The spectators form a ten meter circle around the combatants, Cain in shorts and sandals, shirtless and covered in sand. Lancelot in shining armor and a royal blue tabard with his kingdom's livery on it, armed with sword and shield.
The contrast is dramatic, but Lancelot saw Cain's last attack and won't underestimate his speed. The Knight settles into his defensive stance and activates [Flawless Counter Attack], which has a 100 percent hit rate and cannot be parried or dodged. Against a nearly naked man, that should be fatal in the first exchange of the duel.
he has seen it firsthand, this is far from the first Duel that Lancelot has fought, in fact it's his duty, part of his position as Knight Commander.
The sword in his hand is a mark of office, a magical item that ignores armor, not that his opponent has bothered to wear any, and his shield is a mighty defensive artifact that absorbs a huge amount of damage, consuming its durability. With these two artifacts in hand, victory has always felt assured in the past, but something about the unconcerned attitude of this Summoner named Cain is giving him an uneasy feeling.
Fearing his idiot son has inadvertently set him up to be assassinated, he equips an ancient Legendary necklace known as the Phoenix Tears. It prevents a killing blow once every 6 hours, then summons a Phoenix to heal him. He gained it in a dungeon not long after he arrived in this world and it saved his life countless times over the years.
His plan is ready, once his flawless counter attack is triggered he will follow it up with the special skill [Force Multiplier] gained by all Knight Commanders. It repeats the damage of the last attack three times without needing to physically strike. Between the two skills he can do thousands of damage in a split second to even the mightiest of bosses and challengers.
For his part, Cain is also making a plan. One of the flows in the Dark Elven Blade Forms is carried shield Breaker. It does double damage directly to an opponent's shield with a chance to disarm him. Only two moves long, it is perfect for this duel. Cain settles into an attack stance with his swords hanging low and nods to Arial to start the fight.
"I hope he'll be alright." Kone mutters and the Snapping Turtle next to her snorts in amusement and pats her head, sending the mental impression she should try to [Merge] with her now Legendary Summon. What could it hurt, there's lots of them. She can call 16 now, fully buffed by Cain, and so can all 6 of her clones that were called as Supporters.
Kone briefly considers that Cain might only be helping her get stronger because it makes him even more overpowered, but puts that thought aside and merges with the Turtle.
[They're THIS strong, and Cain merges with ten of them at once? That Lancelot guy is screwed.] Kone directs the thought at the Snapping Turtle and gets the same amused noise in response. Maybe their species can't talk? The other Legendary Summons can.
The feeling of immense power is addictive though, so Kone decides she will stay merged just a while longer. Everyone should know this feeling at some point in their life.
"The duel will start in 3, 2, 1 GO." Arial calls and Cain springs into action.
The first stroke of the Shield Breaker technique is a crossed strike to the shield, driving Lancelot back and to his knees. Cain sees victory and then panic in the knights eyes as a strike hits his bare chest and the pain spreads, but his swords are already moving downward for the second half of the technique, a double downward chop.
The mighty shield artifact splits open like torn paper, falling to the ground, while Cain's swords both shatter, the flying blades cutting deep into the Knight's armor. Cain follows up with a kick to the kneeling man's chest, sending him flying as his life bar collapses to nothing but a tiny red sliver, a Phoenix appearing over his body protectively and healing him back to half health, but Duke Lancelot is still decidedly unconscious, with a [Dazed] debuff.
The only sound on the beach are the waves and the concerned Phoenix protecting the fallen man as everyone else stares in awe.
Some because a simple kick in sandals nearly killed the Knight Commander, some because of the attack that shattered his shield. Those who have fought alongside the artifact didn't even consider that a possibility.
Cain drops the hilts of two broken swords into the sand with a soft thud, breaking the mood and everyone begins to panic except the Knights, who move to surround their fallen Commander.
"Challenge over. Winner, Guild Master Cain of the Darklight Host." Red calls over the noise, calming the chaos as everyone waits to see what's next. Will they lose every bit of property their members have in the city, or will the Duke sacrifice his son, their leader in exchange.
There are other Guild branches, but many members have shops in town and live here full time, while the leader and his friends were just visiting.
Cain waits patiently for Lancelot to recover, the knights relaxing a little when they realize he doesn't intend to continue the fight. They're not sure what sort of broken ability he has, but the Nut Up Guild was suddenly outnumbered by Legendary Snapping Turtle kin even before the Dragons showed up. Plus, the absolute physical domination he managed against someone 3 times his level just shouldn't be possible.
Lancelot slowly comes to and takes in the tense scenario before sitting up.
"The Beach house was a gift from the King of Landis, I can't let it leave the family." The Knight Commander sighs.
"Name your Price."
Cain considers for a moment, not sure exactly what he stands to gain from this agreement, as the system still calls the Guild War active.
"Market price and you can keep the Beach House." He finally says, deciding that selling it back is reasonable enough.
"Fine, I've got the coin, but the house is irreplaceable." Lancelot looks relieved, so Cain must have made the right choice. Laura is celebrating their financial victory in Guild Chat though, so the house must not be cheap.
"Retract the declaration and we will sign the documents." Lancelot says, getting to his feet and petting the Phoenix that saved him before it merges back into his necklace.
"That's all on you Odin. The aggressor needs to be the one that calls for an early end." Red says and the knights all glare at the young noble.
"I'll uh get right on that." He stammers, flinching under their glares.
"While he does that, I've got a question for you. I'm certain both Flawless Counter and Force Multiplier hit you, unarmored, but your health never dropped. What sort of a skill is that? Does it ignore the first attack? Is it a timed immunity?" Lancelot asks, curious how he lost and almost lost his life.
"It's actually an ability from my summons. Damage Reduction that doesn't get ignored." Cain stretches the truth to avoid telling the Knight he's got nearly eighty thousand HP right now. Plus, the Healing Aura from Kone and Su is based on maximum HP, so his healing is off the charts.
Lancelot considers this information for a moment. "So something like a raid boss, where they take extremely little damage but their stats don't look overly scary to rogues with [Investigate] type skills?"
"Yes, exactly like that. In fact, I believe it's exactly that." Red answers on Cain's behalf, giving Cain a look like the Dragon is investigating him. Cain isn't sure what will show, Merger is hidden by default, but the Dragon saw his displayed stats when they entered the city. He could be basing his conclusions off of that and what he observed during the fight.
[Area Notice: War Between Nut Up Guild and Darklight Host has ended. Flawless Victory to Darklight Host.]
"Flawless victory eh? The boy bit off much more than he could chew this time. I saw the recording from the Guards who closed the beach." Earl RhickJaymz says, strolling on to the beach.
"Afternoon Duke Lancelot. I hope your injuries are fully treated?"
"They are. I think you might need to upgrade the scanning system though, his power level shows lower than my actual level." The defeated Knight grumbles.
"He's a Dragon Lord, it's unavoidable. The system only counts his personal ability, not factoring in summons for the most part." RhickJaymz shrugs.
Odin looks like he knows he's in trouble, and this doesn't seem to be the first time, based on how RhickJaymz greeted Lancelot. The Earl looks around carefully, seeing that the Healer the knights brought has revived all the dead already, leaving only blood on the beach.
That's a relief, cleaning up after a Guild War can be a real nightmare if they didn't leave final wills, or if one side is completely annihilated.
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