75

75
Third Person POV

The air around was thick, and it was particularly tense for Raphael and Muriel, considering they were on the losing side of the battle. As soon as they had taken their heavy gear off earlier, the tide had turned in their favor, but Artemis and Lord Noah used their experience to combat them. Eventually, the tide turned once again, but then Raphael and Muriel reunited, turning the tables on them.

Both Artemis and Lord Noah had expected to lose the fight and probably concede to these two formidable opponents. But then Autumn went and had an inconceivable breakthrough where he was wielding the strength of an Alpha. It was clear who was going to win this battle now; after all, Rafael and Muriel were both terribly exhausted, and even though they had killed alphas in the past before, it was unlikely they would kill the current Artemis.

"Well, since the moon goddess has decided that I will have victory in this fight, I'd best not keep her waiting. Maybe she has something to do with your souls, and I need to send them up to her," Artemis said and began to approach Rafael and Muriel slowly.

The pressure on Rafael and Muriel was amplified by just how slowly Artemis was moving toward them. They knew they could not run away because if they were to turn their backs, not only would Artemis catch up to them, he would probably take the chance to kill one of them. The other way they could escape would be if they split up, and if they were to do that, one of them would survive and one of them would die. If after everything they had to sacrifice the other, the one who survived would probably live the rest of his life in misery.

"Come on now, Muriel. We haven't lost any fight to anyone before, and this won't be our first time. We may not have been born into the best families and had the best upbringing, but the latter part of our lives has been quite fun. I would like to continue that fun and get rid of this obstacle in our way," Raphael said, getting up and cracking his bones.

"Although I hate to admit it, this is probably the fight that we may lose, brother. We are too exhausted to continue on like this. But if there's the slightest chance that we can win this, I am willing to take it," Muriel said as he got up and stood side by side with Raphael.

As the twins steeled themselves beside each other, they began to look a bit menacing. But they paled in comparison to the aura Artemis was emitting.

Just as Artemis was approaching, the two of them slowly got up off the ground to approach as well. Clearly, he had the intention of backing Artemis up.

"What are you doing, Noah?" Artemis asked over his shoulder at Lord Noah. He had stopped moving now, but Rafael and Muriel did not dare to attack him carelessly because that could mean their deaths.

"What do you mean, what am I doing? This is a four-way battle, and I am helping you," Lord Noah said as he stepped closer to Artemis.

"I don't need any help, Noah. I think it will be best if you stand back and nurse whatever wounds you have. Sit tight, and this will all be over soon. We stand a good chance of winning this, and after this is all done and in the past, maybe we can continue with our lives and spend more time with each other. We are nearing death now, and the least we could do is have a little fun in our final days. A nice spa with you on a 2 to 3 daily basis will be enough for me. If you were to die here today, then what you contributed to this fight will mean nothing. So sit back and let me fight," Artemis said and turned quickly to Raphael and Muriel.

He didn't give Lord Noah any time to respond or even say anything before he dashed at both of them, grabbing them by their faces and going into another room. He used their heads to break the walls, making them incur head injuries.

After breaking the wall with their heads, he shoved them aside and stood before them mightily. Just then, Raphael and Muriel regained their bearings and attacked Artemis viciously.

Raphael attacked from the right and Muriel attacked from the left. Raphael jumped up, spun around in the air before landing a heavy kick on Artemis. Artemis simply blocked with his right hand and deflected the punch Raphael was throwing in his direction from the left. His hand wrapped itself around Raphael's leg, and he swung Raphael up into the air so high that Raphael was probably 16 or 17 feet high in the air. As soon as Raphael was high enough, Artemis did not waste any time to bring him down with all his might. Raphael was smashed into the ground, and his body scattered the floor completely. Artemis jumped aside and observed the spectacle which he had just created.

Muriel jumped back and observed as well as the dust slowly cleared up. Raphael was badly injured, and he had broken his back. Movement would be more difficult now, and he had gotten more cuts in the earlier smash. He was losing more blood now, but he was not losing as much as he was losing earlier.

For some reason, this sudden transformation that had happened with Artemis made his healing much faster. Wounds were healing at a quicker rate now, just about as fast as the way an Alpha would heal. But the fact that he was healing fast did not mean that all the blood he had lost earlier would simply come back. There was a good chance that this strength he was experiencing would take its toll on him later on, and he would probably be wise to minimize his usage of it.

He was an old man, and even though his body had been tempered over the years to become strong and even more powerful than the body of a young man, his organs were not all that trained. When it came down to it, the body of a young man was far more healthy than his own when it came to resisting such terrible tolls.

