Always be prepared.

Seeing the windblades coming at him, Ashur rapidly jumped back to avoid them. But when he did, he quickly noticed that they changed course also.

Seeing that there was no way to avoid them, Ashur silently raised his sword in a flash and used it to slash at the incoming blades, but they were like a storm.

Ashur had quickly slashed 4 or 5 windblades in the blink of an eye. But as he did so, he had also noticed that the amount of blades had only grown in number, as more than double the amount of blades than previous, was now quickly rushing at him.

Seeing that the confrontation couldn't be avoided, the black-haired Ashur's red eyes seemed to glow brighter, and for a brief second, a cracked world suddenly opened up before his eyes as Ashur's sword suddenly blurred.

More than half of the wind blades suddenly shattered in an instant.

Aliceia was shocked when she saw this. She had suddenly lost control over half of her remaining windblades in an instant.

Just what did he do?

But her shock only continued for a second before she quickly regained her focus.

She then expertly controlled her remaining wind blades as she quickly continued her attack.

One. two.

Ashur slashed at the oncoming windblades with his sword. But as he did so, as his sword contacted the third windblade, it suddenly shattered. Seemingly unable to hold up against the onslaught of windblades any longer. Surprising him as he quickly dodged to the side to avoid the torrent of windblades by a hair's breadth

The black-haired Ashur was silent for a second before he turned to look toward's Aliceia. Silently muttering "Annoying" as his figure blurred, as he suddenly disappeared.

------

"I'm glad that I chanted healing magic beforehand"

Carlem said in strained breaths as he held his bleeding chest as a turquoise light started to glow from the wound, slowing down the gushing blood from his chest.

He was a cautious person, and liked to prepare for any possibilities beforehand, and rather than attack magic to attack the enemy, he would rather cast healing magic. As he felt that it would be better to rather cast healing magic when facing an enemy with unknown abilities than attacking with attack magic.

There were a few reasons why he stuck to this philosophy. One of which, was that there were higher chances of something going wrong if you blindly run into things.

Especially with attack magic. If you lose focus for even one second, you could risk having that magic backfire at you, but with support magics, the risk was much lower.

And it was not like his healing magic would go to waste anyways if he did not use it on himself, as he could heal either Seph or Atures, which could potentially be more helpful than using attack magic in certain situations. And thankfully, his cautiousness managed to be paid off.

Nevertheless, he didn't really expect to be suddenly impaled straight through the chest in a blink of an eye, that much was for sure. As he was still quite in shock.

Carlem calmly took out a handkerchief to wipe the blood spatter off his glasses as he watched the scene of Ashur swiftly avoiding Aliceia's wind blades while also slashing at them with his sword.

"Hm?"

But as Carlem watched, Carlem saw a scene that with forever stay in his mind

Ashur's eyes seem to start to glow a bright red as Ashur's sword blurred, and in the next second, more than half of the windblades suddenly shattered. Shocking Carlem.

But it seemed that such a move from Ashur didn't have consequences, as Carlem noticed that Ashur's sword seemed to be full of cracks across it, and just like Carlem expected, in only a few swings later from Ashur, it completely shattered.'

It was expected, as he already noticed that it was just a common sword that anyone could buy, and there was no way it could handle slashing through magic like that, and he was surprised it lasted this long.

But as Carlem watched further, there was a scene that managed to shock him even further, as the next second, Ashur suddenly vanished from where he stood.

"Teleportation?"

How was he able to disappear in the blink of an eye?

Carlem could only wonder.

Carlem didn't know what to think.

But someone else who was watching might be able to solve Carlem's confusion. As Atures who was not far away from him on the ground saw it.

In an instant, just before Ashur disappeared, he saw Ashur lightly step on the ground, before suddenly exploding with force at a speed which someone without enhanced senses would be unable to track or react.

Atures's eyes couldn't help but have his eyes sparkle as he saw it.

'I Want it!'

Atures silently shouted in his mind.

But as the two of them wondered where Ashur suddenly disappeared to, they heard pained gasps, and their eyes instantly traveled to the direction of the sound.

Suspended high up into the air, Aliceia was clawing at her neck as she tried to gasp for air while Ashur stood before her with his hand outstretched as an invisible force held her up into the air and threatened to crush her windpipe.

"HeHehahahaha"

The black-haired Ashur joyfully laughed as he tightened his grip. Causing her to scratch at her throat faster as the skin of her neck started to bleed because of her nails, as she flailed her legs. Attempting to break free from whatever was choking her.

As Carlem watched this scene, although not fully healed, had no choice as he suddenly grabbed his sword before leaping at Ashur.

The black-haired Ashur quickly took notice as Carlem swiftly approached, and a small smile spread on his lips as his grip tightened. Causing Carlem to panic a bit as he saw Aliceia stop clawing at her neck as she suddenly went limp.

But Carlem didn't let his panic get the better of him, as he calmed himself and rushed forward. He needed absolute focus if he wanted to stand a chance.

The black-haired Ashur noticed the fast-approaching Carlem, and smiled as he slowly raised his grip before slamming Aliceia hard against the arena wall.

As Carlem, who was a few feet away from him at this point, pierced forward with his sword. A small smirk seemed to spread upon the black-haired Ashur's lips as he quickly turned towards Carlem with his hand raised.

But as soon as the black-haired Ashur's grin appeared, it also disappeared, as Castien, who Ashur thought was knocked out against the arena wall, suddenly appeared behind him as he also pierced out with his sword. Blocking Ashur's area of movement, and pinning him between the two swords.

Castien's appearance behind Ashur was naturally not a coincidence, but due to Carlem's careful planning.

He had already noticed earlier that Castien had woken up long ago but pretended to be knocked out, and while he was busy healing his wounds, he flashed a secret signal to Castien to attack together and catch him off guard. A tactic Carlem developed.

If it was anyone but Castien, such a tactic probably wouldn't work, as Atures would just jump back into the fight as soon as he woke up, and Seph was too prideful to play dead. While Aliceia wouldn't be able to make sudden movements like the others due to being a mage. although he did have surprise tactics developed for her, most of them would be useless in this fight.

Carlem had always been pretty good at reading facial expressions, and noticed since the beginning, that the black-haired Ashur's emotions always seemed to show on his face. That's why he had thought he was easy to read, and based his tactics around this.

But as their swords closed in, the black-haired Ashur suddenly flashed a toothy grin, and Carlem instantly felt something was wrong.

Shit!

It was at that moment that Carlem knew that he was lured into a trap.

Carlem wanted to shout 'Avoid it!' but it was too late.

Massive amounts of red lightning suddenly started to gather into Ashur's hands, and in a fraction of a second, Ashur suddenly twisted his body and slid through the narrow gap between the two swords which wasn't even a half a foot apart from each other. But with his small and thin body, he managed to barely do so with only a small cut on either side.

Both of his arms held massive amounts of swirling red electricity and each arm was extended and aimed at both of their chests as they closed in.

Suddenly, as Carlem and Castien closed in on the swirling lightning in his hands, the black-haired Ashur seemed to sense something, and his head darted straight up into the air.

And to his surprise, he saw Atures with his giant sword, swinging straight down at him.