Chapter 854 Black Ranked Artefact
Activating her berserk skill without hesitation, the space around Asphil started to ripple as Madison was blown back in a single moment.
Flipping in the air, Madison wanted to land properly when Asphil teleported behind her.
Quickly summoning her shield, Madison turned around and blocked her strike.
*KRRRR!!
The sound of metal tearing could be heard as the shield started to shred to pieces.
Quickly letting go, Madison flew back but Asphil wasn't giving her any room to breathe.
Twisting her body, she kicked Madison in the stomach.
*BANG!!!
Sending her body flying, Asphil continued to chase as she grabbed towards Madison's shoulder.
Space rippled around her hand as Madison knew that letting the attack land would be bad news.
Summoning her avatar, she grabbed Asphil and tried to throw her away when the avatar's arm was shredded to pieces.
Like a raging beast, Asphil continued to claw towards Madison as her aura flared wildly.
Seeing this, the party was a little concerned but didn't say anything since they trusted Madison. They knew that if she played her cards right, she'll be able to win!
Gritting her teeth, Madison activated a second berserk skill and her stats jumped up once more.
Grabbing Asphil's wrist, Madison slammed her head against Asphil's head and kneed her in the stomach.
Twisting her body, she threw Asphil towards the ground and wanted to follow up the combo but Asphil only teleported behind her.
Summoning another shield, she tried to block but was a little too slow.
*COUGH!
Feeling the pain on her back, Madison coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Seeing this, Helion almost jumped into the fray but was held back by the party who were watching with serious expressions.
Gritting his teeth, Helion sat back down and watched what was happening.
"Trust in her more." Shiro smiled as Helion nodded his head and sighed.
"She should be turning the tables in 10 seconds." Shiro narrowed her eyes as she could already sense Asphil's aura fluctuating which means her berserk skill is almost up.
Flickering next to Madison, Asphil unleashed a barrage of strikes against Madison who could only use her shield to block.
Seeing that she wasn't doing anything substantial to her, Asphil started to become worried since her berserk skill was about to run out but Madison was still holding on strong. Even though one of her berserk skills had ended, she didn't seem weakened at all which confused her but the only thing she could do was try to end things quickly.
Gathering her mana into her right hand, she slashed towards Madison.
Suddenly, Madison grinned as a tier 5 magic circle appeared on her shield just before the strike landed on her.
"Sorry about this. Reflection." Madison narrowed her eyes as the attack was instantly reflected back at Asphil.
*PFF!!!
Deep slash marks appeared on Asphil's body as blood sprayed out.
Not letting this moment go, Madison dismissed her shield and unleashed a barrage of strikes against Asphil.
Collapsing on the ground, Asphil wasn't able to move anymore as she was losing a lot of blood. Even with her regeneration, she would be in this state for a while.
"Why are you not weakened even though you used two berserk skills?" Asphil asked as her voice seemed a little weak. She was now suffering from the backlash of her skill as she could feel pain from every part of her body.
"It's a passive of mine. I don't feel any backlashes from any berserk skills that I use. The fight was a little brutish since I'm the tank for myteam. While I can convert my stats to attack, most of my skills are about reducing damage and reflecting it. Honestly, if you didn't unleash one large strike, I might have been in danger." Madison smiled as Asphil couldn't help but laugh.
"Your passive is such a powerful skill. Once demons see you use your berserk skill, they'll think they can win if they wait it out but you'll just activate another one. The best way to fight against you is to end you quickly but since you have damage reduction and reflection, ending you quickly wouldn't be possible." Asphil sighed.
"It does sound like it but out of everyone in the party, I'm probably on the weaker side since I focus on defence." Madison grinned as the party made their way over.
Tapping her staff down, Silvia healed both Asphil and Madison in the end.
With her wounds healed, Asphil kneeled on one knee in front of Madison.
"As I have lost the fight fair and square despite being a higher level, rank 10 candidate Asphil will serve rank 72 Madison without complaints. I shall complete any tasks you hand to me wholeheartedly and address you as my mistress from now on. I will no longer be the 10th ranked candidate but rather your servant." Asphil closed her eyes as a binding contract was invoked which surprised Shiro since it demonstrated her sincerity. With the binding contract, if Asphil betrayed Madison, she would suffer quite a harsh backlash.
Shocked at this, Madison was about to reject it since she never wanted to bind her but seeing her resolute face, she knew that Asphil was 100% serious. Scratching her head, she looked at Shiro awkwardly.
"Erm… how do I finish this contract?"
Hearing this, Asphil almost fell over with embarrassment since it was awkward to keep kneeling with the other party not knowing what to do.
"Pft! Just channel your mana and drop some blood before announcing your name, rank and say I accept the contract." Shiro laughed as Madison nodded her head awkwardly.
"Ahem. Err… Madison rank 72 demon queen candidate, I accept the contract." Madison said as she cut her finger slightly and squeezed out a single droplet of blood.
As the blood came into contact with the magic circle, an illusionary chain could be seen attaching themselves onto Asphil's neck and wrists before fading away.
"I am yours to command now mistress. The entire Valtorez family will serve you with me as their leader and accomplish any task you give us." Asphil said as Madison scratched her head.
"Ah we'll talk about that later I guess. For now we're going to continue to the northern border where Nostic and the other's are. Are you able to tell us information about them? We already have some information so is there anything that you can add?" Madison asked as she handed Asphil the tablet with the information on all the top 10 candidates.
Reading it through, she was surprised at how much information was gathered considering the fact that they knew nothing about the party.
"Most of the information that you have collected are indeed correct but some of the rumours are exaggerated. For example, Fellia can't cut through all armours like butter. She has a skill that lets her see weak points and once she strikes it, the armour is reduced by 70%. If she misses, the armour is not reduced at all." Asphil said as Shiro corrected the information.
While they were driving towards the castle, Asphil helped them get a better idea about the candidates as Madison was quite grateful since they weren't as threatening as they initially seemed now that they know some of their weaknesses.
"For ranks two and three, we never really fought so we don't know much about them. Like when I first met miss Shiro, it was an instinctive feeling that told us we won't be able to win against them." Asphil shook her head.
"So the top three are still a mystery then?" Shiro raised her eyebrow.
"Mn, but if you are able to defeat Nostic, defeating ranks two and three will be easy for you. However, while you are strong, I need to warn you about artefacts. With the top 10 working together in order to defeat you, they have been gathering powerful artefacts that are essentially one time use items in order to defeat you. One that you need to be careful of is a black ranked artefact that is specialised in sealing. The cost is the life of a single being and uses their soul as the prison. This would stop them from reincarnating and the stronger the soul, the stronger the prison. They haven't obtained the artefact just yet but I do believe their plan is to kill Nostic in order to imprison you." Asphil warned as Shiro had a serious expression on her face.
Even for someone like her, a black ranked artefact was something rather dangerous especially if it is specialised for sealing. She didn't have anything that could help her in terms of anti seal so the best way to go about things would probably be to ascend into demi god form.
Thankfully, she has knowledge on souls so depending on the type of seal, she could repurpose it to benefit her instead.