"Let's play"
'Sylvie, please stay out of this. You are not nearly powerful enough to face a scythe yet.'
'Yes, I understand' came along with a small wave of sadness and disappointment
'Don't worry, once I beat these guys we can train as much as we want'
Dragoth got a confused expression
"You.. actually think you can beat four Scythes? Hahahahaha! What a joke!"
As I was about to walk through the barrier protecting me, I heard a faint voice behind me.
"Arthur, don't."
I turned around, seeing a shaking Kath with Sylvie on her lap.
I smiled, telling her, "Don't worry. It will be alright."
[Unleashed Realmheart] //Author's note: Renamed from Awakened Realmheart due to sounding better.
[Godspeed Impulse]
[Blade Augmentation] - A sound and wind magic technique, where I make my blade lightly vibrate with sound magic and create a pseudo-chainsaw around it with wind magic.
Through training with Unleashed Realmheart, I discovered my ability to imbue attacks with aether, cutting through any attack or barrier, portal and pocket dimension creation and a instant teleport movement technique I decided to call Godstep. While these techniques take a lot of mana, they are extremely effective when used correctly.
I took one last deep breath, stepping through the barrier.
Black spikes instantly appeared behind me, along with a surge of black fire from two sides. I created Ice spears to keep the three busy while I went after Dragoth.
Dashing full speed against Dragoth, I executed an upward slash but a surge of projectiles as black as the night stopped me just in time.
The spell, it seemed extremely strange. In fact, all their spells looked weird. It almost felt like they were deteriorating at all times, being kept alive by the ambient mana. The dedicated mana particles were in absolute chaos, dancing up and down throughout the entire spell boundary.
As if telling me I should not be distracted, Cadell lunged at me with a longsword as black as the projectile. I parried the sword, pivoting on my foot to consequently block a black spike coming from behind.
Cadell kept chasing me with his black sword now covered in black fire, while a black fog was filling the area. The sword was black enough by itself.
Blowing the fog away by creating a tornado using wind magic, I dodged Cadell's downward swing, countering with my own series of rapid swings.
Viessa conjured a huge snake made of black fire, trying to snap its mouth shut around me. Executing a throw on Cadell, I quickly sped off towards her while dispelling vortexes of black fire created by Melzri.
Dragoth got in my way, however, conjuring a large amount of the black fog whilst attacking me unarmed from close range. His movements were nothing like Kordri's however, as I swiftly created a vacuum around me with a cheeky portal inside it delivering oxygen and kicked him in the ribs, sending him crashing to the ground. Closing in on Viessa, Cadell was already following behind, but I had enough time. Throwing her on the ground by her hair, I created a huge ball of plasma, launching it at the dazed Viessa. I knew it wouldn't kill her, but it will surely hurt her a lot.
Now I knew where my opponents stood compared to me in power, so I could go all out.
While their attacks were powerful, they were disgustingly easy to dispel. I dispelled the magic coming towards me without even a glance, I immediately set my sights on Cadell, focusing on pummeling him to the ground. After kicking him to the ground, A powerful barrier taught to me by Myre emerged around us. This gave me a few seconds of time before their fire attacks eat through.
I sped up, the only thing saving Cadell from instant death are the countless black spikes that are somehow appearing even through a barrier, but even that strategy is failing.
Cutting off Cadell's regenerating sword for at least the fifth time, I landed a hit, then two, then three. I was about to finish the job, when I heard a road along with extreme panic coming from Sylvie
'Arthur, Help!'
[Static Void]
Black spikes were surrounding Sylvie and the rest, but if I dispelled the barrier the black fire would get them.
Now this.. This has made me angry. I haven't been this angry since Sebastian..
I stepped in front of Sylvie, re-starting time and investing a big portion of my mana into a singular spell.
[Absolute Zero]
An iceberg the size of a small hill enveloped everything in my sight, freezing Dragoth and Melzri, who failed to react, in the process. I wasn't sure how long they would stay frozen, but while Viessa was trying to free them, I instantly dashed at Cadell.
'Sylv, run into the cave! Blow up a path and go!' I mentally yelled
'No, the black spikes need shadows to manifest! I figured it out! If we go into the cave we're in larger risk.'
'You're right! Brilliant!'
Raising my hand up into the sky, I whispered
[Cold Sun]
A raging sun of ice manifested, protecting everyone from the black spikes with the light it was emitting. I had used up about 25% of my entire mana capacity on this, but it was well worth it.
The iceberg cracked, and I knew Dragoth and Melzri were soon going to be released. I sent the sun after Dragoth, and after erecting a barrier around Sylvie and the rest watched as it effortlessly dug inside the iceberg and went up in a grand explosion creating a crater easily at least 200 meters in diameter, not only killing Dragoth, but also heavily hurting Melzri.
I looked straight into the shocked eyes of Cadell, and slowly said.
"This is for Sylvia."
Using Godstep, I appeared behind Cadell, slashing off his horns and subsequently his head.
as I looked around for the two other Scythes, I discovered that they weren't there anymore.
Did they escape? how? How could I let them escape!
"Cowards!" I roared in frustration.
I felt multiple weak presences coming closer, most likely the Lances.
I was slowly walking back to the cave entrance, contemplating what went wrong.
All of a sudden, stone golems arose around me, and multiple ice spikes were coming towards me.
I swiftly dispelled all their pitiful attempts at magic, instead walking further. I didn't have the mood nor the patience to deal with the Lances right now.
Author's note: I'm sorry for the shorter chap, I just feel like the fight between Art and Scythes was worth a chapter of its own. lmk what you think in the comments. love you guys!
ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES FOR EACH CHARACTER (MADE UP EXCEPT FOR CADELL)
Cadell - Wind -> Decay, Fire -> Soulfire
Dragoth - Earth -> Gravity -> Black fog, Earth -> Metal -> Black spikes
Viessa - Fire -> Soulfire,
Melzri - Fire -> Soulfire, Earth -> Metal -> Black Spikes