135 Should not have underestimated the power of friendship

Sekke who was blasted through the ceiling continued to break through all of them when finally he saw that he was out of the castle.

'That was some punch...how the hell is this castle still intact?' thought Sekke as he looked at the sky around him.

His gaze then fell on the hole in his chest because of Licht's sword and closed it.

He then focused back on the flying castle that was getting further and further away from him and decided to get back to work.

Pointing his hands forward, absorption lines shot forward and headed toward the flying castle.

Penetrating through the walls Sekke willed the lines to pull him toward them.

He soon stopped flying away and was now moving towards the flying castle.

Once he was done fixing his posture, the absorption lines retracted back as Sekke continued to fall.

'Getting closer, let's do it with style.' thought Sekke as he tightened his muscles.

Once he got close enough to the castle wall, Sekke punched the wall with full force.

*BOOM*

A strong tremor passed through the whole castle as Sekke's fist collided with the wall.

The flying castle even moved a few meters from its spot as Sekke held onto the wall with his fist pierced into it.

He then used his other hand to pierce through the walls once again and tore an opening for him before entering the castle once again.

"...FIGHT...WHERE?" said the berserker as he looked around.

'Where the hell was the room where the fight was going on...No choice, I guess. Maximum effort till I feel the mana signature.'

Launching forward at great speed Sekke broke through the walls on the same floor to look for the room where the fight was going on. Once he was done checking the floor he looked at the ground.

"NEXT FLOOR!" yelled the berserker and stomped his leg on the floor and broke through it and landed on the floor below.

Since he did catch any mana signature, he blasted through and broke the walls once again. Not finding the fight anywhere he looked at the floor once again.

"NEXT!!!" yelled the berserk and stomped the ground once again and continued the same process 5 more times.

Finally, he felt a mana signature, but instead of what he was expecting the mana where he was about to go was way more chaotic.

'A large-scale battle...Please don't be dead.' thought Sekke as he used reinforcement magic to power up even more and increased his speed.

"My other half you are destroying yourself! Don't use any more spells!" said Vritra.

"This...important...Dark Lord...Fine." said the Berserker as he punched open yet another wall and finally arrived at the hall where the fight was going on.

*ROAR!!!*

The fight stopped for a while because of Sekke's roar who glared at the elves in the room.

'3, 6....12 elves...' thought Sekke as he looked at all the elves who were present in the room.

Additionally, only Mereoleona was still standing while Asta, Yuno, and Zora were being healed by Mimosa. Though Mereoleona was not in a good state as well. Blood was coming out from all her limbs and her mana was nearly empty.

"Oya? A monster? Human...you must be their friend. Let me give my greeting!" said the elf Luck with a smile as lighting gauntlets and boots appeared on his limbs.

An electric spark cracked as Luck disappeared from his spot and appeared above Sekke ready to kick him.

Sekke didn't even look at him and headbutted the short elf sending him sliding through the ground.

"Huh...you are finally here, huh. I was just about to finish them," said Mereoleona in a weak tone and a smile on her face.

But just as she uttered those words her body wobbled a bit.

Seeing that Sekke slowly walked toward her without any hurry. He just simply glared at elves who were looking at him wondering what he was about to do.

Sekke soon stood in front of Mereoleona who was barely able to stand and tapped her forehead with his finger making the lioness fall back from the negligible force that Sekke used.

"H-Huh?" called Mereoleona as she felt her body falling, but instead of hitting the ground, she felt her body being held up.

"You weak now....go away," said Berserker Sekke who was holding Mereoleona in his arms.

He then walked toward the rest of his friends with the lioness in his hands.

"Let go. I can still fight," said Mereoleona as she glared at the giant who was holding her.

"Good...Fight and save people. This battle...mine." said Sekke as he placed her inside Mimosa's healing space.

"Oi! Don't you dare run into a suicide battle! Unhand me this instant! I need to beat the crap out of them!!" said Mereoleona in anger.

"No need...Me more than enough. Get better, Fight. Injured, stand back."

Sekke then looked at the rest of them and said, "Get out. I deal with them."

