The training ground had become a frozen battlefield.
Purple mist surrounded the battlefield, and the sky above was also covered by Georg's Dimension Lost.
Heracles and Cao Cao charged Lavinia.
Cao Cao struck first, his spear dancing in arcs of light as he unleashed precision stabs and wide cleaving strikes, aimed directly at Lavinia.
The moment he moved in, a massive arm made of translucent ice blocked the spear's tip.
Ymir was swinging its arm to parry each blow with fluid, measured force.
Cao Cao narrowed his eyes.
"It's pretty fast for something that big."
Ymir's eyes glowed as it raised both arms and unleashed a sudden blizzard in a roar of ice and snow.
Cao Cao braced, but the sheer force blasted him backward, ice forming on his boots and armor as he skidded across the ground.
Then came Heracles, roaring as he activated Variant Detonation.
Explosions erupted from his palm with each strike.
His other hand wielded Regulus Nemea, the golden axe shining bright as he swung it with great strength.
Lavinia twirled away from one blast, flipped above another, and landed softly, her heels tapping the frozen ground.
"So noisy."
She commented with a soft sigh.
She lifted her wand and summoned three magic circles that gleamed with runes, each one firing a barrage of elemental bolts at Heracles.
Fire. Ice. Lightning.
Heracles grunted as they struck him one after the other, his body taking the damage.
"Heh… that shit is nothing!"
But Lavinia had already prepared her trap.
Ymir's massive frame blurred behind Heracles.
Heracles' eyes widened as the doll slammed both hands into the ground, sending a wave of frost that surged upward and wrapped around Heracles' legs, chest, arms, until in seconds, he was encased in solid ice, mouth frozen mid-roar.
Lavinia brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Down already? What a shame."
She murmured.
A flash of orange light blinked past her.
Arthur was now circling her, casually walking while hurling fireballs from both hands.
Each one sizzled and exploded with heat, but Ymir stepped in front, conjuring a massive ice wall.
The explosions hit and vanished in puffs of steam, barely scratching the surface.
Lavinia looked at Arthur and pouted.
"Come on, Art. Could you at least try to look like you're putting in effort?"
Without a word, Ymir responded by slamming its hands into the earth, causing a wave of jagged ice spikes to burst from the ground, racing toward Arthur like spears.
[BOOST!]
Arthur's gauntlets flashed red as he slapped the nearest spike.
It shattered on impact, shards flying into the mist.
Another spike came, then another.
Arthur broke each one, he stood there unfazed.
Then the ice block trapping Heracles shattered in a violent burst of pressure and explosion.
"RRRAAAHHH!!!"
Heracles, now using Touki, lunged at Lavinia with the force of a cannonball.
Ymir met him again, and their clash sent out a tremor, shockwaves rocking the field.
Further behind, Cao Cao had recovered and now launched precision holy beams from his spear, their paths carving through the ice.
Lavinia spun with her wand and summoned multiple magic circles, each one absorbing or deflecting the attacks with ease.
Her free hand flicked toward the sky, casting secondary magic circles that rained bolts of water, fire, and lightning down at him.
He blocked and dodged most of it, but the pressure kept building.
Arthur now leaned back against a frozen pillar, casually picking his teeth with the clawed tip of his left gauntlet.
His eyes were half-lidded, as if bored.
Georg approached from the edge, arms crossed.
"You're really not taking this seriously, are you?"
Arthur didn't even glance over.
"What's the point? Even if they all came at me together, I'd still wipe the floor with them."
Georg raised a brow.
"Big words. How exactly do you plan on doing so?"
Arthur opened his mouth, but was interrupted as an icicle whistled through the air and he grabbed it before it hit his face just an inch away.
He blinked and tilted his head slowly.
"Lavinia, really?"
Another icicle flew, aimed directly at his crotch.
Arthur's Boosted Gear flashed red.
[BOOST!]
He caught it in the air, and crushed it in his hand.
He scowled.
"Okay, that was just a dick move. Literally."
Across the field, Heracles came swinging again, but Lavinia vanished using teleportation.
