Is this really a Game?!

The rider's reaction was instinctive, only a bit too late. Reign's sword plunged into his chest, piercing between the plates of his armor and sending a surge of white lightning crackling through his body.

The rider growled in pain as the sword stabbed his flesh, but it wasn't able to stab deep inside thanks to the plates since although Reign had stabbed between them, the plates were placed quite close, so only the thinnest part of Reign's sword could pass through easily, the rest was caught by the plates, stopping the sword from stabbing too deep and causing Reign to push forward with full force.

The white lightning did some damage, causing the darkness that was coiling around the rider to dissipate, but even then, it was not enough. The rider snarled at Reign and twisted away, wrenching himself free from the blade. Reign charged forward, refusing to let his advantage slip away, following forward with a rapid, brutal barrage of slashes.

Seeing his assault, Tank and Wolf quickly surged forward, each one wielding their weapon with renewed ferocity. Tank raised his shield and moved forward while channeling his mana into the shield, ready to defend or slam into the rider.

Wolf, on the other hand, enveloped his entire body with his flames, raging forward, the temperature around the entire area rising thanks to him.

The rider was fully aware of the gravity of the situation, and he quickly started fighting back, his spear spinning in an intricate dance of shadows and blows. That was not something the rider was able to do before, incorporating his control over shadows into his spearmanship.

He could probably incorporate the darkness as well, but it was more difficult to do so, not to mention that the shadows in this situation were a better choice here as they were able to make the rider's spear more intricate and elusive.

The darkness would give him a similar result, but it would give it more of a destructive property, not elusive, not to mention that the rider still couldn't control the darkness that well. Because of that, the battle quickly entered a stalemate as even the three of them couldn't get an upper hand against the rider's incredible sprearmanship.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Meanwhile, Beast and Aelrinder wreaked havoc on the transformed hybrids. Beast's arrows continued to fly with deadly precision, striking at vital points and tearing through armor with ease. The wind-infused mana around his arrows grew even more concentrated as his mark pulsed brightly, empowering him further with each shot.

He moved with a calculated calm, eliminating each target with lethal accuracy and ensuring no enemy could get close.

The fused hybrids began to falter under the relentless assault. Aelrinder's starlight-infused spear left trails of celestial energy with every strike, cleaving through the shadow-wolf hybrids' dark bodies. His spear spun and struck with precision, each swing and stab forcing the enemies back as the strength behind each blow was enough to heavily injure or even kill some of them. Continue reading on empire

Alerinder's attacks and his relentless pursuit of the enemies made him carve a path through the hybrids, each and every move brimming with the power of the stars and his wind that had turned yellow.

He moved like the wind, the light of the stars that shone from him making the shadow and darkness powers of the hybrids falter and weaken, each swing of his spear set arcs of starlight spiraling through the forest, causing the shadows to dissipate, making it even a bit easier for Reign, Wolf, and Tank to fight against the rider who was also being affected.

Reign quickly noticed the weakening shadows around the rider and seized the opportunity, charging his two swords with his black and white lightning and launching an aggressive assault. With the darkness that he used on his left sword, he started taking control over the dissipating shadows around them while the light on the right sword was burning away the shadows that were around the rider.

Even though it seemed silly for Reign to use both powers in such a way, causing the shadows he was stealing to also be weakened and destroyed by his light, barely empowering him, he was not doing it to boost himself, instead, he was only using his darkness to steal more power from the rider, making him weaker and easier to deal with.

Thanks to that, every strike forced the rider into a tighter and more restrictive defensive stance, his movements growing visibly slower and more restricted as the shadows around him and his spears faltered.

The spearmanship he had previously used, the same one that caused all three of his opponents to go on the defensive was no longer usable, the shadows he had previously incorporated into it were no longer present.

This was the first time the rider had battled against someone that could utilize the same powers he could, and not only that, but had a better control over his powers compared to him. It was because of that reason that the rider was now struggling so much. Reign was going all out, but not how one would imagine it.

Instead of boosting himself with his light, darkness, and lightning, Reign was using the light and darkness to their fullest in order to negate the powers of the rider.

The soul manipulation was nearly useless against the rider right now because there was not one soul inside him, but two. Perhaps with his soul manipulation Reign could have previously dealt some damage to the hunters and the wolves, but the moment he thought about doing that, a sense of danger overcame him, making him stop the thought immediately.

The forest itself could after all turn into their enemy depending on what they did, and it seemed that other than burning it down, recklessly using soul manipulation was another thing that could make the trial harder. It was for that reason that Reign was more certain there was a forest spirit present, as such a being would have been able to easily notice soul power being used.

Because of that, he could only leave it to Beast and the others to take care of the hunters and wolves, who had now turned into hybrids, while going all out and doing whatever he could to take down the rider.

With his swords slashing at the rider, weakening him thanks to his powers being used, Reign was able to slowly gain the advantage while Tank and Wolf flanked the rider, attacking him without holding back.

Tank had temporarily dropped his shield and was holding his axe with both hands, getting ready to attack with full force, going fully on the offensive, his axe trembling as black light started being expelled from it, until he finally moved, slashing at the rider with immense power.

Wolf on the others hand was dragging his sword, cutting through the ground and leaving a trail of flames before slashing from below, aiming to cut the rider in half with his greatsword that was completely covered in chaos flames.

The rider, however, seemed to continue holding his calm, suddenly closing his eyes, and causing all three to sense danger.

In an instant, right before the attacks landed, darkness appeared around the rider, but this darkness was not one that Reign could wrestle control over as it came from inside the rider. It was his darkness, and none could steal it.

The darkness exploded around the rider, causing his aura to change drastically. Claws made of darkness appeared, grabbing the attacks that were launched at the rider, crushing them, but also dissipating after doing so as it was clearly not that easy to stop and crush the attacks of Wolf and Tank.

Reign's swords were grabbed by the dark claws, the light of his right sword burning them, causing them to start smoking and slowly dissipating while the darkness around his left sword made the claws start losing their form.

However, the darkness did its job, slowing Reign's blades just enough to allow the rider to slip back. He spun his spear with renewed ferocity, slashing at Reign's defenses in a whirlwind of dark energy. Reign was forced to meet the strike head-on, the darkness crackling against his white lightning, sending sparks flying through the air with each parry.

Wolf and Tank regrouped immediately, circling the rider with lethal intent.

The claws once again appeared, attacking all three of them as the rider had seemingly stopped caring for defense and was going on the offense, not at all fearing any damage he might sustain from such an act.

"Don't be fooled, he is doing this because this is the only thing he can do!"Reign shouted, staring at the rider, aware that the darkness he had used was something that the rider would only use when absolutely having to do so.

The darkness came from his very being, it was incredibly difficult to replenish it, and was much more powerful to use that instead of the darkness he could conjure with his mana. It was powerful, but it also showed that the rider was desperate.