"Oi, muscle brain! Are you asking us to abandon you and run away?!" asked Zora in a slightly angered tone.

"No, me asking to not get in the Dark Lord's way. You all...hinder me," said Sekke as he looked at all of them.

All of them looked at him. Asta tried to stand up with the support of his demon slayer sword and said, "I will stay back as well! I am not going to leave you behind! I won't give up! Don't underestimate me! After all not giving up is my magic!!"

Asta smirked as he finally stood up and looked at Sekke.

Sekke stared at the smirking twerp and simply tapped Asta's hand.

"AHHHHHHHH!!!!" screamed Asta in pain as he fell once again. He had already used his black mode to the limit his body could handle. There was no way his body wasn't in pain and Sekke knew that.

Sekke looked at all of them once again and said, "You all strong...Get better and save people...Kingdom needs you more."

All of them stared at Sekke for a while but soon Mereoleona clicked her tongue as a flaming paw came out of her and stopped in front of Sekke in the form of a fist.

"You better come back alive so that I can beat the crap out of you for saying that I am a hindrance," said Mereoleona.

Sekke fist-bumped the flaming paw and gave a nod.

"Get away now," said Sekke as he made all of them stand up.

They nodded as Yuno's grimoire flipped and a wind platform appeared under all of them and carried them up.

"Do you think that we will let you get away? Don't even think about that. Everyo-" said Rhya.

"DON'T MOVE" said the berserker in a cold tone as he glared at the elves and a large amount of mana burst out of him pressuring them and warming them to stay away.

All the elves except for Licht fell on the floor once Sekke glared at them because of the mama pressure. The ground started to tremble and shockwaves appeared around them.

Licht who was staring emotionlessly at him released his mana to protect his friends and once he did the pressure from the rest of the elves eased up a bit.

Yuno and the others were shocked to see the elves stand back because of Sekke. They were not experiencing the mana pressure but the sheer amount of mana that Sekke was giving off was felt by them.

'He still has that much mana left...We really will hold him back if he has to fight while protecting others as well.' thought Yuno as he carried others and flew away to escape the elves.

'...Good luck.' thought Secre as she looked at Sekke while sitting on top of Mimosa's head. She wanted to stay back but knew that situation was too dangerous there. She also had a new mission that she had to accomplish so she could not stay back even if she wanted to.

Sekke stood straight and got ready to fight once he felt that his friends were quite far away from them.

Licht stared emotionlessly at the giant humanoid monster and in an instant both of them vanished from their spots.

*BOOM*

An instant later the elves hear a loud noise and turned around only to find Licht plastered into a wall.

"Distracted...bad move." said the berserker as he stood in front of Rhya and Rill and kicked them away plastering them to another wall. He then looked at the other elves who were now looking at him with anger and had their grimoires flipping.

[Flame Magic: Raging Flare]

[Lightnig Magic: Thunderclap Crumbling Orb]

[Glass Creation Magic: Canon De Verre]

[Steel Magic: Blazing Spiral Lance]

Four spells came toward Sekke from different directions.

Sekke just gave a glance at the incoming attacks before he clenched his fists and gathered his black flames around them.

He first dodged the lightning orbs without much effort before punching the glass cannonball and breaking it in an instant.

He then started at the incoming flames and clapped his hands with full force sending a shock wave that blew away the flames effortlessly which was followed by a burst of black flames that shot out of his hands and attacked elf Anna.

Sekke then caught the tell lance in his hand, which was trying to drill through, and then used it as a weapon to smack away Licht who appeared behind him ready to stab his back.

"W-What is he? What kind of monster is that human?!" asked elf Klaus in horror.

"He doesn't even flinch at our attacks." said the elf Luck.

Sekke stared at them and then threw away the steel lance at the elves making them surprised and dodge the attack.

[Copy Magic: Light Sword of Judgement]

A bright glow appeared behind Sekke as he simply turned around and saw countless light swords pointed at him.

"Take this!" said Rhya as he waved his hand and the swords rushed towards Sekke.

Sekke took a deep breath as the light swords approached him and tightened his fist.

