Book 3: Chapter 12 (5/12)

In the higher realms. Watcher Zorim and Watcher Tykan argued with each other about how Tykan was playing dirty by possessing Kain’s body to assassinate Noe Clerico. After Kain was killed by Arthur Castillon, Watcher Zorim laughed and told Watcher Tykan that her backup plan worked out perfectly despite having the wrong candidate enter the Timeless Dungeon she opened in Byham Continents. Watcher Tykan was very disappointed that Kain lost twice within a day and ended in death. Like Zorim, Tykan also had a backup plan but Watcher Zorim didn’t know about it. Watcher Tykan angrily stomped out of the meeting room then secretly instructed the Diamond Skeleton in the realm of the dead (Skeletons Realm) that it was time for it to massacre Flumen city in Toria Continents. After finishing instructing the Diamond Skeleton, Watcher Tykan walked back into the meeting room and apologized to Watcher Zorim for failure to control his temper earlier. Watcher Zorim and Watcher Tykan started talking normally again with Tykan admitting that Zorim had outsmarted him.

Tykan was waiting to see Zorim’s facial expression when she saw the Diamond Skeleton take Kain’s place in terrorizing Toria Continents, but what surprised him and Zorim both was that Jaane Almos managed to revive Kain using her Druid Magic. Tykan couldn’t help but laughed out loud knowing both of his plans were still viable. Even though the Diamond Skeleton was strong physically, there was always a limit to how much it could do. Magical Creatures such as Thunder Eagles, Ice Gargoyles, Fire Demons, and Wind Walkers can indefinitely remain in living planets like Toria Continents as long as they walked to that planet using the portal opened by a Magical Portal Key.

Skeletons are creatures of the dead and can’t remain on living planets for more than three hours a day because their bodies will be reduced to ashes if they don't come back to Skeletons Realm within three hours despite using the portal opened by a Magical Portal Key. The only way for a skeleton to stay more than three hours inside a living planet is when that skeleton was conjured by a Conjurer Mage. That was why Tykan couldn’t rely on the Diamond Skeleton to destroy Toria Continents, but having it slaughter Flumen city and cause some chaos was like a little payback to ease Tykan’s mind. Magical Portal Key can only be open once every a hundred years; any city that gets damaged by the Diamond Skeleton will be able to rebuild in that long period of time.

Back to Linkeep Island. Arthur teleported inside his planet and stayed there for over twenty-four hours to reset his [Divine Shield] spell’s cooldown. After Arthur finished resting to recover his stamina pool and reset the cooldown for his [Divine Shield] spell, Arthur came out again and only several seconds were passed in Toria Continents. Arthur had already chanted for the [Divine Shield] spell while he was still inside his planet. But before Arthur could cast it, Isia told him that the Evolved Thunder Eagle had vanished. Without any delay, Arthur instantly casted the [Divine Shield] spell to preserve his life just in case he gets assassinated by Finwe. Arthur then received another message from Isia that Noe Clerico drank several Large Mana Potions to recover some parts of his mana pool. This helped Arthur to relax much more because as long as Noe can use his [Unlimited Life] spell, then Anwyn Richir can’t possibly kill him.

Arthur swiftly realized that everything happened too simply and there was no way Kain would be stupid enough to allow Noe to drink even just one Large Mana Potion. Arthur closed his eyes to clear his mind then opened his eyes again to find a giant fiery ax was swinging in his direction but he didn’t have enough time to teleport inside his planet to escape that attack. Arthur decided to cast one of his self-created Saint-tier Conjuration Magic spells named [Switch] and his position was instantly switched with Devil-Kain, who was fiercely swinging the fiery battle-ax at him. Devil-Kain’s position was switched with Arthur and his fiery battle-ax struck on the ground instead of Arthur's face that Kain was aiming for. Using the one second Kain was being confused about what just happened, Arthur teleported inside his planet to get away from Devil-Kain.

Inside his planet, Arthur thought to himself, “That fiery battle-ax was too close to my face, just one second late and I would have died. I thought I had activated [Divine Shield] but it was just an illusion. The Evolved Thunder Eagle was still chasing after Isia which meant I had fallen to some kind of spell casted by Kain. I was too worried about Finwe because of his Delusion Magic and forgot Kain can also play mind games using his Devil Magic.”

[Switch] was created using the idea of the [Warp Infusion] spell. But its casting time is almost instant since very little chanting was required. The difference was instead of switching positions with a conjured creature, Arthur could switch positions between him and his opponent. It confused the opponent temporarily but abuse using [Switch] wasn’t a good thing since the opponent can easily find a good way to counter it.

Arthur sensed Devil-Kain was attacking the protection layers of his planet and thought to himself, “Attempting to destroy my planet is useless. Because of the time difference, I can rest in here for months before you can break through the protection layers. And by that time comes, I'm sure to have already come up with a better plan to kill you again.”

Arthur didn’t need rest, but he took the time to calculate what he must do to defeat Kain while the Devil-Kain was lurking nearby. Because Kain already conjured Finwe and Anwyn back to the battlefield, it would be much harder for Arthur to defeat Kain now.

Arthur thought to himself, "It appeared that Lord Clerico had either used all the Mana Potions he had inside his Storage Ring, or his mana pool couldn't get regenerate using Mana Potion after getting killed which explained why he hasn’t drink a Mana Potion yet after he was revived by Isia. Because Lord Clerico is a Necromancer Mage, his mana pool could work differently compared to all other magic casters. If his Storage Ring really ran out of Mana Potion, then Isia can temporarily hold Anwyn back, allowing Lord Clerico to have enough time to get to the Holy Mage so she can give him a Large Mana Potion. But if his mana pool can't be refilled using Mana Potion as a penalty for getting killed, then that would be troublesome."

Sighing out lightly, Arthur started thinking about the one he was most troubled about. That was Finwe, who could assassinate him using mind-controlling magic spells. So far Kain didn’t send Finwe to attack him; that also meant Kain was confident that he could defeat Arthur inside [Isolation] if they fought there again. Arthur spent nearly a day inside his planet to think of all possibilities that could occur during the next physical fight between him and Kain. After carefully analyzing the battle between Kain and Noe, Arthur believed there was nothing Kain could do to defeat him inside [Isolation].

Arthur thought, "I can set the battle rules however I wanted inside [Isolation]. Even though the rules can't be changed after it was set until I cast [Isolation] again, the rules I created will definitely benefit me while granting a disadvantage for Kain in battle. Maybe this is one of Kain’s tricks. He forced me into thinking too much about the possibilities of losing and ended up not fighting with him inside [Isolation]. Because of the Devil Overlord and that Evolved Thunder Eagle, defeating Kain without using [Isolation] isn’t something that can be done easily. The [Isolation] spell is the best chance I have to kill Kain without having anyone else interfere. Even if Kain can kill me, my [Divine Shield] spell can save me just like it did the last time. The result won’t change as I shall emerge as the victor. If Kain somehow can overpower me using just his physical combat strength, then I will just disable [Isolation] and think of another way to fight him.”