“So this is how it’s going to be?” asked Cherry as he heaved his Warhammer ready.

“They have such golden hearts that they’d risk their lives for a failing empire.” Kyle snorted as he coldly stared at Nakano holding back Lilior’s scythes.

“What’s that supposed to mean!?” Nakano grumbled back.

“So blind…still so blind Nakano.” Said Kyle as he shook his head, turned to glance over Zeeke and Talia “You’ve made a deal haven’t you? What you think we’re fools? We’ve been keeping an eye on you Zeeke, we know what the both of you plan to do.”

Zeeke’s expression turned bitter “Enough talking.” He heaved his massive shield ahead of himself.

“Gladly.” Said Cherry as the stone surrounding his body moved to surround his weapon, he stomped down causing a brief quake that sent everyone out of balance but himself. He suddenly charged as Zeeke lowered his stance to regain his footing but it was too late, Cherry’s hammer smashed into the shield sending Zeeke flying back and tumbling with the ground.

Zeeke crashed through the Esfeltian soldiers like a bowling ball sending several tumbling back with him. Cherry stretched out his free hand as he continued to move towards Talia who shivered as the giant approached “I got this guy.” He said before leaping upwards and over her.

Kyle glanced back at Steph “How’s your mana?”

She bit her lip in annoyance “Bad.”

He nodded “Assist Lilior, I got her.” He turned to stare straight at Talia who seemed relieved not having to deal with the golem man.

“Dammit!” Nakano cursed as she struggled to hold Lilior back, the Fae hovering over the ground unaffected by the quake as she pushed down the warrior.

Lilior suddenly moved back as her wings turned from scythes to spears, she lunged back in giving Nakano no room to breathe and barraging her with a flurry of attacks while chanting under her breath. Each blessing came naturally to her, the words a figment of her imagination while the meaning ingrained into her soul.

Lilior’s speed increased as did her power, ethereal wind engulfed her body while flickering flames flowed with her shifting wings. She barraged Nakano over and over too fast for the adventurer to react except parry and block with her massive sword.

But Nakano was far from done either; suddenly she moved back while swinging her sword up and around, the flat blade picked up snow and with the spin threw it up and ahead of herself giving her a smoke screen.

Lilior’s wings pierced through the snow hitting nothing causing her to hover back a few as Nakano rushed from the left swinging her blade upwards at the Fae. Lilior moved her wings ahead of herself shifting the many spears to a single shield, the massive blade clashed with her shield blocking the attack but also taking the force with as she was sent flying to the side. Nakano followed with a charge while dragging her sword behind herself.

Kyle gestured for Steph to follow them and the mage also effected by Lilior’s blessing rushed after them. He watched after them briefly before turning to face Talia who simply grinned as she watched.

Talia met his cold gaze “Well? Going to lecture me on my choices now?” she smirked.

Kyle lowered his two guns down to the snow “Lecture?” it began as a chuckle but slowly, he progressed to a wicked laugh.

Talia flinched but held on her now awkward smirk “What, I thought you said you knew?” the clash of battle behind her nothing but background noise.

Kyle took a deep breath and calmed himself down, with a grin plastered on his face he continued to bore a gaze through her “Oh we know. How the churches plan to sell out the Dominion to the Elven Empire, how you and Zeeke plan to aid the Empire with ending the Grand Quest so you can return home.” He chuckled once more “Quiet the villainous plan I must say but…”

“But what?” she asked with arms open “I’m looking out for myself, isn’t that the same thing you are doing? Siding with the Dezol to end the quest on your own terms?”

Kyle’s expression turned cold, his grin completely gone “Don’t compare us to you, there is a vast difference between us and you.”

Talia stomped forwards “Difference?! What difference!” she laughed “We’re both just shoving everybody else under the bus and saving our own hides!”

“Don’t fool yourself, because you don’t fool me.” Kyle’s eyes lit up a blue blaze “I see right through you, if there is any similarity between us…well that could only be one. You don’t want to leave Chaoz either.”

Talia’s expression darkened as she shook her head “N-No…Why the hell…would I want to stay here!?”

Kyle smirked coldly “I sensed it in you before, I did just recently when Cherry approached you. The excitement, the stench was all over you. I know someone similar so it was easy to point out, the love for action. You don’t want to leave Chaoz, you won’t leave Chaoz because I know you cannot help yourself from wanting more.”

Slowly he approached her “You’re in denial, you won’t admit it yourself.” He raised both arms and took aim “So let me open your eyes for you.”

