Travis resisted the urge to click his tongue. Why was it always Six Lights?! When it came to anything major they were always around. For some reason he always had to get caught into their troubles! The Artifact Akiol took, the Crimson Immortal encounter, the fight against Akiol, the Chimeras and heresy, then that small brawl with Wrock! Now he finally was entangled in the crux of their troubles, and had to go against the Undead King! This Fourth Stage Boss that wasn't even challenged in his previous timeline!
Unleashing his War Sight with all its might he condensed it against the Undead King. This direct form of targeting still worked to reduce the suffocation effects, and the very miniscule debuff might just be what they need to survive.
A shadowy monarch rose above Travis and pointed at the Undead King. To this the Undead King scoffed. Offended at the mere thought of someone challenging his authority. Rusted weapons began to arise through the crumbling castle and circled around the Undead King.
Akiol zipped in front of Travis and aura swirled. As the weapons began to shoot forward they coasted against the aura, being redirected away. Travis grit his teeth, "Your protection is unnecessary."
"Don't regret those words!", Akiol didn't argue and shot forward.
Pang~!
Travis deflected a rusty dagger, his eyes watching each approaching weapon. Similarly to how the poltergeist could lift objects, the Undead King seemed to use a similar method. Unlike the poltergeist simply hitting the object wasn't enough to lessen the Undead King's grip on the weapons. In this case Travis was spamming the use of {Truth Twofold: Neutral}.
Applying the truth to the weapons made them neutral. Making the Undead King's absolute grip no longer work. It was only temporary however, as Travis reapplied this effect onto another weapon it would remove neutral to the previously applied weapon. Thus making it only affect one weapon at a time.
This effect of neutral was incredible, and despite it being one of his least used Truths it was likely his most versatile.
An array of swords shot towards Travis. Stepping forward Travis ran towards the blades, his two blades glimmering. With an extreme amount of concentration he was able to deflect a number of the most dangerous blades, his eyes constantly flickered about to reapply neutral to the next weapon he was to defend against.
Swinging downwards he knocked the final sword to the ground and leapt forward. Abe turned to mist as he extended a palm. [Everdeep Blast] formed and shot forward, threatening to consume the King entirely. Lifting his scepter the Undead King tapped the approaching beam and it fell apart, mana and abyss energy scattering.
Travis could only hid his shock because of his mask. This wasn't a typical way of canceling someone's Skill. There was specific reason to this!
Akiol flickered underneath the extended arm and his Aura spiked! Swinging upwards he aimed at the joints of the extended arm, and space began to rip from his swing!
{Way of the Galaxy: Roche Limit}!
The space was cut and began to pull in opposite directions. It snapped back into place and the shockwave caused the Undead King to stumble. He looked towards Akiol, "A technique sharp enough to cut space? I suppose I should expect this much from a long lived species such as yourself."
Thrusting his scepter towards Akiol's direction he caused the sand to swirl and swallow Akiol entirely. Travis gripped his blades tighter and utilized [Truth Twofold: Revealing]. A spot appeared on the Undead King's arm, ironically the same area Akiol had swung at. Swinging his blades he intersected at this point!
Several rusted weapon spun into the air and surrounded him extending his free hand out the Undead King closed a palm, and the weapons closed in on Travis! Being impaled by several of them he felt his body go limp.
Having suppressed his two attackers the Undead King took a moment to inspect his arm. On the joint lay three cuts in total. One was deeper, undoubtedly Akiol's technique had actually harmed him. The other two were comparable to scratches but still split his dried out skin. The fact that two Third Stages could come close to harming him was a laughable thought. Yet what was this?
Several slices appeared through the swirl of sand. Rings began to spin about as the sand was starting to be controlled by Akiol's aura. It began to flow in the same pattern and speed as the rings around Akiol, like rings around a planet!
{Way of the Galaxy: Planetary Rings}!
Travis regained control over his arm and reached out. Gripping one of the weapons he crushed it into pieces of rusted metal and it fell to the ground. A glowing white energy appeared at the wound and closed up. This was Holy energy! Having gained control over it after the deal he made with the Almighty One it now proved its use! Unlike Abyss energy, which specialized in debuffs and weakening the opponent, Holy energy was used to heal one's wounds. Along with Lumen's Berserk Skill this healing factor was only increased further!
Since he was part Abyss there was a limit to the amount of Holy he could use, yet regardless it drastically improved his survivability. Moreover the attack he received verified his suspicion! The reason behind the Undead King's rusted weapons, and the reason why the castle was turning to sand!
"It's Truth! You wield a Truth!", Travis called out while shattering the remaining weapons.
The Undead King looked towards Travis, intrigued by this sudden statement. Yet he wasn't going to listen, pointing his scepter towards Travis the castle turned to sand and caused him to sink. Compared to Akiol's perfect mana control, Travis was still lacking. Thus he couldn't make a foothold as the Undead King was using his own mana control to overwrite Travis' footholds.
Akiol leapt above and outstretched a hand, his planetary rings bursting apart as he traveled. Travis caused Abe to turn to mist and caught the hand as Akiol pulled him free. Now that the two were within an ear's distance Travis shared his findings, "He wields a Truth! The absolute Truth of Rot!"
He confirmed this with his own Truth: Revealing! Studying the weapons that impaled him he found a strange descriptor of them all. Their durability was rapidly declining due to the effect of "Rot". This sort of effect was very similar to his own Truths, and thus it rapidly became clear just what the King was capable of.
Yet Akiol narrowed his eyes and asked, "Truth?"
Travis wanted to take the arm and throw Akiol across the room. Seriously just who was this guy?! If he truly was a Regressor from a time further than his own, the concept of Truth wouldn't be unknown! He was constantly present for a lot of the most serious events, is far more skilled than anyone he's seen, and yet remains completely oblivious to certain aspects!
"It's a rule! Something that remains outside Stages. It's a Truth!"
Akiol created a foothold for them both and rose his sword. Several rusted weapons shot towards them and sand swirled beneath their feet threatening to swallow them whole. Travis began to deflect as many as he could, and Akiol did similarly. Slowly Travis stopped placing Neutral on the weapons, for they shattered.
As Akiol carved apart another one of the weapons he frowned. Just earlier they held a significant amount of durability, why had that changed? Was this the "Truth" Dot spoke of?
The final weapon shattered and the two turned their attention towards the Undead King. His expression remained unwavering as he raised his palm. Through the swirling sands several more weapons began to rise. Their metal luster began to dull as rust started to crawl up the weapons.
A king would naturally have access to his kingdom's arsenal! Who knew how many weapons were stored within the castle walls. Travis eyed the weapons to further understand what [Truth: Rot] did exactly.
From an obvious standpoint it clearly caused whatever it was targeting to degrade rapidly. Yet seemed to exclusively affect non-living things. Else the King could've targeted either of them and caused them to rot. He didn't get to study it for long as the Undead King continued to shoot the weapons towards the group.
Akiol on the other hand was less concerned about the Truth. He was more bothered by the strategy the King was using to fight them. With such strength why did the King insist upon using several weapons to pester them? Clearly the two had their own methods to fend off these attacks, it wasn't befitting of the overall might a Fourth Stage should wield.
Once again Akiol found himself perplexed at the methods the Undead King was using. There's something that he wasn't picking up on, something he was entirely missing out of the equation. He desperately needed to figure out what it was.
Else it might be too late!