Enif was glad to be summoned for a pair of riders once more. The pegasus made the trip, as he called it: “FasterthanswiftI’llgetyourighttherebeforeyoucansaywoah!”
Arthur’s head was left spinning, as he held Minerva’s hair while she dealt with the after effects of the motion sickness which came with riding Enif. When that was done she shook a little. “I see why Wendy wanted you to teleport her here,” Minerva confessed.
“Are you going to be alright to make it to the council alone?” Arthur asked.
“I’m not a child,” Minerva said petulantly. “I can take care of myself.”
“Contact me through the Archive link if you need me, I’m going to be in Crocus,” Arthur said.
“Alright,” Minerva stated, “Bye.”
“Bye,” Arthur responded as they went in opposite directions. Arthur’s territory appeared in his hand. His bootleg requip - not having even begun to recreate his Dimension Black yet - was just to keep it in his territory armor and to teleport it with territory magic. It worked well enough, though his armor was a visible distortion around him, even if he’d shaped it not to include his eyes this time. He could just put it in his belt pouch, though, if he wanted, keeping the key inside. As long as it was just marking it as part of his ‘space’ it wasn’t nearly as demanding as shielding against magic detection. One spatial magic flowed into another as he opened the gate of the eagle not to summon Altair but to dress himself in its celestial star dress. He’d not used it yet and it was a lot less energy intensive than outright summoning the eagle.
It was also less effective for his purposes as while he could see the city clearly enough he couldn’t fly to get a view from above. He hadn’t thought things through well enough. He tried jumping, but apparently neither flight, nor super jumping was included in the powers of the star dress, just electricity and vision. Undeterred he teleported into the air above the capital, and then immediately teleported to the top of a tall building. The thud he made on the roof seemed to startle whoever was below, as he heard movement begin inside, but he could see a large public square from here, and it was another easy warp to reach it.
Telescopic vision was useful when combined with line of sight teleportation. Still from the little he’d seen of it, Crocus the Flowering Capital, was beautiful. A true city unlike the little towns he’d mostly seen. And one brimming with flowers and - from the alerts his Archive was giving him - magical knowledge. It was just picking up information from scanning the air and people. People were using magic and it was just ambiently scanning it. He just wanted to sit here and let his Archive absorb what it could, and accumulate information for him. Territory was a great magic, but if he could figure out how to upgrade his Archive to a Super Archive it might be the best magic he had.
Still first things first, he promised Wendy he’d teleport her soon after reaching Crocus. He could still feel the pocket of his ‘space’ he’d left in Gazania, and assuming Wendy had been good and stayed sitting on the stool it’d be simple to teleport her here.
A snap of the fingers brought the blue-haired girl - and her stool - to him. A second snap sent the stool back, and an act of will dismissed the space.
Wendy’s eyes went wide as she wowed at the sight around her.
Wendy had lived her life in a literal ghost town. Gazania had been an impressive city. But Crocus was on a whole other scale. The flowers blooming around the capital were beautiful. Everywhere she looked there were people. And beautiful flowers. Shops and things to do, and…
“Ice cream!” She shouted out.
Arthur glanced, and made a face. Wendy’s eyes turned up towards him pleadingly. Angel hadn’t given them the most spending money for this trip, but seeing Wendy’s pleading face Arthur sighed.
A few moments later Wendy and Carla were both eating their ice cream happily as they walked the streets. There wasn’t really a plan for what to do, though. Arthur hadn’t really had a chance to plan ‘how will I entertain this 12 year old who asked to come along at the last minute’ and hadn’t really planned anything for himself to do, other than simply ‘walk and absorb information through his Archive magic.’
So for a time that’s just what they did. Providing Wendy with the spending money, ultimately taken from Vampire’s Kiss, Arthur mostly just watched the child and allowed her to lead the way to wherever caught her interest.
Minerva had no trouble getting into the Magic Council’s headquarters. Her father was not being kept in one of the high security cells. Still it was time consuming, as they had to confirm she was who she said she was, and had to confirm her father was there. Bureaucracy led to her sitting in waiting areas for hours. And then she had to wait for his hearing to end so that he could emerge at last.
Her heart cracked a bit when she saw her father limping, leaning on a crutch because his left leg was too damaged to fully bear his weight. This was her father. Her very icon of strength. The man who had taught her to her very core how worthless weak trash like her was. How great the gap between the strong and weak really was.
