The ground around the four Monarchs had been transformed, what had once been a barren expanse of nothing was now a cratered wasteland, scarred by lightning, frozen by ice, shattered by fists that could level mountains. The swirling mists of the Dimensional Gap had been pushed back, replaced by the heat of battle and four Monarchs locked in combat.
Arthur's spear crackled with violet lightning, its energy dancing across the shaft. And around him, three Monarchs circled.
Legia moved like a mountain. His massive fists were wrapped in gauntlets that gleamed with dark energy, each one capable of shattering lesser beings with a single blow. His steps shook the ground, Sillad glided across the frozen ground he had created, his form elegant and cold. Ice crystals formed in his wake. Baran stood between them, his greatsword crackling with demonic lightning, his smile was cold, predatory, the smile of a being who had been promised victory and believed it.
Arthur's spear spun in his hand.
"All of you, circling me like vultures, but I have to say, you chose a fine place to be your grave."
Legia's laugh was a rumble that shook the ground. "Vultures? No, Shadow. We are predators, and you are our prey."
"You have been a thorn in our side for long enough, The traitor Monarch." Sillad's eyes narrowed. "It ends today."
Baran's greatsword rose. "Enough talk."
He attacked, the Demon Monarch crossed the distance between them in less than a heartbeat, his greatsword descending in an arc that would have cleaved a mountain. Lightning trailed in its wake, crackling with demonic energy.
Arthur's spear came up.
CRACK.
The impact sent shockwaves across the battlefield. The ground beneath their feet shattered, fissures spreading in every direction. Arthur's knees bent, absorbing the force, his eyes never leaving Baran's.
"Fast," Arthur admitted. "But so predictable.."
He pushed.
Baran was thrown backward, his boots carving furrows in the frozen ground. His smile didn't waver.
Legia was already there.
The Giant Monarch's fist descended like a meteor, its surface crackling with explosive energy. Arthur dove, the fist missing him by inches, its impact creating a crater that glowed with fire.
Arthur rolled, came up swinging. His spear caught Legia's second fist, deflecting it upward. The force of the deflection sent waves of energy across the battlefield, pushing back the swirling mists.
"Strong," Arthur said. "But slow."
Legia's eyes blazed. "Then catch this you arrogant fool!"
His fists became a blur, a storm of blows that shattered the ground, that sent shockwaves rippling across the dimension. Arthur moved through them like water through fingers, his spear deflecting, redirecting.
Sillad attacked from behind.
Ice erupted from the ground, spires of frozen energy that shot toward Arthur's back, each one sharp enough to pierce the finest of armors. Arthur spun, his spear tracing an arc that shattered the ice, sending crystalline shards flying in every direction.
"Clever," Arthur said, his voice carrying a note of admiration. "But I've fought you before, Sillad, I know your tricks."
Sillad's smile was cold. "Do you, Shadow?"
The ice shattered.
And from within the shards, thousands of ice crystals rose, each one a weapon, each one aimed at Arthur's heart.
Arthur's eyes widened, then he smiled.
"Now this is interesting."
He moved.
His spear became a blur, a whirlwind of violet lightning that shattered the ice crystals as they approached. He spun, dove, leaped, his spear an extension of his will controlled with Ruler's Authority.
But the three Monarchs pressed on.
Baran's greatsword came from the left, its lightning crackling with demonic energy. Legia's fist came from the right, its impact explosive. Sillad's ice came from above, its cold reaching for Arthur's soul.
Arthur blocked with a shadow sphere created by his shadow ring, but he was being pushed back.
Baran's smile widened. "He's weakening.."
"Keep pressing!" Sillad commanded. "Don't give him a moment to breathe."
Legia's fists descended like hammers. "DIE, SHADOW!"
Arthur's sphere shattered, and his spear came up.
The impact sent him sliding backward, his boots carving trenches in the groung, his eyes still blazing, but there was something else in them now.
And then he felt it, a sudden shift in the air.
The presence of something that had not been there before.
Sillad's eyes widened.
Ice erupted from the ground, not his ice, but dark ice, ice that pulsed with demonic energy, ice that shattered his own frozen constructs.
He spun, and Raven stood behind him, her hands wreathed in dark magic, her eyes burning with power. Black Wings spread behind her.
"Hello once again, Frost bastard," she said, her voice cold. "I hear you've been causing trouble."
Sillad's eyes narrowed. "You... have you come to die beside your lover."
Raven's smile was sharp. "No, I am here to get rid of you once and for all."
She attacked, dark magic met Raven's demonic magic in a clash that shook the dimension. Ravens of shadow flew from her hands, crashing against walls of frozen energy. Sillad countered, his ice forming barriers, weapons, constructs of frozen death.
Arthur's smile widened.
He looked at Baran and at Legia.
"Now," he said, "it's just the three of us, that guy was annoying after all, waiting for a chance to backstab me, no honor whatsoever in how he fights..."
Baran's greatsword rose. "You are still outnumbered, Shadow."
Arthur's spear spun in his hand. "I've been outnumbered before, it didn't end well for my enemies, you can ask Rakan, Yogumunt and Querehsha when you see them today."
Arthur attacked and the battle resumed, but different now. Arthur was more fluid, more aggressive, his attacks pressing the two Monarchs back, without worrying about the Ice bastard.