---

Author: Here wweee goooo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qCBEKzPjUU

---

Talia seeing him raise his weapons snapped out of her daze, quickly she raised a wall of earth between them as the acidic projectiles left the barrels. Kyle surged forward as he formed (Elder Frost) slime under his boots, with the momentum, the ice and acid working on each other and the deforming wall he slid over the surface and upwards. He surged again appearing mid-air while taking aim downwards.

Kyle let off a flurry of acidic shots as each attack pushed him up a few inches, keeping his height while raining down hell. Talia summoned a curving wall of stone over her head while chanting “Spark out a blaze, like fireflies fill the sky! Flame Sparks!” many hundred tiny glowing orbs of yellow, red and orange left her outstretched hands as they moved from under the arch of melting stone and filled the air.

The tiny fires surrounded Kyle as he suddenly stopped shooting, losing his propelling he fell downwards. The air around him lit up with the firefly-like embers as their glow continuously pulsed brighter, suddenly each one lit up with flames before the entire area above Talia was a raging firestorm.

Seeing her escape she lowered the first wall she made and ran out from under her crumbling cover as the fire above her dimmed out, she stopped a dozen feet away, with her back to the forest she turned around.

Kyle stood above the crumbling archway covered in a muddy slime, using (Swamp) slime he defended himself from the fiery explosion. The slime moved to his will and changed from brown to blue before forming in his right hand, both his [Scattershot]s were gone so both hands were now free.

The slime quickly formed another long thick barrel exactly the same as a (Scattershot), Kyle smirked “Why haven’t I thought of this before? Thanks for the epiphany.” He had watched as each ember pulsed at it’s own rate and exploded outwards alone, not in tangent with the rest.

He summoned a cannon like the [Scattershot] but different, he raised it up towards her and chanted “Gatling Slime” as a long box of (Monstrous) slime formed to the right of the cannon. Kyle had realised, he didn’t need to form the projectiles directly inside the barrel and instead could form them inside a separate container where he could load them into the barrel one by one.

And so he first pictured it in his mind, how each bullet would form inside the new container and then load into the barrels. Instead of a completely solid barrel he made the eight barrels separate from the surface armouring while still connected to him through a pipe that went through the middle, made entirely of (Elder Frost) he made it mostly solid except for where it connected to the rest where it remained almost liquid but closer to jelly or in this case slime.

The slime would remerged with itself no matter how torn or ripped up it becomes as he willed the pipe to spin on itself and in turn spinning the inner barrels. As the barrels spun a sort of tape would be pulled in with the ammunition ready, the tape having indentations mirroring the barrel’s outside for it to spin around like a gear and continuously move the tape like a tank’s threads or tracks.

This would take more mana along with having to use mana to fire and reload but what kept Kyle from trying this before was because he couldn’t concentrate to do it himself. Talia’s spell reminded him of something, that as long as the system accepted the spell then it would be replicated with little concentration needed from the caster.

Through sheer ingenuity and creativity you have created the skill [Gatling Slime]!

Kyle loaded the weapon with (Demonic Rounds) as the weapon roared to life, each miniature explosion firing a single projectile as the barrels spun rapidly firing dozens of rounds every second.

“Shit!” Talia cursed as she raised a wall of earth in between them, the projectiles ate through the stone as they shattered within. The wall of earth quickly fell apart as Kyle suddenly stopped firing.

“Tch…” He glanced at his mana and the weapon was draining it too much, using any sort of ammunition other than his basic would quickly drain him so he was left to resort to the basic (Elder Frost) rounds which barely cost anything due to the cost reduction he had on that slime type.

Quickly he dissipated the (Demonic Rounds) and replaced them with the basic ones, taking aim again he then surged aside to the left as vines exploded out from beneath him. He fired again sending several hundred projectiles at Talia.

She raised another wall of earth, this time thicker than the last. The stone still fell apart at the weapon but stood till the last layer of stone was shattered open instead of completely falling apart on itself as it would with (Demonic Rounds).

Giving Talia precious time as she ended her chant “Divine guardian summoning!”, the earth ahead of her rose and formed a giant of stone and vine, claws formed out of it’s stone fists and lit up ablaze. Talia stood on the Golem’s right shoulder surrounded by vines.

The Golem leaned forward and grabbed at Kyle as he surged out of the way and fired at Talia’s position, vines were ripped apart and stone shattered as his weapon ate through anything Talia summoned to shield herself.

