War For Underworld

The Prince of Darkness, Noxium

Jaymes

"How do you plan on fighting Noxium, Jaymes? The First Children are pretty strong, even for you."

"That's the good part-I don't plan on fighting him. Not head-on at first, that is. I'm going to stress his ability for a couple of minutes, use the Dark Territory environment to my advantage, then attack. But if I fail in three minutes...it may get tougher."

It's tough already.

As planned, I forgo fighting Noxium directly. His blades have extended into dark-colored whips and having them lash out and smash the landscape while attempting to squash me like a bug is already pushing me to the limit. Hyper Awareness, the skill I gained a year ago from Rei when we, Kureha, Zeliska, and Itsuki took on The GM in Itsuki's death server, works differently here. It isn't controlled by the system like in GGO, but by my own willpower - and it requires total concentration.

I circle around the youngest First Child, hoping the debris clouding the space between us can aid my counterattack. Sliding to a halt, I hold the Time-Piercing Sword at the height of my shoulders and quickly launch myself towards the center of the debris field. I thrust my sword forward to complete the sword skill Vorpal Blade, and it makes contact with one of Noxium's daggers. I dodge again as he swings the sickly green dagger, the one I'm sure has the poison, and attempt to counter again, just for the other blade to block me again.

His reflexes are good, I must admit. That just means I have to be faster.

I fly away before he can take advantage of the block and fly around him. I sense a shift in the ground below and prepare to go on the defensive when something much heavier than two daggers slam against my shield. I didn't see what it was before, so as I raise my head up, the first thing I see is furious brown eyes underneath short, pink hair. My guard falters, and then I'm dropped from the air to the ground. The impact knocks the shock out of me, bringing me back to my feet as several silhouettes surround me. Streaks of green and blue are thrown into the mix as I deflect attacks from a single, sharp knife and hold my shield against a flurry of arrows. I concentrate on their movements with Incarnation to protect myself while avoiding looking into the attackers' eyes.

Lisbeth. Koharu. Sinon. He's most likely using them against me while thinking that fighting them will slow me down. Noxium's wrong about that. Despite the distraction, I'm tracing his movements as well. Still, it pisses me off he's using those three like this. With a snap of my fingers, I summon multiple fire elements around the copies, bursting them apart. Feeling deeply hurt from having to do that, I forced myself to ignore my emotions and scanned the area for Noxium. "Fight me head on!" Sensing movement, I hold my shield behind me, hearing the resonating echo of steel against steel. I turn my head back to see his grinning snarl. He's enjoying this, huh?

He'll regret this.

xxxxxxxxxx

Medina

"M-Medina?" The Supreme Commander is shocked to see the Lycoris Knight and her protege appear at the bottom of the lengthy staircase. She hails him from above and bows her head to Sheyta with respect. A contingent of Dark Knights, pugilists, and a mage surround the pair at the grand hall that leads outside the castle.

"We're here to help. Jay... Excuse me, Emperor Jaymes says that we just need to hold off the minions until he and Mia defeat their conjurer, Noxium."