Chapter 160: Descent

Giliath demands your power stones!

*

S-Sharon? What did he mean by calling you a traitor?", Alisa tried to ask as Ace could be seen not too far away from me. With my Regeneration still active, Ace's large wound on me was already well underway in healing.

Ace currently ignored the fact that he was currently pierced by Ennea's dagger.

Unlike the games, however, this was the real world. While there were the known status effects, there were also unknown ones that shed some light, as I could see one in effect right now in front of me.

Bleed.

Thanks to the combination of the needles, piercing Ace with my rapier, and having Ennea pierce the same area where Ace took my damage from earlier, it initiated the Bleed effect. Ace's blood was constantly dripping from his body, and I could see small damage numbers appear on top of Ace's head. In a prolonged fight like this one, bleed is definitely helping wittle Ace's hp down. It didn't take long for Ace's HP to dip under 800,000.

I couldn't wait to see what the Enigma II and future Brave Orders could do. My damage right now was mostly raw, only with my equipment playing the biggest factors in it. On the downside though, since my Combat Orbment was currently getting modified by Erika, I am unable to cast arts or equip orbments like this to further strengthen my stats.

Seeing his own body bleed out like that though, Ace seemed to completely disregard that matter as he proceeded to grin the moment he heard Alisa ask that with doubt in her eyes.

"Guess that bitch didn't tell you huh? And you've been serving the Reinford family for how many years now?", Ace retorted, ignoring the blood dripping down on his body, only to look at Sharon again.

"...", Sharon kept quiet, not answering Alisa, which only increased her doubt on the matter at hand.

"Sharon?", Alisa tried to say, before she saw Sharon's eyes turn a bit dead, letting a cold air leak from her body.

"I am sorry, My Lady. But it is best you don't know about this.", Sharon suddenly said, which caused Alisa to blink her eyes.

"W-What do you me--?", Alisa tried to say, only to see Sharon vanish beside her. Alisa felt a dull pain strike against her neck. Sharon reappeared behind her, only to strike out with a chop of her hand.

Alisa saw herself blacking out, falling unconscious. Her body slumped down into the robe that I currently had placed over her. Seeing Sharon's decision to do so, I quickly spoke out.

"Ines.", I said, quickly calling out to Ines. Hearing my voice caused Ines to snap out of her stupor, as she didn't expect to see such dead eyes in Ennea.

"On it.", Ines said, quickly jumping from the hatch, and landed on the platform where Sharon and Alisa were. Seeing Ines arrive, it seemed Sharon knew what she was going to do. Sharon used her agile speed once more, and reappeared closer to where I was. As Sharon pulled out a dagger from underneath her skirt, Ines activated her battle qi.

It didn't take long for Ines to see the role that she was assigned to. She was the very definition of a knight in modern times. Taunting and tanking enemies like no tomorrow. Ines boasted very high attack power and defense capabilities. After channeling her battle qi, a yellowish shield soon began to wrap around her and the unconscious Alisa. This shield was very sturdy, and among the same lines that was used when the Stahlritter captured Millium on Bryonia. Except this shield was on a smaller scale, and more condense. Mostly just covering the two of them. It wasn't oppressive either, but one would still likely need to exert a good amount of force to try and break one of Ines's shields.

"Hmph. Took my fun away. It's no fun if they can't talk back.", Ace said, seeing Alisa was now unconscious.

Hearing that, my eyes started to twitch a bit.

Maybe it was better to actually finish Ace off?

I was thinking of recruiting Ace...

Maybe that was just a fleeting dream. Hell even if I know if someone of the likes of Guy would even want to be rescued too, right? I did have Rose prepare that spell for when the time's come, but ultimately will be up to Guy, or in this case Ace. I really don't want to kill Ace, considering he's a blood relative of Nadia.

But hearing Ace give that remark, my eyes turned cold.

