Atalanta is relentless. She doesn’t allow her prey any rest, and she fires another salvo right after the other.

Now that Sten’s leg is wounded, he cannot hope to dodge them. Blocking or deflecting all of them with just his arms would also be impossible.

He doesn’t hesitate. If the choices are dying or revealing some of his hand, it’s not even a choice.

He ignores the pain from his wounds and raises his hand. Without uttering anything, with just a mental command, a barrier appears in front of him. Atalanta’s arrows strike at the barrier and bounce off; it lets no arrows pass.

The barrier he used is most widely known as a force field. It is transparent and serves a very simple function. It counters any physical force applied on it. Its function is very similar to that of a real material wall as long as defence against physical projectiles is concerned.

But it is not designed to stand against rapid-fire A rank magical blasts.

Medea fires three magical energy blasts right after Atalanta’s arrows. She may not hurt him, but strong magical energy currents like her blasts are sure to dissipate Sten’s hurriedly casted barrier.

It actually tanks one blast, which is praiseworthy in itself, but the second shatters it. Third one simply passes through and vanishes as it reaches him. Another salvo of arrows come right then. Sten guards his two vital spots, but five different arrows pierce different parts of his body.

“Grrrrhg!”

Like the ones from before, they immediately vanish and blood pours out of his wounds, but none is fatal. The reason for that is as simple as it gets. He is a servant.

Servants are spiritual beings. They do not function the same way humans do. Damaging their organs will not be enough to defeat them. There are only two ways a servant can be killed: Heavily damaging or outright destroying one of the servant’s two spiritual cores or depleting its whole energy store.

Spiritual cores are located where a human’s brain and heart are. Sten guarded those two with his arms, so both are undamaged. A single arrow to one or the other would finish him while ten arrows to the rest of his body would not.

The second way, depleting the energy, is more common. As servants move, they spend magical energy. More so when they fight, and even more when they get wounded. Even if a wound, such as the one Sten suffered on his leg, renders one of their limbs useless, they can heal it quickly. But it costs energy. And even the most cost-effective servant with the best master would eventually run out.

“Hmmph!”

The blood flow stops. While any servant can heal fast, Sten’s is almost instantaneous. He used a healing spell. Now that he already used a barrier, it is too late to try to hide his spellcasting abilities.

Kacharano.

Arrows of the next salvo passes through where he just was, as he jumps without even changing his position. Even the famed huntress Atalanta, who can masterfully hit moving prey by observing their stances to predict their moves, completely misses him.

Sten soars toward Medea. But his enemies are not so slow that he can reach her. Medea reacts quickly and flies further up, away from his route of movement. At the same time, four arrows fly toward him, now that he has no chance to dodge.

The spell he used is a very simple movement magic. Not flight, it is more akin to an instantaneous push. Not jump, it requires no hard ground. A second use, this time more powerful, allows him to completely change his course. He flies, quicker than before, and this time toward Atalanta, whose arrows pass harmlessly from where he would have been.

Atalanta has no time to fire. She has to get away, but has time for only two steps at most. She steps back and uses her bow to parry his fist.

Daika!

His favourite spell. It means ‘force’ in... He’s not sure what language, but that does not matter. It simply applies instantaneous force, just like a sudden push. It can be used on an area, but he usually uses it on a point for maximum effect. When it is used the moment his punch connects with its target, the blow becomes far more powerful than it would normally be, to the point of breaking the blocking arm of a stronger servant. When it is used the moment an enemy blow connects, it could neutralize the impact, to the point of stopping a stabbing spear. Or disregarding an attempted parry.

Atalanta’s bow simply stops when it touches his arm and fails to change its course. She ducks to the side. Luckily, his fist just grazes past her. She runs, and now that his charge has stopped, she has no trouble putting some distance between them. She pulls the string of her bow and…

No, his fist grazing past her wasn’t luck or skill on Atalanta’s part. That was Sten’s plan. Rather than landing a non-fatal punch that was half-dodged, he chose to aim for the bow’s string. Now it is no more than a sturdy, high-quality stick.

Servant’s bodies may heal, but their weapons cannot automatically repair themselves. She won’t be firing anymore arrows in this battle.

“Don’t go becoming useless, huntress.”

She hears Medea’s voice and frowns. Even now, she is far from helpless. No one could become a real huntress without mastering the use of hunting knives.

“Speak after you do something, princess.”

She draws a simple looking curved knife from her boot, and gets ready. Sten tries to follow her but is interrupted by an approaching sword. He ducks. His punch shatters the jaw of his assaulter.

It attacks again. It stops only after Sten uses a sweeping kick to scatter every bone of its torso all around.

He clicks his tongue as dozens more take the place of the one he defeated. From every misty point Medea created, a skeletal warrior has emerged. They are all around him. Their weapons rise threateningly.

“Hahahaha! You can now entertain them, you rude man.”

