Tides Of Protomis CVIII

Struggle

A strategy was needed, and needed soon. Their battle was going nowhere near as well as they would’ve hoped. Sigma was, without a doubt, a large threat to the group. Brute strength wasn’t going to get them out of their current situation. But with Sigma seeming unwilling to let any strategies be formed, It seemed that they’d have to improvise. To that end, Arctaius made his way toward Zhao, firing off a pulse of water, and getting the acid out of his skin, thankfully, removing it.

“We’ll need to watch out for that from now on. The last thing we need is for anything important to get hit…” Arctaius commented. With a flash of light, and dust kipped upward, he leaped back into the fray. Decidedly joining him were Liang, and Alarick.

“I’ll distract him for the time being, Strike when you see the opportunity!” The chuojiao practitioner acted upon his words, a hum, and blue luminance emanating from his body. With practice ease, this aura went from a formless flame, to the shape of a long.

“Chuojiao Art: Azure Dragon’s Rush!” The light constructed beast speeded forward, toward the set target. But it seemed as if Sigma was prepared for this, evading, and making his own attempt at an attack, rushing toward Liang. But the martial artist seemed prepared for the possibility, it did not take long for him to brandish a different weapon. A strange shaped spear with a number of blades extending from the rod. Whether it would do any lasting damage was a question, but if the general believed it did, that would work.

Elsewhere, Arctaius and Alarick glanced at each other, and, as Jirou joined them, all three nodded. A sort of silent communication that only made sense with how they’d fought alongside each other. But It seemed they would not be alone in their attack, as zhao joined them without a word Their next actions were quick, an ascent further into the sky, to the point where their allies below began to look like ants, and a subsequent activation of their abilities. Zhao’s Qi barrier surrounds him, hoping to keep things like that acid from touching him again, the Activation of the void blade, and Arctaius’ trademark yellow light. As for the Yakuza, he himself was forging a field of increased gravity, directly behind them.

“Looks distracted enough to me…. Gravity Well, Formula 15!” A quick descent had begun, much quicker than the members of the group were normally capable of…. And while it seemed as if they may have been able to land a clean hit in. It seemed that within a moment, Liang’s situation had changed… With a swipe from the general’s feelers, he was knocked away. And long before they’d gotten close, a quick pivot toward them told the group all they needed to know.

“He knew the whole time, Break!” Arctaius yelled.

And apparently, he did so at the right time, as rays of acid were careening toward them in short order. Something they only narrowly dodged. Just as Arctaisu had thought of changing his attack plan, he found that his enemy was there, and he was in his place no longer, a result of his charge. And the others who joined him soon closed in from two different directions, with the one attacked rebounding. Beginning a relentless attack within moments. A swipe from the void blade, Dodged. A kick from Arctaius, dodged. A palm strike from Zhao, Eluded… Swipe, dodge, strike, dodge. A pattern was starting to form, the general had barely even changed his position, and yet, he still hadn’t even been marked. The situation only became worse with his counterattack, Point blank beams of acid, that hit both Alarick, and Arctaius’ torso’s. Forcing the latter to act quickly, and wash the liquid away.

A retreat followed, as the situation became clear. But the acid was soon sent to follow them. Arctaius’ watchful gaze moved over his shoulder, and he promptly shouted out.

“Grand Cascade!” While a technique that normally went unused, it had its uses. It managed to stop the acid, but it could not stop the oncoming charge.. But another one of their members tried to do just that, placing a field of red hex combs between his allies, and the general. Which seemed to give him some pause, even if it didn’t stand up to his attack. The four members of the group who were strangely missing, Miyamoto, Kazimir, Gilga, and Hyperion, now stood by their allies.

“That guy’s an issue, am I right?” As Kazimir spoke, he was eyed by Alarick.

“That he was… Just what were you two doing?”

Miyamoto stepped forward, a smirk on her face.

“We decided to hang back and analyze what we were seeing… There are two big problems I see. While his attacks are strong, that’s not the main Issue, he’s too fast for any of us to attack, and his instinct is good. Not to mention that acid he keeps spitting… We need to find a way to Immobilize him so we can actually damage him. We’ll keep running around in circles at this rate.” Miyamoto stated.

