Battle of Strategies (Second Part)

(Robin's POV):

Arcturus instantly stood up while a huge amount of mana starts radiating off strong pressure. The thickness of the aura gives me signals that I might enter terrible danger if I handle this poorly.

I hid Heaven's Beacon and brought out Mana Breaker once more to fight against this annoying enemy. He dashed forward at an extremely high speed and tried to attack me with lethal strikes straight off the bat. He's still down by some health but since there are no enemies around for the time being, I can make some leeway against him.

I blocked and dispersed some mana that his overdrive oozed off. I continued dodging to the sides constantly without getting myself dug into and prevented any form of damage towards me. Jay continued to support by firing nice shots when I give him clear time.

It was all going so well with us dealing enough damage to lower his health bit by bit. The issue with his overcharge mode is that he became more tenacious and reckless with his movements. It's not that bad of an idea if you have a powerful protection item like Virgo but then, at this point there will be a lot of flaws in the movement.

"Die!" - Arcturus

And the last issue is that he becomes pretty noisy.

"Die!" - Arcturus

His mind doesn't seem to function well when using overdrive mode so I landed various clean hits myself even if most of them dealt like no damage. It still does slow him down a bit if it helps.

"Die!" - Arcturus

Ah damn, reinforcements have arrived...

A bunch of magicians started showing up again above the town walls. I was starting to get a little wary since they might target Jay with his vulnerability on combat being a thing.

When I checked, Arcturus's barrier is down which gave me some leeway to attempt another break on his legs.

I slashed his neck which missed due to him dodging. I then shot two bullets to hit both knees but only one managed to land. The barrier was immediately re-casted and he became invulnerable to damage once again. However, I still landed a kick on his gut to knock him back all the way to the town wall.

"Jay! Clear their backline!"

One sniper bullet was shot and one head popped because of it. I followed up by firing more bullets from my revolver and killed off a few mages. They managed to launch some spells towards me and Jay but I simply slashed off the ones in my side.

I was about to start clearing the ones targeting Jay but Arcturus was suddenly in front of me.

"Where are you looking at?" - Arcturus

I got struck from the back without being able to react. The fist was enhanced greatly and I started suffering from internal hemorrhage. Damnit...

I started to think of the situations specially that Jay just landed another clean hit. However, he received some damage after dodging the splash damage of arcana magic.

"Khh!" - Jay

"Y-you!!" - Arcturus

Arcturus starts walking towards Jay which is basically bad news. If I can't stand now I only have one choice to get through this dangerous situation.

"Illumination!"

I healed both of us to try and get ourselves back into the fight with straightforward buffs. I drank a potion that will greatly improve the damage I'll deal and boost my stamina to lessen the chances of getting exhausted.

I stood up immediately and readied both my weapons to stop the enemy. I brought out my grappling hook and threw it forward. I gained a nice boost of speed to move towards Jay before Arcturus and managed to stop him from landing a hit.

"Good try. I'm no longer surprised of your tactics at this point."

"W-wha..." - Arcturus

I shot a bullet towards the back of his neck and destroyed part of it. He started dashing back to the side but I still have this trick.

"Ignition!"

I ignited the bullet inside Arcturus's body once again to deal a substantial amount of damage internally. He dashed back and started drinking a potion but, he ended up vomiting it out. Now you know why I used your neck.

The reason why I shot him in the neck and ignited the bullet is because he will be unable to breathe at all. He'd have to suffer from asphyxiation for some time before he is able to drink anything.

"Khaaa!!!" - Arcturus

He dashed away from me and Jay at a high speed which makes him seemingly retreat. However, he stopped just before the wall and multiple swordsmen went out to protect him. They're buying time...

"Jay, you okay right now? You can retreat if you want..."

"No, I can't leave Robin to march to his death here. I'll continue helping you out, what should I do?" - Jay

"Good, you should eliminate the ones in the backline first. They will pose you some troubles here. I can handle the front lines alone just fine so get rid of the threats on your side. Once they're out, try to target Arcturus only."

