AUTHOR'S NOTES:
My beta reader ran into some personal trouble which was liable to delay this chapter quite a bit and because I can do a decent job at self-editing and didn't want to make everyone wait possibly weeks on 22's cliff hanger with the chapter done, I'm gonna go ahead and upload it as is. So forgive a few small mistakes here and there. Hopefully, shouldn't be anything that detracts much from the experience. Beta read version will be uploaded when it's finished.
The Jukai was always a place of clashing emotions for Sonoko. On the one hand, the marvelous, technicolor landscape had an ethereal like beauty and mystical air to it. On the other, it signified it was time for their duty and dangerous fights ahead. The last two assaults had each almost resulted in someone's death, her own included, but Sonoko wouldn't let it dampen her spirits. Even if narrowly, they had always come out on top and nobody died yet. However, looking far out onto the bridge, she already knew this had potential to be their most difficult fight.
In the far distance, an utterly enormous Vertex floated through the air, over the roots that had replaced the Great Seto bridge. It's body wasn't stocky, like some of the other Vertex, instead having a large 'center' with a larger circle behind it, from where six long spikes protruded outward and greatly increased its form's size, five colored orange while the one reaching skyward was a pale white. But, even if most of its size was from the thin, relatively, spikes, it didn't take away from the sheer scale in the slightest. Vertex were big, but this one was another level, being easily two to even three times the size of all the others they fought, it's mid section alone being comparable to another Vertex's entire being. With the increase in size, there was the unsettling amount of power Sonoko could detect. At least it appeared alone. Perhaps the Shinju's barrier had recovered enough to keep out those little ones from before?
"Woah, that one's a lot bigger than the other's." Gin muttered, leaning forward a bit on one of her axes.
"And significantly stronger." Uneasy, Negi added with a pensive frown. "They picked the worst possible time to attack. My magic is still going to be sealed for a bit..."
Sonoko looked over toward Negi, body and clothes still pitch black with smoke coming out of them, looking the boy up and down expectantly. "Does that mean you'll be fighting with us this time?" Even if his power was heavily restricted, Negi was a strong fighter she would've liked to have against this new Vertex that felt in another league.
Negi nodded, whatever magic armament he had active fading and returning his being to a normal looking state. "Yes, this is what I was afraid of happening after last time. I don't think this is the time to hold anything back right now."
Last time? Did he notice something unusual about the Vertex too? Sonoko had been a little suspicious of how the Vertex almost seemed to adapt and start using different tactics across their various fights ever since the triple attack two fights ago, very odd for how the Taisha described them. She would have to ask him later, however, as now wasn't the time to pursue this thought. It was definitely something to factor into any plans she made to fight. A thinking enemy was a dangerous enemy.
Before anyone could make another comment, Negi raised a hand, where a ball of wind and lightning appeared, compressing itself from an initial size of his torso, down to matching his palm where Negi's fist closed around and crushed it. Like a switch was flipped, the boy's being took on a pale pink hue to it.
It was just like the first form used in their spar minutes ago, but now, Sonoko could better see all the details when he wasn't an almost constantly moving blur. The air was again almost electric, inspiring a tingly feeling in Sonoko to stand beside. Their hair wasn't quite standing to a spiked edge, but it floated as if someone were gently raising it upwards against gravity's natural force.
"We're a little far away from the bridge, so I'll go ahead and fight with the new Vertex while you catch up. Maybe I can learn some of its abilities and we can make a plan." Floating into the air, Negi instructed, looking out toward the bridge that was no more than a kilometer or two away. "I can sense another Vertex in the water, but it doesn't feel as powerful. Watch out for that too."
"Hey, we'll be right behind you, but don't go too crazy with two Vertex. Don't wanna take all the fun." Though mostly cheery and carefree as she normally was, there was uneasy concern in Gin's words and it showed in her expression with a barely there frown.
Negi answered with a confident smile. "I'll be fine, Minowa-san. I know you won't be far behind. Besides, I can't let anything happen right after I made a promise to you." With a final wave, Negi disappeared in a blur. His form resembled a lightning bolt in motion as he arrived at the bridge barely a blink later, leaving the girls on their own.
Sonoko couldn't help a little giggle, stepping forward to take the lead, giving Gin a sly look while she prepared to jump toward the bridge.
"Sonocchi, don't distract Gin right before a battle like this." Sumi scolded dryly before Sonoko could even utter a line, bracing herself as well.
"Awww… I didn't even say anything!" Sonoko whined with a pout at Sumi.
"L-Let's just go already!" Gin, blushing red, shouted and jumped off in the same instant to distance herself from any further comments. Even with no real startup, the girl still managed to clear an incredible distance with her amazing strength.
Suppressing another laugh, Sonoko sailed through the air after Gin, Sumi in tow. She knew this would be a hard battle and there wouldn't be time for many jokes, but the lighter atmosphere before going into combat helped keep Sonoko's spirits up. She understood when the time for fun was over and to get serious, but the first attack hadn't been struck and until then, being somber all the time felt bad for morale. Having something to look forward to and smile about, even something simple like everyone going to that festival, it all helped ease the worries in the back of her mind that picked at her over this coming fight.
They were going to need every edge possible for this, she could feel it.
This had been the exact scenario Negi feared. The incredible adapting power of the Vertex creating some much stronger beast in response to the last battle. He had yet to even engage the monster, but the power in it compared to the others was immensely greater, a comparison made even easier with another Vertex, one more in line with the rest faced, sensed within the water around the bridge. If he was at full strength, he would've been more than confident in winning handily, but right now it would be impossible to know until he could see it's abilities. At the least, Negi was assured in his agility right now. His current form was an older one, rendered very outdated after creating Raiten Taisou, but while noticeably behind his lightning forms, it still made him blisteringly fast, at the cost of some defensive and offensive power. It would be enough to avoid any attacks, hopefully.
Barely even a second after leaving the Heroes, Negi had crossed the several kilometer distance and touched down on a root some hundreds of meters from the oversized Vertex. The monster was far on the opposite side of the bridge, not even 1/6th across it, but it moved deceptively fast in spite of the large form, easily quicker than any of the others.
The colossal creature did not leave Negi's challenge unnoticed. In response, the large, circle-shaped part of its body behind the center point slowly parted in two. As if separating the very space itself inside the circle, a reddish, swirling gateway of energy opened in the space between the separate halves. Out of the portal, swarms and swarms of flaming creatures emerged. They were basic in shape and details, being large and oval shaped, save for a face at the front which displayed menacing large teeth over a lipless red mouth. Each one was larger than a truck, and every single one of the several dozen in the opening volley dove for Negi with malicious intent. With his drastically boosted reflexes, they almost moved in slow motion to Negi.
Magic taking shape around him for an attack, Negi prepared to meet the swarms. He wouldn't have long till the Heroes reached the bridge to gauge this Vertex safely. Time to see what this monster was capable of.
Wordlessly, he channeled magic into a couple hundred lightning Sagitta Magica arrows around him, launching the projectiles in small groups at the many flaming beasts closest to him. On impact, every one of the car sized monsters erupted into a brilliant fireball several times its size, far more violent an explosion than the arrows alone could've caused.
Highly explosive projectiles like this would be dangerous in melee. Sumi could use arrows, while he had plenty of ranged attacks and was likely fast enough to dodge even at point blank while transformed like this, but Sonoko and Gin would have a much harder time approaching with the immense numbers.
Taking to the sky, Negi rocketed forward into the opening his attack created, easily dodging and weaving between some of the remaining monsters till a clear line to the largest Vertex presented itself. Surging forth with all his speed, Negi's fist turned a light black with a dark purple rune pattern appearing over it, strengthening the force of his blow an instant before his hand collided against the giant's smaller, center body.
The air exploded and rumbled with the impact, staggering back the floating monster several body widths with an unearthly, low groan. But, even with the powerful blow, the monster wasn't even knocked to the floor and remained defiantly airborne. A small hole near 10 meters wide, yet only a few deep, had been blown away, but it was of little consolation as the Vertex healed with a frightening pace, much quicker than the others. Before it had even come to a complete stop, the damage had already begun mending itself and nearly halved the injury's size.
