313 Chapter 313: The Two Brothers (2/2)
Even as he huffed and perspiration dripped down his face, Troy was able to glance up in time to see the attack coming.
”Holy Cross!”
”…!!!”
Gritting his teeth, Troy slammed both palms against the ground and conjured a gigantic earth wall that parried the spell. An enormous explosion enveloped the area and caused entire buildings in the district to topple from the devastating impact.
”Troy!” I yelled, hurrying over, but he threw out a hand to stop me.
”Leave this bastard to me, Richie.” His tone was final and firm. He would not accept any help from me. And I would only get in the way if I tried to help…no, he might probably attack me to force me away from this battlefield. Troy wanted to personally defeat his brother with his own hands. Protagonist or not, I had to allow other characters the chance to shine. It would be incredibly stupid if I hogged all the boss fights to myself. ”Protect the civilians. Escort them out of the city. Don't let any more harm befall them. Tyrant has done more than enough damage to them already. I will not allow him to hurt any more innocents.”
”…”
I watched him for a moment, and then nodded. There was no changing his mind. The only help I could offer was minimizing as many casualties as possible.
”Understood. You take care of yourself…and settle your blood feud with your brother once and for all.”
Troy turned to offer me a determined smile.
”Thank you.”
Then he returned to his battle. I hurried away to wave the last remaining civilians onward, trying to escort them toward the rest of the mercenaries and military. There were thousands of them, and the soldiers and students escorting them were stretched to the limit.
Especially since the monsters chose that moment to crawl out of the woodwork. I could see Banshees and Gorgons emerging from behind ruined husks of buildings, the former wailing eerily and the hair-snakes of the latter hissing ferociously.
”Golden Kirin! Black Tortoise!”
I had yet to dismiss my Celestial Guardians, and they served me well, forming barriers between the newly emerged monsters and the screaming civilians. The Knights of Pendragon were quick to react, falling upon the monsters and hacking them apart. Or trying to, anyway. The rank B Gorgons, in particular, were not going to fall easily.
”Look!”
A cry drew my attention back to the skirmish behind me. The refugees were pointing toward a crashing structure, a hundred-story building collapsing downward on the district as it was drawn by irresistible gravitational forces.
Troy.
”The Trojan Skyscraper is falling…!”
”What's going on?! Are those two fighting over there…even human?”
”…our city…will there be anything left of it?”
Several of the civilians had froze, watching the demise of what was once their home. Disbelief and shock filled their weary expressions, and many were weeping, wondering if they would ever be able to live here again, even if they somehow survived getting out of the city today.
The homes they had inhabited for years…decades for many of the older residents – was crumbling right before their eyes.
Amidst the destruction and rubble, Tyrant was kneeling before Troy, heaving and panting. His body was bleeding heavily, battered by both gravitional forces and earth spells. Troy, for his part, had sustained a fair bit of damage from his older brother's fire spells, but he still somehow managed to stand despite horrendous burns and injuries.
”It's over, Tyrant!” he proclaimed, standing atop a pile of debris. Around the two of them flowed a sea of molten magma, the result of earth and fire spells colliding, merging and coalescing into superheated rock. ”I have the high ground!”
Huffing, Tyrant looked up defiantly, his lips pulled back in a feral snarl.
”You underestimate my power!”
”Don't do it, Tyrant!” Troy warned. Then he grinned. ”No, actually I want you to do it. Come on, try and jump at me! Give me an excuse to end your sorry life!”
”Hah! I will, even if you didn't tell me.” Tyrant grinned as he forced himself to his feet despite the massive gravitational forces weighing down on him. ”And the only one dying here will be you, little bro!”
Troy's eyes narrowed. ”We'll see about that.”
Gigantic boulders appeared above him, and he conjured a massive rock gauntlet that appeared to swell the size of his arm by several dozen times.
”Time to end this.”
”For once, I concur, little bro!”
Laughing madly, Tyrant raised up both hands as he bathed himself in his own hellish flames, igniting an immense inferno that seemed to draw power from the molten magma around the both of them. Seemed like Troy wouldn't be cutting off his arms and legs and throwing him into the superheated lava, after all.
”Great Flame Commandment.”
Intoning firmly, Tyrant held up his right hand and conjured an enormous fireball that was at least ten meters in diameter. Blazing red and golden, it resembled a miniature sun, enveloping the entire place in hellish flames and melting rock, earth, concrete and metal alike.
”Flame Emperor.”
”!!!”
In the face of such awesome firepower, Troy remained undaunted. He raised his massive gauntleted arm and directed his boulders at the flaming sun that Tyrant had summoned, their speed and power boosted tremendously by the Black Hole that now swirled around him.
”Today, only one of us will walk out of this confrontation alive,” he declared.
”Heh!” Tyrant smirked. ”I will be King. Nothing you do will stop me, little bro. Fate has already ordained my rightful place as such.”
The two of them then flung their massive spells at each other.
BOOM!
Even from a distance, I could see golden and red flames of a miniature sun clashing against the overwhelming darkness of a black hole.
Then the entire district vanished under the collision of such colossal forces, and was completely wiped off the face of the Earth.