As the Nazarick denizens left the meeting hall, Aura and Mare headed off together, talking to each other quietly - something of an oddity for Aura.
"Another combat mission and we're still not picked! When are we gonna get a chance to show off to Lord Ainz?"
"Sh-shhhh, sister, n-not so loud! We, we shouldn't be complaining near Lord Ainz…"
"Aaaaah, I'm not complaining, it's just a shame you know? We're just as strong as any of the old geezers being put in charge right?"
At that moment, the twins felt a cold gaze fall on them, and they both shivered unconsciously. From behind them, at the other end of the corridor, they heard Albedo's voice carry easily to them.
"Mare, a word please. You can leave your sister to her important duties."
With a quick look of sympathy for her brother, Aura dashed off to avoid a potential scolding, leaving her brother to look mournfully at her departure before turning around and shuffling over to meet the approaching Guardian Overseer.
"S-sorry for my sister's comments...I'm sure she didn't mean to offend?"
Albedo raised an eyebrow at the comment but started speaking as if it hadn't been said.
"I have been tasked by Ainz with the infiltration of the enemy camp, and while I have a group in mind that can be ready on short notice, I will need a replacement for one of our...less quiet members. As Guardian Overseer I release you from your current duties, and you are to accompany me on this mission."
Mare's ears perked up and his expression brightened for a moment, before a quizzical look crossed his face.
"I, I would be happy to help, but wouldn't my sister be a better choice for that?"
Albedo's decision softened as she replied.
"While your sister has excellent qualities when it comes to infiltration, I have chosen you based on our needs. If we end up fighting all three of the known dangerous foes, I will need you to handle the fight against their caster - something your sister would be incapable of."
Mare smiled shyly at the praise and nodded enthusiastically.
"Th-thank you! I won't let you down!"
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Almost ten minutes later to the dot, a doppelganger in a bright yellow military uniform popped into existence in the vast chamber which served as Shalltear's place of rest and the final line of defense in the third layer of Nazarick. In the chamber were around twenty waiting figures, half of which were Shalltear's minions; the other half comprised some of the most powerful individuals in the tomb. Turning to the three strongest people in the room, Pandora's Actor snapped into a crisp salute.
"Guardian Overseer! Pandora's Actor has arrived at your summons, Heil Ainz Ooal Gown!"
The expressions on the faces around him ranged from confusion to distaste at the sudden appearance and outburst from the rarely-sighted guardian of the Treasury level, but nobody present saw fit to make comment. Turning from the conversation she had been having with Shalltear and Mare, Albedo nodded at Pandora's Actor and beckoned him over.
"Thank you for coming, I trust that Lord Ainz has been informed of your departure?"
"Yes! I informed him myself! Though regretfully he pushed me out of his office before I could finish paying my respects to his greatness!"
"Good. We are all ready to go then."
His eyes flicking quickly around the group, Pandora's Actor quickly assessed the strength of the group that had gathered. Given that it was mostly composed of Albedo's elite team, he was generally familiar with the composition, but there were some changes. Rubedo was, naturally, missing - replaced by the timid Mare who would be far more useful in a stealth mission. Likewise, three of the larger and more obvious summons were replaced with a group of wispy-looking Ethereal Ghost Maidens, whose very presence in the room caused the air to take on a frigid bite. This group of 10 (himself included) was a group put together for the sole purpose of maximizing its combat potential, now tempered with a desire for stealth.
"Shalltear, once we have passed through, please immediately close the gate and pass the word for the scrying magic team to begin operation."
The Vampire pouted, a clearly displeased look on her face as she received orders from her rival.
"I still don't see why only you get to have personal use of some of Lord Ainz's creations! You don't deserve the work of his divine hands…"
Shalltear seemed to fade off into a blissful reverie, presumably some memory of his creator and God, but Pandora's Actor appreciated how despite her complaints she was quick to comply with the Overseer's demands. With a loud pop, a rift opened in space, and Pandora's Actor followed Albedo quickly to the portal, his form melting and reforming into that of Peroroncino as he grinned at the now suddenly offended expression on Shalltear's face.
