The towering eruption of dark royal blue spirit mana howled through the silent time-dilated world, and within the eruption of spirit mana stood Solus, his form obscured by the spirit mana. Solus raised his hand and stared at his spirit mana-covered hand as particles of the spirit mana floated off him. He repeatedly grasped and ungrasped his hand as he smirked.
"It seems you two have gotten a lot stronger, or should I say closer, since the last time I saw you," the silver kitsune cub remarked. Solus flinched at hearing the kitsune cub's voice.
"G-grandfather Zalroth?" Solus blurted out in surprise. Zalroth snickered cheerfully at Solus' shock.
"Took you long enough to realise I was right here, but I think Lumina requires your attention," Zalroth stated as he was in the middle of doodling on the time-dilated Lumios' face with a paintbrush. Solus darted his vision back and forward as watched Zykorlz break free from the effects of velocity manipulation by letting its energies erupt from its body. Lumina darted her head back before she spun around and got into a defensive stance. Solus briefly exhaled from his mouth as Nebula did the same inside Solus' mind, although her voice was heavier and rigid.
"You holding up ok, Nebi?" Solus asked. The voice of Nebula muttered nervously while she awkwardly giggled.
"Y-yeah...," Nebula uttered. Solus mentally sighed as he raised his hand and conjured some of the swirling spirit mana to his hand. The mana formed into a sword shape before condensing and transforming into Nebulous Requiem.
"Grandfather, could I ask a favour of you?". Zalroth nodded as his body became obscured by opaque cyan clouds.
Zykorlz landed on the water surface of the time-dilated pond, causing Lumina to tighten her defensive stand.
"I'll give it to that brat to be able to restrain my movement is praiseworthy, but once I've dealt with you lot, I'll give her her dues," Zykorlz uttered. In the blink of an eye, Zykorlz dashed in front of Lumina, with her being caught off guard by Zykorlz's real speed. Before she could react, Zykorlz hurled its light-refracting claws and arched them to slash Lumina's neck. Lumina watched as the claw drew closer to her but couldn't help but smirk as she caught a dark royal blue light in the corner of her eye.
"I'd focus on dodging if I were you," Lumina said with a bratty tone. Zykorlz halted its movement, causing the tip of one of his claws to only poke Lumina's neck. Zykorlz darted its eye up before a tsunami-high trailing pillar of dark royal blue mana raced towards Lumina and itself. Zykorlz went to dodge, but a silver blur dashed in front of Zykorlz. Zykorlz blinked, and Lumina was gone before someone placed their pale white/faintly cyan hand on Zykorlz's shoulder.
"Why don't we stand fight here and see which of us will chicken out first?" Zalroth (in a human-looking form) asked as he tightened his grip on Zykorlz's shoulder. Zykorlz winced a little as he felt Zalroth's fingers digging into him.
"But when did you-".
"Eyes on the goal buddy," Zalroth stated as Solus' massive nebulous slash raced towards him and Zykorlz. Zykorlz swung its head forward and watched as Solus' attack was right in its face. The towering wall of spirit mana surged over Zykorlz and Zalroth before across the entire pond. Zykorlz lept through the air perpendicular to Solus' attack while Zykorlz grasped his armless shoulder. Zykorlz landed on the surface of the pond and glared at where it previously stood.
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"What was up with that gu-". Zykorlz froze as it watched the nebulous energy slash wave subside showing Zalroth being completely unphased.
(Zalroth is a human-looking young adult male with kitsune ears and ten kitsune tails that are double his height in length, and both features are silver with cyan ends; he has slightly long scruffy silver hair with pale cyan tips, pale cyan eyes, and pale white to the point it's faintly cyan skin)
(Zalroth is wearing a long snow grey fur coat, a black skin-tight tank-top with a chibi silver furred ten-tailed kitsune head with cyan tail and ear tips, baggy black shinobi-themed trousers, white socks, and silverwood getas)
"How disappointing... I was hoping you'd at least try to withstand the attack to make up for your foul attitude earlier," Zalroth said with a snarky tone. Zalroth raised his hand holding Zykorlz's charred arm before it crumbled into dust.
"Though I'm glad you didn't," Zalroth added before a sinister grin formed on his face, which caused Zykorlz to shiver, "Because I have half a mind to tear you to piece myself for trying to hurt Lumina and that kid with the bin lid on his head.".
The spirit mana dispersed from around his body Solus; revealing his dark royal blue hair and eyes, and his shrine outfit identical to the one worn by Solmeuetzo. Lumina gently placed Nini, Sushi, and Oshi next to Lumios. Lumina glanced up at Lumios' face before she had to cover her mouth to stop herself from laughing.
Zalroth stared down Zykorlz before he raised his hand and lightly slapped his face to knock the sinister grin off his face.
"No, Zalroth, this is their fight... nobody likes a kill stealer," Zalroth muttered cheekily to himself. Zykorlz grumbled to itself as it regrew its missing left arm.
"What's with this guy? I thought the Queen said the only one who'd be able to hurt harm a Lorudio Yokai was the Enlightened One," Zykorlz uttered mentally.
"Enlightened One, you say?" Zalroth asked with intrigue. Zykorlz went rigid at Zalroth saying what it was thinking. Zykorlz raised its head and staggered back at seeing the weapon in Zalroth's hand: a staff the size of Zalroth made out of opaque azure gems with a large crescent moon protrusion at the top of the staff.
"W-wait, you're-.". Zykorlz was interrupted mid-sentence when a second Zalroth axe-kicked Zykorlz in the head from behind and made Zykorlz faceplant into the watery ground. The second Zalroth dispersed into cyan mana, and Zalroth snickered as Zykorlz staggered to its feet. Zaloth smirked and glanced to his side.
"Alright, you two, are you ready to swap in?".
"You betcha, old man/We're ready," Lumina/Solus stated as they held a pure white energy gear in their hands. Zalroth smirked before he flung his crystalline staff into the air. Zalroth smugly stuck his tongue out at Zykorlz before Zalroth warped away. Solus tightened his grip on Nebulous Requirm while Lumina cracked her knuckles.
"You got a stratagy?" Lumina asked.
"Grandfather said he'd keep them in place for us, so all we need to do is focus on attacking The... Lorudio Yokai," Solus stated. Lumina nodded confidently. However, a split second later, she darted her head at her with a shocked expression.
"What do you mean that's a Lorudio Yokai...". Lumina stopped talking as a wave of realisation washed over her, " So, that's why Inaka decided to get involved.". Lumina rubbed her face before she clenched her fist and shattered the energy gear in her hand. The pure white energy covered Lumina's fist as her purple and golden lightning ensnared her body. Solus flipped the energy gear into the air before slashing it with Nebulous Requiem and coating its blade in pure white energy.
"You lead the way, and I'll match your flow," Solus stated as he readied his blade. Lumina smirked and tensed up her legs.
"No complaints here," Lumina announced. Lumina blasted off and sprinted straight for Zykorlz. Solus coated his body in light mana, and light dashed after Lumina.