SSS SKILL: DUPLICATE

Boom! Thick dust appears around the ground where Lock and the first impact crashed.

Lock is standing at the center of the large hole. His armor is broken, his hammer is nowhere to be seen, but his body is fine.

He activated magic in his body. The earth started floating from the ground and move toward him. His armor regenerated. He stretched his arm, then his hammer slowly forms.

Lock looks at Marco, who landed on the ground, and grins.

"Your way of using earth magic in the air is really interesting. It makes me want to try it and make new forms of attack. As a thank you for teaching me a valuable technique, I will try to keep your body intact, but your head must still be turned into a meat sauce!"

An earth pillar pushes Lock, and then he directs it toward Marco.

Marco grins as he sees Lock, who wants to fight in the air. He will teach the guy a painful lesson. Aerial battles cannot be learned instantly. Edgar taught them how to use earth magic in the air, and they practiced a lot before they could flexibly use it.

A fire pillar lifts Marco into the air.

Marco and Lock stare at each other from a distance.

Both of them put more strength into their feet.

Boom! Both of them accelerate in the air.

Marco strikes with his fist covered with fire, while Lock strikes with his hammer.

Bang! Fire fist and hammer clashed. There is no winner in the clash. Both of them step on earth, then they jumped back.

They step on earth, then charge again.

Lock instantly arrived and swung his hammer, but Marco is above him.

"What?!" Lock is astonished that Marco did not charge toward him but jumped up instead. He is tricked.

Marco's arms are above his head.

FIRE HAMMER

Bang! Two big fire arms hit Lock, pushing him down rapidly.

Boom! Lock hit the ground.

Threads of fire element are rotating on both fists of Marco, then he rapidly punches them where Lock crashed.

FIRE FIST

Barrages of fire fists are quickly falling like meteors.

Bang! Bang! Bang! An explosion appears every time a firefist hits the ground where Lock fell.

Marco stopped, then he used earth magic to swiftly land on the ground. He is panting.

The dust is a little cleared by the wind. A half-sphere of earth is above Lock. The sphere has many holes.

Lock has burn marks on his body. Some parts of his clothes are burned. Blood leaks from his mouth, but he is not severely injured. Potions are no longer useful on peak 3rd level aura masters and above because their cells are already at a higher level. Potions cannot enter their cells, but healers can because they can forcefully enter their cells and heal their illnesses or injuries.

Lock feels the burn in his body, but he feels that Marco slapped and burned his face. Lock grits his teeth. He fiercely stares at Marco and wants the guy to pay a painful price. A big magic circle appeared beneath his feet.

ARMORED GUARDIANS

Five earth mounds suddenly rise from the ground and started molding into a human shape. Five three-meter-tall golems have formed. They have the same body armor as Lock.

Lock formed his earth armor and hammer again.

The five golems dash to Marco, followed by Lock. They are trying to make an encirclement, but Marco will not allow that.

Marco punches both his fists rapidly toward the golems.

FIRE FIST

Many fire fsts rapidly flew to five golems. The golems did not stop running towars Marco. They punched the fire fists.

Bang! The fire fists are destroyed.

Marco dashed to the side to meet a golem.

Bang! The golem punched Marco, but he avoided it and stepped to its side. His right fist is covered with more flame. He struck his fist to the golem.

FIST EXPLOSION

Boom! The fist of Marco exploded upon contact with the golem. The fist explosion is not effective against the defense of peak 3rd level, but against a golem, it will have a devastating effect.

Woosh! The golem is blown away. Its upper part is destroyed.

Marco dashed to another golem and did the same.

Boom! Boom! Only two golems, and Lock is attacking Marco. Holes are everywhere around them. Marco is evading with ease.

Boom! Marco jumped back and intended to attack again, but he is shocked that an earthen fist is coming toward him. He put more aura on his right side and cast magic instantly.

FIRE SHIELD

Bang! The fire shield is crushed, and Marco is hit.

Bang! Marco is forced to the ground by the impact and bounces a few times before getting dragged to the ground for a few meters. Dust starts to spread where Marco is lying down.

"Hahahaha, let me return the shame you gave me, bastard! Fire!" said Lock while laughing.

Marco is surrounded by five golems. All the destroyed golems regenerated! A destroyed golem was behind him, but he did not know when it regenerated, waiting for a chance to attack.

