All things in that the turtle gazed upon froze. The heretic and all the people he's controlling couldn't move a muscle.
"Mhn!!"
The only thing he could do was speak out a muffled sound. The situation might look like a checkmate, however, the turtle power doesn't let him or Hilda act either.
Theia power stems from a particular book. Call Grim's children's tale. A dark fantasy book that has a collection of short stories in it.
On their way to Tumidus John inquired her about her power and it seemed like she was able to summon the entity that resided in these tales. One such thing is Yurdle, a turtle that could rule over everything he sees.
In the book, he doesn't have such ability but Theia believes that it's what the turtle does.
The book has a total of 12 tales ranging from good bedtime stories to questionable things to tell kids.
According to his investigation, this book was once a second-circle object with a fraction of the power that it now possesses. However, after becoming Theia's foundation, the power increased. Making it such a formidable force.
However, there's a major downside, since the book was a second circle item. The backlash is huge, putting the user in an incapacitate mode. Making them without any protection other than the soul-sucking eyes.
Another limitation of the book is that she can only summon creatures from two of the tales at the moment. Yurdle the Turtle and Prince Frog, both of them have a very powerful effect.
The turtle could stop everything it could see no matter what.
The frog could carry people and escape.
The turtle cannot see John and Hilda right now, but the moment anything enters its vision, it stops. Hilda couldn't simply throw a knife at the heretic, killing him instantly.
"Hilda, get ready"
John has come up with a potential solution for this. If the turtle froze everything in its vision then John needed a way to limit its vision that would give an advantage to him.
"Now!"
In an instant, he covered half the turtle's eyes, allowing the mystic to move again, but his lower body remained frozen stiff. John bit his lisp, he was only supposed to free the attacker's head. but no matter, this situation is not the worst.
He could do nothing more, his hand was in front of the turtle froze. He hoped that Hillda could finish the job.
Hilda swiftly sends her knife trying to cut off the mystic head.
Thng
The knife was about to strike the mystic head when a red crystal floated up to stop it. The knife lodges in the crystal, causing it to lose power and fall down. Before hitting the ground, it floats right above the mystic belly. Having entered the turtle's vision.
"Mater,... I can't hold"
Theia couldn't do it any longer, her body weakened and she flopped on the floor, John caught her before her face hit the stone road.
The effect on the mystic lower body ceases, but his face is filled with fear as Hilda rushes to complete the task.
After the red crystal was shattered, some of the people he controlled collapsed on the floor. Soon, all of his emotions turn to anger.
"You piece of shit!!"
He waves his hands together making the few people that he has left walk in front to block the maid knife. However, They gave little to no resistance to Hilda who was trained to kill. Their necks easily came off their shoulder.
In a matter of seconds, Hilda is already in front of the mystic. Her sharp eyes aim for his neck.
"You think I would let you do that!?"
He claps his hands together, creating a sound. He only has four people under his control, and two of them come to block the maid. Unlike their predecessors, the two of them are agile and intelligent. This time, the mystic directly controls the people into fighting, making them considerably more difficult to deal with.
While HIida is fighting off the two slightly smarter puppets, John takes the time to pick up a pitchfork that the villager drops and charges in.
The lower circle still has a normal body. He just needs to exploit the timing, while the mytic is dealing with Hilda.
"You think I wouldn't notice!?"
The old man screams at him. The other two remaining people came to life and charged at John. The old man must have noticed John approaching. He couldn't help but blame his low speed and injured leg.
The two guys came at him with a butcher knife and a wooden pole. John was not a fighter like HIlda, so he could only back up and slow down their approach. Truthfully he did not have the guts to kill people.
In the back of his mind, these guys might be recoverable and they could send them back to their family.
With the mystic's focus on Hilda, the one with John is sluggish. However, John's lack of fighting experience makes this situation harder than it should be. The pole pokes at him from one side and the butcher knife aims to land a lethal blow on him.
John could only block and back up, but even that was too much for him. The pole tapped his shoulder, causing him to lose balance, and then the butcher knife swiped at him. He blocks the majority of them with his pitchfork, but some strikes are too much for John to handle.
As the battle goes on John accumulates more and more wounds. He half regrets joining in and half grateful. He draw more attention to himself testing the mystic multitasking capabilities but he suck at fighting and couldn't only hold his ground.
"Maid your master is dying!"
The old guy shouts when he lands a slash on John's arms. This in turn draws Hilda's attention for a split second. The two puppets that were fighting the maid used that opportunity to claim their first strike.
However, when they hit the maid, they also coil in pain.