"Are you alright?" Skullius asked Maxim after a short pause since their landing. The pink haired woman, with her face that looked like it had been chewed by a dog, and then invaded by reddish measles, scowled.
"You could say that," she replied.
It seemed, as Skullius hypothesised, that the thing Maxim had eaten while he had been arguing with Tallo before, was what had saved her life. Whatever it was, must have had a stronger effect than that of a Super potion, because Skullius was quite certain he would died, even though he had drunk one.
When it came to special consumables, they weren't counted among artefacts, so naturally, they were allowed in the Royale, without limitation. During the Preliminaries though, many contenders had started to get suspicious.
Many of them drank potions before their matches so that they wouldn't die. Losing was one thing – killing wasn't a requirement – but dying, was another. However, they found that while wounds could be healed during the fights, powerful consumables like Supreme potions, couldn't revive you once received a fatal injury.
The news didn't spread too much since most contenders didn't have the means to wrestle death, but those who noticed were conflicted.
Seeing Maxim heal so slowly, Skullius imagined that the thing she had eaten had different priorities, and was likely weaker than a Supreme potion.
"Thanks," Skullius said to her. "I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't showed back there."
Maxim raised a brow, though she had none currently.
"Sure. But I was really just trying to get one good hit on that bastard for..." Maxim paused, realising that she was about to vent on a topic she didn't appreciate talking about with men. "Anyway, how do you reckon we stay alive. Barely a minute has passed since we began, right?"
"Yeah..." Skullius said with a dragging voice, and turned to Tallo who was a bit of a distance from where they landed. He had been watching what they were doing with his hands hidden within his long, large sleeves, a calculating look in his eyes. "The both of us would have died in that minute if not for dumb luc-... ahem... if not for our resourcefulness. I guess."
As Skullius finished his sentence, Baddan appeared, taking steps towards into the innermost circle from the direction they were facing. His two spears when in hand, and as Skullius perceived them, he kind of understood why this rider was dubbed, Cruel Spear.
"Here we go again..." Skullius said tensely, unnerved by how slowly Baddan was approaching.
Was this simply confidence, or had he given up on breaking their spirits with rapid, flashy shows of strength?
"I might have some idea about his abilities..." Maxim suddenly said.
Skullius turned to her.
"What?"
"It'll take too long to explain it like this. I'll tell you as we attack... if I get the chance. At least here, we only have to worry about his spears, and physique," she said.
Skullius nodded, and activated [Saint Lumis' Benign Arc].
A pillar of light shot into the sky, and created a wide, circular halo that lit up a large area, close to half the size of this innermost space.
This was the active effect of the healing skill, and it had faster, and more potent healing effects than the passive. It also gave an 80% overall boost to Skullius, and those whom he deemed as allies, as long as they stayed within the bounds of the halo, which was kind of adversely ironic to the entire game situation.
Maxim's appearance was rapidly restored because of the light, and given that most of her serious wounds had been healed beforehand, it barely took two blinks of an eye for her to look gorgeous again.
She took a moment to look at herself, and wore a rare smile.
"Thank you. I hate looking ugly. It almost makes me feel more self-conscious about—" Maxim paused again, and frowned before focusing on the approaching Baddan. "Let's take the offensive first."
Suddenly, Maxim's body ignited with a spiky, watery Perfect Aura. She launched herself at Baddan, with Skullius following after her.
Midway, she suddenly manifested six thin, transparent plates in her hands, which she flung at Baddan like shuriken! On them, was depicted obscure images of explosions, branches of lightning, swirling flames, all seeming to be frozen in time!
As they drew close to the Sky Watcher, they shattered, and began creating a cacophony of noises as what they had trapped was released!
A series of different flavoured bursts of damage buried Baddan's figure!
Skullius beamed.
'What a useful technique!'
Maxim had been storing some of the elemental attacks she had received from Tallo during their short bout!
The Hybrid Luman caught up to Maxim, and they both sank into the obscure veil of dust, and heat to attack Baddan.
As Skullius had thought, Baddan wasn't looking to overwhelm them quickly anymore, like last time.
He waited for them to arrive.
"Brave souls..." he said, before his arm whipped forward towards Maxim, who didn't even see it before it dug deep into her belly, shattering the remnants of armour on her back!
She groaned hard, and bitterly, but quickly clutched Baddan's arm, pulled him close, grit her teeth, and gave him a crisp header with a loud 'Rar!' leaving her mouth!
Skullius was shocked when a little, bubbly shockwave blew from the impact. Baddan frowned, and staggered a little, meaning he had actually felt that!
Despite his toughness!
'No way...' Skullius thought.
He didn't waste that momentary opening though, and slashed with his sword at the bastard's neck with impeccable accuracy!
The sword carved through Baddan's... after-image, much to no one's surprise. Maxim was already following after the silver furred creature where he had dashed away to, but a few crisp, unseen blows sent her flying away, with Skullius taking her place for the attack.
'Physical attacks won't do. So...' Skullius once again became a blanket of darkness that blasted into Baddan who hadn't quite expected it. He rose with the Cluster beast high, but midway, his form was shattered into hundreds of pieces of cloth-like darkness with a horrific pulse of mana from Baddan!
What remained began to form Skullius' figure as the two fell.
"Curious powers you have..." Baddan said, as he somehow flashed through the air, clutched Skullius' head, and flung him out of the innermost circle bounds with three rings of air crying out!
The silver-furred creature landed, and was about to follow after the Hybrid Luman when a powerful arm tackled his neck in a lariat, the shocking force which hailed from a tough, veins arm actually pushing him down!
It was Maxim again.
As soon as she saw that Baddan was off balance, she circled around him, grappled his waist, and swung him viciously on his side into the ground!
