- In the Dimension Lockdown -

(Song Qian Long's Perspective)

"Legendary Psychic Magic - Mind Control!" Mei Mo yelled, sending invisible lines of hypnosis towards us as our own attacks flew towards her.

"Everyone, stay focused!" I yelled, mentally bracing myself for her mind control attack.

However, at this rate, our attacks would reach her first, and she will have nowhere to run-

"Ehehehe~" she giggled like a devil. And then, right as our attacks were about to converge on her, she suddenly transformed into a swarm of bats, and evaded our attacks with ease. The bats then flew elsewhere, converging together once again to go back into Mei Mo's human form.

"...What..." I muttered in shock. The other Golden Monarchs similarly were staring in surprise.

Damn it...to think she could transform into a swarm of bats like vampires can. Wasn't she a succubus...? How does she have vampiric abilities?

But even so - Mind Control was a Legendary Psychic Element spell that did exactly what its name says it would do - control the mind of someone. In this case, Mei Mo was aiming to control at least one of us, making us turn on one another. However, against Golden Monarchs of our level, we all have wills strong enough to be unaffected by this spel-

"Ngh..." Li Hai Tang suddenly collapsed onto the floor, clutching at his head in agony.

"Patriarch Li!" I turned and called out in surprise.

"What's wrong?!" Qing Xin asked, putting up a mental defense for herself with her own Psychic Magic.

"I don't know, but this isn't looking good..." Yu Ao muttered, seemingly unaffected by the Mind Control spell.

"Ugh..." Li Hai Tang muttered.

"Ehehehe~" Mei Mo giggled loudly from the other side of the cube. "You seem to have overestimated the mental strength of some people, Mr. Dragon of Shenzhen..."

I cursed and turned to see Yu Ao running over to Li Hai Tang, trying to get him back up.

In the position Li Hai Tang was currently in, I couldn't see his face, but the moment Yu Ao got close to him, he suddenly turned his head upwards, and I flinched in shock as his pupils were now blood-red.

My eyes widened. "Look out!"

Li Hai Tang roared and threw a hook with his right fist at Yu Ao, who just barely managed to dodged it in time thanks to my warning. He quickly backed away from Li Hai Tang.

"What the hell..."

I narrowed my gaze, then turned to glare at Mei Mo. "I'm afraid...Patriarch Li has fallen to her Mind Control."

"Ehehe~" Mei Mo continued to giggle sadistically. "Let's see now...do you really have what it takes to kill your own ally?"

As she said this, Li Hai Tang moved in front of her, ready to block any incoming attacks. I cursed.

"...With Patriarch Li there, we can't make any sudden moves..." I muttered.

However, Qing Xin shook her head slowly. "No...we will continue attacking Mei Mo with full force."

My eyes widened at her words. "What?! But Patriarch Li..."

Yu Ao placed a hand on my shoulder. "Principal Song...we cannot afford to waste any more time. We both know full well once someone has fallen to Mind Control, there is no way back unless we eliminate the caster...and I doubt she is going to give us an opening to do that."

"That..." I trailed off. Then, after closing my eyes for a little, I opened them again, and made my decision. "Apologies, Patriarch Li, but...here we come!"

*****

- Meanwhile, On the Battlefield Below... -

(Xuan Kai's Perspective)

BOOM! ZAP!

Goddamn...they're making quite the ruckus up there. Song Qian Long, and the patriarchs...I wonder if they're okay. Luckily, the Dimension Lockdown Mayor Zhou cast also traps spells inside, meaning nothing out of the cube can be destroyed as mere collateral damage of their Legendary Magic fight. People like me can't interfere with their battle at all...at least, as I am right now.

However - that being said...I do have my own fight to worry about.

The knight in front of me, clad in silver armor, slowly drew his sword, a glistening silver saber. I put my hood back on, and materialized my own weapon. I had no intention to fight fairly against this guy, but going against him without some kind of physical weapon of my own would be a bad idea, considering he clearly was a skilled sword user. If he ends up getting within slashing range of me, I'll need something to block his strikes - something that isn't my bare flesh, that is.

