Orreth's cry rang across the battlefield. The two Dragons and Opportunity changed their course momentarily to head towards him. The elite squads stopped their battles to look at Harreth. The Guilds turned in unison and stared at the being who roared with such fury.
Tilia stared at Orreth with an incredulous gaze. Placing a palm near her ear she asked, "Kan'na?"
"Working on it!", Kan'na answered with an annoyed tone.
For a moment while the Taunt ability was active, the battlefield stopped for a moment! Except for one portion of the army, Torch's mechanical forces! Due to them working as specifically tasked they don't gauge who's the biggest threat. Instead they follow orders as assigned to by Torch. As the reinforcements of the undead army were distracted the mechanical army was able to regain its footing!
It was an unexpected lucky break, however it broke the concentration and momentum of the attacking force. This interruption would require their forces a few more moments to regather themselves. For this Kan'na was incredibly annoyed, for she didn't stop it as she should've!
Raising two fingers Kan'na made a condensed small Magic Concatenation. Flinging it forward she watched it spiraled and stuck to the mouth of Orreth. Two lines of runes extended outwards and tied the circle around Orreth's head. Reaching towards the magic circle Orreth attempted to pull it free, but found that the Magic Concatenation would not budge. Kan'na pointed at Orreth, "You're gonna get me scolded later. For that I'm putting a muzzle on you."
Yet the cry from Orreth was not one of just fury. It was also a call to those of considerable strength. Sorian's blood continued to twitch violently as he slowly removed Givale's magic. Yaulo, who was being put back together at the undead castle, shivered at the call. Though the only one who could act was the land guardian, the Death Eater!
Swimming through the ground it found its target. It had long since learned to not target the Guilds. Excluding the fact that they could react to its presence, they're being defended by a powerful Third Stage. Instead it moved towards what was holding the backup at bay, the mechanical army!
Raising through the ground it consumed a number of Torch's mechanical army, making a hole in their defense line. Torch, who was still battling the undead player, raised his interface and pressed a button. Inside the Death Eater the mechanical soldiers exploded, creating an inferno blast inside the Death Eater.
It had become a habit to place self destruction modules in his robots. For various reasons at that. Originally he did it to not have any third party be able to take apart the robot and reverse engineer it. Secondly, to assure that they still could deal damage even if defeated in combat. Additionally he accidently purchased more of the component he used in the bombs so it at that point it was a waste to not install them.
The Death Eater flinched and failed to completely bury itself back into the ground. As it fell the Artillery adjusted its cannons and fired a volley. Exploding shells landed on the Death Eater's side as it squirmed about.
A voice entered his ear, "Excellent job Torch, save your rounds I'll handle the rest of it."
Akiol descended from the air, a streak of silver following his path. The Death Eater was the only thing capable of escaping his sight. Once it escaped during his fight with Yaulo he had been searching for it to rid of its existence. More importantly however was finding out how it escaped his {Star Guidance}.
Crashing into the ground Akiol stomped the earth beneath his feet. Aura flickered across the earth and rose it up. Launching the Death Eater skywards as if Akiol had hit the other side of a seesaw. As it squirmed helplessly in the air Akiol studied it closely.
It was here that he gained an insight to what the Death Eater was! It was an amalgamation of the corpses it ate. Both not living nor dead. It was truly an eater of death! Due to this Akiol's {Star Guidance} associated it as more of a piece of moving land rather than an individual. Now having realized a flaw in his technique he would correct it during a moment of peace. For now, since the Death Eater wasn't undead it wouldn't be affected by the Territory! That means it could be defeated!
Akiol leapt upwards and brandished Stars. With a powerful swing Akiol carved it into two halves. With his rapidly dwindling Aura he didn't dare perform any specific techniques to fight the Death Eater. Not that those techniques were needed! He would make up for the loss of damage with Stars' powerful Skills!
[Spacial Collapsion]!
Space warped and clapped violently, bursting apart the Death Eater into several more parts. The once Berserk-locked Skill [Spacial Collapsion] became a normal activated Skill! Much like how Stars immunity of magic became passive once Akiol ascended to Third Stage, other more powerful abilities would lose their strict requirements!
This truly was an Upper Four sword!
After sheathing stars Akiol raised a hand and used mana to gather the parts of the Death Eater. Placing them upon his hand he lifted them above his head. Leaping across the undead reinforcements he headed towards the undead castle!
Leaping bounds across the battlefield it didn't take long for him to approach the castle walls. Clearing the height with a single leap he landed in front of the main entrance. Tossing aside the Death Eater he let it landed with a heavy thud, "I brought an offering."
A deadly feeling crawled across his body as the castle doors swung open violently. A furious feeling could be felt, but it was clear he was invited inside. Akiol narrowed his eyes, this very well was serving to prove what Yaulo said. The undead king wasn't moving, but still he was cautious. A Fourth Stage was not something he was properly prepared to face. At any point he could easily be wiped from the battlefield. His sole goal currently was to have the Territory to be taken down.
Although if his death could have the Territory taken down for even a moment, it could provide an opening for the others to defeat their targets. Once that happened they could retreat!
Stepping indoors he felt the doors slam shut. No obvious route of escape, although it didn't seem like the doors were protected by any form of magic. In desperate times he could probably cut them apart. Walking down the dilapidated halls he inspected the quality of the castle. It felt like it would take one volley of Torch's artillery to tear it apart. Even the walls under Perina's control was stronger, and she was Third Stage!
In the hall a pair of doors creaked open, the feeling clinging to Akiol's body now fully encompassed him. It was suffocating and if it wasn't for Akiol's slime body he was sure he would find it difficult to breathe. Regardless he entered the room and was greeted with a hall. Worn drapes and carpets, tarnished gold decorations. More importantly the undead king on a worn throne. Almost the only luxurious thing in the whole hall. His furs and jewelry wore a surprising shine, looking grander than his rusted crown.
A voice boomed, "You dare approach me directly?"
"It's a form of diplomacy."
< Star Driven Sword doesn't back down! >
"Diplomacy! Ha! You attack my kingdom and dare to perform diplomacy with me?", the King's voice demanded to know.
"I implore you don't act like a victim."
Akiol did not let the overwhelming force of a Fourth Stage best him. This was a delicate process, and if he screwed it up he could only regret his own actions!
"Oh? Why shouldn't I?"
"The attack against Goldlight. Your Lich started such an attack, it only left room for revenge to take place. To regain what is owed."
"Goldlight? That small place that stole his finger?"
"I stole his finger. I simply turned it in there."
"So it was you who caused Goldlight to be target."
"And it's me who claims its vengeance."
A hollow laugh rang across the hall, "And what gives you the confidence? You may be of royalty, but that does not give you room to not bow to a King!!"
The pressure of a Fourth Stage pushed him down, trying to make him kneel. Akiol crossed his arms and empowered himself with Aura, a lesser version of the Form of Fortification. His knees did not bend and Akiol said, "There's only one King who I bend a knee to."
"The Slime King. Your species should've been wiped from the face of this World!"
"Yours shouldn't exist. Product of the Witches!"
The king's hollow laughter rang across the hall, "Good! It is good to know the one who dared gather such a force to face me has some spine! Even if your body lacks a skeleton."
Akiol's eyes narrowed, the undead king was still refusing to move! The entire time the undead king remained seated on his throne, simply using his presence as a weapon! Akiol thought about directly attacking to force him to act, but he felt that such a move could easily be blocked. Even his attempts to rile up the king were proving to be laughed away.
There had to be something to get the king to move!