And he was a mangled, torn apart wreck, unable to stand without support from a tool. A part of her wanted to laugh. The weak were trash. He’d taught her that. And now he was weaker than her. Yet a part of her felt something stirring; compassion and empathy. Maybe it was best called filial piety. He was still her father. He had raised her alone. She owed him everything.
“You survived,” He said. And then he looked down at the ground. “Good. You’re not as weak as I feared.”
Those words, not really even praise, filled her with joy. They were recognition of her… not total lack of worth.
“Come, Minerva, we have both allowed ourselves to become far too weak.”
“Where are we going? You’re not under arrest?” She asked.
“Why would I be? I was on a legitimate job to infiltrate and shut down Vampire’s Kiss,” Jiemma said. Minerva flinched. She knew better than to dare call out the lie. He could have done that by the first time he had brought her there. He had been enjoying the fights, and the extra income it had afforded him.
“So this is your daughter?” Minerva hadn’t paid attention to the man behind her dad before. He had just been there. But now she realized how utterly strong he felt. It was an oppressive strength, a sheer amount of magical power which bore down towards her.
“Yes,” Jiemma answered curtly.
“She wouldn’t mind talking to God for a bit, would she?” The man asked with a smile, gesticulating in an exaggerated manner, before posing as if he was on stage. “We just want to hear about where you’ve been the last few days and who you’ve been with.” That was when guards moved into position and they took her into the courtroom.
Three of the Ten Wizard Saints were inside. Acting as interim representatives while waiting for the council to reform after the Tower of Heaven incident. Two of the Four Gods were on the tribunal that had tried her father. They began asking her questions about who she had been staying with, and how she had escaped the Vampire’s Kiss guildmaster.
She tried to contact Arthur through the link he had created, and an alarm audibly went off, before the man who had been leaving with her father smiled.
“God-I was so getting bored of this all, but it seems like things might get a little bit…” He paused, knee sliding forward and throwing out his arms. “Interesting.”
Arthur’s Archive manifested into physical existence, a red emergency alarm flashing. Communication with Minerva had been cut off and it had received a magic based attack.
He cursed aloud, causing Wendy’s head to swerve, as Carla turned towards him with an angry look.
“Minerva is in trouble,” Arthur said, turning. He didn’t know what to do. Did he rush into the magic council national headquarters?
“What?” Wendy asked. “We’ve got to go help her.”
Arthur shook his head. “She was visiting the magic council, it’s not that simple, we need to figure out what’s happeni-” He cut off as another Archive alert popped up. A high density of magical energy was approaching him at high speed. He didn’t have time to read it.
Feeling the magical energy approaching, he barely managed to raise a barrier with his Territory magic. It buckled, wind suddenly striking him and blasting him, Wendy, and several other people back. Wendy’s mouth opened as she breathed deep, calling the magical tempest into her mouth.
“God-I was expecting this to be sort of boring, but you have impressed God,” The man with orange pigtails said, as he posed like a badly choreographed Kamen Rider, one arm out to the side, his other crossing his chest, his legs in an almost humorous position.
Even when Georg had gotten mad his magical energy wasn’t this intense. Even the Darkness Dragon’s hadn’t been this intense. “You are now under God arrest!” The orange haired man said, pointing both hands at Arthur. “You have the right to surrender quietly, but I hope you don’t take it.”
“What’s God arrest?” Arthur asked, scrambling mentally to buy time.
“Arrest by I, God!” The man said. “That is Six Dragon God Serena.”
“On what charge?” Arthur asked.
“I forget,” Serena said, literally waving the question off. “Some threat to public safety,” He continued to pose, shifting from one stance to another. Arthur felt that statement was ironic, given that Wendy was currently checking on the people he had blasted away with his landing. “If you don’t come quietly, then I’ll have to take you in. And you did well to block my initial attack, but that was a weak one, you simply aren’t a match for me.”
Arthur was considering teleporting away. But he wanted to know what happened to Minerva, and really just how much Serena knew about his connection with Angel and Jellal. He was mentally activating his Archive to send an emergency message to Angel, warning her and Jellal of what was happening, even as he looked Serena in the eye. “I’m happy to come quietly once I know what the charge is.”
