Point-of-View: Fuo Wesroh

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  "I remember you," Remarked my target with a grimace, as she recognized me.

  "Things are quite different to the last time we met," I responded with a smirk, "Last time, you were the invader and I was defending myself……but this time, it's the opposite, uh……what was you name?"

  "It's Lily……and talk about cowardly, ganging up on me two against one while I'm worn out from fighting the other races……tch, you're playing dirty," She growled, holding up her fork-thingy defensively.

  "Hey, mind buying me a few seconds to power up?" I asked Azeria, whom I was paired up with.

  "Her power level is about 36,000……I can do this alone," She responded confidently, before taking off the glasses as she unleashed her True Anima Mode and shot forward, while I entered Vampire Mode and began absorbing solar energy, as I formed an orb of artificial moonlight on my hand.

  Azeria has a power level of around sixty thousand, so her confidence isn't exactly misplaced, but I wouldn't put too much trust in these readings, it's not like they measure skill, only power. She can be a tad arrogant and overconfident at times……so I should really hurry and finish powering up so that I can help her……until then, I'll watch and stay alert.

  Lily swung her fork weapon across at Azeria as the latter closed in on her, Azeria swiftly sprang over it and fired a narrow lava projectile at her, having melted a part of the ground when she shot forward.

  The projectile struck the top of Lily's ear as she quickly tilted her head out of the way in alarm, letting out a stifled hiss of pain as it burnt her, before driving her fork thingy straight at Azeria, who sprang back to avoid it and got some distance, right as I finished powering up.

  As Azeria backed away, I shot forward at top speed towards Lily, my power boosted by a combination of Vampire Mode, solar energy and the artificial orb of moonlight, for an overall power level of about 120,000……the only reason I'm not classified at the Destroyer rank in Abyss, despite being able to reach power levels of over a 100,000, is because I can only stay at this level for a short time, and powering up to it takes me a while too.

  I mean, if I absorb solar energy and maintain it till the moon comes out on a full moon night, my power level even touches two hundred thousand……but the opportunity to go up to that level is pretty rare, so it's basically irrelevant. Anyway, back to the fight.

  I fired out a powerful solar beam at Lily, who deflected it by spinning her weapon in front of herself, as I swiftly flew up and swooped down at her, evading as she swung her fork up at me and slamming my fist onto her face, extending my knuckles with ice as I did, sending her flying back and crashing onto a building.

  "I thought I said I can do this alone," Remarked Azeria with a frown.

  "Yeah, well, we've only got five minutes, and nearly two of those minutes are over……let's hurry and finish her off, and then……how about rock-paper-scissors to decide who gets her weapon?" I suggested, as I charged up a solar beam.

  "Hmph, you can have it……a weapon like that doesn't suit my style. I've lost interest, you can take care of this," She replied, reverting to her normal form as Lily got back on her feet with a grimace and a slightly dazed look in her eyes.

  The right side of her face was bleeding profusely from my punch and was badly swollen up, she was struggling to catch her breath and her left shoulder appeared to be dislocated.

  "Be careful, Fuo……do not let your guard down just because she is in a weakened state," Warned Atticus.

  Yeah, yeah, I know how to fight, don't worry. I won't underestimate her.

  She then stabbed her weapon into the ground and let out a sharp scream of pain as she pushed her shoulder back in place, her body trembling as she gritted her teeth and took her weapon back in her hands, spinning it around a couple of times and getting into her stance……looks like she's still on the defensive, she knows she's outmatched.

  I then formed an ice spear and flung it straight at her with all my strength, she quickly brought her fork weapon up defensively, my spear shattering as it struck her weapon, but the force caused her to stumble back a bit, as I shot forward at top speed.

  I closed in on her before she could regain her balance, and as she desperately plunged the end of of her weapon's handle down at me, which I easily evaded and countered by striking her midsection with my elbow, eliciting a sharp gasp of pain from her.

  I then sprang back and fired out a solar beam at her, which struck her left shoulder before she could evade it, before she swung her weapon across at me with a pained grimace, firing out a water slash. I used my Levitate Cross to quickly float up a chunk of rubble in front of myself, to block the water slash, before countering by taking a deep breath and blasting out a deafening Werewolf howl at her.

  The chunk of rubble shattered into tiny pieces as I fired out the sound blast from my mouth, the pieces striking Lily before she got sent stumbling back and collapsing onto her knees as she clutched onto her left ear with a look of agony on her face, a trickle of blood running down from between her fingers.

  I then used Levitate again, lifting up a chunk of rubble and swinging it towards her head, which she just barely deflected with her weapon, breaking it apart as she struck it, some of the pieces grazing her and drawing blood.

  I'm pretty sure she can't hear out of her left ear anymore, and she looks pretty dazed too……this fight is over, I'll finish her off quickly and.

  "Damn it……! Take this, Poseidon's Wrath!" She suddenly exclaimed in desperation, as she plunged the fork end of her weapon into the ground, and the instant she did, an absolute flood of water came bursting out towards me.

  I quickly flew up as fast as I could in alarm, as Azeria swiftly scaled up a building before she could get caught up in it, the water brushing my feet as I ascended just in time.

  That's some serious quantity……but it's already starting to thin out, it's certainly not the most lethal finishing attack, even if I had gotten caught up in it, I doubt that it would have killed me.

  And as the water sunk down to a small puddle, I could see that Lily was on her knees, struggling to stand up……she must have used up most, if not all, of her Mana.

  I'll put her out of her misery……I unfolded out my bow and formed an ice arrow, before taking aim at her head and firing……right before my arrow could hit her, a flash of lightning zipped in front of her and deflected the arrow away, with a narrow, needle-like sword, my arrow shattering as it hit the ground. Wait, I know that person……

  "Hey, I remember you……you're Niski, right?" I greeted her, as she brandished her sword at me.

  "Miss Fuo……it's been a while," She responded with a grimace.

  If I remember right, she's one of Kuro's old classmates, and was reasonably friendly with him. There's only a few seconds left before we're teleported back, so we won't be fighting her, there's no point.

  "Hey, would you be interested in defecting to Abyss? I'm sure you'd be welcome-," I began to offer.

  "Tempting……but no. I'm sticking with the Rustlands," She replied firmly.

  "Is that so? Well, that's too bad," I sighed wistfully.

  I then felt the Snow Serpent on me, wrapped around my leg, stiffen, signaling that there were only ten seconds left before we're teleported back to Abyss.

  "Are we done here?" Inquired Azeria, coming up next to me.

  "Yeah……we're done here, looks like we failed to carry out our objective," I replied with a sigh, right as the five minute mark passed and we found ourselves back in the Abyss castle throne room, and the moment we did, a loud crunch echoed out, what sounded like a bone breaking……

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  Point-of-View: Belia Lasmodeus

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  Well, this is annoying……shortly after Sant's forces started retreating, I was suddenly unable to view certain parts of the Rustlands……which can only mean that in those spots, people from Abyss must be intruding.

  What should I do? I can't find any of the three summons, so it looks like they're the targets……the Rustlands has suffered some pretty serious damage in this battle, any more and they'll be left seriously vulnerable.

  And since I'm associated with them, that affects me too. Should I intervene? That's risky, it could be playing right into their hands……no, I have a better idea.

  I'll focus on unraveling the barrier that Sant put around the Rustlands, we're not going to get anywhere so long as that barrier is still up. I may be allied with the Rustlands, but I won't take unnecessary risks for them if I don't want to……so yeah, I'll go for the safer option, they can handle the rest themselves……

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