Battle of the Royal Palace part III: Outsiders' Aid

Xiaohui immediately went to Haneul and drew the dagger that stabbed his shadow and threw it across the room. He then healed Haneul using medix.

He took a potion from his bag that was given to him by Dasom. He wanted to consume it himself later on, but seeing the urgent situation, he decided to give it to Haneul instead to heal his wound more quickly.

Seeing the two of them defenceless, Hamlet tried to deliver an attack that could finish them both. He formed a sword using his shadow and coated it with lumina sorcery–– creating a long black and white sword.

“Monochromatic Rapier!”

He then swung his sword at them both, trying to slash them with it.

Suddenly, a sword clashed with his Monochromatic Rapier. The sword clashing against Hamlet’s was bigger with a white colour, steadily holding off Hamlet’s attack.

“Luster Blitz!”

Suddenly, the white sword clashing against Hamlet’s radiated a blinding glow of light which obstructed Hamlet’s vision. The swordsman then pushed Hamlet away, driving him away from Haneul and Xiaohui.

Having noticed that glow of light, Yumi and Meixia knew who it was. The two of them shouted at the same time.

“Akihiko!”

Back up had arrived.

After having her request rejected by the Exorcism Regiment, Yumi then thought of the last remaining member of her best friend group who worked in the Military Police Brigade–– Akihiko Tsuchiya. He was stationed in Noctilio City and brought reinforcements to aid the citizens around the Royal Residence.

While Xiaohui was healing Haneul, Akihiko fought against Hamlet. This wqs a surprise to everyone, since nobody expected another person to come into the room to join the fight. As Yumi expected, Akihiko gave the enemy more trouble than they predicted.

While Akihiko and Hamlet were exchanging blows, Xiaohui was finally done healing Haneul. The two of them then joined the fight with Akihiko.

However, Akihiko noticed that Haru was fighting a woman–– whom he assumed the enemy–– almost all by himself. He saw that the man fighting alongside him–– Zum–– was getting too exhausted and too injured to continue.

“Your Divinity, you’re a Transflage, correct?” Akihiko asked.

“Yes. Why?” Haneul replied.

“I believe that the man Haru is fighting alongside with is unable to continue fighting shortly. I suggest you to fight alongside him, since Transflage can fight another Transflage.”

Hearing his sound argument, Haneul nodded and agreed to his suggestion.

“Good luck,” Haneul wished Akihiko and Xiaohui for their fight with Hamlet.

Haneul then went to Four to fight her alongside Haru.

While the rest of the Sacred Guards were fighting other members of the Stainless Syndicate, Yumi and Meixia fought against Blackjack, the last member of the trio who infiltrated the inner circle of the government.

“An Exorcist and an Intelligence Agent; what are you two doing here, meddling with the Sacred Guards’ affairs?”

While the three of them were exchanging blows, Blackjack opened up a conversation. Aside from the Premier and Akihiko who just arrived, the two woman fighting him were not from the Sacred Guard Regiment.

“To capture you, of course,” Meixia replied.

Since it was getting difficult for Blackjack to fight against those two by himself, he then decided to put some distance between them.

“de la Fontaine !”

Blackjack shot out glitter of fireworks from his palm. He rotates his body around and aimed it at the ground and made a circle. The circle then shot out fireworks upwards that shield him from close range attacks.

Blackjack’s fyx skill was fireworks. He could shoot out various types of fireworks and firecrackers that could explode at his command. The residue from his fireworks’ explosion could also cause fire, adding more damage to his opponents.

Seeing that Blackjack had barricaded himself with fireworks, Meixia then decided to take further action. She put the guns she was wielding back to her waist and drew another weapon on her back. She drew an assault rifle–– capable of shooting multiple light bullets at once with a rapid-fire. She then shot some light blasts at Blackjack, trying to penetrate his defence.

The fireworks exploded the moment it made contact with Meixia’s light blast bullets. Since Meixia’s fyx skill was Explosive Blasts, the attacks from both sides created an even bigger explosive impact upon contact. Meixia’s attack didn’t manage to penetrate through the defence. However, she noticed something about it.

She saw that there was a trail of gunpowder at the ground which Blackjack shot, which meant that, the shield that he erected would vanish soon, as soon as the gunpowder was gone. She noticed that every time Blackjack attacked, his attacks didn’t last long especially after his fireworks exploded.

While Meixia was taking Blackjack’s attention, Yumi planned to penetrate through his defence some other way. She used her fyx skill–– invisibility–– to turn her invisible and get through his defence stealthily.

Yumi’s invisibility had several weaknesses. First of all, she could only be invisible for around 5 minutes and wait for another few minutes for a cool down period before she could use it again. Second, she still made some sounds when she was invisible, so opponents with heightened sense of hearing may be able to detect her. Third, she could still get damaged by an attack that spread through a wide range area, even if the opponent didn’t see her.

Just like Meixia, Yumi also noticed the gunpowder that was fueling Blackjack’s fireworks. After waiting for a few minutes, there was a spot in which the fireworks ran out quicker than other parts. Yumi then went through that spot to get to Blackjack.

Not noticing he ran out of fireworks and someone came from behind him, Blackjack was surprised to hear a sudden sound of footsteps coming near him. He tried to look around to see who it was, but he didn’t see anyone.

Yumi then quickly sent a punch right towards Blackjack’s back. Upon contact, the two of them were sent flying to opposite directions. Yumi’s punch was strong enough to send Blackjack flying, while Blackjack’s passive fireworks defence around his body protected him by exploding upon contact and sent Yumi to the opposite direction.

“What kind of texture was that? That felt like sandpaper.”

Blackjack who just got punched by something he couldn’t see felt Yumi’s coarse fyx energy texture. If it weren’t for that, Yumi would have received more damage from Blackjack’s explosion.

While Yumi was getting up from the ground, it was now Meixia’s turn to attack Blackjack. She shot a rapid-fire of light bullets towards him, not giving him any break.

Blackjack tried to shield himself with a light shield, but Meixia’s explosive bullets were too strong for Blackjack to hold off. He then got some shots on several parts of his body.

“Ugh!”

Even though Blackjack possessed an explosive coating that acted as a passive defence, Meixia’s fyx skill dealt more damage than Blackjack’s passive defence. Meixia also had a very good aim, so it was really hard for Blackjack to dodge her bullets.

Since his fyx skill was not working as well as he thought against those two, Blackjack decided to change his fighting style. He shot out fire from his palm and directed it at Meixia.

Meixia’s light bullets go through the fire but could not stop the fire from reaching her. She then moved a few steps backwards to get away from his attack.

“Ignaea* sorcery? You’re a.....”

While Meixia was trying to analyse Blackjack’s attacks, he shot another ball of fire towards her. The ball traveled much faster than his previous fireworks attacks. Unable to dodge, Meixia got hit on her shoulder and got burnt by the fire.

“Urgh!”

Blackjack finally landed a hit on one of them. Not being used to fighting against an ignaea Sorcerer, Meixia was not able to adapt to counter his attack.

Suddenly, someone reappeared from his back. However, this time, Blackjack did a proper blocking technique.

“Nice block,” she whispered to him.

He couldn’t see what attacked him, but he knew it was Yumi. He then tried to set her ablaze with his flames, but before he could aim properly, Yumi redirected his arm by kicking it towards the sky and made him shoot his flames upwards.

Yumi then turned visible after her 5 minute duration, showing her true form.

“Don’t worry, I’ve fought plenty of kobolds before."

Yumi smirked at him, bragging her experience in fighting and adapting to different kinds of enemies. Blackjack looked frustrated. The fight between the three continued.

*ignaea = fire.