She reappeared behind Cao Cao just as he tried to sneak attack her with a holy beam, but his boots were suddenly frozen in place by Ymir, halting him.
"What?!"
Lavinia raised her hand.
A flash of lightning erupted from her magic circle and slammed into his chest.
The blast threw Cao Cao back across the field, unconscious.
Heracles roared and charged, but just as he raised his arm to launch an explosion from his palm, a sphere of ice engulfed it, stopping him.
Lavinia smiled, and with a flick, she summoned a whirlwind.
Heracles was launched from the field like a missile, crashing into a frozen tree.
Lavinia giggled softly.
"You boys were impressive. I'll give you that. Great teamwork. But it's all pointless if you can't overcome me."
Only one remained.
Arthur stepped forward slowly, his red gauntlets glowing with pulsing light.
[BOOST!]
Lavinia turned, eyes narrowing as Ymir hovered beside her proetctively.
Arthur didn't smile. His eyes were calm, but were hiding histrue emotions.
"You're right, their teamwork won't cut it. So, how about you face me instead?"
He said.
Lavinia's grin returned.
She stepped back and gracefully sat on a floating ice platform, legs crossed and wand in her lap.
Ymir moved in front of her, arms ready.
"So Arthur is finally gracing us with his presence? What changed?"
She teased.
Arthur clenched his fists, energy flaring around him.
"Shut up. I'm upset now, so let's get this over with. Time to show everyone how the pros handle things."
Lavinia's eyes sparkled.
"Very well then…"
She stood again, raising her wand high as snow began to fall around her.
"I'm curious too, you know."
Arthur tilted his head slightly.
"The unmeltable frost of Ymir against the inextinguishable flames of Y Ddraig Goch? Which is stronger? Will your fire go out or will my ice melt first?"
She asked as Ymir's eyes glowed menacingly.
Arthur cracked his neck.
"We'll soon find out."
He exhaled, and fire curled around his arms.
Arthur's aura flared with power as he raised both gauntlets high into the air.
[DOUBLE!]
A flash of crimson light burst outward from his body.
In that moment, six clones appeared into existence around him.
Each clone held a different blade, and with a flash of light, seven swords were summoned.
The Seven Excalibur fragments.
Excalibur Ruler. Excalibur Destruction. Excalibur Rapidly. Excalibur Transparency. Excalibur Nightmare. Excalibur Mimic. Excalibur Blessing.
"The Excalibur fragments… all seven of them."
She muttered, lips curving into an amused smile.
"Looks like you really are taking this seriously."
Her tone was teasing, but her fingers tightened on her wand.
She tilted her head, silver hair glinting in the cold air.
"Why the tension? Are you threatened by me by any chance?"
"..."
Arthur's eye twitched as he pointed his Excalibur directly at her.
"Boys... Let's fuck her up."
All six clones smirked in unison.
"With pleasure."
[BOOST!]x7
Their bodies surged with power, then they moved.
Lavinia remained calm as ever, eyes glinting from the challenge.
She raised one hand, curling a finger toward herself.
"Come on, then."
Ymir stepped forward and slammed its massive hand into the frozen earth.
A ripple of ice spread outward like a shockwave.
Jagged sheets of ice rolled toward the Arthurs.
But they jumped, flipping over the wave of frost, each one taking a different trajectory midair.
Clone 1 struck first, wielding Excalibur Destruction.
A beam of condensed holy energy fired from the blade shot toward Lavinia.
Ymir intercepted it with a massive forearm, the explosion rocking the ice behind it.
Clone 2 descended on Lavinia like a whirlwind, moving in with Excalibur Rapidly.
His blade flickered so fast it blurred, slash after slash, a storm of cuts.
Lavinia blocked and weaved through the flurry, then conjured a fireball and hurled it directly into his chest.
It exploded, sending Clone 2 skidding back across the ice.
She smirked.
"Too slow."
She didn't notice Clone 3 until it was too late.
Using Excalibur Transparency, the third Arthur was completely invisible, he reappeared right behind Lavinia, red gauntlet raised.
