'This is going to be so much fun!' Life exclaimed as I ran forward to the Hexabeast.
'For you maybe.' I muttered back to her as I begun to swing one of the ends of Curse in a circular motion.
'I don't know I might have to agree with Life on this one.' Curse said.
'Only because you got an upgrade.' I said knowing full well he couldn't help it.
The Hexabeast had started to launch more globs of lava at us and we would have all been fried to a crisp a long time ago if Esdeath wasn't countering each attack perfectly. Bulat had resumed his presence in the sky as he tried to mutilate the beast but the Tamer reflected every attack back. He even went up close and personal with the Tamer and tried to directly stab them but the Hexabeast spewed lava out it's mouth causing Bulat to evade and miss. Safaia was having problems as well because each attack she launched got reflected back causing her to have to use minor attacks so she could dodge the reflections. Schere was running alongside me right now as the two of us finally got withing striking distance.
"Chop at its legs to see if you can make it collapse or stumble." I told her. She nodded and attempted to do as I suggested but every cut instantly healed no matter which leg she attacked. This annoyed me because the other Hexabeasts we had fought did not have this insane regeneration.
Getting annoyed by the enemy I decided that since we couldn't cut it down we should just pull it down. I placed one of the anchors of Curse into the ground as I launched the other and wrapped it around the Hexabeast's legs. I grew irritated as the chains were absorbed into the body before Schere managed to land a rapid amount of cuts just barely allowing the chain to become free.
I whistled and grabbed Bulat's attention making him fly down and assist me with pulling the chain. The two of us tried our hardest to make the Hexabeast fall but it was just too heavy so I decided to contact Safaia.
'I don't care how you do it I need you to land an attack on it.' I said to her.
'Easy for you to say when all your attacks get reflected back.' She said as she tried once again but got the same result.
'If you can't attack the Hexabeast directly do it indirectly.' I suggested hoping she could come up with an idea.
'I don't know wha... Wait a minute I got an idea just get ready.' I gave a grin as I motioned to Bulat to continue pulling.
I looked above at the Hexabeast to watch as it shot a glob of lava directly down at us and unlike the other times Esdeath did not block it. I began to panic but I watched as Safaia's attack slammed into it causing it to slam into the Hexabeast as Esdeath's attack did the same. I was actually surprised neither of the attacks were deflected but I was glad as this caused the beast to stagger giving us the opportunity we needed.
The runes on Curse flared to life as Bulat and I gave a mighty tug causing the Hexabeast to fall down to one knee. Schere then took this moment and launched Extase at it splitting it straight up the middle and unlike the other times there was no regeneration. I was confused for a second as I knew it was not dead before something weird began to happen. It started to regenerate but not like it should have, the two halves of the Hexabeast had healed but now there was two of them. They were half the size of the originally and the only difference between the two of them was that one was red and the other blue.
"You have got to be joking me." I muttered before I realized something. The tamer could only be on one of them meaning that we could actually kill the other one. I grinned and looked up to see which one the tamer was on before I saw something that confused me. There was a tamer on each of them but they were identical and I couldn't see any differences due to them wearing a hood.
"Schere attack the red one with Safaia and Esdeath, Bulat assist me with the blue one." They both gave a nod as we went to work. Bulat started launching volleys of spears at the blue one but like before they were all reflected. I assumed that this one had the tamer on it so I panicked when I saw Safaia's attack reflect off the red one.
'Curse you got any idea what is going on here?' I asked him hoping he picked on something I did not.
'I have an idea but I'm not a hundred percent curtain. I'm thinking the Tamer has a Teigu that acts like a mirror and is reflecting everything. And since it's acting like a mirror it shows the real version and a copy of it explaining why there is two of them. And since no attacks landed I'm guessing the copy has access to the Teigu's abilities as well.' I was actually surprised that Curse had come up with such a good guess.
'Then why did the Tamer some attacks hit it?' I asked before I figured it out. 'Don't tell me they have been toying with us this whole time and let us land that attack. This meant that every attack so far could had been deflected. The only reason that some had hit and some hadn't was just because the Tamer willed it so. It was just a gigantic facade to throw us off.
'I'm afraid so.' Curse replied solemnly.
'How are we supposed to win this fight?' I currently had no idea of how we could win. It didn't help that the bubbles that Murasame had warned us about had yet to appear. I figured since the red could shoot lava then maybe the blue had some affinity with water and thus could make bubbles. Why they would be so problematic I had no idea but all of this was just assumption at the moment.
'A Hexabeast can be killed by another Hexabeast or by the death of their tamer.' Curse suggested. My eyes widened as I thought about what he meant before I let a grin appear on my face. Although we probably were thinking very different ideas that could work they both had one thing in common and that was us coming out of this fight alive.
'Ready to go all out?' I asked knowing the answer all ready.
'Let's hurry and finish this!' He said as the runes along the chains began to crackle and pop with energy. A flash of light appeared in the area before two massive seals appeared both of the Hexabeasts. From the seal chains began to sprout from the ground and proceeded to entangle the Hexabeasts restraining all of their movement including their mouths. I watched with satisfaction as the red one tried to fire another shot of lava but the chains restricted it from doing so.
