The next day, everyone gathered together at the table to eat breakfast. God Zeshion looked sleepy, while Goddess Zeta looked blooming for some reason. Yep, I don't know the reason at all~!
Still, the soundproofing in this mansion was superb. I didn't even hear a peep the entire night.
Still curious, after eating breakfast, I stealthily asked him about what exactly happened the previous night. However, unlike my expectations, nothing actually happened.
"What? No. I was scolded by her the entire night. As punishment, she cuffed me while we were about to rest. Thanks to that, I couldn't even sleep properly."
Hmm? What? Then why is Goddess Zeta blooming all of a sudden? Don't tell me she's an "S" and felt elated after dominating her tamer?
That morning, the same menu from yesterday continued. All the girls, except Ember, fought against Zeshion with various schemes and tricks. However, in the end, they would still be eliminated by a reflected attack. Just that morning, the girls fainted five times already. They were almost helpless against him, not even able to make him flinch, much less take a step out of his spot.
Igni even tried to cheat and moved to pluck off the land under Zeshion's feet, but in the end, the entire area below Zeshion remained as solid as bedrock. His spot was the only land left in the middle of a large crater that was dug by Igni.
Goddess Zeta got angry at her for that stunt, though, so in the end, it was a one-time thing.
At Lunchtime, the girls were visibly more depressed compared to the day before. After all, yesterday, they still managed to land a hit against him. Now, they couldn't even come closer than a few meters.
Zeshion wasn't being a jackass, though, as he still didn't use skills that were above the 7th stage in strength. Still, the number of skills he used definitely increased. There's this 24/7 barrier erected around him, then there's the movable shield, a shockwave blast to shoo the girls away, and even a skill that reflects attacks at double the strength. With just those four defensive skills, the girls were completely wiped out several times.
Ember, on the other hand, was still muttering something under her breath while eating. It seems like she was so engrossed in learning that she was still reading something with her clones while eating. It was a skillful use of her clones, but I was conflicted about whether to scold her for bad manners while eating or praise her diligence.
That afternoon, Ember joined the fight too. Goddess Zeta seemed to need to go somewhere else after all, so she was left to her own devices. With Ember added to the mix, Zeshion was visibly having more difficulty shrugging off their attacks.
After the first round, they still didn't manage to injure him, not one bit. But after they recovered, before going to round two, Ember gathered everyone around and whispered something. A few seconds later, they all nodded with fierce expressions on their faces.
Start of afternoon sparring, round two. Ember's plan quickly came into play.
"Fang, go!"
Ember commanded from the back while setting up an array of stationary cannons, which were actually previously parts of her throne. The cannons weren't loaded with live ammo but instead with a thick, gooey solution.
Each time she fired, the barrier around Zeshion got covered in a layer of goo. Fang, on the other hand, went into the shadow dimension using [Shadow Movement] and came before Zeshion's barrier. Then, with all her strength focused on one single spot, she forcefully broke the barrier and inserted a small clone of Ember inside.
The Clone quickly morphed from its tiny size to the entire shape of the full barrier, filling the space with no gaps. Zeshion, stuck in the middle, couldn't even move. His reflection barrier only works for attacks and not plain physical contact, after all.
Furthermore, due to the rules, he can't attack, or else he'll lose.
The goo around him was already piled up pretty thick; that's when Fina, Judy, and Yorm started shooting a purple-black fog around the place where Zeshion was. Some of the fog got trapped in between the new layers of goo that Ember fired.
"...!"
Seeing the last personnel who had yet to move, I quickly realized their aim. "Suffocation!"
Just as I expected, Igni moved closer and fired a powerful blue flame toward the mound of goo before them. In an instant, it evolved into a raging flame, releasing obviously toxic smoke around it. Zeshion, in the middle of it, was forced to endure both the lack of oxygen and the intense heat of this attack!
"Quick thinking!"
However, that's if their opponent was a normal tamer.
"Great idea! Unfortunately, I still have more tricks up my sleeve."
Zeshion smiled, completely unperturbed. He turned off his barrier at that moment!
The flames, raging as they were, quickly burned off Ember's clone. As soon as it vanished, Zeshion sent a powerful shockwave around him, almost quenching the flames instantly.
"Just as planned!"
But as soon as he did this, Fang jumped out of the shadows and slashed at his wide-open back. It was actually a multi-layered plan made by Ember in just a few seconds.
Fang's claws were able to connect with Zeshion's back, but they could only damage his clothes and not his skin. Well, if the aim of this sparring was to damage him, then they'd definitely lose even if they were to freely attack him without rest.
"But all we need to do is make you move from your spot!"
Ember, finally seeing the chance, fired the only cannon that she had never shot even once. It released a loud boom as a gigantic sphere of metal, about the size of a human, flew at almost the speed of sound.
"Still too slow!"
However, an attack that was only cutting through at such speeds wouldn't manage to surprise a God-tamer. Zeshion quickly moved his barrier to block its path.
"... Now!"
At Ember's shout, Fang moved out of the way. Behind her, a portal was already opened, aimed at the back of Zeshion's head. At the same time, she quickly conjured another portal just before the barrier, letting the fired metal sphere enter it.
"You-!"
Zeshion was surprised. It was a skill that Goddess Zeta always used, after all. Before he could adjust his barrier, the large mass managed to hit his head and push him off his spot by a few meters.
"..."
"""..."""
A moment of silence spread between both parties.
Everything, up until the last attack, was just a distraction. It was all done just to set up the teleportation portals for the true attack. The girls' faces quickly turned from tired to bright smiles.
"We did it... We did it!"
Fina was the first to cheer, bringing the others back to reality.
"Master, we won! We won!"
"Leader, we did it! We beat a god tamer!"
"My Lord, we finally succeeded!"
A smile naturally found its way to my face as I looked at the girls' cheers with great delight. Zeshion, although unwilling to admit defeat, just sighed and let off a wry smile.
"You got me there. And you even used Zeta's signature move."
If it weren't for that bit of surprise, then Zeshion wouldn't be delayed and would probably manage to defend in time. I don't know if Ember took that into consideration too, but I guess she really has a talent for strategizing.
I smiled, nodding my head at their quick improvements... But this was just a small achievement on the grand scale of things.
"Then, since you all managed to make me move, your offensive training ends here. Congratulations."
Zeshion said as he clapped lightly. The girls smiled, unsure of what to say, but when they heard his next words, their faces quickly froze.
"Next, we'll do defensive training. Same rules, but now I'll also launch attacks. Make sure to survive, alright?"
I could only shake my head after hearing his words. This guy is definitely a sore loser. Before the girls could even nod their heads and prepare, a volley of ice spears was already falling over their heads.
"W-Wait!"
Fang ran as she tried to dodge dozens of ice arrows falling toward her. However, given their numbers, it was near impossible to dodge everything. She was hit by one, then another, during the short pause she had, and then got battered by the ice arrows continuously.
Weirdly, they didn't cause injuries; rather, after the barrage ended, Fang was frozen solid. She seemed conscious, as her eyes could still move, but her body was completely immobile. The rest of the girls soon followed, getting frozen in ice in just a few moments too.
"There, again, it's my win."
Zeshion nodded his head, seeing the ice sculptures around him. Watching someone hundreds of years old act like a spoiled kid and not want to be treated as a loser, I could only scratch my head.
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