THE LORD IS TOO OVERBEARING

"Well, well, well…. Look whom we have here."

Basil gazed at the person who had just arrived at the battlefield, August Rancuser, solemnly. He had felt it at their first encounter but he still couldn't help noting the fact that he had an instant dislike towards August.

Maybe it was because August was one of the people that had betrayed Caesar, the friend who had sacrificed himself for Basil's sake or maybe it was due to the damage August had done to the Pacifer that he was getting fond of. Whichever it was, Basil didn't care.

Getting out of the sticky situation was what mattered to him currently.

At Basil's lack of response, August scoffed. He was thinking maybe Basil was too nervous to say anything, which wasn't the case.

He gazed at Gerhard and Mason from the corner of his eyes. The two were standing uprightly but none of them dared to take any step closer.

"Well, at least they know they will only get in the way." Moving his attention back to Basil, August sneered. "Thou canst not believe thou meetest me again this soon? Ku-Ku-Ku…. Tremble thou should, Basil. None shall judge thee…not even me."

"Ah, thou art getting ahead of thyself meseems," Basil replied calmly. "Thy Lord is just amused by how obsessed thou art with him."

August quirked his eyebrow, recalling the memories before the death of The Lord. "Ho-oh…that smart mouth…. How nostalgic."

That was the end of the conversation; the two immediately prepared themselves to go at each other. Basil activated [Synchronization], covering his body with golden armour and purple-coloured, shining veins. August took out his daggers and then twirled them in his hands.

Smirking at Basil, he said, "Durendal and Caliburn—those are thy swords, aren't those? Ku-Ku-Ku. Formidable weapons they are indeed but they have no more than a name to them. Behold, my daggers, Canine of Bahamut!"

At August's heated introduction of his Daggers, Basil blinked his eyes once. He had heard of how powerful Bahamut was but he didn't get why August had to be that enthusiastic about having daggers made out of Bahamut's teeth.

"My Brother, he who had been always hailed as the genius of Rancuser, encountered Bahamut when he was still weak. He was scarred and traumatized—even after he became strong, he didn't dare to have a go at Bahamut. I, however, was different! I challenged the Dragon and—"

"Thou didn't beat it," Basil completed. The one who had killed Bahamut, after all, was Goap, who had died in the First Outbreak two years and a half ago.

"…that is…yes, that is true. However! It was my first time being above my brother! Bahamut himself even admitted how good I was. Even though I failed to beat him, he still gave me his canines, which I turned into daggers!"

Basil merely smiled in amusement at how enthusiastic August was in bragging about his achievement. It seemed to him that no one had ever appreciated what August had done, which had led him to be this boastful.

"Thou art not aware of the reason why thy brother left the Dragon alone meseems. Let thy Lord tell thee. He had figured out that Bahamut didn't have a bad heart, only bad tendencies, hence why it was better to leave Bahamut alone. Thou wert lucky that thou didst not evoke his anger."

The Guide had given him enough information about Caesar when he mused about the late Rancuser. He figured out what had happened between Caesar and Bahamut because of the Guide.

Although when he had first encountered Bahamut Caesar was indeed too weak to do anything to Bahamut, he was by no means fearful. Bahamut also didn't have any intention to kill him at that time but, thanks to his eloquence, he managed to form a friendship with the Dragon.

This was why he never hunted for Bahamut even after he had enough power. It was clear that he had never told it to August, which was why he was so smug about it.

"Lucky? This one…? Didst thou hit thyself in the head?" August sneered. "This one had almost beaten the Dragon hence he gave this one his canines."

"Hadst thou won, he shouldn't have only given thee his canines, should he?"

"…."

"Thou hast never beaten thy brother, August Rancuser. Caesar Rancuser was the one and only Rancuser who could stand on his own feet!"

"Die thou shalt, Basil Pacifer!"

August dashed at Basil; his Mana was on full blast. From the Guide, Basil had learned that August was an Assassin. He was quirky and agile but not too good at close combat. Even the reason why he could render Caesar immobile in the past was that Caesar was a Spellcaster.

Due to that reason, Basil also dashed at him instead of waiting for him to arrive. Although Basil was confident in his speed, he couldn't risk losing sight of the Rancuser; by closely following him, Basil's chance of losing sight of him would diminish.

Clank!

When the two people clashed, even though Basil was using his full power against a Battlemage, he was still pushed back due to the difference in Mastery level. His hands trembled as he held off August's daggers, prompting the said Rancuser to smirk condescendingly.

"Ho-Ho-Ho…look at how shaky thou art, Basil Pacifer."

"Ah, look at how incompetent thou art, August. If thy Lord was on the same level as thee, dost thou think thou canst still smile?" Basil sneered. "No, thou canst not."

