Chapter 16: Miracle Maker

"Emerald Creation Magic: Emerald Splash!"

Amidst the rain of deadly emerald shards, Marco maneuvered his body as he dodged any shard that came his way. With his superb multitasking skill he dodged the shards while proceeding to close in on the golem in attempt to deal with it.

Harriet quickly picked up on this, so he quickly casted a spell to block Marco off.

"Emerald Creation Magic: Crystal Cliff!".

Just as Marco approached the golem, a towering cliff wall made of emeralds appeared which blocked his path. He then heard Harriet command his golem, "Feign Golem! Capture the girl!".

Marco saw the golem immediately rush to where Lolopechka and the others are. 'Interesting... is it a sentient construct..?' Marco's thoughts were caught abrupt as another wave of emerald shards rained on him.

With Marco's speed, reflexes, and battle IQ; Harriet couldn't land a hit on him. With his advantage of versatility, he then thought of a way to change the pace of the battle. Seemingly inspired from blocking off Marco, he proceeded to create walls around Marco in order to contain his speed.

"Tch!" When Marco saw this, he was even more pressured as his attention on his Marshall and the others dwindled. He immediately felt the difficulty of dodging increase. Although he could still avoid the flying shards, it required more of his focus.

"This fucker is really full of tricks." Marco muttered in his breath as his frown deepened. Seeing this, Harriet gave a haughty smirk at his opponent. Having no choice but to focus on Harriet, Marco quicky used [Sound Transmission] and informed Marshall of his status quo, indicating that this was his last time contacting them.

While their intense battle continued on the Feign Golem rushed toward Lolopechka. The girl saw this and panicked as she hastily raised her hands attempting to cast a spell without a grimoire, just like Marco does it. But just as she felt the sensation of mana converging, Gadjah made his move.

"Lightning Magic: Tenjiolia!"

Gadjah's grimoire generated a fierce lightning bolt headed toward the golem. Compared to Gadjah's earlier Tenjiolia, this one was more ferocious. He raised his mana output to increase the spell's effectiveness. Consequently half of his mana reserves were drained, making him visibly exhausted.

The fierce lightning bolt struck the golem, which made the golem fall; producing a resounding thud as it's heavy body made contact with the ground.

Gadjah panted heavily as he exchanged looks with Lolopechka gesturing at her to be at ease. After dealing with the golem, they went to Marshall who held Chris and Ali who were severely injured.

"Sir Marshall..." Lolopechka softly called out, as she saw Marshall with a grim countenance. Hearing his name, Marshall looked at Lolopechka and her companion, Gadjah. As he looked at them, Marshall suddenly sobered up.

"Let's go." Marshall suddenly said as he made an iron sled to lay Chris and Ali down. Lolopechka winced, "But...".

"No buts!" This time Marshall's voice was more stern, causing the heart kingdom duo to listen. But seeing the severe state of Chris and Ali, they knew no better than to argue any further. Lolopechka gave one last glance at Marco engaging with Harriet, before nodding and helping Marshall move.

Unfortunately, Harriet saw this as he monitored the movement of his ticket to become a Shining General — Lolopechka.

He let out a cold chuckle, "Where do you think you're going?"

All of sudden, Harriet released large amounts of mana as his grimoire flapped it's pages to cast a spell.

"Emerald Creation Magic: Hollow Prison!"

As soon as he cast his spell, a large enclosure made of emerald appeared. This trapped Marco, Marshall, and the others preventing them from leaving the area.

'Damn it! He's stalling for back up!' As soon as Marco saw this, he immediately assessed Harriet's move. Since they were in a teetering stalemate, Harriet's next move is to have a battle of attrition, in which falls down in his favor. Marco is already quite exhausted, while Harriet still has energy to spare. Marco realized his disadvantage which pressured him to end the fight.

"Let me try something..." Marco muttered in his breath. He then raised his hand — reinforced with mana skin and snapped his fingers.

[Sound Amplification] + [Sound Transmission]

Bang! The sound of Marco's finger snap amplified to a roar of a cannon. Harriet heard this loud bang in his head, making his ears bleed out. Consequently, he was severely stunned by Marco's spell.

