As is now more or less my modus operandi, I pretty much started working on this chapter barely a full day after finishing up the previous one. It's my hope to try and finish this fic before the end of this year, though depending on my work schedule and other potential life circumstances, there is a real possibility that this might not be fully completed until just a little after the New Year. Given that it's already November, this is seriously likely. Which almost feels kind of weird to me, taking a little more than a year to finish this fic. But that all said, I'll do what I can!
And as this fic continues to approach its end, let me start to just say thank you to all of you guys. I'm amazed at how many favs and followers this is getting! I hope I continue to live up to your expectations in the future!
Chapter 39
Within the Robotics Space of the fifth seat, Lugh was very quickly finding himself in a most dangerous situation.
"Ignite!" he nearly roared as he stabbed Areadbhar into the ground, his Relic causing the entire ground within ten meters of him to turn into a miniature volcano. From said spot, lava spewed out violently, globs of the dangerous stuff shooting all over the place and destroying the environment all around him.
But even then, his foe remained unworried.
"Brisingamen," Masami stated calmly. She then lightly flicked a few fingers and her strings all but sprung to actual life. They moved with lightning speed to intercept the globs of lava heading for her, slicing through said objects like a knife through melting butter, the red strings glowing ever so slightly as the kinetic force was absorbed from the lava globs.
As the lava then plopped unceremoniously to the ground several feet away from Masami, Lugh could only seethe inwardly at his attack failing yet again. But he had to go on the move yet again as Masami then demonstrated the fact that she wasn't done just yet.
"Dansleif!" Taking the very energy she'd just absorbed, Masami saw it fit to return it to Lugh. With but a graceful twirl of both arms, the entirety of Stringload's strings lashed out in a huge circular motion. The strings crackled ominously with red mana, the kinetic energy from just a second ago being outputted violently as they lashed out.
Lugh had to jumped back as fast as he could just to avoid the initial movement, only to realize belatedly that the circle of strings around Masami suddenly expanded with another motion of her arms. It wasn't even a full nanosecond before the strings spread out and sliced through dozens of trees. Not even the ground was spared, with even the short grass itself being rendered so flat that it could almost be confused for a special kind of glass.
Lugh himself wasn't spared either; in spite of having leapt back as fast as he could, he had been unable to fully avoid Masami's one attack. Small, but deep cuts peppered his arms and fingers. He even sported similar wounds across the left side of his face from when he'd had to immediately turn his head lest he literally lose a portion of his front face. His legs looked little better too, his thighs and shins having taken the most damage. It was only thanks to shielding himself with Areadbhar by twirling it around that he'd been able to keep himself from losing a limb, his Relic having proven itself to be greatly durable, enough to remain whole after the attack.
Lugh made an unpleasant noise, his regenerative ability working slowly to heal his wounds. Of all the Holy Knights, his regenerative ability was the weakest. It was enough to easily heal wounds that would leave permanent scars and could grow back limbs, but the latter type of injury would take days to fully recover from. So losing a limb was something he couldn't afford.
"Oh my, you certainly have a knack for running," Masami commented, the beautiful and deadly woman humming lightly to herself as she took all of two steps forwards. Whether it was by her will or by some odd trick of the light, some of her strings pulsed briefly, revealing themselves to Lugh's eyes. "Don't tell me that this is all you have to offer after such a boast earlier."
"I've only barely started to fight for real," Lugh retorted in a low tone of voice. But his grip on his Relic tightened nervously. He'd chosen to fight Masami because from what his captain had researched on her, she didn't have too much in the ways of speed when compared to someone such as Thor. Furthermore, she only appeared to have two actual magical abilities: Brisingamen and Dansleif, the former being one that allowed her strings to absorb magic and kinetic energy while the latter did the exact opposite. While she did have Skinfaxi, that was an ability meant to mainly track mana signatures and wasn't a viable ability to use during combat. So Lugh had originally thought taking her on would be easy enough, having acted under the assumption that the sheer heat from his Areadbhar would be more than enough to deal with Masami's Stringload even if she could absorb the power behind his attacks.
