Drake dodged Elizabeth's attack and tried to punch her again, which only resulted in his fist stopping right as it struck her in the chest. She smirked at him.
"You're a slow learner, aren't you?" She asked, swatting at him, Despite the clear nonchalant motion in the swing, Drake still went sliding back, before he stumbled and came to a stop. Looking, up, he glared at Elizabeth closely, looking for some sort of weakness. He'd been attacking her with Michael and Keita, but none of them were able to land a hit. It was stupid, honestly. Drake watched as Michael took his turn to rush her, and Keita's shadow rushed along the ground.
"White Dragon Claw!" he shouted. Elizabeth stopped his attack with an open hand, but Michael seemed prepared for this. As his fist struck her palm, he twisted so that he had a grip on her arm. She looked over at him, confused.
"What are you doing, exactly?" She asked. Michael smirked.
"Nothing." he replied. On cue to Michael's response, Keita surged from the ground, shadows wrapping around his fist as he did so. His fist struck Elizabeth in the stomach, but again she didn't move. She looked down at Keita's fist, unimpressed.
"Seems all three of you are rather boneheaded." She said. She swatted Michael's face with her free hand, making him fly away. From there, she rose a knee and Keita flew straight up and then right down. After both of them had recovered, they backed up and regrouped.
"This girl is impressive as all hell." Michael muttered, wiping dirt off his chin.
"Very much so." Keita agreed. "Her defense seems impenetrable."
"There's no way that's true." Drake replied. "Magic like that can't exist."
"How would we know?" Michael asked. "I've never seen her brand of magic before." Drake knew Michael had a point. Despite the clear holy aspect to her magic, Elizabeth's technique's were all foreign to him. From what he could tell she was enhancing herself, but if there was any clear way around it was a mystery.
"Her enchantments were white, no?" Keita asked, question directed at Michael. "Just eat them."
"Hate to break your master plan wide open," Michael replied, jabbing a finger at Elizabeth. "But do you see any white on her?" Drake took a moment and noted that yes, despite the enchantments being white in origin, he couldn't see them now. "How am I supposed to eat what I can't see?"
"I don't know, it's not my area of expertise." Keita replied snarkily. "We're relying on you here, oh White Dragon Slayer." Michael clicked his teeth in annoyance.
"Oh my bad Sir Cheney." He replied. "Allow me to develop a new technique for you. Shall I pull it out of my ass?" Drake rolled his eyes as the two other men with him started descending into an argument.
"Guys..." He tried weakly.
"While you're trying, get that stick that's been up there for a while." Keita snapped.
"Keita Cheney does not get to lecture me about a stick in my ass." Michael shot back. "Yours is so big I could plant a flag on the other end and claim your ass for my homeland!"
"Guys!" Drake shouted. "Can we please focus on the enemy?" Both of them seemed a bit miffed with each other, but nodded and returned their attention to Elizabeth, who seemed to be barely paying attention as the two had argued.
"Oh, are the lovers done with their spat?" She asked.
"We'll finish it later." Michael said. "After we kick your ass seven different ways."
"I'm waiting." Drake watched the woman wait for them, but he still didn't see any openings.
"So, any ideas?" Keita asked.
"I guess we just rush her all at once." Michael said. "Maybe her magic doesn't work as well if we're all rushing her at once." It was a garbage plan, but if Michael wasn't sure if he could eat the enchants it was all they had.
"Alright then, all at once." Drake agreed, tensing as they prepared to run at her. Michael chuckled.
"You know, I've always wondered how our magic would work in tandem." He said.
"Oh yeah?" Drake asked.
"Yeah." Keita agreed. "The light, shadows, and poison. Shall we test it out on our opponent?"
"Gladly." Drake replied. And with this, the three of them charged together.
The second they got close, Keita melted into the ground below them and shot ahead. He created a veil of darkness in front of Elizabeth, and he slashed at her from out on it occasionally, making her confused as to his location. Keita melted back into the ground as Michael and Drake reached her, and together the two let loose with a flurry of punches all over her body, but none of them made her seem hurt in the slightest. She was backing up thanks to the speed in which the two attacked, but other than that she wasn't really doing anything. Michael backed up as Drake's mouth dripped with poison, giving Drake room to let loose.
"Poison Dragon Roar!" He shouted. with this, the dark red element let loose from his mouth struck Elizabeth in the chest, but she still didn't move. Drake watched as his poison didn't even do as much as infect her. Looks like her boasting that other enchant before wasn't as big of a boast as he'd thought.
"White Dragon Spears!" Drake backed up when he heard this, and watched as a flurry of pointed whit spears rained down on Elizabeth from above, the origin being Michael up in the air. The attack threw up a cloud of smoke, making it hard to discern if Michael had actually done anything at all.
"That all?" Elizabeth asked from the smoke. Once it cleared and Michael had landed, it was clear their tandem attack was still not enough. Elizabeth still stood, and she watched them without a care in the world. "You boys really need to learn." Drake grinned as he watched her.