Handing his [Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown] to her with some regret, he turned back to the portal, bent forward at the knees, and exploded out through the [Gate]. Albedo matched his movements, and they burst through to the other side in a flurry of motion, fully ready for an enemy attack to meet them. No such attack occurred, and so they quickly paced the outskirts of the clearing they had been dropped in while the rest of the infiltration team came through, before with another loud pop the [Gate] ceased to be.
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At the same time, elsewhere, Karolus was just finishing his third tale of Ser Touch-Me's victories, to an enraptured crowd. While he'd taken a short break between each of his tales, the pleading looks on the faces of his immediate audience, and the absolute silence from the large group of soldiers outside the tent told him that he should continue. As someone who loved those fights just as much as any of the other championship bouts, Louis could barely ask for a better opportunity - it was rare that he had a crowd as interested in the minute details of the fights as he had been; each turn of fate or fantastic skill usage eliciting a chorus of gasps from his listeners.
"...and this is where the second reactivation of [World Break] turned out to have been so important. With his faster reaction speed on the skill rotation, Ser Touch-Me's third and final usage started a full second earlier than his opponents, which meant it resolved and struck before the World Champion of Vanaheim could finish the skill activation. Thus, even though he had significantly less health at the time, Ser Touch-Me had dealt just enough damage for the [World Break] to deal lethal damage, winning the fight in a beautiful methodical victory."
The tension that had mounted in the room as Karolus' story had painted a more and more dire picture for Touch-Me flooded away, as the audience all collectively breathed a sigh of relief, with Neia even briefly clapping enthusiastically from behind him. In front of him, Lupusregina leaned back with a smug grin.
"As expected of Lord Touch-Me!"
Immediately, a guilty look plastered itself across her face and she received an absolutely icy stare from Yuri. Before he could follow up on her mistake however, Karolus heard a voice in his mind as a golden light began falling from the ceiling and wrapping around him.
"To arms with haste, Ser Karolus! Your foes have arrived and approach at speed. You must face them in the forest to the north, or your mortal followers will surely perish. Face them valiantly, my Champion, and your companions will join you as soon as they are able."
The voice of the Lady faded from his mind as he got to his feet and swept from the tent.
My foes? Jaldabaoth? If it's anything like the fight in the capital she's certainly right about going out to meet them - a fight like that over this camp would be lethal. I guess I'll head out and hope she's right about Carloman and Morgiana.
Moving quickly out of the camp at a jog, Karolus turned a great many heads, the soldiers on the outskirts turning to look at him as he ran off into the forest. It wasn't until he had run almost a kilometre that he realized he didn't really know where he was going. Stopping in a clearing, Karolus closed his eyes and activated a skill that had taken some getting used to.
"[Aspect of God: All-Seeing]"
With his eyes closed, Karolus felt the skill activate as a thin white cloth wound its way across his eyes and tied in a knot behind his head. When he opened his eyes, rather than the white inside of the cloth, he instead looked at himself from directly above like he was a bird flying overhead. His vision covered an area around 500m across, and in it he could see a vivid blue outline of every living thing within range. Given the huge number of birds, insects and the like, this was an enormous amount of information, which had been extremely confusing at first, but over the last few months he had learned to filter out the pointless extra information and just focus on what mattered. In this case, however, the training was somewhat unnecessary, as a number of bright red outlines that were approaching his clearing stood out clearly against the rest. From his Yggdrasil experience he knew these meant creatures with low Karma values, but it was the first time experiencing it like this.
Gently pushing the band of cloth out of his eyes and up onto his forehead, Karolus' eyes glowed a pale white as the band of cloth granted him the vision he would need to pierce through even 8th level illusory effects. Drawing his sword and [The Faithful's Defender], Karolus waited, quietly preparing for the upcoming fight with his standard combat buffs.
\|/
From her position outside the clearing, Albedo waited and watched as the current greatest enemy of Lord Ainz stood and waited in the middle of the clearing. Practically nonchalant in his demeanour, Albedo would have taken his stance and bearing as that of a novice if she hadn't been briefed by Lord Ainz about his exploits and accomplishments.
It's clearly a ploy to make his foes underestimate him, I should be on the lookout for more tricks from him if that's how he approaches a fight.
