"Talking"
"Thinking"
[Status Magic or other reference to a system or power]
…
He could not summon Monti to the battlefield now, for a reason he could only speculate on. That was one of their strongest fighters out of the fight before the first drop off blood was spilt.
"RRRRAAAAKKKKSSSS!" The monster roared violently as it came into view fully.
The monster was larger than the capital city of Melromarc, its peak nearly punctured the cloud line, each step raddled the earth more violently than the one before. The sun was eclipsed by the sheer number of familiars that flew around the creature, while countless familiars also walked the earth beside the beast. The day grew dark from the blackened sky, as the battlefield took on a haunting green glare from the monster itself.
The Spirit Tortoise had arrived on the battlefield.
.
"Dad…? Dad… Dad!? Mom!? Anyone!?" Monti heard the skill get cut off. He heard it short out. He waited a moment in panic, he waited to be summoned.
Every second just sank his heart further. "Why am I not being summoned? What happened to them? Are they okay? Was it the Spirit Tortoise? Was it Merodach? What should I do? If I left right now how many days would it take me to reach them? What if-"
"Monti, what's wrong?" Melty asked, seeing his panic.
They had been in the same room awaiting his departure, but he forgot about everything when panic overtook him. "The call got cut off! They were supposed to summon me! Why aren't they!? They could be-!"
"Monti! Calm down." Melty said in as commanding a voice as she could muster.
Monti stifled his voice, but kept panicking. Melty saw this and spoke. "Naofumi beat armies before Cal Mira. He learned the power the other heroes knew about. He has an enormous allied force at his side." Melty gave him many reasons to calm down.
"But… but-" Monti could only consider the worst outcome.
Melty's eyebrows inverted, forming an annoyed expression. "Do you think Naofumi is weak enough to lose?" She asked.
"No, but-" Monti answered automatically.
"Then have some faith. Naofumi would never let something happen to any of you. You know what he is capable of when backed into a corner." Melty reasoned, having enough backbone for the both of them.
"...You're right." Monti had no options. He couldn't calm down, but he could at least be quiet about it.
Melty saw that Monti simply continued to worry in silence, barely managing to keep himself from shaking. She decided to stay with him, to keep him from doing something stupid. She decided to explain what kind of tactics her own father was likely using in the battle. As soon as Melty began, Monti felt like an asshole. Her parents were out there fighting in the same battle and here she was calming him down. That realization did more to calm him down than anything else.
…
Battle with the Spirit Tortoise
…
"RRRRAAAAKKKKSSSS!" The monster bellowed, moving forward with a bit more speed than it had before. The armies had to take to their knees and use their arms to not fall to the incredible rumble that accompanied the approach. The conviction, bravado, and confidence many had fell apart now witnessing their enemy. Melromarc and Siltvelt both quietly admitted to themselves that they were happy the other was there. They were unsure how else they even engaged such an enemy.
They assumed the beast would attempt to trample them, that alone was accounted for. What wasn't accounted for is what came next. Several large stone spikes seemed to grow out of the monster's back, facing forward.
"Wait." Naofumi had an ill feeling.
"Could this be…?" Aultcray mirrored that feeling and was afraid to hazard a guess.
"Artillery!?" Walter shouted out the warning first from his vantage point atop one of the cliffs.
Just as the warning rang out, more than a dozen stone spikes, each more than 50' long and more than 10' wide launched from the Spirit Tortoise's back. It did not slow in its advance. This was a two pronged attack.
As the spikes reached the apex of their arc, several prominent figures from the battlefield acted to intercept the attacks.
[Air Strike Shield]! [Second Shield]! [Dritte Shield]! Naofumi placed three shields up, one protecting himself and those around him, the two others covering the attacks aiming at the combined allied forces that didn't belong to either Melromarc or Siltvelt.
[Hundred Sword]! Ren launched his long range swords separated into three groups, each intercepting one of the spikes hitting further towards the sides.
