"Talking"
"Thinking"
[Status Magic or other reference to a system or power]
…
"You attacked my family, for that, die!" Monti screamed.
He slammed his hands together in a loud clap, but the noise everyone heard was that of breaking glass.
[Wave of Catastrophe]
...
It was the first time any of the lords or church members had seen it themselves, but when one of the few soldiers exclaimed, "It's a wave!", they had no choice but to believe it to be true. They watched in shock and awe as monsters began to slip through the cracks in the sky. The number of monster were not overwhelming. Monti's wave wasn't a full wave. Whether it was due to his inexperience, his level, or if artificial waves were just weaker. The resulting wave was much smaller, but still both a source of monsters and a boost to Monti.
The lords could not just engage their opponent, they had to begin issuing orders to their men. Monti had the same idea. He had one of his three minds focus only on using [Royal Authority] constantly on any monster in range. As a wave boss, Monti thought it would work and felt relieved when he felt his control worked. He flew up 10 feet or so to get a better look of the battlefield. Even with three minds, there was too much going on for someone like him to be able to keep track of it all. He gave up on what he could not do and focused on what he could do. Dealing with the enemies in front of him.
Monti transformed into his full form and activated [Overdrive]. The lords took a defensive stance, but none could react to Monti fast enough. He sent out a pulse of [Blightning] and [Fear] at the lords, which slowed their reactions on too many fronts for them to compensate for immediately. In the next instant, Monti was in front of lord Averill. He only managed to raise an arm to block as Monti slashed at him with all his strength. The claw cut right through the man's armor and nearly cut his flesh to the bone. He slashed his arm and stomach and sent the man flying off the [Cathedral], into the army below, crashing through them like a cannon shell.
The other lords watched as the strongest among them was thrown like a toy and began to realize that they had a real battle on their hands. Their perceived fun was over.
...
Filo versus Itsuki
...
Filo dug her weapon-paired foot firmly into Itsuki's chest and they both shot further down the road.
[Escape]
Itsuki teleported just three feet to the side, stopping himself from being pushed back further. He fell to the ground a moment and had to catch his breath. He was absolutely baffled by how much damage he had taken and couldn't explain it.
"How... did you do that much?" Itsuki asked, still catching his breath.
Filo was about to just answer him, but the image of Itsuki standing over Monti about to kill him flashed through her mind.
"..."
Itsuki was getting upset with not being answered.
"Answer me!" He demanded.
Filo went at him again, attacking without speaking. Itsuki dodged three kicks in a row, but after dodging a flying kick, he was surprised when she used [Wind Walk] to jump off the air the moment she missed and spin kicked him again. He was frustrated, but also saw the attack did a lot less than the last attack. Itsuki was aware of the assassin class and its ability, he was aware of most of the classes, as they were in the game he played. He correctly assumed her class and calmed down some.
[Ballistic Arrow]
Itsuki shot an arrow at Filo that she went to dodge. It exploded, but she was quick enough to escape damage, but the shockwave threw her further in the air.
[Flaming Arrow]
Itsuki fired another skill, but Filo simply used [Wind Walk] to dodge it mid-air. She readied herself for another assault, but right before she could, the previous skill struck her hard on her other side. As she fell to the ground she was trying to understand what happened. She was sure she dodged the skill, but it struck her anyways, and from the other side at that.
While she fell and collected herself, Itsuki took this time to drink a health potion.
Filo landed on her feet and eyed down her opponent. Filo knew she wasn't very clever, but she also knew she had great instincts. She should have been able to infer what was happening, but she couldn't. At her confused look, Itsuki smiled.
"You're never going to figure it out. Now, just surrender. I don't want to hurt you. You're just Naofumi's victim." Itsuki said with pity.
"Don't talk bad about dad!" Filo launched at him again.
Filo thought he was right, though, she wasn't going to figure it out. So instead of thinking, she should be fighting.
[Blank Arrow]
Itsuki shot another skill that Filo dodged. Even if the arrow came back, she'd hit Itsuki before it reached her.
