With a yell, Yuan Dao Yue Guang lunged at Cronus Wright. From the opposite end, Lionel Stuart also leaped at the imposing spirit-possessed a.s.sa.s.sin, swinging his sword down to unleash a storm of razor-sharp petals.
Cronus merely stood still and weathered the blizzard of petals. The silver aura that permeated his body flared up and caused the petals to shrivel and wither, but the moment they all died down, Yue Guang smashed his Ba Qi wreathed fist into his back. The tremendous impact caused the ground underneath Cronus"s feet to shatter and he was actually thrown forward with a grunt. Whirling around, he countered with a kick that Yue Guang ducked.
While he was distracted by the bodyguard, Lionel thrust his sword forward to stab him. Cronus threw out a hand behind himself to grab the blade, the silver aura flaring. Fortunately, even with the time-warping effect rus.h.i.+ng forward to engulf the sword, Lionel"s weapon had in-built magical resistance and defensive enchantments inscribed into it. The metal didn"t corrode and dissolve as it would have in a few thousand years and managed to maintain its integrity.
"UWOOOOOH!"
Lionel let out a roar as he unleashed his mana in a single immense burst. Even as Cronus caught his blade with his finger, flower petals blossomed around the two and spiraled lethally upon his target. Locked in combat with Lionel, Cronus was unable to pull free and he found himself ripped into shreds by the devastating storm of dancing petals.
"Huff…huff…"
Lionel dropped to his knees, panting heavily. Gritting his teeth, he raised his head to look at the remains of his opponent, knowing that it wouldn"t be so easy to kill him.
"!!!"
He was right.
A ma.s.sive arm smashed through the scattering petals and slammed into his hastily raised blade. Lionel clenched his teeth as he fought to weather the immense impact, but he skidded for a centimeter before his body was lifted off the ground and sent hurtling across the cavern. Tumbling almost helplessly, he flipped himself in midair and landed on his feet and a knee.
"Ugh…!"
He coughed out a mouthful of blood, but managed to lean on his sword to slowly get up. Seizing the opportunity, Cronus barged out of the blizzard of petals and closed in on him.
"Oh no, you don"t!"
At Glen"s shout, White Tiger crashed into the charging Cronus, tackling him away from Lionel. The spirit possessed a.s.sa.s.sin twisted around and grappled with the Soul Beast, grabbing it by its throat and suffocating it. White Tiger desperately unleashed bolts of high voltage electricity at pointblank range, attempting to electrocute its foe, but to no avail. The silver aura that enveloped Cronus protected him from certain death.
"!!"
Fortunately for White Tiger, Yue Guang arrived in time. Bellowing, he punched Cronus in the face with such force that the spirit inadvertently released his stranglehold on the Soul Beast and staggered. He spat out some blood, and then turned to Yue Guang, his expression as devoid as emotions as ever. Undaunted, Yue Guang hammered him, but the spirit possessed a.s.sa.s.sin caught his fist, stopping the punch in midair. The ground shook from the tremendous impact, but neither man moved an inch."Kuh!"
Yue Guang tried to yank his fist free from Cronus"s grip, but his efforts proved to be futile. Cronus smiled grimly and slowly pulled the resisting Yue Guang forward. Narrowing his eyes, the bodyguard drew his other arm back for another punch, but…
"?!"
Huang Shun Yin descended between them, swinging his flaming sword to amputate Cronus"s arm at the elbow. The superheated flames lanced through the silver aura and dense muscle, slicing through bone as easily as a hot knife through b.u.t.ter.
Cronus retreated a step, staring at his cauterized stump in disbelief. Meanwhile Yue Guang grabbed the opportunity to pull his fist free of the now disembodied arm and toss it away. Synchronizing with Shun Yin, he waited for the fire mage to slash at an evading Cronus, and while the time spirit was half-distracted, he kicked the giant in the midriff.
Boom!
Cronus was sent flying several meters away, vanis.h.i.+ng into a wall that exploded into a shower of debris.
"Thank you," Yue Guang told Shun Yin, but the fire mage shook his head.
"You don"t have to thank me."
"But I do." Yue Guang straightened up and glanced at the pile of rubble. "Unfortunately, I don"t think we"ve won just yet."
"I concur."
Pieces of debris shook and trembled, before erupting upward. Cronus rose to his feet, rocks and stones rolling off his dusty form. He shook his head, as if to clear the knock he received, and then dusted himself off casually with his remaining arm.
