Wrock's blue energy flickered from his body. Umin's strange glowing essence danced back and forth as if curious. Yet their gaze was focused on a single thing. The Chimera who was standing up again. It's faceless gaze wandered across Wrock and Umin, "Stand?"
WHOOM-!
Wrock's blue energy increased in size. His fists clenched as he struggled to contain the sheer power flowing through his body. Umin's gaze narrowed, "Then, let us do this."
"Couldn't say it better myself!"
The next moment the two vanished. Falling blue embers left in their wake. The next moment a flash of light appeared at the Chimera's location. Wrock and Umin slammed against the Chimera and began pushing it farther through the forest. Despite the two having very little experience working together, their vast fighting experience in general made up for it. Additionally. . . their strength was far outside what the Chimera was used to.
Wrock flickered and delivered a swift kick to the Chimera's face. Its head snapped to the side, but it couldn't fight back just yet. Umin followed up with two punches, "Normally I'd rend heaven, but with this strength I could split it!"
{Splitting Heaven Fist}!
Space no longer warped from his fists, instead it split into four pieces. Shaped to be a very neat cross, a massive wound in the shape of an X formed on the Chimera's chest. Once all four ends fully extended the Chimera flew farther back. Crashing through multiple trees it struggled to stop its momentum. Wrock vanished, leaving only a fluttering blue ember. Reappearing in the Chimera's path an Azure flame sparked to life and condensed on his fist. Punching skywards he sent the Chimera flying above the forest, a blast of Azure flame scattering to the trees.
{Spirit of the Phoenix: Guidance Towards The Heavens!}
Umin leapt upwards, the mysterious energy moved to turn into a mist. Rising above the Chimera the energy began to move as if coming to life. Forming a snake-like Dragon it looped about before following Umin's fists. Descending towards the Chimera he delivered a blow which caused a bright light to form upon impact. It became bright enough to light almost half the forest!
{Misten Cloud Art: Dancing Dragon Among The Clouds}!
BOOM-!
The Chimera was sent rocketing towards the ground. The impact created a shockwave large enough to blast away the clouds, leaving an empty sky for those of the forest to see. Umin scattered some loose energy to the side, "Ha! How does it feel to face the wrath of a Transcender?!"
Wrock dashed to meet the falling Chimera. A flame condensed on his fist as he punched forward!
{Spirit of the Phoenix: Guiding Flame}!
"Ow. . .", the Chimera spoke.
Whoom-
Wrock's fist was dodged and the Chimera threw a punch forward. Blocking the blow Wrock slid back. His blue energy seemed to increase slightly as he launched himself forward again. Priming his fist to deliver a blow the Chimera seemed to do the same. Their punches collided and Wrock's arm was knocked back.
Umin appeared at this moment, delivering his own powerful kick to the now exposed side of the Chimera. Its body bent in response but it did not go flying like before. Umin's face frowned, "Already?"
Wrock slipped forward and landed an uppercut on the Chimera's chin, "No time!"
Umin moved and delivered an overhead bicycle kick on the Chimera's head. Wrock brought his fists to his waist and delivered a flurry in the opening provided.
{Spirit of the Phoenix: Wing Beat}!
Two dozen blows landed before the Chimera acted. It began dodging and blocking almost immediately after the 24th hit. Umin appeared on its right side and punched its faceless head. Wrock followed with a sweep kick, a ring of Azure flame forming with the movement.
{Spirit of the Phoenix: Wheel of Reincarnation}!
Azure flame lingered and rose to form a pillar. Wrock spun out of it, flying balls of Azure flame spun in a ring around him. The Chimera responded with its rough voice, "Sto-p."
Pow-!
Wrock's fist landed on its face and one of the fireballs exploded on the opposite end. Swiftly moving he delivered two kicks, each one having a fireball explode on. Rotating with a spin he delivered a back kick to the Chimera's chest, the remaining fireballs exploding. Umin flickered behind the Chimera and performed an elbow drop to the Chimera's head. . .
"St-op!", the Chimera spoke again.
A tendril shot forth, Wrock guided it away with the back of his palm. He winced as red energy arced up his arm, but he fought back with his raging Spirit. Punching forward Azure flame exploded upon impact.
{Spirit of the Phoenix: Rising Sun}!