He hears the mocking laugh. He doesn’t know what else Medea has prepared in the meanwhile, but he at least got rid of Atalanta’s arrows.

“Daika!”

The shockwave spreading from his mouth sends his closest two enemies flying.

The third is destroyed by a flying swordsman.

* * *

After slowing down by crashing into some random skeleton, Jason rolls on the ground for some distance before finally stopping. His shield-arm aches like he was just hit by a Heracles, because it was.

He stands up and looks ahead. The two colossi he was near before he was sent flying are still fighting. It is a battle of giants, not suitable for a man. Closer to him are the newcomer in robes, now bloody robes, and the dragon tooth warriors he is all too familiar with.

“Jason!”

He hears Medea’s voice. Before he says anything, he takes one more look at the giants. Their weapons clash and create a shockwave that would shame any battering ram.

No.

“Medea, switch!”

* * *

Sten uses a kick supported by magic to stop a shield bash, while at the same time blocking a sword. Medea left her skeletal warriors behind when she went off to join the two demigods. They would not be much trouble by themselves, but combined with a full-fledged melee servant like Jason, they cause problems.

Besides, Jason is enough of an irritating opponent by himself. Usually, getting used to dealing with Sten’s sudden force spell in melee is hard, but he had no trouble. As if he knows just when and how he will use it. He blocks and counters in the most effective way.

His bow is not much use either. Skeletal warriors and a melee warrior with a big shield. They are not really opponents he would prefer to face with a bow. The few times he tried to shoot at his feet, he predicted and blocked it easily.

Perhaps he should use something other than just magic, fists or bow. He is Changer. While he does not want to reveal much, he does have more than two classes, and losing the war because he held back would be pretty dumb.

He punches the shield a few more times.

It doesn’t feel like anything special. Sure, it is very sturdy to have only some slight dents after taking hits from Heracles, but it is not Noble Phantasm level. He should be able to make a scratch on it.

A scratch would be enough.

He takes a sudden step back in preparation for his attack, and that saves his life. An arrow passes by, scratching the side of his head.

Atalanta. How? Did she carry a spare string on her, or something? No way.

…

Actually, why not?

He sidesteps against a possible follow-up, but doesn’t turn around. That’s because the moment the arrow passed, Jason started charging at him. He instead locates Atalanta’s magical presence.

Sten counters Jason’s attack with an unusually strong daika spell. That way, he has the chance to take a look at Atalanta and defend.

When he turns toward her presence, all he sees is one of the skeletal warriors. Then an arrow passes from the small space between its ribs and flies toward him. He barely dodges.

He gets even more cornered as the skeletal warriors, Jason and Atalanta keep attacking him with combination attacks. Obviously, they are used to fighting together.

He can’t keep this up.

If he can take Jason out, the others will likely disappear. It’s all or nothing now.

It is time to put the idea he entertained earlier into action.

He concentrates hard on the presences around him, he has to keep his hand free and dodge any attacks. He charges at Jason.

Jason retreats, but he won’t let him escape. He dodges Atalanta’s arrows, and the skeletal warriors’ attacks. He pulls his hands back. The later he uses it, the more likely it will work as he intends.

He stops.

Ha? Why?

He cannot move.

Am I bound? Is it magic? No, there is no magic affecting me. The space! The space around me...

Jason stops as the ends of his lips curl upward.

“Hahaha! Knew that was the spot.”

Medea!

Even when she is gone, she is trouble. First the skeletal warriors, now this trap. Against someone with high magical resistance, this trap is genius. It doesn’t directly affect him. It immobilizes the space around him to stop any and all movement.

Jason approaches, his sword at the ready. The spell would likely stop his sword, or Atalanta’s arrows before they actually struck Sten, but he can’t take the chance.

The armour on his gauntlets start moving. Like liquid metal, they flow through his body, one to the front side of his chest, other toward the nape of his neck.

He cannot move, but he is not about to wait like a sheep to be slaughtered. Until he frees himself, he covers both his chest near his heart, and his whole head with armour.

“What the hell is that?”

Jason’s voice doesn’t reach him. His ears, and all the rest of his head is now covered in armour. With all his visible body parts covered, he looks more like a red statue than a human being now.

“How did he do that? The space is immobilized right? Shouldn’t that armour… or whatever that is, fail to materia…”

Jason stops, as he understands.

“Brutal.”

Atalanta’s words confirms it. He didn’t cover himself in armour. The space around him, even just above his skin, would not allow movement. So the armour didn’t move around his body.

It moved through his body.

The armour’s original colour is likely not red.

“That’s sick.”

Both of them saw him blocking swords and arrows with his gauntlets. If the newer parts of his armour are anything like those, it is true that they cannot take him out easily now. If the rest of his body, under his robe, is also covered in armour, he might as well be as invincible as Heracles.

But if he flayed the skin on all his body with that armour…

Then, everything blows up.