[BOOST!]
He slammed a punch into her abdomen, sending her flying back, blood spitting from her lips.
Ymir reacted immediately, snapping its arm forward and freezing the surrounding air solid.
Clone 3 was trapped in a tomb of ice instantly.
Lavinia coughed as she slowly stood up, holding her stomach.
"That… actually hurt…"
She admitted, her voice hoarse.
She looked at Arthur, eyes narrowed in an odd mix of frustration and thrill.
"It's been a long time since anyone's landed a blow like that."
She raised her wand, murmuring a spell that covered her wounds.
She looked up again, just as Clone 4 appeared before her, holding Excalibur Nightmare.
He looked relaxed, almost bored.
"Wanna tap out, Lav?"
Lavinia smirked, despite the blood on her lip.
"You should be gentle with the ladies, you know. That was very rude."
Clone 4 scoffed.
"First of all, my fists are rated E for everyone. Second, I'm just getting started."
Suddenly, a giant shadow fell over her.
Arthur had grown to several times his size, towering over her with Excalibur in hand, blade raised.
Lavinia snapped her fingers.
"Ymir!"
Ymir unleashed a barrage of magical snowballs the size of cannonballs, but they passed right through Arthur's massive body like smoke.
"What…?"
Her eyes widened.
It was an illusion.
"Too late."
From behind, Clone 5, wielding Excalibur Mimic, transformed his sword into a morningstar.
[PENETRATE!]
The mace bypassed Ymir's defenses and slammed into the back of its head.
The magical construct's skull cracked and then exploded into frozen shards.
"Ymir!"
Lavinia shouted.
But there was no time to react.
Clone 4 came in fast, his kick enhanced with holy magic.
Lavinia barely blocked it with a barrier, but the force still sent her rolling back across the field.
She gasped as her body screamed in pain.
Then it got worse.
Clones 1, 2, and 3 attacked in unison, surrounding her with sword slashes and Boost-enhanced punches.
Lavinia, still struggling to breathe, raised barriers and launched defensive spells as fast as she could.
Light clashed with ice and fire, the pressure mounting.
Ymir's shattered remains shimmered and began to reform, slowly gathering into a new figure.
Then a blizzard formed above, and hail bullets rained down like machine gun fire.
Clone 1 was struck and exploded into red particles. Clone 2 followed, then Clone 3, then Clone 4, and finally Clone 5.
Ymir's new form stood beside Lavinia and placed a hand on her back, helping her stand.
"Thanks, Ymir... I'll be fine…"
She looked at the Excalibur fragments scattered around the battlefield, all five of them.
"Wait… where are the other two?"
Just then, Ymir was impaled by a blade from behind.
Behind it, Clone 6 stood, his Excalibur Ruler pressed into its back.
"Stay still."
A wave of light pulsed through Ymir.
The giant ice doll shuddered, then froze completely.
"What?!"
Lavinia turned, stunned.
At that moment, she fired a storm of icicles that flew at original Arthur's head.
He moved calmly, blade already in motion.
With one swing of Excalibur Blessing, the cleaved through the projectiles.
Then he was in front of her.
Face to face.
Their breath mingled in the cold, foggy air.
Their lips inches apart.
Arthur slowly raised one hand and placed it gently against her abdomen, right over the spot he had struck earlier.
Lavinia tensed, a wince escaping her lips.
"What… are you doing?"
He didn't speak.
His sword glowed with holy light as he whispered a small, quiet prayer.
A healing light passed from his hand into her body.
Her wounds healed, and the pain faded.
She exhaled sharply, leaning against a nearby ice block, her cheeks flushed from exertion and… something else.
Lavinia watched him carefully.
"...Why did you do that?"
Arthur glanced down at his gauntlet.
"I may be an advocate of gender equality… but my mother taught me to respect girls. No matter the circumstances, I won't forget her lessons."
Clone 6 gently pulled Excalibur Ruler from Ymir, who groaned and returned to motion.
The clone saluted and vanished in a flicker of red light.