An explosion of black flames came out of his fist blasting away the light swords that were coming at him.

Sekke looked at Rhya and then gestured for him to come at him.

Rhya ground his teeth at the provocation but didn't dare take a single step forward.

The berserker smirked at that before Sekke loosened his body and said, "Comrades out...Annihilation starts."

Suddenly Sekke's shadow darkened and spread around at great speed and in an instant, all the elf's shadows were connected to his.

"W-Wha!!"

"What is happening? I can't move."

The elves struggled at their spots but none of them were able to move.

Sekke just pulled their shadows along with them toward him as his hands lit up with black flames.

Combining both fists, Sekke slammed them on the ground in a spiral of black flames that surround him.

The elves that were caught in the spell started to scream in pain as their bodies started to get burned by flames.

Licht who was the only one free from the bind threw his demon destroyer sword at Sekke's shadow disabling the binding before he launched at the giant and tried to cut him in half.

Sekke who noticed the attack simply raised his hand and caught the blade in his hands, but because of the force behind the attack, the ground below him from, and the two of them started falling.

Licht let go of his Demon Dweller sword and quickly grabbed the Demon Destroyer and used it to cut Sekke's arm that was holding his Demon Dweller.

Freeing his other sword Licht used the giant human as a platform and jumped up, further pushing the humanoid giant away.

Sekke looked at the ground below him and spotted a footing. He immediately landed and jumped right back up with great speed and caught Licht in his hands and threw him away like a rock making him pass through several floors once again.

"Everyone, help Licht!!!" yelled Rhya as all the elves surrounded Sekke.

"Annoying Elf. Stop Cutting Hands!!" yelled Sekke as he regenerated his lost limb.

The other elves ignored Sekke and started to prepare for their attacks.

Sekke ignored them as well as black flames surrounded him.

A black flame dragon silhouette appeared around Sekke as he ran around the room engulfing multiple elves inside it and burning them up.

[Copy Magic: Tainted Culvert Wyrm]

[Sandstorm Magic: Rock Storm]

[Painting Magic: Sirene's Game]

Multiple spells rained down on Sekke as the elves tried to blow off the flames.

But the black flame dragon just burned away those spells with ease.

Sekke appeared in front of the group that attacked him and was about to engulf them as well, but elf Rill suddenly jumped up with his grimoire flipping.

[Painting Magic: God's Game]

A giant man appeared in front of Sekke's flame dragon and grabbed its head.

Sekke felt some resistance but didn't bother thinking much, he will simply blow it away as well.

But contrary to his expectations the giant god picture spun around and pulled the black flames off Sekke before throwing it away in a different direction.

[Copper Magic: Red Shine Destroyer Mace]

A giant copper mace appeared in elf Ben's hand as he jumped up and slammed it at Sekke.

Sekke, whose flames were snatched away simply punched the giant mace and shattered it to pieces shocking the elf before punching the elf away and planting his head in the ceiling with his body hanging.

[Combimation Magic: Le Chateau De Verre]

A giant moving fortress made of glass and steel appeared in front of Sekke and he soon spotted a few elves on top of it.

"You will fall under our combined power!" said elf Klaus.

The other elves nodded and their grimoires started flipping.

[Flame Summoning Magic: Mystic Firebird + Phoenix Flare]

[Copy Magic: Salamander's Breath]

[Glass Creation Magic: Canon De Verre]

[Combimation Magic: Thunder Arrow]

A large amount of mana gathered around the fortress.

'A Phoenix, a fire spirit, a magic cannon, and a rail gun...They really do want to kill me.' thought Sekke.

Sekke mentally sighed but soon turned determined as he focused on the attacks that will be heading his way.

"Hehe you won't even know what hit you." said elf Luck as he punched the lighting arrow railgun sending it flying towards Sekke at great speed.

The other elves followed after that but the rail gun was much faster than their spells so it reached Sekke first.

Sekke who saw the rail gun appear in front of him in an instant followed it with his eyes before he grabbed it with his hand and threw it back at the elves.

