Bastard Homunculus: Reborn in the Corpse Pit

"[Sonic Flight]," Chanted Jacks, his feet lifting up off the ground as a faint, high-pitched ringing echoed around him, before he shot towards Tacitus with immense speed.

Tacitus swiftly raised his sword up defensively, grimacing as Jacks shot past him and inflicted a shallow cut across his left side, his sword only partially deflecting the slash of the Knight's blade, before a crash echoed out from behind him.

He glanced back, to see Jacks sprawled across the ground, before getting back onto his feet with a slight groan, a couple of trickles of blood running down from the middle of his forehead as he wiped his sleeve across his forehead with a slightly dazed look in his eyes.

"I see...you can't yet fully control the speed that Spell gives you. Good, that means you definitely can't use the more powerful Supersonic Flight Spell," Surmised Tacitus, before turning his gaze to the left as Dox came charging in with his spear poised forward, trails of blood running down his face from his hair, the front of his hair matted down.

A dark mist burst out around him as he closed in on Tacitus, before the spear came shooting out of the shadowy cloud. Tacitus sprang back to evade the thrust of the spear, before swinging his sword across to his right as a barrage of light projectiles came shooting towards him, batting them away before he quickly turned his gaze forward as Jacks came zipping towards him with immense speed.

"[Nullification Zone]."

The Knight's eyes widened in alarm as he suddenly stopped speeding up, quickly crossed his blades in front of himself as Tacitus whipped his sword up towards him, a loud clang echoing out as the large weapon slammed onto his blades and knocked him back several meters.

His feet hit the ground and skidded back as he managed to maintain his balance, his arms trembling from the impact as he glanced at his blades, a couple of cracks across the middle of one of them.

Tacitus then jammed his sword into the ground and arched his upper body back as Dox sprinted in towards him and drove his spear towards Tacitus, the blade cutting through the fabric over his chest before he swiftly grabbed the handle of the spear and gave it a firm tug.

Dox let out a startled yell as he got yanked off his feet, before Tacitus swung him across and flung him off to the left as Diar came charging in, his eyes widening in alarm before his squadmate crashed onto him, the pair collapsing in a heap before Tacitus turned his gaze forward as Jacks raced towards him and leapt forward with his blades raised high.

Tacitus swiftly pulled his sword out of the ground and raised it up defensively, Jacks's blades slamming onto it with a sharp clang before his left blade snapped in half, before Tacitus swung his arm out to push Jacks back.

As his feet hit the ground and skidded slightly, Jacks backed away and got some distance with a wary grimace, tossing away his broken blade and taking a new one out of his Storage Ring, swinging it across as he eyed Tacitus cautiously.

He then glanced at the other two as they got back up, meeting their gazes for a moment before he quickly sprinted in the direction of the church, as Dox and Diar shot towards Tacitus.

Tacitus was quick to respond, racing towards Dox and tilting his head across as he closed in and Dox drove his spear towards him, the blade grazing his left cheek before he swung his sword across at Dox's torso.

Dox quickly raised his spear up in front of himself defensively, the handle bending as the sword slammed onto it with a sharp clang before he got sent flying back, right as Diar closed in on Tacitus from the right and leapt forward as he charged light energy into his hand, before driving his glowing fist towards Tacitus's face.

His fist struck the right side of Tacitus's face, his head jerking across to the left before he whipped his sword out, slamming the face of the blade onto the middle of Diar's body, eliciting a sharp, winded gasp of pain from him before he got sent hurtling through the air, as Tacitus shot towards Jacks with immense speed.

He leapt forward as he began to catch up, raising his blade high and swinging it down at the ground behind the Knight, a deafening crash ringing out as the ground broke apart upon impact, triggering a shockwave that knocked Jacks off his feet and sent him flying forward several meters through the air.

Jacks twisted his body across in midair and jammed his blades into the ground to come to a halt, the blades dragging across the dirt before he regained his balance and pulled his blades back out, taking a few steps back and getting some distance as he regained his bearings.

"Come on, this is insane, since when are Pulverizers so fast?" He inquired with a grimacing smile.

"You're going to have to do better than that if you want to get past me," Responded Tacitus, swinging his sword across.

"This guy's an absolute beast, his brute strength is unbelievable...even if he wasn't preventing us from using our Magic, I doubt we'd stand a chance. He's taking a passive approach so far, mainly just defending against our attacks and countering, he isn't going on the attack himself, except just now when I tried to go after the other one...the most likely reason for this is that he's trying to buy time for his partner. And we can't get to that guy without getting through him first...," Surmised Jacks warily.