Lavinia stood now, shielded once more by Ymir.
Her expression was unreadable.
"What now?"
She asked quietly.
Arthur turned to her, storing all seven Excaliburs back into him.
"Now? We take this fight to the next level. You know what I mean."
Lavinia blinked in surprise.
"You're serious?"
He nodded
"You're not the only one curious about who's stronger between us."
He turned slightly, looking toward Georg, who was healing an injured but grinning Heracles.
"Kick her ass, Arthur! Do it for the boys!"
Heracles shouted.
Cao Cao stirred nearby, groaning as he sat up.
"What… what did I miss?"
Arthur grinned.
"Don't blink, boys. Things are about to get toasty."
Lavinia chuckled softly, brushing her hair back as Ymir lifted her back on her feet.
"Yes… yes, they are. You're going to regret healing me."
The battlefield stilled.
Arthur and Lavinia faced each other once more.
Ymir floated behind her, wrapping its arms around Lavinia in a hug.
Arthur stood still, crossing his arms into an X in front of his chest.
They spoke at once.
"Balance Breaker." x2
The moment their voices rang out, a blinding wave of crimson and sapphire light exploded from both Arthur and Lavinia.
The pressure that radiated out was so dense that it forced Heracles to brace his body with both arms, even in his half-recovered state.
Georg raised a wall of mist to shield them, while Cao Cao gritted his teeth, squinting as the supernatural radiance consumed the battlefield.
It was like fire and ice themselves had decided to wage war with one another.
When the light finally faded, the field had transformed.
Arthur now stood clad in the gleaming crimson armor with numerous green jewels and golden spikes, from his back spread enormous dragon wings, and his reptilian tail curled behind him.
His helmet glowed with green jewel-like eyes, and the scales of his armor reflected the flickering fires dancing at his feet.
"Boosted Gear: Scale Mail."
Arthur declared, his voice reverberating with a low, metallic growl that echoed through the battlefield.
Opposite to him, Lavinia floated just above the ground as snowflakes falldown around her.
She now wore a pristine snow-white dress layered with elegant sapphire crystals, her arms were adorned with long white gloves, and a jagged but regal tiara of ice, shaped like a crown formed from the heart of a glacier.
Behind her is a levitating and rotating massive snowflake, shifting in different snowflake patterns.
"Majestic Attire: Ymir."
She said gently, her voice almost serene, but the power in her tone made the very air tremble.
Fire and ice blanketed the terrain, the ground breaking apart from the sheer pressure of their Balance Breaker states.
Jagged ice and rivers of flame coiled around one another, creating a battlefield of pure chaos.
Arthur narrowed his eyes from behind his helmet.
(So… that's Absolute Demise's original Balance Breaker… Didn't have that in the original works. I have no idea what it does, so this might get tricky…)
Lavinia exhaled slowly, enjoying the cold air as it brushed past her skin.
Her sapphire eyes gleamed with a calm confidence.
"Are you ready, Red Dragon Emperor?"
She asked with a soft smile.
"Let's dance, Ice Princess."
He nodded silently.
[BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!]
The crimson energy around him intensified, flaring brighter with each chant.
In the blink of an eye, Arthur launched himself forward, blazing like a meteor as he aimed a high-speed punch directly at Lavinia's face.
Lavinia made no move to dodge
She simply flicked her wrist.
Suddenly, a storm of pure ice exploded outward.
Arthur's punch never connected and was instantly engulfed in a block of crystal-clear ice, his entire armored form trapped mid-air in frozen stasis.
"Hmph."
With a graceful twirl of her finger, the floating snowflake behind her pulsed.
A hundred ice lances shimmered into existence above her.
"Symphony of Despair."
With one motion, she launched them at Arthur's frozen form.
The impact created an explosion of snow and mist, shaking the earth and burying the area in a thick blizzard.
Heracles stared slack-jawed and Cao Cao muttered.
"Holy crap."
Georg adjusted his glasses.
"There is no way he would come out of that unscathed."
