The plan was overall pretty simple. The trio would swoop in, grab the Apostle Hats and put clothes over his head as a precautionary cover, then leave and hope he recovers soon.
"Explain that stuff first, moron!" Elegy whined helplessly.
"Oof!" Sorbet bounced off the ground, "Wahh~, duh... Gah, c-close your Eyes!"
The White Monster was steadily making its way to them with every second elapsed, however it was still out of view. On the other hand, Apostle Hats wasted no time in getting up to attack them and make them join his side.
" !"
"Back!" Elegy swung at him with the serrated blade, only knocking him away thanks to the angel's invincible skin, "Remember boys, no mercy! He won't feel a thing!"
"Tch, easy for you to say! You just gotta swing a weapon around!" Sorbet clicked his tongue, "Meanwhile I gotta get in close to blindfold him!"
It was true that Sorbet got the shorter end of the stick, as everyone had to keep their Eyes firmly shut for the duration of this entire bout. Opening them for even a split second will put them to sleep, rendering them out of the battle for good. This was by all accounts an uphill battle.
"Where is he...!?" Sorbet felt an impending punch mere inches from his face.
"Hyah! Don't worry about getting smacked!" Elegy reassured him, "So long as I'm near, he won't lay a finger on you!"
No one doubted Elegy in terms of his swordsmanship skills, but this was by all accounts too much to just sum up as talent. For someone, anyone to exist that has the ability to fight without his Eyes... It's absurd to even imagine.
"The hell does that mean?" Sorbet curved his brows, "How are you blocking the hits!?"
"Audio cues! You'll get the hang of it too, just listen!"
In all fighting sports and disciplines, the term "telegraph" is commonly used to describe this sensation. Certain "tells" in your opponent's behavior give away their intentions, allowing you to confidently predict their next move and likewise counter it. Most commonly however, these telegraphs are reserved for visual tells, but there are rare instances where the alternative holds true.
"Focus on his location! Look for where the silence is coming from!" Elegy said in between dodges.
"Silence?"
Of course, the White Monster and its Apostles had a certain "silent air" to them. That being said, the silence emanated from them, meaning that if given enough focus, one could just barely use that to their advantage. If you hear smidges of sound in 270 degrees around you, and an increasingly deafening silence in the remaining 90, then you could technically triangulate the Beast's position. That is, if you were skilled enough.
"Come on, Sorbet!" Elegy was getting sick of having to stall for him this long, "Attack him already!"
"I don't know where he, frick, is!"
Sorbet could only duck when he felt the air around him move rapidly, indicating a swing was near his face. Apart from that, he was pretty useless. Due to Hats' constitution, Elegy couldn't do all this alone, nor could he leave the job to Sorbet for that matter. One good slam to the ground would be all it would take for the Apostle to force his opponent's Eyes open, so they had to work in tandem to take him down. Elegy would distract and cover for Sorbet, and Sorbet would hopefully blindfold Hats.
"That's the plan, so...!" Elegy lured Hats nearer to Sorbet, "Just rush forward! I'll put him in the right position for you, so all you gotta focus on is putting the shirt over him!"
"O-Oi, hold on a second!" Sorbet was petrified, but flinched the moment he felt something approach him, "Crap, you're so dead for making me do this, Elegy...!"
He still couldn't accurately read his opponent's movements, but Elegy made sure to block each and every hit anyways. By all means, he was carrying someone like Sorbet like no one ever did before, but this did allow Sorbet to climb atop the burly Apostle's back.
" !?"
"Haha! Left ya' speechless, did I?" Sorbet laughed at his own joke, "...Whatever, just take this, jackass!"
Tying the shirt tightly over the goat skull's contour, Sorbet successfully managed to incapacitate the Apostle's most devious weapon. His first instinct was to rub it in his opponent's face by getting a good look at all his hard work's payoff, but the victory dance was cut short by Sheep swooping in and carrying the three of them away.
"Whoa-!?" Sorbet almost fell, but Elegy grabbed him in the nick of time, "The hell's your problem, man!?"
"Be honest, you wanted to open your Eyes down there." Sheep sighed, "Dude, did you seriously not stop to think that that entire street was full of goat skulls?"
Only at that moment did it click for Sorbet just how dangerous his action almost was. Whilst true that he wouldn't go to sleep if he looked at Hats, they were still fighting for a fair amount of time in a densely populated part of Heaven. For sure, Hats wasn't the only Apostle there.
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"I saw it all from the sky." Sheep groaned, "Gale was singlehandedly fending off an entire horde of those things while you were busy doing nothing but trying to get yourself killed."
"E-Eh? So Elegy was actually fighting a ton of those things...?" Sorbet could hardly believe it, glancing at the man fidgeting around with his belt as he sheathed the serrated sword.
"...Hm?" Elegy glanced back confused, "Oh, I thought I was fighting just Hats as well. But does it matter though? They were all bad guys, so I just swung indiscriminately."
The entire time, Elegy's words about how he's "not used to using this type of sword" echoed in Sorbet's mind. If this was how Elegy used a sword he was bad with, Sorbet shuddered to imagine the beast he was with a sword made to his liking.
