SON OF THE HERO KING

The fight had escalated far more than Rio thought it would, but she was not flustered. The flow was still under her control, all she needed to kill that brat was a window of opportunity.

Killing Blessed was not a crime in any way as long as they did not belong to the same race. She didn’t know what kind of hybrid he was exactly, but he was clearly not a spirit, so it didn’t matter.

The only problem would be if the phoenixes intervened, but since not even one of them appeared despite all the commotion, it was clear that they lacked the interest to intervene.

‘Now, I need to create an opportunity.’

[Fly higher and keep hovering.]

[Very well.]

Once White flew ten meters higher and she was sure that no attack could reach them, she sat down on his back and began to focus. Next to her, a silver ball of metal appeared and began to move erratically before slowly changing shape.

When the transformation ended, what stood next to her was a streamlined knight armor.

Closing her eyes, she began to focus on the armor, and soon, the armor, without anyone in it, began to move.

The movements were stiff at first, but it only took a short amount of time for them to become completely natural. After this, two more puppets of the same style appeared beside the standing armor.

<<Metal Manipulation: Steel Doll>>

Rio’s power didn’t just allow her to create weapons. Even creating puppets like this one was possible. Right now, she could only control a few puppets at once.

Moreover, she needed to stay still while in the process, but she was sure that once she managed to reach the King rank, she would be able to create a veritable army.

Once she was sure that she had full control, she finally opened her eyes and smiled.

[It’s done. Observe the fight. We will only have one shot at this.]

[Don't worry. I will not.]

White scoffed. His and Rio’s abilities were a perfect match for each other. He offered her the mobility she lacked and she offered him the firepower he lacked. Together, they were invincible in the same rank. He was sure of it.

---

“What the…”

Sol wondered what was happening as he watched three unidentified objects fall from the back of that bird.

When the dust dispersed, his eyes widened at the sight of the 3 silver armors in front of him.

One was holding a double-handed sword, the second one had a human-sized shield in his left hand and a normal sword in his right. As for the final one, it was bare-handed, but spikes could be seen on his knuckle.

He could clearly see that there was no one inside the armor, so this meant that what he was facing were nothing more than puppets.

‘So I went from fighting a knock-off Madara to a knock-off Pain?’

The situation was grim. It didn’t take a genius to understand that the goal was to keep him in place.

Even though he had the ability to reduce all kinds of mana attacks, he didn’t want to bet whether he could survive the full might of the big attack that was about to follow.

‘Since they were created by that woman, they should also have the ability to absorb and release energy.’

They are also dolls without a mind of their own, so my Ruler Intent or the Sonic Roar will be ineffective. It means that I can only fight back by reinforcing my body... ‘

Since Sol’s mind was currently in hyperdrive, his thinking speed was far higher than normal. From the moment those steel dolls landed and showed themselves, only an instant went past as he assessed his situation and possible solution.

Whoosh!

‘They are fast.’

The three of them rushed at the same time toward him, but the first to reach him was the one without a weapon.

A straight punch was coming toward his face, but Sol batted the hand away before knocking the puppet ten meters away with a palm in its stomach.

Using the momentum, he managed to avoid the large sword that had threatened to cut him in two, and could only use his arms to protect himself when the one with the shield bashed him with all its strength.

‘Shit!’

He felt an explosion of pain, as if the bones in his arms were about to snap because of the shock. Even the skin on his arms was scraped and became bloody.

The worst was that, because of the angle of the hit, he was brought up a little in the air and as such, was unable to correct his stance on time. This was an overture that should not have been missed and the three puppets were ready to capitalize on it.

Each of them jumped, ready to smash Sol, but he knew that he couldn't let it continue. Though he was in the air and was unable to bring out all his strength, it posed no problem to what he planned to do.

Just as the three were about to get him, he gathered all the strength he could in his middle finger and — flicked.

Boom!

The resulting shockwaves, albeit small and unable to hurt his opponents, the force it packed was enough to change his position and once again avoid getting chopped into minced meat.

