Bastard Homunculus: Reborn in the Corpse Pit

"Seems we have company," Remarked Colt, turning his attention to the top of the building from which the arrows had come from.

"Yeah, no shit!" Responded Lexia, as she formed a pair of bone daggers in her hands.

"This is as far as you go, Irregulars...we won't let you kill anyone else!" A voice rang out as a pair of footsteps approached from an alley to the left of the building, a couple of figures stepping out as Colt and Lexia turned their attention that way.

"Hm, if I'm not mistaken, you two are Second-Class Knights from the First Squad, aren't you?" Remarked Colt as he recognized them.

"He's right, I've seen their faces sketched in our list...if I remember right, they're not targets, and as Second-Class Knights, they aren't much of a threat to us. But then there's the one who fired those ice arrows at us...they're not showing themselves, which means they likely intend to back these two up from a distance, which is pretty standard for an Archer.

It's probably one of the First-Class Knights of the First Squad, and if I'm right about who it is, then they're not a target either...I don't like our odds in a three-on-two battle where we're going to have to avoid killing our opponents," Lexia thought to herself with a grimace, before she put up her guard as the two Knights who'd emerged from the alley each shot towards her and Colt.

"[Water Slash]!" Exclaimed the Knight charging towards her, swinging a spear across and firing out a rapid slashing wave of water at her.

"[Bone Gauntlets]," She swiftly chanted as she crossed her arms in front of herself, a thick layer of bone forming over her hands and forearms, the water slash striking the bone armor and pushing her back slightly, inflicting shallow cuts across the bony gauntlets, before she flung the bone daggers towards him.

He swiftly halted and swung his spear across and deflected the dagger, before he shot towards her and leapt forward, driving his spear towards her as he closed in on her.

As the tip of the spear came zipping in towards her, Lexia quickly sprang back in response, getting out of the reach of his spear before her eyes widened in alarm as several ice arrows came shooting down towards her the instant she jumped back.

She quickly extended out a couple of bone blades and whipped them outwards as the arrows closed in on her, deflecting them away right in the nick of time, her feet hitting the ground and skidding back before she swiftly extended a bone out of her palm downwards in front of her legs as the Lancer shot towards her and slashed his spear across at her knees as he closed in, the blade hitting the bone she'd extended out, narrowly blocking the slash.

He then quickly sprang back as she raised her right index finger towards him and fired out several bone bullets at him out of her fingertip, his eyes widening in alarm before he quickly spun his spear out in front of himself, crying out as a couple of the bullets shot past his weapon and hit his chest, inflicting stinging impacts through his armor and fracturing a couple of his ribs, as the rest of the bullets pinged off the handle of his spear.

Lexia then stopped firing and swung a bone blade across as another ice arrow came shooting towards her, deflecting it across with an click of her tongue.

"Tch, that Archer is really getting on my nerves...," She thought to herself in irritation, grimacing as the Lancer shot towards her again.

Meanwhile, Colt was busy fending off the other Knight, a man with Wind Magic and the Saber Combat Template.

He unleashed his blood tendrils as the Knight closed in on him, before his eyes widened in surprise as several ice arrows shot down and hit the tendrils before they could surround and converge in on the Knight, who leapt forward and unleashed a rapid upward slash with his sword.

Colt sprang back before firing out a rapid blood blast at the Knight's hands, right as another ice arrow came shooting down and intercepted the projectile of blood, killing its momentum before it could hit the Knight, who fired a burst of wind at Colt as the blood splattered across the ground, a couple more ice arrows zipping down from the top of the building.

Colt formed a shield of blood from his left hand as he gripped his dagger with his right hand and swung it across as the arrows closed in on him, deflecting them away as the wind blast slammed onto his blood shield, before the Knight shot forward and unleashed a powerful thrust of his blade at Colt's stomach.

Colt quickly turned his body across in response, the blade grazing his right side before he swiftly wrapped a blood tendril around the handle of his dagger and flung it straight at the Knight, the blade hitting his right shoulder and piercing in as the Knight failed to react fast enough to dodge it, letting out a sharp cry of pain.

As he began to shakily reach for the dagger, Colt swiftly pulled it back with the blood tendril he'd coiled around the handle, yanking it out of the Knight's shoulder before quickly backing away as several more ice arrows shot down towards him, hitting the ground and getting lodged into the dirt as Colt swiftly weaved back and evaded the arrows.

The Knight then shakily stumbled back, his face pale as beads of sweat began pouring down his face, his breathing growing labored as the poison from the dagger started to take effect.

"Probably shouldn't use this anymore, one or two more cuts and he'll probably die. Gotta say, they've sure got one hell of an Archer backing them up...their timing and aim are scary accurate, this is gonna be tough, real tough," Colt thought to himself as an excited smirk spread out across his face...