But alas, he was being proven wrong over the course of mere minutes. The heat from his Relic did little to even damage the strings on the few times they genuinely clashed and Masami's skill with her magical weapon was almost divine, masterfully manipulating her strings as she pleased with only the smallest of movements on her part.
Not even being here in Robotics Space was doing him much good; here, he had the layout of the space all in his head, there for him to use to his advantage to try and circle around his foe, but thanks to Dansleif, Masami could easily remove such an advantage by simply cutting down trees as she just did now. And igniting his trees would do little to slow her since her strings could protect her from any potentially debris and he doubted the immaculately dressed woman would let the heat bother her much. Lugh doubted even using his overbooster would help much either since he'd still have to spend time finding a way past her simultaneous offense and defense.
He was going to have to tread carefully here.
Masami, on her end, was finding this battle both easy and cumbersome. In regards to the former, it was becoming more and more clear to the intelligent beauty that Lugh lacked the means to properly get past Stringload unless he gets particularly creative and therefore was almost entirely at her mercy. But this fight was cumbersome in that the young man before her was proving to have exceptional combat instincts, knowing just how far back he needs to jump or how to block best in order to avoid as much damage as possible. Even when he should've been sliced into pieces just now by Dansleif, he'd been able to intuitively grasp how to maneuver his weapon in order to throw some of the strings off target to keep from being killed. While he was still rough around the edges when judging him purely by his combat technique, it didn't take the most observant of people to know that he had the makings of a great fighter should he ever receive proper tutelage. It was Masami's luck that the man seemed to be self-taught for the most part.
"Much like Naruto-kun, really…" she thought, a bemused smile on her face. "Only Naruto-kun is much more talent and skilled, even back when we'd first met." She almost chuckled a bit now.
It's barely been all of a minute since Dansleif was used and during that short time, the two foes silently assessed the situation and what had to be done.
To Lugh, it was as clear as day that in order to win this, he'd have to figure out a way to bypass Masami's strings. If he could do that, then he was certain that she'd able to withstand a single concentrated blow from Areadbhar.
To Masami, the best option would be to cut off all forms of escape for the young Holy Knight, make it so that it is impossible for him to dodge or defend. If she could do that, then finally killing him will be easy.
The two enemies stared one another down, looking to see if any openings were available.
And then… they moved.
While this took place, the battle between Cinder – codenamed Amaterasu – and Daisuke raged on. It was mainly the former attacking while the latter continued to dodge.
"If you won't attack… then how about I just end things now?" Cinder almost snarled out, the normally patient and calm woman growing frustrated with the almost mindless pacing of this battle thus far. So in anger, she raised her massive blade and stabbed it into the volcano.
Mana pulsed visibly through the blade and into the volcano, Cinder twisting the sword in the process.
Daisuke could only look on momentarily as the entire volcano began to violently rumble before it erupted. From several different spots all around them, lava shot straight up into the sky, which became even darker as ash filled it.
"Yikes, so dangerous…" Daisuke muttered, though he still smiled as he spoke. Rather than attempt to leap as far back as possible, he defied Cinder's expectations by actually rushing right at her.
Blade still embedded in the volcano, Cinder had been almost unable to block the sudden punch Daisuke threw at her, said blow nailing her in the side of the head, drawing some blood. Daisuke followed it up with a knee to her stomach before hitting her a third time with a nasty right hook that made her tumble back a few feet.
He gave chase, but Cinder had finally withdrawn her blade when she'd been knocked back so this time around, she was ready for him. Swinging her blade at his neck, she used her Sharingan to track every single movement his body made, anticipating his inevitable dodge. When said dodge happened, with Daisuke ducking slightly under the swing, Cinder raised her free hand to the spot where his face would end up being at and unleashed a wave of fire.
Daisuke spun to avoid the flames and only moved closer to Cinder, making it impossible now for her to swing her blade. Grabbing hold of her free hand, he twisted it hard, fracturing the wrist before smashing her into the ground.
