I Know the Secret to Surpass Level 100

The castle shook as the battle between four people continued. It was a heated two on two battle, and there was no space for any solo fights.

"This is really tough," Hope said as he blocked the tens of projectiles that Caroline emitted from her body. "She can control shadows. This castle has a lot of shadows!"

"This is pathetic." Connor growled as he tried to raise his staff and conjure flames, onlt for him to fail because it was trapped by a blood orb from Carmina. "I can't even summon flames."

"Try to morph," Hope said. "Your flames are brighter when you morph. You can weaken Caroline with that."

"If only I can," Connor sighed as he raised his hand to show that there were markings on his wrist. "She bound me."

"When did that happen?" Hope asked. "That wasn't there a moment ago."

"I noticed it when we entered this hall and then felt like my powers were weakened," Connor said with a disappointed sigh. "She's holding my powers back and it's affecting the tide of this battle."

"This situation makes them stronger than us," Hope said. He watched the two as they continued to barrage their skills at him. His shield has its own limit too and right now, he was approaching that limit. "Then I'll just have to step up. You too, Connor."

"Fine," Connor nodded. He wrapped his staff with a powerful gush of flame, abling him to light his surroundings. It wasn't bright like what he wanted to, but it could stop Caroline's attacks from reaching them.

The faint red light from his weapon lit up the area that they stood on. Caroline noticed it and smirked, impressed by how they handled the situation. She tapped on Carmina's shoulders and as if they spoke without words, the latter nodded.

She jumped from the top of the stairs and ran towards the two. She conjured a scythe using her blood, smirking as she jumped once more. She was planning on attacking above, but the two boys could see through her.

"Block her," Connor commanded Hope which he did gladly.

Hope covered his shield with layers of dragon scales using his energy and expaned its size so it could encircle them, creating a dome that was made out of translucent energy. He watched as Carmina moved around the space at an incredible speed, grinning as she launched herself to attack over and over again.

"She's kind of crazy," Hope said. "Her magic does not able to penetrate the shield, but she still keeps on attacking. She knows that she's wasting her time, right?"

"Don't be too cocky just yet," Connor pointed at the shield. "So, this is what she's good at."

"What did she do?!"

Hope could only watch as a marking made of blood covered his dome. It lit up and Carmina snapped her finger, causing the dome to be shattered into pieces. She was laughing when she decided to launch herself to attack again.

"Could you try to block this one?" She chuckled as she swung her scythe.

"Bursting Ring of Fire!" Connor cast his skill that spun in the air and reaching Carmina.

She was caught off guard by the sudden attack, causing her to fall to the ground as the flames swallowed her entire figure. She was screaming in pain as she threw her weapon on the ground, running around in circles.

Caroline hovered over the two before lowering herself to the floor. She had two maces on both her arms, both made of shadows. The maces were balls of thorns that were tied to a chain that she holds and wrapped around her arm.

She spun her weapons and ran towards the two. "This is going to be rather fun, yeah?"

Caroline suddenly slipped and spun on the floor. Connor realized this and he pulled Hope off the ground as they threw themselves in the air to dodge the attack.

Caroline slammed her hands to the ground to stop her before she slammed both of her feet for her to jump, following the two in the air. She spun while she was midair, grinning as she fired several shards of shadow at the two.

"This woman is nasty," Hope blocked all the projectiles and he was the one who pulled Connor back to the ground. "They're both crazy and their techniques are crazy. This is not a fun day for me."

"Since when did you talk like that?" Connor asked worriedly. "This is so unlike you. The comments, the quick thinking. What happened?"

"Quick thinking?" Hope tilted his head to the side, seemingly confused.

"Oh, don't act like you don't know what I mean," Connor chuckled. "You made your body light because you know that Caroline was going to attack from the floor. You made me pull you up, thinking that I would be clueless, but you're wrong. I noticed how light you were when I pulled you and how heavy you are now."

"I—" Hope paused and took a deep breath. "I'm just trying to be more mature so that I could focus on getting stronger. I noticed I'm the only one who has the least use in the group. It's embarrassing."

"You're literally our little brother," Connor chuckled. He ruffled the younger boy's hair and smiled. "You shouldn't rush yourself in being mature. Leave that to us."

"But you lack maturity," Hope deadpanned. "All four of you. And that's the problem."

"And that's not the point," Connot tried to hide his embarrassment with a chuckle, but he failed. "Alright, fine. But you don't have to grow up so quickly. Enjoy your youth."

Hope nodded. He smiled at Connor and sighed. "So, do we know how to defeat these two or not?"

"We do yet we do not," Connor replied.

Hope was silent for a second before he shook his head, clearly not following him. "I do not."

"Then that's the thing," Connor grinned. The markings on his wrists slowly dissipated as his skin turned red, burning. "We don't have to know everything to win."

In just a split second, Connor morphed into his Infernal form. Caroline stepped back as she saw the bright demonic appearance that Connor had. She narrowed her eyes and shook her head.

"This is your fault, Carmina!"

Right beside her, Carmina appeared. She seemed to be unharmed, but there were burn marks all over her body. She growled and rolled her eyes. "This is not my fault, Caroline. You were weak and didn't kill them when you had the chance."

"Are we just going to argue here or should we fight?"

In front of them was Connor, burning with his red eyes and wide grin. "Let's play a game."

—

As their battle continued, there was another pair that was in a heated battle. Ed was jumping around as he blocked all of Corazon's attacks. She was strong and she was capable of conjuring skills that could destroy a person into bits.

"She got stronger because she absorbed all those soldiers," Ed decuded. It wasn't a wonder for him now why all the soldiers and knights that were supposed to guard Malice were gone. They were all absorbed by Corazon and their collective energy gave her the boost she needed in order to put Ed on edge.

"This is ridiculously hard!" Ed yelled.

Not only was Corazon able to get her power up through absorbing the knights, she could also summon some of them too. It was a tough battle agsinst a number of enemies and Ed was having a hard time seeing his win.

"Then, I guess I have no other choice."

Ed took a deep breath before tapping into his deep consciousness where the majority of his powers lie. Corazon felt this and backed a couple of meters away, feeling the surge of power slowly come out of the man.

"This magic," Corazon watched as her knights fell one by one. The magic she put on them dissipated, leaving the empty suits of armor. "How charming."

As Ed continued to bring his powers out, a sinister smirk crept its way to Corazon's lips. She was happy to see such a powerful opponent that she couldn't help but ignore the decreasing number of knights she had on her side.

All she had her eyes on was the man in front of her. "There's so much I want to do to you."

Ed opened his eyes and a burst of powerful aura flowed out of him. He conjured his knight, the dark purpled knight he could summon behind him. He then raised his sword, making the knight pierce its sword to the ground before bowing.

Its body slowly formed a spiral flow of energy before it was sucked to Ed's sword. "This is a taste of my true power."

The armor that the knight was wearing was now being worn by Ed. Although his own version has more details, the structure and the silhouette of the armor was the same.

"Let's dance, knight-absorbing-woman!"