“In that regard, I have a way to take care of his acid. My water seems to be doing the job of diluting it well, But i’ll need to keep myself hidden and in the right position to intercept. Otherwise, he’ll just attack the moment I pop up…” Arctaius’ words were meant with nods.

“I’ll try using my Telekinesis to hold him down, but if that doesn't work, Then we have Jirou. Hyperion and Gilga can attack him when we have him trapped.”

Hyperion gave Kazimir a thumbs up… Surprising,given that was usually a thing humans did, but it was not important enough to comment on. As they looked back into the sky above, they found that Both Jirou and Liang had jumped back into the battle. A storm of strikes, each attacking where the other wasn’t, but it seemed that their attacks still went wide and ultimately ended up useless. But they did not intend to have that be the case for long. A crimson light swirling around Kazimir flared up, as his influence was pushed outward, and from there, focused upon his opponent. For a moment, the being was left in capable of moving, enough for Liang to cut the demon with his polearm, and Jirou’s fist to make impact. The injuries were by no means deep, but they existed.

The brief triumph did not last for long, as the red cloak that formerly covered the general had disappeared, and he was attacking once more. Jirou and Liang were thrown away, but he did not stop there, rushing toward Kazimir, and shooting off acid point blank. Very likely, the man would have gotten a face full of it, had it not been for Arctaius’ interference. A jet water pressure forced the ray to split, sparing Kazimir from the effects of the attack. As for the man himself, he pushed his own energy further into his arm, Pulling it back, and shouting out

“Espers Fist!”

With these words said, a physic enhanced punch rushed forth, knocking the demon back, but evidently, it was not enough to take him out of the fight. The being’s graspers took hold of the offending arm, as he flew to the ground, dragging him across the rough ground, and launching him into the sky once more. He rushed to finish him, then and there. But Miyamoto quickly intervened to protect him, a thrown Javelin formed of her demonic energy. Which Planted itself into one of Sigma's arms. The damage was minor, but enough to give him pause. Which seemed to be more than enough for Kazimir.

The esper created distance between himself and Sigma, making an upward motion with his hand, and uprooting the ground below. Then. Next, clamping it closed, and causing the rubble to begin closing in on the being. A rapidly forming planetoid… Sigma acted quickly, beginning to make his way out. But he found himself being fired at on all sides, by the same pieces of earth his opponent used. To that end, he began weaving around them with practiced ease. Firing off rays of acid and disintegrating them within seconds. Whatever method he decided to use, the volley remained ineffective. But one of these methods was rendered useless with the appearance of Arctaius, who used a rock, controlled by his ally, as a method of transportation, rather than flight.

"So that's his strategy… He didn't fly on his own to avoid alerting my senses. Blending in with the objects that one's telekinesis threw. An interesting strategy, but not one that will defeat me."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

It did not take long for other members of the group to begin closing in on him. Zhao from the right, Miyamoto from the left. One holding his Dao, the other, her Tachi. This battle wasn't going to be easy, Zhao knew that much, it seemed that he would have to make use of that…

"Guo Art - Quán Shì Sān Yǎn!" With the technique's name invoked, the skin on Zhao's forehead began to part, revealing the namesake, a third eye. He may very well end up with a situation like Minoru, where he knew where the attack was coming from, but couldn't move fast enough to counter it.. But any advantage they could get was needed. He had no plans of dying here, especially not with the two kids he left behind in their own world. melee began in short order. A lateral swipe from Zhao. Causing the demon to move preemptively. Only for the blade to change direction mid-Swing, and the strike nearly landed. But the demon was swift enough to elude him. In a moment, Sigma was flying out of the field of debris. Ascending farther into the sky, and looking down upon his opponents. And with no more words, he began flashing through the sky, firing off bursts of acid from a variety of different directions, multiple for a single opponent, at that. All of the group’s members had to act quickly. While Arctaius shot pulses of water out as quick as he could, he was not safe either.