Negi frowned. This thing was durable. Though the force of his strikes was lowered in this form, he'd made up for it with Magia Erebea and still hit hard enough to of blown away a large chunk of the 30 meter sized Vertex's bodies he fought before.
Starting to move again to press the attack, Negi stopped when tendrils of flame appeared from the gate between the Vertex's back. The strands of fire swirled together and combined defensively in front of the Vertex, feeding into each other and taking shape into a ball of fire that swelled in size from that of a person, to well over a dozen meters wide instantaneously. In the same moment it formed and with equal speed to its creation, the energy flung itself forward like a bullet.
Breaking off, Negi had just enough time to swerve to the side as the projectile sailed cleanly past him, crossing almost the whole length of the bridge only moderately slower than he could. Losing energy and cohesion as it flew, the fireball ebbed away and vanished shortly after going past the bridge's entrance, thankfully not hitting anything. Negi could already feel the destructive power within would have far surpassed the earlier swarm combined if it struck a target.
This was rapidly spiraling in a dire direction. Even with only a single exchange, it was easy to tell this Vertex was far in a league of its own. And they still had another one to deal with another one much further along the bridge in the water. If it could create an opening for even a single attack by its larger ally, the damage could be massive. It would be a short window, but if this one could be kept back for even a short time, maybe they could finish the other Vertex before the pair could attack together.
With the thought, Negi formed a plan.
Racing around the side of his opponent's body, Negi avoided another wave of the explosive, much smaller Vertex like enemies spawned from another gate Leo created. On the right side of the center body, Negi pulled his hand back. Using the Jovis Tempestas Fulguriens he delayed from the interrupted battle and merging it with another spell using Magia Erebea, a massive lance of electricity emerged into existence with a spark of lightning. It was large, thicker than Negi was tall at all but the pointed tip, and nearly the length of a bus. Two sets of wings decorated the base of the 'blade', just above the handle of the weapon.
With a thrust of Negi's hand and crackle of lightning, the spear rocketed forward at immense speed, shooting straight past several of the egg shaped Vertex, causing them to explode yet flying clear past their destructive radius before they could even detonate. Reaching its target, the lance buried itself deep into the large Vertex's form, causing it to sway gingerly. Sunk down to the hilt and barely visible, small sparks of lightning dancing over the immediate area the lance struck. Perfect, the trap was all set now.
Work done, Negi shot straight down to the roots to avoid being caught between a group of exploding Vertex, then immediately in the direction of the base of the bridge to regroup with the other Heroes. With the spear in place, there were two possibilities now. Either his enemy would try and remove it manually somehow, causing it to explode, or he could manually detonate it if the Vertex started attacking the group while they dealt with the other one. The latter was preferable due to the potential to disrupt an attack and inflict damage. This monster was durable and regenerated fast, but this was one of his stronger spells, perhaps the strongest he could cast quickly with his magic sealed like this. It would deal at least some damage, hopefully enough to buy some extra time while it regenerated.
But then came the issue of how to actually finish it. In this state, he could likely dodge almost indefinitely, but his ability to do damage without expending a lot of energy was highly limited. With his other armationem, he would have the strength to inflict damage even with regular strikes, but trying to dodge such swarms of explosions would've been slim odds and while he could regenerate injuries, too much would be taxing on stamina right now. And untransformed wouldn't excel in either. If only he could transform into Raiten Taisou, but that would take too long to cast right now.
The odds were not looking good, with the Heroes having similar strengths and weaknesses. Trying to stall until his magic was restored would be one option, but with how fast the Vertex moved and the distance it could shoot from, it would likely get in range to fire on the Shinju well before then. This battle wouldn't be easy, but first they had to kill the other Vertex quickly, or else the odds would be stacked even further against them.
Following her teammates, Sumi landed inside the bridge's roots almost the same time Negi touched down in front of them. Before he even spoke, the girl awaited his words with dread, especially after seeing that fireball fly by on their way to the bridge.
"I don't have good news."
That one sentence sent all of Sumi's anxieties into overdrive.
"That new Vertex at the back is far stronger than any of the others, several times at least easily." Negi grimly commented, frowning.
"Can it do anything aside from launch big fireballs?" Sonoko's entire demeanor transformed to suit the situation, not entirely losing her upbeat voice but it took on a much heavier tone.
Negi nodded. "It can summon dozens, hundreds even, of these large white monsters extremely quickly. They're on fire and explode when they hit something. About the size of a car. Somewhat fast too. Don't try any physical attacks on them."
"I can help clear some with my arrows, but that's way too many to shoot down if they can keep summoning them..." Sumi muttered apprehensively, grip on her bow intensifying in frustration. She couldn't even reliably use Sagitta Magicka to supplant her arrows as anything but guidance from lack of offensive focus in their magic and it being the only directly offensive spell practice was allowed for. She could only summon maybe 51 on short notice, any more would require time to cast.
"We still have to deal with the other Vertex that's a lot closer." Sonoko spoke up, glancing toward large surge of water, masking an equally big Vertex, slightly under a kilometer out. "Maybe we can beat it first and make focusing on the big guy easier~."
"That was my plan as well. I set up something to buy us some extra time. I've got an idea to force the Vertex out of the water too, come on. We'll plan for the other one after this one's dealt with." In another flash, Negi was gone and already by a root close to the water's edge and the waves.
With one massive leap, Sumi soared into the air with her friends, attention darting toward the creature for a better look at their enemy. Despite being half-submerged and splashing through the water, she could still make out most of it, but it wasn't a Vertex Sumi recognized. The Vertex was long, with most of its bulk at the cylinder like white head, which had several holes atop it, and a few appendages coming from various parts of it. Two narrow blue tubes trailed behind it from the midsection, while several teal 'scarf' looking limbs flowed through the water behind it, making up almost two-thirds its body length from the looks.
The girl had just enough time to take in her enemy before touching down again, a short distance behind Negi. Around his hand, there was a chilling air behind the magic gathering within. Crystals of ice formed around his palm, swirling into the growing amount of magic.
"Nivus Casus!"
Slamming his hand down at the water, an avalanche of ice exploded outward from it, spreading instantly over the surface and replacing it with a sheet of ice. The freezing didn't stop at just the top layer, but continued downward into the ocean, turning well over 100 meters into a block of ice, the new Vertex beneath the waves and somewhere in it.
The mage didn't let up, more balls of magic, lightning in element, starting to form behind the other hand he pulled back, molding around it and intensifying the already present lightning aura around it. "That should hold it for a moment. Get ready to hit it if it moves or follow up."
With a nod, Sumi pulled back her bow, the circular pattern of petals appearing and starting to progressively illuminate in time with her arrow materializing. In the corner of her vision, she could see Gin winding up for a throw of her axe. Even if limited, having some extra ranged support on their team opened up many options.
Throwing a fist forward, hundreds of lightning arrows spiraled together like a focused rill, launching forward and straight through the ice like it were paper, cracking almost the entire structure apart on impact.
Barely a moment later, another section of it erupted, violently scattering what little remained. Out of the tear, the Vertex emerged, the end part of the 'tails' ripped off or torn from Negi's attack glancing the beast. It was already moving in an aggressive manner toward the group, but Sumi wasn't going to let it.
Releasing her arrow, Sumi's aim was true and hit dead center of the face's broadside and embedding deeply into the target.
"This one's go-"
Gin's swing and boast were interrupted by a sound similar to a pot letting out a blast of steam but immensely amplified. From the holes on the beast's head, jets of dark smog poured out and scattered among the air, filling the entire area with a haze that was impossible to see through almost immediately. Almost as soon as it began however, the sound was cut off by Sumi's arrow exploding.
Expecting something dangerous, Sumi held her breath., but nothing came. No choking, no irritation in her eyes, it didn't even feel like her body was being touched by the smoke. In fact, it seemed like it was being directed away from the group, going around and surrounding them instead of at them.
The girl was only momentary confused, till she saw Negi with another outstretched hand. He must've been using some kind of barrier.
"I've got this!" Sonoko confidently called out, shifting her spear into its shield form and beginning to spin it rapidly in her hands. Even without the melee optimized strength Gin had, a Heroes physical abilities were incredible and a large torrent of wind began forming from the sheer power and speed Sonoko spun her weapon, the form of her shield amplifying the effect greatly and already dispersing part of the cloud.