Serena sighed. “Boring, I guess that saves me time at least. We captured your little accomplice,” Arthur cursed inwardly, “She told us everything. You’re aiding and abetting Jellal and the Oracion Seis, Angel. Before you think about teleporting away we’ve got your little girlfriend, and we’ve identified your teleportation magic, so even if you do run we can follow you. God, this is annoying.” He swept an arm forward, fire exploding towards Arthur. “Look if you’re asking questions you’re resisting. So just… you actually survived?”
Arthur wasn’t unfamiliar with Purgatory Dragon Slayer Magic. Roy’s was not even close to this power and intensity, but it came from the same dragon. He’d trained with Roy before. He hadn’t tried to block it head on, a dragon’s magic was the magic to destroy anything, but had instead worked to direct the main brunt, angling it upwards and over his head. Still in an equal battle his territory magic couldn’t be relied upon to block dragon slayer magic; its destructive force for the magical energy put into it simply outweighed territory’s shields.
“Yeah, I’ve met real dragon slayers before,” Arthur spat out, “Not wannabe hacks who bought their lacrima,” He didn’t dare reclaim his chaos shield or black sword from where he’d left them. If they hadn’t already found Angel and Jellal, activating that space would bring them down on them.
“How good of you to notice my superiority,” Serena said, “But that won’t save you.”
Arthur was somewhat dumbfounded by that statement, but he was acting, he wrapped Carla and Wendy in his territory magic and transported them to Hargeon, Cait Shelter, and then Magnolia in a series of quick trips using his Archive map to clear locations. It was a bit straining, but it hopefully would muddle any attempts to follow his magic.
By the time it was done, Serena was back on the offensive. “I will do you the honor of showing you that superiority. Let me demonstrate the power of my infinite wallet! Darkness Dragon’s Banishing Shadow!”
The ground around Arthur rose up with darkness, a sphere forming about him and then collapsing in on itself, a wall of darkness compacting him from all sides. The ground under his feet was being disintegrated, the air itself wiped away, as the darkness destroyed everything in its sphere.
Arthur swallowed it down with relish. His magical energy was fully restored now. “Thanks for the meal,” Arthur said to the stunned face of God Serena.
“How? That’s impossible!” Serena stated as he assumed yet another pose, one arm raised up the other pointing towards Arthur.
“I guess I should introduce myself. I am the Darkness Dragon Slayer. And I killed the Darkness Dragon that lacrima was made from.” Immediately Arthur regretted the bravado which had made him say that. It was information which was tactically relevant and which should not have been shared with an enemy.
“I guess I should actually get serious then,” Serena said, starting to spread his lips in a broad smile. “To honor you as the source of one of my lacrima, I will not hold back like I normally would for such a weakling. Dragon God’s Fang!”
Arthur teleported. More on instinct than anything he teleported, and he saw from blocks away the energy tearing through the ground and buildings, ripping apart the portion of the shopping district that he and Wendy had been window shopping in.
He teleported again, as Serena landed in the street he’d warped to, the 6 Dragon God’s gale dragon magic, tearing apart the buildings on either side of his landing. Arthur was on top of a building, able to see the destruction. He looked out of the city, and he teleported. He couldn’t go back to Gazania if they could trace him. And he couldn’t leave Minerva imprisoned either. He had to take out the Magic Council’s Fiore branch before he could flee, and he had to get out before Serena tore apart the most densely populated city in the continent.
It took him three ports to reach the building. Finding Minerva would be another story. His Archive was trying to copy over a map, but it was taking time. Magical knights were rushing out to stop him, and he teleported them back to two ports en masse. He hoped that he hadn’t just killed them via God Serena. His darkness dragon’s roar blasted the doors from the hinges as he walked into the building.
A silver key appeared in his hand. “Open gate of canis minor!” His nikora spirit appeared. “I need you to find Minerva, she was here earlier. Can you smell where she is now?” For a useless aesthetic spirit it was surprisingly useful.
“P-p-pun!” It shouted, and then the roof collapsed.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
God Serena landed in a tornado of wind which launched out forcing Arthur to teleport backwards to avoid it. Hadn’t Serena gone down easy when he fought Fairy Tail? Though that was his Historia ghost thing, had that been his full power? Arthur couldn’t remember that he had easily overwhelmed Natsu and Juvia and the other mages there until Gildartz arrived and lamented that this would have been an interesting battle if he hadn’t been massively weakened in his undead form.
