Hey everyone, sorry for the delay in uploading this chapter, but exhaustion, lack of sleep, and being at university almost all day prevented me from writing properly. Especially since this week was the last week of the semester.
Just imagine, if you don't know LaTeX, then you're lucky, but if you do, imagine someone having to learn to use LaTeX in two days for a math class presentation. It was awful, and I learned from scratch.
Another thing is that my grandfather, a Labrador Retriever of about 15 years, died yesterday. He'd been with me since I was young, and his passing affected me quite a bit.
That's all I wanted to tell you. I only have three exams left, and I only have to study for one of them, so everything's fine.
Another reason for the delay is that I wanted to finish the fight scene in this chapter, and honestly, it dragged on, which is why this chapter is longer than usual.
That's all; I hope you like the chapter.
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Caster glanced at the five Zelretches surrounding him, twirling his staff; he looked sideways at Kiss-shot, who nodded.
"Here it comes," declared the youngest-looking one, preparing for the attack.
They were watching Caster; suddenly, he vanished as the ground crumbled under the force of his movement.
"What the...?" he said, bewildered, only for the hooded Zelretch to move him aside, preventing the staff, reinforced with steel, Haki, and magic, from shattering his chest.
"Not so fast, cowboy," said the Westerner, removing a gem fragment from his body and firing it like a pistol, reaching supersonic speed.
Caster managed to dodge the attack, only to have to use Soru to evade the ether cannon fired by the marshal of this universe.
The other was about to fire another gem, but the female version appeared beside him, creating a barrier that cushioned Kiss-shot's leg. It didn't stop the attack, but it reduced its power enough to send them both flying without much damage.
Without hesitation, Kiss-shot charged at the two, leaving Caster with the original, the young man, and the hooded figure.
The latter struck the ground with his staff, raising chunks of earth that transformed into spikes and were launched at high speed toward him.
The blond-haired man, using his staff, deflected the attack by spinning it without moving from his position.
"Their attacks will never hit like that again; I'll create an opening, cover me," the young man declared, transforming his hands and forearms into two sharp claws.
"I'm careful not to let it hit you directly," warned the Zelretch of this world.
"That's why you'll be there to watch my back," he said, launching himself at me at full speed, stone clashing against steel.
"I see, Zelretch, you brought an elementalist, a sniper, a dualist, and a weapons expert; I wonder who destroyed Kiss-shot," Caster remarked, diverting the young man and attempting to strike him, but an ether cannon aimed directly at him stopped him, forcing him to assault and then destroy the cannon's redirection mechanism.
Caster was able to discover this thanks to three things: first, the gem puppets are interconnected with the original Zelretch that controls them, so there's a path to reach the original; second, with the Kamigami no Gigan, Caster can analyze and decipher practically anything as long as he has enough information in his field of vision; and lastly, possessing the third magic, he can see the materialization of the soul, allowing him to see the wings of the other Zelretch and thus what they are in their respective worlds.
The marshal could only inwardly complain, seeing that Caster, knowing how each one fights, knows how to counter them, which means they must attack them relentlessly to prevent him from thinking as much as possible.
He looked at the hooded figure, who nodded, twirled a staff, and began to silently recite the spell.
(Note: By silently reciting, I mean he'll open his mouth, but the words won't be heard; I'm mentioning this just in case.)
The young man lunged again, studying Caster's fighting style, but Caster managed to block each attack, only to parry and unleash a series of consecutive blows to his body, cracking and sending him reeling backward.
Just as the blond boy was about to charge forward to finish him off, a tornado formed out of nowhere, with him at its epicenter; it formed at incredible speed, descending.
"This," Dante groaned, realizing it was suffocating him, but just as he was about to move, he saw the hooded figure not far away snap his fingers, and the tornado, merely a wisp of wind, transformed into a raging force of wind and fire, devastating everything in its path.