Umin formed his hands into palms and slapped the sides of the Chimera's head. The strange energy once again formed a dragon- wait rather two this time! The snake-like dragons wrapped their long bodies around the Chimera and tightened.
{Misten Cloud Art: Binding The Clouds}!
"E-nough!", the Chimera howled through the Azure flame.
Bzzt-!
Crimson energy exploded into arcs. Slamming against Wrock and Umin it caused them to fly back in opposite directions. The Chimera's head split open to form a mouth and it began to breathe, "E-nough!!"
Crimson arcs of energy constantly crackled around its body. Heresy and its Forged existence tossing uncontrollably. Clutching its head it writhed about, as if fighting against something, "Ah-!"
Suddenly an incredible sized magic circle began to glow. To describe its size amply. . . it's diameter was roughly 500 meters. Everyone still in the forest was capable of seeing it.
Gear, who had been biting his lip helplessly suddenly looked towards Kan'na. A pain formed in his eye as the vision changed. Suddenly swarmed with various magic circles of different languages, Gear couldn't quite make out her figure. Out of instinct he looked upwards, and froze at what he saw.
Whatever it was, he couldn't comprehend it.
The Chimera raised into the air. Five pillars shot from the massive magic circle and slammed into the ground, like anchors meant to keep it still. Mana moved so quickly it felt like the world was dragging them closer. The Chimera continued to crackle with Heresy as it moved its head upwards.
Several magic circles formed and began to descend in a spiral downwards. They began to merge together and form a net. Meanwhile the five pillars began to channel an incredible amount of mana. Prisms of various sizes formed around the Chimera to create a prison. Heretic energy crackled and snapped at the Prisms, causing them to weaken.
Kan'na watched with a pained expression, "You're kidding. . ."
Bang-!
The first Prism shattered in a few seconds. The net of magic circles continued to be made and the pillars continued to gather mana. Watching this with an eagle's eye Kan'na couldn't help but grit her teeth, "Even magic on this level can't contain it? Just how much further do I need to climb. . ."
Bang-!
Another Prism shattered. The level this spell was on was even higher than of the ones she used during The Gated Arena. Yet the Chimera was proving to be even higher than that. There was a total of three Prisms left, if they continued to shatter at this rate her spell wouldn't be complete.
Givale steadied her feet. Yielya had put her through some serious treatment to get her back into working state. After all she couldn't risk the young Dragon dying.
Bang-!
That was the third Prism. Kan'na shook her head, "Then we have no time, best do it now."
A magic circle formed in her palm and she aimed it towards the massive one. Glowing brightly the magic circle flashed and the massive circle suddenly jerked to spin in the opposite direction. Runes began to spin about as the net of magic circles surrounded the Chimera.
Bang-!
The fourth Prism. It seems her instinct was right. Had she been a moment too late the spell would've been completely useless. Rather it was already incredibly impressive she was able to hold the Chimera down for this long. The net of magic circles condensed around the Chimera and clung to its body. The rampant Heretic energy began to become suppressed, the crimson arcs reducing in movement.
A strange rune branded itself onto the back of the Chimera's neck. The magic circles now stuck to the Chimera and refused to move. Kan'na made several mental notes of the outcome, "Although I wasn't too sure, it seems Heresy isn't completely out of the realm of control."
With this spell Kan'na had managed to subdue Heresy! Originally something only the Sun was capable of doing. Running on pure theory she actually managed to pull off such an incredible feat. Yet despite making such breakthroughs she shook her head, "Such a shame."
Sitting down she let out a heavy sigh, "That's all I can manage for now. But with this the Chimera's regeneration shouldn't be as dramatic."
Givale looked towards Mira, "You heard her! Let's not hold back anymore!"
Mira looked towards her, "Then can I. . . ?"
"We have no other choice, but if you lose control then I'll hate you for it!"
"I won't!"
Mira lifted his right hand and positioned it strangely. Sucking in a breath he popped a pressure point.
{Limitation Acupuncture: Right Hand Point}!
A worrying feeling descended upon those watching. As if their bodies shook with a primal fear. Mira's shoulders slumped as a constant crimson energy leaked out of his body like blood. It was heavy and thick, falling to the floor to pool around his feet.
