing his finger at Jona's back. "It doesn't belong to you."

The spoils to the victor. That was the unanimous rule between the Aerch Militia soldiers.

Jona, still in a daze, handed over the staff. Nao looked towards Keita.

"Alright." Keita said, nodding. "Retreat."