Chapter 61: The Dolls

Much like the Asur of the Warhammer world, the Astrals were an arrogant and proud race that looked down on the other inferior beings in Esthar. They lived comfortably in their own realm of reality, separated from the rest of the world, enjoyed their supposed immortality and deluded themselves into thinking they're almighty gods. Yet, they were no true gods. Much like Melkor, who yearned for the Flame Imperishable from Illuvatar, the Astral yearned to possess the ability of "creation" in order to justify their claims to godhood. Nonetheless, no matter how powerful they believed they were, the gift of creation was never within their reach, for, they were no true gods. Delving deep into the research to create life, the Astral had stumbled upon the art of Homunculus Crafting and Soul Transferring, to which they have used to safely leave the Modun Realm to exert their influence over Esthar. Yet, the pinnacle of their research and prowess were neither of those techniques. It was the creation of "Dolls," the closest "things" to true lifeforms that they had ever created. On the surface, dolls acted just like any being: they cried, they laughed, they felt emotions as any other sentient beings… However, the moment an Astral commanded, the dolls would revert back to their original selves: automatons devoid of thoughts or emotions, who merely listened and obeyed orders given to them by their creators. Although dolls could grow up from children to adults like any other beings, they were inherently sterile so they could not produce offspring. That was the one flaw that truly separated them from being a genuine lifeform. The discovery and creation of Dolls by the Astral had proven their worth for during the Second Holy War, armies of Dolls were dispatched to deal with Zaeryn's allies, resulting in the decimation of the Anti-Astral forces. The utilization of Dolls in the war, in addition to the Battle at the Heavenly Realm's Gate, where the majority of the 300 Daitengu were either killed or injured by Adeus, marked the beginning to the end of the conflict more than 10000 years ago. Afterward, realizing the potentials of Dolls, the Astral began to use them as their spies, placing them strategically throughout the world, acting in place of their eyes and ears. Just like Skyer, some of the Dolls even achieved the job of high ranking officials, allowing the Astrals to further influence the course of Esthar history from the shadows.

Bam!

One of the dolls fighting against Yuusei was sent flying by the awakened Yuusei's kick, crashing and taking down a large tree with him. The grown up mutant's attention quickly switched to the sword wielding doll, his feet swiftly turned to the direction of the doll before pressed down onto the ground and sprung forward, leaving a deep indentation behind on the ground. Realizing he was Yuusei's target, the doll quickly erected more than ten parallel barriers in front of him to receive the mutant since he judged that going at the speed of sound, the mutant would not be able to change direction easily. Once he had crashed into the barriers and stopped dead in his tracks, the doll would use the opportunity to take him down. Yet, despite the barriers constructed being much sturdier than that of Rowan, the mutant easily crashed through all of them by concentrating his Nen into one single pressure point, before he chidoried through the unsuspected doll's chest, his hand gripping tightly against the doll's heart. This was Yuusei's true strength, though one that he had yet fully mastered. However, thanks to his skill, Yuusei was able to place himself into "Autopilot" mode, much like when Shalnark took out the Chimera Ant in HxH. In this mode, although his mind could not think clearly, his strength and speed multiplied more than twenty-fold while his Nen reserve burst out like a breached dam. The autopilot mode would continue to be active until either his Nen ran out or his command, which was to , had been fulfilled. One drawback of such skill was that the user would not be able to think or react to any alterations to the battlefield, nor could he change the command midway. Had there been a fourth doll waiting on the side, as long as that doll did not touch Ryan, it could have easily walked up to Yuusei and killed him without breaking a sweat. Fortunately for Yuusei, these three were all the dolls that Adela had brought with her.

This is bad… Why am I being cornered like this? Witnessing the events in front of her eyes transpired, the Astral had started to break into a sweat. Outside of the barrier, Adela had trusted her three dolls, who were all at least as strong as Ryan, to take care of the mutant and the hero to break her free. Yet, although they had initially gained the upper hand, they were soon pushed back once the mutant awakened. Now they were down to 2 vs 1, and judging from the fight, there was no hope for them to actually defeat the berserker mutant. Adela knew dealing with a hybrid was always a dangerous mission since hybrids, on their own, could fight evenly against some heroes due to them usually inheriting favorable traits and racial skills from both of their parents. However, as Adela stood back in the shadow and witnessed Yuusei fight against the adventurers, she had deemed he was not an issue then. Yet now, the same smol fighter had turned into a true monster, much like his beloved master. Was this within Zaeryn's calculation? I was just assuming he did not pay attention to those two outside because he was merely a heartless man, but did he know that mutant kid would grow into his adult form?

Things were not in her favor within the barrier either. The whole strategy rested on the assumption that all of his skills and attacks would be severely weakened due to the debuff, yet the opposite was true: His attacks, imbued in faint holy aura, which was amplified by the barrier's effect, had steadfastly pushed back her five dolls. One of the weaknesses of Dolls was the fact that they could not possess the nor the ability to utilize the Holy aura. This shortcoming was the main reason why instead of using Dolls as heroes to counter Demon Lords, the hero system devised by Kibadios' first reincarnation was still in place. Of course, the dolls' inability to command over the Holy aura was supposed to not be a problem since Adela had expected Kibadios to be suffering from the debuff also. Yet, now, fighting against a full power Kibadios, even numbers did not help to tip the fight to their favor.