[Blink Arrow]
Right before the [Blank Arrow] hit the ground, it became Itsuki's [Blink Arrow], teleporting him far behind her as she swung at the air. Filo stopped and turned. Itsuki was already launching another skill.
[Binding Shadow]
Filo tried to dodge it, but it seemed to move with her. It hit her and did very little damage, but she was now stuck it place.
"See? Now, just calm down. I'll have to knock you out, but I promise you'll be fine." Itsuki said smugly.
"What about Monti? If you were fighting him, you'd just keep hurting him, right?" Filo asked while gathering her magic.
"I know you can't think straight right now, but that thing isn't your brother. You're not even from the same world. He's a monster of the waves and we heroes are supposed to kill them. To save everyone."
Filo only meant to gather the magic to break free, but at the mentioning of killing her big brother and denying their family again, she went off. The skill broke into pieces as she formed her [Mana Talons]. Itsuki was surprised, but simply returned to attacking.
[Scatter Shot]
He shot one arrow that split into 10 arrows made of light. Filo began backing up while chanting. This confused Itsuki as his impression of Filo was that she would just run in and take damage like an idiot. He thought she fought with basic NPC logic.
[Zweite Tornado]
She created a twister forming towards Itsuki. It caught the 10 arrows in its force and threw them to the sides. Before Filo's spell was gone, she powered through it herself, rushing Itsuki's position. Itsuki shot another [Scatter Shot], but Filo used [High Quick] and reached him before the one arrow even split. She hit him with her claws and Itsuki was getting more and more upset. He tried blocking with his bow, but she had more physical strength than him and simply began to overpower him.
As she went to knock his weapon out of his hands, he used [Escape] again, moving a few feet to the side. She turned to attack him again, only to be shocked by the sight. All the [Scatter Shot] that she had avoided came at her. Not just the last set of 10 she passed, but the first 10 she knocked away with her spell. She was bombarded by all twenty arrows and sent to the ground. Before she could get up, Itsuki pointed his bow at her again.
[Bunker Shot]
Filo used her [Mana Talons] to grab the point blank attack. She struggled a moment before crushing the skill. Before Itsuki could act again, she went at him again, going in and out of [High Quick], hitting him at least a dozen times. He'd use [Escape] and she'd just use [Wind Walk] and be on him again within a second. This continued for nearly a second dozen hits before she backed off and came back at him using [Blow Back] to launch him back. Filo wanted to keep up the attack, but she was wearing herself out. She figured she'd use her rest potion now, recover her fatigue and some of her Mp.
Filo never took her eyes off Itsuki, but she was still nearly hit by an attack. She stepped to the side just to avoid a large axe carried by a large armored man. It was the sub-leader of Itsuki's party, Mald. The man's axe sunk deep in the earth and Filo used this opening to hit the man with her talons. The man slid back only a foot due to his size and his still sunken axe.
Itsuki was using another skill, but Filo saw the other party members and used [High Quick] to hit each of them with her [Mana Talons], dealing her double damage and heavily injuring each of them. As she went to hit the last one, a green haired girl already having her arms guarding her face, Filo sensed something... She was weak. If she hit her with her talons with doubled damage, she'd probably kill her.
Filo understood that this battle was life or death for the family, but she also didn't want to kill people. She knew how upsetting the idea was to her mother and big brother. She instead used her knee to hit the girl and as Filo felt, the girl was down for the count.
[Long Draw] [Bird Hunter]
Itsuki had charged up a skill then used a second skill that, despite the name, didn't do more damage to birds.
Filo saw this and began to run from the skill, but what she saw shocked her. The arrow split more and more as it traveled. She could not keep dodging this skill. It would continue to grow in damage the longer it went on, on top of being boosted by another skill. She looked around and there weren't any rocks or tree, they were on the open road. The trees where Teal went to were too far away. That's when Filo had a dumb, but brilliant answer.
She shot to one side and ran to her answer. Mald saw her approaching and swung again, but Filo went low and dove between his legs, then quickly hopped.
