Isekai: The Eight Soul Fragments

Lawrence unleased dark blue energies towards Julianna, which she avoided immediately.

Lilianna and Julianna faced Lawrence as he was the one that appeared to stop them. He was holding two swords as he unleashed various magic attacks from one of them. Lilianna and Julianna continued to dodge as they use regular swords that they had stocked up to fight against him. The magic he unleashes effectively decays anything it touches. Swords would easily break, injuries would never heal, and anything else would slowly crumble down from decay. They couldn't afford to get hit too many times.

Lilianna and Julianna advanced from different angles. Lawrence would always counteract their actions with two different sets of abilities. One being a giant tornado which they have to change their angles of attack, and multiple dark blue orbs which they sliced off. Lilianna swiftly maneuvered around the area as they needed to find an opening against Lawrence. Lawrence blocked her attack with his other sword. After the sound of metal clashing resounded around, Lilianna's mind started to space out. "Lili!" Julianna shouted as she instantly realized that Lilianna has spaced out mid battle. Lilianna immediately recovered her mind as she jumped back and barely avoided dark blue fire that scattered around from below her position. She received slight burns that was stuck on her skin. Julianna took that opportunity and tried to come in for an attack. Lilianna burst out some fire magic to catch Lawrence's attention in the meantime. However, the magic Lawrence used simply dispersed Lilianna's fire magic into thin air as he blocked Julianna's attack with the black sword.

"Julie!" Lilianna shouted to catch Julianna's mind from spacing out, she was able to perform a much better act of avoiding the dark blue fire that emerged from the ground. After a few more moments of repeating the same song and dance in their battle, they realized that the fight is a stalemate. Lawrence smiled on his current position as he knew that stalling them for time would simply eventually lead them to being caught by the other enemies. Seeing impatience in his opponents, he stayed fighting defensively, as his weapons allow him to remain impenetrable.

Lilianna and Julianna regrouped, thinking about what to do next against Lawrence who had pretty much kept them in place. Lilianna drank a [Recovery Deluxe] to remove the burns on her body. Wanting to look for a different opportunity, they started unleashing fire magic towards Lawrence. Their goals have completely changed, as the two of them are heavily stocked on potions, they could continuously unleash hellfire against Lawrence. The two of them knew that they're being stalled, but they also understood that the rest of the groups would eventually win.

"To think you'd be okay with a contest of magic, are you all perhaps stalling as well?" Lawrence tried taunting as he smugly spoke about their situations. Lilianna then spat back as she wanted to trick him. "I heard that there's this kind of game from Draxus! It's called playing chicken." Lawrence knew what kind of game as he continued to create dark blue orbs to disperse their torrents of fire magic. "You're here to stall us, and we're here to stall you as well. Let's see who gets impatient first since both sides seem sure fire with arriving reinforcements." Lilianna smiled as she played and called on Lawrence's gamble. Lawrence's eyes twitched as he realized that he might be the one that will end up in a bad position.

They continued this game of chicken until one of their reinforcements finally arrived.

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Henry deflected Keith's chain ball smoothly as Keith warped around to avoid fighting in close quarters. Florence moved around and maneuvered his way behind Keith, attacking him from behind but was blocked by his skillful control of the chain and sickle.

Keeping an eye on every movement, Keith was able to manage the attacks of the three [People of Earth] commanders. However, the longer the battle goes, Keith knew that he has to make use of the more dangerous spirits. "[Spirit of Fantasy] would be great in this situation since I will never get hit... But I may need it later..." He pondered as he continued to stop the three from getting too close for comfort on his fight. It was another stalemate with the factor of their stamina and endurance being the deciding factor. Keith understood that if he were to be exhausted even if he made the enemies retreat, it could mean that Draxus would be possessed again and he would become useless in the fight. He knew that he couldn't stall in the battle, as he wanted to push through as soon as possible.

'Alright... I'll go through one more parry and wide swing to forcefully distance everyone..." Keith prepared for another pincer attack from the three enemies and blocked their advances. He then countered with a wide swing of a chain ball, forcing the three to dodge by distancing themselves as Keith's eyes started glowing. "[King of Spirits]! [Summon Heavenly Spirit]!" The golden eyes Keith had started to glow beautifully as his body was hidden under the wraps of the [Heavenly Spirit]. A crown appears on his head that signifies his true power to their enemies. However he summoned the [Heavenly Spirit] instead as it has a similar ability on defense. The three commanders from the [People of Earth] then knelt down from the aura Keith emanated. "[In the name of the Spirit King]! [Kneel]!" He activates spirit command which forces the spirits of Florence, Henry, and Ronan to kneel down and not move. They were resisting grandly, as Henry broke free first and started rushing towards Keith. Keith however swung his chain ball and accelerated it greatly with the spirits of time and space as he predicted Henry would break free first considering how he is able to move during stopped time.

Henry was hit directly by the chain ball, as most of his body moves flings itself forward due to the force of when he broke free from the spirit command. Keith then pulls back the chain ball and swings the sickle in a wide fling. With such an attack, Florance and Ronan managed to break free but couldn't charge towards Keith as he had pre-emptively attacked in the case the two of them would move in. Along with a new spirit that they have yet to see in their records, they would be fighting with limited information. Thus the two of them turned back and rushed to retrieve Henry instead.

Keith didn't want them to escape if possible, as he held his hand out to try and bind their spirits to their current position. However, it seemed as if they were instantly transported before Keith could invoke another [Spirit Command]. 

Keith breathed a sigh of relief, as he finally had some time to think about the situation. And as he remembered, Lawrence went back towards the castle, seemingly planning to deal with Draxus as well, or to stop Lilianna and Julianna from escaping. So after a moment of composure, Keith started running towards the castle while his [Heavenly Spirit] was still active.

He was slightly concerned as there was very little time he has in his battle, but his steadfast nature forced him to keep going.