"This is seriously exhausting...I've negated the numbers disadvantage thanks to my Relic Armament and Nullification Zone, but since I'm holding back to avoid killing them, I'm stuck in a stalemate. I'm still not very good at holding back, so I've taken on a more defensive and reactive approach, but I can't keep this up forever. These guys aren't weak, if this drags on for much longer, it'll only be a matter of time before they wear me down. You better hurry it up, Aster, I'm not sure how much longer I can do this...," Tacitus thought to himself as he let out a quiet sigh.

Speaking of Aster...

"[Light Spear Scattershot]."

Aster raced across as a barrage of large, rapid light projectiles came shooting towards him, evading them before swinging one of his blades across, firing off a rapid telekinetic slash towards Ravella.

As it closed in on her, she swiftly ducked down, evading the slash before cracking her whip towards him with a sharp flick of her wrist.

He quickly backed away to get out of the reach of her whip, before firing out an intense blast of telekinesis towards her as the tip of the whip whizzed past the front of his knees.

As his blast shot towards Ravella, she yanked her whip back in response before swiftly swinging it up, striking through and killing the momentum of Aster's attack before it could reach her.

"This is really tricky...she's much stronger than I anticipated. While I am stronger than her, we're more or less even with me holding back on the intensity of my attacks, to avoid seriously injuring her, or worse," Aster thought to himself, before sprinting across the area as more light projectiles came shooting towards him.

Ravella then shot forward, before unleashing a rapid swing of her whip towards Aster as she closed the gap enough to get him within the reach of her weapon.

He quickly got low as the whip closed in on his shoulder, narrowly evading it as it brushed the top of his hair before he formed a telekinetic wall in front of himself as a rapid light blast came shooting towards him, crashing onto his wall and cracking it deeply upon impact.

The wall then shattered as her whip slammed onto it, before Aster quickly sprang back onto his feet, tilting his body across to the right as the whip shot towards his left, grazing the side of his arm before he quickly spring back as the end of the whip cracked towards his face as Ravella flicked her wrist, the tip of the whip nicking across the bridge of Aster's nose, inflicting a small cut and drawing out a thin trickle of blood.

Aster then quickly fired off a telekinetic blast as Ravella fired a light blast at him, a bright flash erupting as the attacks collided and canceled out, before she shot forward a few paces and swung her whip at him again.

The tip of the whip struck the side of his left arm as he sprang back, a stinging pain erupting across that spot upon impact before he gritted his teeth as he swung both his blades out, firing out two slashing telekinetic waves across each other towards her.

She swiftly pulled her whip back before swinging it out in front of her, striking the slashing waves as they closed in on her and killing their momentum, the attacks dissipating before she took aim at Aster with her left hand and chanted...

"[Light Cannon]."

A massive wave of light burst out from her hand and barreled forward, carving through the ground as it shot towards Aster with alarming speed, his eyes widening alarm.

He quickly raced away to his left before leaping across, narrowly avoiding the massive beam of light before he swung one of his blades across, firing out another slashing telekinetic wave at Ravella before her Spell could peter out.

She quickly swung her whip out, partially negating the attack before it struck her right arm, cutting through her cloak and inflicting a long, shallow cut across her bicep, trickles of blood running down her arm and dripping onto the ground.

As her Spell faded away, she unleashed a barrage of light spears towards Aster, who raced across to evade them, swinging his black blade out as a couple of the projectiles closed in on him, the blade absorbing the Spells upon contact and transferring the Mana to him, before Ravella shot forward, getting low and swinging her whip at his legs.

Aster halted and sprang up as the whip sliced through the air and closed in on his calves, leaping over the swing of the whip before he swung his black blade across as another spear of light came shooting towards him, absorbing it as his blade sliced through it.

He then unleashed several telekinetic blasts towards her, which she swiftly raced across to evade, the blasts peppering the ground as she dodged them, before firing out another light spear while simultaneously swinging her whip out towards him.

Aster formed a telekinetic wall in front of himself to block the spear before backing away to get out of the reach of the whip, as the spear collided against his wall and deeply cracked it, before shattering as the whip slammed against it.

"I can't let this drag on for much longer, but she isn't giving me any openings I can exploit...she's highly skilled with that whip, and her mastery over her Magic is quite advanced too, she's cast multiple Level 3 Spells with impressive efficiency. I need to use my Telekinetic Zone if I want to turn the tables, but there's no point in activating it while I'm this far away from here, I need to get her within its range first...she isn't an opponent I can afford to be wasteful with my Mana against," Aster thought to himself with a grimace, before turning his gaze across as loud crashes rang out from a few dozen meters away, "Looks like Tacitus isn't going to be able to keep the Knights at bay for much longer either...alright, then, guess I've got no choice but to get a little reckless here..."