I Know the Secret to Surpass Level 100

As Lance ended his fight, his friends were still facing the other attendants. Ed was on toe to toe battle against Corazon while Connor and Hope battled with Carmina and Coraline.

"Affinity speaking, we have the edge against them," Connor said. "I'm able to negate the shadows as I create bright flames while you can block the blood attacks with your thick scales."

Hope grunted as he struggled to keep his shield up while the blood and shadow projectiles continued raining down on them. He could only listen to Connor as the latter tried to figure out what to do.

"Can't you think faster?" Hope asked. "You could morph but that suddenly vamished. Why was that?"

"I don't know." Connor looked around his body for any sign of the limiting skill that Carmina placed on him earlier. It was able to hold off his powers and he couldn't morph nor cast powerful skills. "I have no signs of anything. My morph just vanished."

"There must be something that we're overlooking," Hope looked around. Connor tried to look around the scene too until he saw an oddly shaped carpet on the corner.

He conjured a wasp outside of Hope's shield and let it travel to the career where he brightened the corner. He smirked as he saw it clearly now.

"So that's why." Connor chuckled, realizing that there was nothing in him that limits his powers to begin with. He didn't have to worry about it because it wasn't on him, it was on the entire hallway. "Hope, go on rampage. Destroy the floor."

Carmina heard this and she stopped attacking, taken aback with glaring eyes. "They figured it out."

"Don't panic," Coraline said. She raised both of her hands and wrapped the floor with a thick layer of shadow. "This should prevent them from destroying the floor."

"Wisps of Enlightenment." Connor brandished his sword and slammed it on the floor. He then wrapped his weapon with bright red flames, abling it to pierce through the shadow and spread the flames on the floor. "Hope, now!"

Hope nodded and growled as he raised his shield. With all his might, he slammed the shield on the floor, growling as he used all of his force to destroy the entire floor.

It was then that they felt the sudden surge of energy inside them. Their powers have returned, and it was time to destroy their enemies.

"Now!" Connor yelled. He morphed into his Infernal form, igniting both his staff and his sword as he swerved in the air around the two enemies. "Now would you look at that."

Hope didn't waste any time too as he morphed into his pure dragon form, destroying several more floors of the castle to prevent Carmina from casting her skill again.

"I was always weirded out by how much you try to distance yourselves from us and you never even try to get closer," Connor said. "I thought that you just battle at a distance, but when I got closer, you were able to handle yourselves just fine, you're even better at close combat than long ranged attacks."

"You figured it out, but then what can you do now? We're still stronger than you," Carmina smirked. "The attendants of the queen are on par with the vassals on terms of power and we are way above them in durability—"

A surge of flames ignited around Carmina. She screamed as the flames swallowed her, forming a vortex as it kept her burnint inside.

"Carmina!" Coraline yelled. She tried to cast her skills but the flames were able to diminish her shadows. She was powerless against it. "Why you—"

Before she could even react, Hope's head appeared beside her. She gulped as he watched the dragons fangs struck on her flesh, effectively cutting her in half. Her body rolled on the ground and she watched her companion burn as her consciousness slowly faded.

"We stomp on Vassals like they're ants," Connor laughed. "We're not like the kids that we are before. We got stronger, and that improvement allowed us to continue to protect our friends."

"You were both a headache, but then you're gone now," Hope said, returning to his human form. "I didn't want to cut her in half but then she wiggled and my jaw snapped."

"You're a psychopath." Connor shook his head, sighing as he reverted back too.

"You're the one to talk!" Hope growled. "Look at your opponent."

Carmina fell to the ground with nothing but a charred flesh. She held her hand out as she cried without tears in her eyes.

"You're a bigger psychopath," Hope sighed.

Connor only shrugged and then looked around. "There are really no soldiers left. What happened?"

"I don't know, but let's go to where Elliot is," Hope said. "We have to help him. He can't defeat Malice alone.

"You're right," Connor agreed. "That woman is crazy strong. Even if we use all our Omniscience, I don't think we could beat her."

"Then let's go," Hope started to run as Connor followed. "I just hope Ed is fine."

"No!"

Ed yelled as he backed away from Corazon. He was having a hard time overpowering his opponent because they were too equal in terms of both power and techniques.

"My energy is depleting," Ed whispered to himself as he gripped his sword and regained his composure. "But I have to keep on going. She's the enemy that I'm facing and I'm not backing down."

"You are a durable opponent," Corazon clapped her hands in appreciation of Ed. "You can survive a long standing match against me, the strongest attendant. That is something. Especially since I consumed a lot of knights that I was able to boost my powers almost three times."

"We stand on an equal footing. That is something, right?" Ed chuckled. "Since I didn't get any powerups."

"Equal footing?" Corazon held her chest as if she was insulted. She laughed and shook her head, smirking. "Oh, dear. I wasn't even serious. That was only a quarter of my powers."

"A quarter?!" Ed yelled, shocked. His eyes widened and he could only gulp as he realized that there was a stronger power being held back inside his opponent. He wanted to punch himself for not realizing that sooner. "That is... that's nuts!"

"Oh, it is," Corazon grinner as the aura around her changed. She exuded all of her power around her, making even the caslte shake at its intensity. "But then again, you have the highest honor of seeing me at my peak that even the other attendants could not see. Especially now that they're dead."

A burst of power exploded from Corazon. She was laughing as the aura around her burned like a eternally burning flame, powerful and malevolent. She was strong and capable, and she knows that all too well.

Ed raised his guard as he grit his teeth and watched the woman conjure an armor that fit her perfectly. It was a black obsidian armor that was a complete set at the top while she wore a large ball skirt covered in metal chains. Corazon was powerful and she wasn't kidding when she said that she was the most powerful attendant.

She smirked and vanished from where she stood. Ed looked around but couldn't see her. He raised his guard and waited for an attack, only for him to realize that one second too soon. Corazon was already behind him, a giant hammer was in her hand as she swayed it like it was nothing.

Ed flew at the impact. He broke several walls as he rolled around and continued to be blown away by the attack. When he finally stopped, he coughed as he tried to regain his composure.

But Corazon appeared behind him again. Before he could even react to her presence, he was slammed by the hammer, making him crash to the ground with a loud crack on the floor.

"I'm impressed that you're still able to keep your armor up even when I was thrashing all over you," Corazon chuckled. "You must really have a tough endurance."

She raised her hammer and was about to strike but then a hand stopped her from moving. Corazon paled when she saw Ed, wearing nothing but his regular clothes. He deactivated his armor and his presence.

"You know, I discovered something recently too." Ed said. "It's not like I intentionally discovered it but then it just... came to me like a random embarrassing memory."

"You..." Corazon tried to take her hammer away, but Ed's grip was too strong. She was in disbelief. "What's is going on?!"

"When I negate skills and attacks, I don't just negate them," Ed said. "I have to confess. All this time, I didn't know that there was a second page to the system. There, some stats are shown."

"Some stats?" Corazon gulped. "What stats?"

"When I cancel attacks, depending on the power, my physical strength increases," Ed said. "I have been canceling attacks for years and let me tell you, my physical strength is overwhelming."

"No..." Corazon gulped. "Are you going to kill me?"

Ed grinned as his hand clenched. With all his might, he bore a hole right on Corazon's chest, leaving the woman speechless.

"Yes," Ed said. "Then I'll kill Malice next."