Plan Against Zeus

I started to memorize Zeus's patterns as Fuki traveled around the battlefield. Zeus had his shield blocking him and one that could block my attack. He had me locked down pretty well, but he couldn't defend against Fuki.

Fuki's wide-range skills and attacks hit Zeus, but he didn't care. I wondered what his plan was as I continued to analyze him.

Fuki's stamina seemed endless, as did his mana, so I took my time. It seemed that Fuki would tire out faster than Zeus... but my plan would put the odds against Zeus instead.

Once I perfectly analyzed the pattern Zeus took, I started to run at him. One of his shields started to hover at a fixed distance in front of me as I continued forward and blocked my vision from him.

"[Ember]!" Fuki shouted out again.

The skill initiated once more and Zeus was forced to move into a new position to dodge it... which would've collided with me if I hadn't side-stepped. Zeus was about an arms-length away from me as I back-stepped past him. We had opposite momentum and made eye contact as we passed by each other.

With both of my staffs primed and bloody on top, ready for an attack, I shot out two [Beam] skills that collided with the shield that sat in front of my vision.

Once the [Beam] skill collided with the shield, I threw [Yggdrasil's Bone] up in the air and the shield from Zeus followed it accordingly.

The [Beam] skill and the shot from it ricocheted off of the shield that followed me around and then hit the shield protecting Zeus. From the two shields, the Beam shot ricocheted off of each surface, speeding up with every single impact.

"Don't be foolish, Anima. I wouldn't fall for something that obvious Zeus said. He recalled the shield that followed me around and in the instant that the Beam shot was coming back at him to hit the second shield that protected Zeus, I held out [Titan's Wand] and pointed the tip at the skill.

"[Dismanip]!" I shouted out.

The Beam changed trajectory while keeping its momentum and collided with Zeus, shooting him at high speeds into the ruins of the temple. Like you'd see in an anime, a shockwave of wind emitted from his old position and blew the hair from my face all over.

"Damn Anima! You hit him pretty hard!" Fuki said, covering his mouth in a slight giggle.

"I should've known you'd be a pain in my ass!" Zeus slammed his large hands on one of the collapsed pillars around him and tightened his muscles. He was going to do something!

Just as I could understand what was happening, Zeus picked up the pillar with his raw strength and threw it at me. I dodged to the left and slid onto the floor, priming my staff in case he decided to follow up with another attack.

Instead... he just stood there, looking annoyed.

"Why haven't you thrown an attack at us? Why are you just dodging?!" I yelled out to Zeus.

"Somebody is afraid to... or else you would be dead already," Zeus said with blood trickling out of his mouth.

I see...

Ono is in his body, fighting back right now. It's a purely poetic thing to see Ono trying too hard to stop Zeus from accessing his skills and fighting back. I wanted to do my best to help Ono... but how do I separate the two?

If it were me... I would want to die.

If I had my memories wiped and lost who I was, and I had to share a body with Zeus... I couldn't think of a better fate. I was so confident in my decision to kill Ono, but now, seeing as Ono was holding Zeus back, I don't feel that killing him is the right decision.

"Close..." Shima lightly said.

"Close? What do you want from me?" I asked her.

"Close... Ono! Help him!" She told me.

Dammit Shima... how am I supposed to turn that information into something productive?!

I looked back up at Zeus and saw him smile.

Then, it felt as if time froze.

My mind was running all over the place now. That smile... that cocky smile. The confidence that was hidden behind each and every one of the wrinkles on his face... it was justified confidence. He has a plan. And, I think I've figured it out.

He's waiting.

Just like I was, I was waiting for an opening, and he was too. Backup? That's most likely it... and it's probably another-

Chills shot up my spine as I finally connected the pieces.

Papiya! Zeus is waiting for her!

"Fuki! Don't let Zeus waste our time like this! We need to find an out to this fight! He's waiting for backup!" I shouted out toward him.

"How did you... you really are a pain in my ass, Anima!" Zeus shouted out to me.

His recalled shield had new metallic spikes surrounding the edge, for a total of 11 separate spikes that were all aimed at me.

"[Beam]!" Zeus screamed out.

I instantly started running as the [Beam] skill from his shield shot a hole through the ground and even burned some of the buildings in front of me.

"[Bound]!" Fuki shouted out.

From Fuki's new skill, some strings came out of the dirt and wrapped around Zeus's body and held him in place.

"[Ember]!" Fuki shouted out again, connecting his previous skill set to this new skill I had just learned.

Zeus took another heavy hit and I initiated the [Beam] skill from both of my staffs once more. While Fuki was performing the Ember, Ashes, and Ignite skill, I grabbed Yggdrasil's Bone, which I threw up in the air earlier.

Instead of shooting [Beam] at Zeus's head, I went for his knees and put a hole in one. That was our first significant injury, and it should've been the most important one. I close the distance and Shima came off of my left arm and moved to my left shoulder.

"Close!" She shouted out again. I see... she was going to jump on Zeus? Would that hurt her? I had no time to doubt her.