But in his bones he could feel something of the sort. Serena’s power made Georg’s look small. “Dragon god’s fang!” Serena shouted as the ground once again erupted, five dragons of energy rising from it one after another. Arthur had to rapidly port to dodge them, each one appearing under where he ported to almost the instant he did. His territory armor took the brunt of it, but he was being forced to constantly reinforce it, and to keep on the move since a direct hit could still threaten to end him.
Even as he warped, he lashed out, a crushing wave of force from his territory magic to slam into God Serena like a ton of bricks. Serena was struck and sent flying, only to catch himself with a magically called wind, land, and lash out with a powerful kick, fire exploding from his foot as it caught the second lashing wall of force and shattered it.
Arthur was being forced to realize that with just his Territory magic he wasn’t going to win this. He wasn’t necessarily up against a better mage, but he was up against a warrior who could match him as a mage. And as long as he had power divided up with Archive and Territory pockets in Gazania he wasn’t matching him in a head to head clash.
“Open gate of the hunter!” The giant appeared in the rubble that had been the front of the building. Arthur was trying to ignore the fear that Minerva had been in the building. All he had done thus far was dodge and people were still getting hurt; then again even a few years back the four gods of Ishgar and the threat of Etherion had held off all of Alvarez; Serena was a one man army.
Blue skinned and towering taller than the headquarters, Orion threw back his head, spread his arms, and belted out, loud enough that Arthur’s territory armor blocked it for its sheer kinetic force. “Finally, a real fight!”
And then he went flying over Arthur’s head, the sound of Serena’s kick creating a shockwave that shattered glass. “Normally I save this level of power for dealing with those few dragons that can still be found in Ishgar,” Serena said with a look of annoyance on his face. “I had hoped that with 6 lacrima I’d be ready for Acnologia. I guess not. Maybe 7 will do. Or maybe the darkness one was just a dud. All you did was kill a dud dragon and you dare challenge m-”
Enif crashed into Serena in a flash that Arthur’s eye couldn’t follow. The pegasus had appeared when summoned and immediately rammed Serena. No words had had to pass. Still Enif took more energy even than full output from Aries, and Orion was no cheap summon. But with the speed and power of Serena’s attacks, Arthur’s options were limited. Horologium could tank the attacks, but had no offensive capabilities. Caelum could hit hard, but would be taken down before he could attack. The nikora was a tracker and that’s it. The little horse wasn’t even summonable at the moment. Neither, for that matter, was Aries. Altair was cheaper than Enif, but his advantage was lightning and Arthur thought Serena could eat lightning. Kochab might be able to hold him off for a time, but after what happened to Orion Arthur didn’t want to chance it.
“Is this how you killed a dragon?” Serena smirked. “Little toys?” Serena’s attacks came one after another, streaking towards Enif who wove through them. Arthur didn’t intend to let Enif do all the work, however.
Orion’s belts launched towards Serena, forcing the so-called God to tear them apart with scything blades of wind, before Orion’s hand slapped down towards him only to be caught by a sheltering shield of darkness and a roaring clap of thunder from the force of the impact.
Arthur’s hands came up before him, his focus on Serena. “Territory EXPLOSION!” He didn’t usually call out the name of the spell. But against Serena he needed every single drop of force he could bring to bear. Spheres of his ‘space’ formed around Serena, covering him head to toe energy building in them for a moment before they exploded in a series of deafening roars and bursts of blinding light.
Draculos cursed his nominal subordinate. Serena had not only allowed the fight to go back to the council building, but was endangering the lives of its employees. If he’d been there in the flesh instead of as a Thought Projection he’d have gone to end the fight. Instead he held only a fraction of his normal power and the best course was, in his estimate, evacuation of personnel.
The dungeons could come last. Criminals were less important than civilians. Still Serena’s utter recklessness was utterly repulsive.
Serena felt the explosive force slam against his diamond hardened flesh. He was drinking down the light and fire of the explosive bursts, absorbing it to recharge, as he spun towards the Darkness Dragon Slayer.
“So this is the power of a ‘real’ dragon slayer?” Serena asked, spinning towards Arthur. He swept his hand, purgatory and gale dragon slayer magic gathering. He was going to blast away this “real” dragon slayer, and show him the power of a dragon god. Only the annoying bird rammed into him. He felt the bird’s hooves kicking at him, a hundred kicks in a second, as the bronze bird lashed out at him. Even in his diamond fleshed form it staggered him.