"See? I'm smart. Smarter than Leon for sure."
The arrows assaulted Mald, heavily damaging his armor. After the skill was over, he quietly fell to the ground. He was alive, but really hurt. Itsuki's three remaining party members positioned themselves between Filo and Itsuki. There was more to do and Itsuki was still holding back, trying to avoid killing Filo. However, Itsuki's desire to take it easier on her went right out the window when he saw the distant sky.
He saw the small wave in effect and assumed every moment of delay at this point was going to cost the NPCs their lives. He couldn't spare one NPC in exchange for many times more. Itsuki was ready to kill. He aimed his bow at Filo and used a skill.
[Sniper]
There was no arrow. Itsuki simply called the skills name and Filo was hit as if there was an arrow that had hit her. The other three members of Itsuki's party began to rush Filo. Itsuki aiming carefully, hitting her twice more with [Sniper] in the small windows of sight he was given.
Filo had every right to be worried, but to her surprise, the three enemies stopped dead in their tracks. A voice called out from behind Filo.
"What do we have here?" The familiar woman's voice asked mockingly.
...
Leon versus Ren
...
Leon knew Ren was about to free himself, so he threw him as far as he could to get him even further from the road. They both landed on their feet and seemed to stare the other down a moment. Ren felt like he had to say something, before things went any further.
"You know how this is going to go. I can end this fight at any time. I don't want to kill you." Ren spoke, but him trying to stay reserved only made him sound like more of a jerk to Leon.
"You don't want to kill me? Am I supposed to care about that? You killed Gaelion and had a little girl thrown into slavery. You threatened to kill my big brother. How did you murder Gaelion and still not get it! If you plan to harm my family, then I will face my death with pride!" Leon asserted.
Ren was shaken by his words, but he tried again.
"It's all in your head. Naofumi has some kind of spell on you, can't you see that? Aren't you suppose to hate filolials? Why aren't you attacking that filolial? Why did you not attack me when you clearly wanted to? You're being manipulated!" Ren slipped and yelled at the end.
"I don't attack Filo because she's my sister! I kept my promise because he is my father! The only thing that they've ever done to make me want to fight and die for them... was love me!" Leon had stalled long enough.
[Zweite Hellfire] [Zweite Hellfire] [Zweite Hellfire] [Zweite Hellfire] [Zweite Hellfire]
Leon had been forming orbs of fire since the moment he and Ren touched down. He took full advantage of not needing to chant to speak with Ren and keep him preoccupied. Now, having set his go-to spell five times over, he activated it with just the name. For a moment, Ren was confused. The orbs were out of his sight, but the moment he felt the heat, he went from confusion to fear.
Boom!
The fire rained down on Ren, knocking him onto his stomach as the spell struck his back over and over again. It was an impressive light-show, bright and beautiful. However, Leon knew it'd take more than that. Naofumi had scanned the three before and told him that Ren was the highest level and therefore likely the strongest hero currently. It was a mixture of duty and pride that compelled him to fight Ren alone, even knowing this.
"You've class upgraded." Ren said knowingly as he stood.
Just like Itsuki, Ren knew of the classes and their bonuses.
He looked hurt, but not as much as Leon would have liked.
"Yes. My family will not be left crying like last time. We came to win." Leon said, pride showing through.
"Crying? What are you talking about?" Ren seemed to want to know, but also readied himself for the fight.
"I won't tell you that. That was a private family moment... Come." Leon began to run at Ren.
Ren answered in kind. They ran at one another and met in the middle. They exchanged blows, neither blocking that many attacks at first, Leon adopting a more defensive fighting style as time went on as Ren still did way more melee damage than he could, despite the doubled stats. Leon used [Smog of War] to blind Ren, but he was ready for Leon's best attack. Leon didn't plan on attacking now. He took this free moment to drink his health potion, cursing himself for needing it so early. He needed to calm down and think the fight through.