[Drifa Firestorm VII]! Liviccic whirled the vassal staff around before flinging it forward, flames bursting from the gem. The flames stretched out to strike at three of the incoming spikes.
[Pale Living Tapestry]! Sophia transformed into her full form, looking a little larger than she already was. Now the size of a large truck, she launched and weaved her web together to form a complex and ever-moving image that had fatal cutting power towards a further two of the spikes.
[Black Dragon Flame]! Wyndia called at the end of her chant…, but nothing happened.
"W-What!? Why is my magic not working? How can't there be magic around here?" Wyndia asked in confusion.
Leon saw this and acted. He felt that Wyndia cast the spell correctly, but that the surrounding magic around them was fleeing… or rushing headlong into their enemy. Either way, he used his own vitality to cast a comparable spell [Starry Night Sky]! Leon launched the spell outward, aiming for two more spikes.
Filo shot upwards, using Leon and one of Naofumi's skills as footholds as she climbed upward. She knew without [Dragon's Vein] or [Way of the Dragon's Vein] her spells would normally not afford her the ability to destroy two at once like Leon. However, she could tell as many others could. These spikes were alive, familiars themselves. That made them independent targets. Meaning she'd make her first hit count all the more. [Drifa Tornado]! Filo shot out a strong, but wild twister that she aimed at two of the spikes. Had she launched her spell on the ground, she'd have caused too much damage around her. She was being more thoughtful, as Naofumi and Raphtalia had been trying to teach her.
Teal could only grimace that her sibling and parents all had powerful ranged attacks, but she didn't. She had more options than any of them, and yet she'd not covered such a common skill gap. She was kicking herself for focusing life force over this.
The heroes and their parties were great assets, but there remained others that could defend themselves, even from something like this.
[Drifa Weighted Cannon]! Aultcray stood beside his wife, forming a geometric shape of heavy materials before launching it at a spike. It arced heavier than the spike did, but Aultcray accounted for that. It would intercept.
"AARHH!" The bull therianthrope that Jaralis bragged so much about was not all show. His body began to glow in sections and a full body tattoo came to life around him. He took one of several axes Jaralis had prepared for him and threw it with all his might at the spike heading towards them. [Bull Blitz]! He shouted. The energy coming off him formed an image of a bull, carrying off the axe towards its target.
The skills, spells, and spikes crashed into one another as the Spirit tortoise continued its approach. They managed to stop nearly all of them, but two landed… killing many people. Despite the fact that this attack would have devastated the army if not dealt with, the Spirit Tortoise seemed to assume its attack would fail. Or maybe it just didn't care.
The creature rushed forward to trample over the army, but was stopped short.
"Now!" Aultcray yelled.
[Deep Chasm]! A collection of mages behind the line of soldiers finished casting a large ceremonial magic spell. The earth opened up like a gaping maw, as the titanic foot of the Spirit Tortoise was swallowed up by the depth of the pit. The Spirit Tortoise came to a sudden and violent stop, reclaiming the spirits of the gathered soldiers and shaking the land even more.
"Now! Fire!" Walter ordered all the siege weapon operators to fire.
In one swift motion, a squall of ballista bolts and catapult bombs rained all over the Spirit Tortoise's head and neck. The first barrage was an incredible success.
"Hell yeah!" Godiva cheered. Many cheered with her, for a moment.
After that brief moment, they were reminded they weren't fighting a single enemy. The familiars that the Spirit Tortoise outpaced in its initial charge were beginning to catch up with the main threat and began engaging the army in earnest.
"Do as instructed! [Drifa Stone Bastion]!" Aultcray and several other mages throughout the battlefield created a large number of walls. They planned to use these walls to bottleneck the yetis and use them for cover against the bats, accounting for both familiar types' abilities.