Looking over to Sonoko, Negi's begun to say something, only for him to tense up. "It's launching more of those exploding monsters!" Shifting in the direction the Vertex had come from, Negi's hand closed into a fist, but nothing happened that Sumi could see.
"Spring-san, take care of those, we can finish this one off!" Sonoko replied back, quickly glancing around to find their original target with most of the smoke gone and vision restored.
Joining in, while readying another arrow, Sumi quickly noticed the aquatic Vertex. The large beast had taken to the air, floating back, close to but not quite over the roots, the top bit of its head half regenerated. Far behind it, a sizable group of what Sumi assumed were the flaming, exploding monsters ahead of it and diving at them quickly. Even further, there was the large, massive Vertex. In it's 'shoulder' area along the outer ring, there was a large vortex of lightning raging that torn into the thing continuously, more monsters coming from within the gate being swallowed up by the wind and lightning, detonating if they weren't outright erased on contact and significantly slowing the tide of attacks.
Sumi pulled up her bow for an attack, but the Vertex suddenly dove directly at the group with surprising speed for its size.
Stepping forward, Sonoko raised her shield, stopping the beast's charge while barely budging after Gin added her strength by pressing her axes against it.
Before it could recover, the girls descended upon their enemy. Gin leaped from behind Sonoko's shield with a shout and started hacking away furiously at it's main body. Sumi released an arrow to damage those vents before regeneration finished. Sonoko sidestepped out of the explosive radius, shifting her weapon back into spear form and on standby. Everyone moved perfectly in time with each other, allowing virtually no breathing room.
But, the Vertex wouldn't go down without a struggle.
The 'arms' on its side, connected at the back, swung forward, slamming into the side of Gin's axes and launching the girl back toward Sumi, skidding along the roots. Most of its lower body gone, it started tipping downwards, earth and rock moving apart as it began burrowing and the sound of the vents came again, but Sumi's arrow exploded, destroying the top half of its face and stopping smoke before it could even appear, while also blowing away the little ground it had dug into. With it dazed, Sonoko charged forward and dove at remains of the white Vertex, piercing right through it and emerging out the other side of it.
Before she even landed, the familiar ritual began, the bridge lighting up with the first Vertex weakened enough to be ejected by it.
Sumi breathed a sigh of relief, they still had to deal with the big one but one down at least. However, the relief was short lived when Sumi noticed the angle Sonoko was falling.
She'd overshot by just a hair and was headed right for the water.
"S-Sonocchi, hang on!" With a running start, Sumi dove forward and reached out her free hand, grabbing Sonoko's frantically flailing hand with a tight grip and using her other to hold the root, just avoiding going over the side with her friend.
"W-Woah! Thanks, Wasshi. Guess I jumped a little too hard~. Still getting used to the extra strength~." With her own sigh, Sonoko thanked with a subdued, nervous chuckle, looking downward at the water still a small drop below.
"Watch how… much magic you put into that..." With a grunt and heave, Sumi pulled Sonoko back up. It wasn't like the fall would be dangerous, but time was of the essence right now. Trying to fish Sonoko out of the water when their remaining enemy could bombard them at such long range would waste precious moments.
Now, it was time to make a plan to kill that large one.
"One down already, good job!" Gin cheered, seeing the first Vertex fade away from view, running toward her friends getting up. It was a little odd, the Flower Calming Ceremony would normally signify the end of their battle, but now it was a sign of the real fight about to begin.
"Don't celebrate too early, Gin..." Sumi, tense as ever, muttered, rising to her feet in time with Sonoko.
In another burst of sparks, Negi appeared next to the girls, attention still in the direction of the remaining Vertex. "You took care of that pretty quick. Is everyone alright?"
A few varying confirmations answered the mage.
"What're we gonna do about the big one though..." Sonoko muttered, glancing toward it.
By now, whatever spell Negi used had subsided, a large, yet very rapidly closing, hole in the Vertex's body where it had used to be. The assault from earlier had also ceased, the beast instead menacingly floating across the bridge at a surprising pace for its enormous size, moving even quicker than before now that it wasn't attacking. For the moment, everyone had time to prepare, but how long would that last with the insane range it could attack from?
"It regenerates incredibly fast, so we'll have to keep up a strong offense. Even backing off for a little bit and any damage we do could be gone." Negi stated, crossing his arms with a glare at the advancing enemy.
"Spring-san, do you think we could hold it off till your magic is back at full power?" Sonoko asked, optimistically looking at Negi.
Negi shook his head, frowning. "I don't think so. The Vertex is moving through the bridge really fast. If it was like the others, probably, but with how far it can attack from, I think it'd end up in range of the Shinju-sama before my magic is back to full strength. Even if we're fighting to stall."
Gin hefted an axe onto her shoulder, not letting the answer damper her spirits. "We'll be fine! We've beaten plenty of Vertex before and they're not so tough once you can actually hit them. Even if we have to hit him a bunch of times, I bet we can do it all together if we can just get close enough." Gin herself had chopped up most of a Vertex's body in a couple seconds when she got her hands on it. Even restricted, she knew Negi could throw out some incredibly destructive spells as well. Combine it all with Sonoko's piercing spear and Sumi's arrows, alongside having gotten even stronger with magic, the hardest part would probably be getting the chance to hit. Even the ranged Vertex from before, Sagittarius, couldn't cover a wide area at once and shoot from across the bridge in a second.
"I think I've got an idea!" With a confident grin and glow in her eyes, Sonoko declared. "Wasshi, Spring-san, can you cover Mino-san and I getting closer?"
"I think we can. I can use Sagitta Magica to block its attacks and prepare some spells between that. When you're close enough, I can attack it with you." Finishing, Negi looked over to Sumi expectantly, expression softening.
Without any hesitation, Sumi nodded. "We'll keep up suppressing fire till you get through!"
"Perfect, that's what I was going to ask next. Don't jump in too early in case it tries to attack Wasshi~." Sonoko said with a smile, brandishing her spear with a tight grip. "Ready, Mino-san?"
"Come on, let's go before it can get any closer!" Grinning, Gin readied her own weapons and surged forward with a powerful jump. The Vertex had moved amazingly quick, almost halfway across the bridge by now. They'd probably have to close most of the distance on foot, no ability to fly, and the way Negi described the explosions didn't sound good, but they could risk a jump or two there.
Landing, Gin readied for another jump, but a fiery swam had already begun emerging and taken hold of the skies before her, blocking off potential paths. "Alright, guess we're running the rest."
"I'll go first, Mino-san!" Sonoko's voice touched down beside Gin, the blonde instantly making a small leap ahead and taking off. Her weapon morphed into a shield once more for extra protection against any which might get through Negi and Sumi's support.
"Right behind you!" Taking after Sonoko running and staying a few paces back, Gin called out with an axe raised at the ready.
Explosions and chaos soon erupted all before and above the two Heroes, the ground trembling in response to the violence. Waves of wind kicked up from the force assaulted Gin and Sonoko, occasionally slowing their pace, yet not stopping them. They were distant at first, but were progressively getting less and less distant while both the Vertex and Heroes drew closer toward each other.
The exploding Vertex were getting uncomfortably close, close enough Gin could see some starting to veer at an angle to move around Sonoko's shield. Just how many of these things could be summoned so quickly? No matter, this was what her new skills were for!
"You're not getting any closer!" With a furious shout, Gin threw her axe at the nearest fireball. The weapon sliced clean through the air and into the beast, a plume of smoke and fire launching it off course. Dammit, that was going to make getting it back harder.
Still following with Sonoko, Gin reached out with magic and tugged at the spinning axe, but it wasn't coming back fast as it typically would. Her attention was split between following Sonoko, looking for more incoming attacks, and trying to level out the weapon so it could be gripped properly on return. Another Vertex was already coming right at her!
With a grunt of mental effort, Gin yanked the axe back with a slightly altered path, slamming it against her attacker and creating another explosion, this one knocking her weapon directly toward some nearby rocky terrain. The explosion was enough, Gin felt it barely prick the edge of her passive barriers.