"Flame Haze Break!" Cinder yelled even as she hit the ground. From her blade erupted a torrent of flames in the form of a phoenix, one so big that it was almost three times her height.
And yet, to her amazement, Daisuke simply vanished just before the massive attack could hit him.
"Over here.~" Daisuke whistled out.
Still on the ground, she found Daisuke standing not even three feet away to her left, just slightly out of range of her missed attack.
Sensing her bewilderment, Daisuke reached into his pocket and pulled out a familiar looking sphere. "Normally, I wouldn't be able to avoid such a fast attack at point blank range like that… but with my magical weapon, things change a little, ya know?" He smiled a smile that wouldn't look out of place on a particularly conniving fox.
"Wha-? But how? You shouldn't be able to use your magical weapon due to the lava!" Cinder actually exclaimed in shock.
"Maybe so," Daisuke admitted. "But then again, having all of my spheres floating around would be pretty stupid. But simply having just one out and hiding on my person just in case I need to quick teleport… well, that's a different story." He chuckled like a child, clearly enjoying himself for the moment. "Which makes for a nice surprise when you wouldn't expect something like that normally. Oh look, here finally comes the lava."
As soon as those last few words were uttered, the lava that had erupted out of the volcano a mere few seconds ago finally came crashing down to the ground and splashed everywhere. Yet Daisuke remained unafraid even as the lava all coalesced into a veritable river that flowed not even a full 8 meters behind him and in front of him.
As he'd expected, Cinder wouldn't have launched an attack that would come too close to hitting herself. It'd be pretty self-defeating if it did, literally so. It was why he stuck so close to her just now; to avoid being drowned and killed by the lava.
"But man… lava sure is no joke." Daisuke fanned himself, silently thankful for his being a magus, otherwise he might not have had a tough enough body to avoid being set on fire just from the proximity to the lava. As for his clothes, they were specially made to handle all sorts of rough conditions, so he was thankful for that too. Fighting in the buff sure would be awkward, after all.
Narrowing her eyes and her tomoes spinning dangerously, Cinder quickly leapt back to her feet and launched a huge fireball at Daisuke with her free hand. Daisuke moved slightly to the right, avoiding it by mere inches. Cinder wasn't done just yet though and tried to run Daisuke through with her Relic, charging forward and striking with such speed and precision that Daisuke was grazed a bit despite dodging the attack too.
Wincing a bit, the ancient magus back flipped over the river of lava to put some distance between him and the fourth seat. But Cinder was having none of it anymore. Several orange colored magic runes appeared all around her and from them spawned streams of fire that had life on their own, twisting and curving through the air randomly as they all headed directly for Daisuke.
"Oh ho, neat trick," Daisuke remarked as he began to make a run for it, leaping from one rock jutting out of the ground to another, even going as far as to jump to one that was surrounded all around by lava. All the while, the trail of flames gave chase, keeping up with him despite his speed.
It wasn't until he decided to make a break for Cinder that things changed slightly.
As if sensing the ancient magus was making his way for the Holy Knight, the streams of fire suddenly changed direction and of the six summoned, two broke off and changed direction many times over until they now approached Daisuke from his front. Two other fire streams continued to approach from his back while the remaining two tried to box him in from the left and right.
And yet, Daisuke kept on running towards Cinder, who now ran forward to meet him head on. Her sword was drawn and waiting to be swung, all while Cinder kept her Sharingan activated and focused entirely on Daisuke.
And even then, he made no other move.
A sort of hesitation filled Cinder as did worry. Just what was the ancient magus planning? Was he really going to just take the hit?
But as quickly as these two questions flitted across the woman's mind, the fact that he had one part of his magical weapon directly on his person all but slapped her upside the head and she became fully alert once more.
But by then, it was already too late.
