Just as he was about to rush forward with his Demon-Slayer Sword to assist, a black Anti Bird, at some unknown point, fluttered its wings and arrived.
Its sharp beak pecked at Asta's hair.
"Nero?! Ouch, what are you doing? Don't just peck at me! Yuno is here too, why don't you attack him?"
"Wind Magic, Gale White Bow."
Yuno gathered wind wisps, a slender wind bow formed, and it shot out an extremely penetrating wind arrow. Compared to the Royal Knights Squad selection exam, the wind magic arrow unleashed now, amplified by the Elf Reincarnation Magic, was more powerful and faster!
The swirling wind wisps on the wind arrow kicked up chunks of earth from the ground, carrying the might of brown soil.
The surging wind attack naturally caught Licht's attention. He swung his sword slashes two points faster, and crescent-shaped arcing slashes swiftly cut through the air.
He lightly sliced the wind arrow into three sections!
It was then that Licht, who was in a stalemate with Bai En, noticed Asta and Yuno. After quickly unleashing a final round of sword-blade storm, he suddenly vanished from his spot.
His vast, ocean-like magic power disappeared without a trace, as if sinking into the depths of the ocean.
His presence completely vanished too.
'This guy, like Bai En, is almost impossible to sense magic from.'
'His presence is gone… No, it's still there, just very, very faint. Where will he appear? Where?'
The vanished figure made Yuno and Asta vigilant. The next moment, they launched an attack towards the space between them. The Demon-Slayer Sword chopped down, and a white wind vortex spun forward.
Licht appeared precisely at the attacked spot.
"Got you!"
"His presence is here!"
Just as Yuno and Asta confidently unleashed their full-force attacks, Bai En shouted, "Watch out!"
"Watch out?"
"The one who should be careful is the leader of Eye of the Midnight Sun, right?"
Neither of them stopped.
Amidst the crashing combined attacks, in less than 0.1 seconds—quicker than a blink—Licht instantly teleported three feet forward like a phantom, precisely and perfectly dodging Yuno and Asta's combined attack.
It was also this perfect dodge.
Asta's Demon-Slayer Sword cut through the wind vortex Yuno created, directly knocking him away.
"Huh? Yuno… I didn't mean to!"
Asta raised his sword to apologize to Yuno, but a strong hand suddenly landed on his shoulder at that moment, pulling him back with brute force. However, the hand's owner, Bai En, was still too late.
The demon-dweller sword in the muscle-brained idiot's left hand was instantly snatched by Licht.
"How could this be?" Asta looked bewildered. "I clearly held the sword so tightly, so why was it taken so easily?"
"It was like there was no resistance at all…"
The snatched demon-dweller sword appeared in Licht's hand. The surging magic power caused the longsword to shed its dark exterior and reveal a holy radiance.
He held the sword, swung it down.
It was a vast expanse of white sword light.
Bai En gripped a longsword interwoven with ice-blue and fiery-red in his left hand. As he blocked with the side of the blade, ice spread from the sword like vines, and cold ice gathered and surged freely.
The blue ice collided with the vast white sword light.
Ice shards flew everywhere, and white light bloomed.
Amidst the interwoven and overlapping light and shadow, Bai En stepped forward, water-patterned markings appearing on his cheeks. He swung his sword, engaging Licht in close-quarters combat.
Two leaping figures flickered on the ground, and tiny sparks frequently erupted.
"I'll help you, Bai En!"
Asta suddenly shouted loudly.
Anti-Magic overflowed from the Demon-Slayer Sword, like violent, unrestrained black lightning. Propelled by the flapping of his black wings, he shot up from the ground with a whoosh, leaving a striking black trail. "Black Comet!"
Licht, entangled with Bai En, had no time to react much. The Demon-Slayer Sword blocked in front of him the moment Asta, like a meteor, suddenly attacked.
The tip of the Demon-Slayer Sword collided with the blade of the demon-dweller sword.
With a "boom"!
Licht was pushed by Asta and crashed to the side. Their figures separated from Bai En's sight, sliding and crashing into the nearby wall.
The hollow wall suddenly collapsed.
Licht and Asta thus smashed through one natural stone wall after another, venturing deeper into the middle layer of the Gerbit Rock.
As the last stone wall collapsed, the two arrived at a hollow circular area. Above was a rock ceiling, and below was a clear, transparent lake.
As the impact force lessened, Licht surged with magic power to counterattack. The demon-dweller sword pushed upwards against Asta. A gust of wind hit, and Asta was thrown back, steadying himself with a flip.
"It's not over yet!"
Asta shouted, about to rush forward again to attack, but Licht first swung the demon-dweller sword, and white slashes, like hawks, assailed him.
Having lost the relatively nimble demon-dweller sword, Asta could only use the wide and heavy Demon-Slayer Sword to cope with these dense, continuous slashes. Fortunately, with the Anti-Magic state buff, he didn't immediately fall into a predicament.
Sparks flew amidst the clanging collisions.
Anti-Magic dispelled one sword aura after another.
Asta strained to block the storm-like sword slashes, completely unaware that the figure wielding the sword had disappeared into the air.
The gradually decreasing number of white slashes made Asta think that the leader of Eye of the Midnight Sun was fatigued after the previous battle. He looked up through the slashes, wanting to find the enemy's figure and use this opportunity to launch an attack, gathering momentum to win.
But… there was no one in his line of sight.
He didn't feel any abnormality at all.
Even the Transparent World had very little effect.
"Where could he be?"
After dispelling the last few incoming white slashes, Asta pondered. The muscle-brained idiot started using his head to think about the problem.
What arrived before his thoughts was Licht's sword.
The demon-dweller sword, wrapped in white light, struck Asta's back. The slash bloomed, spreading like bird wings.
Asta was sent flying by this sudden sword strike, his body staggering in the air, scarlet blood staining his Royal Knights Squad uniform a dark red.
Seizing this opportunity, Licht flashed again, kicking Asta downwards into the lake, creating a surging white waterfall. Gurgling bubbles floated beside the splashing water.
In the empty environment, only a single figure remained, standing on the lake surface, holding two pure white longswords.
Occasional wisps of wind blew in from the collapsed stone wall.
Gently rippling the clear lake water.
Immediately after, scattered rocks flew like confetti, a hurricane surged, and the lake water churned wildly, as if boiling.
Two voices rang out simultaneously, deep and clear.
"「Wind Spirit Magic」 × 「Mikuriya」, Combination Magic, Meteor of the Gods!"