"Stay back!", Yaulo screamed in fear.
Akiol took a step forward and flickered in front of her. His eyes seemed especially piercing, and his sword held a thin line of silver around its edge. A chill ran up Yaulo's spine, "You-!!"
"Afraid? What for? You can't die in the Territory remember?"
Not letting Yaulo respond he swung with incredible swiftness. Delivering many powerful cuts faster than she could see. As the swings converged to a point a small dot of Aura appeared. Very rapidly more of these dots appeared across her body, like several stars in the night sky.
{Way of the Galaxy: Countless Stars}!
The barrage of cuts stopped suddenly and Akiol sheathed his blade. Yaulo couldn't speak a single word no matter how hard she tried. Her body began to drift apart in several tiny pieces. Akiol watched this and narrowed his eyes. This was a different response underneath the Territory. By now the body parts would've flown back to their owner and melded back to replicate the original body as much as possible.
Yet slowly each piece of Yaulo turned to dust and flew away. Closing his eyes Akiol sensed where these dust particles were heading and found it going right back to the undead castle. Once he came to this realization he reached for Stars, but paused. He couldn't act. The dust was far to spread out for him to stop it all without expending an incredible amount of Aura. Additionally if this could get the undead king to move it could possibly remove the Territory.
After coming to this conclusion he instead leapt out of the hole he dug. Yaulo couldn't have escaped from his vision, that's what {Way of the Galaxy: Star Guidance} was for. Now returning to the battlefield he overviewed the current situation. The Guilds were employing various tactics to delay the undead revivals. Givale and Ryolu were implementing their own versions. The mechanical army was doing a stellar job at holding back reinforcements.
"Very good. I chose the right people.", Akiol smiled to himself.
The reason why he expended so much Aura to shred the initial force was for this very reason! By weakening the initial enemies the Guilds faced it gave them more freedom to gain a foothold and create strategy. Now that they were away of what worked they wouldn't need such a handicap when facing the main undead force.
Dashing forward Akiol figured he should still recover as much Aura as possible, but figured he should help wherever it was needed. He was still a capable fighter even without Aura after all!
~ ~ ~
Gan crushed more undead but found himself moving back. Turning around he knocked aside some freshly risen undead and grit his teeth, "We're going to be overwhelmed at this rate!"
A wave of lightning flashed forward and Era grit her teeth. What pained her most was that she was already being overwhelmed. Bakery Basics was holding on better than Determined Souls, but it seems they were facing the pressure now too.
What caught her eye specifically was one individual who looked bothered, but didn't have any sense of urgency with the situation. Using a Skill she attempted to find out his name but found her Skill couldn't identify who they were.
This person was Igneel. Although his attacks weren't as sharp as some others, he didn't feel too pressured in his current place. Rather he was desperately trying to find out who exactly his other half was, and how to handle this situation. If he were to grow unconscious right now, would this situation be solved?
Gritting his teeth he found he hated that idea. Why must he always be asleep the moment the situation was resolved. Was he invited for this raid because of his other half? Did nobody really rely on his strength?
Flexing his hands he snapped them into fists and rushed towards the front lines. Screw it then! Whether he falls and his other half takes over, or he proves that he too has strength! Flipping over some fallen undead he unleashed a flurry of blows. His attacks weren't as powerful as Gan's, or as sharp as Era's or Uyana's. His attacks lacked the size of Yuto's, or the precision of Ninn's! Yet-!
As he moved a strange feeling began to leak through his body. A weird mist manifested and began to cover the ravine. Above a thundercloud began to form, lightning clapped and the air felt heavy with static. Era paused and looked about, there was a movement she swore she saw but couldn't quite understand what. This looked like. . . this looked like a snake dragon?
Igneel moved about fluidly, not bothering to follow any of his comrade's styles. He didn't need sharpness, or extreme precision, or even extreme power! What mattered most was to move himself as one! A sense of identity, his own identity! His own power!
Poking its head from the mist the dragon caught the eye of all spectating undead. Northan found himself looking at it with a grave expression, "What is this?"
