As the figure approached, Aren immediately lifted his hand to tell everyone to stop. They all did and looked at the figure standing there.

"Who are you?" Aren asked, already preparing his mind that if anything was going to come, he would move fast and handle the issue.

"Hand her over." The figure suddenly spoke, a calm, clean voice. He lifted his head and revealed his red glowing eyes. He stared right at Athena. "Hand her over and none of you have to die, a good trade." He offered.

"What the heck do you want from her?" Aren barked at him.

Seeing that this group wasn't going to give him Athena, the man decided to make the move himself. He lifted his leg into the air, ready to stomp the ground.

"Everyone spread out around Athena, now." Aren barked and then immediately moved into a formation, while at the same time Aren lunged forward.

The man stomped the ground and a row of red crystal spikes shot out of the ground in an attempt to impale Aren. Aren leaped off the ground, flipped in the air and barely evaded the spikes. Before landing, he summoned and equipped wolf guard and unleashed a clean claw strike.

The man kicked the ground, dodging backward as the claw strike slammed into the ground and dug up a massive hole there.

Aren landed on the ground, only to be greeted by multiple large crystal lances. He wanted to dodge them all, but the group was behind him, so he created tendrils that wrapped around the crystals and forced them to a stop. It took every bit of focus that Aren could muster before he was capable of doing that.

"It's as they said, you are the strongest and the protector, then I should really get rid of you first." The figure said. Aren looked up and he had already vanished. The man appeared behind Aren.

Aren couldn't even react before the man slid a red crystal needle into Aren's neck, and instantly the needle caused red crystal spikes to shoot out of Aren's body from every direction.

"Arghhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Aren screamed in pain and agony as blood stained all those crystals.

"Aren!" They all screamed, seeing this.

The figure snapped his fingers and immediately a crystal box formed around Aren and then flew right up into the sky, keeping Aren away from the fight.

When he was finally done, blood dripped down the nose and mouth of the man, but he ignored it.

"I didn't think it would take that much soul energy and a special artifact to temporarily hold your friend. Tch, keeping him in there right now while facing your group is difficult." The man said. He knew that Aren was the main threat, and he did everything to ensure that Aren wasn't here at all.

"Now, hand over the girl, and no one gets hurt further." He spoke calmly.

Sadly, Aiden was enraged by the fact they injured Aren, so he lunged forward, and so did the rest, Raze following behind, Kira and Zero already unleashing a barrage of attacks from above and the side.

Aiden attacked with a full swing, but the man stepped back, dodged the attack, used his crystal to create a sword and immediately parried Aiden's sword high up before spinning and kicking Aiden right in the guts.

BOOM

Aiden flew through the air like a rocket and slammed into a wall hard, cracking it.

The man continued with the momentum of the kick. He glanced at the sword of Raze coming down fast at him, so he parried the attack and kicked Raze in the chest, throwing him back as well.

His eyes darted forward and saw Zero and Kira preparing their attacks. He threw the crystal sword as hard as he could, aiming for Kira's head. Zero reacted in time and covered Kira with a barrier that blocked the crystal sword.

But in that time of distraction, he closed the gap with Zero, moving to take her out.

"Leave her alone!" Athena screamed. Her eyes glowed as she unleashed an attack of chaos. The man gritted his teeth, he knew it wouldn't be an easy attack to tank.

He created a thick crystal wall. The attack slammed through it and slammed the man back hard and into a wall.

BOOM

The moment his back touched the wall, he shot forward again. Zero could barely react. She attacked with a spatial sphere at point blank range, but a crystal formed and swallowed up the attack.

He grabbed her by the hand and then flipped her over his body slamming her into the ground. He was about to twist Zero's hand, but Kira attacked with a powerful and large ice lance.

He turned both hands into crystal and grabbed the attack. His feet skidded back a few feet before finally coming to a stop.

Kira was shocked to see that her attack was stopped, but what shocked her more was what followed.

"Arghhhhhhhhh!" The man roared as he threw the lance with all his strength at her. It rocketed toward her extremely fast, and she was forced to stop the lance. She succeeded, but the recoil caused her to cough blood.

The man believed this to be the ending now, but in the next moment, everyone that he had knocked down was back on their feet and eager to go again.

They all gave off a different aura from before, now more fierce, angry, and more intense.

"Arghhhh, this is taking longer than I would have wanted," the man said. He turned his crystal hands into long and sharp blades.

"I really hate when I have to do things twice, you all should have stay—" He wasn't able to finish that statement as Aiden came from above, stabbing down, forcing the man to react, rushing backward and evading the attack. He stabbed his sharp hands into the ground to slow himself down.

"If you want to ever touch Athena, it will be through all our dead bodies," Aiden said.

"Then get ready to be dead bodies," the man replied.

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