While Oscar and the others fought the swarm with all they had, Celestina struggled and fought with all she could against Doyle. But this masked man was a Greater Elite Exalt. Even though he was only a grade three, he overwhelmed Celestina with his Greater Elite Exalt Ein.

'Radiant Lance' 'Dragon's Breath'

Her dragon anima opened its mouth to unleash a bright light that illuminated its surroundings. The light shot out like a beam to Doyle.

On the other side, a large lance flew through the air.

Doyle grinned under his mask and brought up his 'Hands of Darkness' that was still active. He spread his arms to defend against both attacks.

The light beam and lance clashed against these shadowy hands. They struggled and burned brightly for a moment, but it was no use. They shattered apart and were sucked into Doyle's spell.

His 'Hands of Darkness' grew larger, similar to the size of bear claws. They began to pulsate as if they were waiting for something. Above him, his scourging whip anima was flailing around.

CLANG

The scourging whip moved fast and swung out forward. Its metallic beads converged together and collided against the sharp tip of a rapier.

"How naive. That was an obvious diversion. That may work on other students, but I'm far more experienced than you." Doyle's Ein burst out as the pulsating of his 'Hands of Darkness' increased rapidly.

Celestina sensed the encroaching darkness and immediately backed out. The scourging whip tried to grab onto her but failed.

"It's still too late for you." Doyle opened his hands wide and clapped them together. The darkness separated from his hands into large foggy dark hands. The 'Hands of Darkness' became bigger to the size of multiple persons and swung from both sides.

They came in fast to clap their hands together, with Celestina being the one squished in between.

Celestina cursed, seeing the large shadowy hands trying to envelop her in darkness. She recalled her dragon anima, and they unleashed their attacks onto the hands.

"They're not getting bigger!" Celestina noticed that these hands did not have the odd quality of absorbing her attacks.

'Hexagon Mirror'

Celestina set up four 'Hexagon Mirror' walls. Two on each side. Beyond this barrier of light, there was only darkness.

In the front, Doyle was standing at a distance, his eyes in a mocking gaze.

'Light Barrage'

The many twisting beams of light shot out like a flurry of arrows to deter the 'Hands of Darkness'. But the Ein within the hands were immense and easily destroyed the 'Light Barrage'.

"You're right in thinking of breaking apart my hands. Once they shoot out, they lose the ability to absorb, but it contains my Ein and all the Ein from your attacks." Doyle laughed in pleasure. "Ah, to be hit by your own corrupted Ein. That's beautiful."

CRACK

Her mirrors were breaking. Celestina knew they would not hold on.

"All or nothing!"

Celestina rode her dragon anima, and they flew out toward one of the hands. She focused so much Ein into her 'Radiant Lance'. Instead of shooting it out, she kept it on her rapier.

Her dragon let loose a beam as it kept flying closer.

With a resolute shout, she stabbed her rapier, fused with the 'Radiant Lance'.

The ground shattered as a vortex of light and dark blew apart anything around it. It finally settled down as Celestina and her dragon anima pierced through.

She looked weary, and her hair was unkempt. In that moment of collision, she was still hit by the heavy impact of the 'Hands of Darkness'. Her Ein burned brightly to remove the traces of darkness lingering on her.

However, she spat out blood that dyed the ground red. Her dragon anima was also cracking; some scales fell off.

"Beauty, do you not see the difference in power between us? Why not just give in? I promise I won't make it hurt that bad." Doyle swung around his scourging whip anima playfully.

Celestina did not respond to this deranged man's words. Instead, she brandished her rapier forward. Her feet stomped on the ground powerfully.

Her hair was disheveled, and her breathing was heavy, but her stance was firm as her legs planted on the ground.

The scene of this defiant beauty struggling struck a chord with Doyle. He began to quiver and shake in ecstasy.

"You're the best! I'm in love! I need your head!" Doyle yelled maniacally. Suddenly he disappeared, much to Celestina's shock.