With another pull, the axe levitated off the ground and back toward Gin. Her supernatural senses weren't great but the number of small Vertex rushing felt far less than a short time ago, like they weren't being replenished, even some of the explosions stopped. Great, she had a moment to focus on her weapon!
"Mino-san, get close to me!"
Sonoko's panicking voice snapped Gin's attention over soon as her weapon returned to their hand. What she saw over the shield made her eyes shoot wide.
A short distance from them, another one of the fireballs that the Heroes had seen while approaching the bridge, but this one didn't stop at such a size. It continued expanding and swelling until Gin couldn't even see the Vertex behind it, utterly eclipsing the last shot in scale.
Every possible alarm ringing in Gin's head, the girl rushed forward behind Sonoko's shield, using whatever magic she could to throw up a defensive barrier, an action mirrored by Sonoko. Their defensive magic wouldn't have a chance of blocking such an enormous thing even with Sonoko's shield, but that thing screamed it would kill them without everything they could use. Something was better than nothing!
A huge rush of air, like something launching at incredible speeds by them and similar to an explosion, assaulted Gin's senses, coupled with an immense heat worse than stepping into a furnace at full blast. She expected an impact of terrifying force to crash against her and Sonoko an instant later, for fire to burn at their bodies. But it never did.
The sensation momentarily appeared above them, but then soon trailed behind them and faded almost quickly as it had come.
Fear gripping her mind at realizing the real target, Gin spun around screaming. "It's attacking Sumi and Negi-san!"
Just as she turned, Gin barely made out sparks of electricity, the image of Negi carrying Sumi's form just beneath it, off to the fireball's side, well out of its path. However, the attack didn't slam into where Sumi and Negi had been a moment ago. Instead, it passed right over, the bottom most section just scraping the root they'd used a moment ago and vaporizing it.
"No! It wasn't shooting them!" Voice shaking, Sonoko corrected.
To Gin's horror, she soon realized Sonoko was right. That attack had been meant for the Shinju! The fireball was starting to lose some strength and cohesion, but it'd surpassed the bridge and was going long past the first one's distance. Helpless to do anything from here, Gin could only watch Negi race after and overtake the fading attack. But, by some merciful miracle, the fireball lost its form before it reached the Shinju or he did anything. But it had been far too close for comfort. If Leo got much closer…
The next shot wouldn't miss.
They had to stop this thing from getting closer, they had to throw everything at it, that much Sonoko was certain of.
"Mino-san, there's not any more of the fiery Vertex, let's go before it can summon more!" Shifting her weapon to its offensive spear form, Sonoko leaped forward at their enemy. At this distance, they could get to it in one jump. It didn't appear to have any other forms of attack beyond things summoned from the gate around the back of its body. They needed every opening while Sumi and Negi set up again!
"We'll stop it here!" Gin's voice came from behind her.
With a shout, Sonoko stabbed about midway up the orange on the lower left. Instead of sailing right through it as her spear so often did against Vertex, Sonoko instead stopped dead with her weapon halfway buried, like a nail in a wall. How tough was this? She'd maimed Vertex with this same move! Grunting and summoning up all her strength, spiking it briefly even higher with magic, Sonoko kicked off the Vertex's body, swinging her spear in one direction and carving a hole across one side, yet failing to completely slice through it. It was as if she were trying to slice thick meat with a butter knife.
Without even needing to give an order, Sonoko saw Gin's axe sail into her vision and slice though the strands still holding the spike on both sides. Cut loose, the massive body part almost the height of a normal Vertex, crashed onto the roots below, tipping over with another tremor.
Before Sonoko could begin to smile, the injured 'limb' was already visibly regenerating, enough that it'd healed almost 1/4th the damage by the time Sonoko touched the ground. That was only one spike. The Vertex had six and that wasn't even accounting for it's much bulkier main body.
Trying to out damage that regeneration would not be easy.
Sonoko spared a brief glance to Gin attacking another limb before readying her own. Glowing with a fiery red aura, her axe sliced into the spike, cutting near entirely through it with one slash, and a second one severing it.
Sensing a disturbance, swaths of the flaming Vertex started merging in force from the rip in reality around the Vertex's back, the white masses heading straight for the girls.
Before they could get far, a tremendous surge of wind and lightning blasted into the lower right half of the Vertex, erasing a small section of the hoard while impacting with such force, the monster was sent staggering back several dozen meters.
"Nice hit, Spring-san!" Sonoko praised with a grin. The attack had done less damage than she would've expected from something that size, but a section of the Vertex's 'outer circle' had been erased and one of the curved, downward pointing 'daggers' of an arm likewise had part of it blown off.
Dashing forward, Sonoko took wide hops to get around the flaming swarm coming for her. Negi was now trying to attack and cover this, leaving only Sumi as a dedicated attacker for them, but Sonoko wanted to avoid melee if she could help it at this range. It was growing increasingly difficult with the sheer numbers called forth now, there had to be hundreds and hundreds of these, but if they could just damage it enough for the Flower Calming Ceremony, it wouldn't matter!
Making another offensive lunge, Sonoko aimed for a spike jutting out directly side ways. Getting right close to the center of the swam's spawning portal was too risky, while Gin and Negi, especially Negi, had much higher firepower than her. They could focus on the tougher bits. She could whittle down the outside while also being a distraction for the small Vertex like this by just enough damage. Unrelenting offense was essential with something that healed this fast.
This time, Sonoko went high enough to give her a mild decent, slashing downward with the spear. As expected, the weapon became stuck, but Sonoko was prepared for this now. Throwing her body forward, Sonoko kicked off the Vertex limb, avoiding one of its projectiles hitting her by a hair, and vaulted around the back side of the spike. Spinning in her descent, Sonoko slashed at the already damaged point, satisfyingly taking the rest of it off. And the descent put her right in the path of the already near regenerated part from earlier.
Before she could raise her spear, motion flicked her head to the side, one of the monsters was right upon her and going to bite with its enormous mouth!
Around her exposed side and no time, Sonoko defensively raised her forearm on reflex alongside a barrier, but the monster bite right into her arm and continued charging, dragging her in the direction of the roots. Why hadn't it exploded yet? Never mind that, she had to remove it before it did!
With just enough time to prepare, Sonoko managed to dig her heels into the ground and come to a stop, a sense of building energy coming from the Vertex that was, thankfully unsuccessfully, trying to tear through her suit. Yanking her arm out of its mouth, Sonoko backstepped and reinforced her barriers a moment before it exploded. The blast wave slammed into her shielding, rocking the transparent, almost glass like wall before her and spreading cracks across it, but just barely managing to hold through most of the blast and render what reached her little more than unpleasant.
Not even having a chance to breath, Sonoko was forced to leap sideways, away from Leo. Two more of the creatures assaulted where she had been a moment ago. Did they only explode on being attacked and not right away if they attacked? That would give them some breathing room, but not much.
Landing, Sonoko rapidly took in the battle to try and consider a new approach. Overall, it didn't look like they were even making much progress. Bits and pieces of the Vertex were damaged, Negi was now in that other black form and striking the monster left a sizable hole in its center but was forced to back off over half the swarm coming at him, the boy retaliating with a mass of Sagitta Magica. Gin, meanwhile, was having mild success hacking at the monster, able to cut up portions of the ring with several aggressive slices. Most of the swarm was after Negi, but without flight, her mobility was drastically more limited and Gin couldn't commit to any lasting attacks. The exploding Vertex were also avoiding bunching up too much, minimizing how much could be destroyed at once with all but Negi's widest area spells.
"Mino-san, behind you!" Sonoko screamed out, seeing four Vertex about to reach Gin.
Just in time, Gin spin around, hopped back, and threw one axe at the closest, but the explosion set off a cascading chain reaction with the Vertex around, catching Gin in the blast wave and hurdling the girl back to the roots like a throw stone with a dull thud alongside her axe.
"Mino-san, are you okay?" Rushing to Gin's side, while keeping her spear protectively at the ready in case of any further attacks, Sonoko tensely asked.
Not giving Gin a chance to answer, another flaming Vertex charged.
