"!!!"

Before I knew it, the Castellan stomped forward and swung his hammer straight at me, with every intention to pulverize my skull into bone shards and brain matter.

I swept underneath the Castellan's attack, ducking under his ma.s.sive hammer even as I sliced through his barriers with my two swords. The mechanized puppet's bulky weapon soared several centimeters above my face, almost ruffling my fringe as I slid past under it, as well as the metallic arms that wielded it. I could literally feel the heat flaring from the thruster-cannons on his arms – even though the beam cannons from Teresa's battle armor had fused with the Castellan's arms, they did not seem capable of ranged weaponry. Instead, the cannons served as thrusters to boost the strength of his mechanical arms and augment his physical blows.

Don't ask me how that worked. I had no idea. Just a.s.sume it was technomagic (which it really was) or something. Dodging under another crus.h.i.+ng blow from the Castellan's ma.s.sive hammer, I spun about to avoid a kick and then withdrew to a safe distance. Skidding back from a powerful strike, I managed to still my trembling arms. Enhanced by my chibi Celestial Guardians, I was able to parry the Castellan's hammer with my crossed swords.

"Huff."

Perspiration dripped down my face as I studied my opponent, and I took a deep breath as I prepared myself for the next round. Kicking off the ground, I lunged at the Castellan again, and we exchanged several dozen blows in the s.p.a.ce of a few seconds, my two swords clas.h.i.+ng ferociously against the Castellan's hammer. All the while, my remaining Celestial Guardians continued to bombard him from afar with their ranged spells, but he always had his barrier activated at the last moment to block them, before I could slice them apart.

Cut them too late and I would end up cleaving my own Celestial Guardians' spells apart too. This was truly a complex battle.

"Ha ha ha ha!"

From afar, Wilhelm chortled as he watched what he perceived to be my fruitless struggle.

"It doesn't matter if you concentrated all of your mana down into such a small area and penetrate my Castellan's barriers! You still won't be able to match him blow for blow!"

Despite his claims, I traded another few strikes with the Castellan, proving him wrong by holding my ground and matching the mechanized puppet blow for blow. The robot tried to shove me back, but I deflected his hammer and counterattacked, forcing him to withdraw.

"Richard is actually fighting on par with that monstrous robot!" one of the spectators murmured in awe. "How?!"

Magic, that's how.

With a mechanical bellow, the Castellan swung his hammer downward, crus.h.i.+ng a ma.s.sive crater into the ground and forcing me into a hasty retreat. While I jumped away, raising both swords to protect myself from the flying debris, my Vermillion Phoenix dove down on him, launching an enormous fire spell. The inferno that he unleashed took the form of a flaming, intangible phoenix, and crashed down upon the robot.

Seizing the opportunity, I charged forward and thrust both of my swords forward, penetrating his barriers and scything through his metallic body to carve him apart.

"!!!"

Unable to evade either attacks, the Castellan could only stand his ground. Raising his left hand, he caught the flaming phoenix from above while he swung his hammer with his right hand to parry both of my swords. The ferocious fire spell seared through him, the superheated plasma almost melting his armor. More mana gushed out of the Castellan's armor as he struggled to withstand the blow, and Wilhelm winced when he realized that even his reserves were being siphoned away. The half-molten metallic armor managed to solidify, but there were clearly rapidly expanding cracks on the head and torso as the Castellan buckled under the immense impact and extreme temperatures.

"Ugh!" Wilhlem groaned. His Castellan responded, linked to him psychostigmatically, and let out a mechanical howl.

"UOOOOOOOOOOH!"

"?!"

I was almost forced back by the hurricane-like white mana that poured out of the crumbling armored hull of the Castellan, buffteted by arcane shockwaves that tore through the ground and threw up chunks of debris.

Skidding backward, I flipped myself upright and landed on my feet and used Bai Ri to maintain my posture. Slowly straightening up, I studied the glowing Castellan and sighed.

"This much mana…"

"I can't control it!" Wilhelm shouted from afar, clutching his body as he crashed to his knees. "He's sucking me dry! At this rate I will run out of mana before the match can end!"

Even though that should sound rea.s.suring to me, I couldn't smile. I was in the same situation as him. This was quickly turning into a battle of attrition. I had no doubt the outcome of the battle would be determined by who ran out of mana first.

"This is bad!" Wilhlem muttered, almost as if he was talking to himself. "I need to get my Castellan under control!"

While he did so, I took a step with my swords while my Celestial Guardians cast their spells. It didn't work – the immense amounts of white mana erupting from the roaring Castellan deflected the fireb.a.l.l.s that Vermillion Phoenix launched, as did the earth spikes and lightning from Golden Kirin and White Tiger crumble or dissipate when they made contact. As for me, I found myself physically shoved back by the shockwaves.

"I can't get close!" I realized. "And I can't even attack him when he's in this state!"

"What's happening?!" the commentator exclaimed excitedly. "Seems like the Castellan is rampaging! Has the formidable robot gone berserk? Will Richard Huang be able to stop the Castellan when it goes out of control?!"

There were murmurs among the spectators who were watching the entire spectacle somewhat fearfully. If the Castellan blew up here and now, he would be dealing D6 mortal wounds to any unit within 3D6" of him…ahem, I mean he would be dealing out mortal wounds to anyone in the vicinity. Of course the boundary fields and the barriers around the arena should hold, but I couldn't blame them for feeling a sense of unease.

