Dark Magus Returns

While Lily lay on the floor, she was drifting in and out of consciousness. She had been badly hurt, taking more blows to the head than she should have done during her fight. She knew she needed to pull back, that her strength was waning in the fight, but she continued on regardless. She had an idea of what Reno was doing, why he and Kizer didn't come forward, so she wanted to help at least a little.

It was these thoughts that had kept her going and continuing to thrust the spear even after exhaustion. As the only one without a weapon made by the Dark Magus, she felt like the weak point in the entire group. She had to admit that, so she wanted to at least do something for them, rather than just get in their way or to be someone they needed to worry about.

The thing was, she had lasted even shorter than she thought she would against Suzan, ultimately making her feel like she had done nothing.

'I need to do something... I need to... something... anything.'

It started slowly; all she needed to do was get herself up from the ground, and she did bit by bit. After that, she needed to find her target.

However, she couldn't strike because she saw that Reno was on Suzan's back.

When he finally fell, that was her chance, her opportunity, and she decided to take it. Gathering the last of her strength, she thrust the spear perfectly through Suzan's heart.

One of the strongest members to ever exist in the Flowing Force Clan was defeated just like that. Due to the poison running through her body, Suzan's senses weren't even aware of Lily's presence, and Lily didn't have much of a presence, walking around half-dead.

"I did it..." Lily smiled as she fell back to the ground.

Rayna was going against the man known as Wendart. He was a skilled swordsman who had reached the top of the academy, becoming one of the best teachers among the students.

Rayna herself was using a spear, employing the special techniques of the Neverfall Clan. The two had been clashing quite evenly, exchanging blows with neither side gaining the upper hand.

Once again, Wendart deflected the spear and went to strike at Rayna's face, but she managed to use her leg to kick the sword right by Wendart's hand and thrust forward, with Wendart jumping back in time to reposition himself.

"Using your foot? I thought you were a spearman?" Wendart asked. "I guess I should expect someone from the Demonic Clan to use such methods."

"Every clan is different with how they use their arts, and the clan I am from, the Neverfall Clan, was never a clan that specialized in spear techniques in the first place, so I have to come up with a few things on my own."

After finishing these words, Rayna went in for a strike again. Wendart struck his sword with equal force, and the power of Qi clashing rippled through the air.

"You are skilled, you are strong, but you are rushing for some reason. What is it? Are you worried about them?" Wendart asked, keeping track of where her eyes went.

They lingered toward Raze. There wasn't anyone around him, but due to all the fights going on, at any point and time, someone could come next to him.

On top of that, she was sure that the Qi vibrating through the air due to all the fights would be disturbing Raze quite a bit.

"Oh, so it's him. But let me tell you, rushing your fight is a bad idea, not when you're going against someone like me. I am the clan head of one of the top clans just outside the major five clans in the Dark Faction!"

Wendart skimmed his sword, pushing forward against the spear, and with a burst of Qi, he then rushed and struck toward Rayna's head.

She managed to pull back, but the tip of the sword made a cut across her cheek. Jumping back several times, she placed her hand on her cheek, feeling the small amount of blood. She slowly placed her index finger on the wound and smeared it across her cheek.

"One of the strongest clans outside of the top five, and that's something you're proud of?" Rayna asked.

She carefully steadied herself and let out a deep breath. She then focused her gaze and looked at her opponent again.

Right after, she charged in once more, but this time, things were different. Her Qi surged through her body with each step, all of it steady and contained at a low level.

It wasn't rash and wild, swinging out, and Wendart could feel this.

"I am from the Neverfall Clan!" Rayna claimed as she went in and struck from above.

Wendart blocked the attack, but as soon as the spear and his sword collided, a burst of powerful Qi made the attack feel that much heavier.

Right after, he could see her following up with another attack.

"I'm from one of the top clans in the Demonic Faction, and let me tell you, inside our clan, there are plenty of people stronger than you!"

Rayna then jumped up in the air and spun her body. Rather than using the spear to thrust, she was using it more like a staff.

With the spin and added power, the attack was faster than Wendart could react, and the side of the spear slammed into his ribs.

He could immediately tell that they were broken. As his body was about to be flung to the side, Rayna quickly pulled the spear back and thrust it forward, piercing Wendart's thigh.

The spear continued on until it stuck into the ground, and Rayna completely let go of the spear.

Now she was just using her fists and delivered a heavy punch right to the side of his face, knocking out a few of his teeth in the process.

"If I couldn't beat someone like you, who's not even in the top five, then I don't deserve to be part of the Neverfall Clan. Because there are people far stronger than you everywhere." Rayna pulled Wendart's head and then punched him directly in the face again, knocking him out completely.

She pulled her spear out of his leg, and shortly after, she started to drag the body of Wendart along the floor. He was still alive but badly hurt and still unconscious.

The fight was clearly over between the two of them, and the Light Faction Clan watching it knew it as well.

"The fights have been rough on both sides... mostly," Ricar commented after seeing what Rayna had just done.

"Yeah, both sides have taken heavy blows. Although we could consider some groups winners and losers, it looks like regardless of the outcome of the fight, they are no longer able to fight anyway," Beatrix added.

"What does that mean, though? Doesn't that mean one side is still beating the other?" Hannah asked.

"This isn't like the martial arts tournament, where whoever wins can safely go home and claim to be the victor," Ricar added. "In this situation, whoever is left standing will decide to finish off the others.

"Which means the fate of everyone who is fighting is in the hands of the final few. They will decide the ending outcome of the fight."

This was why Ricar thought what Raze was doing was relatively smart. Everyone was weakening as they continued to fight, and all he had to do was play clean-up, just like he had done against Arkon.

If he did this, there would be a chance that they could beat all of the Dark Faction. The real question was, then, for them as observers, what was it that they would do?

Rayna continued to drag the body of Wendart across. At one point, he regained consciousness and could feel his legs being dragged, but Rayna quickly dealt with that by hitting him at the back of the neck again.

Eventually, she reached where she wanted to be and was now directly in front of Raze. She then threw the body right down in front of him.

"I know you're busy cultivating energy right now, but I thought I would help you out a bit," Rayna said.

Those words caused Raze to open his eyes and see Wendart right in front of him.

"Use him," Rayna said as she knelt down and lifted Wendart's bloody face. "Use the extraction technique on him and restore the Qi that you need.

"If that's not enough, then use some of my energy. I can take it. In the meantime, I'll protect you from anything that comes your way," Rayna said as she stood up and turned around.

Raze looked at the warrior in front of him. A strong warrior indeed, and if the extraction technique was used, he certainly would regain his energy.

'Maybe I'll be back in this fight sooner than I thought.'