The giant’s belts wrapped around him beginning to squeeze. Breaking it would have been casual if some stupid bird would stop kicking him in the face with its hooves. They didn’t do real damage, but they hurt nonetheless.
“Nihility lance!” He heard the shout, saw the first coming for his face covered in a spear of warped space. He hardened his body further, and he felt the lance scrape against his diamond shell and cut his skin.
He hadn’t been lying about the Darkness Dragon being a dud. Of the six lacrima in him it was the only one he couldn’t force to respond to his calls for the dragon force. He didn’t dare call on all 6 at once, last time he’d gone beyond 3 the power had almost overwhelmed him, a madness coming with it. He hoped he had grown since the battle with Alvarez, but he didn’t trust that limit to have increased. Still as he pulled on three lacrima for their power scales and claws forming on his hands. Compared to a first generation dragon slayer’s, or a fifth’s, a second generation’s dragon force was inconsequential as far as power went, but it did not require an outside force to access. It was a trump card Serena had not expected to need.
“Pathetic!” He roared, releasing a tearing burst of energy outwards. He was mixing three dragons’ magic at once, purgatory, gale, and cavern, creating a pyroclastic burst of terrible destructive force. A deadly wave of choking ash and burning air expanded outwards blasting apart the building in its wake. The bird hadn’t gotten away unscathed, a wing half-melted as it vanished its gate closed by the sheer enormity of the wound.
The giant’s belts fell scorched and burnt, lines criss-crossing its blue flesh where the flames had burned places that weren’t protected. And Serena was almost disappointed that he couldn’t see the enemy; he had apparently completely obliterated Fairy Knight Lancelot like he had most of the building.
Jiemma had not been allowed to follow his daughter to the holding cell when Serena had left to fight the Fairy Knight. When Serena had blown off the building’s front wall a panic had begun. Jiemma had taken the chance to hobble his way down into the dungeon.
He cursed the Fairy Knight. It was the knight’s fault that his leg was maimed, the knight’s fault that he could no longer use his left limbs, the knight’s fault that he had become one of the weak. And fear gripped his heart. He didn’t dare try to fight the man above. Not again. He didn’t dare stand against him. He wasn’t strong enough.
A God fought a monster on the surface, and he was nothing more than a cripple.
As he made his way into the cells, individuals approached the bars. He recognized them from the news. Half of the Oracion Seis. They’d been rounded up. The interim magic council’s big success which proved that the failures of the government were merely the corrupt, previous council and not the government as a whole.
“What’s going on up there?” One of them screamed, Jiemma didn’t bother to look to see which.
He raised a hand and released his blast magic, taking out the council’s lizard-people who were guarding the cells, and he rushed to Minerva’s cell. It wasn’t made of magic sealing stone. Only her shackles were.
“Minerva, stand back,” He said as a blast tore the cell’s door from the hinges.
“I said what’s going on up there!?” One of the Oracion Seis shouted again, and this time Jeimma turned to look. The Fairy Knight had been involved in their defeat from what he had heard during Minerva’s questioning.
“The man responsible for you being in here is fighting God Serena,” Jiemma said. Minerva’s eyes went wide, a look crossing her face which caused Jiemma to backhand her across the face on pure reflex. She shouldn’t feel hope because of that.
“That bastard,” Racer cursed. “He’s the one who turned Angel against Brain.”
“You want your revenge?” Jiemma asked, moving to Racer’s cell and shattering the bars with a blast, before grabbing his shackles and sending a blast through the magic sealing stone. “Take it.” He blasted the other cells open then as he limped he limped back to Minerva.
He was shattering her shackles the same way. “Minerva we’re leaving. You’re not strong enough to stand on this field.”
The ground shook, a wave of fire and deadly ash poured towards the dungeons and Jiemma’s hand rose. He fired a full powered blast, his fear of death lending it strength. It wasn’t enough. But suddenly the earth itself had flowed over and around, reinforcing the area. The heat was still horrible, the pain of the smoke searing his lungs. Minerva was gasping and coughing, as he wrapped his body around her as a final shield. She was his blood. His legacy. When he was dead and gone she would be what carried on his strength and will. He couldn’t let her die.
Hoteye and Midnight worked their magic to their limits to hold back the blast. It was barely enough to save the five in the dungeons.
The Magic Council Fiore branch building had been huge. And Serena had just obliterated it with one spell. The drain Arthur had felt from summoning Enif had stopped. Orion’s had spiked, pushing to levels that made Enif seem light as he drew as much energy as he could to survive and match his enemy.