Pulling out the sphere that was but one part of Field Changer, Daisuke activated his teleportation ability through it and appeared directly behind Cinder, landing a kick right to the small of her back with enough power and momentum behind the blow to knock her right into the middle of the fire streams.
Which all then struck her in place of Daisuke, his teleportation having been too fast for the streams to keep up with.
And so Daisuke allowed himself a triumphant laugh as the fire streams struck Cinder and exploded, engulfing her in veritable inferno.
But the laughter died off quickly enough when only a moment later, the flames disappeared to reveal Cinder, battered and slightly burnt, but still so very much alive and angry.
"I'm through playing games with you, you jokester," she said in a clipped voice. "Overbooster, activate!"
Immediately, the woman's regenerative ability activated as mana burst forth from her. The few wounds she'd gained from her own attacks healed over and her Sharingan eyes glowed brightly, the red sclera taking on a crimson color in the process.
And as Cinder's Relic began to light up as well, Daisuke could only grimace inwardly.
Looks like he may have pushed his opponent a little too hard.
Within the hazy space of Morgan, the battle between her and Takehiko raged on spectacularly as wave after wave of concept magic was unleashed from both combatants.
"'Bring the sky down!'" Takehiko commanded of his King's Scripture.
"'Stop!'" Morgan retaliated, her Book of Spells responding to her single command.
Simultaneously, two opposing forces were unleashed upon the very 'sky' of the Robotics Space, with Takehiko's concept magic trying to make it fall and literally crash down on Morgan while the young woman's wave of concept magic tried to stop that from happening.
This struggle last for all of a few seconds before the two opposing forces finally canceled one another out, though not without some consequences.
"The resiliency of Robotics Space had been weakened…" Morgan thought with a slight sense of panic. Her one advantage of having concept magic at the ready all the time had been negated for the most part when Takehiko had revealed her location, having silently interwoven his own magic within the very folds of this dimension in the process. This meant that now he too could already use what's there to help boost his own attack power much like how she'd down initially upon pulling him into this space.
And thanks to their continuous clash of concept magic, which also happened to make up Robotics Space, it was being weakened as a result from the backlash of all their attacks. Morgan hadn't anticipated this at all.
"No, calm down!" she silently demanded of herself. "I still have my overbooster to rely on should things go really bad. And at least Loki is keeping his dist-!"
"'Grant me a great sword so that I may strike down my enemy!'" Takehiko then declared. "'And grant me wings so that I may soar!'"
Morgan's eyes went wide at his commands and was left completely unprepared for what happened next.
From King's Scripture shot forth a veritable stream of pure mana that took on the form of a large blade within Takehiko's currently outstretched hands. At the very same time, wings of pure light were formed upon his back and at a speed far beyond anything his fellow magi were capable of save for Ryuichi and Naruto, Takehiko flew like a majestic eagle right at the stupefied third seat.
While not as gifted in physical combat as his fellow ancient magi, Takehiko was still a quick study and had picked up things here and there over the course of his long life. So it was by putting that knowledge to good use that he was able to almost effortlessly execute a myriad of sword swings that would have earned praise from a master such as Miki.
"'Protect me!'" Morgan had managed to stutter out just before impact, however, resulting in a thick barrier appearing in between her and her attacker.
But much to the horror of the third seat, Takehiko's ethereal blade sliced right through it as if it wasn't even there. "Concept magic, remember?" he commented with a grin. "'Rain down feathers upon her!'"
The wings of pure light behind him were affected by his command and suddenly 'feathers' shot forth from them and peppered Morgan relentlessly, the Holy Knight unable to form another barrier in time to stop the blows. Instead, she put up an amateurish block that did nothing to reduce the pain and damage and she was immediately blown back as the wings of light exhausted themselves entirely from the attack.
Gasping in pain, Morgan put a hand to her breasts, arms, and stomach quickly to feel blood seeping through her dress. She was certain she sported other such injuries as well, if the pain spread throughout her entire body was anything to go by.
