Rapid Fire knew Pain and Sally were coming for them.
And since Lily had been shoring up their front lines with her soldiers, she knew the battle was not going well.
As Ray swooped down, they quickly took stock.
“Will, this is worse than we anticipated. Sally must have pulled a fast one.”
“Indeed.”
“Send word.”
“……Very well.”
They’d planned to stop Pain’s initial attack, but that had not worked out. Still, they had no intention of taking this lying down.
“Reproduction. Retainer Rampart.”
Lily’s summons made a wall—just in time for Ray to slam through it, shattering the barricade and landing in front of them.
“You’re not getting away this time.”
“Gotta get payback for Kasumi.”
“Game face on, Will. If we take them out, it’ll be great for morale.”
“Yes, let’s win this, Lily.”
Lily waved her flag, prompting more summons to appear around her.
Sally and Pain both broke into a run.
Lily was not that fast on her feet. If Sally didn’t hesitate, she could close that gap in a second.
“Double Slash!”
Her daggers glowing red, Sally unleashed a combo at Lily—who blocked it with her flag, but made no effort to counter. Instead, she merely watched closely.
“Cancel!”
Sally killed the combo motion midway through and thrust her blade toward Lily, but Lily took a step back out of harm’s way as her troops swarmed around Sally.
“Figured you’d heard the news.”
“Well, yes.”
Velvet had lived to tell the tale, and shared the attacks she’d seen.
“Well, what about this one? Autocancel!”
A red glow appeared around her, and this time she matched Pain’s pace.
“Holy Splendor!”
“Guard Heart!”
Pain still had the full might of Multi-Transfer on him, so his big move swept away Lily’s troops, letting Sally slip in.
“Triple Slash!”
She raised the flag to match Sally’s combo, but the left-hand dagger changed course, thrusting toward Lily.
“……!”
Lily barely dodged, deflecting the right-hand dagger that had followed the skill’s motion.
Sally returned her twisted left hand to its rightful place, and kept slashing at Lily.
This time, however, she didn’t catch on—the right-hand dagger changed paths, slashing Lily’s side.
“Wha……?!”
“Servant’s Sacrifice!”
Wilbert refilled Lily’s HP from his own pool, buffing her defense at the same time. Meanwhile, Lily rebuilt her summon walls, blocking their progress and retreating.
“Ha-ha, I see. Even aware of what can happen, I have to react to Triple Slash.”
She knew all the basic skill motions by now, but when facing Sally, that knowledge worked against her. Even when watching for it, she unconsciously matched the proper motion, yet Sally’s daggers didn’t quite follow it.
“How does that skill work?”
“It’s not as crazy as it looks.”
“Ha-ha, that’s a good one.”
Sally was telling the truth, but Lily was convinced there had to be a trick.
“Pain, once more.”
“I’ll match you.”
Lily moved her troops defensively. Not wanting to draw this out, Sally let Pain know she planned to end this quickly.
““Superspeed!””
“Toy Soldiers! Reproduction!”
To stop their boosted dash, Lily called forth even more soldiers. But they’d known she would.
“Holy Havoc!”
“You’re making me weep!”
Pain’s unnaturally powerful holy sword vaporized all her soldiers.
Still, Lily’s skills had much shorter cooldowns. If this skill volley continued, she’d eventually gain the upper hand.
But Sally wasn’t about to let that happen. She slipped through the gap Pain made and closed in.
Lily focused on Sally’s weapons, banishing all other thoughts.
“Double Slash!”
Sally’s daggers began to swing once more, even as Lily watched their every move.
“Fire Ball!”
As the sudden spell shot past Lily’s head, the dagger became a longsword and put a deep gash in Lily.
“Interesting…!”
Velvet had told her about a skill named Transform. Lily now realized they’d been fed some false information.
She countered with her flag, but Sally easily avoided it, thrusting her remaining dagger toward Lily.
“Wind Cutter!”
This time, wind blades appeared from behind Sally. Scowling, Lily tried to move out of their path, but her belly was split open before they even reached her.
“Ha-ha, what a nightmare!”
The Sally casting the spell had been a Mirage. The real Sally was using a blade even larger than a longsword—a Greatsword. In the instant Lily had been distracted, Sally had landed a deep wound on her.
“Ack, I don’t even have time to think!”
Between the skills Sally called out and the effects Lily saw, it was impossible to tell which were real. It was only natural her response time would slow down.
After all, the true goal of Sally’s tricks was to hijack and disrupt her opponents’ instincts.
Lily had been warned ahead of time, but dealing with it in person was another matter altogether. Controlling her own reflexes and reactions was a tall order.
“Water Ball!”
Trying to figure out what skill Sally was actually using took a moment, and that was all Sally needed.
Lily still didn’t have a full grasp on just what Sally’s skills truly were, so the lag was in fact far greater than just “a moment.”
Water Ball turned out to be Flash Spout. It shot up beneath Lily’s feet, launching her into the air.
“This is far, far more unreasonable than I anticipated.”
“Ray!”
As Lily spun through the air, Pain hurtled toward her on his dragon’s back.
“Sorry, Will! All you!”
“Holy Condemnation!”
She had left the rest to Wilbert. Those were her last words as Pain’s sword sliced through her armor.
“Guard Thy Heart.”
Wilbert’s voice rang out. Pain’s holy sword cut Lily’s body—but Wilbert took the damage, his HP bar shattering.
“Thank you.”
“Mm-hmm. The rest is…”
With that brief exchange, Lily generated a flying machine, landed on it, and escaped toward the crowd.
“Damn it, Will,” she muttered, scowling.
Her eyes turned to the fore. With the eye in the sky entirely under her control, her vision was far broader—but unlike Wilbert, Lily could not process the sheer quantity of information in Awakened mode. At least not for more than a split second, anyway.
While these abilities were on a single player, no Mandates were available—but that brief flash of expanded vision did let her grasp the flow of battle.
“We called it.”
Things were going poorly. But they had not lost too many players yet; they could still resist.
“Okay, it’s time.”
They had options. It was too soon to throw in the towel.