The hooded figure calmly struck the ground with his staff, only to see Caster burst forth at full speed from the flames, ready to attack, but several ether cannons blocked his path.
The moment Caster hit the ground, two hands tried to grab him, but he managed to geppo, propelling himself quickly off the ground.
Mid-air, a portal opened, revealing a younger version of Zelretch wielding a weapon rather than striking the blond-haired man, sending him crashing back to the ground.
As soon as he landed, several ether cannons converged above him, plummeting toward him.
Caster, already familiar with the structure of the gems the marshal used for his spell, transformed his skin into the same type of material.
The impact caused Caster's feet to dig into the ground. He watched as the gems deflected much of the ether from the attack, but at the same time, the friction caused it to overheat, making the material more malleable—not a good thing.
In the next second, the young man, his hands still adorned with blades, severed Caster's tendons, causing him to immediately fall to the ground, though he continued to defend himself against the attack.
Through a portal, the hooded Zelretch appeared, his staff raised to strike Caster's head. To his surprise, it pierced Caster's cheek but stopped at his skull.
"What a nuisance," he remarked, seeing that the titanium alloy had prevented him from piercing Caster's head with a single blow.
He couldn't continue his attack, as a burst of Conqueror's Haki flooded the area, disorienting the three Zelretchs. The original Zelretch had been creating more ether cannons to continue the directional attack that would have kept Caster shielding, but this interruption gave the blond-haired man time to strike the ground, creating a small tremor and a smokescreen to move.
"We can't let him plan anything," the young Zelretch demanded, flooding his forearms with ether as he lunged forward, taking advantage of Caster having lost his weapon.
The attack barely left a shadow; the blades on the ground slashed vertically from bottom to top, releasing powerful jets of ether that destroyed everything in its path.
This also cleared the area; he realized that the figure that had attacked wasn't the original Caster, but an earth statue.
Before he could say a word, he reacted by placing a barrier in front of him, which saved him from Caster's blow, but the internal destruction still affected him. His body was impacted, sending him flying backward.
Caster was about to follow up his attack, but a fire attack stopped him in his tracks.
Crunching, he touched the ground, allowing it to be molded to his will, creating a wall of earth that blocked the spell.
The hooded figure looked worried, only to glance at the young man who was slowly rising as the cracks in his body began to regenerate.
Once the smoke cleared, the half-destroyed wall was visible, with only one of Caster's eyes peering out, staring intently at them.
"This will be more complicated than I thought," the original Zelretch declared, counting the meager gems he had left on his hands.
...
Avenger could be seen moving the 10 bracelets as if they were an aircraft, protecting himself from all of Saber's blows, moving very fluidly.
Meanwhile, Saber tried to do something but could only manage to push her opponent back while he defended, waiting like a cobra for the opportune moment to strike.
The dark-haired woman suddenly crashed into a wall, unable to wriggle out of control. The former king took advantage of this, raising his sword and unleashing a mana buster that destroyed everything in front of him.
When the smoke cleared, Avenger was gone, but his battle instincts immediately kicked in, raising his shield to block the arrow that was headed straight for his neck.
Avenger took a breath to look at his enemy, whose body was now covered in veins that were slowly corrupting him. This meant that if he played the long game, he would inevitably win. But she didn't like to play games like that, so she would look for an opportunity to kill him herself.
Saber looked at the woman before him, who only had a deep wound in her trapezius muscle, which had managed to trap her at one point and almost kill her, but using the bracelets and that strange power, she managed to stop it mid-attack.
He felt her body, which was tired and wounded; he could see drops of blood seeping from the armor from the few arrows she had managed to land.
At that moment, Avenger drew his bow, but no arrow appeared on the string. As the dark-haired woman began her incantation, Saber watched, hesitating to take advantage of the moment to attack.
But just seconds later, he sensed danger above him, and the moment he looked up, he understood.
Above him was a giant arrow made of pure magical energy, heading straight for him.