When the white storm finally began to clear, Lavinia's expression shifted from smug to intrigued.
A wave of heat rolled out from the crater, melting the snow.
Arthur stood at the center, flames clinging to his armor, melting the ice that remained on his shoulders.
He casually brushed some frost off with the back of his armored hand.
"My turn."
He took to the skies, wings propelling him upward with bursts of flame.
Once high above, Arthur hovered for a moment, his palms glowing with orange-red light as he conjured small fireballs around him.
He launched them down at Lavinia in rapid succession, each one flying like a comet.
Lavinia scoffed, flipping a strand of hair over her shoulder.
"You do realize I'm just going to freeze-"
[DOUBLE DIMENSION!]
Arthur aimed his palm at the fireballs.
Suddenly, each fireball expanded in size, swelling until they were ten times larger than before, burning with an intensity that melted even the ice below them before impact.
Lavinia's eyes widened.
"Oh."
She had just enough time to react.
Her floating snowflake rotated rapidly, folding into itself before reemerging as a translucent snow globe that surrounded her.
The giant fireballs struck like bombs, detonating in a chain of thunderous booms.
Flames engulfed the area.
Even Georg's mist barrier trembled.
Lavinia was launched backward from the force, smashing through an ice wall before skidding across the ground.
Arthur didn't let up.
He flew toward her and grabbed her by the throat mid-air, dragging her body through the snow before slamming her into the ground.
Then again. And again. And again. And again.
"NEVER. EVER. HIT. MY. FAMILY. JEWELS. EVER. AGAIN."
The shockwaves rippled outward.
Lavinia's hands sparkled with ice.
She gritted her teeth and encased Arthur's arm in magic frost.
The fire hissed against it.
With a sharp chant, she blasted his chest point-blank with a volley of snowflake-shaped shurikens, each one cutting and freezing on contact.
Arthur shielded himself with his wings, which started to ice over from the barrage.
His armor cracked under the strain.
When it ended, Arthur dropped his wings with a grunt, revealing frost-covered scales.
He looked forward and saw Lavinia, now reclined elegantly on a throne of ice, one leg crossed over the other, her chin resting on her palm.
"Is this all you're capable of?"
She asked with a smug smile.
"Because I'm getting bored."
Arthur's eye twitched inside his helmet.
"What did you just say?"
Lavinia giggled, resting her cheek on her fist.
"I said… I'm. Getting. Bored."
"..."
That was it.
Crimson fire exploded from his armor, the snow around him vaporizing instantly.
"Oh, I am so gonna screw you up, Princess."
Arthur growled, voice deeper, more feral.
Lavinia stood up from her throne, arms spread wide.
"Then come and screw me up, Red Dragon Emperor!"
She shouted in excitement.
The battlefield erupted into pure elemental warfare.
Arthur's flame and Lavinia's frost clashed with a thunderous impact, turning everything around them into a chaotic maelstrom of steam, melting terrain, and jagged shards of crystal.
Georg was now fully focused, expanding his Dimension Lost barrier in a dome to keep the sheer forces contained.
Heracles' jaw was on the floor.
"THIS is so fucking awesome! Go, Arthur! Win this one for the boys!"
Regulus, now in his lion form, sat next to Heracles with his tail lazily swinging.
"Ymir's lucky. She got a refined, powerful host. I had the misfortune of picking this halfwit."
"HEY!"
Heracles barked.
Cao Cao watched the battle with quiet intensity.
The Red Dragon Emperor and the Ice Princess clashing in their Balance Breaker states was beyond anything he had ever saw.
He looked down at his spear.
The True Longinus.
The first and most powerful Longinus, capable of killing Gods and Buddhas.
And yet…
(Compared to them… my power still feels so small.)
He gripped his spear tightly, his jaw clenched.
(If I want to stand beside them… if I want to surpass them… especially Arthur… I have to become stronger... No matter what.)
DxD
Hello readers!
This one is pretty long, so please support me via Power Stones.
What do you think of Absolute Demise's original Balance Breaker?
Thank you everyone and see you later!