Half a second.
Rias was quite impressed.
Elita had not struck him with her sword at first because she knew ordinary attacks wouldn't work on him. Hell, even Mastered Void Gate Aspects that applied debilitating effects on the enemy were ineffective against him now. Thus, she devised a way to expose one of the masked man's weaknesses.
As it turned out, Aimon was a construct dependent on Undeath energy. If Rias' control over his Undeath energy went awry, his control over Aimon's abilities would also waver – at least when it ca to the properties of his secondary conduits. That was why Elita condensed her extre volus of Voided Death energy into a sphere that made an endless attempt at invading Rias' body.
This forced the Undeath Bearer into a two-pronged battle: a struggle against the invasion from Elita's Voided Death Essence in order to restore his ability to use his body as a secondary conduit… and Elita herself.
Rias wasn't winning either.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Three-quarters of a second.
Rias only managed to block four blows from Elita. For every ten moves he made, she made twelve tis as many.
'She's fast…' thought the unmasked man, and his arm went flying, sliced cleanly off. His Broader Existence within his original body (the one stowed safely away inside Aimon), throbbed painfully. '…and lethal.'
One second.
Indeed, Elita was faster than Rias. She had slain hundreds of him in a blink, after all, even though those Riases were only half as strong as the original.
This was beyond what a mortal was supposed to be capable of. Not even Kintar had managed to reinforce herself by that much.
How was Elita doing it?
By following Future Skullius' suggestion and considering how Aurolio created his Mastered Void Gate Aspect, she reworked her own. She invoked Fundantal Barter again on her Aspect and added a secondary application that could only be triggered if her nearby allies called her for help. Consequently, the duration of this application of her Aspect was determined by the number of said nearby allies: one ally represented one second's worth of ti.
Indeed, Elita's physical attributes would soar to higher Divine ranges for as many seconds as she had partners on the battlefield, but so did every other ability she already possessed.
As it happened, Elita possessed a Blessing, Peerless Spirit, that tripled her attributes after conjuring a warm green-gold light. It also allowed her to heal herself and others. That was how she healed her severe wounds and how she was pressing her enemy so hard.
Clang!
A quarter of a second.
Instinct allowed the unmasked man to et Elita's Broodweiler once more using his kukri. He flicked it up, shoved his hand forward and then caught it in an attempt to hack Elita's wrist without the windup, but she was beyond him. Before he could land the blow, her sword had already pierced his cheek and protruded from the other side, making him 'smile'.
"You're unseemly," she said, scowling. "All this power and you choose to follow around Fulgardt like a little puppy. A pawn." She slung the wet flesh of his cheek off him and turned her blade so that its edge began cutting laterally into Rias' skull.
She never managed. Just like before, she was pressed.
OOOOOARRRRGH!
Six more Pseudo Death Knight had flown in like cannons in Elita's direction. The instant they landed, they lunged at the forr Paladin Champion, hellbent on pulling her arms and legs. Rias slipped back from her and was covered by one the monstrosities. That didn't an much, though. Just like the other seven tis Elita had fallen just a little short off cutting down Rias in a single blow because of these nuisances…
"Back off!" A shuttle of Voided Death Essence blasted from her and eradicated most of them, turning them to blackened bone. For the last one to remain, she stabbed it with her Broodweiler and watched it violently burst apart on contact.
A full second.
Elita scoffed and dodged Rias' well-tid flying kick. His sneak attack had failed. She punished him with a punch to the face that erased the right side of his jaw and cheekbone and eye socket with a staggering force. When he staggered back, she blasted him with a forward kick and then leaped over him with Broodweiler poised to split him in half.
But the world tilted on its axis abruptly.
It wasn't just its whole that turned so sharply, though. Even the gravity changed, pressing down in an oblique fashion.
…!!!
Elita lost her balance and faltered, but Rias was free.
He jumped back, escaping the sphere of Voided Death Essence.
…Only to get slamd back in from behind.
"OH NO, YOU DON'T, ASSHOLE!" Aurolio cried from the distance. Two of his longswords struck against Rias with their hilts, erasing his escape.
Elita regained her balance and punished the unmasked man again with a kick to the torso, blowing apart his spine. She then pinned him down with her foot.
BRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!
Aimon rained hell from the distance.
Millions of glaring white bullets of so scorching energy rained in Elita and Rias' direction.
"Huiphr'm (Kill him)!" cried Uyuniya. She flashed in beside Elita and deflected the incoming projectiles as best as she could.
…But then great cacti rose in obnoxious numbers around the trio. The great shadows they cast washed down on Elita and Uyuniya like black oceans and wrestled against their Voided Death abilities wildly.
Elita gritted her teeth and bore it. She ignored the intensely hot projectiles from Aimon, brandished Broodweiler and…
"What are you grinning about?" she found herself asking as the edge of her sword tickled the masked man's Adam's apple.
Indeed, Rias was wearing a wide, bloody grin across his face, his differently-colored eyes fixed on Elita.
"Fulgardt's pawn, am I?" he said cuttingly.
Elita answered by driving her sword into his neck with all her might and twisting it so as to break his neck.
She too happened to get cut down at the exact sa ti, however.
A violent, unseen slash flew in from the unknown and chopped her through from arm to waist!
Indeed, it was an impossible slash.
Elita was so shocked by the blow that her will faltered, and her powers – her Mastered Void Gate and the sphere around her – lost the tug-of-war with the shadows from the cacti. As she gaped, she slid apart like a diced cucumber.
But as she fell, the unmasked man rose.
His flesh knitted itself together and he regrew his lost limbs as though it were a simple magic trick.
"A useful technique," said Rias, chuckling. "The prototype is already much more lethal than I imagined."
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