Glenn rolled on the ground before dashing toward the giant red jewel.
'If you destroy that thing, it's over!' Diamanes exclaimed, encouraging the young man in his efforts. The giant Amalgam behind him was still struggling to get his bearing back, leaving him a small window of opportunity to break the damned jewel. He clenched his teeth and shot a volley of Drilling Bullets, frowning when the attacks only disappeared when they landed on the stone. Diamanes hesitantly commented.
'I think it absorbed the attack, similarly to how I do it...Huh, how repulsing!'
Glenn switched to a more physical method without thinking much about it. If that thing absorbed Mana, he just had to not use it! He stopped channeling Mana in his axe, making it back into a strange but ultimately plain axe again. He stopped in front of the stone, that was trembling in preparation for the birth of its next horrible infant.
"Cutting things in two seems to work wonders every time," Glenn slowly stated, raising the axe high above his head, straining the muscles in his arms as powerfully as could. He drew a deep breath, and the stone froze as if waiting for the blade to fall.
"...Maybe this time again!" The young man roared, hacking down with all his might. The stone suddenly split open and a hand missing strips of flesh came out and grabbed the blade, stopping it straight. Glenn's eyes widened, and he then tried to pull the weapon out, but it was as if it was stuck in stone. Another hand came out of the stone, similarly barely formed, pulling its main body out. The young man took a step back as a humanoid came out of the stone, stumbling on his steps while holding the axe's blade.
It had two legs, two arms, a head, everything a human should have, but it was perhaps the most horrible thing that this jewel had birthed until now. Flesh grew where it was previously missing, and the humanoid's muscles strained to the maximum of their capacity. Blood flowed out as it got out of the stone. It pushed the axe away, its head leaning back as it slowly woke up. Glenn felt every fiber of his being shake in the presence of this creature.
Every instinct he had where telling him to run away, and yet he couldn't move. The stone behind the humanoid shattered into dust, leaving nothing but a puddle of blood and flesh behind. Screams suddenly began coming from outside of the church, as the villagers probably got hold of their minds back. The humanoid breathed in deeply, the sound strangely disagreeable in Glenn's ears. The Amalgam behind Glenn suddenly ignored its confusion and threw itself on the floor, crawling in adoration.
Sahro, Javier, and Josh stared in horror as their opponent, Gentle Knight, suddenly moaned maniacally before planting his broken sword in his chest. He coughed out black blood with a smiling mouth, his teeth rotten and his eyes rolling in their sockets. His dark armor seemed to become one with the Fallen Knight, the shadows Sahro had previously managed to disperse coming back, shaping into a horrifying long sword and a cape. Blood seeped out of the armor like a fountain, while the broken body fixed itself. The Dark Knight suddenly knelt, planting his sword on the ground, making the ones fighting him look in the direction he was worshipping.
The Black Heir winced when he saw Glenn standing alone in front of the humanoid creature while the Giant Amalgam was crawling behind him.
"We need to get rid of this creep and go help Glenn!" Sahro yelled out, waking Josh and Javier from their bewilderment after seeing what their teammate was fighting alone. They threw themselves at the Dark Knight, who silently swung his longsword out, sweeping them back effortlessly. Sahro clenched his teeth and kept on drawing the strength he shouldn't have, fighting to the last drop of energy he had. Javier and Josh assisted him the best he could by shooting either Aura or Mana-charged arrows, but the Dark Knight avoided or deflected most of those without any struggle.
In the meanwhile, Glenn looked back and saw the others fight what was previously Gentle Knight, before shaking his head and trying to pull himself together. His left hand was burning with searing pain, but he didn't need the friendly reminder of the Goddess to realize that what he had in front of him was a pure incarnation of Evil. The humanoid had long black hair growing on his head, his skin without any blemishes or defects. It was the incarnation of beauty and perfection, only in a horrible way.
Because Glenn had recognized the face of the humanoid.
It was the perfect fusion of Toumu Toula and Valer's faces. The fusion of a Southern Continent fighter and a Mage from King's Rise. Glenn gulped as he turned while keeping his eyes on the creature which seemed to remain unmoving for now.
"Can you remind me how strong were Valer and Toumu Toula, Josh?" He asked with an unsure voice. An explosion echoed behind him before a panicked voice answered him.
