Yuto twirled his scythe and swung horizontally, a deadly energy lingering around his weapon. Vertigo leapt over it, and several red slashes formed at Yuto's location. As he dodged Vertigo's katana found its way through the gap of Yuto's defensive movements.
Pang~!
Era's weapon coated in lightning as she pushed against the katana. She lacked the strength to compete against Vertigo, but there was enough force to allow Yuto to not be harmed! Vertigo redirected her sword and kicked her gut. As she doubled over her face made contact with a red slash appearing. A cut scored across her face as she rolled back to gather some distance.
Vertigo went to take a step, but two snakes coiled up his leg and restricted his movements! Red slashes formed as these snakes were severed. Johan grit his teeth and unfurled his scroll further, placing a palm on a rune he summoned two creatures. Made of wood they wore masks of leaves. They bounced about as they ran forward towards Vertigo.
Uyana sent forth a flurry of cherry blossoms. Vertigo's blade severed these with a flickering speed. Leaping back he fell into a horde of undead that were charging to intervene. A fireball flung forward and exploded in the center of this horde making a hole appear in their numbers. Quol pinched his sorcerer's hat as he commanded, "Go! I'll keep as many off your back as I can!"
Era was the first to react, she ran towards the direction of the general. Swiping the air she created a jet of flame and swung her sword through it. Once again enchanting her sword she carved through several undead and left them to burn.
Following her lead Uyana provided assistance. Her bokken slicing through any undead that still stood after Era's slash. Yuto wasn't about to be left behind and he trailed above them! Propelling himself with the dark energy he occasionally swung his scythe forward to create projectiles into the undead horde.
Still retreating Vertigo effortlessly increased the gap, maneuvering through the undead horde like they weren't there. His footwork a step above his attacker's. Yuto swung a projectile towards Vertigo while crying out, "Coward!"
"Keep chasing him! We manage to pin him down and his command over the undead will be restricted!", Era spoke.
"The Territory still poses and issue!", Yuto objected.
"Leave that to the Third Stages! I'm sure they have an idea!"
"It's not like I have a better plan!"
Spinning his scythe Yuto descended onto the ground and exploded in dark energy. The dark energy created shadow-like hands to raise out of the ground. Lifting the undead the shadow-like hands presented them to Yuto, ready for his Skill! Swinging 360 degrees Yuto performed a powerful AOE slicing Skill!
[Death's Commandment: Offered Sacrifices]!
Quol mumbled underneath his breath and called upon mana. Drawing a line in the dirt he directed its flow before finishing the chant! A wall of flame sprouted behind the initial force against Vertigo. Any undead that tried to walk through were burnt and fell to the ground before managing to pass through the other side! Raising a hand Quol incinerated a portion of the undead with a flamethrower spell.
Pointing his staff towards the ground Quol summoned a series of ice spikes to create a rudimentary wall. Several undead were impaled and slowly began frozen from the spell. Reaching up and gripping the brim of his sorcerer's hat he steadied his nerves. At the rate he's been going through spells he only had minutes of MP left. Any form of MP regeneration potions could assist, but their quality was only enough to buy him about an extra minute. He couldn't hold off the undead alone!
"You lot still haven't taken care of these intruders? Here I was wondering what the noise was about. How shameful!", a voice rang out.
The crack of a whip could be heard as an undead walked forward to make her presence known. It was the general Carthino! Spotting Quol she smiled and cracked her whip, it swung through the air with a deadly efficiency and was so quick Quol couldn't estimate where it was heading! It was then a bone knife arced through the air and smacked into the tip of the whip, diverting it off-course.
Ninn recalled her knife and frowned, "This is a losing battle."
A crack of the whip once again sounded as Carthino whipped it towards Ninn. She stepped back and the air in front of her snapped as the whip barely missed. Lifting a dagger Ninn prepared to throw it, but paused. Behind Carthino a figure shimmered into existence. It was Hairn! His dagger shot forward and severed the tendons of Carthino. Flickering he performed several swift slashes and pierced her temple. In response to this she gripped his hand and threw him towards Quol.