She was unused to pain, having had a relatively easy life up until now, having never been trained in anything particularly grueling. So this ended up leaving her almost down for the count as Takehiko almost casually approached her now. "As I thought, you're not much of a combatant," he remarked.
He'd had this suspicion from the moment the battle started. A much more skilled and experienced person, even one who relied solely on concept magic, would've taken far more drastic measures to kill him rather than simply trying to make space itself try to squeeze him tight. And she would always have a muted look of worry and even panic whenever he launched an attack at her too. And now seeing this Holy Knight on the 'ground' before him, all but writhing in agony from just the one attack, was just added confirmation that Morgan wasn't a warrior.
Which he honestly had no quarrel with; he himself would never quite be fathomed as an actual fighter like his friends, though he certainly was much more skilled than most at concept magic. And was more accustomed to pain thanks to some brief training sessions with the likes of Miki over the centuries to keep himself sharp.
If anything, he rather understood her.
But still, her being a Holy Knight made her a target to be eliminated as soon as possible.
"Had we continued our battle from a distance, you would've eventually given me much trouble," Takehiko admitted. "But alas, you're in this state because you didn't seem to realize we magi aren't one-trick ponies. Reflect on that in the next life. 'Crush her.'"
King's Scripture glowed brightly – ominously so, to Morgan's wide eyes – as it proceeded to obey its wielder's command.
The very space directly above Morgan warped and took on a new form, the very air becoming visible and shaping into impossibly sharp spikes that could pierce human flesh with about as much effort as someone piercing a thin wet paper with a knife. Death, even for someone as tough as a Holy Knight, would be instantaneous.
"Good bye," Takehiko muttered quietly as the space descended at lightning speed.
But rather than be rewarded with the admittedly sickening sounds of flesh being pierced and squeltching, something else entirely happened.
"Overbooster, activate!" Morgan yelled out, her eyes never leaving the would-be instrument of her demise. As soon as the words were spoken, a wave of sky blue mana so great in quantity and quality was unleashed from her that the space was pushed back and immediately returned to normal.
"What?!" This was the one and only word Takehiko was able to get out before the wave of mana blew him back as well and violently so at that. So hard was he pushed back that he nearly smashed right through the castle that was so hazily hidden by the space around them.
But alas other changes soon followed.
The sort of hazy atmosphere that filled Robotics Space dissipated, revealing the castle and the surrounding landscape in all of its glory. Above them all, the sky was a beautiful and awe filling blue, so clear that it would grab the attention of anyone else who'd been there.
But Takehiko, in the midst of getting back on his feet, found himself feeling more perplexed and even genuinely befuddled by the sight.
"There's no sun… so how can the sky be so bright?" he thought with a grunt as he finally got back up. But as he stood and now focused completely on the sky above, he realized the truth of what he was seeing.
The sky wasn't so immaculate looking because that's just how it is. It was so damn bright because Morgan's mana filled the entirety of it.
Looking now to Morgan, the ancient magus could actually see sky blue mana pulsing out of the third seat in waves, heading upwards to the sky and filling it even more.
But such a thing was impossible normally. The amount of mana needed to pull off such a random feat, even within a space as limited in size as this place, was absolutely insane. So just how much mana had this woman been holding back?!
These thoughts plagued Takehiko as he grew uncertain now, not sure what was to be expected anymore.
As for Morgan, the young woman inwardly sighed out of relief. She'd been able to activate her Overbooster just in the nick of time.
Being descended from Fenrir gave her many advantages, such as heightened physical abilities even prior to having become a Holy Knight. But as she was no warrior and completely lacked any kind of physical training, such an advantage was wasted on her.
But… while she may forfeited pure physical ability, she still had her mana to fall back on. Much like how her brother had overflowed with mana during his awakening and during his battle with Surma, she too now was overflowing with mana, her mana capacity leagues above the average for magi. Out of all the Holy Knights, she without a single doubt, had the most mana to draw from, most of which had been locked away and could only be accessed fully when her overbooster was activated.
And now that it was and she had access to her 'full strength,' well…
Morgan allowed herself a small yet no less triumphant smile.
