Sylvester stared into the man's grey eyes and smelled no lies. 'Is he serious? The church will kill the whole Gracia family and me. There's no way they'd let a prospective Supreme Wizard leave their leash.'

"I am married only to Solis and have no desire to cheat. But perhaps, I can suggest someone else if you're looking for a suitable man? I know a certain strong second son of a Count." Sylvester deflected the question.

The old man started moving toward him again. "Sad, we could have brought back the old glory of Gracia, just like at the time of the previous King. Gracia Empire, the richest Empire to ever exist. Too bad, my sister turned pathetic, and my older nephew is up to no good. Daemon was my only hope—and you doused it too. Get ready now, bard. It's time to see how long your hymns and light shall last against my might."

'Fuck! I must delay more.'

"Are you sure?" Sylvester asked while also preparing to try something new. "The moment I die, you will sign the death warrant of the Gracia Family. Giving King Riveria exactly what he wants."

The old man didn't stop, however. "Hah, you're naive to think that. The Holy Land needs Gracia to fight the Beastaria later. The Pope needs me, and the other powerhouses. While you… an Archwizard? You are nothing special."

Sylvester knew the man was bluffing as he smelled the doubts and a hint of fear. "I played on the lap of the Pope since I was a baby. So he sees me like a Grandson. Not to mention, Inquisitor High Lord and Fifth Guardian are close to me. That's a lot of trouble for a little Kingdom that's already hollowed by schemes of Masan."

"And that is why Daemon was important!" Sir Maximus boomed in rage. "He was the future of Gracia! The future that you destroyed!"

Sylvester didn't fear anymore as he was done preparing. "No, he destroyed himself when he married that witch—sin in the eyes of the church. You fools have gone so blind in your thirst for the glorious old days that you fail to see the present. Be man enough to accept the consequences of your actions, Sir Maximus."

"Enough! Insolent brat!"

Sylvester scoffed, and a hymn echoed suddenly as Sylvester raised his arms towards the sky, lighting them up. The halo also appeared with the first word. He kept the Solarium Crystals beside his body, touching him close as he tried to utilise them with his next move.

♫While your honour sleeps, heaven weeps.

Crying—when the light of Solis reaches us in heaps.

Your wind may be your strongest defensive wall.

Let's see how it lasts when the sky falls!♫

Sylvester's hymn was a literal explanation of what he was trying to do.

In the sky, even though the pale clouds were raining down, strong sunlight was still present somehow, basking them all with its warmth. So Sylvester tried to manipulate the weather conditions to his advantage.

The raindrops suddenly started to turn bright white, as if shining. Then they solidified and turned into sharp needles, falling down hard, numbering in billions. With his manipulation, the speed increased even more, and each needle became a piercing arrow.

They produced a streak of light behind them and made it appear as if the entire sky was full of long white lines. The scenes were mesmerising to look at but deadly for those who knew what it was.

Sylvester was lucky enough that it was the Season of Solis, the months when sunlight was most potent. Otherwise, this move would have been impossible. The sunlight wouldn't have been strong enough to affect the rain.

As the sky got covered with shining raindrops, it appeared as if the entire heavens were coming down. Hence, he had named this—Skyfall.

Woosh!

Sylvester wasn't just manipulating the nature of the rain, but also their trajectory. He tried to funnel as many droplets as possible towards the Grand Wizard.

Boom!

It looked as if a barrage of modern bullets were hitting the old man hard. It soon made it impossible to even see the old man as the light covered his entire body. Was he being affected by it? There was no clear answer.

The man was a Grand Wizard, after all, someone that Sylvester could not even imagine fighting at this point in his life. Not to mention, the man wasn't going to be sparing like Lady Aurora. Hence, each strike was a certain death.

Boom!

Sylvester's body was limping slowly, and his muscles were disappearing somehow. His skin started to become much paler as well. Sylvester himself questioned the state of his body, as this was a usual occurrence whenever he forced himself to go beyond his abilities.

He looked at his arm as he kept his palms towards the sky. On his right arm was a flesh wound that was bleeding until a while ago. But now, he noticed that not only had the wound dried up, but the blood in it was disappearing as if evaporating.

'W-What's happening to me? Where is my blood going?'

"Argh!" He felt pain, a lot of it.

Though thankfully, it appeared that the barrage of sharp lightning drops affected Sir Maximus as well. At least by restricting him from viewing his surroundings.

'Is he hurt? That shouldn't be possible with this weak attack.' He wondered, knowing that this Skyfall move only appeared deadly, but in reality, it wasn't very strong, not at all when he was exhausted.

Still, Sylvester gave his all, using all the crystals he had. He stayed on his knees in front of Lady Aurora the whole time, protecting her from any abrupt attack. Every pore in his body bled profusely, only for that blood to vanish eventually.

'Where is the damn backup? I'm at my limit!' He cursed.

Thud!

Sylvester kept the Skyfall going for a minute, which was his limit in the current state. And shockingly, Sir Maximus was, by the end, standing on the ground as the raindrops started to slow down.