Her infiltration squad had been passing swiftly through the woods towards their target - passing unnoticed by the wildlife around them due to the group invisibility that Mare was casting - when she had received a sudden message from Mare to stop where she was. A short time later, she received a report that this 'Ser Karolus' was standing in a clearing directly between them and their intended target. On hearing that, Albedo's mind had flicked through a thousand possibilities before landing on the most likely - they had been detected or somehow given away, and this was a trap of some sort. Hearing from Mare that the knight's companions did not seem to be with him, Albedo mused for a short moment before deciding on her course of action.
If he already knows we're coming, and he knows exactly where we're coming from, we're already in his trap; it's likely he could chase us down and force a battle if we choose to run.
As she started planning the coming fight in her mind, a sadistic smile spread across her face behind her helmet - adrenaline surging through her as she anticipated the fight to come.
Alright then, we'll spring your trap - show me how much a pathetic human worm like you can struggle!
\|/
Listening intently to the sounds of the forest, Louis was completely surprised when a quintet of individuals exploded out of the treeline around him and swept in to attack him. As the leader swung towards him with a massive bardiche, Louis felt the time around him seem to slow to a crawl, far slower even than when he had been fighting the Evil Lord of Wrath. As time slowed around him, his shock at being suddenly attacked faded swiftly as Karolus' combat skills dragged Louis' rational mind into gear.
Hmm, I guess this is the full effect of that ability then. Not bad.
Stepping deftly back from the brutal slash of the black armored warrior, Karolus instinctively spun to his right to collect the incoming strikes from two black swords on his shield. Slashing out at one of the two foes, he forced some space between them and brute forced his way through as a pair of swords scraped across his back. Grunting as the strikes pushed him away, Karolus pivoted around to keep his five assailants in view. While he didn't recognize the black armored individual (who seemed to be a woman based on her armor), he immediately recognized the other four attackers as War Devil Lords, level 86 demon creatures that strongly buffed other demons in their vicinity. With their sneak attack concluded, the black swords of the demons blazed to life and they fanned out in a semicircle, following the lead of the black warrior who stalked across the clearing towards him.
This certainly does feel like what I was expecting from an enemy known as the Demon Emperor. Demons aren't really a fantastic matchup against me though…
As Karolus raised his sword to prepare for the next round of attacks, a sudden instinct made him turn, noticing a flash of light from behind him as he did so. Even with his enhanced perception, Karolus had only the briefest moment to react to the golden arrow that was hurtling at him from behind. With only the briefest moment to react, Karolus' shield was just too slow; realizing that, he started to twist out of the way, managing to at least move slightly out of the way as the arrow impacted his armor on the side, and then promptly exploded.
Karolus was hurled sideways through the air before his armored form crashed through a tree and was brought to a stop. As the top of the tree began its ponderous descent to the ground, another instinct urged him to action, and he quickly rolled sideways before jumping to his feet, just as a large number of razor sharp spikes exploded out of the ground where he had been. Even with his evasive maneuver, the outer edge of the spell caught him, the spikes shattering against his armor with a crushing force that made him wince and drop to a knee.
If I had been a regular human, that would have turned my legs into jelly. Thank god I'm not normal any more I guess.
Hauling himself to his feet, Karolus registered the pain to loss of health ratio for the first time, his brain quickly running the maths on the attacks even as he quickly backed away from the five melee combatants who were following him from the clearing.
That was the 9th level [Razor Edge], buffed with at least one Meta-magic effect, and an arrow which did almost as much damage; by the numbers, these must be level 90 foes or above. My [Aspect of God] showed me 10 incoming foes, but I've only felt the effects of 7, where are the other 3?
At that moment, the breath was almost knocked from him as he backed across an invisible barrier and the temperature plummeted by an insane amount. Taking a moment to look around him, he saw that the area around him was completely frozen solid, the trees not moving at all as frost slowly began to form on them. A moment later, the source of this freezing aura became clear as three Ethereal Ghost Maidens rushed him from behind, hurling themselves at him with their claws outstretched and their faces stretched into a snarl of fury.