For starting now, her concept magic was only going to get a lot stronger.
"'Freeze him!'" Morgan then spoke in a much calmer voice now, her full power giving her a confidence boost.
Takehiko immediately sensed Morgan's words about to take effect through her Relic and tried to retaliate. "'Stop her attack!'" he commanded of his King's Scripture.
Waves of concept magic were unleashed simultaneously, with one intent on warping the very space to freeze Takehiko in place while the other was trying to cancel the first one out. Both the Book of Spells and King's Scripture glowed brilliantly as they tried to obey their respective masters' commands.
But ultimately, only one could triumph.
Takehiko counted himself lucky that Morgan's 'attack' had only fixated on a stationary position, meaning that moving away immediately could prevent himself from being frozen, for that is what nearly happened. Even though he'd empowered his own wave of concept magic with a good deal of his mana and the very concept magic that already made up Robotics Space, his counter had been completely overcome by Morgan's attack.
Tsking as he witnessed his now former spot become literally frozen over, Takehiko's mind whirled to life, trying to come up with various ways on how to deal with this sudden shift in the battle. And so far, he was drawing up blanks. Morgan's wave of concept magic had been so potent that it had trumped his own almost instantly. And it was fueled only by her mana, not by anything else, which just went to show him just how much mana Morgan had at her disposal.
Only a stronger conceptual weapon can overcome another one.
That was the one and only 'rule' that conceptual magical weapons worked by. And that rule included not simply the abilities that such weapons had at their disposal, but also just how much mana the wielders can supply it as well.
And on that front, it seemed that Morgan had Takehiko beat by a landslide.
Watching as Morgan seemed to ponder her next move, Takehiko couldn't help but smile grimly.
He should've finished this battle much sooner when he'd had the chance.
Meanwhile, in the Robotics Space of Heracles, the battle between the first seat and Miki and Mari raged on without end. None of the combatants spoke or paused, each and every single one of them constantly on the move, be it either on the offensive or the defensive.
Currently, both Miki and Mari were on the offensive. The latter raced all around the outer edges of the coliseum, her magical weapon at the ready and firing off different types of mana arrows whenever their much larger foe would slow down. Although her arrows had virtually no effect thanks to the natural ability of Heracles' Nemean Cestus, Mari kept firing when she could, appearing to wait for something.
As for Miki, the brunette's arms were continually in motion, one swing of Svafrlami after another being delivered upon Heracles without slowing. Her SacredWaltz form enhancing her brute strength and attack speed even further, even the likes of Ryuichi would be extremely hardpressed to avoid her swings without the use of Turbulence.
With every vicious yet precise motion the ancient magus known to the Holy Knights as Brynhildr made, the entirety of Robotics Space shook violently, a testament to the sheer strength of the woman in question.
And yet Heracles kept pace with each of her swings, blocking and countering at every turn with lightning fast punches, his massive fists grazing Miki at times as she dodged them in turn.
Heracles' overbooster being in effect, he'd undergone a change of sorts. Or rather, his Relic had undergone a serious change. For beforehand, his Nemean Cestus had been little more than gigantic gauntlets that offered him a great deal of resistance to magical attacks. But now, thanks to the effects of his overbooster, the Relic had evolved into something more, the gauntlets having magically gained a massive deal of mass that had turned it into essentially a suit of armor, a magnificent gold in color with a lion shaped emblem upon the very center of the chest plate. It had even gifted Heracles with a helmet large enough to expose his face while still covering up the sides, top, and back of his head. A brilliant red mane flowed from the very back of the helmet, truly making the large man look like the part of a lion king.
This armor was more than just for show. With flexible joints, it allowed Heracles to still remain as mobile as he was before while the natural effects of overbooster kicked all of his physical abilities up to eleven. And the passive ability of Nemean Cestus was still very much in place, with the armor providing him an even greater resistance to magic, so much so that it bordered on outright immunity. As a result, Mari's arrows had no effect on him even when she'd aimed for his exposed face.
