Theron exhaled a breath that came out in frost. But this time, it wasn't due to the tactics of others, but instead his own.

His Dark Mana pooled around him, and almost instantly, the temperature rose to the point that it felt as though it had become a calm spring morning.

With a step, Theron had already appeared before the young women, his spear thrusting out.

Time seemed to slow to his perception, his soul thrumming as though it was finally being let off its leash.

In that moment, something seemed to click for Theron, becoming clearer than it ever had before.

Chi. Chi. Chi.

The twins retreated quickly, feeling as though their Ice Mana was being corrupted by something—turning to black ice right before their eyes.

Veins of black crawled up the icy blue, the air darkening and growing heavier around them.

They were faster than Theron, to be sure.

Their Mana wasn't faster, though.

[Shadow Step].

Theron crossed the distance they opened up, his spear thrusting at Lilac.

They used the same tactic again, Violet covering while Lilac countered.

[Shadow Extend].

Theron's blade doubled, a chill seeping through it in violent waves.

CLANG!

Violet's blade deflected, and Lilac's eyes opened wide. The two formed a feedback loop between them. It was like Lilac not only felt Violet's blade being parried but also felt the danger coming from herself. The stacking of the two senses doubled her reflexes, allowing her to react even faster than usual.

She twisted out of the way, but she realized the mistake she made instantly. She was dodging away from her sister, leaving an opening at the most vulnerable location between the two of them—

Their interlocking, braided ponytails.

Theron's spear blade snapped back into one, and he slashed down. Both sisters found themselves dealing with attacks that weren't even present any longer.

From attacking both sides at once, Theron's power came together to form a singular slash down toward the looping hair.

The pupils of the pair of sisters constricted into pinholes, but their reaction was just as fast.

They roared, slapping out their palms toward Theron, who was now between the both of them.

Theron sensed it before it came, and he realized that he had still not seen the full extent of their abilities. Their casting speed was off the charts, each one taking half the completed loop of a spell and fusing them into harmony.

Because of that, they could cut down the time to cast any spell by half, and the amount of Mana they needed by even more than that.

[Hall of Bells].

The twins echoed the name of the spell in their minds to focus themselves, a resonant hum pouring into the world as the raging Ice Mana formed into the illusory body of a snowy bell.

It trapped Theron within and swung just a single time.

Everything happened with impossible speed. Theron's spear was still halfway to their ponytail when he felt the frost form around him.

But he didn't stop.

Chi.

The bell shattered to pieces, a fog seeping into it that broke it apart.

The twins coughed up mouthfuls of blood, but that was the least of their worries.

Chi.

Theron's spear blade sliced down, cutting their hair in two.

Convulsing, the twins were sent flying in two separate directions, the backlash of the spell they were casting together blowing back onto them the moment their connection was severed.

To Theron's surprise, though, it wasn't as bad as he was expecting. He was half prepared for his strike just now to take both of their lives. The soul was a very fragile thing, and they were intertwining their own with such a vulnerable connection.

I see…

Theron didn't know about the Dual Headed Snow Lizard, but he could guess at some of its properties from what he was seeing from the twins.

What he had neglected was the fact that these twins needed a very special constitution to even make something like this possible. And it was because of this constitution that their soul connection was extremely stable.

Even before they had connected their hair, they were able to appear and disappear within one another's Mana.

Separating the more permanent form of their connection might lead to some blowback, but not enough to cause their deaths.

Lilac and Violet both tumbled across the ground and flipped up to their feet, blood leaking from their lips as they gripped their stomachs. There was some blowback from their meridians just now, causing them to bulge and micro-tear in some places, but it wasn't enough to cripple them completely.

Even with Theron between them, their eyes met at a distance, their chests heaving for breath.

It seemed they were both trying to make a decision.

Their gazes solidified with coldness, their Mana thrumming. Their wings spread on their backs, raging winds pounding across the air as they flapped.

Ice Mana howled and formed into blades that cut into Theron's skin. His gaze became serious as he sensed something coming.

Mandate!

Theron figured it out instantly.

The twins were already using their Mandates—or so he thought. In reality, they were only using one of their Mandates and resonating with it alone.

However, it seemed that there was a second Mandate they had, mastered by the other twin.

Theron's gaze became more serious. Should he bring out his Echo in earnest? Right now, he was only using a small bit of his Immortal Jellyfish Echo to help fuse his Dark and Water Mana together. But it wasn't fully manifested, nor had he used his other three Echoes.

He didn't plan on exposing that he had four Echoes at all. But two would be fine if need be. Likewise, he didn't want to expose a second Mandate if he didn't have to; otherwise, people would start asking questions about where it came from.

The strength of a single Mandate already made their Dual Headed Snow Lizard Echo extremely powerful. What would a second one do?

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.