Her whip cracked as she performed a series of attacks towards the floating Hairn. His eye focuses and he lifted his dagger, sparks flew as he deflected the attacks in the air. Rotating using the recoil Hairn landed on the ground and started to dodge the whips. Ninn watched this with a bit of interest, was Hairn's agility stat that high? How else was he able to predict where the whip was going to land?
Of course that wasn't the case. Hairn was relying on his bullet time! The whip was like a snake and would only strike at the last moment. He relied on the slowed perception of time to keep up with its speed. Using his dagger to deflect anything he couldn't dodge. A sorcerer walked up and pointed his staff at Hairn. An analog clock appeared at the tip of his staff and performed on whole rotation with its second hand. Hairn suddenly found his movements become significantly faster, and with his added slowed perception of time he was more than capable of keeping up with Carthino's attacks!
Iyh retracted his staff and looked towards Quol, "We're counting on you to handle the undead."
Gritting his teeth Quol nodded, "I'll try."
The two moved in separate directions. Quol drank an MP regeneration potion and faced the horde of undead. He would hold them back, sure.
Carthino snapped her whip, "A bunch of pests! Our King's Territory is simply far too powerful for you to handle. We undead are truly undying! Simply-"
An arrow zipped through the air and Carthino smacked it out of the air with her whip. Dashing forward Nime shot several more arrows. Iyh paused, unsure what exactly what was happening, but this issue didn't apply to the other two! Ninn seemed to understand at a glance and threw her knives in a spiral pattern. Hairn dashed through the projectiles to close the distance, his knife glowing faintly.
Iyh's eyes glowed at the synchronized teamwork. Determined Souls had a silent understanding of each other's abilities sure. However what was surprising was how flawlessly Ninn was implementing herself in the battle! Almost as if she was apart of Determined Souls herself!
Not willing to be left behind Iyh pointed his staff and the analog clock appeared. Spinning its second hand in the opposite direction. Carthino's whip slowed slightly, and several of the projectiles were now bypassing her incredible defense.
Placing his staff on the ground caused several gears to appear. A massive analog clock appeared and its hour hand ticked to twelve. A bell rang and a buff appeared to the leading force!
< The effect of [Chrono Control: 0th Hour] is taking effect! >
< [Chrono Control: 0th Hour] reduces your cooldowns by 25%! >
The massive analog clock remained, its minute hand moving at a steady but accelerated pace. Iyh remained in the center of the clock, not bothering to close the distance. With a laugh he spoke to no one, "If it wasn't for me trying to keep my class hidden, I doubt Kan'na would've been able to counter these types of Skills."
Iyh was a Chronomancer! This incredibly difficult to obtain, and extremely rare class was what allowed him to stop time during the Professional Competition. He didn't reveal his time manipulating abilities purely to keep his trump card hidden, the momentary stopping of time. He believed that by refusing to use his time-based Skills no one could predict the sudden time stop.
"Truly, Kan'na is incredible!", Iyh praised as he remembered his trump card being entirely thwarted.
Now he held no such thoughts! It would be best to use his abilities to their fullest potential! Iyh specialized in support, his time based abilities were lacking in direct damage capabilities. Yet with a coordinated attack like this, he could shine brilliantly!
Nime rolled through a whip from Carthino and placed her palm onto the ground. Carthino kicked Nime away and sneered, "Just because you caught me without my army does not make this battle in your favor!"
Placing her foot down caused Carthino to step in a trap. A series of vines exploded upwards and bound Carthino tight, as she struggled free the vines began to tear, but the sudden stop of attacks from her whip allowed the attacking force to get closer!
Ninn threw her daggers towards Carthino's eyes, attempting to blind her vision. As she prepared a second volley a piercing howl entered her ears. It rang across the entire battlefield, and forcefully dragged her attention. She wasn't the only one affected by this. Even the undead army found their attention being drawn towards the howl. A large scale taunt ability? What kind of power would be needed for that?
In the distance she could spot it. The Lich with a purple flaming head. Orreth's cry had taunted the entire battlefield!