Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

BOOOM… with a deep rumbling noise like that of a mountain crumbling, the right arm of the shield-bearer was cleaved from its base.

The statue of the sword-bearer finally displayed one of the original skills of the warrior it was based on and easily outsmarted Denzel who was still a swordsman in the training.

The arm rotated in the air before falling down into the huge bottomless pit opened during the destruction of the passage.

Simon widened his eyes, held his breath and clenched his hands. He did not expect that they would suffer such a disastrous blow even before the time limit was up.

BANG…

The gigantic statue of the shield bearer crashed onto the ground after losing one of its limbs. However, before he could even grasp the severity of their situation, Denzel crouched down and howled in agony while holding his right hand.

"Aaaaaaaaaahhh". 

Lucine who was beside him, immediately removed the shield replica from his hand and threw it on the side. Only then, did the little boy was finally able to grit his teeth and endure the pain.

"What's going on?" Simon supported the boy into lying down and looked at his flushed face and bulging veins. The way he acted was as if he was the one who had suffered the blow of having their arm severed and not the statue.

"I.. d-don't know… huff..huff. The moment the statue's arm got cut off, I felt an excruciating amount of pain from the shoulder joint of my right hand" Denzel explained while still trying to hold back the pain.

Lucine's eyes noticeably widened when she heard those words, she glanced at the shield lying on the floor and mused something.

Simon told him to rest for a while before picking up the shield himself. The moment he did so, Lucine cautioned him.

"Be careful, the shield is not just a high-grade artefact, but also a [Spirit Sharing Device]. It not only allows you to control the stone statue, but any damage that it receives will also be sent back to you. If you use the shield, you cannot allow the sword-bearer to deal you a fatal blow or else…".

Her words drifted off at the end as she glanced at Denzel who was barely able to endure the pain that was sent back to him.

Nodding his head at her concerned words, Simon placed the shield in front of him and took a stance. Just like the little boy, he too was not used to using a shield but with his ample knowledge of games from his previous life and his growing combat experience, he believed that he could hold his ground.

No, he can't just simply defend, he has to think of a way to defeat the sword-bearer before the remaining three torches go out.

The hall was extremely dark with the limited lighting from the torches falling onto the only standing figure of the statue. The indigo body of the sword-bearer appeared to be even more intimidating at his moment as it slowly walked towards the fallen shield bearer.

The story played on, the two brothers who once had to engage each other in a life or death battle, fought for more than three days and three nights. Their arena was no longer limited to the coliseum instead, the entire empire was their battlefield.

Before anyone knew it, Land, forest, cities, humans and even beasts were engulfed in the flames of their battle. The Jury, the Empire, nothing remained when the two brothers were hell-bent on drawing each other's blood.

Quite poetic considering that the very guardians who were supposed to protect the empire ended up becoming the tide that swept it away because of none other than the people of the empire themselves.

KLIIIIINNG… the sound of the sword scraping the ground rang out, the sword-bearer who was confident of his victory after severing one of the hands of his opponent, slowly approached closer.

It positioned its swords in an overhead stance and brought it down towards the shield-bearer in an attempt to behead the latter in one fell swoop. As the sword approached closer, Simon urged his remaining hand to grab the shield and defend his head.

CLANG… sparks erupted like crazy when the two weapons collided with each other. The power behind the swing was so great that the shield-bearer was forced on its knees, unable to bear the great weight with only one hand, its last remaining hand showed distinct signs of cracking.

The force from the attack and the cracks appearing on the statue, got transmitted to Simon in the form of pain. Even the mana inside his body was in a haywire just from a single attack from the sword-bearer.

It was only after exchanging a few blows that he realised how problematic the sword-bearer that Denzel was fighting all along was.

Seeing that its attack had failed to finish his opponent, the sword-bearer repeatedly slashed at the latter from all directions, exploiting the weakness of his enemy only having a single arm remaining.

CLANG..CLANG..CLANG

Simon defended like crazy, every time the sword clashed with his shield, he would feel a powerful backlash trying to enter his body and wreak havoc. Fortunately, his body was that of a Demon Viscount, much more powerful than an ordinary human.

Inhaling a deep breath of air, Simon tanked through the storm of attacks, his eyes glowed a brilliant crimson as he searched for an opportunity to counterattack.

"You must hurry, we do not have much time left" Lucine who was equally concerned about the consequences of failure, reminded from the side.

Even without her telling him, he was aware that they were running out of time. Compared to the battered appearance of the shield-bearer, the sword-bearer looked completely unscathed other than his sword.

At this moment, a brilliant idea struck Simon and he couldn't help but flash a wicked smile.

The lighting around the arena was extremely dim with only two torches providing the illumination. Loud noises of heavy objects colliding with each other, repeatedly echoed out. The sword-bearer as if a little annoyed that his opponent refused to give up, attacked the shield-bearer even more feverishly.

Time tickled down slowly and before long, the entire hall became dark with only a single torch lighting the place. Perspiration flowed down Simon's face; currently, he was under a heavy pressure to finish the battle before the remaining torch went out.

However, his opponent didn't give him a single opportunity to counterattack and the only thing he could do was defend to his utmost. The situation would have seemed completely hopeless to others but the heated gaze and the odd smile of his told others that the situation was still not as hopeless as it looked.

Perhaps because a part of her believed in the bizarreness and the repeated surprises that Simon had given her, Lucine quietly observed the scene unfold before her eyes.

CRASH…

With a loud crashing noise, the shield bearer for the umpteenth time was forced to grovel on the ground. This time though, it got back up immediately and clashed with the sword-bearer intensely. Even though she said clash, all that the shield-bearer or rather Simon did was defend.

Just when she was having a sprout of doubt grow in her heart, the scene that baffled even her appeared next. Simon smiled widely, the moment he was waiting for finally came.

CRACK…

With a dull cracking noise, the sword of the sword-bearer which had up until now been abused brutally and had suffered numerous assaults from his shields, finally gave in and snapped in half.

The attack that should have otherwise been enough to guarantee the sword-bearer the victory had the sword been in top condition was unable to achieve such results. The weapons of the warriors just like their body, was also made of the same indigo stone.

No way can it be compared to the legendary weapons of the original ancient warriors which accompanied them to mow down battlefields and their enemies alike.

BAM… the upper half of the sword made a full arc in the air for a while before falling down on the floor. The sword-bearer who held the memories or maybe the minuscule amount of will of the ancient warrior, was bewildered by the scene of his sword snapping in half and thus was unable to predict the unconventional movements of Simon.

Commending the shield warrior for its tenacity, Simon willed the warrior to tackle his stunned opponent and lock them in place. The statue even though it held just a tiny amount of memory or will from the warrior of the past whom they were modelled upon, had their own pride and obstinacy to not lose from the other.

The sword-bearer repeatedly thrashed around in an attempt to break away from the lock whereas the shield-bearer held the former in a tight bear grip refusing to allow them to get to get away.

With the sword-bearer locked in place, Simon finally initiated the plan he knew was extremely risky but nonetheless their only choice when they only had a few sparse seconds to spare. 

"Aaaahhhh" with a spirited roar, Simon who was being transmitted the exact same sensation back to him thanks to the [Spirit Sharing Device], lifted the sword bearer from the ground and charged towards the other side of the hall where the bottomless pit was.

Realising the intention behind the action of the man beside her, Lucine couldn't help but be pleasantly surprised. But at the same time worry that the repercussion that he would suffer from doing something like this, would be many times higher than what the little boy resting on the floor behind them had to.

A plan like that was truly a make or break with a very high chance of risk that only a true madman would do.

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