"Fuck!" Iris Eloclipse shouted as she climbed from under the rubble. "That bastard's figured out Kaden grows stronger the more he fights."
She took a powerful leap after Memphis. So much force was used during her ascent that the floor broke apart where she had been standing.
In truth, even with Kaden's super enhanced strength, Memphis could kill him at any time. He was matching his strength to Kaden's to intentionally help the young knight get stronger.
She watched as Kaden caught his balance midair, seconds before Memphis appeared in front of him. They began fighting once more as they descended. Black shockwaves exploded to life as they clashed. Kaden's attack was fast but Memhpis countered everything almost perfect. Iris could tell Memphis was using more mana than before. Not only did his physical strength increase so did his speed and physical defences.
Iris curse yet again. Normally, she kept her profanity to a minimum though she'd had a potty mouth back when she and her childhood friends ran a gang.
A gang that Memphis was once a part of.
Iris's face showed pain when a memory of her, Memphis, and the other leaders of their gang at a lake resurfaced. Anger stirred in her heart. Not at the idiot's attempt to snatch their bikinis while they were in the water that day, but at his traitorous actions.
She warped behind him and jabbed her Stardust sword at Memphis's back. He dodged and so did Kaden. The black dragon tried to kick Memphis but he spiked his mana output.
Iris wasn't surprised at his control of mana. He had much lifeforce and could use it just as well as she. What surprised her was when he grabbed Kaden while blocking her kick.
Memphis used Kaden to bat Iris away, sending her crashing down through a building. He then kneed Kaden so hard pieces of his black scales shattered away, before throwing him towards the ground and descended after him.
She cursed under her breath. If she was correct, a safe center should be nearby. She prayed to Kul they weren't headed for it. Those two could destroy the barrier and end up killing everyone inside.
Dusting herself off she conjured another large Stardust sword in hand and jumped high into the sky. She spotted Kaden rising. He stood in the middle of a crater while Memphis stood on a nearby building looking down on Lilith's and Elyiah's daughter.
Not here. Iris thought. Her face showed both fear and worry. Not like this.
Kariah-Belle wasn't moving. She just laid there. Even as her friends shook her. Master knights and officer knights defended her and her friends while trying to protect the barrier, Mar-Gin included. Divine knights had their hands full with vympiri using mana powered weapons and mature vympiri while battling evilbarers.
Death claimed lives on both sides.
She bit her bottom lip in frustration. Darkness Tamers could control evilbarers to an extent depending on how powerful they were. Memphis was extremely so.
Then, Memphis's body began to emit black mana. He raised his arm at Kariah-Belle and her friends.
Mar-Gin and Kaden rushed him, both moving at near vanishing speed. Together, they successfully stopped Memphis's attack. However, Mar-Gin made a mistake that could've cost him his life.
The dragon-like creature whipped its tail and struck Mar-Gin. Luckily, the retired knight was able to create iron backed by his mana skeleton across his torso. Still, the attack was so powerful that the iron completely broke apart. Mar-Gin would feel like he'd been hit by a rocket as he was sent through a large statue of King Vermilion.
Kaden had started attacking Memphis, who fought back. More shockwaves shattered glass as the two exchanged blows at speeds only mid-tier divine knight could track. To those under divine knight, it would look like blurs moving rapidly if they could see them at all.
If things continued this way, then Iris would have to resort to Star Goddess mode. If things came to that, Kaden might not survive...
Rain fell lightly from the sky.
She warped, appearing behind Kaden and grabbing his tail. She caught both him and Memphis by surprise as she spun with Kaden before slamming him downwards against Memphis, who slammed through the roof he was on, destroying the whole building.
Iris felt a twinge of satisfaction.
Kaden snatched his tail away from her and the two assaulted each other with blows and strikes from all angles midair. Now, Iris resorted to using her Warping Step more often, as it didn't take was 10 times faster than her current mana output.
Now, Kaden had become even faster and stronger. Each attack emitted a shockwave that could be felt half a mile away. Weaker buildings crumbled under the intensity of the shockwaves.
Iris slipped an attack from Kaden and found an opening. "Grand Stardust Prison."
A sphere made of an enhanced version of Stardust formed around Kaden. The material emitting a soft blue flame, trapping him in a spherical prison. Banging could be heard from the outside as he tried to break free as the sphere plummeted towards the earth, leaving a crater upon landing. Iris landed atop, wiping the blood from her nose.