Baddan's face grew hard, if not a little annoyed.
'This distant kin... Just like before... she suddenly appeared. I couldn't sense her presence until she was knocking against my neck. And even while I have a vastly superior body, she exploits key moments to take me down...'
Maxim locked her legs firmly around Baddan's, and used her arms to pull his own back as they were stuck to the ground!
At that moment, Skullius appeared, and rushed to grab Baddan's chest when Maxim turned him, such that she was the one against the ground, while he faced up!
'Let's hope this works!' Skullius thought before activating [Immoral Authority], and [Greatest Mana Crafter]!
In the spirit of not holding back, but not using everything in his arsenal unless it was actually useful, he exposed another ability he had intended to hide. Like [Lucent Apparition], which he had used earlier, [Immoral Authority] couldn't be tied back to legacy just by seeing it.
In this case though, Skullius didn't give a damn if he couldn't extract anything from Baddan, but if he could at least incapacitate the high level beast, it would certainly be worth it!
Tendrils of darkness shot into Baddan's surprised face, and struggling body which had been about to forcefully rip away from Maxim's grip.
Skullius' consciousness sank into the creature's mind, and the skill searched for the evil that could be found within this beast. Like [Basic Evil Sanction], [Immoral Authority] gave a tangible representation to evil, which strengthened Skullius' influence. The more evil a target had, the easier Skullius could invade said target's body.
Within Baddan... only a sliver of darkness could be found, with the rest of what Skullius could discern being a brilliant, almost glaring light!
'Come on! Is this guy actually a saint?!' Skullius cried out.
He pushed forward, and grasped at the darkness he could find while facing immense resistance. But he was determined!
He dove down, with the wisps of darkness he found, and tasted the crowded memories that were buried, protected, and sealed behind a unreasonable defences!
FLCH!
Skullius' body was impaled by a spear straight through the head!
Maxim screamed as Baddan had pulled out her arm, setting his own free, grabbed his golden spear, and jabbed it into Skullius' head.
It must have been a reflex, because Baddan had started to get a dazed look when Skullius used [Immoral Authority]. Such a reflex was uncanny though, because Baddan's spear had shot into his hand after he dropped it when eating Maxim's lariat!
Skullius' invasion was interrupted, and his body suddenly froze.
'What?' he thought in horror as his consciousness slowly returned to his body.
His frame turned stiff, so stiff that would have been convinced he had suddenly turned into a steel pole. Everything from his flesh, bone, blood vessels, and mana channels turned rigid, and he fully returned to his body, Skullius' mind also completely shut down.
Maxim's arm was quickly restored by the halo of light above, and she backed away, before glancing at Skullius' statue-like body. The spear in his head made her grimace.
Right.
That was what she had felt when that golden spear had impaled her. She had only gotten enough time to let out an agonised scream before she was frozen, and her freedom only came when Baddan took back the spear back, shortly before the Kiiyataka, the large cloud fish, had fallen onto her.
'Damn it!' Maxim thought before mobilising her Perfect Aura to form her Genuine Incarnation.
She didn't like using it often.
As she did, an unholy force smashed the back of her head, and she sank face first into the ground with a grunt.
When Baddan was really trying to out speed them, and not give them a chance, Maxim and Skullius couldn't do anything at all. Not that Baddan slowing down had helped them much.
The Sky Watcher heaved Maxim, and dragged her by the hair as she tried to refocus her senses.
He then grabbed Skullius, and rushed with them both far, crossing the second circle, and into the third!
The raging breeze forced Maxim to feel the danger of losing rather than see it, and she struggled heavily, but to no effect. Seeing that her full physical strength wasn't doing much, she roared, and manifested her Genuine Incarnation quickly!
...!
Its appearance alarmed Baddan, but he was fast enough to throw Maxim, and Skullius who had his brain shut down, towards the luminous outline of the third circle a short distance away!
"No!" Maxim cried with a scowl.
Her Genuine Incarnation floated above as she whipped through the air.
It was a very long centipede, roughly twenty meters in length, with a watery texture to it. It boosted Maxim's offensive features greatly, bathing her in a beautiful stroke as she flew, with Skullius in the lead.
The Genuine Incarnation glided.
After all, its most unique feature was that it was flat!
A fraction of time later, Maxim was turned flat, her body encased in a thin, colourless frame. As this occurred, all her momentum died down instantly, and she fell to the ground, a few paces away from the third circle outline.
The same happened to Skullius, and by the time he fell, Maxim had already returned to normal, the centipede Incarnation descending to swirl around her.
"Tsk. I already feel my reserves of mana dwindling..." she remarked.
Skullius was still impaled by the golden spear, and she would have loved to remove it, but her instincts told her that touching the assegai was a very bad idea.
As her senses were stretched taut, she felt a breeze, and a quick shadow barrelling towards her registered in her further strengthened sight.
Unfortunately, she was still powerless to stop it.
She, and Skullius were barely three meters from losing the game, so why wouldn't Baddan finish them off?
Maxim grit her teeth, and channelled a massive chunk of mana into her Incarnation.
It was do or die.
If they lost, she had full confidence that all the other lurking riders, and Retrievers would pounce on them, commencing the slaughter!
Her Incarnation surged, and...
The mother of bizarre seemed to have suddenly spawned.
The scenes around Maxim, which she had kept a close eye on, suddenly dissipated, replaced by the pitiable ground of the first circle where she had grappled Baddan down!
A blink, and the scene changed!
Now, Tallo was standing at her side.
Maxim stood flabbergasted .
She was lost for words.
Skullius was on the ground too, and Baddan was nowhere to be seen.
"Relax," said Tallo, whom Maxim was sure was an illusion. But as it turned out, he wasn't.
He turned to her.
"And you're welcome," he continued.
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