"To be the best, better than any one else, to rely on no one, all I ever wanted... To prove them wrong... To prove her wrong... I'll even surpass my limit"

-Ali Kasim

Metal and bone clashed underwater as Ali was pushing the Zombie samurai back.

His lightning clad attacks were super charged thanks to the salt water (yet somehow it didn't kill everyone and every fish in sight).

{Zaki... Yafada!}
T.N- lion pounce.
The man jumped above Hone striking her shoulder, however the hard bone around that shoulder shielded her.

Hone cracked her neck and looked at Ali confused. "Is that, the best you can do?" She asked.

"Hmmm, I'm just getting started!" Ali eyebrow began twitching (What is that bone made of? It's harder than steel).

"I see, then can you handle this {First form: Bone cleave}" Hone slashes at Ali's side with insane speed.

"Hyuuuuh!" Ali dodges thanks to his lighting reflexes but just barely. The attack cuts down most of the Corel in the area, and it was just a single strike.

(As expected... She's just as power as Rize... But that won't deter me).

Ali stood his ground and countinued the fight.

"Still have the will to fight do you? Interesting, I misjudged you... I'll go all out then" Hone said with a small smile.

Elsewhere

The battle of femme fatale was raging on, Genevieve and Minerva were matching blow for blow. The eternal battle of light and shadow.

Genevieve speed was her only advantage, but that was enough.

{Buttonhole stitches!} The Amazon released a flurry of light beams that almost hit her opponent at point blank range.

"Wow, easy there princess!" Minerva shouted, her long wavy flowing everywhere.

Genny was undeterred, she lunges at the zombie with a light magic infused fist however...

"Sike!" Minerva's eyes darkened and her familiar Falco appeared from within the shadows.
{Fedatanz!}
T.N- feather dance.

Multiple shadow feathers assaulted Genevieve, cutting her severely.

"Gahhh!... Tch {healing stitches}" getting through the pain, the amazon uses her magic to healing the cuts instantly.

"What the?! That's not fair! Not fair at all, cheater!" Minerva yells at her opponent.

"Hmph, this is how a monarch fights, girly" Genny crossed her arms together.
{Cross hatching!} In a single swoop, the amazon leaves a cross shaped wound on Minerva's chest at insane speeds.

"Kaaaaaa, when did you..." Minerva spat out before distancing herself again.
(This girl... Speed, strength, endurance... If I'm going to win this battle) Falco returns to his master and heals her wound with his shadow.
(I'll have to attack her mind) a evil smile grew across the zombie's face.

"I'm going for your head this time! {Cross hatching stitching}"

This time her attack lands it's separating Minerva's head from her body... However.

"Kaw! Kaw! Kaw!" The girl's head and body begins to transform into several shadow falcons, the flock then surround Genevieve.

"Got you in my trap!" Minerva appears from within Genny's own shadow.
{Schatten Gehege!}
T.N: shadow enclosure.
The girl is them engulfed by into a sphere of darknes, concealing the light deep within...

The situation for the Diora knights were dire Especially for the two knights taking on a zombie with total control over the earth.

Cecilia wasn't letting up, earth slide after earth slide, she was hell bent on burying both Charlie and Edward 6ft under.

The Earth maid was casually dominating the battle field as Charlie starts to see her Attacks aren't doing enough damage.

"Shit, it's like her body is as hard as a rock!" The Dullahan stated.

Edward came up behind her and said "Miss Charlie... I think I have a plan but you'll need to trust me".

The girl was taken aback, she believed Edward wasn't the type to come up with such strategies, but she had no choice but to trust him.

Cecilia gave them a deadpan stare as she continued to chuck giant floating boulders at them. (Hmmm, these guys should lose already, I want to see master already) hearts began to form in her eyes as she imagines Harris in a skimpy looking get up.

"Hey, don't look down on us!" Edward yells as he rushes towards The zombie.
{Air palm: steady wave} he thrusted his left hand forward, releasing a wave of air that pushes her back a bit.

She turned to the boy and smiles, "Is that really your attempt at a distraction?" She Shoves him aside with two boulders and continues to look for Charlie.
She sees the Dullahan trying to make her escape.
"Oh no no no, no survivors", she lunges at the girl hurling about 7 large boulders her in a circular motion.

{Earth cyclone!} Like a tornado the rocks and a whirlpool of water began surrounding Charlie, however she had other ideas.