A fierce ground engagement commenced. Many soldiers that were not exceptional began to drop, but not as fast as the familiars. Everyone fought hard, especially the Siltvelt council and the Melromarc nobles, but both didn't hold a candle to the heroes cutting a violent path through the many monsters. Ren and Naofumi setting the pace for those that followed. Whatever Ren didn't slice, Naofumi struck out of the way. They were defeating their enemies so fast as they advanced that they were nearly in a full sprint. They had one goal; reach the Spirit Tortoise's head before it recovered.
Naofumi and Ren noticed something, Raphtalia Filo, and Leon soon after.
"My SP… It's not going back up." Naofumi realized.
"It's worse than that. Not only is mine not regenerating… it's going down." Naofumi announced aloud.
"While we lack SP, our MP is suffering the same fate." Raphtalia responded.
"The stupid turtle is munching all the magic out of the area." Filo complained.
Naofumi and Ren saw their MP wasn't going down. That was weird. Only their SP was draining. Naofumi considered Filo's words. If the Spirit Tortoise was indeed the one responsible for this, and if it was accomplished the same way as Filo said, then Wyndia's failing to cast [Way of the Dragon's Vein] made sense.
More importantly though, this meant two other important things. That they'd lose resources and options very quickly in this fight… and the Spirit Tortoise could possibly gain strength throughout the battle.
They were already focusing on a fast battle to minimize casualties. This simply gave them another reason to go for the throat. Both figuratively and literally.
The Siltvelt royal guard did all they could to facilitate and shepherd Naofumi's advance, while Eclair and a few of Melromarcs knight did the same. Unfortunately, something was happening. Naofumi, Ren, and Liviccic suddenly felt extremely heavy. The heroes, Sophia, and Naofumi's family powered through. Ren's party and Silvius found themselves slowed far more. The group was unfortunately creating a gap between them, forming into two groups unintentionally.
What happened next stopped the lead group in their tracks. The opposing forward leg that wasn't trapped struck at them, stripping the top soil from the heavier rock below. The strike was reshaping the very area. Naofumi raised his shield as everyone ran to place Naofumi between themselves and the oncoming attack.
Boom!
With a loud crash, the leg landed heavy on Naofumi, but to everyone's surprise, the attack only moved him a few feet. Despite the imposing nature of their enemy, Naofumi's defense remained king. To have blocked an attack of that size filled the soldier's hearts with more hope.
"That's to be expected of dad!" Leon boasted.
Naofumi flipped his shield and gripped the leg as tightly as he could. "Retaliate!" Naofumi told them.
They all answered as best they could. Skills and spells peppered the Spirit Tortoise's limb. Each cut deeply into the creature. Even Ren's party members could draw blood, if barely. In response, the Spirit Tortoise reeled back in pain, slipping free of Naofumi and pulling back.
"RRRRAAAAKKKKSSSS!" The monster bellowed again.
Naofumi was given a warning again from his shield. "Shit! It's going for a mortar strike again!" He called out.
"Already!?" Liviccic was in shock.
"It'll hit its own familiars!" Ren argued.
"I don't think it cares." Raphtalia disagreed.
The Spirit Tortoise formed large spikes on its back as it did prior. Unfortunately, things couldn't go as well as the previous barrage. The army was already entrenched in their positions and busy fighting the familiars, and the heroes were also too close to stop many of the attacks.
Naofumi had to consider what the best decision was. Was it better to focus on fighting the Spirit Tortoise? To abandon the army in the short term to guarantee fewer losses overall? No. Naofumi saw that the Spirit Tortoise's leg was still trapped in Aultcray's trap. The best solution now would be-
"Retreat at half pace! Draw as many of the enemies to you as possible!" Aultcray ordered loudly.
Before Naofumi could even finish analyzing the situation, Aultcray acted. This retreat would not let them exit the range of the attack, but if they were in retreat when the mortars were fired, they'd likely not hit directly. Further, the slight disengagement would allow the army to intercept some of the attacks again.
Naofumi didn't have time to consider it, but it was really bothering him how useful Aultcray was right now. "Where was this guy when his ass was on the throne?"