Muriel rushed forward and quickly pulled Raphael out of the hole he was currently in. He helped his brother stand up, and Raphael staggered, trying to regain his balance. Clearly, he had not lost interest in this fight and still intended to keep going. There was a good chance that he and his brother were dead, but they did not give up, and it was quite admirable.

"Muriel, it's about time we showed these punks what we are made of. We may have been driven into a corner and probably won't walk out of here alive. But if they're going to take our lives, we're not going to let them take it and walk away. We are going to take theirs with us," Raphael said and separated from Muriel before entering a certain stance.

Vicious punches quickly rained down on Artemis right after. Muriel got into the same position and attacked just as viciously as Raphael. Artemis was quick, and his reflexes were impeccable. But even at that, he only had two hands, and even though he perceived the attacks, he was unable to block them all, and he was punched viciously in the chest, throwing him into another room.

He was thrown back into the room where he and Lord Noah were earlier, and Raphael and Muriel came bursting through. They attacked Lord Noah, who stood before Artemis, and they did not stop until Lord Noah had been overwhelmed. They had suddenly gone into a frenzy, and there was a good chance that this sudden burst of strength would take its toll later and probably claim their lives.

Artemis quickly jumped into the fray and assisted Lord Noah. They defended valiantly against Raphael and Muriel until the battle was evened out. Of everybody involved in the fight at the moment, Lord Noah was the only one who wasn't in a special state where he was able to access more strength and speed than normal. He was probably the weakest one there, but he was on the side of the strongest one there.

"It seems neither of us were able to fulfill the promises we made to the other at the beginning of the fight. We won't be able to bury you in the graveyard where we keep elite fighters, but even at that, you won't walk out of here alive. I've lived a full life, and I'll die fighting. I can imagine no greater honor," Raphael said, and more and more veins were popping out of his body.

He was pushing himself to the limit, and clearly, even if he won the battle at the end, as soon as the fight was over and his body relaxed, he would die, and there was nothing that could be done about it. Muriel soon swept into the same form, and he and his brother were now at peak strength.

The attacks on Lord Noah and Artemis were relentless. Artemis had to cover up for Lord Noah's attacks most of the time because Lord Noah had now grown too weak to block some of them. If a few strong attacks were to hit Lord Noah, they could break his arm and probably hit a vital organ.

Muriel landed a kick from above on Artemis's head, and Artemis blocked with his right hand. But Muriel suddenly twisted his body, and before Artemis could realize it, he was already punching Artemis from below at the jaw. More and more relentless attacks came from Muriel in such a way that it left Artemis too preoccupied. Raphael did not waste this chance to bombard Lord Noah with all his might.

He was superior when it came to strength, and he used all of it against Lord Noah.

There was a loud scream from Muriel, and channeling the majority of his strength to his feet, he kicked Artemis into another room.

Right after he kicked Artemis, he ran over to where Rafael was fighting Lord Noah and assisted his brother. Lord Noah was swiftly overwhelmed, and both arms were blown away. Lord Noah was now wide open to both of their attacks, and Raphael and Muriel did not hesitate to attack. They both lunged their hands deeply with their claws at the end of their fingers. If those claws were to penetrate, direct holes would be formed, and Lord Noah would die.

Lord Noah had nowhere to go, and as soon as he saw those dangerous hands before him, he simply closed his eyes and accepted his fate.

But in the next moment, the sound of flesh and bone being penetrated and shattered was heard. Blood splattered everywhere, and it seemed that Raphael and Muriel had both hit a target. In the last moment, Artemis had gotten in front of Lord Noah and taken the blow.

"Artemis..." Lord Noah said, flabbergasted as he watched the blood leak from Raphael and Muriel's hands into his very body.

"Don't just stand there like a wimp in battle. You are an experienced war veteran, so take advantage of the situation and kill these two bastards," Artemis said and held on to both their hands tightly.

He held their hands so hard that he crushed the bones beneath the flesh. Raphael and Muriel screamed in agony and attempted to free themselves. But Artemis was holding on way too tight, and their hands were too deep in to suddenly come out. They used their other hands to lash out viciously on Artemis, making several lacerations on his body.

But then Lord Noah stepped in, and as quickly as the wind, his hand penetrated Muriel's chest and retrieved his heart. Blood squirted from Muriel's mouth, and right then, he fell down to the ground dead.

Raphael stared at his dead brother, flabbergasted, and just as tears began to fall from his eyes, they were abruptly ended by Lord Noah's vicious hand that came through the back of his chest. Raphael's heart was grabbed by Lord Noah and pulled out violently. Raphael fell down right beside his brother, and the tears that had formed slowly fell from his eyes. He didn't get a chance to say his last words, but the expression on his face said everything.

Just as Raphael and Muriel fell down dead, Artemis followed suit.