The lightning arrow tore through the salamander's body and hit the fortress.

But the flames and the glass cannon were still coming at him. Sekke was about to blast them away with his roar attack, but suddenly he felt something stab him in the back.

Turning around Sekke saw Licht with his Dweller Sword stabbing Sekke's back.

'Give him even a tiny opening and he stabs...are you a yandere Licht-kun?' thought Sekke as he saw the emotionless elf.

Sekke then looked back at the incoming attacks and then looked at Licht.

Not thinking much Sekke turned around as it was now Licht who was about the receive the attacks.

Two flame spells fired by the strongest spirit and a mythical creature were now heading toward Licht.

Licht looked at the incoming attacks and stabbed Sekke with his Demon Destroyer sword and pulled the Demon Dweller out of him and pointed it at the incoming attacks and started absorbing them.

Sekke looked at the new hole in his chest and the new sword that was poking out of him. His brows twitched in annoyance. Sure, he didn't get hurt when the sword pierced him because of his [Bronze Body: Logia] spell but who the hell likes his body to be stabbed over and over again?

"Your swords....annoying." said the berserker as he saw Licht easily absorb the magic his friends fired.

Licht looked at Sekke with an emotionless look to which Sekke stared back. He was about to grab him and smack him around like a rag, but before he could even move a muscle a severe pain passed through his body.

"You fought well...." said Licht as the demon destroyer sword that was still inside Sekke glowed.

*Cough*

Blood came out of Sekke's mouth as the pain increased.

"My other half! Get away from this elf and sword!" yelled Vritra.

Not thinking much Sekke grabbed Licht off him and threw him away along with the sword that was pierced in his back.

'What is happening?' thought Sekke.

"It's his sword. That sword destroys spell effects," replied Vritra.

'....F*ck' thought Sekke as his body transformed back to its normal form with two sizeable holes in his back and chest and blood spilling out of them.

"Damn....it seriously hurts like a bitch..." muttered Sekke as he touched the holes in his chest.

"Haha! That's what you get for not knowing your position you despicable human!!" yelled elf Anna. She was still angry at him for breaking her jaw.

Sekke looked at the elves who were now coming towards him with a smile on their faces. They were now going to relive their frustrations on the human who was acting very high and mighty for a while.

'...Is it just me or are they looking at me like a predator? Vritra, these elves are not going to do questionable things to my body right? They even made two extra holes in me.' thought Sekke.

"...I am really surprised to know that you can have these types of thoughts even in a situation like this," replied Vritra.

'You are right...they hate humans too much. They are not gonna do those things to me. Anyway, let's get back to action.' thought Sekke as his grimoire started flipping.

[Body Debuff Magic: Damage Transfer]

And in an instant, Sekke's body was back to its top condition while the damage got transferred to Ignis. Simply because he didn't want to kill the elves since he needed their bodies.

*Kyui*

The Phoenix screeched in pain as two holes appeared on its body.

"Phew, back to full HP. Now then, back to ass-kicking, I suppose," said Sekke as his grimoire started flipping once again.

Mana gathered around him as Sekke tried to go into his berserker form. The elves frowned once again feeling the large amount of mana that the human was releasing and could only guess that he was about to fire a large spell.

But even after a few seconds passed nothing happened.

"...What is happening?" asked Sekke as he looked at his grimoire.

"Too much Debuff Magic that your body couldn't handle. You also just used that damage transfer spell. You won't be able to use debuff spells on yourself for a while." said Vritra.

"Tell me it's a joke Vritra," said Sekke.

"Unfortunately, it's not..."

"...Is your power down?" asked Rhya as he looked at Sekke.

"Probably some spell effect."

"Or some side-effect of his own spell."

"But he is looking confused."

"Probably the human didn't know about it himself. As expected of the incompetent race."

"Then does that mean...we can kill him without much effort?" asked Elf Luck with a crazed expression on his face.

Hearing his comment the rest of the elves smirked as well and their grimoire started flipping.

"...Things are going a bit bad," said Sekke as he looked at the elves.

"It's far from a bit...but we can handle it, right?" asked Vritra.