"Quotha[1]!"

The Mana stored inside August's daggers burst forth, launching Basil to the back like a bullet. When he was ten metres away from August, Basil's body abruptly stopped launching. Both Caliburn and Durendal were shining; they discharged two large Mana Blades as they were swung.

August scoffed at the two incoming Mana Blades. He took them head-on with his daggers, destroying them as he swung his daggers effortlessly.

"[Path of Glory]!"

As the last Mana Blade was destroyed, an ethereal golden path formed in the air. It was quickly heading toward August, prompting him to dodge out of its course…which was useless.

Clank!

A blinding light gradually devoured him as he was pushed backwards by the ethereal path. The more the path expanded, the stronger it became. Eventually, he couldn't hold it anymore. The ethereal path exploded, colouring the world in gold.

August was launched like a bullet but didn't suffer from any lethal injuries nonetheless; his Barrier was strong enough to protect him from an attack of that calibre. His hands that had made direct contact with the Art, however, still suffered from the scorching heat of the Art.

Swoosh!

With Wind Magic, he stopped his launch. The golden light still hadn't disappeared yet and when it did, Basil was already before him.

"Relentless, thou art not?"

"[Continent Cleaver]!"

Ignoring the straightforward name, August concluded the Technique was a fearsome one. It incorporated the usage of Mana into it, which made it more surprising if it didn't serve its name.

As a Ninth Circle Mage, however, August wasn't nervous like anyone, if they were in his position, would be. He had immense power—it was enough to do what Basil's Technique did—so he knew he could survive.

"[Sky Scratcher]!"

In response to the rapidly descending Caliburn and Durendal, August swung his daggers upwards in a reverse grip. They clashed with Basil's swords, producing a loud ringing sound that echoed through the area 30 kilometres within them.

Crack!

Along with the eardrums-rupturing sound, the ground below the two cracked open. Both of them fell down the crack as it got wider and extended as if the world was splitting.

Such a phenomenon occurred just because of the clash between an extraordinary Seventh Circle Mage and a competent Ninth Circle Mage.

Rumble!

On the other side of the battlefield, roughly 2 kilometres from Basil and August, Xander, Iliana, Ione, Deacon and the people they were fighting against stopped their fight to mind the relentless shaking of the ground. They turned their attention in the direction where August and Basil were and then widened their eyes when they found the ground cracking.

"Darn it! What are those two doing!?" Iliana cursed under her breath as she moved away from the crack's course.

"Is it that rumoured Rancuser?" Ione wondered.

"My Lord is going wild. I wonder if those two are really…" Xander paused mid-sentence when he noticed Gerhard and Mason running toward them. "Oh boy…. No wonder it is so rowdy there."

Xander immediately knew Basil was fighting August, the backstabber whom he wanted to kill so bad. He sent the army he was fighting ten thousand air arrows before dashing at where Basil was, puncturing holes in the body of thousands of soldiers at once.

Following the crack, he stopped when he was almost blasted away by a violent clash between two Mana of different natures. He had a bigger amount when he still had nine Magic Circles; now that he only had eight, he couldn't help gulping nervously.

"My, my…. That bastard aside, how does My Lord have this much Mana? What is he? A Dragon?"

Basil's current stage of Mana Heart Cultivation was Amethyst Heart, which was halfway to the last stage that any human could ever reach. The amount of Mana his Mana Heart produced didn't lose to that of Dragon's and he could utilize all of them efficiently due to his Ultimate Circles.

If he were just any Seventh Circle Mage, he wouldn't have lasted against August for more than three seconds. Ordinary Seventh Circle Mages would only die if they got caught in the crossfire, which was why Gerhard and Mason retreated.

Although he was still not invincible, the current Basil was strong enough to top 99% of the currently existing Eighth Circle Mages. The remaining 1% were those who were very skilled in the Magic Divisions that Basil had never heard or learnt of.

Boom!

Xander was shocked by an explosion that came from deep inside the crack. The shockwave almost took him off his feet, meanwhile, the explosion widened the crack for slightly more than a metre.

Just as he wondered if the fighting duo were intending to split the world in two, they came out of the crack in a flash. They flew into the air and then clashed their weapons, crushing the edges of the crack below them.

They landed on two different sides: Basil was on the side where Xander was standing, whereas August took the opposite side. Both of them were dishevelled but none of them panted in exhaustion; they were grinning faintly as if they had been having fun.

Holding Durendal sideways, under Xander's baffled gaze, Basil softly said, "[Hidden Art: Haywire]!" He then turned to Xander and quirked an eyebrow. "Do you want to join the fun?"

Without thinking twice, Xander agreed.

———

[1] Exclamation of surprise or contempt.