His plan was simple but dangerous. He and Myra were going to sneak past the enemies and try to block their path pf retreat. The trickiest part was making their way to the opposite side of the enemy troops. Owen wanted to avoid as many casualties as possible, but the only way to do that would be to take out their commander, in this case the Sergeant Major, and hope it would be enough.
In preparation, Peggy has purchased several smoke bombs in the shops, using them to create a way for Myra and him to sneak closer. They didn't cover a lot of area, but if they timed it perfectly, they hopefully would be able to, at the very least get close. The second step, was going to be even riskier in Owen's mind. He was going to go send Briar to wreak havoc and they would try and sneak by, while Briar was holding the majority of the attention. Then that would hopefully be enough to sneak past everyone in their way and allow them to end the battle before there were any casualties.
The plan almost immediately went wrong, Myra hadn't been healed yet, which the plan had been expecting since they thought they had more time. The second issue was also cause by the troops attacking earlier that they had hoped they would. "I guess all of that planning is out the window for now then." Owen sighed. "Though I guess there is a good chance just defeating the Sergeant major wouldn't have been enough."
The three of them looked out and scanned the defenses as they were feeling at least a little proud. Several of the buildings in the surrounding area had been destroyed, with the neighboring buildings next to the clinic building being the only ones standing on the block. Several of the reflective sheets were hanging on these moveable stands, allowing for easy movement to block oncoming aerial attacks.
Several what looked like glass walls had been erected around the clinic itself and with minimal protection for the buildings next to them. However there were still glass walls between the clinic and the other two buildings. It didn't look like any defensive formation Owen was even remotely familiar with, but the test shots fired by their enemy were still getting stuck in the glass walls, then absorbed, before the wall healed itself.
It wasn't a perfect defense, since if they were able to focus fire in one location they would be able to easily break through the walls, but thankfully it didn't look like anyone that accurate had made an appearance yet.
"We don't have a lot of time to plan anything other than your original, but you'll have to do it on your own," Peggy said seriously. "If both of you are gone they will notice and be on guard." Owen had wanted to protest, but had to agree that too many prominent figures being absent would raise alarms. Myra was the one that spoke up first. "I somehow have this feeling that my arm will be done healing in the next ten minutes. We will need to stall until then, unless they keep themselves at bay, which I doubt."
Owen just grinned, "I have an idea."
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The Sergeant Major Clarkson was pacing back and forth, they had only seen three defenders so far as well as civilians hiding in their homes. "How dare they convince the common man that we are the enemy. We are the goddamn united states, not some back water country that is going to rob you of your wealth to keep you in the dump your whole life." He growled to himself.
He had sent men out to test the defenses that this "guild" had erected and was disappointed to see there was system craftsmanship at play. He had already received a report about the glass walls and how they kept absorbing ammo. He had them fire a couple rounds a minute after that, no use wasting ammo. Finally, having come to a decision, he turned to the men still faithful to the united states and their military.
He was disappointed in the numbers, less than 25, it was a miserable showing on his part. Some upstart at base had managed to gather a following and convince many of the soldiers on base that what the Sergeant Major was doing was wrong. It was despicable words from a cowardly man. But it was no matter, while he only had 25 US soldiers, he had managed to find someone who was at a decently high level volunteer to help out the government. The only thing they asked for in exchange was that they have free access to the guild shop.
It was more than an even trade, but Clarkson was going to find a way to keep this character on a tight leash. The last thing he wanted was them being betrayed and the civilians thinking they could just stomp over america's image.
Glancing to the side, the high leveled man made him uncomfortable, but he refused to show it. He was a very androgynous man with clothing they didn't seem to specifically hint towards any gender that the Sergeant could see, but given he didn't look overly female, the sergeant was glad to have him on board, though he could use a haircut.
"We have those on our country's very soil disgracing all our soldiers have lived and died for. Let's show those pansy motherfuckers why it's not a good idea to mess with the USA." A chant picked up as the Sergeant Major finished speaking, feeling very proud of himself as there were cheers coming from the group of men, but one glance at their "associate" was enough to make his blood run cold. He had what he could only describe as an evil grin plastered on his face and what looked like blood pouring out of the sides of his eyes.
