“Mandate: Apocalypse Fire!”
“Toy Soldiers! Rapid Factory!”
“Argh, this is nuts!”
The circles behind Wilbert—he called them mandates—unleashed all kinds of elemental attacks.
He still had all his buffer abilities, and these new skills were as powerful as any mage’s spells. Wilbert’s threat level had skyrocketed, but Chrome’s guard had bought them enough leeway that Pain and Kasumi cut through the flames, charging in.
“Range Expansion! Holy Guardian!”
Pain’s AOE mowed down soldiers, as well as the wall guarding Lily.
“First Blade: Heat Haze! Armored Arms!”
Kasumi slipped in during that momentary opening, teleporting herself right up to Lily and attacking with three blades at once.
“That was fast!”
Lily blocked Kasumi’s blighted blade with her flag, but the two arms floating behind both cut into her.
✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦
“Mandate: Rise Again!”
“Versatile…! Third Blade: Blue Moon!”
Wilbert had brought Lily back, so Kasumi dove at her again. With her summon-focused style, Lily was no match for Kasumi’s mobility in a one-on-one battle.
“Reproduction.”
“Ray, Palidragon’s Breath.”
A glittering breath blew the new soldiers away, and Pain lunged in.
“Hah!”
Clang, clang—their weapons clashed. Pain pressed his advantage. His sword glowing, the blade snaked up, slicing deep into Lily’s shoulder.
“Retainer Rampart!”
She made a wall and tried to back away, but neither of them would let her.
They vaulted over Wilbert’s flames and water, shattering each wall she made—each time taking another step forward.
“Fourth Blade: Whirlwind!”
Kasumi slipped a powerful combo under Lily’s guard. Unable to withstand it, she lost her balance.
Just one more hit—but a shout went up from behind them.
“She’s luring you in!”
“……!”
Different roles, different speeds. A battle too fast for anyone to take a breath. As Lily backed down, Kasumi and Pain had left Chrome behind, moving a bit too far ahead.
“Will!”
“Mandate: Celestial Weight!”
“Gah…!”
Chrome’s feet were forcibly halted. He was out of range of Cover Move.
A moment’s hesitation—and Lily took another step back. Kasumi and Pain made eye contact. Best to back off.
““Quick Change!””
Lily and Wilbert swapped gear, switching to their other fighting style. Suddenly, there was a massive shift in their range and a one-shot arrow ready and aimed.
They could neither advance nor retreat.
“Origin Bla—!”
The shot tore through the air, a match for Kasumi’s speed. The arrow, aimed true, beat her teleport—and pierced her body.
“Gah…!”
Success. Lily and Wilbert shared a moment of relief, but even on the brink of death, Kasumi did not let that go unpunished.
“All-Consuming Blight.”
“What?”
“Oh, dear…!”
Before she vanished, Kasumi used a skill, commanding blood-soaked blades to shoot out of the ground and enveloping the area in a purple mist.
This was a long-term debuff, one that could not be dispelled—and cost a portion of Kasumi’s stats.
It could only be used once a day, and required a resource she could not regain. But if not now, when? She was not about to die lying down. If a few stat points could buy her victory, then that was a small price to pay.
“The rest is yours.”
Those were her last words. Pain nodded once, and tightened his grip.
“And here I thought we’d won.”
With this debuff, they were no match for Pain and Chrome.
But likewise, this was the last means they had of making this strategy succeed. The two remaining could not let their opponents rendezvous with Velvet and Hinata.
Realizing there was nothing else they could do…they made their choice.
“Rest.”
“Awaken!”
“Ray, Total Mana Release. Light Flux.”
Pain raised his gleaming sword, and Wilbert passed all powers from the eye in the sky to Lily.
“Mandate: Transcendence! Formation Change!”
“Range Expansion! Palidragon’s Lightsword!”
They vanished, replaced by a wave of light that filled the area. Its brilliance flowed outward, sweeping all traces of darkness from the field.
“Did I reach them…?”
Back in town, Formation Change had only taken them so far. He could reach that distance, but he was uncertain that its range hadn’t been extended.
“Sorry, I fell behind.”
“No, we pushed our luck. Played aggressively so they’d not swap to Wilbert—and that worked against us.”
If Lily changed her gear, her defenses would drop. They’d been hoping to take advantage of that and take her down, but Lily and Wilbert had far more practice with role-swapping strategies.
“I feel bad for Kasumi. We gotta win this for her.”
“Lily and Wilbert can’t rejoin this fight. Let’s turn back.”
Rapid Fire had taken out Kasumi, but in exchange, they had been forced to retreat.
In other words, it was a draw—and so, to tilt that scale toward victory, Chrome and Pain hurried off to back Maple and Sally up.