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***
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Now that they had everyone in check, the group of four flew through the sky in peace, for the most part. In truth, Sheep's flying could still use a bit of work, and his wounds weren't at all helping him with that, but they made due nonetheless. Sorbet and Elegy rode on his back, with the crazy Hats Apostle dangling below, being held by both hands by Sheep.
" ."
"No can do, bucko. Not until you turn back to normal again." Elegy replied before asking the other two a relevant question, "By the way, when will that happen?"
"When will Hats become normal again?" Sheep raised an Eyebrow, "Well, I suppose when he wakes up."
"So he's currently sleep walking?" Sorbet returned a follow up query at that answer.
As it stood, even though they got Hats back, he was still useless against Energy. Well, maybe not useless, but more like a mad dog. He would attack anyone he saw indiscriminately, meaning both him and them all at the same time. Rather than a trump card, he was more like a joker. Neither side's friend nor foe, just a being of pure unadulterated chaos to spice up the battlefield.
"Can't we shake him awake or something?" Elegy wondered.
"It's not so simple." Sheep shook his head, "Besides, after all those whacks you gave him, he should've been long awake by now."
"Then is our only option to just wait for the next reset?" Sorbet fretted.
"We don't have the time to wait for that, Vastoria and Migu need our help now!" Elegy replied.
Right, they were on a tight schedule. Due to his White skin, physical trauma would never shake the sleeping Apostle awake, and due to the silence he emanated, shouting or tossing loud noises his way wouldn't work either. It was as if Hats was in his own cocoon of slumber, and there was no waking him no matter what they would try. In the end, waiting seemed like the only option...
"Sheep!" Elegy got an idea, "Where is Vastoria now?"
"Huh? Her home, I guess?" Sheep raised a curious Eyebrow at that question, "Why ask?"
"Take us there."
"Eh?! No, man, we don't have time!"
"I'm trying to do what's in everyone's best interest, so take us there!" Elegy demanded.
An idea brewing in Elegy's head could only lead to more complications, and these two were smart enough to know that, so they wouldn't budge unless some details were given away first.
"G-Gale, there's something you need to know." Sheep admitted, "Vastoria's house is located on a remote floating island."
"For real!? That makes things way easier, then!" He smiled back.
"...Why do you wanna go there, Elegy?" Sorbet was now even more suspicious.
" ?"
This suggestion came so far out of left field that even the Hats Apostle was confused. Just as the other two were worried for their safety, so too was the Apostle for its own. In truth, nothing quite came to mind whenever any of them tried to think up what Elegy was brewing.
"Could it be...!" Sheep gasped, "Do you somehow plan on healing Vastoria!?"
"Let's put it that way, sure!" Elegy flashed him a thumbs up.
"Ain't she near death, though?" Sorbet recalled Sheep's report, "What could this golden-armed chump possibly do to make her feel better?"
" !"
"Oh, I'll call you a chump whenever I want, chump!"
The fallen seraphim and the Apostle bickered all the way up until Sheep suddenly stopped to turn them around and change destinations. It was once again a conscious decision to leave Migu to fend for herself against Energy, but given that Vastoria's condition was way more uncertain, he trusted that Migu would be able to hold out for just a little longer.
"Whoa~, crap!" Sorbet cussed after almost getting flung in the opposite direction due to the inertia.
"And that, kids, is why you always wear a seatbelt!" Elegy stuck his tongue out.
" ?"
"Of course I know what a seatbelt is, I'm not that old!" He lashed out at the Apostle.
Before long, the unfortunate squadron managed to successfully make it to the floating island. As soon as they landed, Hats immediately tried to attack them. This move, however, was swiftly dealt with thanks to a little known tactic known as:
"Tie his arms and legs up." Sheep handed Elegy some sturdy vines growing in Vastoria's garden.
"On it."
" -!?"
Now that he could rely on his Eyes again, Elegy was practically ready to dance with the blinded opponent before deftly taking him down and incapacitating him fully. Hats' arms proved too strong for the rope, though, so he was quick to break through them.
" ...!"
"Oh, I see." Sheep nodded, flying over to grab a large boulder from the very same garden before dropping it over him.
" ...."
"..."
" ......."
"Oh good, he won't be moving from there anymore." Sorbet grinned, "Now come on, let's go see how Vastoria's doing."
"Man, Vastoria's place is awesome..." Elegy admired it, "Down in the Living World, this would've been considered a World Wonder for sure."
"Not the time, Gale." Sheep brushed past him, "Come on, her bedroom should be upstairs. Once you examine her condition, do the thing you wanted to do."
The sights were magnificent, truly, but the situation was equally as dire. They could always chat about her Heaven home at a later moment, but now the only thing on Sheep's mind was finding a way to save Vastoria and Migu. He's already wasted enough time thanks to Elegy's whims, so he doesn't plan to let him dawdle any more.
"Oh, crap..." Elegy bit his tongue the moment he saw the large gash going through the lying Vastoria's throat.
"Talk about brutal..." Sorbet gagged, "O-Oh, my God!"
"Gale, just tell me what you want me to do." Sheep placed all his trust in his friend, "What can we do to save her life?"