He would definitely have to put him in his place after they were done, but for now, the Sergeant let him stew, definitely not at all worried about the safety of him and his men.
Holding up his arm in salute, he and his men stormed out of the tent ready to put this traitorous dogs in their place. The Sergeant Major had to hold back a scream as an enormous monster crashed into the center of their group of troops. Vines shot everywhere and several soldiers were knocked down by large almost 30cm long thorns. Havoc tore its way across the battlefield. The Sergeant was beginning to worry that this boss would be the death of his men and the US, but the hired help, jumped in front of the monster.
Two scythes glinted in the sun, each one colored black, with the blade being colored blue on one and red on the other.
The figure then danced. As if listening to a song, he wove between attacks, each movement looking like it carried with it an air of ease and grace. Every vine, thorn ice or even what looked like bolts of lightning, was sliced in half before it had the chance to harm anyone. The Sergeant couldn't help but be mesmerized by the figure, as they slowly and methodically made their way closer to the monsters.
In an incredibly one sided fight, the monster eventually vanished leaving everyone confused, including the figure. Jumping down in its place was a man that the Sergeant very much recognized. It was that stupid boy, that thought he was a man. He had originally been nice in an attempt to recruit him, but he wouldn't allow him to make that mistake again. "KILL HIM!" He roared at the man wielding scythes. He felt a crunch as something made him collapse into the ground, looking back, the he was horrified to see that the monster that the man had been battling earlier appeared behind him and his troops.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
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Owen stood extremely cautiously in front of the figure wielding scythes. They stood well above 2 meters, long jet black hair, each eye matching with their scythes. Owen was pretty sure it was called heterochromia, but couldn't be positive.
"What do you want?" Owen asked, trying to put on a braze face. He had watched the fight and was surprised time and time again as the person standing in front of him had easily dismantled every attack made and forced Briar to return to bracelet form to recover.
The person only smiled as they dipped down into a bow. "I see, you must be in charge of this guild location, your strength is so close to mine and yet you are such a low level." The voice matched their appearance as their androgynous voice floated through the air, soft as a whisper. It unsettled Owen, but he didn't let it show as he stared at the figure in shock. They had somehow managed to identify him and see his stats. Since the figure wasn't moving, Owen decided he would do the same, using the unlocked Keen Eye.
*Quinn - Level 54
Vitality = 23
Mana = 50
Strength = 40
Perception = 22
Agility = 34
Resilience = 14
Dexterity = 32
Luck = 10
Affinity = 65*
"Holy fuck," Owen let out in a faint whisper, they were strong, probably too strong for him. Maybe if he and Myra were in peak condition, with him having a boosting skill, they might have a chance, but those stats were insane. Though it did make his realize how broken he was, he truly did almost have the same amount of stats as his opponent, but his were far more evenly spaced out, whereas this person had them balance but also several incredible standouts.
"I'm sure we can come to a decision peacefully?" Owen said more as a question than anything else. The figure just smiled and changed their posture to one that screamed combat. "There is nothing I want more than to test myself, afterwards I will use your guild shop then leave. Though I am sorry to say that I can't leave anyone alive, I can't have bad rumors spreading about me." A poor imitation of an innocent smile met their lips as they stared at Owen.
Cursing under his breath, Owen forced mana into his body and all of his extremities, creating a poor man's boosting skill. He was practically bleeding mana, but it was a necessity if he wanted any chance at staying alive. Brandishing his spear, he prepared in his own stance, chaos and mana coating his spear and he charged it chalk full of energies. Both of them burst forward at the same time and Owen barely managed to dodge both scythes as one chopped at his shoulders and another at his legs.
Owen had originally been confident that at the very least he would have time to attack, but his opponents agility was far too high to give him any breathing room. After several seconds of being on the backfoot dodging any and every attack, his opponents smiled and a scorpion tail grew out of his opponents back. It took Owen a second, but he stared in horror as it wasn't a scorpion tail at all. It had a thick shell around most of it, but at the end of the tail was a human hand holding a third scythe.