"Good luck breaking this," Iris taunted Memphis.
This was just a portion of the godlike power Star Titannia possessed. It would take for Memphis to perform a two-star transcendence to break through this prison and Iris knew he wouldn't risk it.
If he transformed, then she would, too.they'd still be at a stalemate, where one wrong move could mean death. Being surrounded by enemies would put him at a disadvantage. He didn't trust the Vympiri to watch his back as they would drain him dry the moment they got the chance. Someone with such a strong lifeforce would grant them full maturity. In a weakened state, it would be like taking candy from a baby.
It began to rain harder.
"Damn you, Iris!" Memphis shouted as he tossed aside a large piece of rubble. Rage was in his facial features. "Since I can't kill him, I'll kill their daughter!"
Kariah-Belle! Iris thought as she turned around to search for the girl. Evilbarers had snuck up behind her and she slew them almost instantly.
She felt Memphis behind her. A floating wall of Stardust intersected his kick. Iris exchanged blows with Memphis. Stardust formed on command. Iris willed it to attack and defend as necessary.
Suddenly, his fist emitted midnight black Mana. This Mana had stars flowing through it like before. He swung his fist, a barrier of Stardust formed to protect her, but it was useless. His fist smashed through her defenses and connected with her face.
Pain exploded throughout her face. Even with the increase in durability her Mana skeleton provided, the blow was like a thirty-ton blast. She was sent flying through the air and crashed through a skyscraper. Then, he stretched out the same fist that was emitting that black, starry mana.
"Die, brat!" He shouted at Kariah-Belle. A beam of black, starry Mana shot out at her. A beam like that would obliterate everyone next to Kariah-Belle.
Iris tried to warp. It had been eleven minutes since the courtyard and she had warped over thirty times. She had hit her limit and had to wait for a cool down. She let a string of profanity to escape her lips.
One moment, she emitted a bright light that engulfed her. The next, she was in front of Kariah-Belle and her friends. Her attire had changed to armor made of Stardust. Her stardust emitted a soft blue flame that resembled a nebula. Wings made of Stardust formed at her back and she now held a staff.
She raised a hand and a small plate of flaming Stardust formed seconds before Memphis's attack reached her, instantly disintegrating it and turning it to blue dust before it could do any harm.
This was the power of Star Goddess mode. It tripled her mana output as well as gave her Stardust and Warping ability big enhancements. Like Memphis's transformation, this would leave her near death.
"You're willing to go that far to save Lilith's and Eliyah's brats?!" Memphis spat, venom in his voice. "They left us for dead! They lied to us!"
"You know that's not what happened!" Iris shouted back.
Thunder boomed overhead.
"I know Eliyah and Lilith turned their backs on us," Memphis stated with disdain as a pillar of swirling darkness engulfed him.
It caused strong winds to sweep through the surrounding area and shatter windows. Everyone stopped to watch the Darkness Tamer transform. All felt the enormous mana rolling off the man. The pillar turned into a swirling ball that soon dispersed, revealing Memphis's Two Star Transcendence.
His once semi-bulky black armor was replaced with a more fitted and sleek design. It was still midnight black, but the many nebulas that floated about that made it dazzling. His helmet had been discarded, leaving his snow white hair to fall to his shoulders. His face was decorated with black and red markings.
"Come, Titannia," He said, his black ice sword appearing in his hand while his ax appeared in the other. "Let's see which is stronger: your Justice or my Greed!"
He rushed her.
Iris performed the same feat as she lunged. To the onlookers, the two would seem invisible. Their movements too fast to keep track of. Even a divine knight would have trouble keeping up with their movements.
Memphis attacked with a combo. Iris blocked the first four attacks and parried the last, throwing her opponent off his guard. The holy knight prepared to attack thinking she had forced an opening but Memphis used his momentum to flip out of harm's way. Without missing a beat he aimed a powerful kick at Titannia, his leg surrounded by visible dark Mana
Iris wasted no time in warping beside Memphis. The Darkness Tamer spun quick, almost anticipating her movements.
Almost.
She warped in rapid succession and this time she was behind him and struck with her sword. The sword hit Memphis square in the back. He was a black blur as he flew across the sky, crashing through a few buildings before slamming into a tall one.
"Mar-Gin!" Iris called out. "Get those greenhorns inside that barrier now!"
She then took off after Memphis, but the Darkness Tamer recovered. Memphis had appeared in front of her as she was making her way to him so the two met in the sky.