Charlie stood in the middle of the whirlpool and shot out her head which was glowing much brighter than before.
{Gowl Titan! Super shooting star} Charlie unleashed a power technique sending the zombie high above her rock cyclone which was stopped in it's tracks.

"Get off!" Cecilia knocks away Charlie's head sending her falling to the ground.
Before she could even think about the meaning behind this action, Edward returns, the boy was standing on on of her boulders holding a green spinning disk made of air.

"Eat this!" {Spirit cutter} she throws the disk straight at her cutting through the water like butter.

"{Shield of the earth mother}" the zombie is then engulf by a ball of earth... However.

'slash!' the shield is utterly useless as Edward's attack tears her apart, it seemed the technique works best against ghosts and undead creatures.

"Ahh.... Ahhhhhhh! My master! Forgive me!" Cecilia cries in pain as black marks engulf her body and she turns into ash that gets carried away with the ocean current.

The rocks and boulders start to fall and so does Edward.
"Wooooaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!" The boy screams at he can't get the right Position to swim.

"Gotcha!" Charlie comes to the rescue and grabs the boy bridal style.
"You aren't as strong as your father, but you sure are more creative, thanks for your help" the girl smiles.

"Hehehe, no biggie, all in a day's work for a hero" Edward blushes.

As the two land next to the building Cecilia was guarding. Another figure steps out, it was a girl with blue hair crying.
"How could you?! How dare you kill her again!" The girl's fury shakes the entire ocean but someone stops her before she engaged in battle with the knights.
Harris steps into the fray frowning over the lose of his waifu.
"Let's talk" he says this directly to Edward.

Back to Ali's fight, the situation had not changed one bit. Hone continues to dominate the battle, Ali only seems to be able to dodge her sword techniques, however that didn't stop her from wounding him slightly many times.

(How could this be... If only I could fully cover my weapon in lighting!) The man lamented.
(I need to end this in one last attack)
The entire ocean begins to boil as Ali's lightning flares around, he forces am incredible amount of electricity through his sword making it crumble little by little.

"Ho? Are you finally ready to show me what you've got? Fine then, have a taste of my strongest technique too".
Bones begin to pop out from her forearms as she charges, {fifth form! Rib cage smash!}.

Ali begins charging at her as well.
{Walkiya: Fushin... Sarki!}
(T.N- lightning clad: King's rage).

The two attack each other same time however, before Ali's sword can even reach her, it shatters into pieces.
Before Hone's attack landed a certain memory appeared before his very eyes.

FLASHBACK
5 YEARS AGO

Back in secondary school, Ali wasn't always the best in his class, a girl by the name of Zainab was, she was a pretty hausa girl with glittering fair skin and bright brown hair, she usual wore a hijab but you could still see strands of her hair coming out.
She was one of the few people Ali respected, how she held herself in class, how she studied.

However, all of a sudden her grades began to drop gradually. Ali later found out this was because of her boyfriend.
Confronting her about this, he learnt that she intended to leave the school and get married to her boyfriend, she asked whether it was a good idea and Ali answered.

"If you believe all your hard work up till now was worthless, then go ahead and get married".

And so she did, and Ali became the smartest once again, however he felt cheated out of the challenge, a few years later he would die from a stab wound in the middle of a school riot.

He's major regret would be telling Zainab to give up on her studies.

FLASHBACK ENDS.

Back to the battle of Femme fatale.
Genevieve had been trapped by shadow enclosure, making her relive the worst day of her life.

In the visions she was a little girl again, witnessing the murder of her beloved mother and Amazon monarch, the setting was a dark rainy day in the forest.

"Stay back Genevieve!" Gabriella Weiss shouted, she was bleeding severely from a wound on her left arm staining her beautiful white and yellow dress.

"Don't worry, I'm only here for you, your daughter is worthless to my goal" a cloaked figure said, he wore a necklace belonging to that of the Ari's cult as well.

"Mommy!" Genevieve cried out.

Gabrielle charged at the figure with a sword made out of light magic, however.

'Slash!' the sword was instantly broken by a blackened Axe that tore through her as well.

"Ahhhhhhh" Gabrielle screams in pain as blood gushes put from her new wound.

"Noooooo!" Genevieve cries out her rage causing darkness to surround her and slowly devour her.

