The outline of Prodotis’s body blurred and split in two. As Dill drew closer, the haze expanded, and the protruding outline took a step forward. He now faced two mirror images. The only difference between them was that the one stepping forward had black hair.
“My name is Eugene, the hollow shadow... Do not stand in our way, Dill Steel-Link. I want to see the future Prodotis, a true hero, will create!”
The spear held by Dill collided with the spear held by Eugene, Hero of the Reincarnators!
“Your ideology is puerile, based on delegation to others but yet envious of their power. You’re just a wraith who can do nothing with his own strength... It is pitiful to see how far you’ve fallen, Reincarnator.”
“Hold your tongue!”
How many times had this very battle played out? Crossing their spears, slamming their shields against each other, with Hero’s Skill running wild, the two clashed yet again.
“To obtain the blood of the Reincarnators, I must cast away the fog outside. Let us go, Princess.” With a struggling Nue in tow, Prodotis opened a teleportation gate and disappeared.
Three battles unfolded atop the surface of Krios as the rain poured down without end. One took place in the circular amphitheater, between Kranos, son of Prodotis, and a group led by Halberd. Another raged in the courtyard where withered trees stood, between Nefritis and Orestes—a battle to the death between the two heroes. Finally, there was the conflict fought on the largest scale at this moment, against the trio of stars and the pride of Krios—Itimenos, Papus, and Diros.
An arrow loosed by Diros, the swift marksman, burned with the flames of his Skill as it headed straight for Rick Wake.
“Seriously?!” The crossbow bolt Rick had just fired collided with Diros’s arrow in midair and burned to a cinder. If Rick hadn’t followed with a somersault, tumbling into a nearby puddle of mud, he likely would have met the same fate. For the duration of the battle so far, every bolt Rick fired had been struck by another arrow crossing its trajectory, knocking it out of the air. Diros’s bow, drawn with a demigod’s strength, fired arrows with force exceeding that of the bolts fired from Rick’s mechanical crossbow. The battle was one-sided, and Rick was losing.
“This is total bullshit, hero!” If Rick maintained his straightforward offensive, he realized he had no chance of winning. In that case... As Rick scrambled to his feet with his head covered in mud, he suddenly dropped to his knees, crossbow already at the ready. His eyes met those of Diros, who stared steadily in Rick’s direction while nocking his next arrow.
“Eh? Damn, he’s fast...” With a strained half smile, Rick could do nothing besides pull the trigger.
“Rick, look out!” An explosion erupted around the hero, consuming everything within a five-meter radius. This display of pyrokinesis had come from Blusterer, a staff member of the Reincarnators’ Project.
“Blusterer, old pal! Nicely done!”
“Kazama! This again?!”
“Huh?” A Reincarnator who had tried to challenge Diros at close range was caught up in Blusterer’s explosion, and as a result had been burned to a crisp. “Shit, I overdid it again! But I couldn’t help it! This is our home turf! My power output is just too high in this rain, senpai!”
Indeed, throughout the battles taking place since their arrival at the Tower Capital, the power of the Reincarnators’ Skills had been elevated. A short distance away, Repeater, who fought with the hero Itimenos, delivered a flurry of eight blows to the hero’s shield—a greater number than usual. The Manager Toiler’s psychokinetic limbs, usually unseen, had now become visible to the naked eye. From each of these thick, jellylike arms, each nearly two meters in length, there sprouted ten protrusions which looked more like tentacles than fingers. It was not clear whether this was the true form of his unseen hands, or if their properties had changed due to the strengthening effect of the Tower Capital’s rain, but Toiler now fought on equal footing with the hero Papus, who commanded two writhing monsters.
“Wake, I’d like to go and assist Orestes. Can I leave this front to you?” It was one of his mail-cloak comrades, Whitehead, who had approached him and spoke. Rick nodded.
“Sure. Though I have to say, the way things are going, it looks like we might not be able to deal with these heroes...” Flames illuminated Rick’s cheek where his eagle tattoo was displayed—flames born from an arrow loosed by Diros. The arrow glowed even more brightly and accelerated as flames spouted from the tail of the arrow. If this arrow met its target, it would surely be lethal.
Rick and Whitehead both dodged the arrow, chain mail cloaks sweeping through the air. They both then witnessed the moment that the arrow they had just dodged changed its trajectory in mid-flight, the flames spouting from its tail feathers carefully adjusted. The arrow traced a wide arc in the air, then turned back. Once again, its target was the two mail-cloaks. Then, from behind, they heard Diros fire another arrow.
“Shoot it down!” Rick prepared to fire at Diros’s second arrow, while Whitehead lifted his spear to strike down the one that had turned back toward them.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me...” Rick fired three bolts in quick succession, but these did not neutralize the hero’s flaming arrow, instead being consumed themselves. Behind Rick, Whitehead thrust his spear toward the other projectile with similar results. With a metallic ringing sound the spear flew from his hands, and the arrows continued their pursuit.
“Dodge!” Though awkwardly, they managed to evade the arrows tailing them. With flames spouting from the fletching to propel them farther, the arrows turned back on themselves once again and began tracing new trajectories. Rick then turned to see Diros fire three arrows at once.