"Alright." - Jay

I went back to the front line after giving Jay a light tap to his shoulder. I then fired about six bullets from my revolver. Multiple enemies on the backline died pretty quickly and about to or three are left. Jay can handle those...

I dashed forward to meet all the enemies I have to face up front. Arcturus joined in along them and tried to surround me immediately. I hid my revolver and brought out five searing blades and Heaven's Beacon. Now...

"You! Shall not! Pass!"

I lowered the battle arena for them by activating Shining Beacon to blind them for a bit.

"On guard, Arcturus."

"Chih!" - Arcturus

Arcturus dashed in quickly with the enhanced limbs and the thick aura oozing off from his body. I parried him with both swords and a searing blade floating around. I lessened the damage he could deal before the enemy group piles up on my face. I pulled one sword in and landed a deep strike on his side while moving backwards by a little bit to dodge and parry his attacks.

I heard one gunshot at that point and kept it in mind. Arcturus dashed back to try and heal himself with a potion as if to tell me that his overcharge state has ended its duration completely. I see, maybe he is trying to use his men as a way to stall for time...

The number of men reached about thirty, they are pretty skilled and continuously try to break through my defenses. If Denzel is here then this would be a hundred times easier but I could just do this all alone.

"Blinding Light!"

I blinded every single swordsman in the area and dealt a severe amount of damage to them by slashing down with the searing blades. I managed to thin out their numbers by a little bit and pushed them back for some time. When I checked, my illumination is about to wear off so I should prepare a powerful piece for my combat.

I guess it should be time to bring it out soon, I still have this though.

I brought out an orb that actually slows time temporarily. This was during the grand invasion and I actually never used this weapon made by Denzel and Karl.

"Heh, good luck. Time-Slowing Orb!"

Time has been slowed down completely. I slashed off the remaining swordsmen within the first ten seconds using only the searing blades. During that time, I took a few potions in to improve my other stats and let everything sink in for a bit. With the last five seconds, I dashed towards Arcturus to pierce him with the Heaven's Beacon.

I managed to penetrate him on the gut but I wasn't able to pierce through the stomach. Heaven's Beacon was stuck and time returned to normal.

"W-wha..." - Arcturus

"Surprised are you? Well, I move around prepared for every situation I'm gonna be placed in."

"Khh... You think Overcharge is done already?" - Arcturus

"Nope, not in th-!!"

I blocked his enhanced kick with my Mana Breaker and made me flinch by a little bit by the extreme speed. Damn, I thought I had him by this point.

I parried his foot away and tried to make a counter attack but dealt no damage. I slowed him down by hitting him in the head with a spinning back kick. After I landed my leg down, the barrier disappeared. I heard the second gunshot at that point so I struck him again and decapitated his left arm using Heaven's Beacon.

"Wha?!!" - Arcturus

The barrier appeared once again surrounding his body excluding the severed arm. I tried to pass through him and escape by dashing out of his way. I dashed back and tried to reset my stance. But instead of being able to reset my stance, I saw Arcturus looking extremely mad as he instantly blinked towards my position. Shit!

I tried dashing back one more time but his hand in a spear like form pierced through my stomach instantly. Damnit! What should I do here...

While processing everything in my mind, I tried to bring out a technique where I could bring about success in escaping with two holes in my body.

I heard the third gunshot which basically means, the next attacks are going to be aimed at Arcturus. I kicked him back which he dodged easily while pulling out his hand from me. Big mistake, now I can fight back nicely.

I dropped Heaven's Beacon and flicked an enderpearl towards Jay's position. I then brought out a potion and started drinking it immediately.

"Don't you dare run!" - Arcturus

I blinked to a spot nearby Jay while drinking a potion. It is a dangerous thing to try and blink while drinking but I trained myself to prevent any recoil from that.

I was starting to heal up nicely while looking at Arcturus dashing towards me at a speed I can't easily catch.

"We're in the endgame now. Tarot Card XIII! Justice! Activation!"