Leon transformed into his full form, which was now more muscular and larger. That second dragon emperor shard must have caused this, but it took time to cause this change. He then breathed fire on the entire area the smoke covered. It probably would have worked if Ren was in there. Ren had retreated out of the smoke, not wanting to be a sitting duck and it seemed like the smart decision.
[Shooting Star Sword]
Ren swung his swords while it shined brightly. From the swing spawned several bright star-like clusters of energy. They shot through the fire and struck Leon. He understood he was too big of a target and returned to his human form. He hated listening to Fitoria, but her words of advice to Filo were true for him as well. He shouldn't rely on his true form, especially when Ren could use that at any time.
"..." [Zweite Hellfire]
Leon decided to keep using his safe option. He'd wear him down and then-
"That won't work again!" Ren yelled.
[Hundred Swords]
Ren stuck his sword in the ground and many swords of light formed around him. A moment after appearing, they shot off, impaling and destroying every orb of fire that Leon made. Leon didn't care and ran at Ren, who seemed to be slow in removing his sword from the ground.
[Sword Quake]
The ground around Ren shook violently, causing Leon to fall to the ground. Once again, Leon was cursing himself. He had seen that skill before, just used in a different way. Ren quickly removed his sword and switched it to another sword, one of the swords Leon wanted to avoid.
[Sealing Slash]
Ren slashed Leon, then sheathed the sword before switching sword forms again. Leon understood, he was now unable to use his favorite [Zweite Hellfire] until Ren felt like sealing something else. He had other spells, though.
He stood quickly and began exchanging blows with Ren again. As they went, he realized Ren didn't actually know how to fight all that well, he simply had the power. As their melee clash went on, Leon found himself faring better and better. Eventually, they broke from the combat and stood apart, each one taking several steps backward.
While Leon did well, Ren's damage was simply unfair. He decided to be a little clever, using some fire spells that he was only able to understand by reading his parents' grimoires. Ren decided to get serious.
"Please... stop. I don't want to kill you... Killing Gaelion was a mistake. If I knew then what I know now, I'd have never gone through with it. I'm sorry for killing your father..."
[Dragon Buster]
"So please retreat. Or surrender. Or something..." Ren seemed more remorseful now, allowing a moment of genuine behavior.
Opposite him, Leon had not budged at all. He had not made the slightest move, not even changing his facial expression.
"...So be it." Ren ran at him and went for his left arm, hoping to leave him maimed, but alive.
The moment he struck what he thought was Leon, it broke into weak flames. Ren didn't understand.
"That spell is called [Fire Mirage]. And this one? [Healing Warmth]." Leon revealed, standing 30 feet away.
He used his chantless magic to be sneakier and was now back to full Hp, not that it mattered with [Dragon Buster] in play.
"That apology just then wasn't so bad, but you are still getting it wrong. The shield hero is my father." Leon corrected, ready to re-engage.
"Sir Ren, sorry we are late!" One of his teammates yelled as they arrived.
Leon transformed immediately and looked like he was attacking the newcomers. They backed away as Leon breathed fire, but he wasn't aiming for them. He used [Zweite Firewall] on the ground around them, then continued his forming of the wall, blocking off a whole side of the field. Leon barely had time to transform back while jumping to dodge Ren coming at him with his killer skill.
Ren didn't give up and leapt to the air a bit to reach Leon. Leon was called out and being attacked with a skill that would likely kill him in a single hit. He did the only thing he could.
Clang!
Ren was shocked, but Leon couldn't contain his smile. He laughed maniacally at his simple victory.
"Wha...? But you're a dragon!?" Ren yelled, clearly upset.
"But my weapon obviously isn't, fool!" Leon taunted as he threw Ren away from him and the two landed.
"This changes nothing. The moment I get past you staff, you die. Surrender." Ren regained his confidence.
"Sir Ren, I can help!" One of his teammates behind the flaming barrier offered.
"Understood. Given me strength." Ren commanded.
