"Careful! That spear can cause you to die instantly with a single touch!" Draxus shouted as Iapetus began charging towards the three of them. Iapetus took advantage of the lack of information by Remuel and Arlesk and went straight to one of them immediately. With his spear that was imbued with the control of life and death, he was about to decide the survival of the three members.
Remuel skillfully dodged the thrusts that were made by Iapetus. As someone that is capable of dodging the insane speed of his attacks, Remuel looked for an opportunity to strike back. Iapetus didn't give him that leeway as he continued thrusting his spear while occasionally making movements to prepare as some of the attacks will be made unavoidable. After making three more thrusts to which Remuel had to dodge by lowering his body in matrix style, Iapetus spun the spear around while making a downward strike. Remuel knew that he couldn't dodge that but Draxus took the opportunity and parried it with both of his swords. Iapetus showed a face of irritation as he increased his strength combined with the gravity after Draxus moved his spear away from Remuel. He then launched a kick which easily landed on Draxus' side. "Ghh!!" With unavoidable damage to his side, Draxus was required to make a quick retreat to reset his breathing. That opportunity was given by Arlesk who shot a bullet towards Iapetus' left shoulder. With a bad dodge, he received a minor injury as his shoulder was scratched a little bit. "Tch." That injury given to him was instantly healed without an issue. With his attention on Arlesk, Draxus used the momentum of pushing the spear away to the left and moved to a different location, preparing for another attack. Remuel on the other hand transitioned to a back roll and twirled to his right to launch a powerful attack with his scythe from the blind spot. Iapetus tried to dash towards Arlesk and overwhelm him with a flurry of attacks, but with Remuel's scythe coming in to reap him, he used the momentum of the dash to slide down on his knees while bending his body backwards, effectively dodging Remuel's lethal attack. Since it failed, Remuel had to dash backwards to distance himself quickly from Iapetus. Draxus gave chase while Arlesk ran closer to block Iapetus' advance. Multiple thrusts were done as Iapetus finally got an opportunity to do so. The idea of blocking an attack immediately became non-existent for Arlesk as he was immediately making desperate measures to avoid the attacks without even touching the spear. He made big movements to avoid the risk of dodging hairsbreadth. He understood that one touch can cause instant death. However, while dodging, he continued to fire bullets straight towards Iapetus which hindered his advancement, allowing Draxus to catch up eventually. In that timing, Iapetus spun around to keep Draxus away before launching another downward strike against Arlesk. This time, Arlesk defended the attack clearly and are now facing off against Iapetus in terms of raw strength. He was obviously losing due to the assistance of gravity on Iapetus' side. However, there was a trick up on his sleeve by ducking down, which allowed Draxus to slash sideways towards him from his right. Iapetus dodged that attack and swiped the spear to attack Draxus instead. He missed the attack as Draxus didn't cut his momentum short after making a quick swipe against him. He then decided to let go of the weapon in his left hand to take out multiple eight inch nails which were hidden under his jacket. He made a 180 turn to the right and threw the nails straight towards Iapetus. Arlesk took that time to distance him and fire multiple bullets straight towards Iapetus. "Tch, annoying runts!" Iapetus spun his spear in defense against the projectiles sent by Draxus and Arlesk, but that was only a bait as Remuel was about to strike him from behind. With his quick wits, he cancelled the spin to try and strike Remuel from the side where his scythe isn't able to reach for defense. Remuel committed to his attack in trust to his two companions, to which was met as Arlesk caught the spear with a long distance chain to pull it away from him. Iapetus turned around and prepared to dodge Remuel's attack while lowering the spear and stabbed it into the ground. After narrowly avoiding the scythe, and losing some hair, Iapetus pushed his arms and spear downwards to kick Remuel right in the chest, causing him to be knocked away.
Just as he landed, another attack came from one side, which was Draxus throwing multiple waves of nails. Iapetus deflected the nails by spinning his spear as a shield to Draxus' direction. Another attack came from a different side, Arlesk coming in close to strike him with his sword and firing a bullet at point blank range. He understood that the three will not provide a single bit of breathing room against him, so it was necessary for Iapetus to use his full power. He shouted in impatience to cause a powerful force and knock everything back. The three resisted the sudden shockwave but the surrounding people who were starting to divide in sides were knocked down. "Gray Border!"
In the meantime, Serkyrio had seemingly noticed that most members of the group were moving towards the Council which irritated him. But he managed to retain the wills of many members to join his side instead and allow them maximum freedom. Some of them only joined because they saw familiar faces among the group that joined the mission. The Sentinels and the pair of girls supporting them were proof enough that their group were doing their best together, thus walking to their side.
Draxus, Arlesk, and Remuel regrouped and tried to plan out on the spot regarding what to do against Iapetus who had entered the state of full power. "What now? You fought him once right Drax?" Draxus prepared more nails to throw against Iapetus but was immediately stopped as his form has completed itself. Instead of the regular tall and handsome guy, his skin had been divided into the duality of white and black, life and death. Iapetus has completely entered the state of gray zone where he's between life and death. He raised his black arm as Remuel and Arlesk moved away from their position to surround him. Seeing as it was pointed towards Draxus, he quickly threw the nails towards Iapetus while making a desperate dodge. But after he threw the nails, he was suddenly lifted up with a force as if he was being choked in the neck mid-air. He struggled to move but couldn't move away from the choke. He still managed to take out more nails to launch a counterattack, effectively hitting Iapetus which only healed all injuries instantly. Arlesk tried to come in to attack from the side but the white arm was extended towards him, pointing upwards. Many roots suddenly came out from the ground and monsters aiming to attack Arlesk. He was locked down in a trap of lifeforms that will constantly attack him. But seeing as he only has two arms, Remuel shot a slug bullet which created a hole right in the stomach of Iapetus. However, that attack also pretty much healed instantly. Having taken his attention, Iapetus used the lifted up Draxus and launched him towards Remuel. The two got knocked away together from the effective range of Iapetus' [Gray Border], but just as he was about to continue attacking, Mnemosyne came towards his position bringing successful news. "We got what we came here for, we should retreat now." Iapetus nodded and deactivated his magic completely. The attacks on Arlesk had ended and disappeared completely before he was messed up completely with the endless dodging he needed to do without magic. "Guh..." He crouched down and groaned in pain as Iapetus begin flying away from their position. Draxus and Remuel got up and used their guns to fire bullets towards the enemy. "The three of you were lucky, but next time, it won't go as nicely as you expect." Iapetus had a smug face before he attempted to leave, but suddenly, his left arm, left leg and part of his left side instantly disappeared as a powerful force came through. "There's my parting gift to you runt." Serkyrio had a serious expression after exiting the ending stance of a powerful attack. Iapetus was surprised at how Serkyrio managed to use mana but he bare no focus to it to heal his body and leave the area with the [People of Earth]. "Tch." Serkyrio clicked his tongue and hoped that the mission wasn't a complete failure.