"That we can," replied Sekke with a smirk as his grimoires started flipping.

[Bronze Magic: Bronze Body-Logia] + [Memory Magic: Parallel Thinking]

Black markings appeared on Sekke's body as he successfully transformed.

"First is mana refilling," said Sekke as various snake-like appendages shot out of his back and latched onto the elves.

"What are you doing?"

"Late afternoon snack. Thanks for the meal in advance," replied Sekke as mana started to drain out of the elves' bodies.

Feeling the mana drain the elves panicked and tried to cut off the line that was draining their mana, but no matter what type of spell they used not a single scratch appeared on the absorption lines.

"Don't try, it's no use. I am about to fill up anyway so wait for a bit," said Sekke as he saw the futile attempts of the elves.

"If the magic isn't breaking...then break the caster!!!" said Luck as his grimoire flipped.

[Lightning Magic: Thunder Fiend]

Luck's whole body got covered in lighting as he rushed toward Sekke at great speed.

"You will die before you can even realize what happened." said Luck with a smile on his face.

Black flames gathered around his hands as Sekke punched the incoming elf in the gut sending him flying.

"I fight Luck in my base form, you bitch. You shitty elf ain't fast for me," said Sekke as he looked at Luck.

All of them looked at Luck, the fastest one among them, beaten at his own game. All of them focused back at Sekke who looked at them with a smile.

"Just wait for a while. I am about to be full," said Sekke once again.

'He is treating us like food!!' thought all of them and decided to finish him before he regains his maximum mana.

[Copy Magic: Light Swords of Judgement]

[Flame Magic: Phoenix Flare]

[Snow Magic: Snowstorm]

And just like that, all the remaining elves started gathering mana to fire their attacks.

"You guys are trying so hard...how cute. <Delete Field>"

And just like that, in a single move, Sekke shut down their spells from even activating.

The elves looked at the spells that they were preparing to vanish in an instant and then looked at Sekke with horror.

"Honestly this is way easier than how we were fighting earlier. Why did you even bother going to that berserker mode, my other half?" asked Vritra.

'The elf leader Licht. Remember we were not making much progress against him in our <Dragon Force> form. He can't be stopped by this...Wait, where is he?' thought Sekke as he and Vritra suddenly remembered the stabby elf.

And just in an instant, as if answering Sekke's thoughts Licht appeared above him with his sword ready to split Sekke in half.

'...F*ck' thought Sekke as he immediately retracted his absorption lines and dodged the attack that broke the floor even before it could make contact with it.

Black flames launched out of Sekke's mouth and headed toward Licht.

Licht pointed the demon dweller at the flames and fired a mana beam at the flames causing an explosion that blew both him and Sekke away.

Both of them soon landed, and Licht immediately rushed towards Sekke.

Sekke too got ready as black flames and shadows gathered around his arms.

"We will help you, Licht"

"Count us in as well!"

Rhya and Elf Luck joined Licht as well and the three elves rushed towards Sekke.

[Copy Magic- Heaven-Splitting Flash + Dark-cloaked Avidya slash]

[Lightning Magic: Thunder Fiend]

Sekke turned serious. The situation was now really dangerous. The others weren't a problem. But adding the shabby elf with even one more elf was difficult not to mention two.

Pointing both his hands forward an energy blast made of black flames and shadows came out of Sekke's hands.

A huge attack blasted forward from Sekke's side and the elves looked at it in amazement wondering how the hell a worthless human got this much power.

Licht however didn't bother and simply pushed Rhya and Luck out of the attack's path and flew up successfully dodging the attack and firing multiple flying mana slashes at Sekke.

Claws made of black flames appeared around Sekke's hands as he destroyed the slashes.

"Don't ignore me!" said Luck who appeared below near him while he was dealing with Licht's attacks and kicked him up with full force sending Sekke flying.

"I'm here too!" said Rhya who appeared above Sekke out of a portal and fired the dark magic slash at the human sending him back to the ground.

"Ignis! Finish him!" yelled Elf Anna as she ordered the Phoenix.

