Book 3: Chapter 12 (7/12)

While his sword was still powerfully striking toward Kain, Arthur shook his head and said, “This changes nothing. I have put all of my stamina into this one attack to ensure you won’t be able to survive. Even if you can-”

Before Arthur could finish what he wanted to say, a sword stabbed Arthur from the back toward his heart. Because [Divine Shield] was activated, that fatal attack couldn’t cause any damage to Arthur. Even without knowing what just happened, Arthur’s goal of killing Kain wouldn’t stop. As long as Kain gets killed, any trick Kain was planning against Arthur would go to waste. Almost in an instant, another sword struck behind Arthur aiming for his neck was a success, but once again because the [Divine Shield] spell was still working, no damage was caused.

Kain successfully blocked the attacks from the living shadows, but there was no way he could have enough time to block Arthur’s attack. Arthur’s sword successfully landed on Kain’s back as he said, “The time has come, Kain Bersk. I will make sure you won’t be able to revive again!”

“What?” Arthur shockingly asked as he saw a beautiful pink-haired female warrior somehow appear in front of him and use her hands to hold his sword back from penetrating through Kain’s body.

Before Arthur could comprehend who that pink-haired female was and if she was part of Kain’s plan, Kain already turned around and successfully struck his Soul-bound Magical Ice Spear into Arthur’s forehead, penetrated Arthur’s brain, and killed him in an instant.

Breathed out heavily, Kain smirkingly said, “You told me your [Divine Shield] spell can only be used within two hours after activation, but our fight lasted more than six hours. Either you were lying or the two hours duration or that two hours duration wouldn’t apply inside [Isolation]. Still, I didn’t know that your [Divine Shield] spell could absorb two fatal attacks instead of one like you have told me. Weakling, you almost killed me again.”

The pink-haired female warrior that stabbed Arthur twice on the back then quickly appeared in front of Arthur to grasp his sword, preventing it from killing Kain was Iviss Sasken. Kain didn't want to release Iviss early because he was afraid Arthur could make a new rule to prevent Soul Weapon from being used. Kain decided to play defense for two reasons. The first reason was to drag the fight as long as possible to get the two hours of [Divine Shield] spell expired but that didn't work. The second reason was to mentally exhaust Arthur because Kain knew what kind of person Arthur was. Arthur was always extremely careful in planning how to defeat his opponents. Seeing Kain was fighting defensively sure put a lot of toll on Arthur's mentality trying to figure out what Kain was planning. Sometimes the simplest trick played by a fool can confuse the cleverest person just because that person overthinks about the trick.

Arthur has once defeated three magic casters around his age and levels at the same time during the Intermediate Student Mages Battle Tournament and later won that tournament, which was something even Kain couldn't do without using his Blood Magic. Kain could be strong when it came to his Blood Magic advantage, but Arthur was the one that was genuinely powerful and intelligent despite being just a Conjurer Mage. If Arthur was given the chance of having access to Blood Magic and using [Second Soul] ability, Kain, Noe, and all magic casters in Toria Continents wouldn't have a chance of defeating him.

Kain recalled Iviss to transform back into a knife and flew inside his Soul-bound Magical Robe. The [Isolation] then collapsed as Kain and Arthur’s corpse was teleported back to where they were in Toria Continents. Everyone was shocked once again seeing one of the strongest magic casters killed in just one second. However, instead of Kain being the one to die like last time, Arthur was the one to be killed this time. Isia was then forced to be teleported back to Norelf Continents because Arthur was dead and that left Noe Clerico alone unprotected. Despite still having the physical strength of an Eleventh Stage Saint Monk Warrior, just one simple bitch slap by Anwyn Richir would be enough to defeat Noe.

"What happened?"

"Did he just kill Sir Arthur in an instant?"

"How was that possible?"

"Wasn't Sir Arthur the one that killed him in an instant before?"

"Did you see anything?"

Too many questions were asked among the world leaders while the Mages Council led by Holy Mage Gwenn Bigham was still fighting against the Rogue Mages led by Adrik Volsky and Blood Mages led by Etgar Revenmar were still fighting strongly. Seeing Kain had killed Arthur had dragged the morale of the Mages Council down while the morale of the Rogue Mages and Blood Mages skyrocketed.

Looking at Arthur’s corpse, Kain bit down his teeth and said, “Weakling, my original plan was to let you receive [Resurrection] after I killed you. But after I get a taste of your [Isolation], letting you live is too risky of a move. Even when it was easier to kill you than Noe Clerico, the chance of me killing you again is zero percent. I will now eat your body to prevent any chance of you somehow being able to revive yourself like I have done twice today.”

Kain activated the [Abyssal Flesh] spell and all of his injuries were instantly healed. Kain was about to eat Arthur’s body but Arthur's corpse vanished. A second later, Arthur appeared approximately twenty feet away and said, "Ever since my Conjurer Soul was upgraded to Ethereal Soul, I never thought a spell such as [Second Life] would be useful in preserving my life. Kain, you have defeated me inside my [Isolation]. I never thought that would be possible. If I'm not wrong, the female warrior who helped you in killing me was your Soul Weapon. I have once fought a strong magic caster that had a Soul Weapon inside the Timeless Dungeon. Even though I never have a Soul Weapon, I have always wanted one. Kain, I truly admire you for having a Soul Weapon. Next time we fight inside [Isolation], Soul Weapons will be prohibited."

Arthur casted [Second Life] immediately right before he entered [Isolation] with Kain. Because the time inside [Isolation] was never counted toward real-time, [Second Life] spell casted by Arthur didn't run out of duration. After realizing this, Kain shook his head and said, "Arthur, you are the type of magic caster who carefully planned all of the possibilities of getting killed inside of your own playground and had a backup plan to make sure your life was preserved. Arthur, you haven't won yet so don't let your guard down."

After Arthur heard Kain say that, he understood Kain wouldn't give up on capturing Noe Clerico. Arthur teleported inside his planet and then teleported out back to Toria Continents within just two seconds (in real-time) to fully heal himself. While Kain's mind was flickering of how to defeat Arthur. Arthur stared directly into Kain's eyes and was about to say something. That was when both Kain and Arthur detected an insanely strong wind force was flying toward them. They didn't know that a strong wind force was created by a Diamond Skeleton flying at insane speed who threw a powerful punch into the air from two miles away. Even when Arthur didn't have enough time to chant the secret words for his Soul-bound Black Armor to appear on him, he could still activate [Darkness Flood] and [Black Wall] abilities to shield him. Afraid Jaane would be injured from such a robust wind force, Kain used his Flesh Monster’s body to shield Jaane while using eight blood pools inside his body to repeatedly heal himself in an instant using the passive effect of [Abyssal Flesh]. After the wind went away, Kain and Arthur saw the Diamond Skeleton was already standing between them.