He’d barely teleported away in time, the building being used as a barrier between them. Even so he’d had to block directly. His heart was pounding. He’d not felt something like this since the first time Georg had tried to kill him. He was outmatched and outclassed. And he knew it. And worse he was getting scared for Minerva.
He didn’t want to think about how he had probably just gotten her killed. He wanted to think about anything other than that fact. But his bounty board reassured him. The bounty for getting her away from her father and to a better life was not marked as failed.
She was alive. He told himself that meant she was alive and not just that it didn’t update immediately. She was alive. She had to be alive. He couldn’t bear her death on his conscience.
He should have rushed to Orion’s aid. Together they might have managed to bring down Serena. Instead he had let fear of Serena, and fear of guilt hold him still. He heard the crash of blows, and watched as Orion’s gigantic form launched backwards and disappeared.
He created a shielding wall of his ‘space’ and launched it as a visible slamming force. Serena hit against it and for a moment it started to crack and yield before Serena was sent flying backwards. In an instant Kochab’s key was in his hand, but he didn’t open the gate of Ursa Minor, instead merely calling on his celestial spirit dress. Blue, ursine themed armor formed around him, like the suit a knight might well, allowing Arthur to feel it reinforcing his strength and power.
Arthur’s mind was rushing as he glanced at purchase options in his mental HUD. MBP Body would probably let him beat Serena… but it might not keep Minerva safe. Magic Power 5 would turn the battle… but the collateral might kill her. Magical Skill 5? It might work.
He didn’t have time to consider it though. Serena had landed and launched forward. Arthur managed to teleport dodge, appearing behind him to strike out with a power armor clad fist. The ground erupted, a pillar of earth throwing off Arthur’s aim. Serena was on him in a moment, a diamond claw cutting through Arthur’s territory armor and scraping his new bear powered armor.
Altair’s key appeared in his hand. Serena had used 6 dragon powers. None of them had been lightning. The eagle appeared, and immediately Arthur was screaming, “Smite him!”
Lightning crashed down, Serena’s hands rising as he released elemental power up against it. Arthur felt the heavy drain, the two energies hitting with a shockwave that cracked boulders as far as the eye could see in this rocky, barren terrain. Serena pushed himself to his limits, forcing a fourth lacrima into a dragon force state, pouring all six elements into a single terrible blast.
Altair couldn’t dodge fast enough to avoid the light, but he’d done his duty. Serena had been kept stationary, and had expended enough power, for him to form his ‘space’ around each of Serena’s limbs. Whirling shadowed vortices of his energy each one a separate portal which exited miles from each other. He couldn’t close them while something was passing through them, so he couldn’t actually sever Serena’s limbs, but he could hold them in place, stuck through the portals he had formed miles apart, Serena’s body suspended by the portals which were fixed in position and had tightened around his arms and legs until it was impossible to push them deeper, and nearly so to pull them back out.
“What?” Serena shouted as he struggled.
Arthur rushed forward, one of his archive screens forming in Serena’s face and slamming against it. It was hard-light, though, and Serena merely consumed it.
Arthur formed a slamming wall of his ‘space’ and then another and another without counting, sending them hitting into Serena with enough force to crack a mountain side. Diamond scales and armor formed across Serena’s body, slowly being chipped away, at a rate Arthur couldn’t afford.
He called his black sword into his hand, wrapping it in his territory magic, a nihility blade, made to sever space in its path, and then he launched himself forward with explosions under his feet.
His sword hit diamond, it scraped, it penetrated, he felt the song of the sword as it drank deep of Serena’s blood and power. But it hadn’t been a direct hit. The diamond scales had forced the point to the side and he was merely cutting along his gut. A deep wound, a bad wound, a hole in his side, but it wasn’t a vital spot.
Arthur felt himself slam into the diamond torso, his armor insufficient to fully take the impact. Still he just needed to make the next moments count. He was a hardy sort, pain hurt but it didn’t rule him. Blood flecked his lips, he’d broken at least a rib on impact against Serena, and he turned to bring his sword around, bringing it around to stab into Serena. He’d not make it through the diamond armor, but where it’d already been cut the blade could sink deeper. He just needed to be fast enough; he felt his space shattering, saw a blinding flash of light forcing him to trust the black sword’s hunger to aim for him. Serena was free, and he just had to hope that Serena wouldn’t manage to dodge the thrust he’d already begun.
