The Extra's Rise-Chapter 352: Three-Way Battle (2)

The battlefield transformed with each passing second. Where there had once been solid ground, now existed a fractured landscape of craters, ice formations, and smoldering patches where Jack's flames had scorched the earth beyond recognition.

Arthur weaved through the destruction with fluid grace, his Tempest Dance having reached a state of perpetual momentum. The golden sigils of Luna burned like constellations beneath his crimson bone armor, each step leaving brief afterimages that disintegrated into motes of golden light. He no longer needed to think about movement—his body simply flowed from one position to the next, each motion setting up three subsequent attacks.

A torrent of grey-tinged flames erupted from Jack's outstretched hands, spiraling into complex geometric patterns that hunted Arthur with predatory intelligence. The flames were changing, evolving with each casting as the hidden Abyssal energy leaked through more prominently. The edges of his fire now curled with absolute darkness, consuming light itself where they passed.

Between these two forces moved Lucifer, his dual-colored mana armor flickering as it absorbed repeated impacts. His God's Eyes tracked everything—the subtle weight shifts in Arthur's footwork, the infinitesimal distortions in reality surrounding Jack's flames—but translating observation into action was becoming increasingly difficult.

He parried Arthur's blade, redirecting its momentum while simultaneously casting a defensive ice barrier against Jack's approaching fire construct. The barrier shattered upon impact, fragments of enchanted ice melting instantly as grey flames licked hungrily at Lucifer's mana armor.

Sweat beaded on Lucifer's forehead as he struggled to maintain the complex balance of energies within his Yin-Yang Body. White mana surged to reinforce his right side while black mana absorbed what it could on his left, but the efficiency was waning. Each exchange drained him more than the last.

Lucifer executed a rapid attack, channeling lightning through his blade as he thrust toward Jack's chest. The attack was perfect—timing, angle, power—but Jack's flames simply parted around the blade before closing again, absorbing the lightning element and redirecting it into the ground.

Arthur appeared between them, moving so quickly that neither saw him until he was already there. A palm strike to Lucifer's chest sent him flying backward, while a simultaneous kick forced Jack to disengage. Arthur stood alone in the center of the battlefield, Luna's sigils now covering almost his entire body visible through gaps in Erebus's armor.

"This is getting old," Arthur said, flexing his hand. The space around him warped slightly, gravity bending to his will through Lucent Harmony's enhancement of his natural affinity.

Lucifer rose, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. His mana armor was fragmenting in places, the perfect balance of Yin and Yang disrupted by accumulated damage and fatigue. Still, his eyes burned with determination as he resumed his stance. The third movement of his art—Frozen Zenith—remained his most powerful technique. If he could land it perfectly...

Jack rejoined the fray, his flames now almost completely transformed. What had started as brilliant white Nirvana Fire now burned primarily as grey-black Abyssal Flame, with only hints of white remaining. The transformation was accelerating, his true power becoming harder to conceal.

Arthur raised one hand, and Lucifer's God's Eyes witnessed something unprecedented. The golden sigils of Luna's Mythic Body began to shift and change, forming new patterns across Arthur's skin beneath the crimson armor. Some parts of Erebus's protection receded, allowing the sigils more direct contact with the air.

The air pressurized around them, forcing Lucifer to his knees as gravity intensified. Even Jack struggled, his flames compressing unnaturally against the increased gravitational force. Only Arthur stood unaffected, golden sigils pulsing with each beat of his heart.

Lucifer gritted his teeth, channeling every scrap of his remaining mana into his Yin-Yang Body. The white mana formed complex supportive structures within his muscles and bones, while the black mana created points of reversed gravity to counter Arthur's field. Slowly, agonizingly, he rose back to his feet.

Jack responded differently. Rather than fight the gravity directly, he fed it. His Abyssal Flames turned inward, consuming their own energy and creating a localized singularity. The gravity around him intensified even further, but instead of being crushed by it, he used it as a focal point. From this singularity erupted new flames—neither white nor grey but a deep violet that seemed to bend light around them.

Lucifer launched himself forward, sword trailing dual energies like comets in the night sky. His God's Eyes analyzed and predicted Arthur's defenses, identifying micro-fractures in the crimson bone armor from their previous exchanges. He targeted these weak points with surgical precision, focusing all of his remaining power into strikes that should, by all logic, penetrate Arthur's defenses.

But Arthur was also evolving. With each attack Lucifer launched, the crimson armor reconfigured itself, weak points disappearing as new reinforcement grew from Erebus's Deepdark reservoir. More than that, Arthur's Soul Resonance was expanding, the golden sigils now forming patterns that matched the incoming attack vectors precisely. He wasn't just defending—he was learning, adapting in real-time.

Jack's violet flames crashed against Arthur from behind, perfectly timed with Lucifer's frontal assault. A two-pronged attack that should have been indefensible. But Arthur merely smiled, raising both hands to opposite directions. The air between him and his attackers crystallized as he borrowed elements of both their techniques—ice from Lucifer, flame from Jack—and turned them against their creators.

Lucifer found himself impaled by dozens of ice shards formed from his own mana signature. They penetrated his weakened armor at precisely the points where white and black energies failed to overlap properly. Jack similarly recoiled as his violet flames contorted into serpentine constructs that turned and attacked their master, seeking the source of the Abyssal energy hidden within his core.

Both fighters disengaged, bloodied and reassessing.

