Chapter 415 Postponed Triumph (End)

Anti-Pacifer Weapon; the word was carved eternally in Basil's mind. The Guide immediately informed him about it. It was an Artefact that protected the soul of the user and the people around him. It would reduce the odds of the Pacifer fighting them since it would prevent said Pacifer to attack their souls, which a Pacifer was good at.

The Artefact also disturbed the flow of Nature Mana within 2 kilometres of the area where the user was, which made it hard for the Pacifer to properly use [One With Nature]. It did no physical damage to the Pacifer but reduced the odds of the Pacifer winning quite significantly.

"I will take care of Jaheim!" Xander shouted.

Basil didn't prevent Xander from doing so even though their current priority was escaping safely. As long as Jaheim was actively using the Artefact that was the bane of every Pacifer, he would not be able to fare against August well and might could even lose his life.

It was frustrating that their plan of escaping had to be postponed but they needed to survive before escaping, so they had to fight.

"Feeling the pressure already, yeah?" August smirked as he looked at Basil's trembling hands. "Thou must want to escape badly. What about thy women? Are they doing well on their own? Those two Kings, weak as they are, should be enough to decimate them."

"Chatty, thou art not?"

"Ku-Ku-Ku. Birds chirp when morning comes; I am chatty when I am happy!"

Using Space Magic, August bent the space between them. Durendal and Caliburn were pulled toward the bent space, prompting Basil to focus on the two swords. August used this chance to kick Basil in his stomach. Basil managed to block the kick but he was, once again, thrown away.

While he was in the air, he observed his surroundings. Xander was holding his ground well against the Jaheim and the Priests. Jaheim was irked that he couldn't face him because he couldn't take his eyes off Xander. August, on the other hand, was dead set on him.

Devising a plan that might help them get out of the predicament, Basil's alarm rang the moment he felt a disturbance in the space. August's daggers appeared out of thin air, heading toward his neck.

It was too close for Basil to block but, thankfully, he could dodge them. The daggers didn't manage to touch any part of his skin but they still managed to open the skin of his nose because of how powerful the swing was.

It was, of course, a minor injury—it even disappeared a second after thanks to Basil's absurd regeneration rate. As a counter-attack, Basil swung Caliburn upwards as soon as August revealed himself. August blocked it splendidly. He, however, didn't expect what came next.

Caliburn suddenly emitted golden light, blinding him with its intensity. He immediately used Space Magic since he didn't want to risk falling into Basil's trap. Just as he was about to bend the space to escape, however, he realized something odd: Caliburn was no longer pushing his daggers and he could no longer bend the space.

He still couldn't see anything but golden light but he now felt 'alone.' He felt like he was in an isolated room. He frowned deeply and then decided to test his assumption. Gathering Mana at the tip of his daggers, he discharged it as he swung them.

Swish!

Boom!

When the air surrounding him exploded, the golden light instantly disappeared like an illusion. Expecting to see the outside world, he frowned again when he saw more gold colour.

Looking up, he could see a golden sky that was decorated with thousands of gigantic swords. Looking below, he could see an endless plain decorated with 100 centimetres tall golden grass.

When he looked around, he found countless normal-sized bladed weapons floating above the golden grass. None of them was golden-coloured, just like the gigantic swords in the sky, but all the glint on them was menacing.

"This is the solution thou hast come up with, Basil Pacifer?" Looking ahead, August smirked. "Not bad…but thou art putting a restriction on thyself by doing this, thou art not?"

Floating above the golden grass, Basil said nothing to August's question. August didn't say anything wrong; by doing this, he was indeed limiting himself. Although he could prevent August from using Space Magic, he had to maintain his Domain, which required him to stay where he was.

In other words, for him to be able to get out of his predicament…

"Thou art planning to kill this one?" August scoffed. "Thou art not the only one who hath a Domain, Basil Pacifer. I can also—ho-oh?" He quirked an eyebrow the moment he found he couldn't materialize his Domain.

"Dost, thou know what to beware of a Pacifer? His ability to impair thy mind."

As the mystery was solved, August couldn't help chuckling in amusement. Domain was the manifestation of one's inner world. One needed a certain control over one's subconscious to materialize it. Basil had cut the connection he had with his subconscious, making it impossible for him to materialize his Domain.

He didn't need to ask when Basil did it. When [Haywire] took effect, he could feel there was something wrong in him other than it. He couldn't put his finger on what it was at that time but, now, he could. Basil deactivated [Haywire], so Basil could focus on sealing his Domain.

Conjuring water and covering his hand with it, he took a look at himself when it turned to ice. "Well, it is impossible it seems to take the seal off." His gaze was planted on the golden, criss-cross pattern on his forehead.