Ducking under the first one, Karolus activated [Knight's Parry] and shrugged the second one aside, putting the force of her attack to his advantage as he hauled her over his shoulder. The Maiden shrieked as the glowing metal on the shield burned her ethereal form. As they got close, however, he felt his movements slowing as the frigid aura that surrounded them hampered his movements. Before he could recover, the third Maiden reached him, her claws kicking up sparks as they raked along the armor on his sword arm and shoulder.
"[Bull Rush]! [Aspect of God: Unyielding]!"
Activating his skills before he could be mobbed by the three Maidens, the headband on his forehead swirled out behind him like a fan, protecting his back from the two Maidens behind him as his sword shone red and swung out in a smashing blow, swatting the third Maiden aside as he cut forward with a brutal slash that carried him away from the claws of the other Maidens. Having made about 10 meters of space between himself and the pack, Karolus began to turn back to assess the situation when he heard a massive explosion go off behind him. The cloth from his [Aspect of God] dissolved into motes of light as it finished dissipating the explosion from another arrow, which would otherwise have caught him in his unprotected back.
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Looking through the eyes of a bird, high above the battlefield, Mare cheered as another of Pandora's Actor's arrows seemed to find their mark, before pouting as the smoke cleared and it was clear the arrow had been blocked somehow. As he did so, a slightly shrill voice echoed in his head - Lord Peroroncino's voice - admonishing him.
"[Mare, please try to avoid transmitting your whoops of joy through Message, it's not appropriate for the mission]"
While he knew it was just Pandora's Actor speaking, and taking on the affectations of the Supreme Being, he shivered as he imagined for a moment that it was the real Peroroncino speaking to him. He was conflicted about what it would be like to be reprimanded by Pandora's Actor in the form of Lord Bukubukuchagama - on one hand he would love any excuse to see even a likeness of his creator again, but on the other hand it would probably be traumatic on multiple levels. All in all he was content that Pandora's Actor had chosen one of the other Supreme Beings to take on.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he went back to his job. He had been left as the group's Coordinator by Albedo before the fight, meaning he constantly watched the battlefield and sent instructions to individual fighters with information they needed, and threw in long range spells to support his allies when they needed it. With the maidens failing to significantly hamper their foe, who was seemingly having enough trouble without their interference, he put the next part of their plan in action.
"[S-sorry! Maidens, pull back and head on to the camp; report immediately i-if you find the companions. Devils, please get to flanking - Craxos you need to duck in three seconds.]"
A chorus of affirmatives responded, and he saw the creatures under his direction move swiftly to fulfil their new tasks. With full trust that they would be done, he turned his attention back to Karolus, who so far had done little more than be smacked around like a punching bag.
I wonder when you'll show me what you're really made of...I just can't see what makes Lord Ainz speak so highly of you…
\|/
Seeing the Maidens disappearing into the trees, Karolus had a moment to assess the situation. During his brief fight with the Maidens, the other 5 melee combatants had already cut around his two sides, and were once again threatening to envelop him. He saw a flicker of movement as one ducked briefly, almost perfectly in sync with another arrow which hurtled over his head towards Karolus - fortunately, the movement gave him just enough notice to step deftly out of the way, letting a tree behind him take the brunt of the explosive arrow.
This isn't how these NPCs would have fought in Yggdrasil, they've clearly been trained in hunting single, more powerful targets rather than allowing themselves to be kited around like I'm used to. Not to mention there's two powerful ranged combatants out there that I haven't even seen yet.
Well, wish I'd had time to prepare this earlier, but I guess it can't be helped. Time to show my hand in earnest.
"[Super Tier Bloodline: Lord of the Seventh Circle]"
At his words, a summoning circle began drawing itself out in the dirt around him, blazing lines of silver snaking out from his feet in every direction, forming themselves into geometric lines and sigils as they stretched away from him. The group of Devils didn't seem to react to the change, but the one encased in the black armor immediately stopped her careful approach and sprinted at him, shouting out as she did so.
"Stop him!"
This was, of course, normally the correct decision when facing any of the extended-duration cast times of Super Tier Skills or Spells, but unfortunately the restrictions of Super-tier activation had long since been made irrelevant by the shitty devs; not for the first time, Louis internally sighed at the existence of cash shop items. Reaching into his inventory as the armored woman leapt towards him, Karolus' face settled into a grin as he taunted his assailant.