Naturally, being an extremely tough suit of armor, it lessened the damage being dealt by Miki's attacks by a noticeable degree.
But by no means did it mean the large lion Faunus could afford to take it easy.
As if to compound this fact, Miki managed to slip past Heracles' tight defenses and swing Svafrlami directly into his armpit, the sheer force of the blow slightly cracking the armor there and knocking the man off balance.
But Heracles used this to his advantage by deliberately letting himself stumble and fall before suddenly placing his hands on the ground and swinging his legs at Miki. Miki was struck by one of his feet, but managed to remain on her feet long enough to raise Svafrlami to block the next few spins, though she was pushed back several feet with each successive block.
Only when Miki was pushed near the coliseum's wall did Heracles finally get back on his feet and charge directly at her.
Miki's response was to directly point her magical weapon at Heracles and then dash forward at her full speed.
Sword struck armor and the resulting clash nearly blew both combatants back, with Miki's grip and charge stance having not yielded to Heracles' armor and charge whereas the latter had remained undeterred by Miki's sheer strength and precision.
Both of them recovered at the exact same instant and followed up the clash with yet another one. Miki swung Svafrlami down in a short but violent slash that would've cut open a far less durable foe like a fish. Heracles swung his fist upwards in the form of a short uppercut, putting the entirety of his weight into the blow.
Once again both attacks met one another and it was only due to the more technical aspects of Robotics Space that it didn't break apart from the resulting shockwave. The strength and mana being unconsciously output from both fighters was simply that great. Even Mari, a decent distance away from the two, had nearly been blown sky high from the shockwave.
Yet both Miki and Heracles remained firmly rooted to their current spots, trying to overpower one another yet with no success on either one's part. Miki may be stronger than Heracles physically, but the man had the benefit of firmly planting his feet into the ground while Miki's stance had been unsettled a bit from the shockwave.
Realizing this, Miki opted to break off the struggle and jump back just out of arm's reach of the lion Faunus. She inwardly decided that perhaps it was time to try something else. She was rather hesitant to do so, given the man's apparent immunity to magical attacks after seeing Mari's arrows fail, but Miki felt that maybe now was the time to start using Tyrfing.
As if sensing this, Heracles tried to dash forward, not wishing to test Nemean Cestus' ability against Miki's most powerful strike.
But he was stopped for a second by none other than Mari, who shot him in both of his eyes and open mouth with her drill-like mana arrows. Heracles could only gag and even sputter as he went stumbling back.
From her spot, Mari flashed a very brief smile.
Although Heracles' armor gave him an almost unfair level of resistance to magic, the man was still not immune to secondary effects. Just because the armor negated the damage it would've done to him doesn't mean it doesn't it negates the sheer power and momentum behind the blow, meaning that her mana arrows, if powerful enough, could still push Heracles back and even genuinely knock him down depending on circumstances.
Such as now, for example.
Blinded and essentially choking on a mana arrow, Heracles awkwardly stumbled back like a drunkard, temporarily blinded and disoriented from the arrows. As a result, he ended up missing his one and only chance of stopping Miki before she could prepare Tyrfing.
For at that exact moment, Miki had taken the all too familiar attack stance that signaled Tyrfing. Svafrlami glowing brighter than it ever had before, mana poured out from the blade and from its wielder, not in a wild manner but almost gently, like a stream on a quiet day. This only belied the unrestrained power the brunette was about to unleash.
"Tyrfing!" Miki roared, swinging Svafrlami and in doing so let loose a massive wave of unfettered mana that cut the very concept of 'distance' itself and therefore allowed it to strike Heracles immediately thereafter.
With the might of a dozen hurricanes, Tyrfing struck Heracles right along his neck, the wave of mana trying to sever the very concept of 'armor' so that it may deal a genuine death blow to the first seat of the Holy Knights.
But it seemed that Miki's fears were ringing true; even Tyrfing seemed to have trouble bypassing the extreme magical resistance that Heracles' armor had.
