Way of the Knights

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Two figures moved at swift speed with one clearly faster than the other. 

In their initial clash, Raven sent three attacks while Carl sent 10 while blocking Raven's attacks at the same time. 

Raven did his best to evade the lunges of Carl's rapier but the attacks were so swift that his armor got chipped. It had to be known that the Golden Armament of a Golden Knight boasts incredible defense, but Carl's simple attacks managed to chip them away just like that. This is a proof Carl's skills.

Carl suddenly distanced himself from Raven. He flew around him using the speed of light, Raven's eyes narrowed as he readied to defended himself. 

All of a sudden, beams of light started flying towards him. Raven erected a Chaos Force barrier around him while simultaneously using the 1st step of the 9 Destruction Steps. 

*Boom!*

The shockwaves caused by Raven's Destruction Laws managed to destroy the beams of light flying towards him. At the same time, the shockwaves was strong enough to make Carl's balance unstable, causing him to slow down to regain his footing. 

Of course, Raven didn't miss this opportunity to launch an attack. Without hesitating, he sent a mighty pulse on his legs, preparing the 2nd step for the 9 Destruction Steps. As soon as he foot made contact with the ground, everything around 100 meters were rocked by shockwaves, and of course Carl wasn't an exception. 

Carl managed to remain stable on the ground but the shockwaves were so strong that he had to give it his all to prevent himself from becoming unstable. 

Meanwhile, Raven was just beginning. After using the 2nd step, he channeled his laws and the Fault Signs appeared on his surroundings. While Carl was still being rocked by the shockwaves, Raven increased the intensity by channeling his laws into a nearby Fault Sign and causing more destruction around him. 

*Boom!*

The wind howled and kicked up a ferocious gale. The earth shattered and sent rubbles flying in the air, trees were uprooted, dust accumulated and so on. Carl erected a Light Barrier fueled by Light Laws to protect himself from the incoming projectiles. His barrier managed to defend against the projectiles but he was surprised to see Raven weaving another attack in the middle of this chaos. 

"Silver Arms: Twisting Decimation."

Raven called out as ten silver arms with size of castle beams, wrapped around each other to form an enormous battering ram that flew towards Carl's location. 

Due to the chaos around him, Carl wasn't able to dodge at all. Raven's twisting decimation was strong enough to shatter the shield he erected, causing Carl to spit out blood while flying a couple meters back. The weight behind Raven's attack was about 1000 tons, that is not something that anyone could just receive unscathed. 

Whilst Carl was flying back, Raven didn't waste any time and pursued him. He sent a couple attacks along the way but Carl managed to gain his footing and dodge all of his incoming attack. After dodging, Carl used his light speed once again to charge towards Raven. 

Raven managed to block another lunge, while their weapons clashed and sparks flew, Raven raised his foot and performed the 3rd Step out 9. This attack caused everything within 500 meters to be destroyed by his laws, and since Carl was in a close proximity with him, Raven's attack injured Carl heavily. 

As Carl was sent flying back from the impact of the shockwaves, Raven saw how chunks of Carl's armor chipped away from where they were. He also saw the stains of blood within his armor, allowing his to realize that he managed to injure Carl heavily. 

Raven didn't want to lose his momentum so right before Carl managed to stand back up, he was already preparing to attack once more. 

He grabbed the powerful momentum inside his body, he channeled all of his focus and wound up for an attack. He wanted to take advantage of Carl's weakness to end this battle as soon as he could because he knows that once he allowed him to recover, he might never get another chance to attack again. 

Raven's heartbeat stopped for a moment, he then felt a massive momentum rising up on his body. He then controlled this momentum and drove it towards his arms. With a few steps, he caught up with Carl. His eyes the bulged from their sockets as he released the momentum as a powerful strike which he sent to the poor guy.

*BOOM!*

The earth quaked hard and the impact caused a massive crater to appear beneath Raven with Carl receiving the full impact. Raven's barrage of attacks were so powerful and destructive that half of the forest they're in were now gone. 

Raven heard a few of Carl's bones breaking but he knew that he's not dead yet. He was about to release another attack but a surprising development occurred. 

Carl's body suddenly emitted a very bright light that almost blinded him. It was then followed by an explosion that caused Raven to retreat a couple of steps back. Once he regained his vision, he then saw Carl in a different state than before. 

The damaged he caused on Carl's Holy Armor were gone, almost as if they were never there in the first place. He was levitating in the air, his pupils were gone like he was being possessed by some kind of spirit. Intense law fluctuations could be felt around him, Raven saw how Light was warping and refracting due to Carl's overwhelming presence. 

When he saw this state of Carl, Raven's face immediately turned solemn. He then whispered:

"Damn, I was hoping to finish him off before he goes onto that state, but I guess it's no longer possible." Raven clicked his tongue in annoyance. "This battle is going to be harder now."

This special state that Carl is under is called: 'Heroic Influence', a state that is only achieved by those who reached Hero Realm. 

Heroic Influence is a state where a Hero spreads their Influence on their surroundings, creating some sort of an area where they are the ruler. This area is called a 'Territory' and inside the 'Territory' the Hero's power scales up by a lot. 

The reason behind the boost is because the Hero could transform their surroundings into an advantageous stage where their abilities could shine and they could exert the full potential of their power. 

As Carl entered the Heroic Influence State, the space around him was filled with sparkling motes of light. Raven could even see that the image around him was constantly twisting into different shapes and size due to the refraction of light.

Raven had seen Carl enter this state multiple times so he knew what kind of trouble this will give him. Carl Territory is about 5 kilometers around him, and inside this place, he similar to a God. 

He's already within Carl's territory, and due to Carl's speed, he abandoned all thoughts of running away. Instead, he took a deep breath in and prepared for another clash. 

*Phew!*

Raven's instinct screamed danger, he tilted his head to the side and evaded a transparent beam of light that should've pierce his skull already. Carl didn't move from his spot at all nor he deliberately showed any signs of attacking. That attack just now was purely from Carl's desire which was then made possible since his Territory was active. 

After the first beam of light, many more was sent towards him. Raven managed to dodge all of them with the skin of his teeth but his stamina was being expended faster than he liked due to all of the dodging he had to do. 

All of a sudden, Carl disappeared from where he stood and appeared right next to Raven. Carl attempted to punch a hole on Raven's skull but the latter managed to dodge and move out of the way. Beams of light were sent toward him but Raven was in an awkward position since he was just recovering from the dodge. 

In order to defend himself, Raven smacked the ground with his hammer causing an arm to appear beneath him and forcefully elevate him so that he could dodge the dangerous projectiles. 

As soon as Raven regained his balance, he already Carl nearby and ready to slit his throat. Raven managed to lift his hammer right on time to redirect the thrust but it was then followed by a few more stabs targeting the gaps between his armor which were all performed with the speed of light. 

Raven couldn't completely dodge all of this so he did what he could and maneuvered his body in a way where he won't be fatally wounded. 

Feeling the blood seeping through body didn't feel good. Raven wanted to create some distance between him and Carl so he performed the 4th step of the 9 Destruction Steps. Unfortunately, since he was inside Carl's Territory, his own techniques are weakened. 

Originally, the 4th step should've caused destruction within 1 kilometer but the it was lessened to a mere 700 meters. Even through that still quite a distance between them, Carl could cross that distance in a blink of an eye and that's precisely what he did. 

In the end, he managed to almost stab Raven's neck but the latter reacted on time to prevent that from happening. He got a little bit of breathing space but nonetheless, Raven's incensed.

"How annoying…"

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