In the next moment, Jake's aura began to change. Thanks to the enemy's endless babbling, he knew what he needed to do to recover his powers… he strengthened to resolve to be able to kill the enemy no matter what. Two massive hands made of shadows emerged from the enemy's body and then moved to smash Jake from the sides, but he swung his sword, and the blast alone repelled them.
"..."
"You said that you gave up on your powers to come to this universe, but I didn't do the same," Jake said, and then jumped toward him while slashing his sword around.
The swings of the weapon created blasts of wind that hit the enemy, forcing him to use the shadow arms as a shield to protect himself. The enemy clicked his tongue in annoyance… Jake's resolve was making him recover his power, or perhaps he always had that from the beginning, but only something like pride could unlock it. Either way that must be done by the hunters. They had been around for a while, so they knew a lot of things that the enemy wasn't aware of…
When Jake finally got close enough to attack directly, the enemy turned into a dark sphere and then tried to defend himself and pierce him with many shadow spikes, but Jake hit one of them and forced the whole thing to move away.
"His strength is the real deal… but his body will take some time to adapt to that strength."
The enemy was determined to end that before Jake could use all of his powers fully. He didn't assume that he would have to face someone of that level so soon, so things might become dangerous… fortunately, he began to fall after that attack, and the enemy looked at his party members. He had no idea why he gave them those traits, but if he gets them and their original ones, then he will win.
The enemy flew at full speed while Jake was practically falling slowly in comparison, but then when he was about to reach them, he heard the sound of Jake kicking the air and then moving toward him. An instant later, Jake attacked with his sword, and the slash sent the dark sphere flying into the distance.
"You guys should leave. I will handle this," Jake said.
"In your dreams, we can't risk the enemy defeating you," Lana said.
"Let's work together, Jake," Louise said. "The past is the past."
"A man's past is his pride. I don't regret one bit my actions," Jake said. "I can't protect you all, and you might die with just one or two stray shots. It is more plausible that you will cause more problems by being killed."
"If we die, it will be by our own choice," Arilene declared.
"Well, I warned you all," Jake said and then dashed toward the enemy.
The enemy had just hit the mountain where his base once was, and then he got up instantly. There was no damage received in either of the attacks, but he was starting to get annoyed by Jake's struggle. Things weren't supposed to go like that…
The enemy looked at the other mountain and wondered if that annoying archer was still around, he couldn't feel his aura, but he was certain that he was going to interfere if he dropped his guard. In any case, while Jake and the enemy were fighting, the others got together and wondered how they could help, but it was hard to imagine how when Jake's previous attack made the enemy split the mountain in half, but still got up in a single moment.
"I want to help, but can we do anything right now?" Julian asked.
"He used his power to give us the effects of the sin skills… despite what he said, he still wants to help him," Lana said. "I feel troubled that the skill he gave me is numbing Lust, though. Is he calling me a slut?"
"Think of what you can do and what you can't with the skills, and then wait for the chance to attack," Louise said. "We got a boost in power, but we still will need your help, Frederick."
"We didn't stay until the end of the fight to run away now, but I wonder what we can do," Frederick said, and then the ground began to tremble, and a fissure nearby showed up. "We really are outclassed here…"
"You heard what Jake said, didn't you?" Louise asked. "He was killed, but he didn't lose his power, and we also slowly recovered a small portion of ours as well… it means that we still have it, and it is just sealed."
"So many of us died already… why didn't that power come to us when we needed it?" Karina asked.
"It seemed that Jake found a method using his skills, but we will have to think of another way…" Lana said while looking at Jake and the enemy going at each other. "Just using our powers improved them, but it wasn't enough… Any ideas?"
"I am not like you all, so I can't offer any advice," Arilene said.
"... If you guys can see the past, can't that help you somehow?" Frederick asked.
"I felt that my skills got more efficient or like I didn't need to focus as much as before after I saw the past, but nothing aside from that," Lana replied.
"Wait… if Jake managed to revert the effect of his sin skill and while considering what the enemy said… maybe the answer is already inside us," Louise said. "Believe that you can do it with all your heart, and we should be able to pull this off. That strength was ourr to begin with and we recovered some due to the magic items..."
The power of their belief or faith… it seemed quite the weird thing to consider now, but if the enemy said that when he was like a massive pile of shit, then perhaps…
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om