"Far, far too slow."
With a crack, a small hourglass shaped item shattered in his hand, and the massive heptagram beneath his feet finished in an instant, a pure white light sweeping down and outwards with a ripple that sent the black-armored woman crashing into the dirt. Karolus' vision blurred and faded to white for a moment, before a rush of burning power filled his body, and he felt himself lift off the ground as six massive, feathered wings beat in time and pushed him into the air.
The power was intoxicating, the fire running through his veins was unlike anything that Louis ever felt in his mundane existence. Even as he revelled in the power, his burning gaze turned on the black armored warrior who, once the shockwave of the transformation had passed her, had immediately got to her feet and charged in towards him, her bardiche slashing viciously at his head. The two exchanged a vicious series of blows, with Karolus catching the attacks from her axe head on his shield repeatedly, while the powerful blows from his sword were either parried with the haft of her weapon, or shrugged off by her armor.
Each time Karolus struck, white flames engulfed his sword and then swept out in waves of holy fire, washing over his opponent and fanning out behind her, even when the strike was parried. Hearing the armoured woman hiss in pain, the Devils behind her wisely gave the white fire a wide berth as they closed in from all sides.
Both Karolus and his opponent seemed to recognize this as a key moment in the tempo of the fight, as they both transitioned into skill usage rather than continuing to simply batter each other with basic attacks.
"[Unholy Grasp] [Supreme Challenge] [Enfeebling Strike]!"
"[World Break] [Dimensional Slash]!"
Twin novas of light flashed out from Karolus as the skill [Angel's Halo] activated twice, negating both of his opponent's initial skill usages. At the same time, his sword slashed up and then down at a speed that he couldn't track, even with his enhanced senses; in response, two massive gashes sunk deep into the black chest plate of his opponent, which promptly pulsed with a black light and then scattered into motes of light, revealing a stark white dress of some kind underneath.
Two down. 5 minutes. 3 minutes. Armor seems to have taken the damage and broken rather than partially damaging the wearer - skills and equipment clearly maximized for defense. How is she doing this much damage then - a World Item perhaps? Her weapon doesn't look like any of the ones I recognize...
Louis' mind flowed quickly into its natural rhythm from Yggdrasil as the fight heated up, keeping track of skill usages and analysing the situation even as the wings on his back carried him into the air to avoid the glowing purple bardiche strike, which smashed the ground beneath him into ribbons.
"[Lance of Light V]"
A large pair of black feathered wings burst from the waist of the black armored opponent as she took to the skies in pursuit of him, just as a massive lance shimmered into existence over his sword. He had been planning on raining down spears until one of the ranged combatants showed themselves, but instead, he was surprised again as his opponent burst up from the ground and slammed her bardiche into his leg, sending his body into a spin for almost a full second before he managed to right himself. Twisting, Karolus rammed the glowing lance on his sword into her unprotected shoulder, even as she landed yet another crushing blow into his chest.
As the two traded blows in the air, white fire raining down on the clearing below as it shed from Karolus's sword in waves, he noticed the War Devil Lords had finished transformations while he had been occupied, and they now all sprouted a pair of leathery wings from their shoulders, each of them rising into the air to slash at him. Throwing caution to the wind, Karolus did a half loop backwards, away from the black armored figure, turning upside down and leaving his back to her as he dashed down towards the incoming Devils. As he expected, he felt a blow shear cleanly through one of his wings with a loud shattering noise, but the World Champion Armor he was wearing shrugged the rest of the damage, so he didn't need to correct his course as he plummeted headfirst into the Devils.
Coming to the first one, Karolus didn't even block the incoming strike, the flaming sword of the Devil sputtering as it drew close to his holy aura. The angelic transformation gave him near immunity to the fires of hell, and the slashing damage was far lower than that of the woman behind him - these were the exact foes he was designed to eliminate. Taking the strike cleanly in the chest, Karolus kept charging downward into the devil, who had no way of getting out of the way in time, and crashed his shield into the devil's body.