In response, Sonoko shifted her weapon once more. Instead of forming her normal spear, she instead used the energy as only part of the basis. With her affinity for shadow magic, Sonoko weaved several dark strands into the bladed portion at the base, interlacing it with the normal spear tip she made for support, extending the weapon's reach more than twice over. With one quick motion, Sonoko turned the Vertex into a fireball, part of her weapon unsteadily rattling. This left her weapon brittle and unsuited for attacking her typical enemies, but against such weak opponents, it gave her much needed range with that explosion.
"I'm fine!" Gin quickly affirmed with a jump to her feet, recalling her discarded axe back to her palm. "But damn, this Vertex is tough. Got any ideas, Sonoko?" Gin uttered the words with a frustrated grumble, already poised to leap at the Vertex again.
Sonoko's mind raced to think of a plan. They were able to keep the Vertex in a state of constant damage and healing, but for every step taken forward, another was taken back. The sheer quantity of the swam and lack of wide area attacks meant old wounds healed by the time new ones came. And then there was Sumi, who was tied up shooting down the flaming Vertex, distracting some of the swarm but unable to provide support to everyone else with those after her. The sheer strength the Vertex could bring to bear made it hard to support each other in any coordinated manner
Several hundred ticking time bombs already out, massive tendrils of fire emerged from the gate, forming a ball before the Vertex. But something was different, worryingly. The fireball didn't swell in size like before, it appeared to intensify in its glow, remaining at a small size till it burned a hot white that Sonoko could feel even from the distance.
The only thing that saved Sonoko in the next moment was preemptively forming her shield.
There was a flash and something coming toward her, only enough time to raise her shield a fraction of an instant before impact. The force which slammed into her was otherworldly, so much it swept Sonoko off her feet with Gin, holding her friendly tightly. Heat and pain assaulted her whole body. Her hands felt like they were gripping a hot iron instead of her spear. The impact slammed her back against the ground and dragged her violently over it like she'd been run over by a car. All the factors threatened to wrench the spear forcibly from her hands, yet she clung onto it with every ounce of strength she could summon, drawing from the deepest reserves her body could unearth, even as the nerves in her hands screamed for gripping it. The one constant in Sonoko mind was the certainty that if she lost her defense against this, death would be instant.
She didn't know how long this thing assaulted her and turned the world white, how far it dragged her or how long she screamed, but eventually, somehow, the force stopped. Sensing instant death gone, Sonoko's hands gave out, dropping her weapon and falling to her sides.
"SONOCCHI! GIN!" Sumi's voice of pure terror screamed from an oddly close distance.
The world was still a disoriented mess, specs of white fading and starting to reveal bits of the Jukai, but Sonoko at least made out Sumi's form land beside her, the girl instantly rushing over and crouching down. Sonoko tried to move and assure her friend, but so much as beginning to twitch sent a horrible sensation up her body. Her arms near refused to listen to her, any strength gone and feeling more like jelly than anything solid.
"S-Stay still for a second while I heal you!" Sumi voice was rattled, but determined. Both of her hands stuck out and she muttered a few rapid words, causing a soft green glow to appear over her palms.
It wasn't significant, but through Sumi's efforts, Sonoko felt her body starting to mend. Strength returned to her limbs, a touch of clarity came back to her mind, and some of the burning sensations over several places of her body dulled. "Thanks, Wasshi..." Sonoko muttered, allowing her eyes to close for just a moment while she collected herself again. It was hard to truly relax in the current situation, especially when several more terribly violent rumbles and explosions rocked the land, but she wasn't getting back up without Sumi's help.
"D-Dammit… What the hell was that?" Gin groaned from Sonoko's other side, followed by sounds of her shuffling upright. The girl didn't sound as injured as Sonoko was, thankfully.
"Gin, it's harder when you move!" Sumi chided, worry dripping from her voice.
"Minowa-san, please listen to Washio-san. We don't have a lot of time."
"N-Negi-san?! S-Shouldn't you be fighting the Vertex?!"
Negi and Sumi's exchange snapped Sonoko's eyes back open, darting over to him. The boy had switched up appearances yet again, now in the electrified form from earlier. Behind the glow of healing magic he was using to help Sumi, there was fading wisps of the same steam he'd had when Sonoko glanced him in training. With two people healing, Sonoko felt the process accelerate, but Sumi was right, nobody distracting their enemy would make an easy opening!
"I used one of the spells I prepared earlier on it, strongest one I can use quickly. It should give us a little time to take care of this while it recovers or the others catch up." The boy answered with a strained smile, half glancing over to the battlefield. "I wasn't sure if you'd be okay after that."
"What… happened?" Sonoko asked with a wince, trying to avoid moving too much, yet attempting to crane her neck enough to follow Negi's gaze.
"The Vertex fired something like a laser. It tore through all the Jukai in its path like nothing. I didn't know if you and Gin were still alive..." Sumi trailed off with a shutter.
"I think that's the best we can do right now." Negi interrupted with a grumbled, retracting his hands.
Healing done, Sonoko stopped trying to restrain herself and slowly pushed their body upright, with some difficulty. Much of her was still in some form of subdued pain, her back and hands especially still throbbed, and she was far from even good condition, but she could at least fight again. What she saw hammered in just how close she and Gin had brushed death.
Through the roots of the Jukai, there was a tremendously long trench carved through the landscape, mere meters from Sonoko's feet. Around the sides, the roots were scorched and burned, decayed as Vertex normally caused with their presence, while the center areas were a sickening charcoal black. In some sections, there were gaps where the roots were simply gone, exposing a clear view of the lake below. It had to be easily several hundred meters long, probably even over a kilometer, and pushed them past even where Sumi was firing from.
The damage from this was the most she had ever seen a Vertex do. Damage was reflected in the real world, so what would something this destructive potentially cause as a backlash? And how much more damage would happen by the end? It had done that with a single move, it had made Sonoko feel like it was about to die in a single move. And with this break, it was going to end up healing itself too!
"What's it doing now?" Tense, anxious even, Gin started rising to her feet.
Eyes trailing up with dread, things were even worse than Sonoko expected. Far in the distance, even further back than they had been engaging it, the large Vertex floated with almost half of its entire left side gone, a swarm of the flaming Vertex surrounding it. Instead of flying forward to try attacking them, the Vertex instead flew at their summoner, diving into the slowly healing injuries. To Sonoko, and everyone else's, abject horror, the regeneration process started increasing drastically with every that touched into it, their shape dissolving and merging with the giant Vertex to replenish its body. The already terrifying healing process was being kicked into overdrive, nearly doubling from what it had been before.
"It… It can heal even faster. Even if we destroyed most of its body it could recover immediately..." Sumi lowly whispered, fear seeping into her words.
How were they supposed to beat this? A Hero didn't give up, but how could they out damage this absurd regeneration? Even if they could damage it enough to force this again, they just couldn't cover everything. If they inflicted moderate damage, it could counter quick enough to heal. If they inflicted severe damage, the swarm would be too numerous to completely stop and just enough of its body would be restored to go back on the offensive. They would need one massive attack or several that could blow apart its body all at once. Only Negi and Gin had enough power to do notable and consistent damage, but even that just wasn't enough. The only consolation was it had stopped moving during this process.
Gin let out a frustrated groan. "Arg! This thing just shrugs off everything we hit it with! Can't believe there's a Vertex this strong… There's gotta be something we can do. We can't give up, no matter how tough they are." Even despite her visible anger, despite parts of her uniform being singed or burned away, despite some pain in her features, Gin unshakable conviction still burned brightly. It was a reassuring thing for Sonoko, no matter how badly the odds may've been stacked against everyone.
"It doesn't look like it can move as much when it's seriously injured. Maybe we could use that to hold it off?" Sonoko pondered, standing with some support from her spear. She didn't find the prospect an optimistic one, considering how heavily injured she and, to a lesser extent, Gin had been. If Sumi and Negi didn't have healing magic, Sonoko would've been out of the fight for sure.
"I might..." Negi paused to take a deep breath, standing back up unsteadily. "I might have an idea."
Seeing the other have some difficulty standing, Gin looked over at the boy with worry. "What is it, Negi-san? You doing alright?"
