The Knight tossed his axe back and forth with his left and right hand casually. The bronze-like sheen of the weapon started to glow as he began to manifest the power of his Diva.
The space above him started to shimmer as a large lizard-like creature with black scales and red highlights appeared above the Knight. It opened its mouth, revealing that a reddish fire was gathering at its throat.
It was ready to blow out a flame.
Heâs a lot stronger than Beau. Heâs probably in the 7th stage of Body Formation,
Michael concluded.
Just then, the Knightâs body suddenly blurred and disappeared from Michaelâs sight in an instant.
He reappeared behind, with his axe in hand and ready to slash Michael in half.
The axe was brought down with force and gusto, but at the very last moment, a beam of Unity shot towards the Knightâs head, making him abandon his attack and dodge away.
This surprised the Knight, not expecting Michael to react that fast.
"Do you have eyes on the back of your head or something?"
Michael didnât answer. But with his Shared Drone Vision, he practically had a 360 degree vision of his surroundings at all times.
He then quickly turned around and lunged at the Knight with his Unity Saber.
But the Knight just smiled and stepped to the side, turned around, and used the momentum to swing the axe horizontally.
His target was Michaelâs waist, but as the axe swung in its original direction, a wall of water appeared around Michael, slowing down the axe and allowing Michael to [Air Jet] backwards just in time.
"Okay, Iâm going to have to use my real strength now," the Knight declared.
The giant black lizard above his head released a torrential rain of fire towards the axe, making it combust into the same flames it purged out of its body.
This wasnât normal fire. It was a fire made with Aubility Power!
With his axe lit aflame, the Knight began swinging his weapon diagonally, with his blade leaving behind a trail of fire in the air. It was as if anything the axe touched would be endowed with an eternal fire that even a furious wind could not blow out.
The Knight then lunged at Michael, dragging his axe to the ground and burning all the fallen leaves in his wake.
Michael conjured up twenty magic circles around himself. The bodies of magical animals and beasts started to meld and form inside the circle. Each one was imbued with two mana that synergized with each other.
As soon as the Knight came close, the magic animals lunged out of the magic circles.
But with a single swing of his axe, the magic animals were split in half. Fire began to grow from the point of contact, quickly beginning to grow and consume the mana inside these creatures.
They were torn asunder by the raging flames of the Knightâs Aubility.
The Knight, now unimpeded, brought his axe from behind him and down towards Michael.
The fire in the axeâs blade seemed to have created an enormous amount of thrust within the weapon, accelerating it with such force and speed that Michael couldnât react to it.
Just as the axe was about to cleave through him, his [Absolute Unity Defense] kicked in and fought against the raging power of the Knightâs flames.
The prismatic shield used Unity to try and tear through the weaponâs very material. However, its Aubility flames were fighting through the Unity, slowly breaching through its defenses.
With the axe blade bearing down on his chest, Michael quickly brought up his [Unity Saber], supporting the prismatic shield.
This seemed to have helped a little bit, slowing down the blade to a stop.
But undeterred, the Knight gritted his teeth and pushed down with his weapon harder. The giant fire-breathing black lizard above him opened its mouth, roaring out an enormous flame.
His force and desire translated to a much more powerful Aubility, and the flames in his weapon grew even hotter, starting to tear through the prismatic shield even with the support of the [Unity Saber].
Michael felt the pressure in his hands, making his arms tremble as he held his sword.
Concentrating, he commanded his Drone to shoot a [Unity Gun] in the Knightâs direction.
However, the Knight seemed to be keenly aware of the Drone and used his feet to kick up silt from the ground.
Upon contact, the cloud of dust suddenly burst into flames. And as they dispersed into the air, it created a wall of flames that protected the Knightâs back.
The Unity Beam shot towards the flames, but the fire burned through even the destructive power of Unity.
And unfortunately, the same was happening with Michaelâs prismatic shield. The Knightâs blade was slowly inching closer to Michaelâs chest.
His Aubility is too powerful...
Using his Droneâs Aubility vision, he saw that the Knightâs heart was glowing with a much more intense orange glow than his own.
Not only that, but the threads that connected the Knightâs heart to his weapon and Aubility were a lot girthier than Michaelâs. Michaelâs threads were only as thick as a hair, while the Knight was as thick as a rope.
Michael piloted his Drone and launched the switches on the bottom of its frame towards the Knight.
The iron block stuck to the Mithril Relic axe.
And for a brief second, Michael saw his own thread spool out from his heart and connect to the switch.
The orange bubble came out of the switchâs body and spread outwards to the Knightâs weapon, trying to get it under its control.
However, the Knightâs thread suddenly grew hotter and brighter, emanating its own protective bubble around the axe and eventually popping the bubble that his switch created.
The thread to his switch snapped, making it fall lifeless to the floor.
All in all, the effect of his âswitchâ only lasted less than a millisecond.
He tried it again with his Reverse Graphite block, but the results ended the same. The Knightâs Aubility Power threads were far too powerful to affect.
This was the difference between a 7th stage and a 4th stage. The disparity was far too much.
"Surrender!" the Knight demanded.
But on the back of Michaelâs mind, Harbinger was just egging him on further.
[Come on, Michael! The axeâs edge is just a few centimeters away from his chest!]
The Knightâs flames emanating from the axe just barely touched his clothes, but it incinerated it immediately. It wonât be long before the blade would plunge into his chest.
Is this it? Is there no other way? Is there really no way to fight against such a potent Aubility Power?
But just as the axe was about to pierce through his skin, an idea suddenly popped into his head.
The Knightâs Aubility Power was strong. Very strong. It was evidenced by the thick thread that his GodForge pieces created, allowing for millions and millions of strings to be intertwined together and reinforce it with much more power.
A stronger thread meant that it could release a much stronger Aubility.
This was exactly what he needed for the âQuantum Stepâ!