Right in front of the allied clans" disbelieving eyes, Cronus"s missing arm glowed and restored itself. It wasn"t regeneration – it wasn"t as if his arm regenerated and grew right back. The silver aura that engulfed the place where his arm used to be glowed, and it seemed as if time was turning back. Arcane energies rippled over the form, over a faint silhouette, and reversed time to when Cronus"s arm was still attached.
At the side, the disembodied arm that Yue Guang tossed aside glowed faintly before vanis.h.i.+ng completely, as if taken away by the ravages of time. Or perhaps it was merely going back in time too, to a moment when it was still attached to its owner.
"d.a.m.n it…" Lionel growled as he joined Yue Guang and Shun Yin. "I mean, we already saw how he literally came back to life by reversing time earlier, so I honestly shouldn"t be surprised. But still…there has to be limits to his power. Otherwise we can continue killing him all day and he"ll just continue coming back to life."
"Just keep him off my back long enough for me to eliminate the summoner!" On the other side, Michael and Angelica were occupied with fighting Serena. Crimson and white flames flowed across the cavern, combating against the ominous greenish-black flows of mana that Serena cast. She giggled as she cleaved apart another torrent of flames.
"Are you really that naïve to think you"ll be able to eliminate me?"
"We have no choice but to try, right?" Angelica responded wryly as she slashed at her head, but Serena ducked under the blow before retaliating with a kick. Angelica managed to parry it, but she was sent skidding backward. While she stumbled, Michael struck from behind, but Serena raised her other short sword to deflect his blazing blade.
"That was dangerous."
Meanwhile, Shun Yin and the other three were facing down Cronus. Glen nodded to his White Tiger, who growled and pounced on the spirit possessed a.s.sa.s.sin. However, the s.p.a.ce surrounding Cronus appeared to distort, and White Tiger"s movements appeared to slow to a crawl as soon as it entered the s.h.i.+mmering field that expanded a few meters around its target. Even the golden electricity that emanated from its fur appeared to slow down, the lightning painfully inching toward Cronus at a fraction of its usual speed.
In contrast, Cronus continued to move at what was his normal speed and he punched the vulnerable White Tiger in the midriff. The Soul Beast howled as it was flung out of the slow time field and smashed into the wall, before being buried by rocks.
"f.u.c.k! He can do that too?!" Glen swore. "How are we supposed to counter that?!"
"By whatever means necessary." Lionel didn"t waste any time complaining. Instead, he was advancing with his sword, flinging another storm of petals at Cronus. Thousands of razor-sharp petals engulfed the spirit a.s.sa.s.sin, trying to slash into his body before his protective time-aura could cause them to wither away.
However, this time Cronus had switched his defensive enchantment. The petals all slowed down the moment they entered the slow time field and drifted to a stop. In the middle, the hulking a.s.sa.s.sin merely watched as the myriad of petals came to a halt right in front of him, and then he raised a hand. With that single motion, all of the petals came cras.h.i.+ng down to the ground, dragged under by gravity.
"He really has a variety of defenses, doesn"t he?" Lionel grumbled with a click of his tongue.
"Just be glad that he can"t stop time and a.s.sa.s.sinate us while we are completely immobile." Yue Guang was grim. "That would be unstoppable."
Shun Yin realized that Yue Guang was right. If someone was able to stop time, then he would pretty much become the most fearsome a.s.sa.s.sin alive. He could pretty much sneak up on anyone before he could react and a.s.sa.s.sinate him while his guard was down. There was nothing that could stop him, no security system, nothing. He could just stopped time and walk past the traps before they activated. All the bodyguards in the world would be helpless to stop him. He could get in, kill his target, and then get out before anyone even realized what had happened.
All he needed was to stop time for a second. Literally.
"There has to be limits to his time magic, though. Not to mention, casting such spells should cost quite a lot of mana. Even if he"s drawing from his own supply of mana that"s separate from Serena, it shouldn"t be unlimited."
"Shouldn"t, yet…" Lionel didn"t seem pleased by Yue Guang"s a.n.a.lysis. "Even if it"s unlimited, we"re doomed as long as his supply of mana is much larger than all of ours combined."
"Then we"ve no choice but to delay him until Michael and Angelica slay the summoner." Shun Yin didn"t sound very confident, but he knew there was no other option. "Or we continue killing him until he runs out of mana."