"Let's see if you can handle this, Το Βέλος της Περιπλανώμενης Κυνηγού, Εναλλακτική Έκδοση," he declared, releasing the rope and miming firing an arrow.
At that moment, instead of the giant arrow hitting the ground with a massive explosion, it began to unleash a barrage of magical energy blasts.
Saber stared in disbelief as millions of magical energy attacks rained down upon him from afar.
That large-scale attack was worrying, but seeing how Avenger was already speeding towards him, he understood everything: he was forcing him to defend himself against thousands of attacks so that at some point he would disconnect and be killed in one blow.
Activating the core of the red dragon, he once again flooded his system with raw, unadulterated energy, gripping his sword with both hands, imbuing it with sacred power, ready for this performance.
Meanwhile, as several arrows of magical energy rained down in the distance, Assassin managed to deflect Lancer's spear, which was headed straight for his chest.
To only do so, he raised his knife and absorbed the blow from above, which forced his opponent to his knees.
He immediately summoned a revolver and fired two quick shots directly at Lancer's head, which Lancer blocked with his arm. The bullets shattered the armor but failed to penetrate his arm.
The Serb didn't fire again, as his opponent shielded himself, a shield that still proved impenetrable.
The knight used his last cartridge and loaded it into his spear to unleash a blast of ether, which Assassin managed to react to in time, sustaining only injuries to his abdomen and part of his arms.
Creating two rifles, he leaped upwards to position himself above him and fire them, but Lancer, spinning his spear, managed to deflect the barrel, causing the shots to miss.
Once on the ground, Assassin threw two grenades, which Lancer was already familiar with and knew the explosion time of; he kicked one away and, using his spin, struck the other with his shield, sending it back.
The Serb reacted in time and, with a shot from his revolver, detonated it too close for comfort.
After this exchange, both breathed slowly.
Assassin grimaced. In his thoughts, this shouldn't be happening; he was an assassin, not a fighter. Fighting head-on like this shouldn't be happening; if it weren't for Csater's weapon, the information he provided, and the fact that his master was a true ancestor, he would have managed to survive; otherwise, his participation in this war should have ended from the very beginning.
Lancer, with a determined expression, took his stance and, like a bull, charged at Assassin.
Assassin raised his knife to parry, but the blow sent him reeling backward. Blow after blow, the Serb was sent back by the powerful attack of the Knight of the Round Table.
Summoning a smoke bomb, he threw it to the ground, abruptly halting her charge.
Both were enveloped in the smoke, only to be moved and silenced.
Once the smoke cleared, he saw Lancer impaling Assassin with his spear, but Assassin was holding it with all his might to prevent him from going any further.
In the midst of this, Assassin freed one hand to draw his knife and plunge it into Lancer's shoulder and neck, causing a gush of blood to spurt out, which weakened Lancer's attack.
They were at a standstill.
But suddenly, Lancer began pushing his spear deeper, making Assassin's wound larger and larger; he tried to pierce him. In response, Assassin began to lower the knife further, but Lancer stopped him with one hand.
Both were pressing each other, neither giving an inch.
"Why do you keep attacking? You only need to take one step back to survive," Assassin exclaimed.
Lancer said nothing at first, only stared at his opponent, who momentarily stood motionless, witnessing Lancer's determination and willpower.
"I am a Knight of the Round Table; my duty is to protect the innocent, and if my sacrifice is to free them from this prison, then I will gladly die for them." With those words, Lancer began to exert more force.
Assassin was speechless, his mask of superiority slipping into one of disbelief. He couldn't die under any circumstances, because thanks to his call outside the Reality Marble, reinforcements must be on their way, and this call couldn't be canceled until Caster managed to defeat that old man.
Back with Saber and Avenger, she struck the former king of Camelot with her Haki-infused bow at a precise angle. He blocked the attack and, in doing so, destroyed several energy blasts that continued to rain down upon him.
