Faith was against puppets that released golden flames wherever they flew. They had various sizes, but the biggest one wasn't even ten meters tall.
Yet, their size indicated how many flames they released during their flight. The bigger ones left wide trails that filled the sky with the iconic fire of the Elbas family.
An azure sphere covered Faith and protected her from the puppets' offensive. They could only throw punches at her and slash with their silver swords, but those attacks couldn't even pierce the external layers of Faith's defenses.
Her only problem was the fire. Her influence on the environment suppressed the puppets' flames, but there were too many of them flying around her.
The situation would become problematic if she lost control of the battlefield for even a second, but her casual attacks weren't enough to destroy the puppets.
She eventually decided to prepare a strong spell while she kept her defenses active, but that shrunk her influence on the battlefield and let some of the flames run wild.
Faith had predicted that outcome, but she didn't mind it. She wasn't scared about those puppets. She had felt more fear during some of her sparring sessions with June.
A white light soon shone on the battlefield, and Daniel surpassed the encirclement of puppets to enter inside Faith's sphere. His attack destroyed the fire acc.u.mulated in the area, but it didn't manage to touch the golems since they retreated as soon as they sensed his individuality.
"How long do you need?" Daniel asked. He had known Faith long enough to understand what she was doing.
"Not much," Faith replied. "It should be enough to take care of most of them."
"Do you need help?" Daniel continued. Faith wasn't the last powerhouse who had been unable to keep the golden spears in check. He would fly toward Skully if there were no need for his presence there.
"I don't really need it," Faith replied, "But it doesn't feel bad to fight together. We can finish them quickly if you remain here."
Daniel glanced at her without revealing any expression, and Faith turned toward him while wearing a similar face. None of them said anything when their eyes met.
Faith continued to gather energy for her spell, and light acc.u.mulated on Daniel's palms as they remained in that position. They both wanted to add something, but they felt that there was no need for words.
They had grown closer through the years, and both of their individualities had improved since they first met. Now they stood at the peak of the heroic rank, and they had both become beacons of hope for the weaker cultivators.
Their roles in their organizations were similar, which made them spend a lot of time together inside the separate dimension. Faith's peace and Daniel's purity were quite suitable for each other, and they had even discovered that cultivating together brought them benefits.
Daniel and Faith had never gone past their friendly relationship. It wasn't something that they could do easily. Both of them had issues in that aspect of their lives to overcome before they could even understand what they wanted.
Still, they both liked spending time together, so they didn't mind using situations to their advantage. That battle was only the last of the many experiences they had decided to share after a silent understanding.
Daniel joined his hands, and a long rapier made of light formed in front of him as he separated them. He then wielded the weapon and thrust it at one of the bigger puppets that flew around Faith's protection.
The rapier released a flash after Daniel's sharp movement, but nothing flew through the air. Yet, the puppet flew backward and shot in the distance after he completed the attack.
Daniel continued to thrust his rapier, and other puppets shot in the distance. It was as if something had managed to fling them away, but they couldn't understand the nature of that attack.
The puppets flung in the distance returned in Faith's position to cover the area with their golden flames, but small marks had appeared on their torso after the last clash.
The marks were as big as a thumb and released a trail of smoke. Some of them were deep enough to pierce through the other side of the puppets, while others only managed to reach the center of their bodies.
The smaller puppets had suffered the worst injuries, but they didn't appear too threatening. Small holes weren't dangerous for those beings.
However, Daniel kept on thrusting his rapier and launch his invisible attacks. The puppets couldn't do anything to avoid them, and holes appeared even on their flames when they tried to use them as shields.
Faith didn't have to worry about the puppets at all with Daniel weakening them. She already had the advantage in that battle, but his arrival made her even more certain about her victory.
The water shield began to tremble once Faith acc.u.mulated enough "Breath". A humming sound echoed from her defensive spell, and the puppets began to slow down when those soundwaves reached them.
Third Prince and Second Princess could control the puppets and rearrange them into various battle formations, but those golems began to ignore their orders after Faith's spell released that sound.
Some of the puppets even flew toward Faith and remained in front of her protection. It seemed that the humming sound could affect their behavior and make them attracted to her energy.
Then, Faith's sphere exploded, and her water burst outward. Most of the puppets found themselves engulfed by the waves created right in the middle of the sky, but the impact was easy to endure.
The puppets didn't reveal any injury after Faith's water swept them, but they had stopped releasing golden flames. They didn't even charge at the two powerhouses anymore. Faith had rendered them unable to do any harm.
"They are all yours," Faith said as she lost interest on that battlefield. She could destroy those puppets herself, but Daniel had an offensive spell at hand already.
Daniel thrust his rapier until all the light that it contained vanished. Then, he joined his hand against to create a long spear that he threw toward a crowded area.
The spear detonated when it reached its destination, and a white halo covered the area around it. Daniel's individuality began to affect that chunk of the sky, and the puppets inside it started to lose pieces of their bodies under its effects.
His thrusts had opened small holes in the puppets that destabilized the puppets' structure, and his light returned their bodies to their original form. Raw materials appeared in the sky as Daniel's individuality turned those defenses into nothing more than metals and other items.
The puppets' army lost almost all its members in only one joint attack, and the two powerhouses wanted to pressure their opponents until all of them became nothing more than dust. Yet, the Royals called their defense back and left that region unprotected.
Third Prince and Second Princess knew that they were losing a lot during that invasion. The best they could do in that situation was to preserve as many assets and resource that they could. It was pointless to invest them into territories that they couldn't defend.
Faith and Daniel watched the puppets leaving the battlefield and exchanged a glance. They stared at each other for a while before Daniel broke the silence with a question. "Do you want to help Skully?"
"Sure," Faith replied, and the two of them set off to reach the region where Skully was fighting.