"…"
"Kuh…!"
Watching her sword stop midway in her trajectory, a look of fear slowly appeared on Lunarossa's face while Erika looked back at her with both relief and delight.
"Begone."
Swoosh!
Sending the tournant director flying into the air with just a simple thought, the latter briefly glanced at Valyr and the others as she pondered over what her next move was.
As things currently stood, only Lunarossa would be able to pose a threat to her. Though she wasn't at the sa level as her, the woman was still at the peak of Rank 6, making her more than capable of cutting off a chunk of her health.
Fortunately, with [Blood Control] taking root in her at the very last second, the Lesser Sin was able to avoid such an attack, giving her an opportunity to set up a proper defense after that.
"[Vestnts of Insatiable Lust]."
"[Sinful Crimson Aegis]."
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Casting two defensive skills in a row on herself, Erika conjured an intricate dark robe to wrap around her body, only for blood-red runes to appear on its surface a few seconds later.
After that, over a dozen crimson shields began to hover around her, their tips tinged with the sa black that covered her during her first transformation into a Lesser Sin.
'With this, I can take my sweet ti killing these nuisances,' thought Erika to herself, ease appearing on her face as she looked at the five with both amusent and mockery.
"Well, well, well… to think this is how the tables would turn," she muttered, her words pointing directly at the first person to ruin her plans. "Don't you find this entire situation ironic, Ylvar?"
Valyr could only let out a bitter chuckle at that. "I shouldn't have shown rcy to you back when I had the chance to kill you outright."
"I share the sa sentints," Erika replied, conjuring a massive cloud of blood above Valyr and the others.
"Unfortunately for you, I have more than enough ans to see it through."
Swoosh!
Waving one of her arms downward, Erika infused a bit more energy into the cloud of blood before controlling it to crash down on the four.
Having only recovered from the sensation of being entirely controlled, Lunarossa took a while to respond to the woman's next attack, heading towards where the four stood as fast as possible.
Yet, after a bit, she realized that she wouldn't be able to make it in ti, no matter how much she pushed herself.
Nevertheless, she still held hope that her actions would change things for the better, even going so far as to sacrifice her health to raise her stats just a little bit more.
Sadly, even though Lunarossa was only a quarter of the previous distance away from them…
Erika struck.
"[Sanguine Desolation]."
Bang!
At the mont the cloud settled around Valyr and the others, the Lesser Sin tightly clenched her fist, transforming the ethereal-looking cloud into a solid mass that instantly crushed anyone within it.
Thud.
"No… no, no, no, no… not like this…!" Watching this sight happen before her very eyes, an imnse feeling of despair overtook Lunarossa, kneeling on the ground as she did not want to believe that the four that previously fought alongside her died just like that.
Yet, no matter how much she deluded herself, the sight before her still remained, forcing her to accept the fact that she lived in a reality where Valyr and the three arbiters were now gone.
Or at least… that was supposed to be the case.
Crack… crack…
As silence covered the entire amphitheater, faint sounds of sothing cracking started to echo from the solid mass covering the four, causing Lunarossa to look at it with renewed hope.
'Could it be…?'
Crack… crack…
As the sounds of sothing cracking slowly got stronger, a visible crack soon appeared on the surface of the solid mass, allowing Lunarossa to inwardly let out a wide sigh of relief as she ran the remaining distance from the solid mass.
Then, without hesitation, she stuck her sword into the crack and imbued it with energy, which allowed the crack to swiftly expand before causing the entire thing to burst.
Bang!
Watching the solid mass break apart into fragnted chunks, Lunarossa briefly held her breath, only for her to audibly let out yet another sigh of relief as a multi-layered domain at the center of it all greeted her field of vision.
Whoosh!
Passing through the multi-layered domain with relative ease, it was only after seeing the four unscathed did the nervousness she felt finally go away.
"You're all safe…" she said, trying her best not to choke up from the relief she felt. "Thank the heavens you're all safe…"
"Sorry," said Valyr in response, looking back at the director with an apologetic expression.
"No need to say sorry." Lunarossa shook her head in return, taking in a deep breath soon after to calm herself down. "But how did you…?"
"Survive?" Valyr looked at the three arbiters before looking back at Lunarossa with a slight smile on his face.
"Let's just say I asked for reinforcents beforehand."
Whoosh!
Dispelling most of the domain that surrounded them, Valyr went ahead and pointed towards one of the walkways that led towards the underground floors.
Turning to look in response, Lunarossa was soon left at a brief loss for words.
At the sa ti, she imdiately understood the young man's thought process. After all, in their current situation, the best reinforcents one could get… were none other than the other participants of the tournant.
"You know… it would be great if you gave us a heads-up next ti!" With Valyr and the others still in their rightful spots, Yarkov shouted back at the five, looking at the young man with a slightly aggrieved expression.
"I will!" shouted Valyr in return, a faint smile adorning his face. "You and Leveina did amazing!"
"Glad to help… the Mythslayer!" Leveina shouted back at those words, her eyes glistening with admiration for the young man.
"How…?" Taking note that all of the participants Valyr recruited were strong in their own right, Lunarossa went ahead and asked the young man how he recruited them, as well as why he recruited them to help out in the fight.
In response, Valyr explained that the idea began back when Erika burst out of the amphitheater during his fight for the top 16.
Seeing that the tournant would be stopped because of that, he took the opportunity to recruit the participant he was fighting, only to then head down the underground floor so more while Julian and the other arbiters were defending against Erika's attacks.
"Thankfully, all of them were willing to fight for the cause," said Valyr with a slight smile, looking back at the group of participants that accepted his invite once more with gratitude.
After talking a bit more about the arrangents he had with them, he eventually got to the reason why he recruited them in the first place.
"There's no way we'd defeat Erika in her current state alone," he said, a bitter smile replacing the previous smile he had. "I might be able to dish out so damage to her if I pulled out all the stops…"
"But what if she retaliates? What if she's the one on the offensive rather than ? I may be strong attack-wise, but a single attack from her is enough to kill ten tis over."
"…Is there a reason why you didn't inform us about it beforehand?" Understanding his train of thought, Lunarossa took the opportunity to ask the other question she had on the matter, with Julian and the others nodding in agreent.
"Most of it is because I don't want Erika to target them," replied Valyr, only to let out an awkward chuckle a few seconds later.
"…Part of it is because it accidentally slipped my mind while we were fighting."
"…"
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