"So, since it seems like none of you are capable of protecting us, why don't you leave this to me? Don't worry; I'll take care of it," Orion said with a confident smile.
Princess Crystalia and Flintor turned their attention to him after assessing Queen Selene's condition, while Queen Selene herself looked at him with wide eyes.
"Wh-what are you talking about?" Queen Selene asked seriously before gripping her daughter's arm. "Quick, Crystalia, run away with him," she urged, uneasiness creeping over her face.
Then, she turned to Flintor and continued, "Quick, Flintor, do whatever you can to protect my daughter as she flees. No matter what happens, protect her, even if it costs you your life." Queen Selene's lips trembled as she finished speaking.
"I understand, Your Highness," Flintor replied with a nod, showing his determination.
Observing the scene, Orion let out an exasperated sigh and shook his head. "I said I'll handle it, so both of you should just look after the Queen," Orion insisted.
In response to his words, Queen Selene narrowed her eyes at Orion and retorted, "And what makes you think you can handle them? This is a top-ranked elite division with strength equivalent to a Crystal Sage. Forget about hurting them as you did with the Clan Heirs. It would be a miracle if you could even touch them. You're strong enough to escape with Crystalia, so please, do as I've said and don't do anything reckless."
Hearing her words, and sensing she had more to say, Orion didn't wait for her to finish and swiftly turned around, disregarding her pleas.
He interrupted, "Just stay here. I'll take care of this as quickly as I can."
With those words, he activated his gift once more, and the crackling sound of lightning filled the air.
"CRRAACCKKLL!!!" "CRRACCKLLEEE!!!"
He took another step forward, racing through the air with astonishing speed. In mere moments, he arrived at the ongoing battle, just as the last standing Starforged Knight was about to be struck down.
Orion's veins pulsed with an incredible surge of power as he swung his lightning-coated fist with all his might. The instant his fist connected with the cloaked figure who was about to deliver the final blow to the last remaining Starforged Knight,
"BAANNGG!"
"PPAAHHH!!"
The cloaked figure's body exploded into a chaotic burst of blood and mangled, charred flesh. The collision and its ghastly aftermath left both of the other cloaked figures and the last remaining Starforged Knight momentarily stunned.
They were jolted back to reality by tendrils of Orion's scattered lightning, which seared their skin and disoriented them. Orion swiftly reined in his lightning and with a single focused thought, conjured two lightning-forged blades, each several inches long. In one swift motion, he drove these blades through their chest, dispatching them all at once.
"RIPPP!!!"
"AHH!!"
A mouthful of liquid spilt from their gaping mouths, staining the ground beneath them, as they gazed at Orion in sheer disbelief.
"BANNGG!!"
"PAAHH!!"
Orion thrust his hands into one of the two cloaked figures, reducing his head to a gruesome mix of liquid and charred remains, before repeating the same with the other cloaked figure.
"BBBANNNGG!!!"
"PAAHH!!"
Within mere seconds, Orion had dispatched two of the cloaked figures who had nearly decimated one of the Crystalforge's top-ranked elite divisions.
It all happened in the blink of an eye, leaving everyone else bewildered.
Orion then turned his attention to the last remaining Starforged Knight, whose armour was in tatters, oozing blood in some areas, and asked, "Are you okay?"
The Starforged Knight nodded in response.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Orion fought back the irritation and disgust that threatened to surface as he surveyed the gruesome scene around him.
He then turned to face their last two remaining attackers.
'Ah, only one left,' Orion mused, noticing that the cloaked figure he had initially punched and assumed had recovered when he dashed to save the Queen was now lying on the unforgiving ground, with just half of his upper body intact.
Turning his attention to the side, Orion fixed his gaze on the last remaining cloaked figure, the one with the mangled arm who appeared to be the group's leader.
"I have just one question for you, so listen carefully because I won't be repeating myself," he declared.
Neal, who had been rendered speechless by the Queen's sudden freedom and the demise of the entire Gem Shroud Legion, snapped out of his stupor at the sound of the young man's voice.
"YOU!!" Neal roared in fury. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? DO YOU REALIZE THE GRAVITY OF YOUR INTERFERENCE? YOU! YOU WILL REGRET THIS!" His emotions surged, a turbulent mixture of anger over the loss of his comrades and fear at the unexpected power of the foreigner who had proven to be as strong as the Queen herself.
Neal's pupils contracted as Orion, in the blink of an eye, closed the distance between them, appearing right in front of him with a fist crackling with lightning hurtling toward his head.
"STOP!! DON'T KILL HIM!" Queen Selene abruptly snapped out of her dazed expression, her voice echoing loudly through the battered and destroyed surroundings.
She screamed at the top of her lungs the moment she understood Orion's impending actions. Wearily shaking off her daughter's hands, she rose to her feet, her furious gaze piercing through the cloak-clad figure.
"We need him to extract every bit of information about this attack and the people behind it!" she said. Her words rang loud enough for Orion to hear, reverberating across the battlefield strewn with lifeless bodies.
"Although I already know who was behind this, it would be best if we capture one of them, especially the leader, so that we can extract a detailed explanation!" Queen Selene's anger was palpable in her voice.
Upon hearing the Queen's words and seeing that the lightning-covered fist had come to a halt, Neal immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
However, before coherent thoughts could form in his mind, a resounding wave of pain suddenly struck his cheek with a deafening "SMACK!" It sent him tumbling into the ground, executing a beautiful, full-arc somersault in the process.
