184 - Final of the institute 2/Journey of the End 2
*
With Valern out of the way, and Sakase being less mobile, Lilith only needed to figure out a way to bypass his wind barrier. In the rush of the illusions coming to attack, she had slipped into one of them to test his defense, it seemed as if his wind grew faster the faster she moved. It made identifying the real Lilith easier for Sakase, and so she teleported to attack Valern instead. Continuing to hide.
She could invent a move with [Demonic energy] to go against the current, however that would literally make the current go twice as fast. Nothing seemed to be coming to mind. Teleporting in was too dangerous, unlike Valern's barriers that were pentrable, Sakase's were an attack that acted like a barrier. Putting your hand in just exposes it to the attack, losing an arm.
With the way it moved, it seemed like a type of current. The ridiculously obvious observation. It was a wind current, a type of energy carried that wind. If it's as so, she only had to manipulate that energy to stop... Not.
< [War] >
The authority of War, the ability to manipulate energy. That was it, it was nothing particularly complicated, yet the possibilities were quite infinite. It had the ability to give any property the user wanted to the energy, enhanced it, and shoot at the enemy. That small bit of wind generated from moving the body, could be enhanced into a deadly attack that erases cities. Crushing her fingers together into a fist, the barrier collapsed on Sakase. Lilith had thought it would be the end. He stood on the spot, raising a triumphant smile.
"Found you~" (Sakase)
He made an unusual expression that had ecstasy strewn all over it. However it was unmistakable progress, his defenses were now gone. Rushing in with the other decoys, the spear they carried were all real this time.
"Gashak shaa~~k khhhk"
Countless wind blades penetrated my body. His wind spear wiped out every illusion in the area, even coursing through my flesh, damaging my insides. My attacks were all repelled, causing the [Demonic energy] spears to fly away and dematerialise.
'Guh! Ughh, shit. I need to end this quick, he somehow found my location. Guess there's no choice. [Demonic energy]
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE'(lilith)
Sakase's attack had easily caught her off guard and passed through her armour as if they weren't corporeal. An urgency to survive and win from the shock of lethal damage, such objective stirred her heart to the maximum.
The walls and illusions collapsed, the maze disappearing into thin air. In an instant, a large explosion consumed the whole arena, well, the inside of the barrier. Cress had to errect a barrier with the Queen's power to hold in the power, it was beyond belief that no matter how much I attacked it, it would not budge.
***
Strings of red materialise from the walls, glowing an ominous crimson that seemed as if they were viscous threads. Red spider webs? No this smell was distinct, it was Cress's blood. As if responding to my discovery, new threads grew from cracks in the old walls of the Demon castle, they trusted through the air without resistance, even catching up to my speed. Slicing through the wind with audible impacts, the threads threaten to take my neck with sheer penetrative power.
Dodging with all my power, I barely avoid the threads at a hair's breadth, before shooting off some of my own [Demonic energy] threads to cut them down. Lines of a deep purple materialise and flew off in the general direction of the red threads. Halting my movements to a stop as I no longer needed to dodge the threads, I attempted to teleport off before a pale arm appeared right before my eyes. The fingers facing me appeared as if coming through a hole in space, slowly revealing more of itself as it inched forward... For my torso.
Blasting the immediate vicinity with an aura-pillar of [Demonic energy], the walls crumbled away disintegrating into ashes, leaving nothing behind. The pale arms were however completely unharmed, though they stopped proceeding forward. From the incorporation of [War], [Demonic energy] had evolved beyond its limits to always deal 500% of the opponent's health as damage. With the passive [Wicked will](damage x1.5) and [Morbid heart of the alien](damagex10) , it was raised to 7500%.
Even if the opponent had a 99% damage reduction skill, they would still be obliterated in a couple hits. The only drawback was the definition of "hit", causing the necessity of a direct impact to cause thay amount of damage. Sensing this danger, the enemy withdrew their arm in an effort to protect themselves. Letting them escape would be a failure, this was the chance to retaliate. Though...
It happened again. A strangely familiar softly burning sensation caressed my temples, causing my mind to heat up. To put it strangely, observing the opponent's arm invoked my lost memories to return, though the act of returning itself impaired my conscious too much for me to view said memories. It was similar to the strange feelings I first had back at the orphanage. Holding my composure back together with deep breaths, I regained the balance on my legs from the momentary loss. The burning continues as I struggle to overpower the pain.
Using the retreating arm as a lead, I leaped forward with my right fist at the front. Every single muscle tensed as I abused them to their limit. Pushing forward, I launched my pent up frustration in the form of an attack. Now was no longer the time to be weak, with the recovery of certain memories, I couldn't recall what were in those memories, however a feeling. A feeling that I couldn't back down from this challenge overcame my soul, as if against my will, yet not, at the same time. My conflicting thoughts melded together into an unrecognisable mush, uniting into a uniform determination to win. Do I retreat or do I move forward? The most logical answer, as suggested by Cress's eyes when she lost hope, was to regroup. I'm sorry. This wouldn't be special or anything, time and time again I've betrayed her trust. In this context, would I be human after all? Well it didn't matter, my legs have lifted off and my fists burned with passion. Come! I'll fight you off, demon king or not.
Without hesitation, I slammed an attack through the rift that which the pale arm came out of. A warm sensation cupped my knuckles, negating all my gathered momentum with utter ease. My attacks that could split a mountain and possibly more in 2 had been completely and devastatingly stopped by a simple palm block. The warm touch stimulated my skin cells despite them being numb. Puzzlement filled my conscious, but could not be organised and solved before my whole body was pulled through the rift.