The world around Dorian seemed to distort, ever so slightly. A split second later, Dorian felt a huge drain on his soul as a flood of energy left it.

–

Dorian – Soul Status

Soul Stage: Lord Class (Middle)

Health: Perfect

Energy: 53,112/57,542

–

In a single second, he used up a bit more than 4,000 points of energy from his soul.

WHOOSH

The battle in front of Dorian was ongoing.

Department Head Jiro snapped his fingers and cancelled his Diamond Magic Spell, causing the transformed fruit alcohol to return back to its liquid state, flowing back into the gourd that he replaced on his back. At the same time, he held his hand out to the side, causing his axe to float up into his palm.

*Hic*

"Diamond Magic: Enlarge!" Jiro took a step forward as Aiden took a moment to recover from unleashing such a huge wave of Golden Flames. As he moved, the axe he held in his hand expanded, growing to an absurd size.

In almost an instant, the axehead stretched to be roughly 10 meters across, a gargantuan axe that dwarfed the human by far. It seemed to be perfectly suited to Jiro as he swung it, however, leading the attack with a powerful burst of energy from the blue and green Aura that surrounded him.

The speed at which Jiro cut down was blurringly fast, far too quick for Aiden to dodge.

Aiden's draconic body shivered slightly as he ducked backwards as much as possible, a curtain of golden light covering him protectively as he braced to try and deflect the blow.

Before the brutal axe slash could land, however, something odd happened.

The ground beneath Jiro's feet seemed to shift slightly.

THUD

With a momentous amount of force, Jiro face-planted directly into the rocky exterior of the massive turtle. His enlarged axe slammed down a second later, setting off a small shockwave of energy that lightly damaged the stone shell, to little avail.

'Hmm, it was much more expensive to make him trip, and I didn't manage to set it up for Aiden to counterattack.' Dorian's eyes narrowed only slightly as he ran his mind over the results.

Aiden blinked, his jaw dropping slightly as he saw all of this.

"YES! You see?! THAT is how that feels, Head Jiro!" Taemin's voice echoed out loud with satisfaction as he took a moment from chasing after Leader to comment.

Leader, meanwhile, took one look at the powerful, majestic Head of the Diamond Department, one who was currently staring into the ground with a face full of rock, and burst out laughing.

"Ahahaha, oh my, your Diamond Department really has some unique special techniques. Not only do you transform yourselves into rocks, you can't keep yourself away from them either."

Leader had to dodge backwards almost immediately after as Taemin took offense, summoning a large diamond sword and rushing at him.

Jiro, meanwhile, got to his feet with a look of consternation. His axe returned to a normal size as he turned and glared at Aiden in mild irritation and curiosity.

Aiden snorted back,

"Don't blame me for your Department's poor footwork."

Much of the tension in the moment seemed to have fled.

'Hmm. Let's try over there again.' Dorian's eyes slipped to the side, where the Vice-Head Taemin was chasing Leader.

WHOOSH

Roughly 1,000 points of energy fled from Dorian's Soul Spell Matrix.

At the same time, Taemin was leaping forward, a long blade bearing in on Leader.

Just as his right foot landed on the ground, just a few meters from Leader, the rock he was standing on seemed to distort by an extremely small amount. Just enough, however, to make him lose his footing.

WHOOSH

As his body hurled forward, off balance, Taemin threw himself to the side, twisting in mid-air as he caught the fall. He almost seemed to be expecting the random trip, prepared for it. His quick reactions saved him from face-planting, though he couldn't avoid falling down.

SHWISH

SHWISH

Unfortunately for Taemin, Leader took full advantage of that momentary slip. In less than a second, two separate arrows blasted out, full of potent energy.

While Leader expressed a rather cavalier attitude, his attention to combat was both precise and unforgiving. Giving him even a single opening could lead to fatal results.

BOOM

Two explosions rang out as the energy bolts detonated right on top of Taemin.

At the last moment, however, Taemin's diamond right arm snaked upward, blocking the impact of both attacks. The colorful energy from Leader's Aura clashed with Taemin's blue Aura, both forces cancelling out.

Dorian frowned slightly when he saw this. Once more, the defensive prowess of Diamond Magic was showing up his plans.

'It's cheaper to affect Taemin's Fate than it is to affect Jiro's Fate. Probably because of the differences in their Soul Spell Matrix and souls. Jiro is much stronger, at the Pseudo-Angelic level.' Dorian confirmed his results.

'I should probably twist Fate to do something other than tripping. Taemin seems to have caught on to that.'

Taemin was sent flying despite the successful block, his body tumbling as he was knocked even further off balance, soaring through the air. He landed down hard on his back roughly a dozen meters away.

"Ahahaha! You Borrelians are really something, huh? Like father, like son, eh?" Leader mocked Taemin after he saw him trip and barely manage to block his arrow attack.

Vice-Head Taemin flipped up off the ground, his eyes bloodshot as he glared at Leader. Dust and rocky debris slid off him but coated his robe.

"How dare you disrespect the Autarchy! Also, that man is NOT my father!" Taemin glared daggers at Leader. The blue Aura around him seemed to increase slightly in intensity as mad fervor bled through into his voice.

"Ouch. Even denying parental bonds despite the overwhelming similarities." Leader shook his head sadly and then turned to look at Jiro.

"My condolences, Head Jiro. The young ones have no respect these days."

"Alas." Jiro took a swig from his gourd of fruit alcohol, his voice equally sad,

"Filial piety is lost to the youth of today." He sighed deeply in agreement.