"You remember there was three of us, right?" he asked. Elizabeth raised an eyebrow, but her eyes widened when she realized Drake was actually looking behind her, where the veil of darkness had reappeared. She tried to whirl and defend from the blow, but Keita was faster.
"Shadow Dragon Slash!" Keita jumped from the veil, hand coated in shadows. Before Elizabeth had a chance to block him, he took aim right for her head.
And Drake got a front row seat to Elizabeth flying across the battlefield, a screech of pain accompanying her. He watched as she finally came to a stop, and din't move her a while. Michael laughed triumphantly.
"You got her!" He shouted gleefully. "What did you do, anyway?"
"Nothing out of the ordinary." Keita replied. Drake watched as Elizabeth struggled to her feet from the blow, and he grinned.
"I don't know if this'll work," He said to the other two. "But listen to me carefully. I have an idea."
So far all Elise had dealt with was a few blasts from Abigail, and other than that she hadn't really done much. It irritated Elise because it was blatantly obvious she was hiding something.
"Is this all you kids are capable of?" She asked.
"You really haven't shown us much either." Reyna replied. Abigail shrugged.
"I'm trying not to hurt you." She replied. "I'd rather stick to my basic self defense strategies."
"Well I hate to break this to you, but we're aiming to hurt you." Elise said. "So wise up and start trying."
"Again, if you're trying to hurt me you're not going to last very long." Abigail said. "But very well. You seem interested in learning. So allow me to give you a quick lesson. As the Head of the Cross, my ability differs quite a lot from the others."
"How so?" Ultear demanded.
"I won't dare say I am the strongest." She said, her hands glowing as she began to do what looked like praying. "But I am very strong. So perhaps the others view me as the strongest."
"Look out you two." Reyna called out. "She's about to pull out something huge!"
"Huge?" Abigail asked. "No no, nothing too crazy. He's actually rather moderately sized." With this, Abigail's eyes glowed as well. "Descend to my aid, Aeran." With this, light exploded around Abigail, which made Elise shield her eyes instinctively. The light blinded her completely, and she she opened them, Elise was greeted with quite the sight.
Standing in between them and Elise was a being made completely of light. This being was about six feet tall, and had no distinct facial features. It was covered in what looked like metal plating, and a long sword was sheathed on his back.
"What the actual hell?" Reyna asked. The creature still hadn't moved from it's position, but Elise could still see Abigail right behind it.
"It's the Guardian Aeran. You could say my magic revolves around giving holy magic form, much like this."
"Is he some kind of spirit?" Ultear asked.
Yes and no." Abigail replied. "My magic gives form to holy light. Aeran is no spirit like a zodiac nor is he human. He's somewhere in the middle. Isn't that right, Aeran?" Aeran offered no response, making Abigail chuckle. "Oh right. I forgot you're the strong and silent type. Be a dear and take care of these girls for me, okay?" Aeran still offered her no response, but he drew his blade all the same and charged towards them, making Elise back up. She watched as Aeran turned to her and swung his sword, but she was far out of range.
That was of course until it extended and struck her, causing her to land on her back and grunt in pain.
"You okay Elise?" Ultear called.
"I'm fine..." Elise replied, getting to her feet, stumbling as she did. "Bastard hits like an angry bull, though."
"How're we supposed to get around this thing?" Reyna asked. "And does she have more than one?"
"Who knows." Elise replied, arms turning to iron. "All I know is that I want to smash it's head in."
"You guys got it?" Drake asked. Michael nodded.
"Got it." He said as Elizabeth finally got back to her feet.
"Lucky hit." She snarled. "No idea why it got through, but...!" The rest of her reply was cut off as the three of them turned and charged her. She was a bit stunned that they rushed right for her, but she raised her hands to defend herself.
As they reached her, Keita sunk into the ground just as Drake wanted. Drake and Michael continued their assault, making Elizabeth back up as she defended herself. Finally, Michael kicked at her with his right leg, which she used to spin him out in that direction. Just as Drake wanted. He continued to attack and, As such, Elizabeth tossed him to the left. Despite how unsure he'd been originally, the first part of the plan had got perfectly. He and Michael continued to attack her from both sides, as they had to wait for Keita's signal.
It didn't take long for it to come around either, as Drake spotted the shadows lurking behind Elizabeth.
"Michael!" he shouted. The other man nodded and together, they back up. Elizabeth seemed confused by this.
"What?" She asked. "Got some kind of plan?" Drake didn't bother responding to this, she'd find out soon enough. "No matter. It's tiresome fighting you boys. I'll have to...?"
Drake heard her stop talking as he and Michael began to inhale, but he wasn't going to stop. The plan was simple, really. They were all going to roar at her. But not just a plain old roar.
"Poison Dragon..."
