Shovels In Spades

Daz took a single step forward and said, "First, they are not my puppets. One is my future wife and the other is a valued friend who I owe a lot to."

A second step and his Archreaper's Aura exploded out of him and pressed down upon Lord Lit'ur. "Second, we shall not dance, I shall walk and you shall fall to the ground beneath my feet. You are not my match no matter how odd you are."

Lord Lit'ur raised an eyebrow. He wasn't forced down to his knees like most. He instead rolled his shoulders, making his heavy armour clink around.

"Interesting. A suppressive force that is more effective the further one's race is from the peak of their species. I see I still have some growing to do since it affects me. Despite how hard to notice the effects are," the pale man noted.

"I thought you seemed different to normal humans," Daz said before he smiled. "Although, it affects even you a bit? The mysterious lord of a mythical city who can turn people to ice and control the corpses of the fallen? Shame. I guess no one will ever surpass John."

"John? Who is this John you speak of?" Lord Lit'ur questioned casually.

"A dog," Daz answered honestly as he took a third step. "He's the partner of a subordinate of mine."

At this point, streams of Owned were flooding past him and towards Madison, Ellie, and the barrier.

Briefly glancing back to his companions, Daz could see Madison slicing through the transformed humans with ease. Mr Barrier was also keeping the sleeping twins safe from all harm.

'I need to find a treat for him like the chestnuts with the gnomes,' Daz thought. 'He's very friendly and helpful despite not being able to talk.'

Ellie, on the other hand, was waving her right hand like a conductor might as she controlled her robots telekinetically to massacre all who came within five metres of her.

Occasionally, the purple shroud of energy that surrounded her lashed out like a whip and completely obliterated a whole group of Owned, seemingly severing their link to Lord Lit'ur.

With them so handily dealing with the frosty lord's minions, Daz had nothing else to worry about.

"A dog, you say? I see. So my kind pales in comparison to a mere animal of yours. The world truly is vast and mysterious," Lord Lit'ur said with nary a scrap of offence to be seen on his expression or in his tone.

Daz shrugging, taking a fourth, fifth and sixth step. "I was surprised too. It's not a normal dog."

"I can't imagine it is." Lord Lit'ur remained stationary as he waited just in front of his throne for Daz.

Once the reaper had taken his fifteenth step, the icy man moved.

Daz controlled Hamson to barely block the sword that had come within centimetres of his neck.

"Capture us, huh?" Daz asked as he moved to punch Lord Lit'ur in the face.

Not having to use his hands to wield Hamson was great for expanding his battle options. It was definitely the right choice to focus on that when he had formed his Quintessential Shovel Art.

The Ember of Digging he had infused into Hamson's blade, while far less effective on something that wasn't a natural resource like dirt or stone, still gave the already insanely powerful shovel an extra edge against the sword.

Lord Lit'ur, feeling himself getting overpowered by Hamson and seeing the incoming strikes from Daz, gracefully leapt back, completely dodging the incoming fist. His sword was damaged from the encounter but it seemed to repair itself as a swirl of icicles surrounded it.

"I had a feeling you'd be fine even with such a swift attack aiming for a vital," the lord reasoned. "Consider it an honour of sorts that I thought you would survive. Now, it seems I must get serious. It wouldn't be a stretch to say I lost that exchange. That simply cannot do."

After hearing those words, Daz immediately felt his body get incredibly cold and stiff. Icicles began forming in his hair and on his eyebrows. His skin frosted over and his teeth began chattering.

"You can harness the s-storm?" Daz asked as he shivered, snow and frozen chunks of ice pelting his body all the while.

Lord Lit'ur's eyes glowing a brilliant icy blue as he nodded. "To some extent, yes. Now, to end this."

"Reflective Chains of J-Justice," Daz spoke calmly, ignoring the stutter the sudden decline in temperature had given him.

Instantly, hundreds upon hundreds of deep grey and large ghostly chains spiralled out of the floor. Each one rapidly making its way towards Lord Lit'ur.

"I thought so. K-Killing people merely for entering your land, even if w-without permission, is a criminal act in my ever-judging eyes. I would never do such a th-thing in my kingdom. Y-You've lost," Daz said through the biting cold.