The Earthly Brute looked around, eyeing each one of the students and Mares. The silver-eyed surprised the beast by still managing to stand after being hit, but it was just a brief surprise. He still didn't see Mares as a threat.
The six slowly moved their way to get near Mares. They thought the beast would do something, but it stayed still all the time.
"Any plans?"
Clest asked with some semblance of hope.
While the others didn't reply, and Mares knew that most plans would fail against the sheer gap of power between the two sides, Luo and Venissino looked at each other and nodded.
When they are about to move against the Earthly Brute, the beast turned his head to the other side and pointed there. It was at the very top of the mountain, but from their position, it was possible to see it was an open space, better suited to battle instead of this clearing that had holes and the still unconscious students.
After pointing there, the beast simply moved, and in the blink of an eye, he was already at the top, looking at them.
"Is this thing inviting us?"
Calon questioned, looking at his friends to make sure he wasn't hallucinating.
"We knew it would be smart, but this is…"
Lhian lacked words. This small demonstration was just a simple show of basic intellect, but it was a far cry compared to the Void Beasts they had faced all this time.
"Well, he is almost as smart as Luo now."
Clest said, trying to bring some levity to their situation. It did work, making everyone but Luo laugh.
"Fuck you."
The wolf regrated his words as soon as he saw the triclops smile.
"I do that already."
They all collectively ignored her words.
"If you guys want, you can stay here."
Suddenly, Mares said, making everyone look at him surprised.
"I am not confident in protecting any of you."
He admitted, shaking his head.
"We won't get in your way."
Lhian went right to Mares' side and said, looking deep into his eyes. They had already declared their determination, and now, even knowing the odds, they still wanted to keep moving forward. It was either foolish or admirable.
Mares sighed, disappointed with himself. Part of him knew this was a horrible idea, but a bigger part of him couldn't say no after looking into Lhian's eyes.
'Hihihi, you are weak to pretty girls.'
Esen said with a giggle.
'You are one to say so, little bunny. Though shouldn't you show envy or something?'
He asked with a raised eyebrow, hidden by his mask.
'Huh, please I am above this.'
The white-haired said with a smug in her face.
"Let's go."
With Mares at the front, they all walked in the Earthly Brute direction at the very top of the mountain.
None of them noticed that one of the supposedly unconscious students opened his eyes and looked around. He saw the group and saw the rank five variant Earthly Brute and all he did was sigh and grab something on his waist. It resembled a flask, from which he drinks. All the while passing unnoticed by everyone else.
Calon went for a further distance from the fight, where he got his weapons out and was ready to aim and shoot. Lhian did similar but was near where they would battle. Weirdly enough, Venisssino that should have taken a similar approach was near Luo and seemed to be preparing something.
Clest wasn't sure what she could do, her skills wouldn't add a lot for that fight so she just went near Calon, got one of his weapons, and also took aim. Winna had her wings out, her Astral Gate hanging high behind her, absorbing as much Astral Energy as it could. Thankfully their location helped with that.
And Luo was behind Mares, with Venissino on his side. He had his hands in his pocket and a neutral expression, his thoughts unreadable.
'Mars, I will help you.'
Esen's expression and tone left no space for arguing.
'No complaints this time little bunny.'
Mares knew his limits. If he wanted to have any chances of winning, he would need Esen's help. Well, there was another option, but he rather not…
Esen nodded and said nothing, all her being focused on her task.
Since Esen existed in his mental space and they had the uttermost confidence in each other, she could act as his mind, or in this case second mind, influencing and controlling his body. She rarely did because, first she didn't want to have control over Mares, and also so that he could grow on his own, not highly dependent on her. This was not a luxury they could enjoy now though.
Crystals started forming and covering his body as armor. His hands looked like claws but he could still hold his weapons just fine. Even the lower part of his face was covered by the crystals, that formed above his mask. His crystal was of a strong dark silver but with shining white points all over it, almost like space with its countless stars.
Lhian especially looked amazed at the sight, never having seen her technique being used in such a way before. Unnecessary to say, her admiration for the silver-eyed had slightly grown.
Without prompt, the Earthly Brute disappeared.
Everyone tensed, but Mares simply moved his head to the right, or better saying, Esen warned him to do so. The beast's left hand appeared where Mares' head was a moment before, and the creature showed a genuine expression of surprise.
Following that Mares attacked by making his multi-weapon into its spear form, holding it in the Earthly Brute's direction, in an attempt to stab it. And while he holds his spear with his right hand, he shoots a concentrated blast of Astral Energy.
Both hit, but at that moment the beast called for his void armor, covering his whole body. The attacks hit the armor and, while they scratched, that was all.
Two shots also hit the beast, both from Calon and Clest, though it didn't seem to do any damage.
"Lovely."
Clest said with irony. Calon seemed unfazed, however.
Mares rapidly put his spear in front of him and used his physical rejection technique to avoid the Earthly Brute following attack. The beast having four arms made none of that easier as it simply meant for chances to hit the silver-eyed.
Two went straight to try to pierce his torso, the one near his head simply went in that direction to try to separate the said head from the neck, and the fourth one simply attempted to hold him in place. However, the beast didn't expect Mares to simply jump and cover meters in a simple leap.
