Upon noticing him fall flatly on the ground, Otuko called out his name.
"Saber!"
She tried to go in his direction, but the attacks of her opponent stopped her. She could only grit her teeth as she glanced at the third angel from her peripheral view, who turned its head towards her direction.
Fortunately, the angel ignored Saber and cast spells to heal itself from his previous attack. It was bleeding profusely. Saber had slashed its chest and hands earlier, restricting it from attacking anyone.
Lyra glanced at her master, her face turning contorted. Her lips let out a faint groan, and she conjured her most powerful spell.
[Full Abyss]
Her wand, a regular stick she had found earlier, started to char due to the intense heat. It soon exploded as she released her spell.
VUUUUAAAAM!
The angel opened its mouth wide in an attempt to swallow her attack but failed as its jaw began to burn up.
Eventually, the black flame swallowed the angel whole as a straight line had been gouged into the landscape, the now naked earth carving a path towards the wall in the distance, where a large hole had opened up.
Anything within the radius in front of her had been cleanly obliterated, but everything outside the line was essentially unaffected.
The zombie quieted down her groan for a moment before turning her attention towards Saber. She glanced at him and took a step forward, but was stopped when his gaze landed on her.
In his eyes, it was screaming "Don't come here". Lyra became hesitant but eventually did what her master ordered. She turned her head towards Otuko, who was struggling to defend herself, and swiftly rushed to her side to help her.
While this was happening, the third angel had finally healed its injury. Instead of ending Saber immediately, it decided to help its companion by firing spells towards the two.
It had managed to put a scratch on Otuko's cheeks, angering Saber as he watched them helplessly.
Saber was watching the two as they struggled to fend themselves from the two angels with gritted teeth. He wanted to help them both, but he couldn't move his body.
Lyra, though exhausted, didn't show a change on her face. However, Saber noticed her body began showing signs of falling apart.
If he uses [Auto] now, he won't be able to use it later in case of an emergency.
However,
He made the choice.
[Do you want to activate "Auto"?]
"Yes..."
His voice was cold as he muttered those words in a whisper.
[Auto (MAX) has activated the "auto-battle" feature...]
As soon as Saber activated his ability [Auto], he heard a notification in his ear.
[Auto (MAX) is forcing ̚CĄ̷U±¡ø̵̧̡Π ̟ ̟(MAX) for activation...]
[Due to circumstances, Auto (MAX) has temporarily removed all the restrictions and moved to "Phase 2".]
[" ̚CĄ̷U±¡ø̵̧̡Π ̟ ̟(MAX)" have temporarily become "Prideful Dominance"]
[Prideful Dominance (MAX) has been activated]
[All injuries sustained have been healed back into perfect state.]
[Grants immunity to all negative effects.]
[Temporarily enhanced all abilities to 100%]
["Induced Fear" has been temporarily evolved into "Envision Fear"]
["Obsidian Body" has been temporarily evolved into "Juggernaut"]
["Evil Eye" has been temporarily evolved into "Eye of the Abyss"]
[Temporarily increased all attributes by 50 points]
...
..
.
Soon enough, his eyes turned dark as the system flooded him with notifications.
***
"What should I do...?"
Otuko muttered to herself in annoyance as she fended herself off from each attack coming from all sides.
She knew herself that she was stronger than the angel itself in many way, but somehow continuously struggle from it. Because unlike her, the angel was clearly more advantageous because of its speed. It was much more faster than her. She might have been more stronger and powerful in almost every aspect, but the speed of the angel was absolutely terrifying.
A second after it's claw hit the barrier she conjures, it would disappear again to avoid her counterattacks. Following that, it would appear in a random direction from a random pattern, not leaving her any time to conjure any offensive magic. Therefore, she was only trapped in a defensive position.
She was a mage, for God sake, not an assassin. Although she was physically stronger than most mages out there in the world, almost all mages becomes weak the moment their enemies manages to suppress them from conjuring magic.
This was clearly her weakness, and this was the reason why Saber had miraculously defeated her in one of their training back then.
Saber's built was a mixed of almost everything. He was physically lean and agile. In term of speed, he was able to catch her off guard if she were to stop paying attention to him even for a second.
Although his swordsmanship was average at most due to never actually learning to use one, being able to use magic is what makes him a dangerous opponent. She can't forget the fact that he was describable to a genius when it comes to using magic.
"Grrr..."
Lyra's faint groan snapped her back to reality. Otuko glanced at her and saw her defending the spells from the third angel.
Earlier, she had noticed the magic Lyra had released. It was strong. Absolutely strong. She was envious and wanted to learn it herself, but she knew that it wasn't time for that.
She couldn't afford to die.
If she did, she wouldn't be able to help Saber for three months.
Otuko didn't want to admit it, but she had already gotten used to his annoying presence. Beside that, he was the one who helped her get out of the cave from back then.
She was just returning the favor... Probably?
Otuko clicked her tongue as she cleared her thoughts from distractions. She glared at the angel, who had appeared in front of her, and cast some of her mana into an invisible slash. It was the same attack she used back when she first met Saber. An attack that almost killed him.
"...What am I even thinking?"
Otuko felt annoyed to herself and the angel as she saw it dodge the attack with ease. However, she conjured more magic and blasted the angel with multiple attacks.
While this was happening, she noticed Saber's body twitches from the distance.
"Sab— gah!!"
Out of the sudden, she was flung from her side and hit the wall.
"...!!?"
Lyra noticed her and attempted to rush to her side, but an enemy had forced her to stop. The second angel from earlier, it had appeared again.
However,
"How did they double...?"
Otuko was shocked upon noticing that the angel had been cloned into another angel. The clone almost had the same appearance as the second angel, except for the fact that it had no wings.
And then, she finally noticed that the first angel had stopped attacking her as well. It held on to it's place on the wall as a new body began to form out of thin air. But unlike it, the clone doesn't have a claw.
"Shit!"
She couldn't help but curse out loud as the two leaped towards her direction. Fortunately enough, she dodged the two by rolling forward.
"They've become... slower?"
As she sat up to put her pants, she had a nosebleed. She wiped this using her collar and quickly moved her body to the side and avoided the next attack.
"They've really become slower."
Otuko felt relieved from the realization. She was about to ran towards Lyra's side when she noticed Saber's body began to move again.
She was about to call out to him once again, but the weird chilling atmosphere stopped her.
"....."
As she witnessed Saber slowly spring back to his feet, Otuko observed in awe.
A mysterious darkness enshrouded his entire being, his eyes gleaming with an intense white light. Suddenly, a sharp horn-like protrusion emerged from his forehead.
A bright halo began to appear above his head resembling a bright, twisted crown. His sword emanated a deep crimson glow, while his right arm pulsated with faintly illuminated reddish veins.
"Saber... Are you...?"
With a single step forward, Saber's imposing presence caused the angels to instinctively retreat.
[Envision Fear]
In an instant, he unleashed his ability, plunging the entire area into profound darkness. Otuko, too, was no exception. She found herself engulfed by this overwhelming shadow, slowly eating her up from below.
"Help..."
She tried to plea, but her desperation for help was met with indifference.
Attempting to reach out to him, she was left with a haunting image of Saber advancing towards the angels.
With that, she watched as the battle quickly reached to it's conclusion.