"If he doesn"t kill us first," Glen muttered pessimistically. He took a deep breath and raised a hand, infusing his Soul Beast with more mana. A wounded White Tiger emerged from the rubble, shaking itself loose and growling in pain. "Sorry, White Tiger, but I need you to fight for a bit longer."
He exchanged a glance with Shun Yin, and for a split second Shun Yin understood what he was going for. The fire mage nodded surrept.i.tiously, and the corner of Glen"s lips lifted just a fraction. Taking a deep breath, Shun Yin charged at Cronus, swinging his flaming sword and unleas.h.i.+ng fireb.a.l.l.s. As before, the fiery projectiles slowed down and stopped short of Cronus before cras.h.i.+ng downward and scorching the ground.
Lionel relentlessly attacked, undaunted, launching more of his deadly petals right after Shun Yin. He probably was trying to overwhelm the defensive time field of Cronus, overloading it or hopefully exploiting some sort of cooldown. However, his efforts seemed to come to naught as, once again, his petals scattered and drifted.
However, just after Cronus neutralized his barrage of blossoms with his time magic, Yue Guang burst through the vanis.h.i.+ng petals and punched him. Unlike the magic spells, Yue Guang"s movements were not slowed at all even though he entered the slow time field. Cronus"s eyes widened in shock, but then he understood why when he sensed the tremendous amount of Armament Ba Qi that had condensed and coalesced around his foe.
His fist crashed into Cronus"s face once more, causing the hulking spirit to stagger, his head hurled to the side. Heaving, Cronus tried to retaliate, but Yue Guang struck him again in the midriff with another vicious hook. Even so, the exertion of resisting the slow time field with Armament Ba Qi alone was taking its toll, and Yue Guang"s face was reddening. Not only that, his movements were beginning to slow.
Fortunately, he wasn"t alone. Lionel descended from above, his sword wreathed with his own Armament Ba Qi, combined with flower petals. In a single slash, he bisected Cronus from collarbone to groin. Blood splattered both Lionel and Yue Guang, with Cronus"s corpse still standing upright despite sustaining such a fatal wound.
Then Shun Yin joined in and beheaded Cronus, his flaming sword slicing through the giant a.s.sa.s.sin"s neck and severing it from his shoulders.
"Great job!" Lionel was panting, but he seemed pleased with their combined efforts. "Even a monster like him will need some time to come back from that sort of damage!"
On the other side, Serena"s expression cracked a little, but she continued to fight on without another word. She parried Angelica"s sword before kicking her away. But before she could turn to confront Michael, the White Tiger swiped at her, slas.h.i.+ng her with its electrifying claws.
"!!!"
Serena just barely managed to parry its claws, but the lightning struck her, electrocuting her. She cried out, but retaliated with a dark spell that pierced through White Tiger"s belly and threw it off. Trying to straighten herself up after the debilitating attack, she turned to glare at Glen, who was approaching her, but he skidded to a stop, seeming intimidated by her gaze.
However, that was just an act. Behind, Michael stabbed her in the back, causing blood to fountain out of her throat. Serena flailed for a moment, grasping at the blade that protruded from her chest. Blood ran down her wound and hands and she slowly slumped down.
Michael wasn"t done yet. Knowing that a wound of this level still wouldn"t be able to guarantee an a.s.sa.s.sin"s death, he cast his spell and began to immolate her. Crimson flames ignited around his blade and began consuming Serena from the inside out. She shrieked as the h.e.l.lish fire began expanding from her foe"s sword and spreading to her body.
"We did it!" Glen crowed.
Unfortunately, his celebrations proved premature.
"?!"
Shun Yin, Lionel and Yue Guang were all blasted off their feet when silver mana surged around Cronus"s corpse. In a second, his body was made whole again, knitting together at an impossible speed and restoring itself. Before the three of them could get up, Cronus lunged.
But his target wasn"t any of them.
Instead, he swept across the cavern before anybody could react and obliterated Michael with a punch. His gigantic fist literally erased Michael"s head and the top part of his chest, spraying the fatally wounded Serena with his blood.
Gritting her teeth, Serena yanked the sword out before she slumped down. Her chest rising shallowly, she lay on the ground with an agonized smile, incapacitated but still alive. Clutching her wound, she stared at the grisly remains of her would-be killer.
"Such a pity. You were so close."
"MIKE!"
"BROTHER!"
Even as Michael"s headless corpse toppled to the ground, both Glen and Angelica"s voices echoed throughout the cavern in despair.