Through the frenzy of such an event, Dara composes himself and continues to ensure that Zahtan has no line of sight.
Iza pounces, reaching for its prey who is now unable to move or defend itself, seizing the opportunity granted by his master.
Victory seems to be theirs.
. . .
"What?!" exclaims Dara in confusion.
All the blocks he is controlling and is using as cover . . . all of them turn into a transparent liquid-like substance.
"No!" he shouts, trying to rush and bring other blocks to cover Zahtan's sight again.
Zahtan smiles, "Too late,"
. . .
Iza halts his attack and lands on the ground slowly.
Dara looks at him, worry lining his face, "Iza!"
"Take care of the brat attacking us, Tak," commands Zahtan.
Iza immediately turns around, locking in on Dara with a ferocious gaze.
Crap!
Dara flies upwards as fast as he can with Iza giving chase, nothing but pure instinct controlling him.
But the collapsing castle makes it difficult to catch the flying Dara, and he makes great distance.
. . .
Zahtan tsks.
Dumb cat! He got away. It should have frozen him or launched attacks from afar! Is it because I gave too ambiguous of a command? Ugh, shitty controls much?
He sighs, rolling his eyes, "Iza, come back and stand still in front of me, then form an ice sphere that includes Sheehan and Aayn in it, and then launch non-stop ice spikes from the sphere outwards in all directions, Tak,"
Even though Iza doesn't hear the words, he follows the command given.
Dara looks behind, seeing large ice spikes heading towards him, and he begins to dodge them with great difficulty.
Zahtan grits his teeth.
Damn it! I can't get close!
"We have no time to waste! Iza, unfreeze everyone inside the dome and sit on standby, Tak," he commands, "Selena, put all your resources into healing them faster now and prioritize bringing Sheehan back to consciousness, and have the teleporter ready for him to use,"
"Yes sir," responds Selena, getting to work.
Zahtan looks at the outer dome, "Finally . . ."
. . .
Dara continues to dodge but it gets easier to assess the situation the farther away he gets from them.
He watches as the ice spikes continue to demolish everything in an endless barrage as he lands on one side of the split Castle.
The Castle continues to break apart without rotating.
The Castle is not coming back together! Did Mercy stop trying to keep this place together?
He then looks back at the ice sphere . . .
. . .
Dara reaches out his arm, trying to crush the sphere with his psychic powers. He uses every ounce of concentration he has but is barely able to cause any cracks on the sphere, and whatever holes he can make, the ice regenerates them faster than he can keep up with.
. . . it's too big to crush it all at once, and Iza can fix it faster than I can damage it . . .
He clenches his jaw.
. . . I could damage this one at least . . . why couldn't I even do that much to the shield that was around Zahtan? Or even control the area inside . . . not even the ground? I had clear sight, it was transparent!
. . .
SWOOSH!
Something suddenly slams hard through the ice sphere and crashes right into the ground.
"Ooh, nice one! You um . . . I should give you a name. Anyways, take that, bitches! This is for hacking into my systems!" smirks Orbit, offering a high five to the knight, who looks at him and then ignores him.
Sheehan glances next to him and sees number 13 lying there, set ablaze in blue flames.
He sighs.
A pest at all times, huh Daki? We needed that for the next stage.
He turns around and looks up through the large open crack in the sphere, locking eyes with the knight.
. . . I thought we could teleport him with us whenever we were ready, but now he is useless to me. And I don't think even Iza can put out these flames unless he unleashes absolute zero . . . but then we are all screwed . . .
He sighs again.
This Servant of Wrath is dead.
The body of number 13 begins to take its true form, which resembles the servant Neo ran into on the island, and wither away in blue flames.
Sheehan scoffs, turning to look at Orbit.
Seems like that bastard found out how to communicate with that thing. I bet he is the one who sent him here . . . and the entire Castle is split in half . . . perfectly convenient for him to find us.
He rubs his head, "What the fuck is going on? This is such bullshit; it feels like the wipe all over again . . ."
Blowing out a breath, he looks at Zahtan, "Buy me some time to think of something,"
"Iza, protect us at all costs from the enemy, fight as if you fought us when you first came. Use all your strategical experiences, Tak," commands Zahtan.
The knight charges towards Sheehan and the rest.
Iza lets out a mighty roar and fires ice attacks at him, who weaves and uses his blue flames to counter.
. . .
Sheehan looks around in contemplation . . . his eyebrows shooting up as his eyes land on Aayn's split body.
"Damn, clean cut!"
His eye catches many things beyond Aayn's body . . . and he smiles, "Selena, listen to me . . . tell Zahtan that—"
. . .
He is holding his own so far!
Dara stares in wonder at the mysterious knight.
"Hey, can you help him out?" asks Orbit, popping up next to Dara.
Dara looks at him and thinks about questioning him but then wonders if it's the right time to do so.
"Perhaps . . ."
BANG!
Crap! How could I let myself get distracted?
Turning his head back, his body moves yet his instincts realize it's too late to dodge so he starts raising his arms. With one, he hopes to stop the bullet, and with the other, he places a shield in front of him.
. . .
But it breaks through the shield!
I can't stop it . . . it's the same as that bubble . . . I can't– I can't stop the bullet! . . . it's going to hit—
CLASH!
The knight's spear hits the bullet from the side at incredible speed, destroying it as it flies across from his insane throw.
The knight then recalls his spear and grabs it. He is then sucked into a blue flame on his other arm, along with his spear.
Emerging from the flames on the corpse still lit ablaze, he immediately launches himself towards Sheehan.
"Teleporter ready," informs Selena.
SWOSH!