"Anyone with range, try to hit those spikes before they launch! That'll harm the Spirit Tortoise and defend the army!" Teal spoke up.
Leon and Liviccic were the only ones with strong enough ranged attacks to make use of the suggestion. They both fired off strong spells, even as the Spirit Tortoise's other front leg came in for a second violent kick. They both ignored it, now knowing Naofumi had the strength to block the attack. Giving them a safe moment to cast magic was crucial.
[Drifa Seeking Skulls VIII]!
[Drifa Hellfire]!
Both attacks launched, but many of the projectiles were intercepted by bat familiars, diving into the attacks to block their advance. However, one reached a spike just as it went to launch. The spike erupted, taking many of the surrounding spikes out, but not all of them. The combined explosion was strong enough to knock many of the bat familiars from the sky as well as throw most of the army and yeti familiars off their feet.
"We missed some! We need to-!" Leon went to help, but was stopped.
"Focus! Eyes forward!" Naofumi scolded him.
The heroes and their parties took the chance to get closer to the Spirit Tortoise's neck and head. Meanwhile, the remaining mortars did damage. Aultcray and the bull therianthrope each had time to intercept one, but six of them still landed, each killing a large number of people. It was regrettable, but unavoidable.
"Abandon those that were too close to the center of impact. Only those along the edge can be saved!" Fitts yelled, grabbing a wounded soldier while fighting off a familiar.
It was only the second real attack of the Spirit Tortoise and it had taken many lives. People understood the situation was serious when Mirellia had her shadows begin to act directly. Even Jaralis stood at the head of Siltvelt's forces to make sure they reversed their retreat with the attack over. Both were very out of character for them, but that just showed how serious this battle was.
The army retreated beyond their stone walls, many of them broken now. This meant they'd be returning to a mostly open battlefield. One that let the bat familiars attack from range more easily.
Zap!
A stream of light fell a bat familiar, then another, then another. Walter wasn't getting anywhere with his 'crooked wand'. He saw the issue, but lacked a means to take them out en masse. He eyed the catapult near him.
"That launches impact explosives, yes?" He asked the man that just finished loading it.
"Yeah, got a plan?" Seeing Walter's first barrage made him seem in charge of the artillery, it seemed.
"Yeah, let me aim that." Walter said, adjusting it drastically.
The man's face paled. "H-Hey!? What the hell!?" The man managed, but Walter already released the catapult.
The man was right on the trajectory, it was heading towards the army, not the familiars. Walter then pulled out his own rifle and waited for the right moment. He paused, firing his weapon, striking the bomb over the largest concentration of bat familiars that took over the space above the army. Most people were stunned, but Godiva knew who just pulled that off and so ran through the smoke without worry, a haymaker meeting another yeti as she charged.
Back with the heroes, they reached the body and laid into it with everything they had. Filo used her [Mana Talons], Leon used his [Dragon's Vein], Teal grew a dozen limbs with bladed ends to strike, Ren and Raphtalia did similar moves, though Raphtalia's was done through magic and Ren's through skills. They were deleting the few familiars in the way and trying to strike the Spirit Tortoise's vitals as it tried its best to escape them.
Wyndia felt so useless right now. She had been relying on her magic far too much. She had an axe, but she could not manage much with it. She had higher stats than her other teammates, but her weapon wasn't the best. More importantly, everyone there had more experience fighting than her. Even Leon, who was so very young, fought Ren and beat him with his staff and fist in the end.
Just across from her, Teal was having a similar problem. She had no ranged attacks, at least nothing with meaningful range. When others intercepted the mortars, she had to sit and watch. Despite her great intelligence, she'd neglected magic to a stupid degree. She needed something for range and ignored it, leaving her less useful than her siblings.
Everyone was exhausting themselves on the Spirit Tortoise, tearing through its flesh well enough, but the size of the creature meant they'd need to leave gashes larger than their bodies to even begin to matter. Luckily, Ren was doing just that. He wasn't as powerful as Motoyasu was when he was under the effects of the curse series, but he was still a hero that had offensive options. Even without a skill, Ren's sword swings would leave cuts around 8' deep. With a skill, the gore kicked up a notch.