"I'm just not used to fighting at this level and haven't been managing my stamina the best, but listen, we don't have much time." Negi brushed off the concerning, motioning over to the Vertex. By now, it had near fully healed itself and would start moving or attacking in mere seconds.
"There's a spell I can use which I'm certain will destroy enough of this Vertex for the Flower Calming Ceremony to remove it, maybe even destroy it completely. Ten times stronger than anything else I've hit it with."
At this, all three girls drew closer.
"I haven't used it yet, because I'd have to stay still and take a while to cast it right now, and because the radius of it. Even if I used extra magic to focus the radius to as small as possible while still hitting the Vertex's whole body, and I'm not sure if I have the energy for that now, I'm still certain it'd destroy at least a few hundred meters of the Jukai with how it's staying close. Completely." Negi continued, frowning pensively.
"But you have a way around that, don't you?" Sonoko stated levelly. She had an idea where he was going and she already felt nervous.
Negi nodded slowly, yet speaking quickly. "We're going to knock it away from the bridge, far out onto the water where there's no worries about collateral damage."
"Eh? How are you going to do that? What about the Flower Calming Ceremony? That can't work if it's away from the bridge!" Sumi protested, tilting her head in confusion. "The Vertex can't even leave the bridge outside of crossing all of it anyway!"
Undeterred, Negi smirked in response. "I'm aware and have plans for it. I've made a spell specifically designed to break even the best barriers. I'm sure this will work. Once it's out on the water is where you'll come in. In case it's still alive, I doubt I'll have enough energy to bring it back. I'm going to need you to go out and throw it back here fast. Enough of it's body should be destroyed for you to do that. Nogi-san, you can use your weapon to make a platform to stand on the water with, can't you?" Negi looked over to Sonoko intensely.
"Not a very big one, but you can leave it to me!" Sonoko confidentially answered with a smile. She had made stairs for Sumi before and some platforms in training, she could do this. She had to do this.
Negi opened his mouth to speak again, only for his attention to dart in the direction of the Vertex with an annoyed grunt. "We don't have more time to explain."
As Negi had said, they were out of time to talk. The Vertex was fully recovered and had crossed what little distance it lost, halfway over the scar in the Jukai. The gate behind it was already opening threateningly for an attack as it slowed.
Negi's gaze shot over to the Heroes again, speaking quickly. "I'll need you to protect me while I cast, not more than 30 seconds. I need to bait it into attacking me with its strong attacks, charging mine as a lure. Barriers can take a few hits, so don't risk yourself. Just trust me." The boy floating up but still glanced expectantly, at the Heroes for some confirmation.
He wanted to let himself get attacked by one of those giant fireballs or lasers? It sounded insane to Sonoko, but he had what sounded like their best shot and there wasn't much of a choice, even if it was risky. He surely had something else up his sleeve.
"I trust you, Negi-san. We've got this!" Gin was the first one to speak up, readying an axe to throw at any approaching hoards. "Don't do anything too crazy yourself."
"I'm ready to go~." Sonoko affirmed with another nod, spear gripped with both hands.
"I hope this plan works. I'll do what I can for it." Sumi answered last, materializing her bow and arrow.
Negi's expression shifted into a more confident, assured smile. "Thank you, everyone. I promise it'll work. Now, let me get its attention!" Pulling back his hand, sparks and lightning intensified around Negi, combining and twisting into one, weaving into destructive energy, a display Sonoko had seen before, yet it wasn't as powerful this time, the effects were more subdued.
Launching his hand forward, a thunderstorm erupted from his palm, but more condensed and focused, smaller scale than his usual cast of Jovis Tempestes Fulguriens. The almost drill of wind and lightning effortlessly plowed through the center of the advancing fireballs, taking a sizable number of them, on its path to the super Vertex, where it slammed into the monster and was stopped dead. The Vertex barely stumbled backward from the impact, the elements scattering across its front violently before the spell dispersed and lost form.
With a spark, Negi dashed backward a moderate distance into the air, where energy building around him.
Defiantly standing in the air not more than a kilometer from the Vertex, Negi pulled back his hand and begun focusing all the magic power he could. He hadn't wanted it to come to this, to use the strongest spell he knew even at a weakened state like this, but there was no choice. They had been forced back too much, and if the Vertex got past where he was, only a short distance from the bridge's entrance, it's next shot would hit the Shinju and destroy everything.
It's advance stopped here.
Without even having started his chant, the sheer level of power Negi was calling upon was manifesting visibly. The ground beneath him started shaking gently, slowly starting to build in intensity alongside the swelling magic. Tiny bits of the stone platforms besides the roots were shaking off small pieces. But the most obvious wasn't the effect on the environment, it was the reaction inspired by his preparation. All the swarms attacking for their master, both the few which remained and new ones being summoned were moving in a direct path at him, sparing not even a glance to the other girls. Negi took a deep breath.
Here went everything
"Ras Tel Ma Scir Magister, To symbolaion diakonêtô moi-" With the incantation, the spell began taking form. Negi's hand crackled and surged with lightning like so many spells he cast, yet the magnitude was incomparable to before. The greatest spells he cast before were as a spark beside a storm. Even its early stages appeared like a wild eruption that was barely contained. Bolts of lightning surged from his palm almost uncontrollably, strands the width of small buildings flung outward from the raging storm around Negi's hand, the arcs of electricity contained just enough to not slam into any of the surroundings.
As if sensing the danger, the flaming white Vertex viciously dove toward Negi, trying to close the gap with all the speed they could, but the Heroes refused to let them. Sumi's arrows flew, small collections of Sagitta Magica branching off from them mid flight to create a wider spread and hit more targets, if only a few. Gin threw her axes with all her strength to cleave apart their enemies. Sonoko extended her spear's reach with shadow magic, reaching targets with melee strikes otherwise out of her range. The girls moved as quickly as possible, but with two already quite injured and their movements slowed even wit healing and the sheer number, the swarm drew ever closer.
"-basileu Ouraniônôn! Epigenêthêto, aithalous-" But Negi refused to cease, no matter how close the enemies got. He trusted the girls completely to take out just enough. This was their best shot. They would succeed.
A few of Sumi's arrows detonated a hoard drawing dangerously close, yet one emerged from the explosions unscathed and rushed Negi, slamming into a barrier. It was only thanks to his immense familiarity with this spell was he able to cast it while chanting simultaneously.
The impact only gave Negi momentary pause in his focus and chant, but he quickly refocused, even as the Vertex continued slamming aggressively into the barrier while glowing brightly, ready to explode while the girls continued fending off more, the explosions of its companions close enough to feel.
"-keraune os Titênas phtheirein-" Nearly complete, the magnitude of the spell had grown even more. Without even touching the ground, it visibly trembled around him as an intense earthquake shook it. The lightning had taken shape into a large rune circle behind Negi's being, a circle which crackled and sparked with even more terrifying lighting than Negi's hand did. The storm was approaching a peak now, nearly the entire area surrounding Negi outside his person almost entirely filled with lightning, only the longest individual bolts able to be discerned from the almost solid-looking mass of coursing power.
The Vertex finally exploded, assaulting his barrier and cracking sections of it, but the smoke was immediately blown away admits the raging tempest of electricity that surrounded the area, giving immediate vision which confirmed what his other senses already detected.
The massive Vertex had switched tactics after it's initial wave failed to disrupt the growing power. Instead of more of the small white beasts coming from its portal, the familiar tendrils of flame balled into a circle before it, swelling and growing with rapid intensity. It was rising to meet Negi's challenge head on.
"-Êcatontakis kai kiliakis astrapsatô!" Two words now. Two words would be all it would take to unleash the spell now begging to be let forth. But he couldn't yet. All the pieces were in place, he just had to wait. With his foe matching him, the spell around Negi began to slowly calm, the mage setting up to delay the cast.
The fireball expanded in a flash from the size of the Vertex's 'head' to nearly the width of its whole body. With a thunderous rattle of the land, the sphere shot forward with incredible speed. A few remaining small Vertex were consumed on contact, some of the damaged roots from its earlier attack instantly burning to dust as it passed over them, the Heroes ducking behind others to ensure they were out of the way. The attack was perfectly aimed to slam into Negi at the dead center.
