Maria seemed to have heard enough of the talking and zipped toward Peter as fast as she could. Before her fist could connect with his face, a large trunk of wood blocked the way. The wood splintered into thousands of pieces upon the devastating impact. Maria’s face was cold and full of pure malice as she continued her assault. Meanwhile, everyone else from both the noble clans started providing as much support as they could to Marias brave attack. Slimo, Lidia, and Doc were all protecting everyone to the best of their abilities as long strands of wood shot towards them at insane speeds. Slimo managed to break five pikes that aimed to kill Serena and Zoey. Slimo noticed how much more effort he put into killing the two girls compared to everyone else.

"Hey, fire lady and her friend."

"It’s Zoey and Serena."

"Zoey and Serena. Your power directly opposes his. We need to keep you both alive. I’ll protect you as long as you stay close."

Zoey smiled darkly.

"This bastard doesn’t know who he’s dealing with."

As Maria punched through more and more wood to try and reach Peter, her punches seemed to be impacting the wood much stronger than she was used to. It felt like much more power was being stored in her arms and fists. She saw Lee in her peripheral vision running around while keeping his hands up.

’He’s increasing the density of my attacks! This is insane!’

Suddenly, a large wooden spike shot towards Lee. However, before it could reach him, Sydney jumped in front of him wearing a shining iron armor. Even though the wood pierced through the armor, it was immediately stopped by her insanely tough skin. Using an elbow, Sydney broke the wood with ease. She looked back at Lee.

"We’ll protect you! Keep powering Maria! Lucy and Bart will have your strengthened armor made in a moment!"

More and more iron weapons and armor littered the battlefield. Whenever someone got the chance, they picked one up to equip or they had Lidia throw it over to them. Wood spikes continued attacking everyone relentlessly. The next victim seemed to be Abby. Three wooden poles streaked through the air, aiming to impale her skull. Lidia looked on in horror as she witnessed the helpless scene.

"Shit, I can’t make it!"

However, right before the wood could take her down, she disappeared in an instant. Even Peter seemed to be surprised by the sudden dodge. When she reappeared again, there was a man carrying her. His body was steaming with energy, and his face was dark with anger.

"You lay a hand on a single strand of her pink hair, you will suffer beyond anything you’ve ever experienced."

Harold slowly put Abby down and zipped away once more, disappearing from sight. Steel seemed to be having a cutting spree chopping through the infinitely multiplying wood. There wasn’t a single moment that he didn’t enjoy as the wood helplessly split apart with his arms.

"HAHAHA! YES! SLICE SLICE SLICE SLCIE SLICE!!! DIE YOU STUPID WOOD! MORE!!"

Peter was getting completely overwhelmed. Even with his powers not being suppressed, all the powers of the noble clans were far too much to handle and to make things worse...

"Release."

Luna Katra held her hand on the back of Peters massive wooden structure. At the moment of her release, every inch of wood was instantly covered in ice, freezing it in place. This gave Maria the chance she was waiting for. Even though his body was frozen for a single second, a second was all she needed. Maria wound up her fist and sent it through the air as hard as she could. Her teeth clenched in her mouth, the flow of her punch felt flawless, her eyes glowed with a dark green glint, and she sent every ounce of energy she had into her hyper-dense fist. The moment it made contact with Peter’s face, Maria tried something she had never tried before... until now.

"RELEASE!"

Suddenly, a massive explosion rang through the top of the roof, causing everyone to be sent hurdling off towards the stone terrain. The fallout of Maria’s punch had put anything Slimo or Lidia had ever done to shame. The crater left behind was so massive that the entire prison below them exploded into thousands of sharps of rock. Peter was sent dozens of miles away, crashing through multiple stone structures as he flew. Lidia, Slimo, Doc, and Jacob were all holding on to as many people as they could so they wouldn’t be flown away from the blast. Lidia seemed to be insanely proud of what she was witnessing.

"Holy shit! That’s my daughter for you!"

Maria still flew in the air for a few seconds after the insane attack before slowly falling toward the ground. Before Jacob could run over to catch her, Harold did the honors and brought her over to Jacob himself. Maria was completely unconscious from overexerting herself with her power. Luckily, none of her limbs seemed seriously damaged, except for the arm she shot forward which was extremely dislocated. Doc immediately walked over and healed her wounds back to normal.

"What the hell have you all been doing to get this strong? I’ve never seen anything like that before."

Jacob chuckled to himself lightly while holding her in his arms.

"I haven’t seen anything like that from her before either. She must have really harbored some great resentment for that betrayal."

Squabee rushed over to Maria and started patting her head.

"I’m so glad she’s okay. I need her to give me her training routine so I can protect myself like that one day!"

Jacob look at Squabee doubtfully but still cheered her on.

"You can try your best!"

Suddenly, an ear-piercing roar ripped through the sky above them, coming from the direction Maria had sent Peter. In the distance, Jacob could see a massive beast charging towards them on all fours. It’s structure creepily reminded Jacob of the desert spirit he had face before. However, this one had a dark red glow, the roots were brown, and instead of a dark void covering its face, it was more wood. Jacob tapped on Slimo’s shoulder.

"You see that too?"

Slimo stepped forward.

"I do. Let’s prepare Zoey and Serena. They may the only way to truly put a stop to this freak. I have a plan; I just need everyone to buy us some time. Oh, and I need to borrow that speedy fellow."

Harold walked over immediately, panting heavily.

"Whatever it is, I’ll do it."

"Good. Hide with all of us behind a rock and wait for my signal. The rest of you, don’t die. Got it?"

Suddenly, Emma and Gabriel stepped forward, ready to face their opponent running towards them. Both of them were donned in shining iron armor. Gabriel was holding on to a large shield and seemed especially eager to blow off some steam.

"We’ll take the first round. Only help us if we are in trouble."

Emma walked up to Jacob and put a hand on his shoulder. Her green hair reminded Jacob of Maria’s eyes.

"Please protect Maria for us while we fight. She’s like a sister to me."

Jacob smiled and nodded his head.

"She’s in safe hands."

As Jacob finished talking, both Emma and Gabriel ran forward to meet the charging beast halfway.