For a moment, I lost both my senses of sight and hearing in the massive explosion that rippled across the lakeshore, a hellish inferno consuming the grass and burning a scorched crater into the ground around us. As my senses slowly recovered, I saw that Aegis had automatically flung herself to the front to shield the three of us.
"What the hell was that?!" Lin Xue cried, cowering next to me and peering from around the hovering shield.
"An A++ ranked Anti-Fortress attack from an ancient technological relic," Aegis replied. I raised an eyebrow at that.
"That's very specific." I had to say, though, the lady of the lake didn't look like any, uh, servant. Or a gender bent King Arthur. She resembled more like…well, I would explain later, but for now, I had to focus on battle.
The lady of the lake was walking on water, her high heels (don't ask me why, I'm also wondering why the fuck she was wearing high heels when it was so impractical) leaving ripples across the surface but not sinking through the lake, almost as if the huge body of water was a floor. Or as if she was Jesus Christ.
Raising her sword, she then dashed across the lake, throwing up geysers with each step. For a second, each water droplet – and there were thousands, if not millions of them – hung suspended in the air and reflected her, and then she vanished into a blur.
Before the three of us could react fully, she was right in front of us, swinging that fearsome sword at us. I had drawn Arondight in instinct and managed to parry her blow, barely in time to prevent her from bisecting me. The ground beneath me crumbled from the impact and I was sent skidding to the side.
Even so, I couldn't help but notice that she crossed a distance of over a hundred meters in less than a second.
"Support!" I shouted, and Aegis complied, separating into eight hovering components that wove through the air and fired laser beams and plasma at the lady of the lake. She dodged them swiftly, slashing the beams aside with her glowing sword before delivering a riposte that I deflected to the side. Spinning around, she slashed viciously, almost knocking Arondight out of my hands. I gripped my sword tightly and countered with a thrust that she knocked aside before responding with another riposte that I barely parried.
Her gauntlet sailed past the space where my head occupied, leaving a slight graze on my cheek. Ignoring the stinging pain, I swung Arondight and forced her to block, but she then shoved me back with another strike that sent me tumbling a few paces back.
While I was off balance, the lady pounced, her sword poised to split me in half. I held her off, catching her blade with Arondight and sinking to my knees into the softened soil. Gritting my teeth, I struggled to keep her blade away from me, only to watch in horror as the ominous glow began to wreath her sword.
Before she could unleash that anti-fortress attack or whatever at pointblank range, Shang Xiao smashed his fist into her, flinging her aside. She cartwheeled in the air and landed gracefully, though her momentum continued throwing her backward. Stabbing her sword into the ground, she skidded to a halt and brought her blade up just in time to block Shang Xiao's next augmented punch. Psychic energies detonated upon impact, and both combatants were hurled apart.
Shang Xiao had the worse of it, hitting the ground and rolling with a groan. The lady recovered more quickly, her glowing sword about to erupt, only for Lin Xue's lightning to slam into her. She shuddered and slashed the rays of electricity to free herself of the paralysis and turned to face her assailant.
That was when I struck from the side, thrusting Arondight at her neck. Her reflexes were godly, and she deflected my black blade away from her throat and face, whirling about to counter with her own slash. I dove to the side, and then rolled up just in time to parry her next blow, but the force threw me into the air and I crashed back clumsily. Even so, I was still able to trade another few blows with her as she came onto me, but fortunately, Shang Xiao provided support, appearing behind her and pummeling her with his fists.
The lady deftly spun around to counter his blows, and then ducked under my slash. Spinning elegantly, almost like a ballerina, she blocked, deflected, parried and evaded our attacks from two different directions, her sword turning into a silvery and black blur that snaked through our attack patterns and even found opportunities to counterattack. I gasped and retreated a step, fending off a surprise blow from her sword with Arondight.
Damn, if I hadn't blocked that blow, she would have cut off my head.
The lady did a cartwheel, leaping away from Shang Xiao's punches and sailing above his head. She twisted in midair to cut at his neck, but a bolt of lightning discouraged her. Lin Xue, aiming her lightning gun from afar, provided cover fire, as did the constant bombardment of laser beams and plasma from Aegis once the lady was far enough for us not to get us mixed in friendly fire.
Hopping a few steps back, the lady dodged Lin Xue's next barrage of lightning while keeping her distance. At the same time, she charged her sword and unleashed a tremendous blast that engulfed the shore in another devastating tide of night-black energy.
Lin Xue stayed where she was, diving for cover behind the cluster of trees in the background. Meanwhile, I leaped right in front of Shang Xiao and summoned Aegis to me, combining all eight components together to form the strongest shield she could generate. There was another violent shockwave that almost knocked me concussed, but Aegis held.
Leaning on Arondight, I heaved and watched the molten soil and destruction around us. Glancing at the hovering shield in front of me, I couldn't help but express my concern. "How are you holding up, Aegis?"
"My energy shielding is sufficient to withstand an A++ Anti-fortress attack of this level, but only with the combined output from all eight generators. Each individual component is incapable of generating a barrier of appropriate durability."
"Understood." In other words, I needed the combined Aegis to withstand whatever super attack that lady was firing from her sword. If she was separated into her eight components, each of those tinier components wouldn't be able to construct a barrier powerful enough to withstand that super ranged blast. This was troublesome because it meant I would have to sacrifice fire support every time I needed defense.