From the sidelines, Minerva watches and smiles, checkmate Princess, your soul belong to me.

Genevieve's light is almost completely swallowed up by the darkness and shadows enveloping her, however a single light remains in her chest, one she holds dearly.

["You're on a team now, instead of dragging us along the dirt in your path, how about we walk together towards that goal"] a dark-skinned boy said this to her, making her realize her goal wasn't just her own, she could rely on others as well.

"Thank you, that's why I..." Genevieve got a grip of reality and the light in her chest began to grow even bright.
{Bridal stitching} a beautiful dome made with flowers and ribbons cover the Amazon and begin eating up the darkness instead.

"Wait what?! Noooo! It can't be! Not like this! Not like thisss! Master!" Minerva and her familiar are both swallowed by Genevieve's light and the shdow enclosure is destroyed.

Genevieve wakes up to find nothing left of her opponent, so she continues swimming west until she comes across a horrible sight, "Oh my God!".

Ali's body Left for dead floating in the ocean , he was bleeding severely, his shirt and armor were completely destroyed, his chest had horrible bruises as well.

Without a second thought she took the boy in her arms and swam to the surface.

15 HOURS LATER
SANGASER TOWN HALL

Edward and the 4 other head silver-rank knights were discussing what he had uncovered on the islands.

"The location of Roc castle, and something else.. something... Dangerous..." The red-haired boy spouted.

Bauld, the same bald headed knight that was supposed to monitor Remi in (chapter 2) was present. "Speak up kid".

The next general was a middle aged man with purple hair styled like an old fashioned pompadour called Pablo.
"Maybe he's scared of your looks baldy", Pablo said smugly.

The next was Tania, she had straight black hair and wore a sky blue Sunday gown, "Give it a rest you two, enough flirting" she said raspy.

And the final head was a young man about the age of Edward and the gang, he had bright yellow hair and wore an orange jumpsuit, Cody was his name, "Go on Edward, we're all ears"

Edward continues, "Genevieve and I managed to take down two of the cultists undead servants, thanks to that, I was able to negotiate with the one known as Harris into telling me some crucial information."

Edward stood up from the desk,"The Roc castle's location is somewhere south of Sangaser, it's a powerful relic with the power to curse anyone in it's way... And finally the key to power such a weapon... That is a Key of apocalypse...".

The entire group stood up in shock.

"A key of apocalypse?!", "That's what the demons are after!", "Where is it?! Spill it out", "we have to call the gold rank knights".

They all said in disarray.
"Quiet please!" Edward shouted, "The key is hidden somewhere in the north of Sangaser, but you can only get it with the parchments assembled, once gotten the holder of the key can control it and curse everyone they wish to".

Hearing this the knight heads all settled down to think of their next move.

Edward once again spoke out, "My suggestion is that the Wrath party go to south locate the Roc castle, while the mixed silver brigade collect the key from the north, while all the other silver knights stay in Sangaser and defend it in case... We don't make it in time, this operation will take place in two weeks time... If that's okay with you all?" The boy suggested while fiddling with his fingers.

Bauld had noticed Edward's confidence and tactical thinking had improved since that time in the capital.

None of the heads had a better suggestions so Edward's plan was given the go ahead.

On the sidelines Charlie had suddenly gotten a lot of respect for the chubby boy, he wasn't a strong warrior like his father, but he sure was a brilliant tactician.

Eliza, Deborah, and Alex all went to the hospital to see Ali, recover from his wounds.

Leaving the princess to defend her self from the assaults of the shield simp.

Finally, in the garden next to the town hall Genevieve is talking to Remi who just came back from his training.
Valerie and Sofia were off playing somewhere so it was just the two of them.

"Well I'm glad you've gotten a hold of ignition magic, but you missed out on me beating up an undead shadow warrior! It was epic if I do say so myself! I believe I'll even get praise from the king when he returns" she bragged.

Remi could tell she was feeling proud of herself and decided, well why not throw her a bone once in a while.
"You did great Genny, next time let's beat those cultists together, as a team" he said this while giving her a pat on the head.

Genevieve's face turned a shade of pink as this happen, she didn't expect him to respond this way, "ilI... Ehhh... Ekkk...." She was speechless and just decided to take the complement, he was a light in her life that would bring her back from the Breck of madness, and she couldn't ask for anyone else

To be continued