「Haha...」Adela wearily laughed. 「As expected of Zaeryn's reincarnation. Even if you're not at your full strength, you're still a pain.」

「...」Kibadios chose not to respond to her since he knew the Astral was merely trying to distract him from dealing with the dolls. Although he had an upper hand in the fight, even after ten minutes of fighting, he could not dispose of even one of the four attackers who had been exchanging blows with him, let alone getting to Adela, who had been protected by the fifth doll. Of the four, there was clearly one who stood above the others in terms of fighting capability: an elf doll dressed in a fancy aristocratic looking wood-elf clothes. Just like most elves, who preferred to fight from a distance, the man was holding onto his small crossbows, one on each hand. The arrows he used were not made from any metallic materials but from his own aura, which contained a toxic substance that would most likely outclass anything that Maia could synthesize. An Alchemist class , Kibadios deduced. How troublesome …

「I have to admit, you have changed a bit, Zaeryn.」Adela continued. 「Had it been the old you, you would not have mercilessly sacrificed someone who had been travelling with you, someone who cared for you deeply, just to convince me Ryan is on my side.」

「... What are you talking about?」answered Kibadios while dodging Skyer's repeating arrows.

「Ha?」Adela quickly noticed something interesting. Ha… Maybe that was not planned then... 「Did you not know about your slave, Rowan? I forced your pathetic hero-slave to kill off that little pest, who was listening in to our conversation yesterday evening.」

「...」Kibadios did not say anything but a slight twitch on his face betrayed his indifferent acting. That's why Ryan was acting strange last night?

「... I am sorry, Master… I...」Ryan admitted his crime, tears rolling down his cheek.

「Stay calm and focus on the barrier, Ryan...」The hybrid stoically commanded, though his own heart began to rage.

「Hahaha!」Adela laughed after she noticed Kibadios' slight change of emotion.「That pest was slashed open with the shitty hero's own sword. Blood splattered everywhere as he fell off into the raging river. I can't get enough of the look on his dying face. He was probably cursing his luck, having met you. I wonder if he died of blood loss first or if he drowned… Dying from the excruciating pain from his open wound or from water in his lung… Both options sound terrible to me.」

「... Shut up, Adela. Do you think you can distract me by drawing up some emotions in me?」replied the hybrid, though his total concentration in the fight was still left intact despite the taunts. 「Let me guess, you also stirred up emotions in the Prime Minister like this, weakened his defeated mind before you were able to plant those seeds in him?」

「Of course!」A twisted smile quickly appeared on Adela's already sinister face. 「I told him how the love of his life died while sucking cocks and begging to be spared… Of course, it didn't happen that way since that bitch was still fiercely resisting until her last moment, despite being creampied by hundreds of men… Remembering her alone makes my blood boil. But still, the trick worked on the man's already broken spirit. Though, in your case, I'm not lying. If you want to know how your slave died in agony, asked your other slave outside this barrier.」

「...」

「Anyways, the wait time is over, Zaeryn! Taste the despair! Ultimate Arte: !!」Grinned Adela as she clapped her hands together. Suddenly, the whole space within the barrier began to distort, the blue sky expanded and soon swallowed the ground that Kibadios was standing on. The transformation left the hybrid finding himself standing in midair, though even if he was looking down, he could see nothing but an endless blue sky. She declared

Damn it. I was planning to finish those dolls off before she can do this… The hybrid clicked his tongue. Adela's was not an offensive skill, yet, it could easily cause havocs once activated, befitting the classification of an Ultimate Arte. When was active, the entire 1000km around the user would be transformed into nothing but the azure sky. Orientation such as east, west, north, south, up, down... meant nothing since everywhere was an endless expansion of the sky. Anyone who got caught up in this space would instantly lose their senses of touch, smell, taste, and hearing, even any sensory skill would be rendered useless. Their sight would still remain, but they could see nothing but an endless empty space. Even if they raised their hand up in front of them, they would not see their arm. Even if they look down, they would not see their feet, nor body. There was truly nothing "existed" within the space but an endless sky. For Kibadios to perceive an incoming attack, he had to direct the majority of his Nen toward his eyes, limiting its output on any offensive attacks he was planning at the moment. Despite such exhaustive countermeasures, this only allowed him to "see" outward at most about half a meter from his body, which greatly reduced the reaction time he had to any attack launching at him. This Ultimate Arte, acting in tandem with Adela's weapons of choice, the flying twin chakrams, which could attack from any angles, would quickly end the lives of any opponents who were unfortunate enough to fight her. Though, for some average fighters, being trapped in this space without their senses for more than 10 minutes would be enough to cause them to go insane.

「... This fog inside means Adela has activated her Ultimate Arte, right?」Ryan worryingly stared into the opaque space in front of him. Though, the hero should have considered himself to be lucky, for had there been no barrier, the "Sky Domain" would have extended out, swallowing both Ryan and Yuusei in it.「Master, please be safe...」