"I thought you would be up for redemption, but maybe I was overestimating you, Ace.", I said, which caused Ennea to snap out of it a bit, only to blink her eyes my way. Letting my blood spheres churn, I extended my hand outward. I let my mana roam free, letting it all condense onto my arm. Applying an element to my hand, my whole arm started to get encased in darkness.

"Devil's Grasp.", I uttered, chanting out a spell. I mean, chants were nice and all which could directly empower and amplify a spell, but they aren't required. Perhaps it was a boon of the Gamer system, but I just let my mana roam free. Striking my hand out, the shadowy aura engulfed it completely and started to expand at a rapid pace.

[Devil's Grasp - SS Rank]

Condenses a large amount of Player's mana into a physical form, engulfing the Player's arms in shadows. Tangible yet intangible. Ignores the target's defense. Upon landing a successful grip, guaranteed to land a critical hit. Can inflict faint.

Ace turned serious the moment he saw a large hand made of mana suddenly strike out toward his person.

"Oi oi, I knew you weren't normal.", Ace said, putting up a defensive stance. However, he felt danger creep up his spine. Before Ace could unleash his own qi, he felt his throat tighten. Ace's eyes turned wide as he felt his mind get pummeled with a loud bang, and his throat tightened. It wasn't a super heavy impact like he could cause with his blade, but Ace saw himself soon being lifted into the air a bit. Either way, with it being a spell, a large purple figure appeared over Ace's head the moment it latched onto him.

[-30,000!]

Seeing a purple text appear above Ace's head, he felt  his mind rocked while the large shadowy hand of darkness grasped his throat. Seeing his throat not secure any longer, Ace began to struggle.

"Let's take this somewhere else, shall we?", Sharon's eyes turned a bit dead. Again from underneath her dress, Sharon began to pull out very small and thin steel wires. Taking the momentum that I just created.

Seeing Ace's health was now around 750,000, he now had a quarter of it gone. Sharon prepped her steel wires since Ace couldn't move. With very swift movements of her hand, she unleashed the steel wires that she always keeps hidden on her body. She isn't called the Severing Chains for nothing. Even I would hesitate to go up against an assassin like Sharon. Unlike Ace in appearance though, Sharon is much more behaved like an assassin should be.

Ace felt a searing pain streak across his arms as the steel wires began to dig into them, but he couldn't grip his sword properly since his throat was still gripped by my spell. Damage number after damage number started to surface above his head, dealing out continuous damage. Sharon didn't stop her motion there. She did a large jump. Letting her steel wires carry Sharon's body, Sharon quickly glided over Ace to the other end of the roof.

Using the momentum still, Sharon motioned her arms to swing forward. Despite having a large stature, Ace soon started to feel his body lift up into the air. Seeing that, Ennea was quick to move back a bit, and draw out her bow. I was tempted to unleash my Wings to take flight, but seeing Ennea take out her bow, I reached my hand and pulled out my divergent bow.

"S-Shit...", Ace tried to say, only to feel a feeling of dread the moment he saw me pull out my divergent weapon while placing his hand over my shadowy arm, trying to break free from it. Yet I let go of my hand, allowing Sharon to continue her motion to lift Ace up into the sky above and drag him back down into the earth.

"Ready for a combo attack, Ennea?", I said, quickly glancing at Ennea. Despite still having her eyes a bit dead, Ennea smiled.

"With pleasure, Young Master.", Ennea said, knocking an arrow into her bow.

As for me though, my bow was seamless. It used no arrows, while it could, technically.

Ines's eyes turned a bit wide seeing me form an arrow made of pure mana. Thanks to the divergent bow's properties, it could fire off mana arrows while imbuing its skills into it.

As my mana formed, it started to feel hot around me, but at the same time soothing. Ennea unleashed her battle qi as well, letting an aura wrap around her body that I haven't seen too much previously. That just shows that Ennea is serious as she is battling Ace.

As for Sharon, she finished her swinging motion, causing Ace's body to fly off into the distance, well beyond that of the roof...

As Ace's body began to descend, Ennea and I finished prepping our bows, and we simultaneously launched our arrows with Ace as the sole target in the distance...