"I should take that as a compliment." Helena tilted her head as she looked at him, a slightly confused expression on her face, as if she was trying to puzzle something out that she couldn’t quite put her hands on. "But you.....are not strong."

Eirikr stiffened. "What?"

Helena took a step forward, nodding as if she was confirming more things. "You should be stronger than this. You are the Clan leader of the Akatsuki and yet... while you’re not struggling to fight me, you are not overpowering me."

Eirikr’s eyes narrowed and he didn’t immediately say anything, but his right hand twitched.

Helena took another step forward. "Something is wrong. We hear that the Akatsuki throne is an artifact of great power and yet you have not made any aggressive overpowering moves against us.

"Why? This is suspicious!"

When Vale and the others attacked Eirikr and his Master Knights, the plan was to separate the Clan leader and fight him alone while the others concentrated on the remaining enemies.

Helena was the one to fight the Clan leader and truly she never expected to win, but she didn’t think she would be on equal footing either, which was the thing that’s almost happening.

Eirikr smiled tightly. "I thought you guys were stupid."

Helena’s eyes hardened and her body stiffened. "You said something about the throne’s power...making the fake real....that’s you, right? This is not the real you!"

Eirikr chuckled. "Of course not. I am the desert, I am Akatsuki. I’m not fighting a war with you alone. I’m fighting a war with my chiefs as well. I can’t leave my back turned to any of you."

Helena shook her head in confusion. "But your chiefs are the Master Knights fighting for you here?"

"Oh? Is that what you see? The fertile lands you hold have made you weak. I am Akatsuki, I hold the resources of the desert in my hand and deal with them how I want. I am like fresh milk in front of starving beasts. Everyone wants what I hold. Do you think my chiefs serve me because they are loyal? The desert serves no loyalty. They bow to me because I am strong.

"All of them have backup plans for when I leave the capital for war. I had backup plans in place for the last chief. That way, I will use one stroke to cut three heads!"

Helena...didn’t know what to say. She was feeling speechless, and not just because of what Eirikr revealed, but how he did it. He spoke as if he had been starving to speak. A glint appeared in her eyes. "You lonely bastard. You’ve been itching to say all of this, eh? Must have been hard being around people you can’t trust."

Eirikr chuckled darkly. "It’s not that bad, after all I am the Clan leader with all the benefits that come with it."

Helena behaved as if she did not hear him. "Even your own children want to stick a knife into your back. Must be tough. No wonder you are strangely chatty. What a disgusting world you Akatsuki live in."

Eirikr’s eyes darkened, and a sneer pulled at his lips. "You can’t even imagine! You live in this place with good lands and food, while just on the other side we starve and eat each other just to survive!"

Helena shrugged, not falling for it. "You should have surrendered yourself to our Clan. You would have been under our rule and we would feed you and provide as we can. Athrimir won’t starve their own."

The two were behaving as if they were not at war, as if they were not trying to kill each other. As if they were just there, casually talking things out between them. But the tension that hung in the air like a naked blade couldn’t be hidden. And the calculations in both their eyes were plain for all to see.

Eirikr chuckled again, and then asked, "Seriously, why are you trying to buy time?"

Helena couldn’t help herself as she stiffened slightly, but amongst Master Knights, she might have made an exaggerated gesture. Her surprise couldn’t be hidden, although she still tried to hide it anyway, her face smooth as she said, "What are you talking...."

"Stop!" Eirikr snapped and spread his hands. "You think I don’t notice? Only your Clan leader is fighting in an offensive manner, and no doubt only because he must as he’s fighting someone far stronger than him. The rest of you are on the defense....you are buying time. But...for what?"

Eirikr looked at her with dark curiosity, his face wrinkled in confusion. "I really can’t think of any cards that you can be playing right now. You are already defeated. So why are you trying to buy time?"

Helena couldn’t as well. They were outmatched and almost beaten. The enemies could strike at them while they could disappear into the desert. The tide of things wasn’t in their favor at all.

But her Clan leader said she should buy time and give Eirikr no thinking time. And that was what she would do.

And so without giving him the time to speak, she threw herself forward, her muscles uncoiling like a spring. Even faster than before, she cleared the distance between them in a blink, her two fists raised.

Just before she reached him, she leaped upward and her right fist came down in a punch that left the air blasting.

So fast!

It seemed Helena had been holding herself back as well. She was faster than she was previously and Eirikr didn’t factor that into his calculations.

A hurriedly makeshift shield of sand appeared between them to block the blow, but she simply rammed through it as if it wasn’t even there.

The punch caught him solidly and his head snapped back first, followed by his body as he was thrown skidding across the rocky ground.

Helena frowned in dissatisfaction. Her fist connected but it didn’t feel as if she was hitting flesh at all. "What the fuck are you?"

The Clan leader of the Akatsuki picked himself up from the ground, his head twisted at the wrong angle, a small fist-sized dent on his head. But instead of blood, he was dripping sand.

And as Helena watched, the sand molded around his head and he was whole again.

Her frown deepened as he smiled at her.

"You know I’ve never fought someone who cultivated just their body. I’ve heard about essence used in that way but not like this. It’s a really terrifying thing, isn’t it?

"Wait...ah...yes. I think I’m ready now. Time to do war with you, the proper Akatsuki way."

As he spoke, Eirikr....changed. He was still the same physically, but there were changes to him fundamentally. There was a new quality to him, an edge that wasn’t there before. "I have copies of myself all around the desert. And the more tasks they are doing, the weaker I am individually. But I’m now giving this place a new priority. I am ready to fight."

Helena blinked. "What are you...."

But Eirikr was already on the move. And he did move fast, so fast that Helena only managed to bring her two hands up in a crossed guard just in time as the punch hit her.

She grunted as what felt like mountains of metal rammed into her. Her hands shook, her flesh hurt, and her muscles flexed as they absorbed and tried to redirect the blast, but even then, she was blasted backward, creating a jagged line, throwing up dust and stones.

She groaned. Helena hadn’t yet met anyone who could hold themselves against her physically. But right there, her two hands were numb.

"Now that’s more like it! Helena Varrow, you now have the full attention of the Clan leader of the Akatsuki. I hope you don’t disappoint me."

Eirikr took a step forward and the sand under him formed into a platform that lifted him casually into the air, his robe fluttering behind him. His aura swelled in the air, rippling outward with a small shockwave, a subtle pressure that felt like heat and scraping metal scorching bones.

Indeed, all across the small battlefield, everyone fighting, both enemies and allies, felt it. And they tensed. The power that rolled across the land was more than a Master Knight could hold.

It seemed Eirikr Akatsuki was now truly present.

Helena picked herself up and before she was fully on her feet, her body had healed, but yet again, her exaggerated muscles had shrunk.

Her eyes darkened as she looked at the man floating above. As a Master Knight who cultivated the body, she really didn’t have much means to fly like the others and it always irked her. And now, not only was her enemy flying, he was also stronger than her.

She grumbled. "I really am not paid to deal with this. Honestly, I need a raise after this."

Eirikr flew higher into the sky and his pressure weighed down on everyone even more. The fighters became distracted, and then fully stopped as they looked up.