"RRRRAAAAKKKKSSSS!" The Spirit Tortoise called out in pain as Ren used [Meteor Slash] at the tail-end of a string of violent swings. The Neck was nearly in reach, at which point, they'd use everything they had and decapitate the beast.
That was the plan, anyways.
The Spirit Tortoise's mouth remained open after the roar ended. A blinding light began to fill the inside of its mouth as lightning began to crackle. The monsters and demi-humans among the heroes' group felt their animal instincts screaming at them.
"Shit, something new!? Behind me!" Naofumi told everyone.
As everyone ran behind him, he felt a moment of doubt. "Which shield do I use? The family series is the strongest. I powered it up as much as I could, but… [Soul Eater Shield] has multiple lightning resistant effects. And then there's-" Naofumi had to stop thinking.
[Air Strike Shield] [Second Shield]
The air vibrated nearly as much as the earth did, as a high pitch screeching noise reached its apex. "SSHHEEIIKK!" An enormous pillar of lightning and power flooded the ground. The force of lighting collided with and broke through both of Naofumi's skills, however, they each lasted more than a moment. Once the full weight of the attack had reached Naofumi, it had softened a bit from the skills. Naofumi still felt this attack was much stronger than the simple kicks it tried up until now. The lightning poured over him, but not past him. It clung to him, charring him in several places. He took a sharp breath from the pain.
The attack kept coming, lasting for nearly 30 seconds before relenting. When the lightning ceased, smoke began rising from Naofumi and his armor.
"Are you okay?" Raphtalia asked immediately, clearly worried.
"Hurt more than I thought, but it's fine. I'll use more defensive skills next time." Naofumi assured her before briefly chanting and casting [Drifa Heal VI] on himself, resolving the immediate problem.
"If I hadn't gone to Cal Mira, that might have killed me. And yet I can shake something like that off. I can catch the strikes of a body this massive. It's almost unfair, but in my favor." Naofumi thought.
As quickly as Naofumi gained confidence, it left him. The Spirit Tortoise was not aiming at Naofumi, he was just in the area. The Spirit Tortoise carved up the earth around its trapped leg, giving it a means to free itself. They had mere moments to act before it began to move. If they didn't stop it right now, it'd trample the armies.
"Filo!" Naofumi yelled, yet she understood his intent before he finished calling her name.
Filo ran into and past Naofumi, pulling him into a riding position with her beak. She used [High Quick] to launch the both of them forward.
"No you don't!" Naofumi reached out and grabbed the Spirit Tortoise's leg.
[Air Strike Shield]! [Second Shield]! [Dritte Shield]!
Naofumi created three shields above him. As the leg raised, he spun his grip, placing himself upside down. This allowed him to touch down on his shields as he rose and halt the leg's escape from going any further. Naofumi had the strength, but his skill only gave him an angle to stop this for 30 seconds.
"Ren! Liviccic! You have to kill it now!" Naofumi screamed.
Back with the army, they were winning, but the casualties were mounting. The artillery-like attacks from the Spirit Tortoise itself had killed more than the sum of the familiars did, but that wasn't to say the familiars were easy to handle by any stretch of the imagination. The bats had ranged attacks and could stay at a safe distance while the yetis were very strong. Touching either wasn't a death sentence with the medicine they had on hand, but it'd take most of them out of the fight. Worst of all? A new type of familiar had joined the battle at the worst possible time.
"What the hell is that!?" A man screamed as he turned to flee, only to be grappled by thin red vines.
The creature had limbs of several different creatures and people stitched together by a series of living red string-like tentacles adorned with the heads of three mantis-like bugs and half a dozen human heads. It was four times the size of a yeti and growing. The man's screams increased briefly before being quieted and added to the collected amalgamation.