Kazimir began to change up his own strategy, moving to support Arctaius by putting debris in the path of the acid, increasing their destiny to make them more resistant. While the liquid burned through them, it at least slowed them down. But this did not stop the acid from touching extremities, damaging the members of the group even further. Arctaius squinted as he took note of this development.

“He’s gotten much faster… And the volume of fire is increasing. I’m willing to bet he wasn’t taking us seriously, but that’s changed, clearly. His movement still remains a problem.” Arctaius mused.

And apparently, this thought was not unique to him. Liang himself, having just avoided a ray of acid, began to think about how to keep him still… The strings he used were made of durable material, but if what happened to his shuriken was anything to go by, that wouldn’t do much for him in the long run. So the question of how to handle this was very well still here. Eventually, Miyamoto began to pursue, and launched a javelin forged of her demonic energy toward Sigma.. Which, strangely enough, he did not fire his acid at, rather, simply eluding the spear, and then, It came to Liang.

“That’s it.”

The martial artist rushed to the woman’s side.

“I have an idea… I’ve noticed that Sigma has been avoiding your attacks outright, rather than using his Acid to disintegrate them…” Liang stated.

“That’s a fact… Go on.”

“I fire off my strings, you coat them in your demon energy to prevent him from destroying them. We can keep him in place.” The plan was simple, that was true. But it would be effective enough, remarkably so. But she questioned just how she would go through with it. While it sounded like a simple task as they spoke, could the same be said for when they attempted to execute it? That much was a question neither of them had the knowledge to answer. So for the time being, they could only hope. The wounds from the battle were beginning to build upon one another, and the gap between themselves and the general had since been made clear to them. But this wasn’t exactly enough to make them stop fighting, it simply meant they’d have to fight harder. Arctaius was one who shared this opinion, a golden luminance building around his body as he summoned forth his will, throwing his hand forward, and shouting out.

“Solis Battery!” A multitude of streams of plasma flew toward the general, leading to him quickly beginning to take moves, descending and avoiding one, ascending and avoiding the next, quickly rolling to the left and right to avoid two more. The volume of fire seemingly did not matter, and his speed and agility seemingly, would allow him to avoid any damage. But that did not continue for long, As the demon found his movement stopped, the very moment he felt demonic energy approaching him. Confusion was raised in his mind, until he looked down to see streams of red wrapped around him.

“It seems they’ve immobilized me…But by what means?” The sudden change, and the newly made opportunity, did not go unnoticed. When the fast moving creature's movement screeched to a halt, the gazes of his many opponent’s flew toward him. And shortly, they also took note of the threads of red surrounding him, and looked to Miyamoto, and Liang. In the time it took to look back and forth between two sights, most of them had a rough idea of what happened.

“Yu must have used his string to bind him, and Miyamoto managed to cover it in her demonic energy… But why, for protection? Either way, it looks like it worked… This may be what we need.” Arctaius thought.

Without hesitation, he was already on his way to attack the immobilized target, and the same could be said for the rest. Kazimir ripped pieces of earth with his telekinesis, and flung it toward Sigma. Hyperion brandished his blade, and leapt from the ground, attacking from below. Gilga overhead, and raising Enkidu high, before descending, with the intent of cutting the demon down the middle. While Arctaius pulled his arm back, and jumped forward, his yellow aura cloaking him. He himself had a particular target in mind, the organs at the end of the arms, that acid had been an issue thus far, and he intended to get rid of them. Al\arick summoned the void blade, and began to join his allies in their all-out assault on Sigma… But it seemed that their hold over the demon wasn’t as complete as they thought, as he began to weave around, weaving around Gilga’s strike, and forcing both him and hyperion to change their respective courses, Lest they hit each other.But he still faced two more threats, Alarick and Arctaius.

“Solis Illisus!” The strike was close, but quickly executed micro adjustments allowed for sigma to avoid the brunt of the strike. But he was not free of damage, with some of the demon’s skin becoming blackened as a result of the heat. While this attack missed its target, the flourish of Alarick’s void blade did not, cleanly removing one of the Acid producing organs. Though the demon did not vocalize any sort of pain, the effects of the attack were visible in the crinkling of skin around his “eye” and the subsequent squinting. But their triumph did not last for long, as the two were launched away as a result of a swipe of the general’s graspers. And it seemed like he would attack once more, as he moved toward those keeping them captive.. If he were to take care of them, his predicament would be ended in one fell swo-

“You aren’t going anywhere!” Sigma’s attention shot toward the one who shouted the words, the yakuza Jirou. Before sigma could recognize what was happening, he was already unable to move. And just a tinge of confusion made it into his expression.