Then I understood something.

"No, the Castellan isn't rampaging or going out of control. He's…"

The mana flunctuations were decreasing and the robot calmed down, drawing the violent currents of the mana back into himself. The white glow vanished, and he straightened. There were ma.s.sive cracks all over his mechanical body, his formidable armor now damaged severely from the overload of mana as well as the constant onslaught from the strikes from both me and my Celestial Guardians.

"Phew." Wilhelm wiped his perspiration from his face and sat up. "I've finally managed to force him back under control." He then grinned. "But be warned, Richard Huang…my Castellan is a lot stronger than before."

I didn't point out to him that his mechanized puppet was also a lot more damaged than before, and I could exploit the visible c.h.i.n.ks in his armor. It was always more advantageous for me to allow my opponent to underestimate me.

"Let's settle this once and for all!" Wilhelm hollered. Responding to his will, his Castellan charged forward, his backpack thrusters flaring furiously and allowing him to streak toward me like a missile. I could barely parry his hammer blow in time and was hurled back from his momentum.

"Ugh! His blows have gotten a lot stronger than before!"

The cannons fired a violent burst, augmenting his physical strength further, and I found myself flung back even though I somehow managed to parry his strike. Huffing, I adjusted the level of mana in my swords and fought back, countering and deflecting his hammer. Rather than receive them directly or head-on, I skillfully altered their trajectories and diverted them to the side. The hammer landed on the ground with crus.h.i.+ng force, leaving more craters in the Castellan's wake, but at last those lethal impacts were no longer directed at me.

"For a summoner, your sword techniques are unexpectedly good!" Wilhelm growled, half-frustrated that his rapidly crumbling Castellan still wasn't able to finish me off. Like me, he realized that his robot was operating on a ticking clock, and it wasn't just the danger of him running out of mana. The very mechanical structure of the Castellan was unable to contain the enormous amount of mana he wielded, and was destroying the poor robot from the inside out.

I couldn't help but smirk. "Thanks."

The Castellan bore down on me once more, his hammer swinging to pulverize me. Once again, I parried it with my crossed swords, subtly sliding to the side while my blades screeched past the length of the hammer in a shower of sparks so as to avoid the full impact of the blow. The Castellan twirled his hammer and struck me back, and I had to withdraw to a safe distance to avoid getting every bone in my body shattered by the heavy blow.

"Kuh!"

However, in the face of adversity I found opportunity. While I retreated, I sent a mental command to my waiting Vermillion Phoenix and Golden Kirin, both of whom had been spending this entire time casting their spells.

"Scorched Earth!" I yelled.

The combined fire and earth spell engulfed the Castellan, turning into molten magma. The superheated molten lava washed over the Castellan, but the mechanized puppet merely raised his hand calmly and created a yellowish barrier that sucked all of the molten lava into it.

"You've got to be kidding me…"

My jaw dropped when I saw the Castellan contain the raw power of my Celestian Guardians' combined Scorched Earth into a relatively small barrier box.

"I'll return those flames back to you!" Wilhelm called out gleefully from his safe corner at the far edge of the arena. His Castellan responded to his view and opened up a cracked, mechanical palm before releasing the full force of my Scorched Earth spell right back at me. The barriers of the coliseum glowed, s.h.i.+mmered and expanded desperately as it struggled to contain the colossal explosion that swept throughout the entire stage.

"Ugh!"

If it weren't for the protective water sphere of my Black Tortoise, I would have been blown to smithereens. As it was, both my Golden Kirin and White Tiger were destroyed in that catastrophic blast, their bodies dissipating away into spiritual mana. Only my Vermillion Phoenix escaped unscathed, having taken off into the air to evade the enormous explosion.

As for my opponents, both Wilhlem and his Castellan were safely s.h.i.+elded by the blue pixelated barriers. d.a.m.n it…even with an explosion of that magnitude, he was still able to protect both himself and his master from such a tremendous amount of molten lava.

He was truly a monster…

"Huff…"

Dragging my battered body up, I tried to stand, but ended up almost falling. I had to plunge both of my swords into the ruined earth to keep myself upright. As I did so, I observed the ruined arena. The whole place had turned into a crater reminiscent of the Chicxulub crater – the impact site of the supposed dinosaur-killing asteroid. Molten concrete continued to drip from seared black rock, and I found myself deep within the large hole that made up the poor arena.

"Now then…" Wilhlem sounded gleeful. "It's time to finish this once and for all, don't you think?"

At his mental command, his Castellan took a step forward. Then sparks flew from his cracked leg, and the mechanical limb buckled, causing the heavily damaged robot to topple over and sink deeply into the softened rock.

"?!"

 "Looks like your Castellan is reaching his limits as well," I observed wearily. I was too battered and in pain to smile at the slight victory. Pus.h.i.+ng my gla.s.ses up my nose, I a.s.sessed my option. With all those enhancements to his speed and power after the gattai, he remained a formidable enemy. However, if I could just strike a decisive blow – one that penetrated his barriers and take him down in just one hit…

There might just be a way.

"Vermillion Phoenix," I called out. The huge Celestial Guardian descended upon me and turned into a chibi version before perching on my shoulder, next to my Green Dragon. Flames danced around me and wreathed me in a crimson, angry mana. I took a step forward and took a deep breath. "It's time to finish this once and for all."