Kyle evaded and led the Golem around as it’s slow movements followed after him, vines would from time to time emerge from the ground whipping around to grab him. He was at a disadvantage, the battle had turned into one of sustainability and he was sure Talia had more mana than him along with her giant of stone. He didn’t have the time to create his own Golem and even if they both ran out of mana at the same time, her’s would crush him.

So he switched his tactic around, instead of targeting the summoner he targeted the summoned first. Loading up his [Gatling Slime] fully he didn’t fire until the Golem lunges at him again, Talia finding reprieve from his attacks began summoning up more vines to grab him than before.

Kyle surged forward reaching the Golem’s right leg, he raised his weapon up to it, no more than an inch away and fired. Using the [Gatling Slime] like a [Scattershot] he fired a mix of (Demonic Rounds) and (Corrosive Rounds) shattering it’s leg and melting the rest in a single shot.

The Golem fell sideways as Kyle surged away to stand behind it as it fell, his weapon lost it’s form and formed tentacles growing out of his body as he chanted “Surge with my resolve! Overclock my very form! Empower me! Core Overload!” several hundred more tentacles of slime grew out of his body completely draining his mana bar as they merged with each other forming a set of six large (Elder Frost) tentacles.

Kyle surged upwards at the Golem’s back as it held itself from fully falling with it’s arms, he willed his slime to grab at the stone and vines to quickly climb up it’s back. The slime grabbed hold all at the same time and quickly threw him upwards sending him flying a few feet higher than the Golem’s head.

Talia panicked as she looked around having lost him completely while willing her mana into the Golem to repair it’s leg.

Kyle landed behind Talia as she spun around with flames forming in her palms, he willed his slime to engulf her. The tentacles grabbed at her hands snuffing out the flames before two more grabbed her legs, one around her waist and the last covering her mouth.

Kyle sighed in relief “Drain.” He spoke the single word as the tentacles turned red around where they touched her body, Talia struggled as the slime drained her mana and regenerated Kyle’s. He used the mana to form a blade of Frostfire in his hands, slowly it took form before his soulbound blade appeared.

Kyle held the blade up to Talia’s neck, she glanced at the shimmering blade before meeting Kyle’s gaze with her own mocking expression “Yes we are both villains, we both only fight to look out for ourselves. Yet there is still a vast difference between us, you are willing to sacrifice all these lives for your own selfish needs…can you really call that something to fight for? Yourself?”

Talia’s expression of mock changed as she glanced away, Kyle continued “That is the difference between us, you fight for yourself and only for yourself. I fight not just for myself but for my guild, my brothers and sisters not bound by blood but by time. But that is not the only difference either.”

He held up the blade closer “Are you truly willing to kill? Not this joke of a system where when you kill someone they come back but to truly kill someone? No matter how twisted you may have played it inside your mind, you are killing these people. No matter from what perspective you look at it, their lives will be your burden to-” Kyle stopped talking as an expression of slight surprise appeared on his face.

Talia grimaced as tears streamed down her face, her hands clenched tight as she closed her eyes trying to ignore his words. Kyle stared at her with understanding “Idiot, you knew this all along but decided to ignore it thinking it was the only way to survive?” he sighed and released her mouth.

Talia opened her eyes but continued to look away as she spoke “What…other choice do I have? Look at me!” she suddenly exclaimed “Tied up and held at sword point, I’m weak. Too weak to do anything alone…”

Kyle snorted “Weak?” (“Woman you held me to the wall for most of that fight, if I hadn’t been moving around so much I wouldn’t have stood a chance.”)

Talia shook her head “That isn’t my power…it’s what she gave me…”

“Idiot.” Kyle said simply causing her to look at him “It doesn’t matter where you got the power, power is just that, the ability to do something. What matters is what you do with it, power isn’t good or evil, the user is.”

Talia snorted at his cheesy comment “And what do you see yourself as then? Good?”

Kyle smirked “Only when it benefits me, otherwise too.” His smirk turned to grin “And it’s not too late for you either, you’re not even alone.” He released her completely as he surged back and out of the way.

Suddenly a mess of aura and blades spiralled through where Kyle once stood, Shark slammed down his blades into the Golem’s shoulder to stop himself before turning to face Kyle who held himself up with his slime. “Need a hand princess?” Shark asked mockingly.

Talia didn’t respond as she clenched her hands on her leg armour, she wiped off her tears and slowly stumbled up feeling the weakness in her body at the loss of her mana. Shark glanced back at her with worry “You alright?”.