Avenger glanced at Saber, closed one eye, revealing his blue pupil, and drew back his bow.
Knowing this, he raised his shield and positioned his sword in front of him to counter her attack.
But the moment the dark-haired woman fired the four arrows, they all missed Saber.
The former king didn't understand her actions, but a moment later he realized what had happened, instinctively looking behind him.
Avenger began to doubt; he saw Avenger with every intention of saving people, something he himself had attempted in his time. He only wanted to unite his people, and sadly, both he and they knew only violence and chaos to achieve it, and his actions led him to war, something he regretted in prison for the rest of his life.
As the Serb began to hesitate, he saw a red target appear on the lancer's neck, only for four arrows to pierce it in the next second, stopping him in his tracks.
Thanks to her hands being occupied and the knife's position, she couldn't move, preventing her from defending herself against the surprise attack.
The shield and spear vanished. Assassin pulled the knife from her body only to see her crawling, blood trickling from her mouth and neck.
The Serb just stared at her, hesitating, only to see Lancer's eyes meet with acceptance.
Immediately, he summoned his pistol and fired.
Bang.
He shot her in the head, killing her instantly.
Lancer fell backward, dead, her body slowly dissolving, only to see an assassin, for some sad reason, watching his opponent's body disappear.
Once Lancer had vanished, he sat up, clutching the hole in his body, meditating on everything that had happened and everything he had done so far.
On the other side, Saber could be seen gathering a massive amount of magical energy into a single point: her sacred sword.
With a single slash of her weapon, she destroyed several magical power attacks coming her way.
Avenger watched all this with a smirk, knowing that the more power Saber used, the faster she would fall.
"I will not allow this injustice to continue. I will end it here, and with all of it," declared the former king of Camelot, only for all the power within him to accumulate in his body and begin to take shape.
The dark-haired woman had her sights set on her opponent, but she watched as all the magical energy surrounding him ceased to be just a transparent mass and began to resemble a dragon more and more.
"Arise from your great slumber, great red dragon," Saber declared as a violent roar erupted from her body; the red dragon, the opposite of the white dragon, had momentarily materialized, using Saber as its core.
With a leap, the dragon flew straight toward the arrow that seemed to be firing endless bursts of magical energy. With a single shot from his mouth, he deflected almost all the attacks, only to crash into the arrow and destroy it, creating a giant explosion.
Avenger stood momentarily still, staring in awe, only to realize the dragon was already hurtling toward her, jaws wide open.
She drew her bow and, gathering all her magical power along with the elements of wind, fire, and lightning, prepared her attack.
When she was just a few meters away, Avenger vanished, but instead of destroying the dragon in a single blow, it began to deform and disappear along with Saber. The thin woman traveled aimlessly, exploding in midair.
The dark-haired woman stood momentarily still, unsure of what had happened.
"A command seal," she concluded, only to glance over at where Assassin had been and slowly walk toward it.
...
The fight between Caster and the three Zelretch was chaotic; thanks to her Haki and magical eyes, she could analyze and predict the simultaneous, rapid-fire attacks of her three opponents, but unfortunately, they didn't give her time to react, which annoyed her.
At that moment, I couldn't help but glance at Kiss-shot.
Not far away, I could see Kiss-shot and the female version of Zelretch clashing fists; the crystal puppet cracked from the force of the blow.
"Even using mantras and magical defense, I'd still crack it," the woman complained, dodging a kick from Kiss-shot and taking a step back.
At that moment, multiple portals opened, and several gems shot out like bullets, traversing the entire area. The cowboy Zelretch had already made her attack.
Kiss-shot leaped toward me, but the fighter lunged to stop her.
The vampire drew a sword from her chest and, with a slash of energy, sent the fighter flying.
"Damn," the cowboy said, seeing Kiss-Shot practically in front of him, destroying everything.
Taking out 12 gems and making her fingers like a gun, she fired 12 concentrated tere cannonballs, destroying several parts of Kiss-Shot.
