Supreme Monarch

"That's enough, I'll handle the rest."

With those words, Tyler proceeded to cast the spell 'Touch of Despair' on Zelda as he patted her on the head. It was a given that as she was a type of the undead race, normal healing spells would not work on her.

An undead creature would naturally only receive damage from all types of healing Spells that did not contain an influx of negative energy. Although the spell he was using would normally cause a feeling of dread and despair on its target, Zelda was already immune to all negative status effects as an Undead which made this the perfect healing spell he had for her.

Tyler didn't have the time to completely heal all the wounds on her as the masked man had suddenly taken fighting stance the moment he had sensed the negative energy from Tyler's spell and seen the gaping wounds on Zelda's shoulder slowly closed up.

He hadn't been aware of what she was but as he felt the surge of negative energy flow into her and was slowly healing her wounds, he quickly realized that she was of the undead race, perhaps a type of lesser vampire or something similar.

He wasn't well informed about the undead so her exact type was a mystery to him and he found it a little intriguing but he still needed to act quickly as he couldn't let her be fully healed. She was the stronger of the pair and her shadow ability would be troublesome to deal with.

Now that he had confirmed the man to be a support-type magic caster and would only have a few long-range spells in his arsenal. He knew he had to immediately close the distance without fail.

Number 99 swiftly reached into space and brought out a small bottle from his storage box and then crushed it over his feet. The contents poured on his boots and a slight yellow glow enveloped his boots. This was the high-level and expensive potion that gave the effects of the spell haste. It increases the speed of the user by more than 30% for a brief period of 30 seconds and cost more than 100 DC.

That was quite expensive for a single used item but Number 99 paid the cost with no heed. He activated several more support skills and kick-off. With a loud boom, the weight of his foot shattered the ground he stepped on as he instantly closed the distance between him and the male magic caster, his blade tracing a yellow arc on the air as he swung it.

"Zelda, stand by."

Hearing her master's order, Zelda immediately nodded and disappeared into the shadows. Tyler then swiftly moved slightly to the left and avoided the swung sickle-like weapon. His body felt a lot heavier now as most of the cells in them seem to be affected by negative corruption.

Tyler frowned slightly as he realized that this was mostly a backlash from the massive amounts of negative energy that had invaded his system earlier due to that black scrolls attack and his use of the Touch of Despair' spell had made it a little worse.

Without the use of a high-level purifying spell, it would be impossible to completely get rid of all those corrupted cells in his body and even Erin's purifying aqua aura had failed to completely heal him. He was now finding it even more difficult to use his mana properly and couldn't even use his rings abilities.

Tyler tilted his body back and avoided the weighted ball as it barely grazed his coat. The attacks from the masked man were fast and fluid, ranging from the clean slice of his sickle to the brutal swings of his metal ball as he moved around Tyler nimbly, with a footwork Technique that Tyler couldn't fathom.

He took wild strides to prevent Tyler from getting out of his range and short and narrow cuts that kept Tyler on his toes as he fought with both ends of his weapon. Tyler kept attempting to pull out his weapon but the moment he tried to use his mana, a cold thrill would run down his spine and slightly numb his movements making him appear awkward and unskilled.

Carn's jaws had practically dropped to the ground at this point, his men were also on their knees as their eyes could not even follow the movements of those two. They had never seen any battle at such a high-level in their entire lives so witnessing a battle fought at such insane speeds that they saw nothing but blurs made chills run down their spines.

If the two weren't fighting in such a small and enclosed space, Carn was sure they would not even be able to tell where they were. Carn couldn't help but marvel at his stupidity. To think they had been stupid enough to challenge a man that was able to keep up with the crazy number 99.

There was a reason he had initially been against the hiring of Number 99 and that was simply because of the rumors that were circulating the organization about him. Numbers was an organization that did everything with the aid of the numeric figures from the west.

Although everyone was assigned a number when they first joined the organization. The only ones that could actually be addressed by their numbers were the top hundred members and amongst all One hundred of them, number 99 was one of the most well-known even though he was supposedly ranked at the bottom of the elites.

This was due to his sporadic personality and how dangerous it was to catch him at the wrong time. He had once annihilated an entire division that had hired him over a senseless mistake and the organization had done nothing to him for some reason.

According to what he heard, he was already strong enough and had accumulated enough points to rank up all the way to the top 20 but had chosen to stay as number 99 simply because he liked the sound of the number and claimed it suited his personality quite well.

Carn could not feel any relief from his appearance and neither did the fear he felt get better with number 99 winning this fight. Even if everything went well and he won, there was a chance he would still kill them just because he got a scratch on his coat.

As Carn's thoughts ran wild, the battle before him got even more intense as Tyler was unable to use neither his spells nor his backup which happens to be his sword.

He quickly gave up on his attempts to retrieve the weapon and decided to simply use his fist instead. With his decision made, his movements suddenly tightened and he stepped in.