'He's countering everything,' Lucifer thought, his God's Eyes working overtime to analyze what they'd just witnessed. This wasn't just combat superiority—Arthur was physiologically adapting to their attacks through Luna's Mythic Body, enhanced by his own Soul Resonance. Worse, he was utilizing aspects of their own techniques against them, suggesting his Soul Resonance extended beyond borrowing and into a form of mimicry.

Jack's flames settled back into a more stable grey-white configuration as he struggled to maintain his Nirvana disguise over the Abyssal core. He was breathing heavily, but his eyes reflected calculated fury rather than exhaustion.

Lucifer's mind raced, analyzing everything he'd observed about his opponents. Arthur's techniques, powerful as they were, required specific positioning. His God Flash created multiple instances, but they existed in a defined pattern. Jack's flames, for all their destructive potential, emanated from limited casting points on his body. There were weaknesses—small, temporary, but real.

The air temperature plummeted as Lucifer initiated the first phase of Frozen Zenith once more. But this time, he modified the technique, sacrificing power for subtlety. Instead of creating a dome of absolute zero, he formed thousands of microscopic ice crystals that hung suspended in the air around them, nearly invisible to anyone without his enhanced perception.

Arthur noticed the change immediately, his own enhanced senses warning of the subtle manipulation. He responded by accelerating his Tempest Dance, moving so quickly that the air around him superheated, melting any ice crystals that came too close.

Jack seized the opportunity to launch a devastating combination attack, unconcerned with the ice surrounding them. Violet-tinged flames erupted from his hands, feet, and even his mouth as he unleashed techniques that blurred the line between spellcasting and martial arts. His body became a conduit for fire in all its forms, each movement generating new flame constructs.

Lucifer and Arthur found themselves momentarily allied by circumstance, both defending against Jack's overwhelming assault. Lucifer's ice crystals formed temporary shields while Arthur's Crimson Bone Armor expanded to cover more of his body, transforming into a semi-fluid state that absorbed and redirected incoming flames.

In the chaos, Lucifer observed something crucial. When Arthur defended against certain flame configurations, the golden sigils beneath his armor briefly fluctuated, struggling to adapt to the Abyssal elements hidden within Jack's fire. A microsecond of vulnerability, but to Lucifer's God's Eyes, it might as well have been an eternity.

He altered his strategy immediately, no longer attempting to penetrate Arthur's defenses directly. Instead, he began shaping his ice constructs to mimic the specific flame patterns that caused Arthur's sigils to fluctuate. It wasn't a perfect replication—ice couldn't truly impersonate Abyssal Flame—but the geometric patterns were similar enough to trigger the same defensive response.

Arthur recognized Lucifer's strategy too late. As Jack continued his frontal assault with increasingly exotic flame constructs, Lucifer's ice formations attacked from behind, targeting the precise moments when Arthur's sigils reconfigured to defend against the Abyssal elements. The ice penetrated, if only for an instant, creating fracture lines across the crimson armor.

But Arthur was not one to be outmaneuvered for long. Even as the first fractures appeared in his armor, he adapted. The golden sigils rearranged themselves into a new configuration, one that could simultaneously counter both fire and ice. The crimson bone flowed like liquid before resolidifying in a more comprehensive protection.

Jack recognized what Lucifer was attempting and, surprisingly, adjusted his own attack patterns to complement the strategy. Was it cooperation or simply opportunism? Either way, the combined assault forced Arthur to expend more energy on defense than he had at any previous point.

For a brief moment, it seemed the tide might turn.

Then Arthur smirked as Erebus's influence surged through the crimson armor. The fractures sealed themselves, and the bone material darkened to a deep burgundy, almost black in places as more Deepdark energy flowed through the connection with the Lich.

"You almost had me," Arthur acknowledged, genuine amusement in his voice. "Almost."

With a swift, fluid motion, Arthur deepened his Soul Resonance with Luna. The golden sigils across his body brightened and spread further, creating more complex patterns that enhanced his borrowed Mythic Body. Simultaneously, he allowed Erebus greater influence, the crimson bone armor becoming more responsive, almost liquid in how it moved with his body.

Lucifer's God's Eyes tracked the transformation, witnessing how Arthur perfectly balanced the two energies under harmonisation of Lucent Harmony. The golden light of Luna's sigils didn't fight against Erebus's Deepdark energy—instead, they complemented each other, creating a synergy that amplified both powers.

The crimson armor flowed seamlessly with the golden sigils, creating a hybrid protection that responded instantly to threats from any direction. Arthur's eyes reflected the dual energies now fully harmonized—gold from Luna's power and the distinctive shadowy depth of Erebus's Deepdark, perfectly controlled through his Soul Resonance.

Jack responded by finally abandoning all pretense. His flames turned into a pure grey, a complete and perfect mix of Nirvana and Abyssal Flames.

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Lucifer stood between these two transcendent forces, his mana reserves critically low, his God's Eyes straining to process what they witnessed. He was reaching his limit while his opponents were still ascending.

"The Sword Path begins with Intent, but those who reach Resonance transcend mere technique. Your sword isn't just a tool—it's an extension of your soul. When desperation strips away all pretense, when your desire to grow stronger becomes your only reality... that's when your sword might answer."

He'd dismissed it then as philosophical nonsense. The Sword Path progression was clear: Intent, then Focus, then Resonance much later if one was talented enough. Skipping stages was impossible. Yet here he stood, depleted and outmatched, with nowhere to go but beyond his limits.

Lucifer grinned as he raised his sword.

Both Jack and Arthur looked at him, their eyes widening.

Lucifer's sword began to sing.