Talia shook her head “We’re done here.” Suddenly her Golem began to crumble.

Kyle surged back again holding his slime at the ready as his time began to run out, the Golem crumbled into a cloud of dust and snow ahead of him and once it cleared neither Talia or Shark were to be seen. He sighed in relief as he sensed them moving away at top speed, releasing his slime he fell back and sat down while waiting for mana exhaustion to take over.

He focused entirely on his detection skills and watched the other battles, more closely Lilior’s.

---

Nakano assaulted Lilior with her massive sword, slashing in a frenzy of impossible speed as she wielded the weapon as if it was weightless. Lilior defended herself with her shifting wings as they changed between an assortment of bladed weaponry or shields to block or strike at the Slayer from her blind spots with elongated weapons.

Lilior suddenly surged away confusing Nakano as a blast of ethereal flame engulfed her, Steph had attacked from where she hid in the trees. Nakano grimaced as she easily resisted the magical attack, she faced her opponent once more “Guess we’re doing this the hard way.” She raised her free hand and pulled out another massive blade from her inventory.

Nakano grimaced as she stretched her shoulders, suddenly out of her back grew a set of six spider-like legs made of black carapace and ending in bladed tips “I don’t like this form but I guess, I’ll take every advantage I can get.”

Lilior snorted in amusement “Why? It suits you.” Showing zero respect to the one that targeted her master. She raised her arms up to shoulder level and held her hands open as blue smile grew out from her palms, the slime formed a bow twice as long as most while an arrow to match appeared in her other hand.

---

Author: Cat fight :3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=numkZfghAMA

---

Nakano seeing the ranged weapon immediately charged after the Fae but Lilior’s surge was faster, appearing several feet higher she continued to fly upwards while preparing the arrow with assistance from her wings as they shifted into long blue tentacles of slime.

Pulling back the massive bow Lilior smiled sweetly while staring down at Nakano “Your brute ways never stood a chance. Dazzle!” she chanted in conjunction as her wings and bow shone so bright that the light forced Nakano to look away.

Lilior shot her arrow down at Nakano as the Slayer stood still blinded by the light, the arrow flew true aimed directly at Nakano’s chest. Suddenly Nakano’s spider legs moved faster than the arrow itself and smashed the projectile between their blades.

With the light gone Nakano raised her head up waiting for the blurriness in her eyes to ease “Now that’s just cheating.” she said in annoyance before rushing to the side. Nakano rushed up to a tree and leaped at it as her spider legs slashed at each other while a white substance formed on their blades. Nakano leaped away from the trunk as another arrow shattered through the bark, Lilior followed her movements and fired away.

Nakano’s spider arms suddenly grew longer, with three on each side they formed a set of massive wings with a thin web in between them. She flapped her spider-wings and ascended towards Lilior as the Fae fired another arrow, Nakano slashed the arrow aside as she glided up towards her.

Lilior readied another arrow as Nakano arrived almost face to face with her, she slashed at her but Lilior leaned back and let herself fall. As Nakano stopped her slashing manoeuvre midway she was left entirely open as Lilior fired from below. Lilior’s arrow pierced through Nakano’s armour and left shoulder going straight through and destroying a spider arm on it’s way out.

Lilior regained her flight easily as her wings mattered not to her magic based hovering, Nakano on the other hand lost balance and quickly began to lose altitude as she glided down towards the ground with one less arm, one less sword and one less spider leg.

Adding insult to injury Lilior took aim with another arrow as Nakano fell spiralling, she fired before Nakano hit the ground and the arrow went through her right leg slamming her down to the ground and pinning her to it.

“Fuck! Bitch!” Nakano cursed as she tried to rise from the snow, the arrow pinning her leg like a nail hammered into the ground below. She glanced back to see Lilior take aim once more, grimacing she waited for death.

“You’ve already lost your will to fight? So much for being the first to attack.” Mocked Lilior as she studied the downed adventurer.

“What does it matter to you? I don’t even know what I’m fighting for anymore…” replied Nakano bitterly.

“Hmph, then don’t you think that is why you’ve lost?” said Lilior in wonderment as she fire one last arrow.

Nakano smiled “I gues-” as the arrow pierced through her back stopping at her chest armour and shattering inside immediately killing her.

Lilior hovered down to her as Nakano’s body dissipated into mana “I wonder if master is done cleaning up.” she thought out loud while fiddling with her bowstring.