[Fast Strength Up]
The moment Ren felt the boost, he ran at Leon, who understood his problem. Ren struck Leon's staff and sent him flying back. At this rate, he'd disarm Leon and win, but Leon had more tricks to go. He had read all of his parents' grimoires, including his father's support tomes. With that, he had understood buffs, but had a better option than a simple counter spell.
[Cleansing Flame]
Ren took a small amount of damage from Leon's spell, but powered through. The next time they crossed weapons, he realized his buff was gone. Having expected strength he didn't have, Leon was able to pin Ren's sword to the ground under his staff, then placed his foot to hold it down as he grabbed the hair on both sides of Ren's head and screamed fire at him.
Ren was losing, but the moment he caught sight of the wave in the distance, his will to hold back vanished. He took his left hand off his sword and punched Leon in the stomach as hard as he could. With Leon breathing fire, the gut punch knocked all the air out of him. It stopped his breathing fire and forced him to stumble back, bent over holding his stomach. Ren delivered a strong boot to the face to knock Leon onto his back, still gasping for air.
Leon knew he needed to create distance somehow, thankfully he didn't need to chant. He used his fire magic to propel himself away. He'd create distance then-
[Air Strike Bash]
A quick impact from Ren's skill caused Leon to tumble into a rock, his staff feet away, but not in his grasp. When he reached for it, Ren stomped on his hand and pointed his sword at Leon, [Dragon Buster] still active.
Ren couldn't ask for his surrender now. If Leon surrendered then acted up, it'd slow Ren's response to help the army with the wave. He could not spare him. Ren leveled his sword at Leon and stared him down.
"I really am sorry." Ren said genuinely.
Leon, however, didn't match eyes with Ren, instead he was looking behind him. A smile formed, a low laugh became a huge one.
"Bwahahahahahahaha!"
Ren went from confused to scared as a second voice from within Leon joined in.
"Rahahahahahahahaha!"
...
Teal versus Motoyasu
...
Teal raced after Motoyasu. She lost track of him almost immediately due to the sheer force of her attack. She simply followed the visual damage from his trajectory and used that to guide her. Eventually, she found him picking himself up, feeling like he was hit by a truck.
Teal approached, making sure to plant a seed with each step.
"Now see here, I don't want to hurt you. You need to fight that brainwashing. I'm sure you have the power to do so." Motoyasu had forgiven Teal before he hit the ground.
Teal was not pleased. She wanted him to be upset, she wanted him to feel as bad as they did that night in the rain. If that last hit didn't do it, she'd simply hit him again and again, until he did.
"That first hit was for Filo, you took away her purpose. You bound her with your shackle and tried to make her yours. It better have hurt." Teal said calmly.
Motoyasu stood slowly, damage clearly evident. He seemed to look at her a moment.
"I'm only trying to free Filo and the rest of you. Naofumi has you all obsessing over 'purposes' that he assigned to you. Please le-" Motoyasu tried pleading again.
Teal slammed her arm down, forcing Motoyasu to stop talking and dodge.
"We chose our purposes ourselves. I tried to get father to tell me my purpose and he told me I had to find it myself." Teal spoke, not really caring about the conversation.
She began to grow. She sat her sword down and allowed her second arm to match her first. She gained two feet in height, looking older. She had numerous vines grow from her that grew thorns, a large horse trap came from her back, and two bell-flowers filled with liquid. She looked quite intimidating.
"N-Now see here... I don't want to hurt you." Motoyasu said, half intimidated, but also half concerned he would hurt her.
Teal's head opened slightly. [Noxious Pollen]
Glowing yellow pollen exited the flower atop her head and began to rush towards Motoyasu. He began to spin his spear.
[Windmill]
It created a strong wind which blew the pollen far away. Likely Motoyasu learned this skill to deal with Leon's smoke.
"You already hurt me. You hurt my father, my mother, my sister, you planned to kill my big brother and not to mention what you did to Lerno village. For someone who claims to not want to harm people, you sure spread a lot of pain." Teal said, attacking again.