I visualized my katanas in my head, and all of a sudden, I was shrouded in a black and red energy, spinning like a tornado around me. The knight raised his sword in a defense position, ready to block any incoming attacks.

However, the energy then converged into two objects - my twin katanas, one in each hand. The silver blades shone brightly under the light of dawn, but the most eye-attracting feature of them were the red jewels embedded on the crossguard. They were semicircle shaped, and shone an ominous crimson.

The knight tilted his head slightly to the side in curiosity. "Oh...? Interesting weapons you have there, boy. I have never seen that kind of energy before, but...it's clear the weapons are powerful...more than enough to pierce through my titanium armor."

I haven't ever done dual-wielding before, so I wasn't familiar with the techniques and such. But that was fine, since I wasn't going to be attacking with these anyways. Instead, I would be only using this for defense, and two katanas are better than one when it comes to that.

And the moment this knight makes a mistake, that's when I'll strike.

"Are you ready, boy?"

I snickered. "Come at me."

The knight obliged - he dashed towards me in an instant, and before I knew it, he was directly in front of me, about to bring down his saber on me. I just barely managed to bring my two katanas up in front of me in an X-shape, narrowly blocking his attack.

I leapt backwards a short distance, and he did the same. "Hm...it seems I have underestimated you. I did not expect you to be able to react to that."

"Kuku...if that's all you got, then it's going to be a while before you can get past me."

He didn't respond, but instead merely charged at me once more, this time even faster than before - in fact, he was so quick that I nearly thought he had used a spell like 'Space - Eliminate'. But of course, that wasn't the case, as I did see him physically move...just really quickly.

Once again, I just barely managed to parry his attack, but this time, instead of backing away, he immediately disappeared and appeared again behind me. I spun around, but not before he grazed my right arm. I nearly dropped my weapon from the pain, but I kept holding on.

However, the knight wasn't done quite yet. He kept moving at insane speeds around me, too fast for me to follow with my eye. Eventually, I just gave up on trying to follow him with my vision, and instead stood completely still, relying on my hearing to spot where he was.

Potentia Excitant: Audientia.

After discretely boosting my own hearing powers without chanting out loud, I focused even harder. Every once in a while, the knight would attempt to land a hit on me from my blindspot, but after that first slash, the pain helped me stay even more alert. So, in a sense, that graze actually helped me out, especially since I was still severely sleep-deprived.

Okay...I'm starting to see his pattern here. Every time he strikes me, the next time will be from directly behind me - which makes sense, considering that would be my blind spot, as I am not turning around or even trying to keep up with his movements. Following this pattern...his next strike will be from-

I spun around, but this time, I anticipated his attack, and instead of blocking his strike with an X-shape formed by my two katanas like I usually do, I instead parried his saber to one side using one of my katanas, and then thrusted the other towards his chest.

The knight, not expecting my side parry, couldn't stop his own momentum, so the only way for him to avoid my strike was to lean his body to the side.

Kuku...but what you don't realize, is that this what I was waiting for.

As soon as he began leaning, I suddenly ducked down and slid my foot behind his, causing him to trip.

"Wha-" he began, but it was too late. He crashed onto the floor, dropping his saber in the process. I immediately got back up, and pointed one of my katanas at him.

He tried reaching for his saber, but I kicked that away with ease. His open hand turned into a fist, and I stepped on his chest plate, never moving my katana away from his neck.

"Looks like you lost," I said condescendingly.

The knight, against all odds, chuckled. "...Heh. Indeed. It appears...I have been defeated by a 14 year old boy. I, who has never lost a sword fight before in all my forty years of life, am defeated at your hands today."

You say that, but...why do I feel like your voice has no sign of defeat in it whatsoever?

"..." I fell silent, then raised my katana, preparing to slice his head cleanly off.

"Normally, I would have accepted this loss, and die at your hands," he continued. "However..."

I narrowed my gaze, and swung my katana.