“Y-You…” Albert’s eyes widened in surprise.

 

A man in front of him was the one he knew very well. He’d actually seen him on multiple occasions, and even got trained by him.

 

“What are you doing here? Why are you defending the demon?” Albert asked in a hard tone.

 

He backed off and continued looking at the man in front of him. “Why? Just why?”

 

His whole body was shaking as he muttered the name of the man—

 

“Lord Arthur…”

 

The man, Lord Arthur, didn’t respond. He turned around toward the demon and said in a whispery voice, “Now, go to sleep. Ruby.”

 

He extended his hand toward the demon. A gentle black aura came out of his hand and went toward the demon’s face.

 

The demon's eyes slowly closed as all the veins and the violent aura around her body disappeared.

 

Her body fell forward and Lord Arthur supported her. He then snapped his finger and the demon suddenly disappeared.

 

Albert’s eyes widened upon seeing this.

 

“W-Why are you doing this? Why are you saving that demon? Please answer me!” Albert yelled out.

 

Right now, his mind was in total turmoil. 

 

Why did Lord Arthur defend the demon? Why did he involve himself in this? Why did he save her? Why did he…

 

Questions upon questions started appearing in Albert’s head, but he couldn’t find the answers. He could only keep asking Lord Arthur, but he just didn’t respond.

 

‘Wait, could it be?’

 

Albert suddenly realized something and his eyes went wide open!

 

“D-Don’t tell me… Y-You…” Albert stuttered. 

 

He didn’t want to believe it, but all this seemed possible to him. All the pieces of puzzles seemed to fall right into place, if what he thought was the case.

 

“Lord Arth- No, Arthur. Were you the one who brought that demon here?” Albert asked in a cold tone as he furrowed his brows.

 

“….”

 

Still no response. Arthur just kept looking at Albert emotionlessly with his sword in his hand.

 

‘So he neither denies nor confirms it. I see…’ 

 

Albert now had a bitter expression on his face. He felt heartbroken by this turn of events.

 

He respected Lord Arthur and looked up to him as his teacher. But now, he had become his enemy.

 

No, not just him. He had become humanity's enemy.

 

Just…. 

 

‘Why, teach?’ He wanted to ask that but he didn’t. 

 

He knew that Lord Arthur probably wouldn’t answer him no matter what.

 

‘So it all comes down to this, huh?’ 

 

Albert gripped his sword tightly as a light of determination appeared in his eyes. He got into a slashing-stance once again.

 

‘Let’s settle this, teach.’

 

Albert lashed forward and slashed his sword horizontally!

 

*clang!*

 

Arthur blocked his sword and parried it away casually.

 

Albert almost lost his grip on his sword by that, and it seemed like Arthur didn’t even try!

 

Albert backed off and lashed forward again! He slashed diagonally this time, but the sword got parried just like the last time.

 

Albert backed off again, creating some distance.

 

‘I can’t beat him in terms of strength. Alright then, how ‘bout this!’

 

Albert lashed at Arthur and swung his sword. Arthur was about to parry his sword just like the last time, but Albert suddenly disappeared out of sigh!

 

He reappeared behind Arthur and slashed his sword downward!

 

*clang!*

 

Arthur just sidestepped and casually parried the sword away. 

 

Albert lost his balance for a second, then he backed off and clicked his tongue. He then activated his next skill.

 

[Advance Body Strengthening]!

 

A blindingly bright light exploded out around Albert's body. It was so bright that it completely turned all the surroundings into white color for a split second!

 

Then, the light faded as it slowly absorbed into Albert’s body. Once the blinding light subsided, what remained was Albert whose entire body seemed to turn translucent!

 

He now looked just like a spirit!

 

His body blurred and disappeared. Then. He reappeared before Arthur with his sword slashing downward at the speed faster than before!

 

Arthur parried his sword just like last time, but this time, Albert didn’t lose his grip and balance. He instantly continued his attack!

 

*clang!* *clang!* *clang!* *clang!* *clang!*

 

The metallic sound rang out constantly as the two kept clashing swords. Each clash sent sparks flying everywhere as the clash was too intent!