“I heard quite well what you did to Ghemzaan. And what that Maleggan guy did to Gusion… We won’t be letting you lead another invasion on earth, or continue what you’ve done here!” The yakuza yelled. And yet, Sigma seemed unimpressed by the words, responding in the same way to which he spoke to his subordinates, monotone, dismissive.

“Ghemzaan was your enemy, as was Gusion. What kind of foolishness leads you to care about his plight, or care what happens in our realm, and to its denizens…. Malegaan’s lordship will allow the demon realm to enter a new era, united under one authority rather than warring states and petty leaders who care about nothing else but personal combat… Hyperion, You, as one of us, should know that more than any of them here. And the same goes for your troop. That is why Zeta and I have become his generals.”

Before he was able to continue any further, Liang cut in.

“Why do we care about his plight… It’s a good enough question, but my reason is simple… I was once forced to fight under threat of my sister not being cured of a disease… In some ways me, and him were alike… That same sister is at risk because of your Malegaan’s attacks.”

The demon who was directly addressed leaped toward Sigma, and began to speak as well.

“And for that matter, you must be an idiot if you think what you said about this Maleggan is true!” His jab was punctuated by a swipe of his blade, which cut into the demon, but did not eliminate him, not just yet. But he was not alone in attacking him… Gilga had decided to end this in one strike, not wanting to risk the demon pulling out a new strategy. He knew just what to use… His holy energy began to cloak him, the sudden spike detected by all of those with demonic energy. But the most notable change was what seemed to be a halo appearing behind his back, which now stood centered between wings forged of green light. Enkidu’s form began to change as well, growing even larger than it had before.

“Holy Drive… Make no mistake, This ends here. What you envision as the future of the demon realm will not exist, especially not if it includes earth being in ruins… HOLY CLEAVER!”

Gilga shot forward like a shooting star, causing the Demon’s eye to widen as he took note. Was this how things would end for him? Their conquest nowhere near finished, control not even solidified over their own continent, let alone enough to battle against the other lords? This feeling within him… What was it? It wasn’t one he was familiar with, this sorrow, this want to finish unwanted business… Was this regret? The demon’s last moments were seemingly spent pondering this, as his body began to disintegrate into particles.

“The battle… Is won.” Arctaius stated. The man looked down to his own body, and took note of just how many injuries he’d gained. And as he looked around, he took note of the same for everyone else. It seemed this wasn’t exactly the victory they hoped for. Even with the training they’d done, it seemed as if there wasn’t going to be any less difficulty in this journey. The group continued to float there in silence, until one of them spoke out.

“We’re not done… Not just yet. There are still demons we need to liberate…” Jirou choked out, between hsi fits of heavy breathing. It was then that they recalled what was told to them, Ghemzaan’s captured siblings.

“Let’s get them, it's the very least we can do. We might have still been searching if it wasn’t for him.” Gilga commented, as his holy drive began to wear off. The members of the group acted quickly, shooting off in the direction of the keep once more. Their trip was not a very long one, taking about 25 minutes at the most. Within Sigma's keep, confusion had spread among their number, as they noted that th

“Dead…”

The signature of demonic energy approaching was not of their general, Sigma, and those they sent out, but of the human invaders. The group floated in the sky above and looked down upon them in silence. The only one to step forward was Hyperion, who broke the news simply enough.

“General Sigma is-”

These same words were echoed elsewhere, General Zeta stood on one of the beaches that lined the coast of Maleggan’s empire, which itself was covered in the bodies of deceased demons, as far as the eye could see… Though the general didn’t respond to the messenger's words, his clenched fist and the wild outbursts of demonic energy told one all they needed to know about how he felt…

With two generals now eliminated, how would the war proceed from here on, that was the question.

To Be Continued