Faced with this sudden barrage of different attacks, Derek Augustus found himself genuinely thrown off balance for a moment — mainly because he simply couldn't understand why his opponent had managed to hold back this whole time without revealing that he could use Lawyer Pathway abilities at all.
That wasn't something a sealed item, or shepherded spirits, could explain. He began to suspect his opponent might actually be a demigod of the Lawyer Pathway himself.
But if that were true, what exactly had those other abilities he'd used earlier in their fight actually been?
Still, this flurry of attacks only left him briefly disoriented. The power of Balance surged through him, smoothing away the damage almost instantly. He curled his left hand loosely, aiming it at Vincent from a distance, and intoned, "Confine."
In an instant, the wildly swirling colors around them seemed to be smoothed flat by some invisible hand, snapping into order, into structure, arranging themselves according to some underlying law.
Vincent felt his own movements suddenly grind to a crawl, trapped within a layer of semi-transparent amber. He hurried to use "Distortion" and "Chaos" on himself again, pitting the Lawyer Pathway's abilities against the Arbitrator Pathway's.
Crack!
A shattering sound rang out, one that had no business existing in reality, and the not-yet-fully-formed amber cracked apart. But Derek Augustus had already used the opening to close the distance, declaring his decree with authority: "In this place, mystery weakens, reality strengthens!"
Since he couldn't pin down exactly what his opponent was, he figured he might as well simply strip away his ability to use any unlawful power at all — his own Angel-level physical strength alone should be more than enough.
The instant the decree took hold, both their bodies began plummeting rapidly downward.
Just before "mystery" vanished completely from the area, Derek Augustus lunged toward Vincent, throwing a punch straight at his chest.
But that was when the unexpected happened.
Even with the area's "mystery" and extraordinary power rapidly weakening toward nothing, Derek Augustus suddenly felt himself hit by "Distortion" all over again, his own movement forcibly twisted out of shape.
Then he watched as "Mr. A's" falling body suddenly floated back upright. Vincent flicked a coin lightly, and it transformed into a devastatingly powerful streak of light that punched clean through his chest, blasting open a massive hole.
Pain!
Agonizing pain!
Amid a spray of blood and torn flesh, the sheer force sent Derek Augustus's body twisting into a grotesque, exaggerated posture, hurling him backward through the air.
Ever since ascending to Angel, he couldn't even remember the last time he'd experienced being hurt — and now here he was, taking a serious beating at the hands of a demigod.
"Distortion!"
Within the Nation of Disorder, Vincent, gripping the Black Emperor card, used "Distortion" once more — this time twisting the wound in Derek Augustus's chest toward something lethal.
Honestly, even he was surprised at how this was going.
But the logic wasn't hard to work out. Derek Augustus's decree — "In this place, mystery weakens, reality strengthens" — could only apply to the area surrounding him within the Spirit World.
But Vincent's Black Emperor ability was being channeled through the Emperor card from within the Nation of Disorder. Whether or not a Sequence 2 Balancer could even affect the Nation of Disorder was one question, but the Nation of Disorder almost certainly fell outside the boundaries of "this place."
Which meant Derek Augustus had, without even meaning to, effectively stabbed himself twice already — so Vincent figured he might as well return the favor without any courtesy at all.
"Strike while he's down, finish him off!"
Vincent flicked out a handful more coins, applying a different extraordinary effect to each one: "Bribery" to make his target grow sluggish and distracted, fixated on money, dulling his judgment into misjudgment; "Amplify," aimed straight at Derek Augustus's head; "Distortion," to twist his current train of thought; and "Chaos," collapsing the distance between the flying coins and Derek Augustus down to just two or three steps in an instant.
"!!!"
Derek Augustus barely had time to jerk his head aside, dodging the single most lethal coin, before "falling" under the combined barrage of the others.
That was the "fairness" of an Arbitrator's decree — a "Forbid" bound both friend and foe alike; a decree affected both sides equally, too.
A few seconds later —
Derek Augustus, drenched in blood, recovered from the effects of the abilities that had overwhelmed him. He immediately dispelled his own decree, fury blazing in his eyes.
He clenched a fist and swung it down with brutal force: "Execute!"
But it was in that exact instant the decree lifted that Vincent tore open a rift into the Spirit World and slipped back to reality, letting that lethal "Execute" strike nothing but empty air.
Before Derek Augustus could give chase, the colors around him suddenly darkened, deepened, as if steeped in centuries of bloodstains and resentment.
A headless figure in an elaborate, somber long dress appeared without warning, carrying four heads with golden hair and red eyes — Renet Tinicole!
Four heads, their blood-red eyes fixed unblinkingly on Derek Augustus, spoke in turn, thick with the scent of death and grievance: "This place..." "...forbids..." "...passage..." "..."
Renet Tinicole's body began expanding rapidly, and the four heads in her hands flew up at once, settling onto her neck.
The four heads gradually turned translucent, merging into one.
An instant later, Renet Tinicole had transformed into a doll as massive as a castle, dressed in a black Gothic gown covered in countless mystical symbols and coiled with eerie vines, her eyes blood-red.
Her gaze swept over Derek Augustus. Her tightly shut mouth opened — but no sound came out at all.
The "Balancer" didn't even manage to get out a single word before a flash of faint light swept over him, and he found himself instantly transformed into a black dachshund.
The doll took a single step forward and stomped down, hard, on the dachshund.
...
Outside Backlund.
Five Sequence 1 Angels had been locked in battle for a while now, and despite it being three against two, the two Angels from the Castia and Tamara families weren't at any real disadvantage.
That was mostly because Adam, aside from causing a bit of trouble for the two of them early on, had spent most of the fight simply guarding the tomb, keeping it from being destroyed in the chaos.
Everyone present understood clearly — since today wasn't actually George III's real day of ascension, no one here was truly fighting to the death. Everyone's goal was aligned on one thing: inflict as much damage on the other side as possible.
BOOM!!!
After another exchange of blows, the four Angels, by some unspoken agreement, held back from immediately engaging again.
Just then, William Augustus I suddenly waved a hand, pulling a note out of thin air. His expression shifted at once — the note read: the Loen royal palace had come under attack from Castia and Tamara family demigods, suffering heavy losses.
MI9 had taken an even more devastating hit.
But this shouldn't be happening.
He'd specifically stationed the Sequence 2 Derek Augustus to guard Backlund. How could a handful of demigods from two families possibly inflict this kind of damage under Derek's watch?
Could Castia and Tamara have dispatched Angels of their own too?
Impossible!
Absolutely impossible!
Backlund wasn't just Loen's capital — it was also the Church of the Evernight's core city. Demigod-level Beyonders operating there, without causing harm to the Church itself, was already the outer limit of what the Church would tolerate.
Deploying an Angel-level powerhouse would be an open declaration of war against the Church itself — Castia and Tamara wouldn't dare go that far. And besides, the distress message hadn't mentioned any Angel's presence at all.
So the question remained — where had Derek Augustus gone?
He was a Sequence 2 Angel — surely he hadn't actually failed to handle a few demigods?
To be continued…
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