"[Knight's Rebuke] [Divine Retribution]"
The Devil roared in pain as a shockwave of holy light burst out of the shield, smashing him out of the way even as Karolus' sword lashed out at him, leaving a white hot gash in the arm of the Devil as it was hurled away. The Devil below this one stopped its ascent and tried to wait for the second Devil below it to catch up, but Karolus kept hurtling downwards, and brute forced the same trade of blows on it, crashing forwards into its chest as the swords from the two devils slammed into his shoulders.
"[Paladin's Rebuke] [Holy Retribution]"
Using the upgraded version of the skills he had used on the first devil, Karolus swatted his target aside, smashing it aside into its fellow as he charged after them, laying strike after strike into the beleaguered devils as they desperately struck back while trying to avoid the waves of fire that swept towards them. This situation couldn't last for long, however, as eventually the black armored foe and the final devil joined together and attacked him from behind. Booting away the tangled pair of devils and sweeping around to face their approach, Karolus noted that while they had swept in to attack, they briefly paused in their pursuit.
"[Parry Missile V]"
Acting on instinct, Karolus activated his most potent ranged counter, and was immediately gratified as he saw a golden arrow reflect off his shield and rocket back to a spot in the forest before promptly exploding. Simultaneously, a massive bolt of lightning crashed down from the clear skies, flowing around yet another bubble of golden light from [Angel's Halo], which expanded around him before dissipating.
Three down. Four minutes and six. Two minutes and five. 62% remaining.
Those stacking bonuses on those War Devil Lords hurt a whole bunch, even though I'm passively specialized against them… Still probably a better bet than taking unpredictable shots from the forest though - they don't seem to have perfect coordination so at least I get some warning.
Charging back into combat with the black armored warrior, Karolus hurled himself back into the fray, trading skill for skill with the powerful warrior. One on one, Karolus felt like he could have simply overwhelmed his opponent with brute force, but needing to avoid being swarmed by the rest of the Devils, while also staying close enough to the group to avoid being sniped with the explosive arrows was a brutally slim knife edge to walk, and he didn't have anywhere near the experience in this body to walk that line reliably.
Three down. Two minutes and forty. Thirty nine. 46% remaining.
She's too tanky for this grind to end well for me, and she's simply been focusing on blocking and letting me make mistakes. If this was Yggdrasil it would be different, but it's time for something new.
Spinning around, Karolus barrelled towards the nearest Devil, and absolutely laid into it, completely disregarding the strikes coming in from behind, even as they threatened to swat him out of the sky. In the space of a few seconds, he took as much damage as he had in the previous minute, but he succeeded in gutting the devil, sending its flaming corpse plummeting down to earth. As he landed the final strike, he had just a half second to note that the attackers from behind had pulled back, before another arrow smashed into one of his wings and exploded, shattering the wing into motes of light and sending him hurtling towards the ground, even as a massive pair of earthen dragon heads rose up from below to bite him, each of them being repelled by an [Angel's Halo].
As the Devil below dissolved into ash, Karolus heard a shout of rage from the woman who was currently causing him a great deal of stress.
"How DARE you destroy something He created? I'll rip you limb from limb!"
Five down. Two minutes and twenty five. Twenty four. 33% remaining. Not a great trade, but it should decrease the incoming stacking damage by a fair bit. And it certainly looks like someone has a devoted follower - maybe I can cause her to get angry enough to make mistakes?
"[Supreme Grace]"
Choosing not to respond, Karolus instead spent a huge chunk of his limited mana reserves to heal himself, before rushing back into the melee, choosing another of the Devils to bull rush and overpower. The same scenario played out twice more, with Karolus taking huge amounts of damage while killing a Devil, before eating an explosive arrow and a spell.
All seven Halos down, so 10 minutes of the transformation remain. One minute and thirty. 47% remaining.
Taking stock of the situation, Karolus recast [Dimensional Slash] on the last remaining devil in the skies, shearing through its wing and sending it plummeting back to the earth. As he turned back to the black armored figure, he saw her rushing in, bardiche outstretched towards him. Such a telegraphed attack was easy for Karolus to push out of the way with his shield, but he didn't expect for her to pick up his tactic, rushing in and grabbing for his helmet. Slashing down with his sword, Karolus tried to divert the attack, but his sword smashed off her gauntlet, which dissipated into dark motes of light as her white gloved hand continued unhindered. As she grabbed onto his faceplate, he could hear her activate a skill with an almost gleeful growl.