'Grade Two Shadow Blink'

Doyle's movement spell was ideal for disappearing in short distances. It was like fading into darkness and reappearing elsewhere. The secret was moving in the shadows under his feet.

Celestina swung her rapier to block Doyle, but his scourging whip was a tricky weapon. The tips swung around her rapier and lashed at her arm.

Her eyes widened from the pain. These scourging whips were specialized torture tools to maximize the victim's suffering; even she felt the acute pain.

Doyle whipped his scourging whip back, tearing out some flesh from Celestina's arm to create a small fountain of blood.

'Light Barrage'

Celestina used this spell to distract Doyle while gaining some distance. She clenched her gashed arm while breathing heavily.

"Geez, you could scream a little. It's no fun without any screams." Doyle looked unamused at Celestina's silence. "But I suppose that makes it more fun for later."

Celestina tightened her guard, awaiting Doyle's next move. However, she was soon stumped.

'What is he doing?'

Doyle became silent, and the aura around him was no longer playful or sadistic. There was only cold cruelty that made her shudder. It was like he became a different person.

Celestina watched as Doyle reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black centipede. It was wriggling around as if it were going insane and trying to escape Doyle's grip.

"She's dead…." He murmured.

"?" Celestina did not understand.

"SHE'S DEAD! YOU LITTLE BRATS! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH RESOURCES AND TIME I SPENT ON HER!"

His shout stunned Celestina. She staggered for a bit before regaining her balance.

"They did it?!" Elation poured on her face. Oscar and the others did it. Now they could run while she continues to buy time.

However, Doyle charged ahead, removing the delight from her eyes. He swung his scourging whip with tremendous force.

'Hexagon Mirror'

Her defensive spell, however, was nothing compared to the vast Ein of Doyle. If he was holding back and playing around earlier, then right now was his true power.

The mirror shattered, but Doyle soon followed up with a kick.

Celestina could only bring up her uninjured arm, coated in Ein, to defend herself. Her dragon anima also swiped its wings to help defend. The kick broke through the wings and slammed into Celestina, making her choke up on blood.

"This strength…." Celestina was blown back, crashing onto the ground. She hastily got up on her knees and observed her surroundings.

Her eyes widened when she saw Oscar and the others staring at her blankly. What were they still doing here?

She was about to shout for them to run away, but a loud crash cut out her words.

"YOU DARE!"

Doyle finally arrived. He saw the mass of centipedes eating away at each other. In anger, he poured a lot of Ein to make a giant 'Hands of Darkness' to swallow up all the centipedes.

It slammed and reduced the centipedes to a messy puddle of black blood.

Then he turned to stare at Oscar and the others with crazed, furious eyes.

Oscar felt he could drop dead from this stare and strained to move.

He looked at Celestina and asked her, "Are you alright?"

His body was slow as he limped toward her to help her up. His hand, which had black spots, pulled her up.

"That arm of yours is badly injured; we need to do something." Oscar said weakly.

"You all…." Celestina looked at Oscar. Her friend was covered in dark black spots, signifying poison, and had many cuts around him.

Emily was pale and barely able to hold herself up on her feet.

George was holding his Sapphire Hedgehog, which looked nearly dead.

Phillip was sitting on the ground, unable to get up. His pants were completely red as he sat in a pool of blood.

"We're all barely hanging on. There's no place for us to run. You still have the strength to escape. If we can buy you a moment.." Oscar sighed and smiled grimly.

Phillip's legs made several snapping noises as he groaned while getting up. "It's as Oscar said. We're just baggage at this point." He looked at Doyle, who was fuming, and his Ein building. "You're the biggest priority."

Emily and George also chuckled as they stood firm.

"Escape? None of you will escape. I will make sure all of you suffer for a long time until you beg me to kill you!" Doyle's screams of threats would normally have an effect, but Oscar and the others were already resigned to death.

"Run, Celestina."

"Run, Princess."

Oscar and the others stepped forward with looks that could kill. Doyle laughed angrily that these students could be so bold.

Celestina's eyes trembled while looking at her companions.

She didn't want to run and abandon them.

She didn't want any of them to die.