Condensing on his face a marking of the Hydra formed. One of its heads crawled down his head and moved towards his eye. Placing itself perfectly so its eye was Mira's, it then stopped moving. Mira's eyes slowly opened, one of them turning into the look of a Hydra's.
Givale was not about to be left behind. Her skin rippled and turned to scale. Daggers dyed themselves in a dark purple magic and moved towards her head. Warping into two horns through her head they flashed before revealing themselves. Her hands expanded rapidly, revealing the talons of a Dragon, their size took up the length of her forearms. It wasn't a grand transformation, rather it made her look like some sort of mutant. However it was not to be looked down upon. Tapping into the strength of her Dragon form while maintaining the small figure of her human form allowed Givale's power to balance between the two. Thus she amply named it her Hybrid Form.
"To have a spell effective against Heresy. Truly you are someone worthy of being called a Sage.", a voice spoke.
Kan'na shook her head, "It wasn't as effective as I hoped."
"This much is enough. Apologies for the wait, he haven't had any practice doing this in Third Stage."
It was Zenothoriath! The Mystical Beast! Having finally arrived the rest of the backup made itself known!
That wasn't all of course! Wrock and Umin hadn't been knocked out just yet! Having purged the Heresy from their bodies they both stood back up. Umin had blood almost freely flowing down his face, but he merely used it to keep his hair slicked back. Holding the wound he let out a laugh, "Hahaha! I haven't been pushed this hard in a very long time!"
Wrock's Berserk Skill continued to rise higher. His fingers were twitching from the rampant power. An illusion of an Azure Phoenix would constantly appear behind him. Staring ahead he felt his Spirit struggling to maintain itself, but he no longer cared for that.
Facing new heights the party stepped onto a realm above once again. All to hold down this one threat!
Bang-!
The final Prism shattered and the Chimera broke free. Faced with the suppression of the incredible spell it moved its body strangely. Speaking again, this time with an air of certainty, its voice carried to the ears of all that were present, "Enough."
Yielya frowned, was it enough? Did they have enough strength to hold of the Chimera? Rather could they possibly defeat it here and now?
Someone patted Yielya's shoulder, "Sorry. I was making sure this was the last one."
Jarvis came into view. This time he looked a bit strange. Two large glowing feathers sprouted from the front of his scalp. Clinging to his hair they extended to the top of his head. His eyes seemed more like that of a bird's, one iris a purplish-white, the other a pale yellow.
The Phoenix and Minokawa hovered above him, both were glowing strangely.
Yielya asked, "What is this?"
Jarvis laughed, "I'll explain later. Right now that is more important."
"Akiol wants us to buy time."
"Akiol's here?"
"Not right now, which is why we need time."
"Gotcha."
The two birds morphed into pure energy and swirled around Jarvis' forearms. With an unusually stern look he spoke, "Just one last one."
Gear grit his teeth, watching them all stand again for his fight, it was he who swore. Gripping his sword tightly he stepped forward as well, "I won't stand by to watch you all do this!"
The moon above seemed to brighten as a drop of liquid fell from the sky. Landing on Gear it rapidly expanded into a suit of armor. Much like that of fantasy knights it covered Gear entirely. A helmet was the last to form on his head. Made of a brilliant silver Gear felt a strange sensation fill his veins.
[World Knight In Shining Armor].
Thud-
A final pair of footsteps rose up to the challenge. The sound of heavy armor clanking could be heard. It was none other than Tilia! As she stepped forward her War Sight condensed into its tower shield form. . .
Something was different. Instead of remaining in its tower shield form it condensed further. The semi-translucent bronze shield turned opaque. Slightly smaller than a tower shield it remained on her left arm. On her right arm a much smaller shield formed on the top of her forearm. Also completely opaque it was shaped similarly to a hexagon. However two of its perpendicular sides were 50% longer than the rest of the sides.
Tilia placed her helmet on and a faint click sounded. [Ignition] started and her War Sight began to be drained. Pulling out a small bottle she drank the contents with ease and [Life Stirring] also began. Yet she remained silent, focused purely on stopping the Chimera. With every step she took, the faint sound of glass cracking could be heard.
This was everything they had. Pushing themselves to the very brink of what they were capable of. All to stop this singular foe.
It would be a sight to see!