Baran's greatsword came down. Arthur's spear caught it, deflected it, his spear turned into a bolt of lightning and sent it toward the Demon Monarch's chest. Baran barely dodged, the lightning grazing his armor.
Legia's fist came from the side. Arthur spun, his spear tracing an arc that caught the fist, redirecting its momentum into the ground. The impact created a crater that sent shockwaves across the battlefield.
"Careful," Arthur said, his voice carrying a note of concern. "Raven, They play dirty, and they are strong together, don't let them catch you off guard."
Raven's laugh echoed across the battlefield. "I've faced worse, Arthur, focus on your own fight!"
Sillad's ice erupted around her. She countered with dark magic, her power meeting his in a clash that sent waves of energy across the dimension.
Arthur smiled.
"Good," he said.
And he attacked.
His spear became a blur, a storm of violet lightning that pressed Baran and Legia back. The ground beneath them shattered. The sky itself seemed to recoil from the force of their battle.
Baran's greatsword came down. Arthur's spear caught it, held it, pushed it back.
"Your lightning is strong," Arthur admitted. "But it's not enough to kill me, I doubt that you can defeat my Marshals together.."
Baran felt insulted then Arthur used that moment and twisted his spear, Baran's greatsword was torn from his hands, spinning into the darkness.
Legia's fist descended. Arthur's spear came up, catching the blow, its lightning crackling against the explosive energy of Legia's gauntlet.
"Such strength..." Arthur said. "It is really a shame that I can't turn you into a shadow soldier..."
Then he drove his spear into Legia's chest.
The Giant Monarch roared, a sound of pain and fury. His massive hands closed around the spear, trying to pull it free, but Arthur twisted it.
Legia was thrown backward, his body crashing into the frozen ground, his chest smoking.
The frozen ground cracked beneath Legia's weight as he pushed himself upright.
His chest, where Arthur's spear had pierced him was still smoking, the wound slowly closing, flesh knitting together with the agonizing slowness of Monarch regeneration. Blood dripped from his mouth, staining his chin and his armor.
His eyes burned with rage.
"You..." Legia's voice was a low growl. "You dare wound me?!"
Arthur stood a few meters away, his spear crackling with violet lightning, his expression calm. "I dare a lot of things actually."
Legia's fists clenched. His gauntlets crackled with explosive energy, his form seemed to swell, his muscles bulging, his veins glowing with dark light.
"You think that wound means anything?" Legia's voice rose, becoming a roar. "I am Legia, the Giant Monarch! I have crushed worlds! And you..." He pointed a massive finger at Arthur. "You are nothing but A ghost! A pretender!"
Baran's laugh echoed across the battlefield.
"Now you've done it, Shadow."
Arthur's eyes narrowed. "Done what?"
Legia's form continued to grow, his muscles bulging, his armor cracking, his presence becoming something vast and terrible. The ground beneath him groaned, fissures spreading in every direction.
"You've made him angry," Baran said, his smile widening. "You'll understand why they call him the Monarch of the Beginning."
Legia's eyes blazed.
"YOU!"
He moved.
The Giant Monarch crossed the distance between them in less than a moment, faster than before, stronger than before, his fist descending like a meteor. The air itself exploded, as the force of the blow creating shockwaves that sent Baran stumbling backward.
Arthur's spear came up.
CRACK.
The impact was apocalyptic and Arthur was driven into the ground, his knees buckling, his arms trembling with the effort of holding the blow. The ground beneath him shattered, a crater forming around his feet.
Legia's fist pressed down.
"YOU WILL DIE!" Legia roared. "YOU WILL DIE AND I WILL CRUSH YOUR SHADOWS AND I WILL FEED YOUR SOUL TO THE VOID!"
Arthur's eyes blazed violet.
He pushed.
The force of the blow was overwhelming. Arthur felt it in his bones, in his soul, in the very fabric of his existence, it kept driving him into the ground, his knees buckling, his arms trembling with the effort of holding the blow.
Then the ground beneath him shattered, and Legia's fist caught him, a glancing blow to his shoulder. Arthur felt it, and his spear almost slipping from his grip.
His shoulder had caught the blow, so he twisted his body, using the momentum to spin. The impact was catastrophic, anyone else and that would have been it.
But he had what he needed.
An opening.
His spear lashed out, a desperate, precise strike that found the gap in Legia's defence. The tip pierced the Giant Monarch's throat, sliding through flesh and muscle and,
BOOM.
Lightning erupted from the spear, a concentrated blast of violet energy that detonated at point-blank range. Legia's eyes went wide with shock, with pain.
He was thrown backward.
His massive body tumbled across the ground, carving a trench that stretched for hundreds of meters. The spear remained embedded in his neck, crackling with residual lightning, its energy still pulsing through the wound.
Legia crashed to a stop, his body convulsing, his hands clawing at the spear,
Arthur stood slowly.
His hand rose to his mouth. His fingers came away red. Blood, his blood dripped from his lips, staining the ground at his feet.
He spat.
"Really impressive strength," he said, his voice carrying a note of genuine respect. "I haven't felt anything like that in... a long time."
He raised his hand.
The spear, still embedded in Legia's neck, dissolved into shadows, reappearing in Arthur's grip. Its edge was clean, its energy still crackling.
Baran watched from the distance, his eyes wide.
Arthur's eyes found the Demon Monarch.
"You. Are you just going to watch?"
/-\
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