They forced blows upon one another, breaking bits of armor and shaking the atmosphere.
Iris missed a kick to which Memphis tried to counter. She warped behind him, but he was ready. Iris warped once, twice, three times before being greeted with a heavy backhand which stunned her. He then brought his blade down on her shoulder, sender her hurtling towards the ground before sending a dense beam of dark Mana chasing after her.
He'd thrown her with so much force, she wouldn't be able to recover before the blast hit her.
The beam slammed into her hard, pushing her even faster down to earth. She plummeted hard into her Grand Stardust Prison.
She got up groggily, shaking off the impact.
Oh fuck, she said, noticing the crack.
Kaden punched the Stardust sphere. Luckily it didn't give way. The dragon-like creature roared as it continued pounding against the prison, enraged and wanting to murder Memphis.
And crush anything that got in his way.
It started to rain harder, as the two stared at each other. A storm was brewing. Lightning struck the sky as thunder boomed overhead.
"Chaos Volley!" Yelled Memphis, both arms outstretched.
A volley of large black orbs made of Mana with stars floating in them flew at Iris and those standing around her. The vympiri and knights fighting near her stopped their fighting to evade the incoming barrage.
"Haaaaaaa!" Iris roared as a large wall of fiery Stardust formed to intersect the dark orbs. The orbs slammed into the Stardust, shattering upon impact. The wall of Stardust sported dents and cracks before it broke apart.
Iris looked around for Mar-Gin and Kariah-Belle. She saw Mar-Gin had her in his arms while her friends and other Knights protected Jet and Mae Lu.
What had happened to the girl? Iris wondered. For now, Mar-Gin would have to take care of her, even though he and the others had trouble clearing a path.
Suddenly, Iris's instincts kicked in. She moved, narrowly avoiding a thrust from Memphis's bone sword. He followed up with a roundhouse kick, Stardust formed a layer around her arm, which she used to block. Still, the force knocked her back into the sphere that held Kaden.
That bastard is still trying to get to Kaden. Star Titannia thought.
He tried to stab her, but she warped, allowing him to stab through her Grand Prison. The sword pierced through the sphere and struck Kaden who roared in pain.
Iris appeared behind Memphis and kicked him into the Stardust prison. He recovered quickly and the two traded blows, inky black sword against fiery blue staff. A fury of attacks and strikes from both sides.
The two clashed weapons once more before bouncing away from each other.
Memphis wiped blood from his lip as he glared at Iris. She stared at him warily as dark, oozing blood spilled from her forehead and dripped over her eye.
The two were evenly matched. The last time they had fought, Iris had the upper hand. His armor couldn't withstand the intense heat that her Stardust emitted. He'd gotten stronger since. Still, she struck with so much force and incredible heat that Memphis would still take damage.
The same was for Iris. Each of Memphis's blows held enough force to split a continent in half. If Titannia wasn't in Star Goddess mode, she'd have been dead already.
Memphis smirked at her as he raised his sword. Titannia dashed at him, moving at light speed. She tried the stab him, but ended up stabbing into her prison thanks to Memphis dodging her staff again.
She hit Kaden...
Two hits from beings with godlike power was all it took for Kaden's mana output to skyrocket. He roared and pounded against the Stardust prison.
The prison began to crack and crumble. Kaden had become stronger. How much stronger? Iris wasn't sure, but things were about to go from bad to worse.
"You fool!" Titannia cried, knowing this was what Memphis was after. She kicked but he blocked. She struck with her staff, slamming it hard into the side of his face.
Memphis went sailing away, laughing maniacally . He recovered. "So that's what Lilith and Eliyah almost killed us for eh," he said as he floated above the ground. "Boy's a monster and the Supreme Council is hiding him from the four nations!?" He paused to cackle as if someone had told a joke. "Priceless! What will happen when The Darkness comes back? Will you still keep him hidden?"
"Kaden is not a weapon," Iris spoke calmly.
"You say that because he can't control his power!"
The woman said nothing.
Lightning struck a building with a boom of thunder as Memphis laughed again. "See? Give him to me, Iris! I can protect us all!"
"You're only interested in protecting yourself!" Iris shouted. "You're not getting your hands on him."
"Then I'll absorb your lifeforce, too!" Memphis threatened.
The two meet once again in the air. Swinging their weapons and throwing kicks, Iris would occasionally whack Memphis into a building using her Stardust element. He would attack and counter with bone swords that formed from nothing. They had the color of a starry night.