"Lerno village...? Wait... The miracle seed! You came from that?" Motoyasu was only now getting that far.
Teal punched forward with both arms, covering a wide area. Unfortunately, Motoyasu ran up a tree, avoiding the attack. He then leapt off and came down on the arms hard.
[Shining Revolution]
He and his spear spun with the spear-tip leaving a streak of energy forming a ring that sliced both of her arms off. Teal was concerned that he could cut through her armored leaves, but not about the damage itself. She simply reformed what remained of her enlarged arms, making them still larger than her arms were normally. Since what was lost was from a prepped ability, she hadn't lost any Hp yet.
She decided to respond to him, it was almost like losing those arms weren't an issue.
"What came from that seed was pain and suffering. People in Lerno died, many more made sick. Father came and healed everyone and destroyed the monsters that the seed spawned. He took time modifying the seed to give Lerno the salvation you failed to give them... On a certain level, I'm grateful. Your mistake is the only reason father was able to create me." Teal said with a little shame at the end.
Motoyasu looked like he was going to say something, but she began to rush him. He attempted to block, but the horse trap jaw grabbed the spear as soon as it could. She knew he wouldn't abandon his spear and so decided to wrap him further in her barbed vines. Once she thought he was secure, she used her bell-flowers to shoot her acid and base at him.
Before they landed, Motoyasu used [Banner Summoning]. This was the ability he used to teleport to his spear when he attacked Naofumi in the capital. Teal didn't consider using it in the way he did. He was already holding the spear, but now he was above the spear still holding it. Needless to say, Teal's [Dynamic Neutralization] missed its mark, only destroying her own vines.
[Meteor Thrust]
The horse trap was destroyed instantly. Teal wasn't deterred and used a spare vine to grab her sword while she tried punching him.
Motoyasu and Teal fought for a bit.
Motoyasu tried to defend from her attacks, but the moment the sword was in her hands, he was forced to act more offensively. He began attacking her over and over again with [Paralyzing Spear]. Teal's longer arms and sword were able to match Motoyasu's own and she landed a hit each time he did. However she noticed his skill was taking its toll and her body began to stiffen.
This would take some time to become full paralysis, as Teal's body had multiple ways of moving, but as her movements stiffened, Motoyasu began to gain the upper hand.
"I don't know what that monster told you, but I saved Lerno village. That seed saved their lives." Motoyasu finally continued their argument from earlier.
Teal wanted to respond, but giving this paralyzing effect more time in her may escalate it. She thought it best to act now. She went to attack again, only to face another of Motoyasu's skills.
[Sleep Lance]
Motoyasu simply hit the end of his spear to the ground and she began to collapse. Her giving herself the ability to sleep had backfired and she was now on her hands and knees, struggling to stay awake.
"See? I won't hurt you. Please just rest and by day's end-"
Motoyasu was interrupted by Teal drinking a potion and standing up like she was fine now. The rest potion took all the artificial tiredness away and lessened the paralytic effects greatly. She took a fighting stance, she would not rely on her natural vitality again. She'd avoid his attacks whenever able.
"After we get done beating your asses, do yourself a favor and actually go to Lerno and ask them what happened after you left." Teal was ready for more.
Motoyasu took a stance reluctantly.
"Myne already told me th-"
"What did I tell you? Stop relying on others. Do it yourself." Teal reprimanded him.
"I trust Myne. If she says it's okay, then it's okay." Motoyasu said stubbornly.
"Wow. Do you really think that relying on others to make all of your decisions is the same as trust!?" Teal asked in anger.
That sentence really affected Motoyasu as he took a step back and lowered his spear a bit. Teal decided to capitalize on this and begin her attack anew. She went for Motoyasu again and again he tried using [Paralyzing Spear]. Teal both dodged it and morphed her body some, avoiding it completely as she proceeded to land a series of punches on Motoyasu's face. It felt good, but Teal also needed to go for the win.
She grabbed his spear and held it while she kept punching him with the other. She believed he had three options:
First was [Banner Summoning]. It'd move him out of the way of her attack, but she would still be holding the spear.