[Spirit Tortoise's Familiar (Parasite Type)]
It seemed to come from the Melromarcian side and was trying to read the heroes, cutting a violent path towards them.
One look told Fitts enough. "We won't be able to just overwhelm it. We'll need to wear it down." He warned Godiva, who was near him.
The pair tried tiring the beast out while backpedaling, but it didn't know rest. However, over the course of their exchange and trying to avoid the red strings, they noticed two things. The first was that harming the red strings got quite the reaction of the beast. Secondly, the limbs were not that tough individually. Once broken, the limbs were useless and discarded. In this way, they were making progress. However, they could not see the large flesh sack the creature drug behind itself. When a limb was destroyed, one was taken from the sack and moved to replace it.
This would have meant that the fight would drag on for an hour, but-
[Drifa Stone Spike]!
Aultcray caused a large spike of stone to impale the back of the creature with enough force to sever its connection to its bag of limbs and create a structure in the way that kept it from quickly recovering it. Fitts and Godiva heard Aultcray chanting again and rushed in to keep the monster in place, but they were no longer needed.
[Drifa Icicle Prison]!
The queen froze the base of the creature to the ground, trapping it in place for what came next.
[Drifa Funeral Pyre]!
The creature was suddenly covered in fire, with larger bursts of fire erupting from within. This spell was a very thorough means of making sure the target was well and truly dead.
The creature stopped moving and an EXP notification confirmed it. Turning away from their issue, they saw that Siltvelt had also dealt with one of the same creatures. It had many different limbs, but was clearly the same kind of creature. The same bull therianthrope that had been their star player up until now had slain the creature all by himself. And did so without the aid of something convenient like fire, only using overwhelming violence.
As they surveyed the battlefield, something big caught their attention. The Spirit Tortoise lit up the area with lightning erupting from its mouth and was fighting Naofumi for its free movement. It was clearly the most important thing happening on the battlefield and grabbed the attention of everyone important.
"Perfect." Walter thought as he aimed and fired a ballista shot near his target. Gratin Gormun, the gorilla therianthrope he and Chloe discussed previously.
The shot struck a single yeti near him and kicked up a lot of dust from the resulting impact. You'd be stupid to think that Walter would miss such a simple shot at this point. He hit his mark as planned and his part in the plan was over.
Gratin was surrounded by a dust cloud and coughing, but he was surviving well. He began to wander his way out of the dust when suddenly he felt something pressed against his chest and looked down to see Chloe in front of him. She revealed her face a moment before pulling the trigger and firing a concentration of magic out of Mia's prototype into his chest. It burned a hole six inches deep and 3 inches wide into his gut. The wound would look like a few bat familiars just happen to hit him at the same time.
He slipped to his knees and before he could call out in pain, she punched his throat.
"I was once your brother's slave. The two of you were truly awful people. The world will be better without people like you." She wanted to sing a whole speech, but she had to be quick. Chloe retreated from the position, having fulfilled her end of the plan.
Ren and Liviccic tried to reach the Spirit Tortoise's neck in time, but what remained of the familiars were now swarming them both. The creature was growing desperate. After a brief time, the shields Naofumi was using shattered. The Spirit Tortoise was now free, free to trample the armies.
"They're all going to die…" Wyndia spoke as she thought.
"Dammit!" Leon thought. He shot off, transforming into his full form and picking up Ren as he traveled.
"What the hell!?" Ren was more than a bit rattled.
"Since you can't seem to find this things neck, I guess I'll have to deliver you to it." Leon said, not wanting to talk to Ren.
"...Thanks." Ren said after a pause.
"Whatever." Leon dismissed.
Raphtalia and the others knew what Naofumi was going to do, so instead of chasing the Spirit Tortoise's front, they'd catch its rear. They prepared their best attacks and readied themselves for the back leg. It covered so much ground so quickly that it was staggering. It would reach the arm in less than 20 seconds and they needed to buy 30 seconds. Raphtalia led Filo, Teal, and the others in attacking the back leg as soon as it was close enough. None of them were heroes, but they did considerable damage to the right rear leg.