He didn't have any more time than that to observe as the man began attacking even faster. He had mostly been blocking his the mana edge throughout the fight, though there had been few instances where he could block rather than dodge, but realizing it was getting him nowhere, he began trying to deflect with the chaos edge. Several attacks came and went as Owen had to continue to dodge, but finally he saw his opportunity. The man brought back the weird tail as both of his real arms began to attack with a ferocity Owen hadn't seen from anyone other than Myra.
With there being so many weapons in play, the tail had to wait for an opportune time to strike, but Owen had been waiting for that. In a large sweeping motion, the scythe torn through the air causing a loud whistling sound. Raising his chaos edge to block, Owen leapt forwards and just as he expected, the tail curved in on itself bringing it towards him at even greater speeds. Slicing his spear forwards as if it were a greatsword, chaos met a yellow infused scythe blade.
The whole world seemed to freeze in that moment as the scythe and chaos clashed against each other, but thankfully, just as Owen expected chaos came out the victor. The scythe cracked and shattered in an explosion of mana and chaos, the hand and most of the tail that had been attached to the scythe cause his opponent to be thrown across the street crashing into one of the glass walls that were set up to protect the clinic.
Despite having seen bullets crash into the wall and be absorbed, his opponents shattered the wall entirely before landing in a heap. Owen wasn't much better himself as he had been thrown the opposite direction, sending him into a building more than a city block away. His whole body ached as he began channeling his HP to heal as many wounds as possible. He hadn't managed to dodge every attack perfectly and several small gashes littered his body, but even so, he forced himself into a standing position.
He had barely managed to focus his eyes on his surroundings, before he saw a scythe swinging for his neck. He hadn't even known it was something he could do, but his whole body felt like it turned to jelly, as he collapsed to fall under the scythe. He had slightly controlled the direction of his fall though and turned it into a roll, before rushing away from his opponent chasing him. Cursing his luck as he ran, he tried activating the special effect of his keen eye skill.
Time seemed to slow as eh saw the notification.
*You have witnessed the Human Quinn fight and have been able to grasp some of their fighting style. Would you like to view the emperor defeating this type of enemy in battle? Y/N?*
Without a second more of hesitation he selected yes. The world shifted around him, bringing him to a very familiar place. He was standing in the courtyard he had trained in with Xerxes. Standing there in front of him was what looked like a ghost version of Xerxes. There was more detail this time and Owen was able to notice even smaller details, but he turned his attention back to the moment. Standing in front of the echo of Xerxes was what looked like a ghost without any discernable features, but it wielded two scythe and proceeded to turn into a whirlwind of death.
Each deflect by Xerxes was intentional, forcing the scythes to move in a pattern as he deflected them ever so slightly to have complete control over their trajectory. Owen watched the pattern and stretched his perception to its limits as he tried to internalize everything shown. Before long, the echo's scythes had been forced away from its body, leaving an opening for Xerxes to stab forward with insane speed, piercing the echo through the head.
The vision faded away and the world began to speed back up as Owen turned to meet his attacker. He very carefully followed each of the movements that he had seen done by the echo of his master. But he immediately noticed an issue, just like the first time he had seen it, the vision seemed to place both participants on the same level, which wasn't accurate to Owen's situation. Several gashes were torn across his arms and legs and his opponent never stopped attacking, fire began licking across Owen arms and chest as he got a notification, but he pushed it aside. Ice also began collecting on some of his other wounds and Owen could feel his resources almost having hit rock bottom.
Despite his injuries, he had managed to deflect several attacks properly forcing an opening. Owen didn't waste a second as with full force he stabbed his spear towards his opponents head. Winds whistled as his spear met little resistance, until both scythes somehow managed to catch it. In a cross pattern, Quinn had managed to catch it with both scythe blades, with incredible force, the scythes snapped Owen's spear in two, leaving him without a weapon, standing in front of an enemy he hadn't managed to deal with at all.
"You are out of your depth, but let's begin round two," Quinn cackled as they began their attacks once more.