Dark Magus Returns

When Alba had given the notice to the entirety of the Crimson Crane to charge forward, there was one person who was slightly frozen in place, wondering what to do, and that was Tilion.

In his hands, he held the legendary shield. It was such a powerful item that now he felt like his involvement could completely change the situation, depending on who he helped.

'Shouldn't I help with the fight against Murkel?' Tilion looked back.

The two sides had practically separated in the giant arena, and it was clear that Murkel was the strongest of them all, but there were already three people going against him.

More than likely, his help would be needed elsewhere. As he ran over, he went to help some of the children with the shield by his side until he heard heavy footsteps coming from his right side.

Immediately, there was someone right there, and it was on the side where he wasn't carrying his shield. All Tilion could do was brace himself as he saw a large black object bash into his shoulder.

It was a large amount of Qi that pushed him through the ground. His feet were digging part of the flooring off, and eventually, he tripped, falling over, rolling a couple of times, and getting up off the floor.

He quickly put the shield in front of him, ready to block another attack, but the attack didn't come. When Tilion took a peek at the side of his shield, he could see another warrior with a round shield covering the side of his right arm.

"No matter what, I knew I had to go against you!" Gavin claimed, as he punched his round shield a couple of times.

"I am from the Moonshield Clan, a clan that boasts the strongest defensive techniques in all forms and with all weapons.

"Of course, in terms of defense, the shield only focuses on that, and it is the weapon that I specialized in and rose to the top.

"Your shield is incredibly impressive, but I can tell that the person who is holding the shield is not. It would be more deserving in better hands," Gavin said as he continued to bash his shield.

Each time, it would ring out, and ripples of his Qi could be seen through the air. Such powerful Qi would cause initial stage warriors to feel weak.

However, Tilion was not an initial stage warrior.

"I know who you are. You have made a name for yourself, just like I have as well. Having grown through away techniques, I earned my position in the Crimson Crane and helped them grow, and that was before I had this shield!" Tilion shouted back.

He then started to charge forward with the shield in front of him, and when he got close, he used a special foot technique that pushed it forward with the V-shaped shield in front.

Gavin moved his shield in a circular motion with lingering Qi, almost creating an image of a moon itself, and then pushed forward, hitting the shield at the same time.

The power exploded out, and then equally, it looked to have exploded back in as the special effect of the shield activated, taking the energy in.

"Don't blame your loss just because you don't have a good item like me!" Tilion said behind his shield. He could feel part of its power rising in him, and he was ready to attack when he skimmed the shield to his side.

"Bargo, now!" Gavin shouted.

Hearing the words and the name called out, Tilion realized something--that there was one more person near him.

He had thought that maybe Gavin had wanted a fair fight. To go head-to-head with him in shield techniques to see which was superior.

Then he forgot what faction he was from. It was the Dark Faction, the group that did anything they could to win.

He could see a man with a sword by his side charging forward. He had come at him with his blade ready to pierce his bare side.

Tilion had done quite well, predicting the movements of Gavin, so he moved his shield in that direction to block the attack, but it had left his side open.

'I'll just take the hit and keep storing energy in the shield, and when it's enough, I'll slice off this guy's head!' Tilion thought.

He prepared himself to take the sword going through his body. He could tell the attacker was a skilled, powerful warrior as well.

Not as strong as the clan head in front of him, but certainly strong enough to do a lot of damage.

That was when something strange occurred, for Tilion never felt any pain, and that was because the sword never pierced him.

Instead, it looked like Bargo had almost stumbled, missing his attack completely. When falling, it felt like Tilion was seeing everything in slow motion.

Bargo, the man who was attacking, regained his footing after having missed his attack, and then the sword turned, going right through Gavin's stomach, piercing his side.

"Arghh!" Gavin shouted, and jumped back, blood soaking through his clothing. "What is the meaning of this? We've known each other for years, Bargo. Why would you betray me? Were you always working with the Demonic Clan? Just what is going on?"

Tilion was too stunned to act. The enemy was fighting each other, and he had never even seen Bargo before. Why was all of this happening?

"You work with Raze, right?" Bargo said, with his back facing toward him. "I owe that kid a lot, and I promised that when the time came, I would help him out for what he has done.

"Sure, the Moonshield Clan has been good to me, but I rose to my position due to my own skills and power. Nothing was ever given to me by the clan.

"If anything, the clan owes me for being so strong and being a part of their group," Bargo smiled. "Regardless, with this, the big debt I owe that kid will be gone, and if he's fighting, I'm sure he will win. After seeing him that day, I believe in miracles as well."

Although Bargo and Tilion had never spoken to each other before this moment, he understood him well, especially the last line about miracles. Because Tilion was holding onto a miracle that was made by the Dark Magus.

An unexpected pair had teamed up to go against one of the clan heads of the Dark Faction.

"Both of you are useless! You will understand today why I was made clan head of one of the top five clans, and not someone like you, Bargo, who never pushed themselves!" Gavin lifted up the round shield and his arm and punched into it, vibrating through the entire area.

The large amount of power was felt by all who were continuing their fights with their opponents.

---

When Safa had charged into the Dark Faction members on the ground, Simyon made sure to stay close to her.

He was still hurt from his severe wounds, but he was patched up quite well thanks to Safa. He needed to protect her.

At the same time, Safa, although she had managed to regain quite a bit of her Mana and Qi, was still feeling weak from using all of her power.

Which was why she had decided to go for the slowest person to react to the large shield strike from Tilion.

'The bald-headed wall of muscle. He's just laying there on the ground...he has to be the weakest of the group. If we get rid of him first, then we can lower the numbers of the rest of them.'

Seeing the reaction speed of the bald-headed man, Safa felt like she had made the right choice. All of the others had gotten up, all apart from him.

Just as Safa had reached him, he had just lifted his upper body off the ground. Seeing this, she shifted forward with her Qi in her legs.

Her movement was all in one motion. She then allowed her Qi to travel from her legs right to the tip of the spear, and she thrusted it forward, towards the man's chest.

"Success!" Safa said as she could see her spear hitting the chest, with no hand getting in the way, with no one getting in the way of her strike.

However, the spear was only touching the outer skin of the man, and it hadn't gone any further inside. She quickly pulled it away, and in doing so, she noticed that there wasn't a mark on him.

'Am I…really that weak? Did I not recover as much as I thought I did?' Safa thought. 'No, I know how much Qi I put into that strike. That should have at least done some damage, maybe not strike his heart, but get through his Qi.'

That's when she noticed the second strange thing about her strike. It didn't feel like it had hit any type of Qi at all.

The strike itself, there was no resistance all the way. The Qi looked to be having no effect on the man at all. It hit his skin and was doing nothing.

While Murkel was fighting with the others, he glanced back, noticing who Safa was fighting against.

"Raze, I know you care for the other no-names, you are close to them, right!" Murkel shouted, avoiding strikes from the three.

"Are you really just going to stay in your position while your sister fights that monster? The monster that is unaffected by Qi?" Murkel asked with a devious smile.

In this whole thing, the bald-headed man was his second trump card for if things went wrong in the event.