Meanwhile, back to the church...

"Hm...something doesn't feel right," Arren thought to himself with a frown, as he teleported to evade a blast of purple flames from Raven, before leaping off to his left as an explosive projectile came shooting towards him, hitting the floor and erupting fiercely, shards of the tiles around that spot flying out as the projectile exploded.

He then teleported behind Raven and drove his fist towards the back of his head, before Raven swiftly spun around and crossed his arms in front of himself defensively, Arren's fist slamming onto his forearms before Raven swiftly burst out lightning around his arms.

Arren's body sharply seized up as he pulled his fist back a fraction of a second too late, the skin around his knuckles getting burnt as he got electrocuted, before quickly teleported away as Raven opened his mouth and fired out a burst of mist.

He then turned his gaze to his left as Celia came charging in, leaping forward as she closed in, twisting her body across and whipping her right leg towards his head.

Her foot grazed the top of his head as he quickly ducked, his movements slowed thanks to getting zapped by Raven's lightning.

He began to back away with a grimace, before Celia swiftly chased after him and unleashed a rapid flurry of strikes at him with sharp speed and agility.

He managed to block and deflect a few of her attacks before wincing sharply through gritted teeth as she landed a direct hit with a kick to his stomach, eliciting a stifled gasp from him before she clenched her right fist and drove it towards his face.

He quickly used his Switch Spell to swap places with her, before he teleported several meters away as Celia swung her right fist back and across at him, narrowly evading it.

As he reappeared, he sprinted across as Raven's beams came shooting towards him, avoiding them before teleporting right in front of Raven and driving his right fist towards his head with all his strength.

Raven quickly tilted his head across to the right, Arren's fist grazing his left cheek before he swiftly reached out and grabbed Arren's neck, channeling lightning into his hand and electrocuting him again.

Raven then opened his mouth and fired out a cloud of mist as he eased up on the lightning, Arren quickly held his breath before teleporting up near the ceiling of the church, Raven teleporting with him since he was holding onto him, before Arren strained his right arm and drove his fist up, striking Raven's wrist and weakening his grip around his neck, wrenching free of his grasp before his gaze swiftly darted down and he swapped places with Celia, letting out a sharp cough as he reappeared down below.

"Yeah, something isn't right here...he had an opportunity to kill me just then, but he didn't. Based on prior reports, he's capable of extending out his claws several centimeters, if he'd done that as soon as he grabbed my neck, I'd be dead...the Commander Squad reported that the Homunculus used some sort of tranquilizing mist to knock out several of them, is that what he's trying to use on me? Which means, he's trying to knock me out, not kill me...no, it's more that that, he's actively going out of his way to avoid killing me. But...why?" Arren thought to himself in confusion, as he turned his gaze up to Raven and Celia with a grimace...

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city...

Rione's gaze darted across at Aster and Tacitus as they eyed him warily from either side, before suddenly firing out a rapid bolt of lightning towards Aster, who quickly put up a telekinetic wall in front of himself to block the incoming attack, as Rione shot towards Tacitus.

A sharp crackle rang out as the lightning bolt hit the telekinetic wall, sparks bursting out upon impact as Rione closed in on Tacitus, the head of his hammer gleaming brightly with a crackling, electric glow, before he swung it at Tacitus with immense force.

Tacitus quickly raised his sword up defensively in alarm, grimacing as the hammer slammed onto it with a jarring impact, rattling the bones in his hands and arms as a massive burst of lightning erupted upon impact, the force of Rione's swing sending him flying back several meters and crashing onto a nearby building.

Cracks spread out across the side of the building from the point of impact as a cloud of dust rose up around Tacitus, before Rione swiftly spun around and swung his hammer across as a slashing telekinetic wave closed in on him, canceling out the incoming force as he swung his hammer right through the attack.

He then swiftly shot towards Aster, charging lightning into his hammer as he charged forward, the air around his weapon sparking and crackling...

"No choice, then, I can't afford to keep holding back against this guy, or I'll end up dead," Aster thought to himself with a grimace, before swiftly chanting under his breathe as Rione closed in, "[Telekinetic Zone]!"

Aster moved into a defensive stance as he activated his strongest Spell, before his eyes widened in surprise as Rione suddenly halted and sprang back right outside the range of the Spell, before he swung his hammer across and unleashed a blast of lightning, narrowing his eyes as the lightning got warped around the space surrounding Aster.

"I see, that's quite a dangerous Spell...," He muttered warily.

"And those are some crazy sharp instincts you've got...compared to your late fellow Captain over there, you're on another level," Responded Aster with a wry smile.