 

Albert kept disappearing and reappearing here and there while Arthur stood still in his place and continued clashing fiercely!

 

It was so fast. So intense. With sparks flying in the background.

 

They seemed to be in a stalemate as both of them kept clashing their swords.

 

Though, Albert knew full well that Arthur didn’t even use his real strength yet. He was just casually deflecting all of his attacks.

 

Albert felt frustrated and admiration for Arthur at the same time. Although Arthur was now his enemy, he was still his teacher.

 

Time seemed to fly really fast for Albert as he started to enjoy the fight more and more.

 

‘No! I need to focus on my objective!’ Albert shook his head mentally to clear away all his thoughts.

 

He backed off and got into another sword-stance. He then activated his ultimate skill—

 

[Light Sword Series: Constellations Sword Strike]!

 

The golden light on the sword pulsed like a heartbeat. Albert lashed forward with full speed, followed by a shockwave behind him!

 

Once he got into the attacking range, he started each strike.

 

Sagittarius! 

 

He drew his sword in the pattern of the Sagittarius star's position. An image of a centaur pulling back a bow appeared in the air and shone with a golden light.

 

Then it shot toward Arthur fiercely!

 

Arthur swiftly deflected the strike at fast speed. That strike contained multiple hits within. 

 

He needed to deflect each hit to dispel the attack!

 

Capricorn!

 

Constantly, Albert drew his sword into the Capricorn star’s position . An image of a sea goat appeared in the air and came clashing toward Arthur again!

 

Arthur quickly deflected each hit and dispelled the strike. Sparks went flying everywhere as his sword clashed with the strike.

 

Then came another one; Aquarius: the water-bearer, Pisces: the fish, Aries: the ram, Taurus: the bull, Gemini: the twin, Cancer: the crab, Leo: the lion, Virgo: the maiden, Libra: the scales, and Scorpio: the scorpion.

 

Each strike came rushing toward Arthur one after another constantly. And the speed got even faster with each strike!

 

Albert kept drawing each image in the air with his sword. Each of them represented a star position and completed into a total of 12 zodiac signs.

 

Arthur kept deflecting each strike non-stop as he began to lose his bearing. The sound of electricity and wind blast rang out here and there as sparks went flying everywhere!

 

Though Albert didn’t notice as in that split second, Arhur’s eyes turned blood red with his pupils turned into purple diamond shaves. It glowed in purple light and kept pulsating for a few seconds, until it subsided.

 

Slowly, Arhur got pushed back at around the fifth strike. He finally moved from his spot and continued dodging and deflecting the strikes.

 

But the more he kept facing the strikes, the more he got pushed back. He even ended up receiving injuries here and there.

 

It was extremely painful, as each hit contained a light magic element in it. Though, Arthur’s injuries healed almost instantly with the power of the pendant.

 

But, he still kept receiving injuries after injuries as each strike went by. Arthur continued backing off and decided to cast his defensive spell—

 

[Dark Element Super Defensive Spell: Aegis]!

 

Dark aura gathered in front of Arthur and formed into a huge round shield with the head of a Gorgon in the center.

 

The strikes clashed with the shield and got reduced into tiny bits of sparks that went flying everywhere!

 

The shield kept receiving each strike head-on and nullified all of it!

 

Though, when the last strike came, the shield couldn’t stand any longer and exploded into tiny black sparks.

 

Albert’s eyes widened in surprise upon seeing this. 

 

He knew that his teacher was strong, but to be able to go up against his ultimate skill head-on and come out unscratched was still….

 

No, he didn’t actually come out unscratched as he still had injuries on his body here and there. Though, they all seemed to recover at a rapid pace.

 

Albert didn’t know what to say about this.

 

He gritted his teeth and went into another stance again. Though, his body was shaking due to using his ultimate skill. It took a heavy toll on his body.

 

But, the next thing Arthur did sent shivers down Albert’s spine as he was shocked to his core…

 

Arthur got into a sword-stance which looked kind of familiar to Albert. 

 

Then, with his deep cold voice he muttered the skill’s name—

 

“[Constellations Sword Strike]”