'Focus all attacks on the tamer I can restrict the Hexabeast for a few more minutes.' I said to Safaia as I was already having to concentrate heavily with Curse to bind their movement. I tried making this easier as the links on the chains turned into anchors weighing the Hexabeasts down even more.
'But all of our attacks will be reflected!' She replied hastily not realizing I had a plan.
'Just trust me on this. I got a plan but this is really difficult.' Now I know that some of my plans in the past were really idiotic but this time I was proud of myself. Then again the result of this plan was either us winning or dying but it was nearly foolproof. Luckily Safaia trusted my words as she and Esdeath launched Simultaneous attacks at the Hexabeast. As expected they were reflected but I just needed to confirm that.
"Bulat don't throw your spear just go for a melee attack." I shouted at him so he could hear me. He nodded and flew in and just as he was about to stab the Hexabeast the spear shot out of his hands into the snow confirming something else. I then told both groups to attack at the same time and this was when something different happened. While Esdeath's and Safaia's attacks got reflected Bulat's managed to land a hit. This alone told me how we could win.
While this Hexabeast could counter Esdeath's abilities she could could likewise counter the Tamer's Teigu. I had deduced that the Teigu had two separate reflection modes. One mode could deflect melee attacks while the other reflected ranged attacks. This would explain why while everyone else attacks were getting deflecting mine and Schere landed since they were melee. I had figured while Curse's chain did have range to it that Judgement's power boost was making it to overbearing for the other Teigu to counter. And while Bulat's spear was a melee weapon it was one with that also had long range on it making count as ranged depending on how he used it. Thus this made Esdeath the perfect counter since she could shoot ice from range while simultaneously going in for melee attacks with her rapier.
'Safaia stop attacking the Hexabeast directly and focus on defending us once they regain control.' I estimated I only had half a minute before they broke free.
'What will Esdeath be doing then?' She asked.
'Tell her to come down here because its time to get serious.' As soon as I said this I somehow knew that chills had just run down her spine. This was mostly because they had went down mine as well. And just as my the seals keeping the Hexabeasts broke Esdeath arrived in full war god regalia. Now I had seen her use an ice golem before but the one she was in right now put the other to shame.
It was menacing to say the least but even that word couldn't truly describe how terrifying it was. The golem was the same size as the two Hexabeast but less humanoid. It was basically a skeletal suit of armor made out of ice with spikes on almost every inch of it. The spikes were pulsating and kept growing and shrinking in size. In the right hand of the golem was a rapier while the left hand wasn't a hand at all but an icy blade. And to top it all off the snowball cannon from earlier was mounted on the back.
"Esdeath you okay?" I shouted to her. Usually she would wait until she was pissed to use something like this so I assumed something was wrong.
"Am I okay?" She said her voice changing to match the insane tone I knew and feared. "Not at all, I've been on the back lines countering lava and getting my attacks reflected back this whole fight. Do you know how boring that is?" Well this explained why she was pissed but I was already slowly inching away from her and the Hexabeasts. I was glad to see I wasn't the only one as Bulat and Schere were already running for the hills.
"You have fun now." I said as I backed away slowly knowing full well that Esdeath was going to take care of this. She gave no response as she lunged forward in attempt to stab the Hexabeasts and while those attacks got reflected the spikes on her golem shot off and pierced the Hexabeast while new ones replaced those that were shot. The red one began shooting lava rapidly to try and melt the golem but like a Hexabeast the golem kept regenerating. While the red one did this the blue stood still doing nothing like it had been for the whole fight.
Esdeath noticed this and sent another double attack at it and like last time one of the attacks was reflected while the other hit. But unlike last time instead of the noise of ice piercing flesh a loud pop pierced the air followed by a thud in the ground. More popping and thudding noises soon followed as the blue Hexabeast's skin started to crack. A large chunk cracked off revealing the inside of the Hexabeast but instead of organs or whatever one was suppose to be made of there was a horde of bubbles in its place.
This confused me since after all it had been hit by so far this was the first time this happened. Then I realized why it had been stationary and not helping the red Hexabeast fight. It had been using the other as a distraction while it slowly turned its body into bubbles which must have just finished a minute ago. Now the only question was what they would do once popped.
The question was soon answered because every time a bubble more thuds followed and eventually the source was revealed. Crawling out of the snow were more blue Hexabeast's exactly the same to the original except from the fact that they had no Tamer on their shoulders. The only bright side of all this was that we knew where the Tamer was and the small fact that these Hexabeasts wouldn't be protected from the Teigu. The only problem was that they were still Hexabeasts so we would have a hard time killing them.
And to make it all worse I failed to notice someone sneaking up behind me. I soon felt a blade against my throat as a familiar female voice spoke, "I finally found you." I slowly turned my head and was met with the stone cold black eyes of Kurome.
Wow that Hexabeast has given me a migraine. I ended up changing its abilities around a dozen times before I finally settled on what I wanted it to do. So if there is any confusing parts left I apologize as I think I've cleared it all up but in case I did not just feel free to pm me if your confused. So anyways hoped you enjoyed the chapter! Make sure to leave a review or I will have Kurome come and steal your cookies!