Landing, he grimaced a little, his arms were hurting like hell and he felt a little light-headed. From the shock, he could feel that those puppets were far harder than the previous large shield he had destroyed.

It didn't help that he had already been wounded by Rio's sword strike previously as well as the series of wind blades from White during the chase.

The puppets left no time for him to assess his situation though as they rushed to him and used their numbers advantage to surround him.

What followed was a back-and-forth clash between the four of them. But the more this went on, the less favorable the situation became for Sol.

His enemies felt neither pain nor fatigue. No matter how many cracks spread through their bodies thanks to his attacks, they simply continued to advance, completely unmoved.

In fact, each time he hit them, he was the one getting hurt, and even though he could absorb mana from the surroundings thanks to his core, his stamina was limited and constantly depleting. It was made worse by his constant healing.

He also couldn't just keep his attention on them and had to constantly move in order to avoid being locked on by Rio.

'I can't continue like this.'

He needed to introduce a game-changer. Punching one of them away, he took two fast steps backward.

Once he managed to put enough distance between them, he raised his leg, focused as much mana as possible on it, and stepped hard.

BOOM!

The moment this attack landed, it was as if a cannon had gone off. The ground caved in and created a five meters wide crater.

A veritable torrent of sand and dust flew high in the air and acted as an impromptu smokescreen.

Of course, those puppets were unable to see. The ones he wanted to blind weren't the puppets, but rather—the puppeteer.

The sand and dust covered all four of them, making it impossible for Rio to observe the situation. But the most important thing was that he could feel the movement of those puppets slightly stiffen.

‘As I thought.’

He had theorized that Rio needed to use her sight for better control, and it seemed that he had made the right bet.

Using the occasion, the moment Sol reached them, he smashed his fist in the face of the shield user so hard that the steel puppet bounced due to the recoil after hitting the ground, forming another small crater in the process.

Even though it hurt like hell and he was sure that his wrist nearly snapped, Lilith’s training thankfully made him used to pain. Even though she only trained him for a short while, she did help him in developing his fighting awareness a great deal.

'I really need to thank her when I go back.'

Not letting go, he grabbed its leg and, using it as a whip, knocked away the two others. His grip was so tight that the leg made out of steel was completely twisted but he didn’t care.

Once he managed to clear the space out of those two, he was about to proceed in grinding the one he was holding into scrap metal, but a gust of wind blew the dust away, revealing the battlefield once again.

No sooner than it happened, the puppet in his hand proceeded to move its torso in a way that should have been impossible and headbutted him.

‘I swear I will eat that bird tonight.’

Sol gritted his teeth while swearing inwardly. He was about to tighten his grip, but, suddenly, Sol felt an acute pain in his hand.

"Ugh!"

Sol groaned and was unable to keep his hand around the puppet, jumping away, he looked at what caused this pain only to see that blood kept pouring from his hand. In fact, he could even see a few holes in his hand.

Looking back at the source, he saw that the previously twisted leg was full of long and vicious-looking spikes.

'My hand is useless.'

He tried to form a fist, but all he could do was make his shivering hand spurt even more blood. Clearly, the bones and nerves had been completely destroyed.

Even for him, healing from such a wound would take a certain amount of time–time that he did not have right now.

Once again, Lilith thankfully trained him to be nearly ambidextrous, but losing the use of one hand in a fight against so many enemies was close to a death sentence.

Sol could already imagine that the fight was going to become even more desperate, but just as he was about to prepare himself for another 3 VS 1.

As if their strings were cut, the three puppets fell on the ground, totally unmoving.

'I have a bad feeling.'

His gut instincts were soon proven right.

Boom!

Once again, an unidentified object fell to the ground, but from the way the ground shook, it was clearly on another level.

"Oh…"

A shadow slowly expanded as three meters tall puppet stood in front of him.

Before he could take a breath, the three lifeless puppets changed into liquid metal and fused with the frame of the fourth one.

The previously streamlined design vanished, leaving place to hulking monster-like steel doll. The pressure that thing was emanating was off the chart.

<<Steel Dolls: Juggernauts.>>