Seeing Harriet stunned, Marco immediately rushed toward him as he pulled back his fist in preparation for his punch.

They then made contact, when Harriet flew back from Marco's punch. He landed far away in field of debris, his chest caving in as he spat out blood.

"Haha... hell yes! I... actually did!" Marco panted heavily due to simultaneously casting spells. He felt extremely exhausted as he experienced a headache that can kill an average person.

"Argh!" Marco clutched his head in pain. The pain faded a couple faded a couple seconds later after unconsciously implementing his mana breathing technique. After he recovered, he gazed at Harriet's unconscious form.

"Shit I'm getting dizzy... I'm too tired for this." After accomplishing yet another prodigious feat, Marco immediately headed to support Marshall and the group. He didn't spare anymore more of his remaining energy on the unconscious Harriet.

"Hey guys... sorry for the wait." Marco said while heaving deep breathes as he recovers his stamina.

"Yeah..." Marshall nodded with relief, seeing that Marco was doing fine. While Lolopechka gave a sheepish smile to Marco. Seeing Lolopechka like that, Marco's eyes drifted to Chris and Ali's figure.

The hole in their torso was covered with an iron plate that was fused to their skin. Marco assumed that the iron plate was hot in order to burn the flesh and prevent bleeding. This was then covered with a makeshift bandage using Mage Warrior robes.

Marco's expression turned dark, 'They are really pale... the blood lost is already at a critical amount. We need a healer ASAP!'.

Gritting his teeth, Marco wasted no time as he immediately went up to the wall that formed the Hollow Prison spell.

Marco easily made the wall crumble with the skills he acquired. After seeing Marco's feat of destroying a large wall made of pure emerald, the group couldn't help but be in awe yet again.

"Let's move!" Marco screamed when he saw his companions pause for a while. They were couldn't spare another moment here because of the possible Mage Warrior reinforcements.

They soon got out of the enclosure, making them officially outside of the outpost. They were now free, but still at the risk of getting caught.

"We're finally out!" Lolopechka exclaimed as she grinned at Gadjah, then Marco and the group. The joyful event was short-lived when Marco heard clattering noises from behind.

"Don't tell me...!" Marco immediately snapped his head towards the noise, when he saw – what seems to be his greatest nightmare.

"Ugh..." Marco's face contorted with disgust as he saw that Harriet was standing and glaring at him. Compared to his noble impression earlier, his clothes are now disheveled, with his face covered with blood and dust.

"Go now!" Seeing their biggest threat still standing, they immediately moved lest Harriet cast another Hollow Prison.

'This guy... how is he still standing? Judging from his breathing and heartbeat earlier he should be unconscious. No way his recovery is that top notch! Wait... that emerald on his neck!' Marco analyzed Harriet's figure in bewilderment, when he noticed an egg shaped emerald crystal on his neck.

'That's... his Healing Crystal!' Upon realizing the cause, Marco was truly disgusted with Harriet's all-rounded capabilities.

Harriet's eyes was filled rage and murderous intent as he stared at Marco's figure. "Enough of this charade..." Harriet's raspy voice rang out. He reached out his hand in preparation to cast a spell. His grimoire continuously flipped it's pages.

"Emerald Creation Magic: Imperial Judgement!"

Just above Harriet, was a gargantuan chunk of emerald. It's size can easily overshadow an average mansion. With it's size it can easily crush Marco and his group. Clouded with rage he forgot about Lolopechka, but focused on the main contributor to his downfall — Marco.

"Die!!" Harriet controlled the spell and projected it toward Marco's location. His eyes watched in excitement as the gargantuan chunk of emerald flew toward Marco and the group.

Without any words they immediately ran away from Harriet's attack. Unfortunately, due to the size of the emerald they can't escape in time.

"Leave this to me." Sighing helplessly, Marco quickly took action. Marshall has low mana reserves and can't cast anymore spells besides that, he is carrying Chris and Ali. Lolopechka on the other hand, wanted to help but was stopped by Gadjah, which she unwillingly followed.

