Kyle continued running for a couple of seconds, but he couldn't hope to outrun the Paladins.
'Well, at least the Servants aren't anywhere close anymore.'
Kyle looked over his shoulders at the two Paladins, who were only twenty meters away now.
'Time of running is over,' Kyle thought as he narrowed his eyes.
He stopped running and turned to them.
When the Paladins noticed that Kyle stopped running, one of them also stopped, while the other one kept charging.
Both Paladins wore armor, but it wasn't nearly as heavy as Kyle's.
The armor was heavy enough to block some lighter attacks but light enough not to slow them down too much.
Both of them carried two-handed swords, which was expected.
Almost all Paladins were taught to use two-handed swords.
Compared to Knights and Fighters, Paladins could only be created by the Divine Duchy, and all of the Paladins worked for the Divine Duchy.
There were no free Paladins.
Any Paladin who didn't dedicate their life to the Divine Duchy was mercilessly executed to keep the Divine Duchy's affairs and abilities secret.
Once one joined the Divine Duchy, there was no way back.
As one of the Paladins charged at Kyle, the other one slashed the ground, the tip of his sword touching the earth.
At that moment, Kyle's instincts warned him of danger.
"Move!" Theodor shouted.
But it was too late.
An instant later, an explosion of light appeared below Kyle's feet, and his body was thrown backward.
The explosion of light didn't injure Kyle in any way, but it completely ruined his stance and balance.
The other Paladin arrived in front of Kyle and slashed at his head.
Kyle used his shoulder plates to block the strike.
BANG!
An explosion of light occurred in the place where the sword hit Kyle's shoulder, but this one neither injured nor moved Kyle.
The sword managed to create a deep crevice in Kyle's armor, and the sword cut through Kyle's flesh.
In the end, it was stopped halfway through Kyle's bone.
Of course, a wave of foreign Ether was pushed into his body, but Kyle easily drowned out the Ether with his own.
Just like Fighters, Paladins didn't have a strengthened Center.
Paladins had strengthened bodies and Souls.
However, compared to Fighters and Knights, Paladins decided to keep their usual body size with their True Body.
A big True Body didn't affect speed but substantially increased power.
A small True Body didn't affect power but substantially increased speed.
A normal True Body increased both aspects by a little.
BANG!
Kyle punched the sword away and jumped back.
'Without my armor, I would be dead right now,' he thought.
But then, he noticed something.
He was surprisingly fast when he jumped back.
Kyle quickly glanced at his armor and took a deep breath.
'It's corroded!'
The armor on his left arm and half of the armor covering his torso had turned brittle and brown as it started to fall away from his body.
'It was that weird light explosion!'
As expected, Paladins were not weak.
Since all of them were trained by the Divine Duchy, they were able to fight against any kind of enemy.
The remote light explosion destabilized people's stance.
The other light explosion corroded armor.
One was good against agile enemies, while the other was good against heavy enemies.
"Move!" Theodor shouted.
This time, Kyle managed to jump to the side as another explosion of light appeared below him.
'Fucking improved Souls!' Kyle thought.
The Spirit Tome allowed someone with an improved Soul to infuse the surroundings with Ether.
The distant Paladin was infusing the ground with Ether and detonated it below Kyle.
Luckily, Paladins didn't have improved minds or Centers.
Otherwise, these attacks would have devastating powers.
As they were now, the attacks could disrupt a fight, but they couldn't be used to actually kill an enemy.
But that was why they carried these heavy two-handed swords.
Paladins disrupted fights until they could strike the enemy with their huge swords.
Just as Kyle landed, the closer Paladin immediately reached him again.
At that moment, Fire Ether gathered on Kyle's hammer, and he swung forward.
The Paladin's eyes narrowed, and he jumped back.
If his sword got hit by the pick of this hammer, it might break.
The swing of the hammer missed, and the Paladin wanted to charge forward again.
But there was a tall wall of fire between him and his target.
The wall was over two meters tall and burning brightly.
Sure, the heat of the fire wasn't an issue. The Paladin could step through it without any pain.
The issue was that he couldn't see past it.
Fire Trail.
Kyle had gotten way better at using this technique.
"Tango Five!" the other Paladin shouted, who could still see Kyle.
After the first Paladin heard that, he immediately charged through the fire.
As he passed through the wall, he saw Kyle diagonally running towards the other Paladin.
Tango Five was code and represented the movement and position of a target.
This was how the Paladin knew that Kyle wasn't waiting for him with an attack.
As Kyle ran towards the other Paladin, the first one stopped moving and slashed the ground.
BANG!
Kyle evaded to the side, but the Paladin had expected that to happen and aimed his attack at that spot.
Kyle directly jumped into the explosion, and his entire body was flung into the air, reaching a height of three meters.
His body was spinning out of control in the air, and he was falling down.
The closer Paladin ran over and slashed at Kyle's falling body.
A Fighter couldn't recover from this predicament.
The fight was over.
BANG!
Suddenly, Kyle's body stopped spinning while falling, and for just a moment, it looked like he was locked in space.
The eyes of the Paladins widened.
Impossible!
This move wasn't exactly special.
After all, they could do the same thing.
However, this was a Fighter!
He was not supposed to be able to do that!
The reason was that this move required a strong Soul, and Fighters had weakened Souls.
So, how could this Fighter regain control in the middle of the air?!
Nevertheless, the sword strike was still moving forward, and despite regaining control, Kyle couldn't gain any leverage to swing his hammer in the air.
The attack would hit one way or another.
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