He felt the blade scrape against Serena’s diamond coated flesh when suddenly a leg struck him in the head. He barely felt it through his helmet, but he made the mistake of glancing where he saw the blur which was Racer. A tornado of rocks slammed into him, cavern and gale dragon slayer magic used in conjunction, sending him flying back. He landed on his feet, the Kochab spirit dress, much to his relief, providing him with armor superior to his Territory Armor, but immediately ground rose around him then, a wave of liquid earth sweeping over him. He summoned his chaos shield, the earth stabilizing but it was still all about him, burying him alive, dirt against his face and body.
He roared. Or well he exhaled in a huff against the dirt trying to press into his mouth and nose. Darkness erupted from his nostrils, and his slightly open mouth, and the earth blasted away. Territory magic brought him into the sky, and before he could teleport again, he felt the wind strike him, tearing into him, shards of diamond slamming against his blue armor, puncturing it and cutting his flesh even as he wrapped his territory magic around himself just for an extra layer of shielding.
He fell to the ground, hitting hard enough to sink his way into it. He teleported, wildly and without aiming. He was rewarded by seeing the ground erupt in a plume of dirt as a - still diamond - God Serena slammed his fist into it.
He felt a fist strike him, a foot, a fist, a fist, a foot, a fist, knee, fist, elbow, foot, fist, fist, fist, knee, headbutt… He couldn’t keep track of the blows. They didn’t do anything but jostle him but they all seemed to be coming in the space of a second. It was Racer of the Oracion Seis.
And he wasn’t alone. The angular-faced member, Hoteye, raised his hand and liquid earth rose up only to be forced back the chaos shield. The same shield was - mostly - blocking Midnight’s magic. He couldn’t twist anything within its radius. Still he could launch things, twisting the space around the still molten rubble of the building and launching it towards Arthur. The Oracion Seis usually operated solo, because they were strong enough not to need the help, but as a team they were beyond deadly.
Overwhelmed, Arthur released his ‘space’ outwards. He hardened the fabric of space in the area and launched it outwards as walls of force, just slamming everything in the area backwards. Racer, Hoteye, and Midnight all three found themselves thrown backwards.
Only Serena, his hand smoking and shining remained standing. The 6 Dragon God was panting, but Arthur felt exhausted as well. He needed to flee. But he was too exhausted to teleport to Crocus, much less Gazania, and he wasn’t sure that would be far enough to escape Serena.
“Dragon God’s Fang!” Serena shouted, a serpentine dragon of fire erupting beneath Arthur. He teleported. A dragon of terrible tearing wind struck him, his territory wrapping tightly around him as his spirit dress shredded a bit more. He teleported. A dragon of stone rose towards him, but he teleported again before impact. A diamond serpent slammed towards him, hitting through his armor on his back shattering what was left of the spirit dress as he teleported. The one of light, though, was simply too fast for him. He felt it hit, felt it all around and through him. He hardened his territory, unable to teleport, and then he hit the ground.
Arthur struggled to his feet. Serena was wobbling, panting heavily. Arthur was barely able to move forward. He couldn’t count the bones he’d broken in this fight. His leg was broken, a piece of bone visibly jutting from his flesh. His sword arm was limp and useless.
Serena was grasping his side, sagging a little. The Oracion Seis were laying on the ground as Arthur limped towards Serena. Neither of them had any fight left in them, Arthur barely having enough power to swap his sword and shield, taking the blade in his hand.
“I’ll kill you,” Serena spat, hand moving outwards, a blast of light erupting from it. Arthur was spent. He couldn’t gather enough energy to teleport before the light hit him. Everything went white.
“I got here just in the nick of time,” Came a voice from above him. Arthur realized he was in his horologium spirit. “This one will soon be asking if I’m ok,” The clock said with a bit of a self-chuckle.
Serena looked at the clock, his face going white with despair. He couldn’t believe his final attack had failed. He couldn’t push the dragon force from his lacrima any longer. All 5 of them were spent in that regard. He didn’t have any ethernado left in him. All that was left was to watch and wait. He couldn’t even rise to his feet.
He had lost.
Arthur stepped out of the horologium, limping towards Serena, and then he heard the horologium shout out. “Watch out be-” He didn’t hear the end as something, or someone, hit him in the back of the head and everything went black.