The golems' arms are like cannons. In front of their cannon-like arms are magic circles. Their feet are rooted in the ground and have a magic circle. The golems fired their cannon-like arms.

WRATH OF GURDIANS

Woo! Woo! Many earthen balls with the same shape and size as a basketball rapidly flew to Marco.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Sounds of explosions echo in the surroundings. More dust formed where Marco is located.

FIRE DRAGON

Woosh! A fire dragon rises from the dust. Marco is standing on top of its head. Some parts of his armor are cracked. His cape is torn. Blood is leaking from his mouth.

The fire dragon aims at the golems and fired fireballs. The golems aim their arms at the fire dragon and fired.

Boom! Boom! The golems are hit, and their upper parts are destroyed, but they regenerate.

Marco directs the fire dragon into the air and evades the earthen balls. The fire dragon has difficulty evading. A magic circle formed beneath Marco's feet.

FLAME SHINE

All the fire from the fire dragon gathered, then formed into a beast bird. The flame bird's tail is long, and its wings are large and beautiful. Marco is standing on its back.

The flame bird is swiftly evading in the air and firing fireballs at the golems.

"This flame shine will not last long. The intelligence did not know that the stone general has a freak skill like this. Those golems are almost immortal. They can always regenerate by absorbing soil from the ground. If I were to fight on the ground, I would be surrounded. If I were to fight in the air, they would fire me with earthen balls and I would be forced to evade. My muscles in my feet would sore until I became incapacitated if I were to keep accelerating in the air. I would be exhausted first before the stone general does. He just needs to direct his golems and watch the show." thought Marco.

Marco looks at Lock, who is grinning on the ground. He starts gathering more aura and fire element on his right fist while directing the flame shine to keep attacking the golems.

"Hahahaha bastard, your wasting your time. Maintaining those golems do need too much mana. Those runes will absorb mana from the soil to maintain them; they regenerate by absorbing soil from the ground. When you are exhausted, I will capture you. I will slowly crush your bones." thought Lock as he fiercely stared at Marco, who is flying in the air.

Marco directed the flame bird near Lock. He added more aura to his feet. A lot of aura and fire element are already gathered on his right fist. A magic circle also formed in the fist. Lock is still grinning, oblivious to the danger approaching him.

Marco suddenly moves toward Lock.

Lock is shocked.

Earth appears over Marco's feet.

Boom! He accelerates from the air.

Marco's whole body is covered by flame, and his right fist is covered with a burning ball made up of fire element and aura. The inner part of the energy ball is red made up of aura. The outer part that surrounds the red ball is orange and made up of fire element. At the top of the burning energy ball is an orange magic circle.

Marco struck his right fist. The orange magic circle suddenly expanded a lot.

DRAGON FIST

ROOOAAAR! A loud roar of a dragon echoes. A huge dragon head came out of the magic circle. The huge fire beam with a dragon head instantly appeared in front of Lock.

"Ahhh!" screams Lock. He is hit by the dragon fist.

Boom! There was a loud explosion. A huge hole appears on the ground.

Lock is still being pushed deep underground. The sound of the dragon has not dissipated since it came out of the magic circle.

Flop! Marco landed weakly on the ground. He is heavily panting and staring at the huge hole.

Boom! Boom! The sound of an explosion is happening underground, and then it subsides. The force from the dragon fist is exhausted. The dragon's sound is gone.

The depth of the big hole is fifteen meters. Lock is lying in the deepest part of the hole. His body has a huge depression. He is vomiting blood. His organs are crushed. He is still alive, despite his condition.

Flop! Marco landed near him. He walked toward Lock and did not mock his opponent. He knows why he is still holding on.

"Don't worry, I will talk with your family to agree with the terms of Baynard. If they still decide to fight, I will make sure to protect the innocent and keep a seed for your family. Your family and your kingdom's people will be treated fairly. I swear it in my name. My name is Marco Flameworth, and I'm an uncle of the current king," Marco solemnly said.

Lock smiled when he heard it. He intended to kill his enemy earlier, but now he is very thankful. It was just his wishful thinking that his enemy could somehow spare the innocents in his family. Although it's just a verbal agreement and cannot be completely trusted, a warrior's promise is still better than none. He hopes that Marco can hold on to his promise. The luster in his eyes faded, and he passed away.