Any other being would have been seriously injured, but Kiss-Shot simply ignored all her wounds and fluidly sliced the cowgirl in half, then into four pieces, and so on until the puppet was reduced to thousands of pieces. With a single punch, everything was destroyed, leaving only dust.
The fighter only made a recognizable grimace, even though she was merely a gem, just to give this universe's Zelretch a look.
The marshal realized this; If Kiss-shot returned to the fight to support Caster, things were going to go very badly, so he had no choice but to go and help her defeat the vampire.
Caster threw herself to the ground, rolling to her feet as she threw a cuberine coin of magical energy to destroy the ether cannon headed her way, only to find that she was now fighting two instead of three.
Without hesitation, she charged at the hooded figure. The young man was about to intervene, but his companion signaled him not to.
Still motionless, he let Caster touch his arm while chanting. The moment it touched Zelretch, his entire hand was destroyed in seconds, leaving only his bones covered by the titanium alloy, which was now completely cracked.
He didn't just use the elements to attack; he also used vibrations. They coated his hand with this magic; he managed to create a frequency so powerful that it destroyed anything it touched.
The hooded figure could only complain, as he expected his entire hand to be destroyed, but it didn't matter; in his other hand he already had his attack ready to destroy his opponent, his strongest attack, but at the moment he was going to bite himself, he couldn't.
At that moment, he realized that Caster's skeletal hand never stopped touching him. So, using the third true magic, Caster directly attacked the soul and the connection between the real man and the puppet.
With his fist coated in Haki and offensive magic, he struck the hooded figure, destroying the entire puppet. Only the feet and the hand were where the magical energy he was about to use remained intact, dissipating into thin air.
Seeing that he had already defeated one of the three, Caster looked at the young man, who became slightly nervous as he assumed a more defensive stance.
The marshal, observing this alone, realized he was cornered, so he simply looked at the fighter, who understood his intentions.
They both moved, with her now facing Kiss-Shot as she prepared for her attack.
The marshal launched several gems, which, upon dissolving, caused chains to entangle Kiss-Shot, immobilizing her.
The fighter, using several mantras that amplified her attack power, unleashed a punch that pierced the vampire's torso.
In a burst of strength, Kiss-shot broke free from her chains, and just as she was about to retaliate, the Zelretch of this world pierced them both with his jeweled sword.
"Arrivederci," Zelretch declared, activating his second spell and causing a massive amount of ether to erupt from the sword, obliterating Kiss-shot's body and using the fighter as a shield to minimize the damage she sustained.
On the other side, Caster could be seen easily dodging all of the younger Zelretch's attacks, only to duck and, using transmutation, create a sword from the earth, rapidly altering its composition from rubble to steel.
Her opponent began accumulating ether in his arms, but at an unprecedented rate. Caster arrived in front of him and, with a slash, cut off his arms, leaving him with no way to attack.
One short cut, two cuts, three short cuts: Caster began slashing at his opponent as he tried to back away to create distance, but the opponent wouldn't let him.
Quickly, assuming a samurai stance, he mentally deflected his sword and unleashed thousands of cuts, leaving only fragments of his opponent. With a single blow imbued with advanced Haki, he obliterated them, leaving only dust.
Caster looked at his hand, which already had flesh but still lacked skin, as he gazed at the site of the explosion, only to see Zelretch with torn clothing but otherwise unharmed.
"I see it's just the two of us left," Zelretch remarked, his sword now infused with ether.
"So it seems," Caster replied, throwing down his sword and filling his hand with darkness and lightning.
In a flash of speed, Caster appeared before Zelretch, attempting to paralyze him, but Zelretch palmed the space to create a barrier.
"This won't stop me," Caster declared, spinning his entire body, transforming his arm into steel, magic, and Haki, and striking the barrier, shattering it.
The marshal immediately fired an ether cannon, which Caster absorbed with his dark hand, using his steel hand to withstand the residual impact as he charged forward.
