Chapter 67: Secret Weapon

Finding Warden coming closer to her, she adjusted the lightning and shot a beam of white flame. Her star fire ability was an extension of the Starfire Crane, yet it remained the most devastating power in her arsenal, even when Sylvie wasn't with her.

Yet Warden's defence held true just like before. Yes, she did keep her power within the realm of Iron grade, to the very limit at times, which should have melted through the weird force field around Warden. However, she only managed to fling him a few times.

Although he mentioned that he received an impressive Grade A in potential, she couldn't fathom him having such defensive capabilities as well. From the very beginning, the cloak seemed nothing special, but now that June laid her silver eyes on it, she learned it was far from being anything ordinary.

For one thing, all of its specialities were hidden from her prying eyes, which spoke volumes about the magnitude of its realm. She would have to study it very closely to get anything out of it.

Truly, the wielded human she found in some unknown village was giving her one surprise after another.

June withdrew and maintained distance, keeping the impasse for a little longer. Warden's display so far should have impressed the Elders enough to consider him truly as an aspect for the academy. After all, she was genuinely impressed, and her scale was already quite high.

The battle was finally taking a toll on his body. Although his channels were full of energy, it burned through him to implement them. He had been at full capacity for over a quarter of an hour. The diabolical energy already began to tear through his skin.

Another mystery was the power. It wasn't simply darkness, as darkness lacks the destructive force of the dark purple energy. June had her suspicions. But with no evidence, she would rather not draw conclusions.

June could still play with the same intensity for half an hour more, but she was unsure where his limit lay. She was prepared to end the confrontation, but at the last moment, she held her move, finding him doing something suspicious.

"Are those runes?" June's [Silver Eyes of Dawn] peered into the motes of energy Warden left on the scorched ground. He tried his best to keep them hidden and even managed to do so without most people's notice. Perhaps even her eyes wouldn't have picked up if he hadn't shown and taught her runesmithing.

He approached her, wasting no time, as he wasn't aware of how long his script could hold against her.

June found her Will could contest with the script, while her eyes looked for the weakness. Unfortunately, she simply couldn't study those scripts in the middle of a fight, not when Warden was barking through her wards like they were mere scrapes.

June sighed; thankfully, none of the elders seemed to have noticed the intricacies of the runes. It was as good a time as any to end the fight.

"I'm really sorry for this," she told him and attacked.

***

Victory was within his grasp and Warden couldn't believe it. He hadn't thought his array would be this effective, much less against an opponent like June.

Warden broke through her layers of ward one after another, each step bringing him closer to her immobilized form. Then a sensation slapped in the back of his mind.

"I'm really sorry for this," she said telepathically.

Warden didn't even give her permission to create a link, yet she managed to transmit her voice. Dread crawled in his mind, as he hurried to her, extending his sword to the limit to land a blow.

But all turned futile as a devastating force thrust into his mind, breaking through his defences as easily as he did with her wards.

He lost his grasp over [Void Shroud], and all his scripts as he fell to his knees. The blade fell from his palm and soon darkness claimed him.