"Let us fight to the death, shall we?" August smirked.

"'Let us fight until thou perishest,' shalt be the right sentence."

"Ignorant fopdoodle!"

As August charged at Basil, Basil launched the bladed weapons behind him at August. Each of them possessed a power that a High-Grade Spell cast by a Sixth Circle Mage had, which was enough to obliterate two-thirds of a hill.

With a wide grin on his face, August took the bladed weapons head-on. As he parried and deflected them to the side, he recalled the time when he participated in the assassination of The Lord; countless swords were hurled at him and his fellows but they succeeded in the end.

'Basil Pacifer…let us see if thou wilt end differently.'

….

Bam!

A golden chain the size of a man hit the ground after failing to hit Xander.

"Darn it! What is this annoying chain trying to achieve? It is bloody annoying!"

Whenever he was about to deal heavy damage to Jaheim, the chain always came sweeping at him. It didn't do him any physical damage; however, it always managed to turn the tables for Jaheim and the Priests.

One might wonder why he didn't just go for the Priests. The reason was that he couldn't. whenever he tried to, Jaheim always came to the rescue. When he was about to kill Jaheim, the Priests came to Jaheim's rescue. He tried to attack them at once but it didn't work. They were an extremely resilient bunch.

Glancing at the golden dome a kilometre away, Xander wondered, "Sealing himself and August like that, what is My Lord trying to...holy cow! I should use this chance to escape."

One might wonder how Xander could just leave his Master behind. Their relationship, however, was not like any other Master-Servant relationship. Basil didn't rely on his servants. His servants, on the other hand, too had high confidence in him.

Seeing Basil's Domain, Xander immediately realized that Basil wanted him to go with Iliana and Ione first. He didn't even need to think twice because he was sure Basil would find his way to escape.

"I am sorry for being a burden, My Lord," he muttered solemnly as he realized why Basil decided to do it this way. "I will convince the Young Lady to leave with me…hopefully without putting my head on the line." He grimaced as he imagined how Iliana would react.

Twirling his scythe in his hand, Xander swung it widely afterwards, sending out a curved Mana Blade that was big enough to cut Jaheim and the Priests behind him at once. When they focused on blocking it, Xander immediately used it as a chance to teleport away.

Within a flash, he arrived before the army of Mason and Gerhard. He quickly looked for the two Kings, absolute that Iliana and Ione were fighting the two of them.

"What the…?"

When he located the two Kings, however, he found them fighting with an extremely muscular man who was entirely dressed in black. He had met all of Basil's shadows and he was sure the man wasn't one of them.

As he looked around to locate Iliana and Ione, someone touched his shoulder. His eyes widened in shock but, before he attacked whoever it was, a familiar voice stopped him.

"You have gotten dull, Xander."

"Young Lady Iliana!" Xander exclaimed. When he realized his mistake, he solemnly said, "I am sorry, Young Lady. You were surrounded by the Mana Signature of the people you have killed, so I couldn't recognize you right away."

Dismissing the apology, Iliana asked, "Where is Basil?"

"My Lord is…"

"Understood." Iliana nodded her head simply, bewildering Xander at how quick she accepted things. "We will go save him."

"Eh?"

Seeing the confused look on Xander's face, Iliana decided to explain the situation to him. Even before she could say anything, however, a body was flung toward them.

Bam!

"Kuhak!

Xander acted quick. He shielded Iliana with his body and then kicked the body away. The person who had been flung at them moaned in pain on the ground but none of them paid attention to him. It was because the person who had flung him was coming their way.

"This muscular lad…" Xander muttered.

When the person, who was the same muscular man Xander has seen earlier, arrived before them, he immediately scratched his head awkwardly. "Ah, I am really sorry for almost hitting you with this sissy bastard." He gestured at Gerhard. "I hope Basil will not consider me an enemy."

"This is Manfred von Grittenhein," Iliana introduced. "I am not sure where he stands but he is going to help us until we reach Padeitophys. That aside, let us—"

BOOM!

She was about to say that it was time for them to save Basil when a beam pierced through the golden dome which was his Domain. The Domain dispersed quickly, revealing Basil and August who had been fighting for the past 10 minutes.

Putting the 2 kilometres wide crater below them aside, all of them were heavily injured: Basil's forehead was covered in blood and his body was riddled with deep cuts; August suffered from deep cuts too but not as severe as the ones Basil had.

Both of them looked irate, not because of the wounds they sustained but the fact that they had their long hair cut. They had lost to each other but they knew it was but a postponed triumph for both of them.

Basil left the scene and August didn't move an inch, bewildering the people who witnessed it. None of them understood what happened and the way the two thought.