"I'm not sure exactly what that Spell does, but it seems like I shouldn't get too close...let's see if this works. [Grand Lightning Burst]!" Chanted Rione, unleashing a massive blast of lightning towards Aster, before chanting again as the lightning got warped around the Telekinetic Zone, "And now, [Lightning Manipulation]!"

"Oh, shit...," Muttered Aster in realization, his eyes widening in alarm as the lightning wrapped around his zone.

He quickly raced across to try and break through the lightning surrounding his Telekinetic Zone, but it was no use, Rione was quick to adapt and maintain his lightning around Aster's zone, trapping him in it.

"I think I get it, this force field-like space around you, you can control whatever enters its range, and it also serves as a barrier, nothing can enter than range unless you allow it. However, the range itself is quite short, about a two meter radius or so, I'd say.

Still, it's a superb Spell, one that possesses both high level offence and defense, how enviable...but it's not unstoppable. I may not be able to hit you directly, but all I really need to do is maintain this for a while, until you run out of air in there.

And if you deactivate the Spell, my lightning will converge in on you, you'll be lucky if you survive that. Clearly, you had absolute confidence in this Spell and assumed it was unstoppable...and now, I've just shattered that belief. So, what will you do?" Inquired Rione, as he intensified the lightning surrounding Aster's zone.

"Damn it, this really sucks...what a shitty way to unveil my upgraded Telekinetic Zone, I worked so hard to increase the range from a one meter radius to two meters. More importantly...it's getting harder to breathe...," Frowned Aster, taking short, shallow breaths to buy some time as he wracked his brain to try and think of a way out of his current predicament.

"I got lucky...he's a dangerous opponent, I'd estimate that he's at least close to my level if he were to fight seriously. If he hadn't been holding back and pulling his punches to avoid potentially killing me, I-...," Thought Rione, before his train of thought was interrupted as his lightning, along with Aster's Telekinetic Zone, suddenly vanished, as Rione blurted out, "What!?"

He then stiffened and quickly spin around, his eyes widening in alarm as his gaze fell onto Tacitus, who was right behind him, with his sword arched back.

"Thanks for forgetting about me...here's a little payback," He remarked as he rapidly swung the flat of his sword towards Rione.

Rione quickly raised his hammer up to his side, the sword slamming onto the handle of his weapon before he got sent flying off to his left, hurtling through the air and crashing onto the side of a building as Tacitus shot towards Aster.

"Thanks, man, I was really-...," Aster began with a sheepish smile.

"We're leaving!" Snapped Tacitus, grabbing Aster's arm as he put his sword back into his Storage Ring and took out the Teleport Spell, before running his Mana through it and teleporting away right as Rione got back onto his feet with a slight groan.

"Damn it, I screwed up...," The Knight Captain muttered with a pained grimace, a trickle of blood running down the side of his mouth.

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the city...

"Thanks, man...I was in a pretty tight spot back there, I owe you one," Remarked Aster, as he flopped onto the grass with a sigh of relief.

"Why didn't you break free of his lightning? You know you could have, right?" Responded Tacitus with a frown.

"Well, I might have been able to create an opening if I'd unleashed a Level 3 Attack Spell, but since that would've taken up a lot of Mana and possibly not even worked, I was saving it as a last resort for once the air got too thin in there," Aster defended himself.

"Fair point, but that's not what I was talking about," Sighed Tacitus, before pointing at Aster's black blade with a slight, exasperated huff.

"Hm? What're you-...oh. Ohh, right. I could've absorbed the lightning with this blade...my bad," Replied Aster as he averted his gaze sheepishly.

"That was the first time someone's come up with an effective countermeasure against your Telekinetic Zone, not counting my Nullification Zone, of course. You weren't mentally prepared for that, and ended up panicking, didn't you? You've become overreliant on that Spell, you idiot," Surmised Tacitus as he narrowed his eyes at Aster.

"H-hey, come on, that's kinda harsh. And panicked is a strong word, I was caught off-guard by it, sure, but-..."

"Save it...I suppose this was a blessing in disguise. Now that you know your Telekinetic Zone isn't totally foolproof, it should make you more cautious going forward. Seriously, learn from this and try being a little less cocky next time, you always get way too overconfident after you activate that Spell."

"Come on, I said I was sorry, so-..."

"No, you didn't."

"Okay, I didn't...but I'm saying it now. Sorry, that was my bad. I'll keep this in mind and make sure I don't repeat the same mistake again...happy now?" Sighed Aster as he flicked a nearby pebble away with his telekinesis, letting out a slight huff.

"Great, and now you're sulking...you're a real pain, you know that? Well, whatever, at least we both got out of there okay...I hope the others are alright too, I doubt the Captain was the only member of the First Squad that came here..."