Charles's body shone with brilliant light.

Behind him, a shape began manifesting, glowing in both black and white simultaneously. The form hangs like a sigil, a towering mark of intersecting lines and crosses.

Wisps of black light trickled from the sigil's base, curling downward like smoke seeking ground.

Veins of white fire pulsed upward through its structure in a steady rhythm.

Swords appeared around Charles.

Beautiful blades materialized in a circle formation, each one perfect in construction. The symbol from his back's sigil appeared at every hilt, miniature versions of the towering mark, all glowing with the same black-white radiance.

Both stared at each other across twenty feet of cracked floor, and Reinhard's light blue eyes met the featureless black mask.

Three seconds passed in absolute silence before Reinhard switched to Angra Mainyu.

The crimson-black wings erupted from his back. His symbol shifted to the crown atop a split sun covered by a mask, serpent looped around, chains wrapped throughout, wings spreading outward.

Power flowed through various channels, transforming corruption into a controlled force.

The tide responded immediately.

It rushed through the chamber's entrance, flowing across the floor in waves that climbed walls. Crimson-black flames filled half the room within seconds, rising to knee height and continuing upward.

Reinhard's hand extended. The tide surged forward at his command, forming a massive wave fifteen feet high. The wall of corruption crashed toward Charles with a desire to devour and drown him.

Charles's sigil shifted.

The intersecting lines rearranged, patterns changing to match the tide's image. His sword moved in a single horizontal slash, the movement almost lazy in execution.

The wave split perfectly in half. Both halves diverted around Charles, crashing into walls behind him with impacts that shook the entire structure. But he remained untouched, standing in the eye of corruption's storm.

But Reinhard didn't care much as he quickly created weapons from the tide.

Spears formed from crimson-black flame, solidifying into projectiles that launched toward Charles in volleys of twelve. Swords manifested next, spinning horizontally as they closed the distance.

Chains erupted from the floor, seeking to bind legs and arms.

Charles's floating swords were intercepted. They moved swiftly, each blade targeting a specific projectile. The swords cut through corruption-made-solid, dispersing weapons back into formless tide while the chains were severed before reaching their target.

But then a stream burst from the tide's surface!

A six-inch diameter stream that twisted mid-flight, approaching from an angle designed to strike at the blind-spot. But Charles's sword became blurred before he struck the stream's center point, sigil flaring as it deemed the attack "wrong."

The stream dispersed instantly, breaking down where the blade made contact.

But then a whirlpool formed beneath Charles's feet with the water rushing to his boots. The tide spiraled downward, creating a vortex that pulled everything toward the central point. The suction attempted to drag Charles into a grinding motion that would shred even spiritual armor.

His boots didn't move. He remained anchored through sheer strength, defying the pull that would consume anyone weaker. His sword stabbed downward into the whirlpool's eye, and the entire formation collapsed.

The vortex lost its form, spreading back into normal tide flow as whatever maintained its structure was negated. But then Charles grunted, as just the slight touch of the water sent pain through his body.

Reinhard then sent wave after wave. Big formations that filled the room, small, precise strikes aimed at vital points, medium attacks from multiple angles simultaneously. The tide became an extension of his will, a malleable weapon capable of infinite forms.

Charles met every assault, constantly adapting to each new attack pattern. His sword cut down each attack, each strike dispersed formations, each movement positioned him optimally, and each decision was made with certainty.

But then blue ripples swept out.

Drasil Step.

Time crawled to near-halt, the world slowing down even more than before, and the skill lasted up to eight seconds now. Reinhard rushed forward through the frozen moment, closing twenty feet in a single second.

He switched to Fenrir mid-approach before golden-black claws materialized over both fists, ethereal coatings. His right fist drove toward Charles's stomach as he deactivated the skills, and time returned to normal.

The blow connected, and then his fist drove itself deep into Charles' stomach.

Shatter Paw.

An ability gained from unlocking Fenrir's upward-pointing paws. The strike ignored Charles's spiritual armor completely, bypassing invisible protection to strike flesh directly.

The impact created a golden shockwave that rippled through Charles's entire frame. But then simultaneously, he activated, leading to the area being distorted around the impact point, as space twisted Left to Right in a spiral pattern.

Devour Disk.

Charles's figure began rotating involuntarily, his body responding to the twisting of something in his body. Not only was his body rotating, but his magic was being devoured as it constantly tried to heal and mend the damage caused.

And then Charles was sent flying back from the strike, his body crashed through a stone wall, blasting a hole that revealed the corridor beyond. Debris exploded outward as centuries-old architecture failed under the First Ancestor's mass.

But then Reinhard felt a danger spike.

His Second Beast Class Master instinct screamed a warning before his conscious mind identified the threat. He switched back to Angra Mainyu instantly, leading to the tide rushing around him, forming a barrier. His wings erupted from behind before wrapping around him.

Just as two hundred fifty swords appeared above simultaneously. They formed a perfect circle formation hovering at ceiling height. Then they fell, raining down in a terrifying barrage aimed at a single point where Reinhard stood.

The impacts created continuous thunder with each blade struck with a terrifying force attack.