Not that Aegis's laser beams were doing anything…though they were distracting the lady enough to prevent her from landing a decisive blow. That should be enough for now.
The lady had charged in again, her glowing sword hammering Aegis aside, but I was able to meet her blade with Arondight. While we exchanged a few more blows, Shang Xiao struck from behind, forcing her to leap away. As she retreated, Aegis's laser beams and plasma rained down from three dimensions, but she managed to either reflect the beams away with her sword or weave through them agilely.
As she landed, I was already waiting for her, Arondight thrust toward her chest. She blocked my strike, only to be kicked by Shang Xiao, this time landing what appeared to be a devastating blow that sent her hurtling helplessly several meters away.
This time, she crashed onto the ground, losing some of her composure. She tumbled in the dirt before rolling to her feet, but I was already swinging Arondight down. She blocked my blade and countered, knocking me back, and then spun around to blast Shang Xiao. Before she could release the deadly energies from her sword, lasers and plasma from Aegis homed in on her, and while she managed to dodge, her surroundings were wrecked, causing her to lose her balance. Despite that disadvantage, she was determined to lay waste to the place around her, but Shang Xiao was on top of that.
The colonel barreled into her, and while she blocked him with her gauntlets, he succeeded in knocking her sword away. The blast was unleashed, but it was sent searing through the skies and ripping through several clouds. Besides causing a shower, the energies harmlessly dissipated in the heavens, leaving the ground relatively undamaged.
Unperturbed, the lady retaliated against Shang Xiao, this time driving him to the defensive. His faculty of Strength and glowing tattoo-like markings had hardened his skin like steel and allowed him to intercept the lady's sword with his bare hands without suffering any visible injury, but he was still overwhelmed. I raced forward, all the while providing support fire from Aegis to relieve the pressure on him.
Hoping to take advantage of her precarious position when she danced away from the volley of lasers and plasma, I struck with Arondight, but the lady cartwheeled around, planting a gauntlet on my blade and propelling herself above me. As she did so, she swung her sword at my neck, but I swiftly brought Arondight up to parry it. despite escaping a fatal injury, I was still sent staggering from the blow.
The lady landed, only to be wrapped in a net of electricity that Lin Xue had cast in anticipation. She appeared to be paralyzed for a few seconds, and Shang Xiao and I grabbed the opportunity without any hesitation. The both of us attacked from two opposite directions, forcing her to split her attention.
Even so, the lady still blocked our attacks, catching Shang Xiao's fist with one hand and parrying Arondight with her sword. The ground beneath her feet crumbled from the tremendous impacts, soil and dirt bursting upward. Refusing to yield, the lady yanked Shang Xiao forward, using his momentum and huge weight against him, and sent him crashing into me.
Fortunately, I saw him coming and jumped up, landing on his shoulder. Shang Xiao also improvised and spun around to throw me at the lady, allowing me to launch a coordinated attack that almost took her by surprise. She deflected my blade and countered skillfully, but pinpoint laser beams struck her precisely at her joints and brought her to her knees before she could run me through, allowing me to roll away and keep my distance.
While she was still distracted, Shang Xiao punched her and sent her careening. She struck the ground and skidded, but managed to flip herself up and around before landing on her feet. The colonel made another attempt to attack, but before he could charge, I stopped him.
"Stay back, sir!"
"What?"
"She's attacking. Over here!"
I had already recalled Aegis to form a barrier in front of us, and just in time too. While tumbling in the air, it appeared that the lady still had the time and luxury to somehow charge her sword for another super attack. Just how many times could she spam that stupid thing?!
"Theoretically, she can draw upon an infinite amount of energy from the Abyss to execute that technique as many times as required," Aegis explained, having read my mind.
"Then we are fucked," I muttered.
"Not necessarily," Arondight assured me. "I'm sure you'll figure something out, Commander. We're here to support you."
"How the hell is this lady knight so much stronger than a bloody dragon!?" I complained.
"I think she counts as a heroine in an anime," Shang Xiao explained, a hint of amusement on his face. "That gives her bonus points in her strength, endurance and magic stats."
"She's not using magic," Arondight said. "She is drawing dark energy from the Abyss and channeling it through the emitter device on her sword. An ancient technological relic is capable of such functions."
That's fucking bullshit. Then again, as Arthur Clarke pointed out, any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. I think you guys are sick of hearing that by now.
"I should have asked General Lionel Johansson to come along," I groaned, suddenly realizing my folly. "He's more suited for a duel like this than I am."
"Not necessarily," Aegis said. "While General Johansson is undoubtedly superior to you in terms of swordsmanship, only a Holy Terran Empire Commander can purify another Holy Terran Empire Commander and purge them of all Abyssal taint."
"Hang on," I said, grimacing as another of that super attack collided against Aegis's barrier and I found myself buffeted by shockwaves again. Shang Xiao had it easier because he was tougher and stronger, and could endure it better. However, I was more preoccupied with what my devices were telling me. "Are you saying that I not only should do my best to avoid killing this commander who's trying to kill us all with rank A++ anti-fortress attacks, but I have to find a way to purify her?"
"Yes," Arondight replied simply.
Even as the shockwaves died away when the lady's super attack expired, I couldn't help but feel my heart sink down my chest even further.
This mission was getting increasingly difficult…no, it had just become impossible.