As soon as the attack ended, Caster grabbed a coin and, using one of his two remaining precasts, fired the railgun.
Zelretch, instead of defending, decided to attack, sacrificing one of his arms to launch his remaining gems, creating several mirrors and, in the next second, firing an ether cannon.
The attack barely touched the mirror; it duplicated itself, and so on. Surrounding Caster, in less than 5 seconds, there were 20 ether cannons whizzing around him, only to collide with him, creating a massive explosion.
The marshal stared at the place, and when the smoke cleared, he grimaced.
Around Caster was a broken defensive barrier, which she created with her last remaining recast.
With this, Zelretch ran out of ideas and attacks, so the moment Caster moved, she would open a portal and leave without much trouble.
Caster prepared to move, and Zelretch was about to do the same, but suddenly he sensed something behind him.
The moment he looked behind him, Suto saw Kiss-shot hugging him tightly and biting his neck.
"What?!" Zelretch exclaimed in disbelief and pain, as he thought he had defeated her, only to feel Caster place her palm on his chest.
At that moment, he felt his soul and magic circuits being slowly damaged and overloaded.
Kiss-hot quickly gave him a koala hug, not letting go as she began to absorb all of his essence. Zelretch began to panic, as she was consuming everything from him, and if he let her finish, nothing would remain.
Seeing that he was still holding his jeweled sword, he decided to overload it with ether to produce a massive explosion, affecting all three of them.
"I won't let you," Caster roared, beginning to disrupt Zelretch's magical circuits.
Magical energy could be seen bursting from the marshal's body, and greenish lines appeared all over his body, turning red. These were the magical circuits at their maximum overload.
Zelretch felt his magic slowly ceasing to function, or rather, losing control of it. Using all that he had left, he tried to detonate the sword.
In the next second, a massive explosion engulfed the entire area.
The barrier used by the second magic shattered, leaving a cloud of smoke in the air, and no one knew exactly what had happened.
Seconds passed, and the smoke began to dissipate, revealing a gaunt Zelretch kneeling, all his magical circuits damaged. He could no longer use magic and, consequently, the second magic, so he couldn't escape.
"That was a good try," Caster said. She appeared with a large portion of her right side burned, the side of the arm that had been held by her opponent. "Finish this."
At that moment, a completely unharmed Kiss-Shot appeared, lifted Zelretch, positioned him, and began to slowly absorb him.
The marshal's body could be seen slowly disintegrating without resistance.
But then, her gaze fell upon Caster.
"Your plan was never to win; what you wanted was to steal my magic. Now, with this, Kiss-shot, to be the current user of the second true magic, will only be lost forever in this world, and then, when you return, the Throne of Heroes will no longer possess it."
Caster simply watched as his enemy began to slowly fade away.
"That the second magic will disappear from this world forever, that's true, but the part about it no longer possessing it isn't true," Caster remarked, which made Zelretch's eyes widen. "Thanks to my deal with the Throne of Heroes, my original soul is in this spiritual body, the same for Kiss-shot, so I just need to use the third magic to unite everything, and that's it."
At that moment, Zelretch began to laugh maniacally as more than half of his body vanished.
"Who would have thought it? I admit you completely defeated me; I just hope I can withstand that brat's wrath," Zelretch said before disappearing without a trace.
"Hmm, I think a trace of her soul remains inside me," Kiss-shot complained, getting up from the ground and dusting herself off.
Caster made a nonchalant gesture.
"I'll get rid of her later. Let's get out of here," he replied to what she felt.
Standing behind him, Kiss-shot slipped into his shadow, leaving him alone.
"It was a pleasure, you old man with strange taste; I won't forget that thanks to you I got to see Kaori dressed as a magical girl." With that said, Caster left to rejoin the others, leaving traces of Zelretch's jeweled sword on the ground, the only thing that would prove he was there before he died.