"[Grand Challenge]"
Reason rushed from Louis' head, and he began viciously cutting at his foe, all thoughts of the other foes completely gone from his mind. The rational part of his brain continued to count the cooldowns on his skills, and recognized that he had been taunted, but it was unable to overcome the magical fury which overtook him. Blazing with light, Karolus shone like a star in the night sky as he embraced the fury of the heavens, and unleashed blow after brutal blow at the armored warrior, who blocked most of them even as the searing waves of fire washed over her exposed arm and midriff where the armor had broken away.
Suddenly, Karolus felt a massive upswell of power beneath them, and saw a massive blue star appear on the ground below them. He immediately recognized the spell as the Super Tier spell [Hammer of the Lightning God], but the taunt held him in place, constantly attacking the black armored figure while the star below gathered more and more power. Additionally, Karolus felt a double impact on his back - it seemed like the archer below had used the fact that he was stuck in one spot to circle around to now take shots at his unprotected back. While these shots no longer had explosive power behind them, they still bit into his health bar each time they hit.
With a crack that split the sky asunder, lightning began to pound down on the two flying combatants, smashing down on top of them again and again. Louis accurately tracked his health dropping as he counted down the remaining time on [Grand Challenge]; it was a good coordinated plan, but the execution was definitely rushed - much of the duration of the [Grand Challenge] was wasted before the spell started to land. As soon as the taunt ended, Louis once again gained full control of his actions, but he continued to attack as he activated all three of his World Champion skills at the same time.
"[Dimensional Gap] [World Break] [Dimensional Slash]"
Karolus' body turned intangible the moment before another bolt of lightning seared through the space he occupied, before another pair of blisteringly fast slashes crashed into the upper body of the figure before him, smashing away the helmet and the last of the armour off his foe, which all dissipated into fragments just like the rest.
Five minutes thirty one remaining. Five minutes. Three minutes. 19% remaining…
Louis' line of thought was broken as he finally got a look at the person he was fighting. Despite the snarl plastered across her face, the being before him was a perfect, stunning beauty, and it wasn't until she tried to cleave him in half that he snapped back to his senses and swept backwards out of the crashing lightning bolts, the bardiche and an arrow also harmlessly passing through him before the duration of [Dimensional Gap] ended.
I was foolish to let her get me with that taunt, it certainly put a dent in my health. Certainly throws my calculations out - I may have to use this earlier than I had hoped.
Swooping down low against the treetops, followed closely by the furious, beautiful warrior, Karolus sheathed his sword and reached for the other sword on his hip, his mind calming as he laid his hand on the hilt of the Sword of the King. As he squared up to his foe, and steeled himself to draw it, a pair of massive fireballs erupted in the forest ahead of him, blowing apart a massive swathe of forest around a hundred meters in front of him.
[Twin Maximized Asura], and not aimed at me! They must've finally arrived.
Changing course, Karolus strained his wings as he rushed towards the source of the fire, sweeping over the clearing made by the explosion to find it empty other than the shattered stumps of trees and the familiar forms of his companions, who sped through the air on their mounts to join him. A lingering chill in the air mixed with the rising heat from the fire, which marked this as the final resting place of an Ethereal Ghost Maiden, though of course it left no remains. Turning with renewed vigor to fight the warrior behind him, Louis was disappointed to find that she was nowhere to be found. Flying up above the canopy, he caught a brief glimpse of two winged figures carrying the form of a small child between them before they disappeared through a glowing purple [Gate] which disappeared a moment later.
As Karolus descended slowly to the scorched earth and the adrenaline of the fight began to fade, he felt a shiver of excitement and anticipation run through him.
That's it! That desperate fight - life or death - that's what I've been craving!
Behind his helmet, his face split into a grin as Morgiana rushed over and healed him, showering him with reprimands about not having waited for her, while Carloman stomped around the clearing - clearly put out about having been late to the main fight.
Come back soon, mysterious woman, I look forward to seeing what you really have to offer.