My blade and Lorenzo's fist clash against each other again and again, yet the force of my strike sends him backwards, as his sends me flying.
His ability seems to activate based not on attacks, but on damage, it seems. He probably wears those gauntlets to protect his fists, and thanks to that I can tell his Regalia probably isn't the most Spirit Energy efficient. He uses the gauntlets to reduce the number of times he has to activate the ability, and probably takes the muscle damage clashing causes head-on to save on Spirit Energy.
It seems he is being cautious, but if I were him, I would've killed me as quickly as possible. No, why wouldn't they kill me as quickly as possible? In fact, the best thing to do would've been to trap me in an extremely tight area, then let him release a barrage of blows as he burns through his Spirit Energy. All it would take is a blow against my heart to kill me, since I couldn't block.
There must be some other condition they are scared of me fulfilling then, something that would cause me to win in such a situation. I knew it; there are oddities here. Keep looking, Siegrund; keep thinking about what could be used to get you out of this situation.
My eyes move around, yet they quickly stop as they notice the water that is used to make the arena. Why did she use water when reconstructing the environment to form this prison? It would've made more sense to use the rocks around me to form the area if they're aiming for efficiency. I don't understand why that wouldn't be the first option unless it restricts them, but how does it do that?
If rocks were used, wouldn't that stop light from passing through? Which would stop him from being able to perceive me well, which would blind him. Wait, no, it can't be; maybe he has to be able to perceive what is coming at him to negate it.
I quickly shine some sunlight off my blade into his eyes, and in the moment his blink, I lunge past him serving all of his limbs with my blade, yet as I turn my body around, I see him, fully intact, swinging at me as I continue to dodge.
Was I wrong? Is his ability just constantly active? Am I overthinking their actions? Are they not as rational as I thought they were? No, if they were just a bunch of idiots, they would've swarmed me with people; I am on the right track.
Maybe the condition of being perceived is based on the amount of Spirit Energy being used; maybe he can pump his Regalia full of Spirit Energy like I do, to make it so that anything that comes in contact with him cannot damage him.
I quickly shine my sword against his eyes again, and then gently move his leg as I guide his body toward the ground, yet as his back hits against the floor he only grits his teeth before slamming his right leg into my side, sending me away.
No, it seems I was still on the wrong track. If my theory was correct, he would've slipped through the barrier, yet it seems that did shake him a bit, so that means he wasn't rapidly using his Regalia in that moment.
But wait, if what I said earlier is true, and he isn't undoing the shockwaves of damage my blows send over to him when I strike his fists, then that must mean he perceives those blows differently than the blows I land against him, yet his reaction speed is nowhere near mine.
Is it based on sensation? Is that how he differentiates which blows he must negatve very which ones he must take? If I look at his body, I can see what seem to be wounds that look like they come from slashes, stabs and impacts; maybe he has gotten so used to taking such blows that he can differentiate them. And due to being paired with that woman up there, you can essentially make sure other types of damage he takes can't exist.
So if I was to hit him with a sensation he couldn't instantly perceive, would that give me an opening? My options are limited for the type of attacks I could release; I only have one shot at this, but I am going to maximise this.
Lunge forward. I tap my sword and cause it to vibrate before slamming it against his ear, causing his drum to burst as he wobbles; then, in that instant, I throw a series of vibrating strikes along with cuts over and over again. I need to overwhelm his confused state with blows that he recognises, along with those he can't, to deal as much damage as possible before he forces his Regalia to activate at full force.
My blows stop doing any damage, and soon the very floor we stand on dissipates, and all around me the rocks from the walls charge towards me, as I cut them down, before lunging backwards as I say, "Thank you for the battle, but it's over now. HRUNTING!"
A spiritual body appears from Hrunting in the same form as Lorenzo, causing Reina to shout, "STOP HIM!" As the world around me reconfigures itself to strike at me.
Grabbing my sword, I cut into the body multiple times, yet no damage appears on Lorenzo as his Regalia continues at full force. So I toss the spiritual body right into the water at the bottom of the ravine, and jump down, smashing it deeper and allowing water to fill its lungs.
You can negate damage, but what about drowning?
The water floods the body, yet in an instant it all vanishes and flies towards the sky, as Lorenzo drops down in front of me and shouts, "YOU FUCKING BASTARD!"
"Are you just going to shout, or are you going to do something about it?"
He rushes towards me and, grabbing the spiritual body, he says, "My Regalia works just as well on this as it does on you."
