The moment Calis and Karl saw the decoy doll hit the ground, their expressions turned grim.

But both reacted instantly. The moment it touched the earth, they raised their weapons and charged Abraham.

Abraham, however, had already regained his sight and snapped out of his near-death daze in a flash.

With one hand, he blocked Calis’s short sword with his spear and kicked her away; with the other, he formed a grasping gesture midair—freezing Karl solid.

“Aren’t you from the Earl’s manor, kid? Why the sudden ambush??”

Abraham glared coldly at Karl, voice sharp with accusation.

“It’s a misunderstanding! I was trying to help—I never meant to make things worse!”

Karl, completely immobilized, could only force out an explanation.

*Please let him not be too sharp.*

Sadly, his hope was in vain.

Abraham’s eyes narrowed. “Heh. I’ll kill you first, then drag your corpse to the Earl’s manor to demand justice!!”

He swung his arm the instant the words left his lips.

Karl slammed into the ground like a doll gripped by a giant’s hand.

Thud! Thud!! Thud!!!

Three brutal impacts left him feeling shattered. Blood surged up his throat from the violent jolts to his organs.

The moment Karl hit the dirt, Calis charged again from afar. Shadows beneath her twisted into tendril-like forms, coiling tightly around Abraham’s body.

[Shadow Bind]—a high-tier dark-element magic.

Lightning erupted across Abraham the second the shadows ensnared him. Crackling serpents of electricity repelled the tendrils, scattering them completely.

Calis’s Shadow Bind had held him for only one second.

But that second was enough.

Now wreathed in emerald magic, a swirling vortex encircling her, Calis split into an afterimage—both duplicates equally cloaked in wind.

Blades raised, they leaped from the ground, transforming into two horizontal tornadoes of raging wind hurtling straight at Abraham.

——High-tier wind-based martial magic technique [Raging Blade Cyclone]

Simultaneously, Abraham slammed the butt of his black spear into the fractured earth.

Three massive stone shields erupted instantly.

[Triple Earth Shield]

A high-tier earth-element spell—the strongest defense available to Diamond Rank practitioners.

*BOOM—!*

The first shield shattered into dust under the cyclones’ fury.

The second cracked violently before exploding.

But the third merely spiderwebbed with fractures, unbroken.

As the winds faded, both Calises stood panting before the final shield, utterly spent.

Abraham dispelled the shield and smirked. “Is this all you’ve got? Truly disappointing.”

He formed a grasping gesture, froze one Calis mid-motion, and slammed her hard into the ground.

The other lunged forward without hesitation, ready to fight to the death.

Karl knew—this was their only chance. All three attacking together might tip the odds.

Staggering to his feet, he gripped his sword and charged.

Abraham let out a derisive snort. “Heh. What use are you?”

His spear thrust straight for Karl’s heart.

But Karl twisted aside at the last millisecond—the tip grazing empty air.

Abraham hesitated for a moment, then redirected the spear toward Karl’s head. *This time, no miss.*

Yet again, the blade skimmed Karl’s cheek.

“There’s something wrong with you, kid!” Abraham snarled.

Two moves were enough—he saw it now. Either Karl was a prodigy… or hiding a trump card.

He was right.

Karl’s mind raced, flashing visions of death nodes—any move that meant certain death, he could preview and evade.

Lightning crackled around him; two electric phantom blades traced his path.

But they offered no real aid. The moment Karl swung, Abraham’s spear slashed his chest open.

Blood gushed. Karl nearly collapsed.

He could dodge fatal strikes—but not the wounds meant to cripple.

Meanwhile, Calis’s duplicate was repelled. Her true body hung frozen midair.

“This ends now, you rats!!”

Lightning erupted across Abraham’s form. He wouldn’t kill Calis—but he’d make her suffer beyond imagining.

Karl’s thoughts raced. *Survive. Kill him.*

Yet every tactic led to death.

Even unleashing his ultimate—“Six Meridian Divine Sword”—ended in failure.

No path remained. Only despair.

Then—a clear voice echoed in his mind.

“Use me.”

Karl’s gaze snapped to the ring on his finger: the Lost Ring, disguised as ordinary jewelry.

*It stores magic… I’ve fed it daily. Maybe…*

The thought bloomed—and every death node vision vanished.

*This path is viable!!!!*

Just as Abraham prepared to unleash lightning upon Calis, Karl yanked a small sphere from the ring and hurled it at his feet.

Abraham pierced it with a contemptuous swing. “Heh. Trying the same trick a second—”

*CRACK!*

The sphere exploded in blinding white light.

Abraham shut his eyes instinctively.

In that split second, Karl channeled every ounce of magic into the Lost Ring.

A longsword materialized in his grip—radiant with silvery-white lightning, blazing with divine brilliance.

————[Sword of the King — Thunder]