Seeing this, Liviccic fired off a [Drifa Blazing Bolt VII] at the opposing rear leg. It did not land on the mark as well as he'd have liked, the distance his spells needed to travel made judging them far harder when dealing with a monster of this size. Still, the damage was done, as both rear legs fell.
Seeing the Spirit Tortoise free of the crater and running at them at speeds they could not imagine, the armies all broke into full retreat. When the rear legs buckled to the damage, it slowed the creature considerably. It had bought the precious seconds needed to save them.
[Air Strike Shield]! [Second Shield]! [Dritte Shield]!
Naofumi's skills were used the moment they were off of cooldown. He had been holding onto the Spirit Tortoise this whole time and again halted the Spirit Tortoise in its entirety.
"That's all I got! After this I'll have to use the wrath series to summon that skill… so hurry your ass up!" Naofumi yelled out.
Leon and Ren traveled fast, but would not reach it in time.
"...Use your strongest spell." Ren called to Leon.
"It won't help." Leon dismissed.
"On me." Ren clarified.
"Like a buff?" Leon asked.
"I'm going to steal your spell and add it to a skill of mine. It should be able to do this." Ren said, shaky in his own words.
"Even if you could, we don't have line of sight. What are you going to do, cut the whole damned thing?" Leon didn't believe in Ren.
"Leon, I can do this." Ren tried assuring him.
"You're asking me to trust you with my father's life." Leon made it clear what Ren was asking. Naofumi was taking a beating.
"..." Ren said nothing. He didn't know what to say.
"...There's no other way, huh?" Leon had a lack of options.
"Yeah…" Ren answered.
"...Fine." Leon gave in.
Leon began casting his best spell and Ren chanted for his own spell. After a moment, Ren leapt off of Leon and Leon used [Starry Night Sky] on Ren. Ren used [Zweite Enchant X] to steal the spell and surround his blade with it, but there was a problem. Ren could not steal it all. Leon's [Dragon's Vein] was the first spell Ren's Zweite tier spell could not fully take, surprising them both.
Ren was going to need to waste his time blocking the rest of the spell to avoid the damage, but he quickly turned to his target instead, uninterested in his own fate.
The blue flames of Leon's spell were met with a golden flame of a different source. Ren was now using a skill he only received because of Monti. This skill was granted to him by the [Ancient Sword] form he copied from the holy weapon replica.
[Phoenix Blade]!
Ren swung his sword and unleashed the skill, throwing the skill, Leon's spell, and the little bit of life force he had learned to harness into the air.
The skill was used once before by the head of the Three Heroes Church, Biscas T. Balmus. And just as it did with him, this skill was alive in a sense. It would fly to the target and make sure the attack was not blocked or dodged. A skill that would hunt down the Spirit Tortoise's neck with the considerable power Ren had given it and bring down the giant.
"No!" Naofumi's shield skills were about to time out and he was already using the offering menu to select shield forms to sacrifice when a bright light reached the front of the Spirit Tortoise.
Screeching like a rocket, the skill danced around the familiars with grace and slammed into the Spirit Tortoise's neck. The impact became a slash that cleaved the whole of its head from its body, then exploded into a violent blaze of blue and gold.
Naofumi stopped using the menu and let go, falling a good distance to the ground.
Ren was struck by what remained of Leon's spell, but Leon caught him, slamming into the ground to make sure Ren survived.
The Spirit Tortoise's body stood a moment, as if defying that what had happened had come to pass. Then, after a long pause, the giant body of the would-be world-ender fell still and quiet.
The Spirit Tortoise had been slain, in one mighty attack.
[Author's Notes]
Nice, large battle.
I struggled balancing the fact that the Spirit Tortoise is supposed to be way scarier than the anime showed, but the cast is also way stronger.
Ren got the W. That's rare.
Sorry I'm taking so long between chapters. I wish I could regain my old speed again.
Please leave a review.