I quickly activate Unstoppable and rapidly increase the inefficiency of his thought process, and then I quickly slash his body, ripping his head off, as I say, "Don't worry, you're not dead yet."
His body starts to shift, with his head returning to his body as quickly as possible, and my eyes stare up at Reina, who is constructing space to keep his head on his body. If she can keep his brain functioning, eventually his ability will kick in and undo my damage, as his brain can recognise the attack.
Gripping my blade, I say, "Drachenkämpfer Battle Arts, Ultimate Arts; Dragon Slaying Twin Pressure!"
And releasing two oscillating waves from my sword that shatter the ground, sending rocks flying everywhere. Then jumping up, I say, "Drachenkämpfer Battle Arts, Ultimate Arts; Dragon Slaying Fissure!"
And quickly extend my spirit energy from my blade around the rocks I move past, creating large whips of spirit energy that use the rocks as a way to move; then, reaching her position, I swing the whips of Spirit Energy to strike her from all directions.
"AS IF THOSE WILL EVER HIT ME!"
The space around her rebuilds itself, and soon all of the strikes curve away from her, and smiling, I say, "Drakenkampfer Battle Arts, Ultimate Art; Dragon Slaying Myriad Void!"
And create a large air pocket above and below her, sucking in all the air to both places, and in an instant I feel shock run over his face.
ΦNo, this can't be happening; he has taken all the air away from me. Should I expend the range of my Regalia and force all the air back, but before I do that, I would have to fold space and transfer his Spirit Energy Tendrils to not be struck down.
But I also need to keep Lorenzo's head attached and the water hanging over his head away, or the spiritual body will start drowning again, as well as keep resetting my ability to keep his Regalia from affecting us. Yet that is only half of my issue right now.
When using my ability for multiple different things at once, I can put less important aspects on a timer for it to deactivate unless I reset it, and for ease, I tend to put all the different reset timers at the same instant to save on brain space.
This man has planned this assault to happen the instant I need to reset all the different timers; was he watching the small instance my spirit Energy decreases? What kind of beast is this man?
For this instant, I am going to have to take back control of all these different processes manually to reset the timer and expand my territory, and during that moment he hopes to strike me and take out my life.
Those eyes he is glaring at me with are waiting for the smallest of opportunities to end my life. He knows he can do it; he knows he can take my head off.
FUCK HIM! No way am I going to be taken out by him. I am a member of the Destinos; we are heroes, not sellouts like the Sieg Bisumods. I won't lose to you!
Φ As Siegrund and Reina face off, she, in a single instant, takes control of all of her process, causing them all to fade for 0.5 seconds before reappearing; yet in that instant her head flies off in 0.2 seconds, and 4 seconds later her ability fully deactivates, causing Lorenzo to die as well.
Φ Taking a breath, after breath as I fall, I stare at the body of the woman along with her head, and grab both as I head down and grab Lorenzo, then quickly create a crevice in the wall to put them.
I got lucky; if her ability also extended to Hrunting, I would've lost. It seems she is capable of affecting things that diffuse in the environment, like my Unstoppable that travels through the world till it reaches its target, but not abilities like Hrunting that target the existent instantly regardless of distance.
My sword needs to become more polished for people who counter my existence. If they had another frontline fighter or another support, I might've been killed.
Φ "Destino takes loyalty to the Familia more than anything else; I also refuse to put the Familia at needless risk. Though those calculations don't always turn out well, which is why I guess you guys didn't join in."
Siegrund's words reverberate in the ears of the men behind him, with one in front saying, "If our skills were more polished, we would've been able to join in on the assault. Instead of as a contingency."
Turning himself, he sees the men all shedding tears, and says, "If you want their bodies, you can take them and leave, but I suggest you wait for the ones inside the hideout."
"Don't worry, we will be taking yours back with us now."
Holding his blade out, Siegrund says, "You really want to give it up now after they left you out to spare your lives?"
"You're correct in that we won't be able to defeat you, but our rage is enough for us to keep you busy."
In an instant there bodies all change into similar forms, as those affected by Paura's Legacy, and quickly charge at Siegrund, who sends them flying out of the small hole in the wall. Then, walking out and staring at the wounds on their bodies, he says, "I was only able to do that little damage?"
His eyes quickly fall on the entrance, and he says, "Captivant. Please be safe, and more than anything else, overcome the danger that lies in front of you."
They all charge forward towards him, and rushing forward, Siegrund meets them all with his blade.