Chapter 343 - Azure Scorch
Frederick watched Lance froze in spot. The red-haired man quirked his brow up and narrowes his eyes as he watched Lance stood there without moving. It was odd that he would just let it happen consider he saw how Aviditio target him.
"Lance!" Frederick yelled. He called out again, but still received no response from the prince. "Lancelot! What the hell?!"
Seeing the attack getting closer to Lance, Frederick dashed in front of the former and raised his hands above him. He faced both his plams at each other, casting his skill, "Glittering Embers."
Red glitter-like lights sparked from in between his palms. The sparks grew larger until they were the size of small blueberries. Frederick then thrust his hands forward, shooting several small beams of light from the sparks that shot to Aviditio.
The Sin's attack met the collective shots of beams from Frederick, clashing and exploding into a large cloud of power. The cloud covered a wide area, covering everything with black, white, and red colors.
Above the three, a large red dome stood. Instead of having a team, Frederick sent the other Adventurers into the other teams. He said that they will only slow them down and hinder the fight against Aviditio.
When the blast died down, and the dome that protected them from the explosion still stood unscathed, the guild master approached Lance.
"Are you okay?" Frederick asked. "She copied your skill, but that doesn't mean you have to be worried."
"It's gone," Lance said without shifting his gaze. He was staring in front of him, making Frederick believed that he was opening his Console.
With his face contorted with confusion, Frederick asked, "What do you mean?"
"That skill…" Lance finally looked at Frederick, but his eyes were screaming fear and confusion. "It's gone in my list. I can't even cast it. Frederick, she stole my skill!"
"Passive skill, Greed of the Flower," Aviditio whispered, catching their attention. "A high-grade skill was stolen. Now I have to pay the Penalty– argh!"
The Sin's left arm grew darker, slowly rotting and moss growing from it. Aviditio's skin was like the composition of a flower's stem. It was green and had lines from her shoulder down to her fingers.
When her arm was completely rotten, she raised her right finger and formed a sharp wooden dagger from it. With a laugh, Aviditio chopped her arm off, letting it fall on the ground while she raised her head and bit her lip to hold the pain.
This made the three Adventurers she was battling gasp in shock. They were confused as to what was happening. What was this Sin doing to herself?
"You see, when I steal skills, part of my body rots," Aviditio said. "It's like a give and take thing. And the price for that skill was my left arm."
"So, you'll be amputated now," Frederick said. He deactivated his dome and pointed his palm at the Sin. With a spinning red fireball, he shot a large beam of flames.
Aviditio responded to the attack by forming a shield out of her right arm. Her hand morphed into vines that weaved a circular shield. The shield blocked the flames with ease, making Frederick increase the intensity of his attack.
"It's useless!" Aviditio yelled. "You have an affinity that is advantageous against mine but I have more power than you. Everything will always boil down to how strong someone is. You thought you had your chance when you saw me lose my arm, but no."
Aviditio grunted and shook her left shoulder. She was squirming and moaning while her amputated body part grew a pod of flower. With a loud sharp yell, the pod blossomed and an arm grew out of the flower.
Gasping in shock and disgust, Frederick ceased his attack. He watched as a victorious smirk play on Aviditio's lips. "What? Are you scared of this now?"
"No, I was just paving a path," Frederick grinned. "It would be too hot for him when I don't stop, so let's go!"
"Wait," Aviditio fell silent as she watched the Adventurers in front of her. "Where's the other one?"
Luck was missing.
Hearing a whistle behind her, the Sin spun and raised a vine wall on her back. Her eyes widened after seeing that there wasn't anyone there.
'Hymn of Pain!'
There was a sharp pain that traveled throughout Aviditio's body. The pain started at her soles and her palms, traveling through her vines and slowly reaching her heart. She clutched her chest when she felt the pain reach her heart.
It was like her entire world pulsated. She could not move, and she could only stare as Luck appeared in front of her. The man was raising his large broadsword, any second now he will swing his sword and it will be the end of her.
"What is this?" Aviditio asked herself. She felt something was odd. There was an uneasy feeling that some things aren't what they seem to be. "This feels like–"
She cut herself off and blasted a powerful aura that broke the space around her. She blasted the aura once more and everything shattered, revealing a red flaming dome around her.
"She broke out!" Luck yelled. Frederick looked at Lance, but the latter was still out of it. He was still shocked after his skill was taken. "Fredrick, she broke out of my hypnos!"
"I can see that you idiot!" Frederick snapped. He touched Lance's forehead, feeling the heat from the boy. "Lance, it's only a skill. What's the big deal?"
"A part of you is embedded in every skill you have," Aviditio spoke from inside the dome that jailed her. She quirked her brows and extended her arms out, making vines grow from the ground. The vines were absorbing the fire that Frederick put up, making the guild master clench his teeth in anger.
"When a skill is stolen from someone, I steal a part of their soul too," Aviditio said. "It just so happens that the soul I took from the skill was largely influenced his thought processes. Now, he's just merely a shell."
"And I won't let that happen," Frederick uttered.
"It's too late for him now," Aviditio chuckled. "He's just going die soon. And you will too."
The guild master's harlequin jacket fell to the floor. He raised the cuffs of his white dress shirt while tapping his shoes on the ground to make them fit better.
"It seems like I need to be even more serious when facing you," Frederick narrowed his eyes. He placed his hand on his pocket and took out a tie, combing up his shoulder-length red hair and wrapped the tie around it. "I think it's time to get serious."
Small dark blue wisps lit up around them, forming a circle with them in the center. Aviditio was looking at the wisps that lit up one by one, while the guild master locked his gaze at the Sin.
After he finished tying his hair, Fredrick snapped his fingers that made his arms and legs erupt with a dark blue flame. He smirked as he watched Aviditio raise her guard, slightly shaking after feeling the terrifyingly powerful in front of her.
"Azure Scorch."