Ruin of the legion (4)

"Have you gotten the information I asked you to gather?" asked Gray as he practiced using his blood weapons skill once again. Lately it was all he ever did, it was almost like a sick obsession.

"Yes master, I've overheard several groups talking about getting their information from a group of individuals known as the information guild,"

Tesse had been ordered to gather information on where dungeons or ruins had opened up and report back to Gray once she had collected sufficient intel.

"And so, where do we find these information guild bastards?" asked Gray, sweat dripping down his now pale face.

"They have taken over the library in the town square, however, according to what I've heard, they require Arcanian points in exchange for their services."

"Very well then. Have you taken the elixirs I ordered you to buy?"

"Yes master,"

"Let's see how well they do," replied Gray.

Gray hadn't used a single one of his four thousand Arcanian points as of yet and wanted to test how effective the elixirs would be. He wanted to make sure that they weren't just a waste of resources.

"Very well master," said Tesse as she held her bo-staff in one hand and began twirling it in a clockwise direction.

Without warning, Tesse struck her staff aiming to hit Gray in the face. He managed to turn the mighty sword into a shield at the last second and deflected her attack, however the force of the attack caused him to stagger backward.

'Her speed and strength have slightly increased, even though I'm tired right now to think she would be able to push me back to such an extent just due to an elixir.'

Tesse didn't stop her advance, she used the momentum from the deflected attack to hit Gray in the stomach with the other side of her staff.

The attack was so powerful it winded Gray, causing him to double over in pain.

"Master are yo-" Tesse's sentence was interrupted when Gray turned the mighty sword into daggers and tried slashing at her.

However Tesse used the side of her bo-staff to hold of the attack, Gray used this chance to kick at Tesse's stomach causing her to tumble backward.

Tesse flipped backward, using the bo-staff to maintain her balance.

'She's learned how to use the bo-staff in ways other than as a weapon?' thought Gray as he used blood to add chains to the hilts of his daggers, throwing them at Tess as she landed.

Tesse managed to dodge one of the daggers, however, the other one managed to puncture her stomach. Gray then changed the tip of the dagger inside Tesse, turning it into a sort of anchor, and pulled Tesse back towards him, the anchor within her tugging at her insides causing her to scream out in pain.

Gray recalled the daggers and the chains, turning them back to blood and absorbing them into his mark.

"You've grown a little. You're doing quite well with a bo-staff however its deadliness is reduced due to a lack of blades. Perhaps you should use a spear since they have more or less the same battle mechanics," said Gray as he changed the tip of Tesse's bo-staff into that of a spear.

"Now heal yourself and let's go again," ordered Gray once he was done.

"But what about you master?"

"How many times have I told. You'll heal me once I faint, now get up and let's go again,"

***

"I don't think we can win this," said sister Eleanor with a tired expression on her face, as she dodged another one of the skeletal soldier's attacks.

Michael had been recalled several minutes ago, and Sarafina's flames were getting dimmer by the second. The only reason that she and some of the others were still alive was due to the effects of elixirs they had drunk in order to increase their stats.

"Someone better come up with something and fast, unless you want every skeleton here to move with the same speed as me," shouted Judith as she fended off the skeletons, using what little strength she had left.

"We can't let them get the abilities of the captains!" shouted Agent Ria, her lightning bolts becoming sparks compared to what they used to be.

"Speaking of captains, where is the leader of the Daybreak Guild. That bozo has been useless ever since we got here!" shouted Judith.

"Now that I think about it I haven't seen him around for a w-" Agent Ria was about to say before she saw a group of skeletons getting decimated somewhere in the center of the battlefield.

"How is he still that strong? Doesn't his ability have a side-effect?" asked sister Eleanor as she watched Duarte cut through the enemy lines, faster than even Judith could.

"I don't remember him being that fast even when we first came here," shouted Judith, envy audible in her voice.

"I see, that's why he's called the juggernaut," whispered Agent Ria as she realized what was going on.

"What do you mean?" asked one of the few surviving members of her attack force.

"Now that the cat's out of the bag, I might as well tell you," said one of the few surviving Daybreak members.

"The longer the Captain fights, the stronger he becomes, hence the name juggernaut. We've been fighting non-stop for nearly an hour, so the captain has gained a bunch of momentum," explained the Daybreak member.

'I see, the only downside to his ability is that if someone manages to kill him before he gains momentum then his ability becomes useless. But still, if we can survive long enough then we might be able to win this,'

"We just have to hold off a little longer. Putting this childish competition aside, the only way to escape this is to rely on the captain of the Daybreak Guild!" shouted Agent Ria.

However, it didn't seem as if the group would last much longer. They were down to only nine people, and all of them were about to reach their breaking point.

Duarte's advance was stopped by the ten skeletal soldiers who stood at the front of the general.

"I can't get past these boneheads," shouted Duarte as one of the skeletons pushed him back.

"Fuck this! I have an idea," shouted sister Eleanor, (AN: sigh forgive me for my blasphemy)

"What is it?" asked Agent Ria,

The remaining members had created an encirclement to watch each other's backs and keep the skeleton horde at bay.

"The clear conditions are to burn the remains of the general. However it never stated what we had to burn exactly or where we had to burn it," replied sister Eleanor under her heavy breathing.

"So where are you going with this?" asked the blonde guy, as he struggled to keep Sarafina in this realm.

"I'm saying we use Sarafina to burn him. Even if it's just a piece of his clothing, anything will do,"

"Are you sure about this? And even if we could, I already tried to get to him, those ten skeleton soldiers are as strong as Sarafina if not stronger,"

"The Daybreak guy can distract them while Sarafina makes a break for it, it's our only hope," replied sister Eleanor.

"You hear that Duarte!" shouted Agent Ria from where she was standing.

"You don't have to tell me twice," replied Duarte as he picked up his speed, and began bombarding the ten skeleton soldiers with all the strength he had collected so far.

"Now!" shouted sister Eleanor and Sarafina shoved off the skeletons around her and began running towards the general.

The four-meter tall fire spirit ran as fast as it could towards the enemy general. One of the ten skeletons that Duarte had been fighting tried to block her advance, however, Duarte quickly stopped it, sacrificing his left arm to block its attack.

The fire spirit made it to the front of the temple, but right as it was about to attack the general, the general began laughing.

"What's going on?" asked Duarte, as his left arm lay limp on the side, making it harder for him to fight.

"I don-" before the blonde guy could finish his sentence, the general held out its hand, and skeletal hands dug up from the ground, and pulled at Sarafina's legs, stopping her advance.

"We're fucked!" whimpered sister Eleanor, all hope had been lost.

"Don't underestimate the Quincy guild captain," said the blonde guy with a smirk on his face.

"Sarafina, release!", once he said this Sarafina detonated, causing the general's regalia to set fire.

Although not even a scratch was visible on the General, all the skeletons stopped moving.

[The general speaks to you.] said the autonomous voice.

[You won this battle. But the legion is eternal, face me once more, but with higher stakes. I shall be waiting, but for now, I gift this to you.] said the general, before one of the ten skeletal warriors that had been giving the group trouble walked towards them.

"Be on guard," warned Agent Ria.

[You have received Skeletal Warrior Lvl 1.] said the voice in the blonde guy's head.

"W-wait, that skeletal soldier, it's become my summon?"

[As a gift to the rest of you, I give to you some of my precious artifacts. Begone from my realm, and return when you are ready to fight again. The legion will never die, the legion is eternal,] announced the General before the group was sent back to Earth.