"I'm curious how your strength matches the Prince of Power!" Heracles roared as he charged Sairarog, who met his advance by charging headlong into the powerhouse. The two warriors clashed, their hands clasped against one another with such force that a shockwave flew outward in all directions, producing a large indent into the courtyard floor.
"It has been a while since someone was able to match my raw strength," Heracles admitted, excitedly grinning. This was met by a confident smile from Sairaorg.
"Well, it is indeed a pleasure to be one of the few," Sairaorg replied, not wishing to waste the moment. By shifting his position and placing his left leg outwards, he caused the Prince of Power to trip over and slam into the ground at high speeds, destroying more of the courtyard in a large explosion of kinetic this happened, Seigfried and Le Fay joined the fray. Siegfried, with the demon sword Garm in his hand, advanced swiftly, his sword raised in a high guard position, ready to bring down a lethal strike; Sairaorg, seeing this, caught the flat of the blade with his right forearm allowing him to deflect the strike, opening siegfreid to a counter shot with his left, but the demon sword user was quick enough to evade the strike, opening Sairaorg to being struck with a fire spell by Le Fay, who was on her broom.
"Ive got you..." The little wizard grinned as his spell was ready to be released, only to be struck by a flurry of gold, which knocked her shot off target and almost sent her hurtling to the floor. Siegfried returned to face the lord of Bael, and Heracles joined.
"Oh no, you don't!" Regulus yelled, bearing his fangs in his golden human form. He had seen the little witch fly into the sky. He noticed her magical aura change as she readied to attack, resulting in him jumping over 45 feet into the air to catch the broom in his teeth.
"Get off!" Le Fay Screamed. She was no match in the physical strength department, but through her magical knowledge, she could defend herself.
Regulus swung a clawed strike at Le Fay, which she blocked through using a barrier spell before summoning a ball of lightning that shot Regulus off the broom and into the courtyardwith a sickening thud.
"Regulus!" Sairaorg yelled, seeing his friend crash into the ground. He had lost his focus for a split second, which resulted in him being hit cleanly by one of Heracles' massive fists, sending him flying into one of the castle walls. However, there was barely a mark on the skin of Sairorg, who erupted from rubble.
"Now, that was a good shot!" Sairirog happily yelled, rubbing his chin.
Are you alright, Regulus?" Sairorg called as he watched the dust clear from the crash site, and Regulus appeared, in his true form, a mighty golden lion.
"I'm fine; that was barely a scratch."
As this happened, Le Fay rejoined Heracles and Seigfried.
"This is going to be a long fight." Le Fay grumbled, realising that she would have to use more magic to hurt these two opponents
"This is perfect! I haven't had a fight like this in centuries!" Heracles bellowed, his excitement making his voice higher than usual as he tensed his muscles, showing the veins in his arms through his long shirt sleeves
"This is not meant to be fun," Seigfried growled, summoning a second sword, the demon blade Balmung, which, upon its release, unleashed waves of pressurised winds.
"Alright, I'll need to let loose a bit." Sairaorg touched both his wrists, emitting a bright yellow light that evaporated in seconds, resulting in his aura of power fully manifesting. This aura was so dense with power that it warped the air around soon as this happened, Heracles charged Sairaorg, activating his boosted gear once he was close enough.
"Detonation - Mighty Comet!" Heracles' bodies glowed with a bright orange veil of energy, as large dark grey spikes armour pieces from on the prince of powers, forearms, shoulders and calves, with the armour on his arms forming large missile-like spikes that encased his fists. As Heracles was about to strike, Sairorg vanished in a blur of motion,
"What!?" Heracles said, only for the first of Bael to crash into his head at such blinding speed that the air around his fist ignited as it crashed into Herlces skull, forcing him into the ground.
"Heracles!" Le Fay and Seigfried yelled as they engaged Sairorg.
"I was able to see Sairaorg's movements. He is equal in speed to me." Seigfried thought as he closed the gap in the blink of an eye, swinging his swords in unison, forcing Sairorg to take several steps backwards to avoid being struck, only to have his back hit the courtyard walls
"He's fast, even after I released my limiters." Sairaorg, in response to his predicament, jumped into the air. Once high enough, he kicked his feet against the wall, launching him back into the open space of the courtyard. However, Le Fay noticed this and fired out a flurry of magical bolts, forcing Sairorg to contort his body in the air to avoid the flurry. As she was doing this, Le Fay took her left hand and began to summon a magical symbol that appeared within the area where Sairorg was going to land.
"This spell, once activated, will paralyse its target..." Le Fay mumbled to herself as she tried to focus on her spell. However, this was broken when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a large flash of gold charge towards her, forcing the little time to summon a forcefield.
"ROARRRRRRRRRRRR!" Regulus launched towards the little witch many meters away with a swipe of his mighty paw, cracking her forcefield. The golden lion saw this, leading him to charge and maul the barrier.
"He's so strong." Le Fay gritted her teeth as she tried to reinforce her barrier, but she knew this would be difficult. While she had not been seriously injured by Regulus and his attack, she had not been able to create a fully reinforced barrier. As such, his attack had not been fully nullified, creating a physical backlash for Le Fay.
