Chapter 147 - Attack On The Royal Court (4)
Ed tried to pierce his sword to the brick wall when a whip coiled around his wrist and pulled him away. Hope stepped in front of them, keeping guard from Under Vassal who had a mask with a cat-like design on.
"So, these are the Terrans," he said. "I wonder if one of you would match my strength. I am, after all, the strongest Under Vassal, Harley the Pathmaker."
"Nice to meet you, Harley," Ed smirked and grabbed the whip. "But I gotta say goodbye soon. Nullify!"
The whip turned to nothingness, surprising even Harley himself. The demon, who was still standing on top of the mountain of dead bodies, tilted his head to the side.
"This is interesting," Harley said. "As you all know, I can alter any path. Be it a road, a hallway, even stepping stones. Thus, I already blocked the path to the chamber where the flame gems lie."
"He knows why we're here," Hope gulped. "He must've been the guard to the gems. And we can't seem to just attack him aimlessly."
"We're at a hall. He can change the area as much as he pleases, that's why we're at a great disadvantage," Beatriz said. "And we can't just destroy the walls. He might put the room behind one of these brick walls. If we take a wall down, we might trigger the gems."
"And this is not a real Vassal, huh?" Ed sighed and raised his sword. "Whatever. Let's do whatever we can to find that room. We'll all die if the gems explode."
"Right," Hope agreed and brandished his sword.
He was about to dash to the Under Vassal when Ed cut hin instantly. "You can't just attack like that. What if he puts the room in front of him or something?"
"So, we're gonna melee?" Hope scrunched his face. "And I can't shift to my dragon form anymore. My mana will plummet when I use it."
"It's still three against one," Ed smirked. "We're still good."
"Err," Beatriz cleared her throat and smiled awkwardly. "Well, actually. Uhm, I'm not a combatant."
"Oh," the two lowered their swords and looked at each other.
"What?!"
–
"Hasty Aspire!" Elliot leaped from the floor and into an adjacent wall, avoiding the woman who was continuously thrusting her sword forward. She got even faster now. From what Elliot could see, she could thrust four times per second. And if he get caught with one thrust, he gets caught with all the attacks.
Arm was already down. His tentacle-like arms on his back were easily cut off by Sora. It was a good thing that he only ended up being kicked and was not beheaded or punched a hole in his stomach.
If this continues, I won't last. Elliot thought and groaned. F*ck!
From the wall, he blasted himself to the ceiling and down the ground. He was taking advantage of the large area of the court so he could run free from the woman.
"Where are you abilities, now?" Sora mocked. "You're a one trick pony, and now your tricks are all out, you're gonna die."
"As if," Elliot whispered and spun, going behind Sora slashing his sword.
His attack was blocked by the woman, her bloodied hands from the earlier injury still had enough in them to hold Elliot's sword. The wounds got deeper, the blood oozed, but her face was never fazed.
"Petty," Sora said. As her blood dripped down the ground, a large red magic circle below the court. "It seems like you have activated my power yourself."
"Power?" Elliot asked, backing away as the light of the magic circle rose.
"My magic is not stable, and it's lethal therefore I have to use a Condition. And you did the Condition," Sora smirked raising her head as the light engulfed everyone whole.
–
"Cannonball!" Elliot yelled, running towards the spring where the four were shaking their heads.
"No, Elliot!" Lance tried to yell, but he was too late. The boy had already leaped from the rocks and into the blazing hot water.
"No!" Hope yelled as the water splashed over them, the intense heat burning their skin apart from Connor.
"Elliot, are you stupid?!" Lance yelled the moment Elliot leaped from the water from the heat.
"I'm sorry!" Elliot cried, leaping around to reach the ground. "I didn't know the water would be that hot."
"It's not that hot though," Connor smirked, making everyone turn to him with glaring eyes. He raised his hands in surrender and chuckled. "Well, not that hot for me."
They rose from the bath and into the side. They laid their shoulders to the edge of the spring and let their bodies float, enjoying the light of the moon.