The bird chirped loudly and grew up in size and opened her beak to eat Sekke alive and burn him inside her body.

Catching Sekke in its mouth Ignis continued to fly up, but Sekke caught her beak and stopped the bird from eating him.

The bird got angry as her eyes glowed with flames and soon flames gathered in its mouth.

Blasting its prey with her strongest flames Ignis continued to fly up to not let others get caught in her attack.

"These elves are really trying to make me, the dark lord, a freaking bird food?... That's it. Gotta beat them to the brink of death." said Sekke as the draconic aura inside him started to grow larger.

Soon both his pupils turned golden with a slit in them and the black marking around him increased. Dragon scales appeared on his whole body and soon his hands turned into claws.

Sekke who was now done transforming once again used his claws to piece through the beak and ripped the bird in half with his full strength making the Phoenix disintegrate into mana particles.

Once he did, his body started to fall but the snake-like appendages appeared behind him and formed makeshift wings.

Sekke looked at the elves who were glowing with mana and soon pointed both his arms at them and soon a giant blaster formed over them.

"You all better just be half dead after my attack. Understand," said Sekke as mana the appendages started to absorb the mana in the surroundings.

A mana sphere started to form in front of the blasters and started to get bigger.

"That doesn't look good..." commented Rhya as he felt the amount of mana packed inside the sphere.

"What is he?! How could a human have so much power?!" complained Anna.

"What should we do?" asked Fragil in a slight panic.

All of them turned speechless at that. They had no spell that was capable of even budging the amount of mana that the human was packing in his attack.

"...Give me your mana..." said Licht as he raised his Demon Dweller sword.

"Licht-kun...what are you guys waiting for? Just do it!" said Rhya as he placed his hand over the Demon Dweller sword.

The other elves nodded and placed their hands over the sword as well and started channeling their mana to the sword.

"What are those guys doing?" asked Sekke.

"Probably combining their power to counter our attack," replied Vritra.

"You mean, the power of friendship....in a shounen world...This might be bad. Gotta finish this soon." said Sekke as he channeled his own mana into the orbs as well, speeding up the process.

The elves however were faster than the dark lord and Licht pointed his sword at Sekke. The sword was glowing so bright that the whole flying castle was shining under its light.

"Do it Licht! Finish that human!"

"We believe in you!"

"Just do it!"

"Don't worry about us. We will be standing right here beside you."

The elves encouraged their leader to not worry about them and just fire the attack. They were scared of the attack but they didn't want to not believe in their friend.

Licht nodded and thrust his sword forward toward Sekke as a giant man beam came out of it.

"It's enough my other half. Do it," said Vritra making Sekke nod.

Pumping out most of his mana into the attack, Sekke looked at the incoming attack and said, "No power of friendship is enough to face the dark lord."

A giant mana beam even bigger than the one fired by the elves came from Sekke's side and collided with the other one.

The two clashed for a while with none of them gaining an advantage over the other, but a few seconds later Sekke's attack started to push back the elves'.

This made Sekke smirk. There was no way he was gonna lose to the power of friendship.

But all of a sudden Sekke felt a familiar feeling in his chest.

Looking down Sekke saw a glowing white blade coming out of his chest and looked back only to see Rhya's portal with Licht's hand coming out of it.

"You f*king stabby yandere elf!!!" yelled Sekke as he tried to blast a roar attack at the portal.

But before he could do that Licht retracted his hand and the portal disappeared.

Sekke soon pulled the sword out of his chest, but it was too late as his body glowed and in an instant, he turned back to his base form.

"...Shit" muttered Sekke as his body started to fall down and soon the elves' attack broke through Sekke's since he stopped powering it and headed straight towards Sekke.

Sekke saw the incoming attack and tried to do something but knowing that he didn't have enough time he sighed and looked towards Asta and the others and threw the demon destroyer sword at them.

"...Should not have underestimated the power of friendship," muttered Sekke and a moment later his whole body got engulfed in the mana beam.

Once the beam died down a clear sky without any remains of the dark lord came into view seeing which the elves cheered in joy.

Next chapter