Mist swirled around Igneel's fist, he didn't need his other half! This fight, he'll prove it! He will win with just himself! Let this fist be a declaration of his will!
Throwing the punch forward the mist dragon launched forward and barreled through the undead. It lacked any direct power, and didn't deal significant damage. However it moved forward like a river, a sort of existence you would be pushed by. Thus a path was created through and beyond the ravine, an opening!
{Misten Cloud Art: Dancing Dragon Among The Clouds}!
The mist vanished and every member spotted the opening. It took a flickering moment before they all acted and rushed up it. Although they still would be surrounded, they wouldn't be pinned inside the ravine! This was a chance!
Running forward Gan called out, "I can see why Akiol brought you! You're quite incredible!"
Igneel held the praise, this time it was him they were talking about. Not his other half!
Push forward! The undead were closing the gap swiftly, but the progress they made was significant! Uyana bolted ahead of the group and swung her bokken, swirling cherry blossoms shredded apart the undead and prevented them from closing off the gap!
Northan stared them down at the end of the gap, his guandao at the ready. Vertigo walked to his side and placed a hand on his scabbard. With one final charge the group broke past the ravine! Uyana yelled, "Forgo the individual targets! Just fight whoever you can!"
"Agreed!", shouted Quol.
"Heard!", Era shouted back.
The fifteen players charged forward, but the generals remained unmoving. Northan spoke, "Cut them down Vertigo."
The samurai gripped his katana, "I only take orders from my master Northan."
Regardless he unsheathed his blade and. . . didn't swing. Instead just as the group got close several red slashes appeared in the air. Each aiming for the neck of each player. The slashes he made in the past, the terrifying ability of Vertigo!
Not everyone was capable of reacting fast enough. It was mostly the spellcasters that lacked the speed to dodge the ability. Their health dropped faster than a rock from the critical hit they sustained. Uyu and Yemm rapidly healed everyone back to full, but with the approaching undead from behind it was clear this situation might not be as great as the one they just escaped!
Uyana didn't hesitate! Closing the gap she formed cherry blossoms as she swung. This time Vertigo lifted his blade and clashed with her, the two entering a power struggle. His soulless husk of eyes stared at Uyana, "You hold some strength."
Pang~!
Sliding her bokken free Uyana rushed to deal any form of damage, but found her attacks being deflected. Despite being Second Stage, the generals were still counted as bosses! Thus their strength and abilities were beyond that of ordinary Second Stages! These were individuals meant to be tackled by a group after all!
Era appeared from behind Uyana, leaping above her she outstretched a palm and let forth a wide flame. Vertigo slashed horizontally to clear it, but found the two vanished in the small moment his vision was blocked. Twisting his body he deflected a strike from Era and looked further upwards to find Uyana descending from above!
[Blossom Style Pinnacle Art: April's Descent]!
Kicking Era aside he gripped his katana with both hands and swung to match the attack. Several red slashes seemed to follow his blade. The two weapons clashed and a flurry of cherry blossoms scattered. Vertigo found his arms bending from the force and instead changed tactics. Various red slashes formed on Uyana's body, various swings from the past!
Uyana turned into a flurry of cherry blossoms, her real body having moved behind Vertigo. With her bokken pointed forward she thrusted, blossoms swirling to follow!
[Blossom Style: Swirling Point]!
Twisting his body Vertigo parried the strike and released several strikes, one of which managed to slip past Uyana's defense and cut into her. Immediately she found her vision beginning to twist, like she fell under some sort of illness. It was dizzying and threw her off enough to not guard against Vertigo's next attack!
Clang~!
Yuto's scythe clashed against the katana, knocking it upwards. Feeling the recoil in his hands Yuto grinned, "What strength!"
Vertigo's eyes and face did not change, and several slashes manifested in Yuto's location. Dodging this by hair he moved his scythe to carve Vertigo in two but found his blow parried!
With a wry smile he spoke, "You two best recover! I clearly cannot do this myself!"