Two more shots hit him in the face, but they were again ignored as the beast jumped on the ground and entered it like it was water.
Mares had his spear pointed to the ground, ready to attack at any moment when Lhian made her move.
Small crystals the size of a fist floated around the surroundings. There were probably a few more than a dozen, and all of them shined brightly, illuminating through the night.
Everyone looked confused at her actions until the Earthly Brute jumped out of the ground and attacked one of her crystals, prompting Mares to attack. In the underground, the beast could only see energy, and Lhian had that suspicion already, so she experimented and succeeded.
Mares hold nothing back and threw his spear at the beast, with air rings surrounding the tip and moving faster than ever. At the tip of the head, there was also a very thin but resistant crystal made by Esen. Added to all that Mares' physical strength was at its peak and he used the repulsion technique as well when throwing.
The spear rotated at high speed, hitting the Void Beast and succeeding in breaking part of his armor, by piercing him, even if only a little.
The beast looked at the spear with confusion, surprised that he was injured even if it was only slightly. He moved his arms to get the spear out, when two more shots hit in the face, one of them even managing to hit his eyes.
That finally annoyed him enough to make the beast aim his attention at the duo of shooters, Calon and Clest. And having that monster's attention directed at them made the two freezes, every nerve in their bodies felt too much fear to even attempt to try something. For a moment, they felt like their deaths were breaths away from happening.
At least, that is, until Mares stopped in front of the Earthly Brute. In an instant he got his spear and turned it back into a glove, covering his hand and making the beast confused, catching back his attention. That's when the silver-eyed followed with a blast of Astral Energy at the beast's face. And it wasn't any random blast, it that was just like the original beast he had copied, from his abdomens to his throat and being shoot from the mouth. It was more concentrated and in a higher power than the ones he did with just his hands and fingers.
The blast hit the Void Beast directly in his head, and in the region around the eye that had been shot, thick cracks started to form, almost not visible to the naked eye.
The students had a moment to celebrate Mares giving a hit with full force until he was launched in the air by dozens of meters. His armor was full of cracks on the torso and there was a huge hole on his left shoulder. Now that the lower part of his mask had been destroyed by his own attack, it was possible the blood flowing from his mouth.
The Earthly Brute had its four arms sticking it, this time neither Mares nor Esen managed to avoid it. He cracked his neck, moving it around, before looking at each one of the students.
"Ven…"
When his eyes got on Luo and Venissino, the wolf called for his friend with a low but anxious tone.
"Just a bit more…"
He was not happy with that, but there was nothing Venissino could do, he still needed those brief instants left.
It was a long and tense second as the best kept looking around, from student to student. And then he disappeared from their sight.
And when it reappeared, it was in front of Calon and Clest, their constant shoots having succeeded in annoying him. The two only had time to close their eyes and wait for the pain, pain that never came.
They slowly opened their eyes while stepping back, and got shocked at the scene in front of them.
Of the four arms, Mares hold two as the other two pierced through Mares' stomach and torso.
"If I can use my powers and body for something, it will be to guarantee that."
His words rang in their ears once more. Tears dropped from Clest's eyes. She was sad that Mares had to uphold his promise like this, that she caused him to be so injured, and that she was too weak to do anything about it.
Calon didn't get to cry, but he was disappointed with himself, however at the same time, his admiration for Mares would sky rock after this. From this night onwards, there would be only one person that he would ever call boss.
And after witnessing that scene, that was a feeling shared by all students. Lhin specifically wasn't much better than Clest, but she got hold of her tears and fueled this sadness and rage towards the enemy.
Contrary to them, Mares didn't bat an eye at his injuries. His eyes were still just as bright and determinate as before. There was just a wild smile on his face that made even the Earthly Brute feel fear.
He made an attempt to jump back, but Mares was holding with all his strength, once more exceeding the limit of his muscles, but he couldn't care less about that at the moment. The crystals covering his fingers were also mode sturdier and sharper, scratching the Void Armor and allowing the silver-eyed to keep hold of the beast for just a few more seconds.
And the arms that pierced also couldn't move, the Earthly Brute truly wish he could just move his arms and split Mares in two, but surprisingly enough he couldn't even pierce through the whole body, much less move to make the injury larger.
The silver-eyed opened his mouth as large as he could and another beam of energy was shoot, but the Earthly Brute threw his head to the side to dodge, when the beam did the same, hitting the eye that was already damaged.
And this shoot had some added elements to it. It had various air rings in a row, making the shot spin like a tornado, with a sharp crystal at its end and having been driven further by the rejecting technique.
When it hit the Earthly Brute, it pierced through the armor and the eye and went straight through, making a hole in the monster's head.
ROAR
Screaming in agony and pain the beast freed himself from Mares, taking a huge jump back and almost destroying the silver-eyed fingers in the process.
It retreated further away, keeping distance from everyone, making unrecognizable noises as it hold his face, where the blood flowed from the hole that was left.
It was successful, but Mares fell to his knees in exhaustion. His injuries were healing, but slower than normal, he basically had run out of breath.
'Not now… not yet.'
But he couldn't allow himself to take a break just yet.
"Ok, that's good enough!"
Out of nowhere, Venissino screamed.
Everyone looked at him confused, just in time to see him piercing his long nails into Luo's back.