"STRONGER THAN ME! SHIT—" Josh flew through the church, crashing into one of the walls, knocked out. His chest was caved in from the powerful hit he just endured. Glenn paled, before tightening his hold over the axe. He had to do something!
'Get rid of the Amalgam first!' Diamanes yelled in his mind, lighting up Glenn's foggy thoughts. The young man turned on his feet and hacked down on the gigantic creature crawling behind him with all his strength and most of his Mana. The Amalgam wasn't expecting to get attacked during this time of prayer and worship, and couldn't react to the sudden attack. The axe flared up as it exploded the upper torso of the creature, finally killing it.
'Not the fairest way to win, but still a win,' Glenn thought, before jumping over the creature and taking some distance from Toumu Toula and Valer's fusion. The humanoid swept its long hair back, finally moving, letting out a long sigh at the same time. The young man shook on his knees before biting his lips bloody, waking himself with the pain.
"...No time to be scared, damn it...!" He mumbled while channeling the most powerful spell he could muster, a Blackhole. The humanoid opened its arms widely as the ceiling crumbled, letting a few rays of light into the church. Somehow, it was already the day outside, even though they had begun fighting at the start of the night.
'This Mother truly has a knack for using the light switch,' Diamanes said with a snarky comment. Glenn ignored him, his attention focused on his opponent. Perhaps he could do him the same way as the others, a heavy axe hit in the head or a powerful spell. There had to be a way!
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But strangely, he couldn't help but feel like there was no use. The humanoid leaned back up, letting the sun hit his face. He smiled wickedly, closing his eyes as he enjoyed the warmth.
"Hahhh...Here I am, back again!" A loud, evil laughter followed that declaration, echoing in the church. Glenn clenched his teeth and shot the Blackhole out at the humanoid. The dark ball flew calmly, slowly growing as it aspired to everything in its surroundings. The humanoid's eyebrows rose curiously, and he walked toward the spell without fear. Glenn smiled and almost pumped his fist at the sight. There was no way for anything to get out of the Blackhole's attraction—
"Ohh, how fun! Is that a ball?" The humanoid exclaimed happily, grabbing the Blackhole with his bare hands in a paradoxical movement, throwing it up and down like one would do with a normal ball. The surroundings trembled at the play as reality itself began to strain under the strength of the spell. Glenn had devised it for it to grow stronger the longer it lasted, which is why he'd rather not use it too much or risk destroying and killing everyone in the vicinity
'Is he...juggling with a Blackhole? How...how much of a flex is that on you?' Diamanes exclaimed with awe. His host spat his fear and instead held his left hand open, letting a torrent of Liquid Nitrogen toward the humanoid. The creature looked in puzzlement, before clenching his fist and dispersing the Blackhole like it was nothing. He then clapped his hands together while whispering cryptic runes, a blue magic circle appearing in front of him. A volley of ice projectiles came out of the circle, shooting at great speed toward Glenn's attack. Nitrogen and ice met in a lustrous manner, forming a surreal sculpture of dark ice in a mist of otherworldly coldness.
Glenn roared and focused his Mana in his right hand while infusing carefully the Nitrogen in the spell he was preparing. He had never tried this kind of thing, but it should technically be possible. Technically. The humanoid looked at the ice sculpture in admiration, like a child in front of something he had never seen before. He suddenly flicked his head, listening to some unknown voices. His face scrunched up as he crossed his arms, completely ignoring Glenn's attack.
"No, no way! Why would I kill all these people, I don't even know them! They have tried to hurt me?" The humanoid shook his head, chuckling, "...Nah, they were just playing. Look, we played ball, ice sculpture, and I think it's going to be..." He threw a casual glance at the storm of Mana getting compressed in Glenn's hand, grinning to his ears madly, "...Snowball fights, maybe?"
The young man infused the last drop of his power in the attack, before shooting it outward. Diamanes muttered in his mind without meaning to.
'Ice Nova.'
Huh. What a fitting name. The attack flew at insane speed, swallowing everything in its path and pulsing with cold energy, ready to explode at any second. The humanoid lazily stretched his hand out, when his fingers touched the Ice Nova. His eyebrows suddenly twitched, and he tried to retract his arm, but he was a second too late and was entirely swallowed by the explosion. The power of the attack made the church crumble down entirely, the statue that was set up on top of it planting itself in the ground like a fallen angel.