The heat came off the blazing ball in rapidly intensifying waves, advancing like a wall of death with every moment. But even as it drew closer, Negi didn't unleash his spell to counter it. Just a little bit closer and…
Perfect.
Negi stretched out his other hand when the attack was meters from impact. In the exact same moment, a second rune circle appeared beneath him in a mandala pattern, intricately woven with several smaller circles across it and over a dozen meters in size.
The blaze slammed into his palm like a trick and stopped dead. The second rune circle moved from beneath Negi to behind it. With it, the fireball started doing exactly what Negi wanted. It started shrinking.
Magia Erebea was rooted in absorbing spells into one's own person, rooted in the darkness from which everything came from and returned to. He could take his own magic and easily absorb it since he was working from the ground up in creating in. But an enemy's attack was already formed, it couldn't be so easily absorbed. However, with the proper ritual and inscription, things he had set up between the fighting with his great speed, it was possible to turn an enemy's own strength against them, no matter how overwhelming. It was long past the time to hold even something like this back from the Vertex.
With even quicker speed than the Vertex had formed it, the fireball continued to diminish, down till it was no bigger than Negi's palm, where the child's fingers wrapped around the sphere and crushed it like glass. The reaction was immediate, manifesting as a burst of flames that surrounded Negi, before vanishing inward to his form. With it came a tremendous feeling of power as the attack was converted into energy for Negi's use. He had sensed the disparity between other Vertex before, but with it's own strength now his, it was even more apparent their earlier efforts were little more than a nuisance.
Wasting not a moment, Negi launched forward with all the speed he could muster. He didn't know if Vertex were capable of surprise, but either because of that or natural recovery time from such an attack, it was slow on the follow-up. Negi was nearly in its face when more of the fiery small ones begun emerging out the portal.
Empowered with power far past his current abilities, Negi slammed into the ring around the Vertex's body, shoving at it with such force the Vertex instantly spun almost 90 degrees like it were light as paper. Now perfectly lined up at the 320 meter wide gap between two of the bridge's many pillars, Negi struck at the dead center of the Vertex's body, applying all his strength and some of its own to shove the beast like it were light as paper.
Pushing his super speed to the fullest, Negi raced ahead of the Vertex while it flew. Aiming right for the gap between the pillars, Negi's hand twisted and changed from a normal person's palm, into a long, demonic like claw. Sumi was right, the Vertex would get stopped dead if they attempted to leave the bridge through the sides. He had to fix that.
Drawing upon more of the absorbed power, Negi swung at the open air. His outstretched palm collided with an invisible wall, meeting only momentary resistance till the air exploded into a fireball from the sheer force of the impact, a shockwave rippling through the air and beginning to stir waves in the water below as he felt the barrier break. It wasn't the entire barrier, but he'd more than smashed a huge enough hole to fling this monster through. This same technique had shattered barriers granted by The Lifemaker before, he knew it wouldn't fail him here.
Before the Vertex could come to a stop or the water below could propagate a proper wave from the aftershock, Negi raced backward and repositioned himself directly in front of his target for one final push. Dashing at full force, Negi pulled back his fist while his transformation faded. The spell reconstructed itself into its proper form, infusing itself into his fist alongside all the remaining strength absorbed by the earlier attack. With everything he could possibly summon, Negi punched as hard as he could.
The impact was tremendous, earth shattering. An earthquake shook an entire section of the bridge, the two closest pillars visibly wobbling. What little of a hoard had been summoned to aid the largest Vertex were vaporized in the shockwave, their own explosions overshadowed into unnoticability by the strike, A tremendous Jovis Tempestes Fulgureins erupted from Negi's fist in time with the impact. Massively empowered, the storm of wind and lightning instantly catapulted the 100 meter Vertex like it were light as paper, hurtling it like a rocket straight between the much larger pillars at incredible velocity. The water beneath it split into a deep trench as the monster helplessly flew into the open waters faster than any bullet. Further and further the Vertex was launched, till at last the spell fizzled out into nothingness, the left over force continuing to carry the highly damaged creature yet more distance.
Flying back to the Jukai, Negi landed on the closest root and turned to face the direction the Vertex was flung. It seemed to be finally coming to a stop almost five kilometers from the bridge. That'd be more than far enough.
He could sense the girls jumping over to him, but Negi didn't pay it any mind for the moment. Now, it was time for the final blow. With a downward swung of his hand, Negi called out two words.
"KILIPL ASTRAPÊ"
It was instant. Several kilometers in the sky, a gigantic lightning bolt which dwarfed even the Vertex, surged down and struck the creature. Where the Vertex was visible, a solid sphere of lightning entirely replaced everything within hundreds of meters to even kilometers. Tsunamis nearly the Vertex's size surged from the lake in all directions, many disrupted by water boiling immediately on impact. Smaller bolts of lightning, still the size of buildings, forked off violently in all directions for several kilometers and almost tripled the effective radius, electrifying and vaporizing entire swaths of the lake, rapidly expanding the immense hole punched in it by the impact. For several seconds, the stream of lightning danced across the surface with several storm's worth of lighting scattering by the second, some strands even reaching so far as to nearly touch the bridge. A shockwave from the explosion slammed into the side of the wall, shaking several almost every support pillar face it violently, even extending to the land itself and rumbling it with the intensity of the greatest earthquakes. Carried by the blast wave, tsunamis of water so tall some splashed over the roots of the Jukai inside, slammed into the bridge.
Eventually, the lightning stopped bombarding the area, the thunderous bolt from the heavens wider than a skyscraper trailing off and the sphere of destruction beginning to subside with it.
"Wow… You weren't kidding about how strong that was, my ears are still ringing..." Gin muttered, awe in her voice.
"It… Has to be dead after that, right?" Cautious, yet hopeful, Sumi added.
With the world starting to stabilize, it would've been easy to think the beast gone. Surrounding where the epicenter of the impact had been, there was a massive hole in the ocean side that had to be almost four kilometers wide. Along much of the bottom, the bedrock had been blasted away and carved a hole several hundred meters deep, the bottom floor still glowing a molten white hot and creating massive clouds of steam as water from the surrounding area rushed into the hole to seal it back up. Even in his weakened state and focusing the blast to a smaller radius, the aftermath was almost like a meteor impact. But even despite that…
"… It's still alive, barely." Not intending to make the mistake of celebrating before confirming the kill as he had once before, Negi stretched out his sense and still detected the Vertex. Its presence was drastically weakened, just barely and stubbornly clinging on. It'd definitely be enough for the Flower Calming Ceremony.
"Alright, then it's our turn now~!" Sonoko said confidently. "Mino-san, Wasshi, let's go before it can recover!" With those words, Sonoko leaped off, followed immediately by Sumi.
"Take it easy, Negi-san, we've got this." Flashing Negi a confident smirk, Gin jumped after her friends.
Negi returned the smile, watching them cross the gap at a quick pace. Though more than spent, he had only enough magical power left for a single spell of moderate power at best, Negi couldn't truly relax until the battle was over. But, that was out of his hands now, it was up to the Heroes. And he was confident in their ability to finish this.
Approaching the devastation left by Negi's spell, what remained of the Vertex more clearly entered Sumi's view. The imposing visage of the creature had been left a wreck of its former glory, the ring which had surrounded its body before had been absolutely destroyed. The two dagger-like 'hands' likewise didn't have so much as a trace visible. The only thing which remained of the Vertex was the top half of its center body, but even that was heavily damaged, exposing something odd. Most of the 'skin' had been blown away and was gradually regenerating, marketable slower than normal. But beneath it there was some kind of weird, metallic looking structure, a few cracks spreading across it.. It was incredibly small next to the formerly massive Vertex, not much larger than a car if Sumi had to guess from her limited view. Before she could inspect it any closer, the deepest layer of the Vertex healed over it and blocked any view, starting to mend parts of its body further from the center.
What even was that? It looked like some kind of core. How and why did the Vertex have something so unnatural looking? They were supposed to be because of the virus outside the wall, weren't they? As much as Sumi wanted to pursue these questions, she pushed them aside for the moment. This thing had to be blasted back onto the Great Seto Bridge while it was so crippled. Even if slowed, they were on a tight time limit with its regeneration.