"I AM NOT YOUR SON! STOP FRATERNIZING WITH THE ENEMY!" Taemin seemed as if he was about to explode, the entire ridiculous situation nearly causing him to fly into a rage.

Mira, meanwhile, was constantly dodging the Diamond Soldier Golems that were attacking her. Her movements maintained the graceful litheness and calm that Wise Jade Dragons were known for. She wasn't able to take them out, but they didn't seem to be able to injure her either.

The Golems couldn't run indefinitely, so the battle between them was a war of attrition over anything. And, given that Mira was a King Class Dragon, it was more likely than not that she would win, given enough time.

Time it didn't seem she would get, as it turned out. Not because of the Golems, but because of what the Vice-Head did next.

In the throes of his confused anger, Taemin's eyes grew cold. He became fully serious, and at that moment, decided to go all out.

"Diamond Magic: Iself's Gauntlet." Taemin clasped his hands together and cast a Spell, causing a shining gauntlet made out of, unsurprisingly, diamond to appear on his left hand. The gauntlet was covered in strange carvings and emanated an ancient power.

Immediately after, he cast a second Spell, so quickly it was almost impossible to distinguish between the two.

"Diamond Magic: Iself's Spear."

He clenched the air with his left, gauntlet bearing, hand, as if he was holding a large spear. The blue Aura around him exploded into a crescendo, power vibrating off him.

Leader was already fully in his Pride Super State, his entire body operating at maximum strength. He held his Ruler's Bow at the ready, eyeing Taemin as he prepared himself to unleash a Hypervelocity shot if he needed to. He was caught, however, as he weighed the risks. Unleashing his ultimate move would leave him weakened and vulnerable.

In the moment that Leader hesitated, Taemin struck. Not in an orthodox way, like rushing forward or firing a Spell off towards Leader.

Instead, he pulled down violently with his left hand, still clenching at the air.

WHOOOSH

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH

"Suffer the wrath of the Borrel Autarchy."

In the sky above them, materializing in that split second, was an enormous, 100 meter long diamond spear, covered in what appeared to be lightning bolts of blue energy. This spear was crackling down at a blazingly fast speed, headed directly towards Leader.

'No! Fate, help him out!' Dorian's eyes widened slightly as he barely managed to control his emotions, instantly twisting Fate to try and help Leader.

Thousands of points of energy fled from Dorian's soul, sloughing off him. More than 5,000 points.

The spear had moved in with such speed and ferocity that, even in Leader's Super State, it would be difficult to dodge.

BOOOOM

The giant spear slammed into the outer shell of the Flame Empyrean Turtle, piercing several meters into it. A large collection of shrapnel and stone shards were flung out into the air, lightning and energy exploding off the strike in deadly arcs. A burnt smell spread into the air as the energy melted the air itself, incredibly corrosive and strong.

Through this all, Leader had dodged to the side as much as he could. He managed to avoid a direct impact from the spear, but was standing mere meters from the huge blow.

WHOOSH

Tendrils of lightning and energy snaked through the air directly at Leader, as did the shrapnel that had been thrown up from the ground.

Just as they were about to land, however, the lightning, moving in seemingly random patterns, blasted right into the shrapnel that was headed for Leader, ready to pierce through him.

BOOM

A second, smaller explosion rang out as the lightning energy and shrapnel collided in midair, every single piece that was about to hit Leader simultaneously combusting.

The resulting miniature explosions redirected the bolts of energy, causing them to coincidentally all miss Leader.

The impact was so great it sent out a powerful shockwave, shivering in the air. Leader couldn't dodge this, but instead went with it, sailing off dozens of meters to the left. Despite the impact, he remained relatively uninjured, the more dangerous parts of the attack having missed him completely.

The shockwave made neither Aiden nor Jiro flinch, passing over them to almost no effect. As it slammed into Mira and the Diamond Soldiers, however, it caused several of the Golems to be flung into the air.

Two of which landed on the platform with the portal entrance Dorian was forcibly clinging to as he weathered the shockwave. Two hulking Golems that radiated a strong white Aura.

"Damn." Taemin swore as he saw Leader unexpectedly escape unscathed from his surprise attack. He was breathing heavily, the Spell taking a lot out of him.

In that moment, the Diamond Soldiers immediately turned towards Dorian, registering him as a hostile enemy. Their Auras were, at a minimum, far stronger than anything Dorian could muster, just using his understanding of the Law of Wrath.

As they rushed at him, the reactions of the others were mixed.

Leader snorted arrogantly as he saw this while recovering, a smile on his face as if he was about to watch a good show. Taemin was dealing with the aftershock of his powerful Spell, on guard as he watched the reverberations of his attack fade. Aiden had split off from staring down Jiro to join back up with Mira.

Head Jiro was perhaps the one watching Dorian's reactions the most, his eyes containing an awareness and intelligence that belied his drunken demeanor.

Internally, Dorian smiled.

'Sending Golems to kill me?' He mentally shook his head.

'These Diamond Soldiers may be Golems… but they are also something else.' A small smile appeared on his face as he raised two hands, stretching them out towards each charging Golem.

'Artifacts.'

The two Golems were just centimeters away from Dorian at this point, bearing down on him with incredible force.

'ABSORB!' As soon as Dorian's fingers touched the Golems, before they could land their attacks, he sent out a mental command, absorbing their energy like he could for almost all Artifacts.

WHOOSH

The two Diamond Soldier Golems, powerful treasured Artifacts infused and created by a master craftsman familiar with Diamond Magic, possessing the same godly durability that this type of Magic diamond held, shuddered as they ran into Dorian.

And then collapsed into two piles of ash, instantly destroyed with a light touch.

.

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