Number 99 felt a mixture of emotions as he rapidly launched a fury of attacks at the young man with the aide of his slightly longer kusarigama. He was using an advanced footwork technique to keep the man in front of him within range but still, no matter how hard he tried, how quickly he executed his Techniques, he just could not land a hit.

At first, he had thought the man was just lucky due to his awkward movements and clumsy reaction to his swings that seem to jerk him around, but now. All of a sudden his awkwardness had seized and he avoided his attacks with ease, almost as though he could predict his movements.

He furrowed his brows and decided he needed to end this fight right now before he ran out of time. This place was in the outskirts of the south district and although there weren't that many guards patrolling this area at this time of the night, the few that were stationed here should already be on their way due to the loud impact of his first attack.

While he would normally appreciate the challenge of a strong opponent, this situation had only served to annoy him rather than excite him. Not only was there still the undead girl to worry about but now, this guy that was supposed to be a support-type magic caster was keeping up with him with pure physical abilities.

This didn't make sense to number 99 as even with a high-level Mana body to improve his physique, he should not be able to contend with him while he was using his Secret Tempest Treads footwork technique.

Making a prompt decision, he decided he couldn't let this go on anymore and was about to use and attack skill when the man's movements suddenly tightened and he closed the slight distance between them in his split moment of distraction.

His right arm bent and extended backward as his hands clenched tightly into a fist. Like it had been shot out of a cannon, the fist lashed at him before he even had to thought to cancel his skill and take measures to defend himself.

*Crack! Pow! Whoosh! Boom!

Several strings of sounds rang out in the dark clearing and No. 99's body instantly slammed into the ground on the other side of the now-empty junkyard after being sent flying by Tyler's fist which had made contact with his metallic mask, cracking the surface.

Tyler was a little surprised by how effective his fist had been. The strength he had put in that punch hadn't been much as he was unable to fully control his nerves and didn't want to damage his arm as he was unsure of what type of resistance that mysterious fellow would possess and didn't want to be caught off guard, however, his strength had still surprised him yet again.

He flexed his arm a little in an attempt to get used to his slightly numb muscles as the masked man suddenly got up from the ground. He must've used a defensive spell or skill as he hadn't taken as much damage as one would expect from such a devastating-sounding attack.

His outfit also seemed to be of a higher quality than the one Tyler had purchased earlier so they probably had some level of defense. The masked man's eyes had a level of rage within them as he glared at Tyler before his body suddenly lunged forward like a raging Beast.

Tyler also kicked off to meet the man halfway as he prepared to launch another slightly stronger punch. However, the masked man promptly let go of the handle of his sickle-like weapon and with a sudden stomp, he dug his right foot into the cracked ground and came to an abrupt halt.

Without losing momentum he tightly held the chains of his weapon as his body suddenly spun around while spinning the chains of his sickle-like weapon and rapidly creating a sudden turret of razor-sharp winds that spun around him like a tornado as it continuously expanded toward Tyler who was still on the move.

°Hurricane Vortex°

Although it would normally be easy for Tyler to stop himself mid-motion due to his ultimate control over his physical body, he was not able to do so at this moment due to the slight numbness of his cells because of the negative corruption he had yet to recover from.

Left with little to no options, Tyler raised his arm in an attempt to block the massive tornado he was on the verge of colliding with and was sent flying back by the Weighted ball of the masked man's weapon.

Tyler felt the impact and his arms felt heavy but he could not allow himself to be swallowed up by the hurricane so he forcefully twisted his body mid-air and was able to cut off his momentum which caused him to land on his feet.

Before Tyler's feet had even touched the ground the masked man or Mr 99 had immediately canceled his skill and cast one of the few spells he could use.

"Resilient Sphere."

This was a spell of the fourth tier. The spell creates a sphere of shimmering force that would immediately enclose its target inside a transparent or illusionary barrier.

Nothing—not physical objects, energy, or other spell effects—could pass through the barrier, in or out, although the one trapped in the sphere could breathe there. The sphere would be immune to all damage, and any creature or object inside could not be damaged by attacks or effects originating from outside, nor can a creature inside the sphere damage anything outside it.

The sphere would be weightless and just large enough to contain the creature or object inside. Anyone enclosed within it would only be able to push against the sphere's walls and thus roll the sphere at up to half its original speed. Similarly, the globe can be picked up and moved by others from the outside basically making the ones trapped within it, a caged hamster.

Number 99 finish casting the spell and knowing full well that the only way to counter that spell was by dodging it completely, he dashed forward with a wild grin under his mask as he prepared to finish the man off with one of his deadliest skills the moment he attempted to avoid his spell.

However—

Something that even he, a high-ranking member of the organization could not understand happened before his eyes.

The man had not been able to dodge the sphere of shimmering force that would trap him like a rat and just as he was about to close in on him and make his next move, something that challenged his understanding happened.

The spell that even a demon noble at the peak of the fifth tier would not be able to escape shattered before it had even gotten close enough to the young man before him.

"Waah... What just happened?"

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