"Let me support you Sir Marco." Gadjah said, earning grateful looks from Lolopechka and Marshall.

With his remaining mana, Gadjah released it all into his signature Tenjiolia!

Boom! This ferocious lightning exploded as it came into contact with the emerald chunk. Soon it was revealed to be unbroken by the lightning bolt.

Gadjah frowned when he saw this, but still kept his hopes at Marco. After all, in his eyes Marco was their miracle maker. Gadjah then saw Marco rush to meet with the hurling chunk of emerald.

'This is it... My experimental technique, mixed with my special mana skin and martial arts. I've been working on this for the past year.' Marco said as he changed his form. He put his hands parallel above each other, as he focused every fiber of muscle in his body.

"Take this! Rokuogan: Palm Variation!" Marco unleashed his technique as soon as the gargantuan emerald chunk got in his range.

Crash!

Cracks appeared on the emerald chunk when Marco made contact with it. With the desperate attacks of Gadjah and Marco, the emerald chunk soon shattered.

'Aargh!!' Marco gritted his teeth as he screamed internally in pain. The force behind the massive emerald chunk still took effect on him, there was also his emulation of Rokuogan that took a toll on his body. He could feel the muscles in his shoulder tear as it couldn't bear the force of the attack.

'Well... although they're bruised, I can still use it.' Marco thought as he looked at his arms, filled with red marks as the capillaries burst as sequelae from the attack.

Finally, the smoke cleared revealing Marco's injured form. But as soon as Harriet saw his opponent still standing after taking his attack, made something click inside him.

'W-what the... h-he...' Harriet stammered as he gazed at Marco, the one that drove him to his current state. Compared to his earlier rage, he was now calmer but something else accompanied his blooming rationality.

Fear. After thinking about their fight, he actually felt something was off halfway through their act. It was that...

'H-he doesn't have a grimoire!' it was just until now that Harriet felt immense dread. Because of his earlier conceitedness he didn't notice Marco's lacking grimoire, but now he finally realized how dangerous Marco was, and his potential to be Diamond Kingdom's threat.

Losing the will to fight Marco, his body fell down to his knees as he also felt severely exhausted. 'I... I can't stop him anymore... I don't have any mana left for another round. I just have enough to supply my healing crystal.' Harriet thought to himself as he prioritized healing his injuries.

As soon as Marco saw Harriet lose the will to fight, he heaved a sigh as he turned around to see Gadjah's exhausted figure approaching him.

"Sir Marco...!" Gadjah gave a Marco an appraising look to see the aftermath of the attack.

Marco nodded at Gadjah assuring him that, he was all right. He finally walked back toward Marshall's group along with Gadjah. "Let's move!" Marco said to Marshall to which he nodded.

"You need help?" Marco said as he gazed at Chris and Ali. "No need, you don't have to push yourself." Marshall shook his head and gave him a guilty look as he saw Marco's battered state; specially his arms that is covered in bruises.

"Don't worry I can handle it. Besides, we have to return home quickly before Diamond Kingdom forces get here." Marco said as he carried Ali to his shoulders. He then ran off into the distance, with his heavy footsteps his left prints on the ground.

"Marco is really strong..." Lolopechka muttered. Marshall patted her shoulder and said, "Yeah, he really is built different.". He then proceeded to head down Marco's direction.

Seeing Lolopechka lost in thought as she stared into the distance where Marco took off, Gadjah approached her, but before he could say anything Lolopechka suddenly looked at him and spoke, "Sir Gadjah, I will also become strong. Strong to carry everyone I love."

As he heard the budding leader of their kingdom, he saw her resolute eyes shine, giving her a new profound look that was not seen in the average child her age.

Gadjah smiled when saw this, "Today was quite an eye-opening experience for me as well my lady. Sir Marco made me see the extent of human capabilities." Gadjah couldn't help but recall how Marco used his body earlier in shattering the gargantuan attack, how he fights, and how he freed shattered their jail cell.

With that, Gadjah carried Lolopechka although she was quite reluctant to be carried, but still complied. They then headed off to the distance and followed Marco's tracks.