...
With both of our swords broken, we went into an all out spell casting battle
Alongside with Hikari's new strength thanks to his object, it became harder for me to end the battle quickly
As much as I wanted to know more about the enemy, I should have ended the battle before it came to this
I can still block his attacks thanks to my Fatality skill but...
...the problem is that I am not also dealing any damage to Hikari as well
I thought that his counter skill would only work if he has a weapon to store the accumuted damage, but as of now, it seems like it isnt...
Every time I hit Hikari with my spells, he would always try to take the damage and reflect back that damage to me
A troublesome skill of his if you ask me...and what's more is that...this guy...has a lot of mana reserve
"His spells are also somewhat stronger than mine..."
Is it also the effects of that object he's holding...?
I casted another fireball in his way, to which he responded with some sort of light beam
*SHUNK*
"!"
*BOOM*
Right after my spells collide with his, my fireball got split into half, and headed towards my location
Even though I wasn't able to react, my barrier infused with Fatality skill dispelled his spell
"...Even my Spatial Awareness skill couldn't react to it..."
Probably because I myself couldn't see it with my spell in the way, but even with that short amount of time, I should still be able to react...
"My skills and spells shouldn't be this weak...did he got stronger again?"
No...I would have seen his aura grow exponentially again...
"!"
Right after that object got activated, my skills and spells started to lose its effectiveness...
"Did it weaken me instead?"
I dodge another light beam that he just fired
*BOOM*
"..."
Hikari stayed silent as usual and kept his eyes on me
"This isn't good..."
Compared to that hero, Hikari is far more formidable and definitely isn't letting his guard down...
"Is it possible that this guy is also...?"
If I compare his strength to that guy...there's no doubt right?
Or is this the power of the Pilrs?
"..."
"You're let yourself open"
"?!"
*THUD*
With Hikari's surprise kick, I instinctively blocked it with my arms, which made me blown away quite a distance from it
"...I see, so it doesn't work if its a fist fight"
Of course it wouldn't work, there was no spell infused when you attack me with your fists! The barrier only works when it has detected a spell
Luckily, Master Shin did train me on a fist fight or two, so I know how to fight effectively if Hikari switches onto it
"He thinks that he knows my weakness on my barrier...huh?"
Hikari then casts a spell on his hands
"Fists of Light!"
His hands then glow brightly, making it unable to see his fists
"Seriously...what can't you do?"
To my surprise, he responded
"Enhancement skills...this is merely just for boosting my physical attack on my fists"
"Haven't you been doing it all this time?"
"..."
Of course I knew there was no changes in his physical stats, but the heavy blow he did on me with his fists isn't something can be achieved with just pure training alone...or that's what I think...
Without any hesitation, Hikari charged right at me
"!"
*BAM* *BAM* *BAM* *BAM* *BAM* *BAM*
But every blow I took, got absorbed by the barrier
"!"
Of course, Hikari quickly backs off the moment he realizes
"...So it doesn't work when there's a spell involved? Interesting..."
"..."
I probably shouldn't take any more time in this battle, the longer I prolong the battle, the more opportunities for Hikari to find a way to defeat me!
I'm not underestimating his strength either, that's why I need to find a way before he does!
...But how...?
What is something that can get past through that counter skill of his...?
"I can't just use my Fatality skill on Hikari...who knows if that would work?"
Worse, it would just reflect back at me, and I don't even have a mana flow
Which means...it would literally strike at my life force...
I looked at Hikari's flow of mana once again...
"There's gotta be a way! Think Rui, Think!"
All parts of Hikari's body were overflowing with mana, with its main critical point, heavily guarded with his counter
"! That's it!"
Its true that if you cut the main critical part of the Mana, the mana stops to flow temporarily...
...but what if we do the opposite?
"Since it isn't the critical point we're targeting this time, its counter skill shouldn't work, right?"
That would also expin why Hikari always needs to counter my skills and damages with his front body!
"Only one thing to find out- ?!"
Suddenly, Hikari was behind me, trying to nd another strike
*BAM*
Luckily, I was in time to fshed step out of it
"I forgot you also have that troublesome skill..."
"Now its my turn!"
"...?"
I wanted to hide and try this skill with those Metarouts first, but there's no point in saving it now!
I pointed my hand at Hikari as I locked eyes with him
"Time Gate!"
The area around us slowly turned into a void...
...with Hikari turning into gray
"...Good...It works as intended"
Time Gate is a skill that I created to slow down time between me and my target
What Hikari is seeing right now is a hundred or even a thousand times slower than mine, meaning that he wouldn't be able to react with what I'll do to him inside this skill
The way I created is skill is based on Lura's illusion spells. I asked Lura st time on how she casts such illusions and she just said that "The way to cast an illusion on the enemy, is to target and dominate their mind completely"
So in a sense, its a sort of an illusion spell that once you're inside of it, your mind can be easily maniputed by the caster, which is me
And the thing I'm maniputing him with, is his sense of time. I don't know what he might be seeing right now, but I know that he can't exactly know what I'm doing either
This is the skill that I created to hunt down those Metarouts who's reaction time are faster than mine...now that I'm realizing it now, this is kinda a busted skill...huh?