In that case… Maybe something a little more was needed.
Miki immediately returned to her attack stance, about to charge up what would certainly be the final blow – only to be stopped.
To the absolute astonishment of both ancient magi, Heracles roared and actually overcame Tyrfing. No longer disoriented and focused yet again, Heracles had fought past the pain Tyrfing was dealing out in its quest to strike his neck and had retaliated posthaste with a vicious punch, imbued heavily with mana. It was to the point that he essentially unleashed a magical blast of sorts, not unlike Naruto's Fenris Wolf or Ryuichi's Thor's Hammer.
The magical blast that the man let loose was so great that it managed to push its way through Tyrfing, making the attack dissipate in the process, and make its way towards Miki, who was left with no other choice but to dodge right away to avoid the hit.
Only to be blindsided by Heracles, the Holy Knight having used the blast as a sort of decoy so that he may rush forward without being immediately noticed. This allowed him to land a powerful knee to Miki's gut that actually took her off guard and smashed her through the walls of the coliseum. But Miki recovered quickly, even kicking off one of the walls and lunging back towards the center of the coliseum with Svafrlami pointing outwards, intent on skewering Heracles.
The man twisted to avoid the fast recovery/counter and proceeded to deliver a powerful hammerblow to Miki's broad back.
Miki could only grunt as she was smashed into the center of the coliseum ground, cratering it instantly upon impact. She tried to get up right away, but for the briefest of femtoseconds, discovered that she couldn't do so; Heracles had struck her so hard that her body had been all but literally devoured by the ground, her limbs trapped by the earth, just enough for her to miscalculate how much strength was actually needed to stand back up.
This meant that for a good nanosecond or two, she was at the mercy at her massive foe.
And this was something Heracles would definitely have capitalized on if it hadn't been for Mari at that moment.
With godlike aim and speed, Mari fired exactly six arrows, all of them explosive in nature. Coming in sets of two, they struck first at the small space between Miki and Heracles, the explosions forcing the latter away from the former due to the sheer force of said explosions. The next two of the six struck Heracles himself, blowing up violently as they struck his knees. While this did very little actual damage to the first seat, it was still powerful enough to make him wobble and fall to his knees, having to use an arm to keep himself from completely falling over.
But it was the last two arrows that somewhat rattled Heracles. For they landed near Miki before detonating almost like proximity mines being triggered by nearby movement. The amount of mana used to construct these particular arrows was far less than what had been used in the previous four, but it still proved to be enough to free Miki of the ground and allow her to immediately jump back to her feet.
With a grateful smile aimed at Mari momentarily, an action that said woman returned, Miki then ran forward and struck Heracles hard in the bottom jaw not with Svafrlami, but with her fist. And what a punch it turned out to be. It knocked Heracles high into the air within a millisecond, high enough for the coliseum below to look like some small toy replica even to Heracles' eyes.
And so, helpless within the sky, Heracles could only grunt as Miki unleashed Tyrfing yet again, striking him hard enough to knock him even further into the sky.
From far below, Miki allowed herself the slightest of smiles. For now she'd managed to hopefully buy herself enough time to charge up what would hopefully be the final blow:
Overload Tyrfing.
And as Miki took her attack stance yet again and began to charge, Heracles – still so high up and only barely reaching the apex of his launch – could only feel a certain sense of dread working its way through him.
For reasons he couldn't immediately discern, he was beginning to not look forward to what'll come next.
And done! Hmm, I'm kind of surprised and somewhat worried by the fact that these chapters are a little shorter than the ones prior to the final battles breaking out. I'll have to try and rectify that with the remaining chapters. Shouldn't be too hard to do as I still have a few surprises up my sleeve for everyone.
Well, not much else to really say, I suppose. Though once again, it is my sincere hope to try and finish this fic before the end of this year. Depends on how long it takes me to write each chapter and how much time I'll even have to work on them.
Well, until next time, everyone! Take care!