"Argh!"
Ranny screamed in pain as his hand flew in the air. His hand landed on the ground and it dyed the ground in red color.
"This is the end," Souta said as he looked at Ranny with a cold expression. He aimed the tip of his sword at Ranny's chest and stabbed it.
Putchi!
The vajra sword pierced Ranny's heart.
"Hahaha!"
Ranny looked at Souta and laughed. Madness filled his face and Souta thought that he snapped out. But he was wrong.
Putchi!
Vines burst out of the ground and it pierced his legs. Souta quickly pulled out his sword from Ranny's chest but Ranny grabbed him preventing him from pulling out.
"I got careless..." Souta muttered before he headbutted Ranny.
Bang!
Ranny loosened his grip on Souta and Souta used this chance to pulled out the vajra sword. He then swiftly slashed the vines on his legs.
Swoosh!
But before he could leave, several dark vine eaters launched their vines at Souta.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Souta moved his hands swiftly as he cut the vines that were attacking him. He knew that he wouldn't be able to avoid all these vines with his injured legs.
He gritted his teeth as forced himself to cut all the vines but unfortunately for him, he couldn't do so. The vines were attacking him in all directions.
Putchi!
Some of the vines managed to pierce his arms and legs. Then, Souta felt a powerful energy behind him. He looked back and saw Ranny grinning at him while aiming his palm at him.
"[Grand Piercing Ray]!" Ranny shouted as a powerful beam shot out of his palm. The beam flew towards Souta.
Souta was shocked when he saw this. To think that Ranny would risk his energy pool just to kill him. Casting a spell under the pressure of the best feram could damage a person's energy pool.
Only people who were close to dark vine stinger's level could use their mana to cast a spell. That's why Gregory could still use his mana when he was fighting Souta in the Gripen city.
Well, it doesn't matter to Ranny at all. Cause Ranny was going to die as Souta stabbed his heart a moment ago.
Souta gritted his teeth as he forced himself to move his body.
Swoosh!
"Argh!" He tried his best but the beam still hit his stomach and made a hole in it. Then, the vines bound his arms and legs.
Souta spat a mouthful of blood as he didn't have the strength to get away from the vines. This was what he got for getting careless.
He looked up as he felt a powerful energy above him. The energy he felt was overwhelming and just by sensing it, Souta felt chills all over his body.
He then looked back at Ranny.
"Y-You're trying to die with me," Souta said and Ranny laughed loudly.
"I don't care about it! I just wanted to destroy this whole dukedom!" Ranny looked up and waited for a while. The smile on his face disappeared and what appeared was a melancholic expression.
The dark vine stinger was charging a powerful [Bestrou] and it was going to shot it towards the ground, the basement where Souta and Ranny were fighting.
With the power of [Bestrou], there's no way that Souta and Ranny would survive. Not just them, every living creature that was close to duke's mansion will die.
"What the heck?!" The guild master looked at the dark vine eater with a tired expression. He was exhausted and could barely move his limbs.
He stood up and took a deep breath. He prepared himself to clashed against this monster once again.
"How did Ranny managed to raise a monster this powerful?" He muttered while looking at the dark vine stinger who's charging a powerful [Bestrou] in its mouth.
It took him a few seconds before he realized that the dark vine stinger wasn't aiming at him. The monster was aiming towards the ground, no, the basement.
"That's...? What the hell are you thinking Ranny?!" The guild master shouted as he charged towards the dark vine stinger.
...
Swoosh!
Suddenly, a wave of flames swallowed Souta's body and it burned down the vines that were binding him.
He gritted his teeth and endured the flames as he knew where the flames came from.
After a few seconds, a furry arm wrapped around his chest and pulled him.
"Argh!" Blood came out of Souta's mouth and glanced at Yuko who was trying to escape with him. The chances of them surviving this attack was too low. Even if they survive, Souta and Yuko would take a very long time before they could recover.
"I can't die here!" Souta shouted while looking at Ranny. He refused to die like this. Everything that he did was for his survival. It was for him to survive in future events.
Because of one mistake, everything will fall apart. That's the same for Ranny. Ranny got careless at the cross slash and forgot Souta. It led him to be stabbed in the chest by Souta.
"Vanessa... I'm coming now..." Ranny muttered in a low voice. He ignored everything as he simply looked up in the sky. He closed his eyes as tears drip down from his eyes. He recalled the beautiful face of his wife, Vanessa.
Ranny was an ordinary teenager at that time when he met Caedmon. Caedmon wasn't the duke at the time. Ranny was an aspiring knight and he had a talent for it. His family recruited Ranny.
One morning, the Caedmon saw Ranny training his swordsmanship early in the morning. He was amazed at Ranny's skill and decided to join his training.
After that, both of them became friends. As time passed by, Ranny grew stronger and his rank rose up quickly. He became a captain of a small squad of knights at a young age.
One day, when he was patrolling in the gate he met a girl named Vanessa, the girl who's going to become his wife in the future. At first, he only admired her but after a few years, he fell in love with Vanessa. He confessed his feelings to her and fortunately, Vanessa accepted his feelings for her.
It took five years before the two of them got married to each other. The previous duke died at that time and Caedmon became the next duke of the Fersch dukedom. Caedmon also married his fiancee at that time.
They were living a happy life and no problem occur in the Fersch dukedom. Ranny continued to protect the dukedom with his strength. Their land continued to prosper until some of the large countries around them pressured their dukedom. Caedmon did his best to make their dukedom a large country but they got bullied. A lot of merchants stopped coming to their lands.
They got isolated and no country was on their side. Their allied countries broke the alliance as they don't want to get offend the large countries.
Caedmon did everything he could and the people in their land supported him including Ranny.
And one day, the folks in their land discovered an unknown ruin.
Ranny led a group of trained soldiers to the unknown ruins. There, he discovered the inheritance of a powerful tamer from ancient times. He hid all the documents containing the tamer's research in his group and no one knew that he got it.
He trained his ability and became a full-fledged tamer to the point that his improvements in his sword skills become stagnant. He thought at that time that this power was to protect his wife Vanessa and the whole Fersch dukedom. He got an ambition where their dukedom would become a large country. He wanted to use his power to protect this dukedom from those large countries.
Ranny was ready to tell Caedmon about his tamer ability. He wanted to get back to those countries who bullied them using his powers, but something horrible happened to him. When he got back to the duke mansion after his training he saw Caedmon and his wife having an affair.
At that time rage filled his heart. He wanted to kill both of them but he managed to calm himself down. He thought why should he help Caedmon if he's doing that to his wife behind his back.
After a few days, his wife, Vanessa, hung herself leaving a letter to Ranny. Ranny read her letter and understood everything. He cried like a baby for the first time in his life. His wife doesn't have to die. If she personally said it to him, Ranny would forgive her. They will leave this land and live a life far away from this dukedom.
But it was impossible now.
It was the start of his change. Ranny decided to take down the duke along this dukedom that he worked hard to protect. He wanted to destroy everything that Caedmon owned just like how he threatened his wife.
From the letter, Caedmon threatened Vanessa that he would fire Ranny if they didn't do it.
To think that the duke that everyone admired could do horrible things like this one.
It was unforgivable.
He would destroy everything with his power.
...
Souta looked at Ranny's sad face and saw tears drip down from his eyes.
Suddenly, the ceiling exploded and a powerful beam shot down like a pillar. And Souta heard a voice in his mind.
'Ufufu, you're always telling your party to not underestimate their opponents but you're the one who underestimated your opponent.' Saya laughed in his head. 'Let me take over and I'll handle the rest.'
Souta's pupils turned red as he emitted a powerful red aura.