...
I saw Hikari trying to move at a snail's pace without knowing what's about to happen...of course he can, as this skill only deys time and doesn't stop time itself
"Now without further ado..."
Let's end this!
With my Simultaneous Chanting skill and my Fatality Skill, I created multiple casts of Fatality skill around Hikari's body parts
"!"
And made it attack Hikari at the same time
*SHUNK*
...
"As I expected..."
With Hikari's counter unable to react, I've successfully impnted all of my skills inside his body
All that's left to do now is...
"Removing this spell"
I snapped my fingers, and slowly, the void turned back to the way it was before...
...Hikari also turned back. If my skill went perfectly, it should only have been a few seconds or so in his view
"What did you- ?!"
Suddenly, he spat out some blood
"Achk!...*Cough*...*Cough..."
As he fell down from his knees, his aura and strength started to waver
"I...don't have any mana left anymore?!"
I can see his hands were shaking, but his facial expression remained irritated
"How?!"
He looked at me, demanding an answer
"Why didn't my Golden Counter work?!"
Golden Counter? Is that the name of his skill?
Nevertheless, I answered his question
"Its because it couldn't react"
"What...?"
"Your Golden Counter, or whatever...it couldn't react to my st attack, hence why it didn't activate"
"What did you even do? I didn't see anything!"
Is that so? So my skill really did worked...too well if I must say...
"I cut the mana flow inside your body, that way you wouldn't be able to cast any more spells and soon after, lose strength"
He looks down on the ground as he took a deep breath, seemingly accepting his defeat
"This is the first time I've heard someone can cut a mana flow...you're probably a big threat if you're hiding in this forest then"
"...?"
"Is it your special skill? No, are you a hero?"
"I told you earlier didn't I? I'm just your average guy"
"Well it seems that average guy just defeated the leader of the Pilrs...I'm ashamed..."
"You said something intriguing earlier, a special skill you say?"
Hikari looked at me, thinking why I'm dragging on this conversation longer, but still replies back
"Yes. Like my Golden Counter skill. Only certain people have access to different special skills"
"I see..."
If only certain people have access to such special skills then...
"Are you a hero?"
"...?"
"..."
"..."
I waited for Hikari's answer...
...only for him to respond with a question
"...Can I ask you one thing?"
"What?"
"...Don't take the life of the other Pilrs...I'm their Leader, they're merely acting on my orders"
"..."
"Its my responsibility and my fault on dragging them on this battlefied...so please..."
"*Sigh*...I don't know how I should respond to that..."
Suddenly, we hear rustling on each side of the forest
But it wasn't something I should be wary of
"Rui sama!"
"Leader!"
It was Mashiro and Lura showing up on both ends, happily walking with a smile on their faces
"Seems like you girls won"
"We can't lose! Especially you told us to go all out!"
"Mashiro's right, Leader. It would be shameful for us to get defeated by them"
"The same thing goes for you, right? Rui sama?"
"..."
Well...Mashiro isn't wrong about that st statement...
...but why is her face so close to mine right now? I need some space you know...
I instinctively took a few inches back to Mashiro's beaming expression
"They lost...?"
The three of us looked at Hikari, who was looking at the ground the whole time
"I see...they lost..."
He gripped his hands tighter, tighter that some blood can be seen dripping out of it
"I couldn't even save them..."
"..."
With his mana flow cut out, he's probably close to losing consciousness now...
...I'm surprised he's held out this long...
"At least..."
"...?"
"...Let the citizens live their peaceful life..."
...
And with that, Hikari finally lost consciousness
"Colpsed from losing mana, huh?"
"It was troublesome to think of how I would do it, but I managed to"
"Troublesome? If anything, I think Leader didn't have a hard time!"
If only you knew Lura...
"Rui sama is the strongest in the three of us after all!"
If only you knew Mashiro...
"*Sigh*..."
I have no doubts about Mashiro holding back against the enemies, so that only leads me to-
"? W-What?"
"Lura...even though I told you to go all out, you did held back a bit, right?"
"Uhh..."
"You did, right?"
"..."
With a silence for an answer, no doubt she killed her enemies brutally again...
"You really have no mercy on your enemies huh?"
"D-Don't worry Leader! After all its-"
"I held back Rui sama!"
Mashiro said, interrupting Lura's st few words
"I know I know"
"B-But...you didn't ask me..."
"There's no need to, I have faith in you"
"!"
Of course her face turned red on that statement...but I was just trying to say what was on my mind though
"I see..."
She says as she touches her face while her ears and her tail wags happily
"So, Leader, what should we do now?"
"Right..."
I was reminded of the aftermath of the battle. Well its not like the damage it did to this pce this time will take time to clean anyways...
"I would like to have another word with Hikari though..."
I said as I looked at Hikari's unconscious body
"Eh? With their Leader? Why?"
"...I have a feeling they're not as bad as we think, Lura"
"I see..."
Especially he mentioned "Citizens"...
...
And as, the battle against the Five Pilrs ended with the three of us winning singlehandledly...
...
