Even after several minutes of nonstop fighting, the number of Apostles never decreased. Rather it grew at an incredible rate. Though the Apostles didn't possess spatial magic, the speed of their flight paired with the fact that apostles were posted in every civilization under their lord's orders meant that their response time wasn't half bad.
Trinkets and potions that replenished their mana and all were good, but not infinite. And considering the best way of dealing with crowds were large scale aoe attacks that cost a lot to cast, the group melted through their reserves at a fast rate.
Tio had debated rushing over to Ivan's side the moment she caught a glimpse of the hole on the back of the manor, but thankfully she received a transmission from Yue to leave the protection of Ivan to her.
So currently she had her attention completely put into dealing with the army in front of them. If Ivan were awake he could probably teleport them far away, but that wouldn't buy much time not to mention long scale teleportation would drain him if used in succession.
Their ship was in a total wreck, and other than a cargo ship that moved at a significantly lower speed fleeing using those means would be pointless.
'I suppose I can carry the others on my back, but someone is going to have to hang on to master…'
Continuing the battle in hopes of ridding all the apostles seemed to be a fruitless endeavor. A battle of attrition against beings possessing infinite mana was a fool's errand.
The Apostles circled in on the group, Tio's large scale was starting to make her akin to a sturdy punching bag, really durable but so large it was almost impossible not to miss. Added to how she used her body to protect the others, she had no other choice but to fire breath attacks from a seated position.
"Any ideas, temp-leader?" Unlike the others, Ari and Claire were without a special contusion that gave them incredible defense or regenerative bodies, essentially they were the only normal people on the battlefield.
Not exactly something to be proud about in a scenario in which it made them the weakest.
Sticking in a circle was only going to work for so long before the apostles coordinate a large attack, waiting any longer would mean they'd encircle and leave them without an exit. Ari was willing to risk it all to make an exit, even if they didn't pick up Ivan, the apostles would likely chase after assuming he was with them. Abandoning Ivan would be an action the apostles wouldn't even process as a possibility with their vast amount of data.
And so long as Yue remained with him, his safety was as assured.
Tio hummed to herself, fleeing in the face of battle was against her pride. Abandoning her master, regardless if it was for his sake or not, was even more so. But what mattered to her at the moment? Her pride, or her master's safety… Obviously she was going for the latter—
"Beneath my wings, hurry! While the first volley charges their rays, take the opportunity to climb on top. I'll try to defend the wave of attacks but it will ultimately be up to you guys to live while I ascend."
The apostles attacked in two different intervals, the front row forming the inner ring were the first to fire, and while they cooled down the second row of the ring, which was slightly more elevated, fired off the attacks they charged while the first ring was firing.
From there they would simply alternate, a tactful plan made by beings who knew what their strengths were— wasting time.
"NOW!"
Tio opted to open her maw to release a final draconic breath before leaving, one that consisted of more ash than flames to at least obstruct the views of the apostles. Claire, Ari, Felis, and Canis slid out from beneath her wings and settled on her back.
Each of them stomped their feet to signal to Tio that they were ready for take off. Words at this point would take up too much time. Claire pulled out a large tied up mattress from her spatial ring while the ashes still covered them.
This would be her cover for Ivan, hopefully they took the human-like figure for their target and not a plain old futon. She brought it up to her chest, making it look as though she was nestling his head between her breasts.
"We can not allow you to leave."
Light shimmered above the group, thin needle sized ornaments hung in the air. Trembling they looked eager to fall down and pierce the group with terrifying strength. Forget deceiving the apostles, they weren't even going to let them leave.
'I will not allow it to end here…' Tio closed her eyes, her wings that drooped over both sides of her body stood up and bent to wrap those occupying her back. She activated her body-strengthening magic to the max, despite not being very proficient in it.
She knew the other girls had steeled themselves to sacrifice themselves so Yue would run away with Ivan. And as such she had no inhibitions allowing her body to coast into the ground once she propelled herself as far as she could. After being hit so many times by needles that pierced even her scales, she'd have no choice but to revert to her human form so most of them would slip out.
Hopefully they would be able to buy enough time for the two to flee. Ivan had already prepared places for them to run away in case of such a situation. They were to either head to Miledi's labyrinth to seek refuge from her, or isolate themselves in Oscar's lair.
Tio's eyes snapped open with burning resolve visible in her cruel golden irises. She opened her mouth to release one last mighty roar.
But then— time came to a stop.
She was only able to gaze in shock at her surroundings, her body had been in the same position as it had been before the world turned black and white. And then, another second passed and she felt her consciousness fade away.
=====================================================================
"...."
The apostles looked around in silence. Confusion marred their usual expressionless faces as the large black dragon they had been bombarding with magical attacks all of a sudden vanished.
In fact it had been way too quiet for their liking, all noises came to a complete halt. Only the rapid breathes of apostles that had been exerting themselves physically prior to the change were heard.
But apart from the quietness, everything was the same. The manor set aflame, craters on the land, wreckage of automatrons scattered around the compound, and previously green grass that was burnt and turned to black soot.
"Hearst, how shall we proceed? Faltus and Marica have searched the area but our targets are nowhere to be seen…" One apostle flew up to the confused leader, giving her a report on the strange situation they found themselves.
They each put their minds together to think of what happened prior to the dragon disappearing, and the first thing that came to their minds was the single second of white light that engulfed their vision.
"So you saw it too?"
"Umu, I assumed it was a technique used by the enemy to blind us and escape. However something tells me that wasn't the case, no matter how fast that dragonman could fly, we'd at least have been able to see her silhouette in the distance. Not to mention the lack of a single life form, our units have even been unable to identify a single living insect or critter."
The situation was too peculiar, their target vanishing in a bang of light was unlikely but possible, especially since they seemed to have a fondness of stripping their opponents of their vision. But for not a single life form to be anywhere near them, not even a single ant or worm, that was suspicious.
And then it happened, like an earthquake it struck them when they least expected it.
The world rumbled, the sound of glass breaking resounded for everyone to hear, and the floor bent to become walls for the apostles within. Each of them stood in a circle formation with their backs to each other, only to stare in shock as the ground that had bent around them turned into a mirror that reflected their images for what seemed like infinity.
RUMBLE RUMBLE
Things didn't stop there, the mirrored walls shattered into hundreds of fragments, those fragments drifting as if having lost gravity until freezing in the air as if they were being dangled by a string.
And even in each shard of glass, the apostles only saw themselves. The image of themselves in the mirrors contorted before their heads popped, and replacing it was the target that they had been searching for for the past day.
Ivan's face, maskless, smiled back at them.
"Welcome to my world~! Congratulations, you all have the honor of experiencing my rebirth first. Please endure this trial as this will be my first time invoking this world on other beings. You do want me to get my desired results after all, right~?"
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I really messed up this time, honestly, I can't even look at the screen right now. I'm just going by muscle memory to select the right keys to form the words in my mind. I've gotten quite good at it might I add~ I began writing way later than I had planned, a product of my procrastination. And because of it I was only able to produce one chapter today, I say today but its currently 1:24 so I'm gonna have to write another one later in the evening.
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