"White Dragon..." Elizabeth clearly noticed that they were about to do something, but she wasn't prepared for Keita to be doing the exact same thing right behind her.
"Shadow Dragon..." She whirled again in surprise, but it was too late.
"ROAR!" Together the elements of light, poison and shadow shot forward towards the enemy. However, Drake was a little nervous his attack wouldn't land. Not because his aim was bad, because he was aiming for Elizabeth's head.
It was only a theory, but Drake hoped it was going to work. Basically, he reasoned that since Keita's last attack had hit Elizabeth in the head, that her current armor enchant didn't account for her head. Because if it did, no such attack should have sent her flying as high as it did. So, as such, Drake had the others aim for her head from several different directions so that, even if one or two didn't hit, she'd still take damage. That way, they'd actually stand a chance at beating her.
Luckily, all three roars managed to hit their mark at the same time and exploded. A yelp of pain from inside the smoke cloud could be heard, but Drake waited to see what would happen instead of getting excited.
"Was that really all it took?" Michael asked, cracking his knuckles.
"Let's hope so." Keita said. "If she gets up our advantage could disappear." Drake didn't join into this conversation, he simply watched and waited. Soon enough, the smoke began to clear.
Which revealed Elizabeth lying face down, not moving. The three Dragon Slayers watched her carefully and looked for any sign of movement, but she remained still.
"I guess we got her." Drake said, feeling the tensity dying out of the situation. Keita nodded.
"Seems she can't take many hits without those enchants." He said. "She only took four attacks to the head and she's already out."
"You say that like it's abnormal." Michael said. "Most people wouldn't take one and get back up." Drake knew that was true. Perhaps Elizabeth was one of those people.
Either way, the battle was over.
"Hm, this is odd." Elise paused as she watched Abigail dig around in her jacket. Soon, the woman pulled out what looked like a necklace of the cross, but it's left arm was darkened black whereas the other parts were pearly white.
"What?" She asked. Abigail shrugged.
"You focus on Aeran." She replied. At this, the woman's guardian swung at Elise, making her dodge once more. Elise couldn't see Abigail very well, but she did the cross begin to float in front of her face.
"Well well, look who's flat on their ass this time." Quinn said, landing lightly after avoiding more of Steph and Terra's attacks.
"What?" Steph asked, not sure what he meant. Quinn smiled at her as he pulled out a pearly white cross necklace, with a blackened out left arm.
"It's nothing," he replied. The cross began to glow and float by itself. "Alright, I'm done. You can come at me again."
"You dumb broad." Tristan hissed as he climbed to his feet.
"Excuse me, asshole?" Nami demanded. Tristan scoffed at her.
"Not you, bitch." He replied. "I was referring to a comrade of mine." Simon watched as Tristan pulled something out of his shirt, and it began to glow. Tristan smirked.
"What are you doing?" Juno asked.
"Nothing that directly affects you." Tristan replied, as his necklace began to float by itself. "But perhaps bad for some of your friends."
"Where should we go now?" Michael asked.
"Don't ask me." Keita replied. "I suppose we should just follow any more explosions we see." Drake believed that would work. Maybe then they'd be able to help the others and end this battle quickly. Hopefully, but who knew.
"And then we can help the others." Michael reasoned. "We should get on that, I'm tired."
"Worn out already?" Drake asked with a smirk. Michael rolled his eyes.
"No, it's past midnight." He replied. "I've been up since yesterday morning. And I've been fighting. I'm tired."
"Nice excuse," Keita said. As the two began to bicker, Drake looked around for any direction that looked as though it had a fight going on. Despite how much he trusted the others, he wanted to help them just in case. Just in case.
"Who's closest based on smell?" Drake asked the others. Michael paused his argument with Keita and took a sniff.
"Smells like Elise is that way.'" he said, pointing to their left. Drake nodded.
"Alright, let's-!" Drake was cut off as a blast of magic struck him in the back, sending him flying onto his face.
"Drake!" Michael shouted. Drake got back to his feet quickly, and turned towards the blast. When he saw the source, his eyes widened.
Elizabeth was back on her feet, and looked as though she was perfectly fine. She had some dirt on her face, but that was about it. She reached up and wiped the dirt from her cheek, sighing.
"Don't turn your back that quickly, boys." She said. "Fight's not over yet."
"What the hell?" Keita asked. "You were out cold a second ago."
"And?" Elizabeth asked, a faint glow coming from her chest. "I'm not now. Although, I must thank you boys. I didn't realize until you struck me, but I used the wrong enchant." Elizabeth brought her hands together, and muttered something. Drake watched as another set of armor covered her body, and swiftly disappeared into her skin. This time, however, her head was covered up by a helmet.
"Oh boy..." Michael grumbled.
"I used the one that didn't have head protection." Elizabeth said. "Now, shall we continue?"
"Well," Drake said, readying himself along with Michael and Keita. "I'm not sure we have a choice."
Chapter 253: Not An Ounce Of Freedom