Clap! Clap!

Loud claps resounded while the dust settled. "Marvellous! Brilliant! I'm shocked, bard. You brought me to the ground."

Sylvester felt his shoulders falling. Sir Maximus didn't seem affected. Not even a speck of dirt was on his body. He was unscathed completely and remained smiling.

"Shocked?" Sir Maximus asked while stepping forward. "You merely shrouded me in light and blocked my vision; that's it. But I must say, that attack was spectacular. But only if it was equally as deadly. But what now? I can simply walk to you, grab you by the neck and kill you. You are nothing to me."

Sylvester scoffed as he smelled the doubts in the man's mind. "Then why haven't you done it yet? You're a mighty Grand Wizard, so why are you afraid of a little bard?"

"Arrogant!" Sir Maximus bellowed and punched towards Sylvester even though they were metres apart.

Boom!

A strong gust of wind erupted from the Grand Wizard's fist. It travelled towards Sylvester and Lady Aurora, with its many blade-like currents, whirling violently.

"So you choose death?" Sylvester growled tiredly.

He leapt back and quickly grabbed Lady Aurora's longsword.

Thud!

He plunged it onto the ground right in front of himself. While he stayed on his knees, hiding behind the broad blade. Furthermore, behind him was the unconscious body of Lady Aurora, whom he tried to save.

But, sadly, Sylvester was broader than the sword, and his sides were exposed. He tried using solidified light magic to create fins on the sides of the blade, but they were weak and broke away.

"Aaaaa!" He shouted as his shoulders felt the deep cuts, and the pressure was only increasing on him.

He even used his head to support the sword, saving it from falling back and leaving Lady Aurora exposed.

"Accept defeat and my offer, bard! Accept it and live like a king! Reject… and today will be your end!" Sir Maximus shouted as he increased the power of the wind.

Sylvester gritted his teeth and shut his eyes as they felt too heavy. Having bled profusely, he knew not how much body mass he had lost.

He didn't let the sword sway at all and stayed on his knees, nor could he afford to let that happen. After all, Lord Inquisitor had asked him to look out for Lady Aurora, so he did.

"Haaaa!"

Boom!

"Accept the offer, bard! Make the Blood Pact!" Sir Maximus roared and kept on increasing his push.

"Argh!" Sylvester grunted in pain as he felt his shoulders open up all the way to the bones. His arms were losing strength because of the lost muscles. And the pain, it was better not to talk about that.

"Maxy! I will help you!" Miraj suddenly peeked his head out of Sylvester's chest plate and ran out."No! You will die!" Sylvester shouted.

But Miraj didn't care. "If you die, I will be sadder. Maxy, don't worry. I will protect you!"

Sylvester had no idea what Miraj even had in mind. So he tried to force his eyes to open to look. But to his horror, all he noticed around him was thick wind, so dense that it appeared faint white like a curtain.

"M-Miraj! No! Don't go out! The wind is too strong!"

"I'm not going out. I just want to look ahead!" Miraj said and lightly peaked his head from the side.

Woosh!

In an instant, wounds appeared on the poor cat's face, cut marks from the blade-like wind current.

But Miraj didn't jump back and instead opened his jaws.

"Chonky Bank does not only store money! I can take everything in my tummy!" Miraj proclaimed and used his interdimensional belly.

Woosh!

From Miraj's mouth, a large suction force came and started sucking in all the violent gusts of wind, instantly reducing the load on Sylvester. Miraj's mouth acted like a vacuum cleaner at that moment and reduced Sylvester's pain by taking some of it.

But Sylvester felt pain in his heart as he noticed Miraj's face get covered with wounds because not all of the wind could enter his mouth at the same time. Some of the wind-blades would still cut him.

'No! I won't allow this!'

He closed his eyes and tried to create a shield of light in front of Miraj's face. But he failed every single time as it would break apart.

Helpless, hopeless, but Sylvester knew he only had to last a bit longer.

"Give up, Bard! This is merely the beginning of my power." Sir Maximus threatened.

'Finally!' Sylvester cheered instead.

A smile appeared on his face as he smelled a few emotions from the distance. Filled with rage, anger, hate, and worry.

"Haaaa!" He shouted as the wind became unbearable and he couldn't feel his shoulders anymore. "Quick! I can't hold it for too long!"

"Meow!" Miraj shared the same feeling.

He didn't know who had come to help, but he hoped it was someone powerful.

Bam!

"Sylvester!"

Abruptly, the wind decreased as if someone had shielded him from the front. Not to mention, the voice felt highly recognisable.

Sylvester forced his heavy eyes to open and look. There he saw a mighty tall man in white armour and clothes, dark-skinned, and with a thin strip of cloth on his...

Sylvester's heart skipped a beat as he felt energised by the sight. "W-What… How?... Sir Dolorem?"

[A/N: See Sir Dolorem here.]

________________________

GT = 1 Bonus chapter.

Super Gift = 1 Bonus chapter.

APE TOGETHER STRONG!