"I'm gonna make a platform right behind it~! That'll let us punch it right back!" Sonoko called out, throwing a quick glance to Sumi and Gin behind her.
Sumi and Gin both called out a response.
Sailing past the Vertex in a sharp downward arc, the tip of Sonoko's weapon began glowing a bright purple, several lances of energy shooting from it far ahead of the group, coming to a stop about halfway down their enemy's body. The lances of energy aligned beside one another, before starting to lose their glow and solidify, changing into a small platform not much more than several meters wide, colored deep purple exactly like the stairs Sonoko summoned for Sumi in their fight with Capricorn.
The target was small, but with having followed Sonoko's jump closely, all the Heroes managed to land on the tiny footing, though Sonoko and Gin's landings were less than perfectly steady, Sonoko's knees in particular almost buckling before she could stabilize herself.
"Everyone ready?" Sonoko called out before either Sumi or Gin could voice any concerns for her.
"Kinda plain to finish em like that after a big finishing move, but guess we don't have too many options." Half heartedly, Gin grumbled in a mostly joking manner. The end of the long battle being in sight lifted the group's spirits.
Sumi merely answered with a resolute nod.
Between Negi's challenge to the regenerating Vertex, Sonoko had already devised a plan with the team, knowing time would be short with how quick it recovered. They were all going to jump at what remained and shove it with every ounce of strength their enhanced bodies could muster at once. It was a simple plan, but there weren't many flashy ways for how to toss it several kilometers back to the bridge other than raw strength. Even with it having nearly its entire body vaporized, the massive Vertex was still over half the size of the ones they usually fought.
"Alright, one… two..." All three of the Heroes braced themselves for another leap, drawing on as much of their remaining energy as possible.
"Three!"
In perfect unison, Sumi jumped forward with her friends, throwing her entire body against the Vertex with a tremendous shove. With all the Heroes strength combined, the Vertex flew with amazingly quick speeds back over the water, flung like a bullet out a gun the girls were a firing mechanism to.
Recoiling back from the attack, Sumi dropped right down into the now still ocean with a splash, Sonoko's platform gone with all her energy focused on shoving and going out of range. Prepared for this, Sumi scrambled back to the water's surface with anxiety gripping her heart.
Head out of the water, Sumi's attention tuned out everything, aside from the sounds of her friends likewise surfacing, to focus on the flying Vertex. If it didn't reach the bridge, then everything would be for nothing and it would be able to march up to the Shinju unopposed.
"Come on, make it!" Gin aggressively called out as the Vertex started to visibly slow down in the last few hundred meters to the bridge.
"Just a little bit more…!" Sumi watched with her chest tight. Just another hundred meters, another fifty, it'd almost stopped by this point. It was so close!
The Vertex sailed between two support beams of the bridge, stopping not even ten meters after.
They had won.
"We did it!" Sonoko enthusiastically cried out, making several excited splashes in the water as the Flower Calming Ceremony started occurring.
Sumi let out a long, deep sigh as the tension gripping her whole body gave way to the chilling water of the way. "I never want to face another Vertex like that again..." They had to get stronger, much stronger if they would have any hope of defeating more monsters like this. She could only hope this one was a unique existence, especially considering that core like structure she didn't recall any of the others having.
A rumble that shook the entire Jukai caused rippled across the water, signifying the end of forestization. The end of the most difficult battle they'd had.
"Man, am I glad that's over. My whole body hurts. Lot better than before though, thanks, Sumi." Gin stated with an exaggerated sigh, leaning back on the comforting, cool grass of the hill they were transported to. She hadn't been quite as heavily injured as her stand against the three Vertex, but she and Sonoko had still sustained some heavy injuries, mitigated somewhat by Sumi and Negi's healing. Sumi had even applied some extra healing to her and Sonoko after forestization ended, a fact helped by how she was the most lightly injured out of everyone until her stamina had given out too and brought the girl down to the grass.
"You're… Welcome, Gin..." Sumi muttered between breaths, looking over at the girl with a tired, but none the less relieved smile.
"I think Nogi-san's already passed out." Negi's voice, the boy in a sitting position instead of lying down, commented with a weary tone.
Indeed, the blonde and leader of the Heroes was already fast asleep, snoring with an exhausted, yet content smile over her face. Gin was almost jealous of her ability to pass out so quickly, a nap sounded nice right about now. Maybe just closing her eyes a bit wouldn't hurt...
"Wait..." Sumi, started in a worried voice, rolling over and slowly, laboriously, pushing herself up somewhat. "What… About sensei…?"
Gin's eyes flung right back open. Oh, that was right. They had left their teacher back on the mountain. The same mountain which wasn't practical to get down from without teleporting, which was only usable by the one almost completely out of magic right now!
"I'll pick her up once the seal on myself runs out shortly." Negi smoothly answered, glancing down at his wrist momentarily. If one of you could contact her though..."
"I'll do it." Gin lazily raised her hand momentarily, only to then let it limply flop down on the grass once she was sure it got noticed.
Slowly, Gin dug into her pocket for her phone, pulling it out and starting to text a message with sluggish taps.
"That was a crazy awesome spell, Negi-san. Gotta teach me how to do that someday..." Gin said gingerly between her message. If she had the energy, she would've been a lot more visibly excited over it, but she could do that when she didn't feel like passing out. Negi and Sumi didn't have the same skill in healing magic Fate had and she still had some of those injuries, even if mostly healed. Hopefully, they wouldn't mess with her plans in a few days.
No, like hell she would let that happen. Heroes could heal quick next to normal people, she'd be fine by then. And even if they would, Gin would've gone anyway short of physically being unable to walk. It was both nervous and even a little exciting at the same time, or maybe that second part was there more from her mind being too tired to think too much about it. She could… Worry about that later. Worry about what to do with future Vertex like this, if any existed, later. For now, they had won, they had kept Shikoku safe again, even in the face of a Vertex which felt stronger than the rest combined.
For now, it was a time to just be happy the world and everyone important to her was still around.
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Whew. That was a long chapter. Longest single thing I've ever written by far. Only one chapter left till the whole story is wrapped up for now. I've already made some decent progress on it, with the goal being to upload it by the third anniversary for this on July 19th. Hard to believe I've been at this for about 3 years. Time sure flies. Hope the story has been fun for you readers, always love to hear thoughts.
And secondly, with the story coming to a close soon, I felt like the presentation could've been a little better, so I've gone through and added chapter titles to everything. The majority are flower language for something, mainly the WaSuYu focus chapters, while Negima/mixed focus was more normal to keep with both series naming themes. Can you guess which ones? I also, on a smaller note, did a mild revision to chapter 1. No major sequence changes, but the chapter was more written from third person omniscient and my style since changed to third person limited from 2 onwards, so I touched it up to better gel with he fic's style
Oh, and one spell is normally cast in Ancient Greek, but with it stopping and starting a few times, I used the transliteration Negima provided, because the normal Ancient Greek text felt too hard to follow, but wanted to avoid using plain English if I could with how Negima usually goes. Original text is in the spell translations below.
SPELL TRANSLATIONS:
Jovis Tempestas Fulgurien(Latin)
Thunderous Gale (English)
Sagitta Magica(Latin)
Magic Archer(English)
KILIPL ASTRAPÊ
Ancient Greek: Τὸ συμβόλαιον διακονήτω μοί, βασιλεῦ Οὐρανίων! Ἐπιγενηθήτω, αἰθαλοῦς κεραυνὲ ὃς Τιτῆνας φθείρειν. Ἑκατοντάκις καὶ χιλιάκις ἀστραψάτω. Χιλιαπλῆ Ἀστραπή!
Transliteration: To symbolaion diakonêtô moi, basileu Ouraniônôn! Epigenêthêto, aithalous keraune os Titênas phtheirein. Êcatontakis kai kiliakis astrapsatô! KILIPL ASTRAPÊ
English: Upon our pact, do my bidding, O lord of the Heavens. Come forth, blazings bolts that overthrow Titans. Let hundreds and thousands combine; run forth lightning. Thousand Lightning Bolts!