"I'm dead if he breaks through..." Le Fay frowned as she saw her barrier continue to crack. With Seigfried occupied by Sairorig, she was seemingly left to fend for , as the barrier was about to shatter, she saw the golden lion's large head pulled back as Regulus shifted his focus to a new target.
"Let's see if you are as tough as the legends say," Heracles stated as Regulus pounced on the powerful demi-god, who caught the lion's jaws in his bare hands. Using this point to knock his much larger opponent off balance, slamming Regulus onto his back.
"My Ancestor defeated you all those years ago! he turned you into a cape!" Heracles roared insultingly, but Regulus was not fooled; he bit his tongue and flung himself at Heracles.
At this moment, Heracles began to rain a flurry of body blows, backed by a barrage of magical projectiles from Le Fay, which hurt Regulus but were not enough to stop him from fighting back. Seeing this, Heracles moved position, allowing Regulus to return to his feet and expose his back. Heracles launched himself onto the golden lion's back, close to the beast's head.
At that moment, Heracles's mind recalled the legend of the Nemean Lion, which he had heard numerous times throughout his life, and how the original Heracles defeated the beast's seemingly impregnable hide.
"This should work." Heracles slipped his right arm under Regulus's neck, and with his left, he clasped his right arm by the wrist, and with all his might, he began to choke the beast. Regulus writhed and struggled to break the grip of the Prince of Power by slamming himself on the ground and onto nearby walls in the courtyard. Still, these attempts failed, with Heracles increasing his crushing pressure when he heard the wheezing of Regulus and his nearly crushed throat.
While fighting Siegfried, Sairaorg saw Regulus in trouble and realised he was in a dilemma. If he made a break to save Regulus, he would likely be seriously injured, while if he continued to fight Seigfried, he would lose his ally.
"I can't leave Regulus," Sairaorg told himself before punching the air before him, pushing Seigfried back from the pressure he generated, giving him the space he needed to run towards his friend. Once he was within striking range, Sairaorg launched himself into the air and aimed a mighty crushing blow to Heracle's head, only to catch Siegfried sprinting towards him, holding one of his swords, which he used to thrust at Sairorg, as he made contact with Heracles.
The force of this strike, combined with Heracles's overall toughness, caused a powerful shockwave of pressure that tore the ground surrounding the combatants, covering the battlefield in dust and debris.
Once the dust settled, the damage was visible.
"Are you all right, Sairaorg?" Regulus asked, looking to his master, realising that he had been run through the side by the Seigfried sword, with the blade of the sword still embedded in his body.
"Ive...been better, cough," Sairaorg joked with a hoarse voice as he spat out a mouthful of blood. After which, with much discomfort, he pulled the blade from the right-hand side of his stomach, spurting blood as he did the other hand, the blast launched Heracles, le Fay, and Siegfried in several directions. Heracles was not badly hurt despite being the strike's target.
"That hurt," Heracles grumbled, rubbing his head and feeling the blood pouring from his scalp.
"That shot should have knocked me out...Le Fay." Heracles took a moment to assess the strike in his mind. He had seen Sairorgs fist come ever closer to crushing his skull, but due to his rear naked choke being locked in, he would have been too slow to effectively block the shot, but then he remembered a feight blue glow milliseconds before the strike landed. Le Fay had managed to produce a barrier spell that absorbed some of the impacts but was not enough to block the attack entirely.
Heracles rose to his feet and scanned the area as soon as his thought was finished. He made eye contact with both Seigfried and Le Fay, who advanced to his position. Both Le Fay and Seifried were badly blooded, with Seigried's silvery white hair stained with crimson. Le Fay, despite not being as close to the epicentre, had been launched off her broom, covering her in dirt and blood.
"Is he dead?" Le Fay asked in a concerned tone as she looked for Sairg. She noticed his silhouette alongside Regulus, which caused her hopes to sink.
"He wouldn't stop even if he was run through." Seifried said coldly. Thanks to his match with Issei, he knew what Sairaorg was capable of, but that paled compared to facing the man in person.
As this was happening, Sairaorg looked to Regulus,seeing that he was wearing the marks of battle.
"We need to go all out. Are you ready?" Sairaorg grinned as he spoke, his love of resistance and challenge showing in his voice and his eyes, which burned with a strong passion, causing Regulus to grin, a fang-filled smile, as Sairaorg chanted
"My lion! King of Nemea! You, who has been called King of Lions! Answer my howl and turn into my armor! Balance Break!"
As soon as the change was completed, Regulus lunged at Sairaorg. A blinding golden light engulfed the pair, and their bodies fused together.
As this happened, Heracles resummoned his missle-shaped gauntlets. Seigfried unleashed his balance breaker, causing 4 metallic arms to sprout from his arm and 4 more response, Le Fay summoned a flurry of magical symbols swirling around her. They ranged in origin, some resembling demonic symbols to unknown symbols that almost looked like the designs found in Hindu mythology.