Second was [Meteor Thrust]. It'd destroy her arm, but she was confident she'd recover fast from it.
She was banking on the third option she was aware of. It would cause most people to release the spear and minimize damage to Teal, which Motoyasu seemed to want to do.
"..."
[Sun Spear]
Motoyasu spear shined with a brilliant light... for all of one second. The skill stopped.
"What? What happened? Where'd it go?" Motoyasu was lost, but Teal was smiling brightly.
"It's right here." Teal leaned her head down and in a flash her arm was gone, burnt away. Motoyasu was covered in and assaulted by a burning light. The surrounding trees were all destroyed as her skill cleared nearly a football field of trees and sent Motoyasu flying, low on life.
[Sunburst]
Teal had been charging this ability for over three days. It was her strongest move and charged for the longest she had ever done so. On top of that, she stole Motoyasu's own power to top it off before firing. It was stronger than she planned and left Motoyasu very hurt, but she'd give him some medicine to ensure he wouldn't die.
Her own body was reeling from the attack, but that was the price of taking a cardinal hero down.
"You have to decide your purpose for yourself. You have to take responsibility for both your actions and inaction. None of that has to do with anyone else. It's all you. Without other people, you're less than a person, so I win." Teal announced.
The next moment proved her wrong as Motoyasu drank a potion from a rather fancy bottle. The moment after that, he stood. He didn't have a scratch on him, though his armor was still heavily damaged.
"Wha...?" Teal was in disbelief.
[Zwiete Fire Arrow]
[Zwiete Air Shot]
Malty and another of Motoyasu's party members both shot magic at Teal, sneak attacking her. The two spells hit each other, growing in power before striking Teal's back, dealing heavy damage and causing her to scream in pain, bringing her back to her knees.
"It's the best potion money can buy. Now, take Sir Motoyasu up on his offer before we finish you." Malty said with a wicked smile.
They couldn't see the forming wave in the distance due to its smaller size and heavy tree density. None of them were aware of the escalation occurring.
She had failed. She was down an arm, had a hole through her chest from that sneak attack. Her regeneration would fix that in time, but beating just Motoyasu now seemed impossible. She had no more prepped mutations, though she started to prep a replacement arm. Even then, two more enemies... And Malty was also more of a problem than the average party member.
Teal couldn't think of a way out of this. All the same, she made it to her feet and grabbed her nearby sword.
"Oh, so you've chosen to deny our mercy?" Malty asked.
Teal really thought this was it. She was going to lose, but if she activated all the seeds she had set then maybe-
Teal heard something. It sounded like something approaching very fast. She only knew of one thing that could travel that fast. She smiled with renewed confidence.
"If you think your twisted version of trust can beat a proper family, then allow us to prove you wrong!" Teal yelled.
...
All three fights were now underway and each looked like they were going to meet a terrible end, but interventions seem to have occurred. What has changed and who has arrived?
.
[Author's Notes]
So, how'd you like round one?
Itsuki's ESPer powers are ruining Naofumi's plans. Filo was fast enough to dodge and stick to Itsuki, but his ESPer ability foiled the plan.
[Fire Mirage] and [Healing Warmth] are actually canon spells. I liked the idea of him learning them because he read everyone's books.
Teal was able to nearly one-shot a hero, showing what she can do under the right conditions. Unfortunately, Malty is pay2win.
Which fight did you like the most (so far)?
Next chapter, unfortunately, not round 2 yet. We have Naofumi & Raphtalia vs Balmus & the archbishops
Also some people seem to think that party should be curb-stomping the lords, but fail to consider that while Eclair has more skill than them, the lords are just behind her, they also have decades of combat experience, they out number the party greatly, they were in the king's party when he was an active hero and have the best equipment money can buy. Even still, they can't really touch Naofumi and only Averill is able to fight Monti, because he's level 63 and even then, the moment Monti uses his full form with boosts he ragdolls the guy.
Please leave a review!