In the meanwhile.
Javier nodded at Sahro, who dashed with his fists covered in Aura. Arrows infused with grim energy flew past him, which the Dark Knight precisely deflected, swinging his longsword like it was a stick. The aim wasn't to hurt the Knight, though, but to distract him for even a second, and it succeeded. Sahro used the small instant to slip under the longsword, before rising upward and punching out. The Dark Knight was slightly raised from the ground, before falling back down with a loud sound, making the ground shake slightly under his weight.
Sahro's thoughts were racing as he tried to find a way to defeat this opponent. He had to find a weapon that could contain his powers, but what? Not even the curved sword he left back in his tent would be able to support the brunt of his current Aura-charged attacks. What could he— The Black Heir wasn't given another second as the Knight kicked him away, seemingly unharmed from the powerful attack that could blow entire Amalgams away.
Javier kept on shooting without stopping, even if his attacks seemed to not be working. Sahro could only admire the cold determination of this silent, pale-skinned hunter. But sadly, only that wasn't enough. The Dark Knight suddenly lunged forward, before sending a huge blade toward the Pale Kin. Javier jumped over it without hesitation, only to be met with the cold gauntlet of the Knight, who knocked him away with a powerful punch.
Sahro didn't even bother checking whether Javier was alive or not, instead choosing to compress his Aura to the maximum to try and replicate the hit he used previously to defeat Gentle Knight. If only he could summon that strength again...! His Sigil lit up once again like an inexorable source of strength, fueling him by his will with power. Sahro's eyes were stuck on a small defect in the Dark Knight's armor, where he previously punched the Gentle Knight's snobby face.
"...If I can just pierce it...!" He hissed through his teeth, focusing his entire concentration on that. Piercing the Dark Knight's head. That's the only thing he desired right now, the only thing he needed to do!
The Aura suddenly shaped into a spear, and a second later, he lunged forward in a thundering sound, his speed surpassing the speed of sound as the Dark Knight turned around in a defensive position. As good as the Knight was, there was nothing he could do against his attacker. Barely anything, truly.
A blue light flashed with the crimson Aura, and the dark helmet exploded, pierced by Sahro's attack. The Dark Knight stumbled, his longsword slipping from his hands and falling on the ground, the shadows covering it disappearing in the surroundings. The dark armor went back to white, but it wasn't the pristine as it was before. It was an old white, without any luster, a white that seemed to have been forgotten by time itself.
Gentle Knight kneeled, his armor clanking loudly as it disintegrated, before falling entirely, a puddle of blood forming rapidly around his body. Sahro turned his attention toward Glenn's fight, only to see the ground approaching at great speed.
'Huh? Why is the ground there?' A second later, he was passed out, unconscious. His left arm was throbbing with pain, for some reason, but he couldn't help losing consciousness.
Hopefully, Glenn will be able to win his fight.
Otherwise...They were all dead.
In the meanwhile, on Glenn's side.
"What the fuck am I supposed to do?" He screamed out in both despair and exasperation. He had thrown out every attack he could at the creature, every spell he could muster, even the Ominous Weird Ass Hand, only to have it explode in a weird purple smoke that did nothing to the creature. The humanoid was only playing with him, having fun with the attacks, treating them either like jokes or toys!
'This is making me crazy!' He thought, before hacking at the creature's waist with his flaming axe, only to have it be stopped once again by the humanoid who only laughed mockingly, not even commenting on the attack.
"Just kill me already, you fucking bastard!" Glenn yelled out, his eyes bloodshot with frustration. The humanoid's happy expression suddenly froze, and he took a step back.
"...But why should I kill you?" He innocently asked, "...when playing with you is so damned fun!", exploding in laughter while pointing a finger at the pitiful creature in front of him. He then suddenly sighed, shrugging, before turning seriously toward Glenn.
"...I guess we're done playing though. See you never," The creature sneered while shaking his head dejectedly. The young man took a step back, preparing himself, when he felt the ground suddenly close up on his face.
'Am I...falling asleep? But...why?'
"How greedy, Mother...How greedy," The monster's figure slowly disappeared as darkness filled his eyes.
The sound of Glenn's body crashing on the ground echoed in the church.
Only blood remained.