"I'm so happy that everything's over," Elliot said. "We defeated the Vassals and we're enjoying this little vacation."
Ed suddenly stood upright and turned to them, "Wait. Did we?"
"Yeah," Lance answered. "After Sora casted her skill, Elliot pierced his sword through her chest. Connor burned Blithe and you guys… I don't know what you did, but you must've succeeded."
"No," Ed argued, shaking his head as he try to remember what happened. "We were trouble fighting our enemy down the dungeons. It's imposibble if we had beaten him."
"What happened to you?" Elliot swam over to him and placed his hand over Ed's forehead. "You're not sick, are you?"
"I'm not." Ed pushed Elliot's hands away and walked out of the hotspring. He got inside the cottage of the hotspring and looked for his sword.
Something was wrong and he knew it. The others might not know, but he has another layer of magic resistance. Though, it seems like it wasn't enough to fully block what was going on with them.
As Ed finished strapping his belt that had his scabbard, he saw a familiar spear that was placed by the doorway. He walked towards it, about to hold it when the others came over.
"Ed, are you okay?" Elliot asked. "You seem to be in distress. What's happening?"
"Something's wrong, guys," Ed muttered. "There's something wrong but I don't know what. I felt like we skipped from the fight at Solaguer to here."
"W-We didn't skip the fight. Ed, we fought the intruders and won," Elliot said. "What are you talking about–"
Elliot suddenly paused, his body frozen as he felt his world stop spinning.
'High-magic output detected.'
'New feature unlocked.'
< Purify >
// Cast onto the user and the feature will negate all effects of curses and spells. Can only be used by the user.
Cooldown: 8 hours
'< Illusion of the Damned > skill active.'
'Purify?'
Elliot raised his hand and pressed "Yes".
He felt his body turn and spin for a moment, closing his eyes because it was too much for him. He shut them even more when a blast of light blinded him, even when he was seeing nothing.
He fluttered his eyes open and saw that he was back at the Royal Court. Sora was raising her spear, just about to attack him when he dodged.
"Why did I suddenly came back here?" Elliot asked himself, avoiding the continuous attacks Sora gave him. "Everything was over. Why the hell did I came back."
"It's my skill," Sora said, lowering her spear. "My skill allows people to transport them to live their lives somewhere else. A timeline where the odds are in their favor."
"That's not right," Elliot tsked and raised his sword. "How do I free them?"
"You can't free them," Sora said. "That's why my ability needs a Condition to be met. Because it's so powerful."
"And the condition is?" Elliot quriked his brow up.
"That I would lose 10% of my HP," she replied. "And now that I can finally fight you one on one, you shall–"
"Shattered Starlight!"
The specks of glowing dusts surrounded Sora. They fired their beams at her randomly, creating a large explosion.
"Are you okay?" Galaxia came over and stood defensively in front of Elliot. "This woman is far above us. Even the Guardians will have a hard time with her."
"But not us!"
They raised heir heads up to the sky where the voice came from.
It was the members of Azure Scorch guild.
Along with them were the dragons they rode on. After seeing their numbers, Bllithe had to back away. Even if he could handle them, he still wouldn't come out from it unscathed.
A man leaped off from Midnight and in front of Blithe. His red and black harlequin jacket that hung loosely on his shoulders swayed as he gathered his intense flames in his hands.
"What have you done to my guild members?" Frederick asked with nothing but venom in his voice. "Where are they?"
"They're not here," Bltihe smirked and conjured an equally intense flames. "I can smell you well."
Frederick grit his teeth after what Blithe said. The latter smirked and continued taunting the man.
"People who hides secrets from their close friends and family," Blithe said. "I've seen one or two of you."
Frederick didn't hesitate to fire his surge of flames into Blithe. The latter chuckled and attacked Frederick with his flames.
"You don't know me," Frederick said and increased the power of his attack.
"Oh, I know you well," Blithe smirked once again.. "You're one of the best friends of the Third Surpasser."