The tide boiled where swords pierced, corruption dispersing under the blade erasure effect. But even the countless blades couldn't keep up with the large amount of crimson-black flames that protected Reinhard.

And soon, the barrage ended.

The tide swirled around Reinhard's position and shifted back down while Reinhard's wings parted slowly. Crimson-black trails spread outward, revealing Reinhard standing unharmed behind their protection.

Charles walked out through the hole he'd created. One sword was lightly stabbed into his side. Not a deep wound but a visible injury, blood staining the white robe crimson. He no longer twisted, the spatial effect having expired.

"How amazing." Charles' voice carried genuine surprise despite monotone delivery. "To think I would meet someone with multiple Beast Spirits..." He paused. "I am in disbelief at how you haven't exploded yet, especially with Angra Mainyu's spirit connected to you."

Reinhard smiled despite heavy breathing. "Don't worry about it."

The tide surged again at his command. Reinhard sent a constant assault, waves crashing from multiple directions, weapons forming and launching in an endless stream, tendrils seeking to bind or strike. The attacks forced Charles into a defensive posture, requiring reaction and destruction rather than allowing offensive moves.

Reinhard rushed forward during openings. When Charles committed to destroying the wave, Reinhard switched to Odin and attacked with Drasil Step's time manipulation. When Sigil adapted to sword strikes, he switched to Fenrir and utilized claws that ignored armor.

When Charles anticipated close combat, Reinhard switched back to Angra Mainyu and attacked from range through tide manipulation.

"Ingenious use of forcing me into one action," Charles commented mid-combat. His sword dispersed another wave while simultaneously deflecting Reinhard's thrust. "But can your magic hold up?"

Reinhard laughed despite exhaustion creeping into muscles. "Of course not. But well..."

The tide swirled violently. Instead of attacking outward, it rushed toward Reinhard's position. Crimson-black flames flowed into his body through every pore and began merging into him and temporarily becoming part of him.

He glanced down at Angra Mainyu's symbol. The visual representation in his mind showed a reservoir that had been depleting rapidly from sustained assault. But as the tide entered, the reservoir filled, not slowly but instantly, jumping from near-empty to completely full.

"I have three centuries' worth of magic to use."

Charles sighed. "What a troubling enemy I have today."

They rushed back into combat. Reinhard cycled through all available powers, Odin's time manipulation and gravity control, Fenrir's enhanced physicality and ice attacks, Angra Mainyu's tide manipulation and corruption weapons.

He pulled skills from Herald Mark, Marie's Purging Lance, creating golden-white devastation, Joseph's elemental control redirecting Charles's attacks, and Veryn's barriers forming in critical moments.

Honor's signature was notably absent. The skill that should have been available, Threshold's phasing, remained inaccessible. The Luminous Knight's death had severed his connection to the Herald Mark permanently.

Charles withstood the assault. His superior overall power of nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine souls against Reinhard's mere thousands showed in every exchange. He moved faster, struck harder, endured longer.

But Reinhard's versatility and the tide's endless assault created pressure that accumulated despite individual advantages.

The tide became Reinhard's equalizer. Every attack Charles deflected required dealing with corruption that didn't simply disappear. Every moment spent destroying waves was a moment unavailable for offense. The endless reservoir meant Reinhard could sustain assault indefinitely while Charles's magic slowly depleted.

Slowly but surely, Charles was being pressed backward.

Reinhard broke through with Fenrir's full enhancement. His arm blurred to show four simultaneous afterimages as he struck. The combination of velocity and Shatter Paw penetrated Charles's guard completely.

Then Reinhard grabbed the Star Jewel with one hand just as he switched to Angra Mainyu mid-strike. The wings swiftly moved over his body, flowing like liquid around his torso and arms. They positioned themselves at his front, reforming into two massive spears of solidified corruption.

The spears rushed toward Charles.

Both aimed at Charles' heart and throat, moving with velocity exceeding everything.

But then they paused.

The spears froze mid-thrust. Crimson-black tips hovered inches from Charles's body, trembling as if they sensed something before pulling back rapidly.

The spears shifted during their mid-retreat and instantly became wings again. They swiftly wrapped around Reinhard's body and created a shield across his front.

Just as Charles's body trembled violently before his back arched, his spine curving at an angle suggesting agony. Then spikes erupted from him, bone spikes burst through his clothing, not metal but organic growth bursting through flesh.

Autumn Deer antlers sprouted from shoulders, Werefang teeth extended from arms. Bear-Terror spikes pierced through the torso. Phantasm Beast, parts of over a dozen species, emerged from Charles's body in a grotesque display.

The spikes crashed into Reinhard's wing shield.

The impact sent him skidding backward twenty feet, boots carving trenches through the stone floor. The wings held but showed damage with the feathers scattered, edges frayed, crimson-black light flickering.

But then the wings swiftly mended as they parted slowly, allowing Reinhard to stare at Charles with disbelief and shock.

The First Ancestor's body showed Phantasm Beast parts. The experiments that had created Honor, the tortures inflicted centuries ago, Charles bore identical mutations, but his was far more excessive.

Both are carrying Beast parts grafted onto human frames.

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