Julius Jubilous

Synthara and Julius stood ten paces away from each other in the old palace arena. Priests with healing spells were on standby while mages put up barriers to protect the audience from stray spells.

As soon as the opening ceremonies ended, the king allowed the duel to begin.

Two figures, one clad in black and and the other in white and blonde, faced each under the noon sun, barely visible behind the ash clouds. Julius made the first move by unleashing a large beam of light from his palm which Synthara easily dodged by having flaming wings sprout and thrust her out of the way, almost reaching the stands behind her.

“You look nervous, priest, eager to end this quickly?” Synthara said as her strings descended from her fingers onto the ground and launched a fireball that blossomed where Julius was standing.

Julius defended himself with a barrier. “Yes actually, I have far more important matters to attend to then participate in a heathen ritual. Once I am made Royal Sorcerer I will petition the king to abolish this farcical ceremony. Flagellate, Opus Amoris.” A golden whip appeared in Julius’ hands as he floated up to the sky. With a flick of his whip, Synthara was beset by wriggling whip attacks from above.

“I know your kind well, your heads are always up in the clouds as you bark orders to your underlings below.” Synthara said as she flew into the air to escape the lash, but the lashes followed her.

“Yet your prince is somehow blameless of this sin you’re accusing me of?” Julius unleashed more beam attacks from his palm.

Synthara danced around the beam attacks and counter attacked with more fireballs.. "I've always had respect for secular authorities. They may act like self-important peacocks, but their motivations were understandable. They want more power and resources for themselves and their followers, that makes them reasonable and easy to predict.” Synthra then had the strings she sent into the ground erupt and cut the lashes, allowing her to launch more exploding fireballs at him.

Synthara’s eyes glared directly at the priest as a barrier protected him. “Religious and idealistic types on the other hand are the opposite, they run on vague ideals based on personal interpretations that are easily malleable through their current emotional state. They are able to justify any action to themselves no matter how illogical.”

“My goal is to bring happiness to every living thing in the four realms and bring everlasting peace to the world. To put a close on the pursuit of happiness and to finally reach the finish line. Only the Ultimatum can reach that end.” Julius had his lash extend into the ground and erupt from various points around him while protected by his barrier. Synthara dodged his barrage of tentacle-esque whips and the rocks they threw while protecting herself with three floating fireballs repelled any lash or debris that tried to get close to her.

“You want to force your idea of happiness on us all then?”

Julius had had enough.“Useless! Useless! Useless! For centuries I have heard all variations of your useless sentimental schlock! More people dying and starving everyday from pointless conflicts! I would not expect a short-lived human to understand, but the centuries I've spent on this godsforsaken world taught me that mortals are nothing more than the worst kind of beasts! If mortalkind refuses to be virtuous, then all that's left is to impose virtue until they know nothing but virtue!”

A lash manages to get past Synthara’s defenses and grab her by the leg. As soon as she was slowed down she was thrown to the ground and was beset by whips. The crowd cheers while Morgan and Wilhelm sit horrified. They moved to intervene until they heard a moan coming from Synthara that did not sound like pain.

Julius smiled as he stopped his attacks while keeping her in his grip. His Opus Amoris should have rendered her mind broken from rapturous joy. He brought her closer to him, confident behind his nigh-indestructible barrier. The Hadrian miracle was the strongest defensive miracle the Ougonites had. A wall of light that repels any foreign spells. It can even resist Soul Armaments.

“Ah! Forgive me father, for I have sinned! I'm in need of firm punishment~” Synthara shouted in a cute voice.

Julius chuckled, the moment when a receiver of his whip reached their mental climax was the few moments of genuine joy he took in life. “Well it seems you quite like being punished. Unfortunately, I will have to put your bliss to a premature end.” Julius moved to have his whip crush her to death but it was not responding.

“Wh-whats happening!?”

Synthara smiled, she had used her strings and Julius’ whip’s own momentum to tie them together around her, rendering it useless and minimizing the damage she took from them.

The crowd cheered as it appeared that Julius had won. But Julius felt only confusion.

“I'm sorry priest. Your whip felt so good that I wanted to indulge myself for a bit, it's so soft and tender…”

“Fool! I will not allow mockery towards me! Even without my whips, I can still finish you here!” Julius let down his barrier and pointed his palm at her head, light pouring around it ready to fire.

Exactly what Synthara was hoping for. Synthara could have broken out of Julius’ grip at any time but she deliberately let herself get caught in order to force Julius out of his irksome barrier and catch him off guard.

She casted a powerful explosion around her to loosen the whip’s grip on her. The force of the explosion knocked Julius to the ground, burning his hair and face as well, while Synthara flung towards her and tied him to the ground with strings.

Grinning and giggling viciously, she twitched her fingers, having the strings untie the whips that are now under her control slither towards a struggling Julius like snakes. The king looked horrified as the crowd gasped. Morgan and Wilhelm however were relieved.

“As I recall, you were lecturing the prince earlier over patience. Yet here you are now, about to feel the full extent of the virtue you were so proud of because of your impatience. Why are you so bothered at being proven right?” Synthara asked innocently.

Julius tried to reassert control over his weapon but the explosion knocked it out of his grip. He then tried to have it vanish but it stayed materialized. “No! No! You can't do this to me! I am the Archbishop of Ragna! I have a mission to save the world! Juno! Help me!” Julius shouted at the stands where a woman in black robes fluttered and dashed towards him. Only to be intercepted by Wilhelm who grabbed Juno by the arm and threw him over his shoulder to the ground and sat atop her with a bone sword coming from his palm at her neck. Wilhelm was surprised at his increased speed.

Julius panickedly looked around for the last Santus Umbra agent in the crowd, but they were nowhere to be seen.

“All good times must come to an end. You should be happy! A beautiful young woman is about to give you the happiest ending of your life! Which I'm guessing is the first time it's ever happened for you.” Synthara said sadistically.

She had planned for the fight to go on longer than it did in order to stall for more time, even holding back, so that the Ougonian Empire’s army would be stuck attacking the Qin unsupported. But Julius was stronger than she anticipated. Synthara felt she was still far stronger than him but he was certainly stronger than the dragon. Had the fight gone on longer she might have gotten hurt and used up more of her mana and energy. It was best to keep her strength hidden for now so as to not let Aeturnus, or the Ultimatum as they called them, know of her existence.

Julius was beaten with a barrage of attacks from his own whip. He let out low groans as he felt his body being torn to shreds. Pleasure flooded his brain, but at that moment, he felt something inside him shatter and mend itself into a stronger form.

“Enough of this farce! If this kingdom refuses to bow before me, then I will break it!” Julius began to emanate power and his whip disappeared entirely.

“Regress, Paradisus Amissa!”

The sun above pierced through the clouds as Julius slowly transformed into a magnificent tree. Synthara suddenly found herself wracked with pain and her thoughts becoming muddled.

The audience was also wracked with pain, unable to move.

Julius spoke with a booming voice. “Onward to the Qin empire!”