Chapter 702: Chapter 702: The Trial (Part 3)
"Wh-What...what just...?" She uttered as she collapsed onto her knees, her body starting to disintegrate into golden energy.
"I was holding back the entire time. Even with my power boosts unleashed, I was moving slower than what I’m capable of and pulled my punches. It was all for this moment, and it worked," I informed her, reverting to my base form as I sheathed Desecrator with a slow exhale.
"I-I see...that’s why you appeared so much faster just now, even with a weaker Spirit Fusion. You waited till I was convinced that my victory was assured, didn’t you?" She surmised, most of her body now faded away.
"Yeah, that’s right. You left yourself open and gave me the opportunity I needed. I just needed to disrupt your composure for an instant, and the rest was easy. As powerful as you are, once I pulled off my plan and successfully took advantage of your lack of any real combat experience, I won," I stated, as the barrier she’d cast began to fall apart.
"Hah...well played, mortal," She sighed with a wry smile, right as she completely faded away.
Alright, that’s two down, just one more to go. I need to find the other one and-...hm?
"You bastard, you...you killed her! You’ll pay for that!" Snapped Aria, unleashing Blaze Ignition: Flare and Descent as she stepped out of the building I’d knocked her into.
Damn it...the trial’s still ongoing, which means this twisted reality will persist until the last Angel is defeated. I don’t want to fight her, I don’t want to hurt her any more than I already have. In which case...
"Might as well buy some time with a game of tag. Catch me if you can," I remarked, unleashing Enrage and activating Spirit Fusion with Avaritia, before turning around and running away.
"Wha-...?! Hey! Get back here!" Exclaimed Aria, chasing after me.
"No, I don’t think I will."
Hope the others are managing to hold their own against the third Angel. Come on, guys, you’ve got this. I’m counting on you.
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Point-of-View: Alkimia Alchy
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Shit, shit, shit! This is really bad!
"<Mg, Magnesium>!" I exclaimed as a Teleporter appeared to my right, triggering a bright, blinding flash of light.
"Don’t let her get away!"
"Yeah, take her down!"
"<C, Diamond>!" I chanted, forming a diamond wall behind myself as a volley of Magical attacks came shooting towards me.
Thanks to the Teleporters, I can’t shake these Hunters off, they’re right on my heels! And I don’t want to kill anyone, so I can’t just attack them either, I don’t know how much I’d need to hold back to incapacitate them without killing them.
Using knockout gas won’t work, I managed to get a few of them with that earlier, but they’ve got a couple of Wind Magic users with them, they keep blowing away any gas I generate.
Do I just keep running and hope that the others manage to kill the Angels and end the trial?
"<H₂O, Water>!" I exclaimed, triggering a pressurized burst of water as the Teleporter warped in close to me again, a cry of pain ringing out as I blasted them away.
Crap, that was too much force!
I think they’re trying to grab me and teleport me somewhere I’ll be trapped in, but fortunately, they need about a second or so before they can use their Magic again, which gives me just enough of an opening to counter and knock them away. Luckily, I didn’t kill them, but it looks like I injured them pretty badly. Shouldn’t be anything a Healer can’t fix, though...
"<C, Carbon>!" I chanted, a dark smokescreen bursting out around me as I generated a cloud of powdered carbon.
"She’s going left, into that alley over there!"
Damn it, of course they have a Detector too!
As I spotted a dead end up ahead, I triggered a pressurized burst of water from the soles of my feet, launching myself high up into the air. I then fired out another blast of water to my left as I ascended above the buildings, landing on the building to my right.
I took a moment to catch my breath, before my gaze darted about with a grimace as the Teleporter appeared on the rooftop with a couple of other Hunters, right as the Wind Magic users flew up and came into sight around me.
Okay, maybe I need to get just a little bit rough here...
"<SiO₂, Silicon Dioxide>!"
I generated a swirling tornado of glass shards all around me, forcing the Hunters to back away as the shards sliced through the air with immense speed. I then sprinted across the rooftop, leaping off of it while maintaining the glass tornado, before forming blobs of water below my feet as I closed in on the ground.
Loud splashes rang out as the masses of water softened the impact of my landing, before I raced forward as fast as I could, sharply expanding the twisting mass of glass shards around me and sending the shards shooting out in every direction.
I glanced back as the Hunters continued to chase after me, hesitating for a moment before chanting as I pointed Caduceus behind myself...
"<C₇H₅N₃O₆, Trinitrotoluene>!"
I unleashed several chunks of TNT towards the Hunters, aiming at the ground around them instead of directly at any of them. Cries of alarm rang out as several consecutive explosions erupted behind me.
I gritted my teeth as I strained my legs to run as fast as I possibly could, rushing into an alley and racing around at random. After several minutes, as I glanced back and realized that I’d finally given those Hunters the slip, I came to a halt and caught my breath, quietly taking a seat behind a dumpster as I scrunched up my nose and activated the Healing Spell Scroll that Kai gave me, the soreness in my body steadily fading.
O-Okay, I...I think I’m just going to stay put and hide out here. I won’t be able to help the others since they’ve been trapped in those golden barriers, so my only real option right now is to lay low and hope they’re able to deal with the Angels on their own.
This is so frustrating, I feel so...so helpless. This situation has spiraled out of my control, not that I had any control over this mess to begin with. This really sucks, damn it...
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