Griffin grimaced.
His real body was hiding behind one of the pillars, as his lute lazily strummed with illusion magic.
His body was mangled and panting heavily from the results of the previous battle.
Yet thankfully...
Leander had not noticed his fragile state.
But just the words of his illusion had been enough to change the fight entirely...
But that wouldn't last forever.
His vision threatened betraying him, his mind dancing between life and death as blood spilled from nearly all of his pores.
And now.
The booming of Leander's voice revealed just how low the odds of winning this battle were.
With every member of Unity in this false world being crippled in some way... They were relying on someone, somehow overcoming the odds entirely.
Neveah had been blinded, yet was using some sort of sixth sense with her barriers in order to direct her body.
Michael was using his ice affinity to keep himself standing, manipulating each bone of ice individually in order to remain in battle.
Gabriel had lost his legs, using a current of water below him in order to move swiftly.
But now...
All was lost...
The entire roof of the castle broke apart, shattering and slowly ascending into the sky... Each piece of debris drifting apart as if time and reality itself had demanded following the natural laws.
The sun pierced the golden floor of the battlefield.
The pillars broke apart, instantly breaking Griffin's illusion and revealing his slowly dying body that had collapsed onto the ledge of the building.
...
Michael stopped.
Standing in awe as he looked up at the sky with such fear that fear could not even be explained.
His body was aching terribly, but it was nothing in the face of time itself.
A giant golden clock now spanned across the entire sky...
It's golden hand ticking slowly by the second...
Leander hovered above all, standing atop a golden halo of light...
His chestplate shattered...
His bare chest revealing several golden runes overlapping his body like curses.
He outstretched his hand, and time listened.
Reality seemed to warp together, condensing into a singular blade...
The hand of the planet-sized clock vanished...
Appearing in Leander's hand...
As a colossal weapon...
"Forgive me my students! But I cannot let you defeat me so easily! Although I am astounded by your refusal to lose! And the ambitions that each and every one of you carry! You cannot defeat me..."
His voice no longer came from his mouth... But from the giant maw that had opened in the center of his chest...
He vanished.
Michael's body shriveled up and condensed.
Before being launched into the stratosphere.
...
Neveah could not see.
But she could feel the immense power of Leander's Trinity Art...
Something so powerful should not have existed in any plane of existence...
She knew what was going to happen.
Her body hit the floor, being crushed by a giant blade.
She screamed, trying to force barriers to stand between her and what felt like the blunt side of a colossal blade... Cold to the touch.
...
Gabriel forced his waters to advance, spinning his trident and attacking the god even though time itself willed against it.
Leander sighed, spinning the giant hand off of Neveah and easily swiping it at Gabriel, who had somehow managed to slip underneath the weapon, surging towards Leander at unbearable speeds.
He swung his trident.
But it was easily deflected by one of the many golden halos that surrounded Leander's body.
'This is impossible...' Gabriel thought, feeling his entire stomach get ripped open by that same golden halo...
However, no matter what...
Chase, Leo, Hans, Luke, and Equan were fighting their hardest in Olympia... But they were fighting a losing battle no matter how you looked at it...
So what choice did they have... But to...
"KEEP FIGHTING!" Griffin's raspy voice screamed as he limped forward.
He gripped his lute.
Strumming against it with a singular spell.
"ENHANCEMENT!" Blood shot from his mouth violently, yet he remained playing.
He refused to let his spell fail.
"ENHA-" He coughed up blood again, unable to multiply the spell.
Yet he couldn't stop.
"ENHANCEMENT!!!!!!" He roared, as several fractured instruments rose from the ground beside him.
Because after all...
He still needed to tell her how he felt...
He needed to return to The City of Factions...
That is why he had joined Unity... This group of wonderful people...
Was the only group that could ever stand a chance at retaking The City of Factions from its corrupted leaders...
It was his only hope at reuniting with his beloved...
"ENHANCEMENT!!!!!" He screamed again... The entire world cracking as his fingers violently trembled against the strings.
Gabriel watched in awe... Feeling his body repairing itself with insane speed.
Then Leander sighed.
"The first to go... A shame..."
He shot towards Griffin with tyrannical speed, closing the gap in what felt like negative time.
...
"FASTER!"
Michael was shooting downward at supersonic speeds, summoning entire mega-structures of ice to continuedly launch him forward.
Using terribly manic tactics at just reaching his friend before Leander could.
Summoning Giant weapons to strike him from behind.
Because no matter what... Even if they lost...
Michael refused to let his allies fall before him.
Time snapped.
The giant hand of the clock met a frozen scythe.
The clash was instantaneous...
Time itself refused to realize what had just happened.
Both weapons pressed against each other, forcing Leander and Michael to meet gazes from behind each of their Lumens...
Yes...
Michael had somehow turned his scythe into the lowest tier of Lumen...
Somehow his emotions had grown so out of control... That his construct of ice had no other choice but to submit to his will.
Michael growled, feeling the energy of Griffin's spell raise his might.
"I won't let you..." Michael's voice trembled, clashing against Leander's unphased expression.
Then...
"ENHANCEMENT!" Griffin screamed again, forcing Michael's scythe to press further against the clock... Somehow slowly gaining advantage in the clash...
However, Michael's body was breaking in the heart of battle.
His teeth cracked apart... Shattering under the force he was putting on his own body.
'Freeze...' He thought, freezing his already fractured and frostbitten jaw back together... Freezing his teeth back into his mouth... Compacting his frozen bones even further...
He was becoming a body of his own element... An embodiment of ice...
"ENHANCEMENT!!!!"
Michael... Was overpowering Leander...