"Let's do this!" Sairaorg roared, and he burst from the light, slamming his fists together, revealing his golden armoured form, the force of which caused the fortress wall behind him to be blown away.
This was met by an attack by Heracles, who fired a flurry of torpedo-shaped projectiles at the Lord of Bael, who, in response, either tanked the blasts or shattered them with his golden fists. Seeing that this wasn't going to be enough to even slow Sairaorg down, Le Fay sent in her barrage of magical attacks, which ranged from bolts of red lightning that shook the earth to a ball of black fluid that, on contact with the ground dissolved the floor in an instant but this simply washed off Sairaorgs armour.
"It's like fighting a juggernaut," Siegfried growled as he charged in, swinging a flurry of blows that made contact with Sairaorg but only seemed to annoy him, as Sarirg slapped away his sword strikes, only stopping when he raised his right arm to block a headshot, creating an opening for Seigfried, who with a powerful lunging thrust, ramming Nothung into Sairaorgs abdomen, cracking the armour.
"If we can focus more attacks on this area, we can weaken his armour," Seigfried thought as a smile appeared on his face. It vanished as quickly as it appeared when he was struck by a backhand from Sairaorg in his moment to think. The backhand connected with his nose, shattering it as he flew many meters. An explosive blood cloud manifested from the strike, and a shower of blood poured from Siegfried's nose.
"You bastard! Heracles roared as he attacked Sairaorg from behind, unleashing a near point-blank barrage that forced Sairgs' attention away from the damaged swordsman.
Le Fay rushed to help Seigfried, who had landed into the foundations of a ruined defensive tower. He still had all his swords in each hand, but Lefay could see that he was covered in blood, which was continuing to pour from his nose.
"I need to heal this..." Le Fay summoned a healing spell, but Seigfried growled
"Focus on the battle. My wounds can be healed once we defeat our foe."
"But he's too strong."
"I've cracked his hide. A focused attack will do the trick; we only need an opening." Seigfried grinned unexpectedly, blood dripping down his chin, which spooked Le Fay. He could see a dark shadow of a crack on the top of Sairirog's golden breastplate, which was beginning to grow as it absorbed more of Heracles' barrage.
Le Fay, hearing this, sent a telepathic message to Heracles, who saw the damage done to Sairaorg, grinned manically, and yelled.
"Take it all!" Heracles, in an almost suicidal move, charged Sairaorg, head, continuing his barrage, till he was face to face with the lord of Bael, who matched the crazed look in Heracle's Eyes
"NOW THIS IS A FIGHT!"
Sairaorg, in response to the barrage, landed vicious body shots at the chiselled frame of Heracles, who coughed up blood but refused to stop. This gave Seigfreid and Le Fay an opportunity.
"We will both have to strike in unison with one of Heracles' barrages in order to put this monstrosity down." Seigfried looked to Le Fay, who knew his plan without words and charged up a powerful spell that cracked with dark blue sprinted, his many blades dragging behind him, till he lunged upon a large piece of rubble caused by an earlier attack, allowing him to launch himself into the air to bring down a mighty strike.
Le Fay followed Siegfried, realising that even though her attack was powerful, firing from a far distance would be too obvious, thus eliminating the combined attack's effectiveness. So, she used a broom in an attempt to match Siegfried's unnatural speed.
"Your bloodline will end here, Lord of Bael!" Siegfried roared as he closed the gap with his attack, bringing three of his swords down to strike Sairaorg, with Gram, his most infamous blade being, poised to land a fatal thrust. Once she was close enough, Le Fay combined as many of her elemental spells into a singular strike and brought them to bear against Saiarog. Sairaorg, realising that this would be the final moment of his battle, steadied his mind despite the damage he had suffered. Through sheer force of will, he manifested his Touki (warrior spirit) into his right hand, and, with all his might, he crashed his fist into the air in front of Heracles, Siegfried, and Le Fay, contacting their joint attack.
This act of force rattled the landmass, destroying the courtyard area where the combatants had been and blanketing the area in a thick layer of dark grey dust and debris. As it began to fade, a singular figure stood, wide stance, with a mighty arm still in the air.
"That was a real fight..." Sairaorg stated weakly as he looked at his now badly bloodied and unconscious foes, only to realise that Gram, the sword of destruction, had pierced his now cracked breastplate, leaving the blade in the centre of his chest. Sairaorg felt his legs weaken and his vision blur as he dropped to his knees and grabbed the blade's hilt to remove the sword, but he realised he wouldn't have the strength and fell to his side.
"Are you all right, old friend?" Sairaorg whispered to Regulus, putting his hand on his lion-headed breastplate. The sacred gear coughed and grumbled.
"Ive been better."
Regulus knew that Saairog was tough but had never seen him take a beating like this,
"You will not die today; I forbid it."
"Hmmmm, this is a flesh wound..." Sairaorg's voice grew weaker as he realised he was going to pass out, only to see a distinct emerald green flash out of the corner of his eye, causing him to smile weakly as blood leaked from his mouth
"Make sure...you win, Issei" Sairaorg lost consciousness, and it was now up to Issei to end this conflict once and for all.