"What the hell is he thinking? This wasn't the plan!"
Scarlet hovered in the sky, a cold sweat drenching her skin as she watched Roxanne's expression shift into that familiar, terrifying battle lust.
As a dragon, Scarlet prided herself on her bravery, but she wasn't a fool. She was confident enough to take on the rest of the Top 10 single-handedly if she had to—but she would never, ever willingly step into the ring with Roxanne.
The girl was a pure, unadulterated maniac.
Fighting Roxanne followed a cruel, predictable pattern: for the first five minutes, she'd give you the lethal illusion that you actually stood a chance. Then, the moment you let your guard down, the trap would spring. Roxanne would transform into a total berserker, her combat style devolving into a frantic, rhythmic insanity that was impossible to escape. She didn't care about being hit; she would gladly trade a broken bone to take your eye, dragging you deeper into her chaotic pace until you were completely suffocated.
Even worse was Roxanne's "experimental" streak. She had the audacity to test new, horrific combat theories in the heat of a real fight. Scarlet remembered with a shudder the time Roxanne decided to see if she could detonate her own blood mid-swing.
The result had been a nightmare of gore and fire. Every time Roxanne blew herself up, the resulting wounds provided fresh blood to keep the cycle going. To make matters worse, she began trying to hijack any blood on the battlefield—including Scarlet's—to fuel the explosions.
It took two years of therapy for Scarlet to stop flinching at the mere sight of the color red. Looking down at Roxanne now, those old psychological shadows were screaming for her to run.
' Hey, Roxanne, don't you dare come here. If you dare to come and fight me, I will definitely drop this act and run back home, ' not wanting to go back to therapy, Scarlet immediately issued a telepathic message towards Roxanne.
' ehhh oh come on, Scarlet, can't we at least spar? ' Roxanne spoke as she tried to act cute.
'Heck no,' Scarlet practically roared through the telepathic communication.
'Aww, ' Roxanne pouted with an unwilling expression. Since she was already this pumped up, she definitely needed to have her fill of excitement.
Thinking so, her face turned to look at Cao Cao and the rest of the hero faction members. And a dangerous smile appeared on her face.
' Hey, Scarlet, how about we change the way we fight? ' Roxanne suddenly asked as she gave Scarlet a look.
….
" Hey, boss, what do we do now? " Hercules, asked as he held his bleeding arm. As the representative of the muscle brute faction of the hero faction, he was the one who led the charge earlier, which also meant he was the one who got trashed by the Shadow Garden girls.
In fact, the ones who fought Hercules were none other than Luminous and Sophia. The vampire sisters taught this man what humility is.
These two sadistic sisters had their fun tormenting this guy into doubting himself. Sophia used her various summons to keep him company while Luminous harvested the lives of the rest of the heroes and then used blood magic to make them her puppets.
Then, those two sisters decided to put on a mock performance, showing everyone exactly how a true master wields a weapon compared to a pathetic amateur.
Under their macabre control, the very heroes Hercules usually looked down upon began wielding their Sacred Gears with a level of skill that put their living selves to shame. They swarmed Hercules, turning his own comrades into a nightmare that tore him into a complete mess. It was only by sacrificing his own right arm that Hercules had managed to barely tear himself away from that meat grinder.
"I think we should retreat for now; our chances of defeating everyone are getting pretty low," Siegfried spoke up, his eyes narrowing as he watched the alliance army slowly begin to regain their senses.
His grip tightened on his swords, his mind already racing to calculate the safest path of retreat. Among his companions, he was technically the one in the best shape since he hadn't joined the earlier battles, but he wasn't delusional. Even with his full strength, he knew that getting his battered teammates out of there wouldn't be free—they would have to pay a massive price to escape.
Cao Cao listened to the desperate suggestions of his companions, his face twisting into a deeply conflicted expression. As much as his rational mind whispered that their situation was becoming utterly hopeless, his burning pride still refused to accept the reality of defeat. After all, he had staked everything on this war and had already lost nearly every advantage he possessed. If he chose to turn tail and run now, all of his efforts would be for nothing, and he would be forced to crawl into the shadows, laying low for many years before he could ever hope to gather enough soldiers to challenge the world again.
The weight of his ambitions clashed with the cold, hard facts of the battlefield. But after a long moment of heavy contemplation, he finally exhaled a long, tired sigh, the tension momentarily leaving his shoulders. He eventually came to a grim decision: they had to flee. He realised that if he stayed to satisfy his ego, he would surely lose his life here, and a dead man has no hope of ever achieving his dreams.
" Georg, how are your injuries? " Cao Cao asked as he looked at his right-hand man.
" Cough, cough, I'm okay, although I suffered some internal injuries, I can still wield my sacred gear ", Georg said as he coughed up some blood.
" Connla, can you fight? " Cao Cao then looked at a young man with black hair wearing a black tattered Japanese school uniform. The shades he usually wore were also cracked.
"Yes, boss, I can still fight for you ", Connla, the No. 1 simp for Cao Cao, said without any hesitation. Even if his whole body is aching like a sick fan, he would still follow his idol's orders.
He then looked at the rest of his team: Jeanne, Perseus, and Marsilio. He asked them the same question. And each of them nodded with a heavy expression.
Well, who are they kidding? They have already boarded the pirate ship; if they don't stick together, then they might as well stop trying and lie down waiting for death.
Seeing everyone still agreeing to fight alongside him, Cao Cao felt a bit touched. His eyes once again became determined. The fighting spirit that Roxanne had destroyed once again appeared in his heart.
With a confident smile, he was about to announce his rebirth when his eyes suddenly widened. He clutched his chest as his eyes began to lose their lustre.
****
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