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"Three such enemies?" Apollo muttered to himself. Just a single exceptional puppet was enough to give him a headache, if he had to deal with three of them simultaneously, a headache would be the least of his worries. On top of this, it would only worsen if each of them possessed unique special abilities.
As a result, Apollo began to entertain the idea of summoning his Demons. As of now, he had gained enough combat experience to justify this idea. Furthermore, he also gained insight into fusion techniques. Just this alone was enough to speak volus of his benefits.
However, the thought of summoning his Demons, stimulated another string of question he kept hidden in his mind, 'If I summon Fuhrer and the rest, will the difficulty increase accordingly? So far, the difficulty has scaled in light of a talented opponent. But, if I introduced allies, then this might turn into a different story altogether.'
While the gears on the wall clicked, Apollo continued to ponder his course of actions. In the anti, the 3 exceptional puppets deed to be his opponent descended upon the battlefield but didn't move an inch.
For a mont, it seed as if they were asuring Apollo's strength, analyzing his past battles. Their pupils moved rapidly, breaking down a large amount of information in a matter of monts. Their actions resembled the software of a supercomputer rendering cryptic information until it was easily readable.
After a few short monts, the movents stopped and each of the puppets adopted a freakishly human expression. At the sa ti, they ca to the sa conclusion, uttering identical phrases simultaneously.
"Not strong enough to go against us at the sa ti. This is the end of him," they said.
At the end of their words, each of them made a move without hesitation. They moved much faster than the prior enemy and their movents were precise, following a path that changed minutely with each propelling step.
Apollo, on the other hand, was roused from his contemplation, slowly opening his eyes. Despite the abrupt awakening, there was a look of clarity within his eyes. It was clear his choice had been made.
Apollo exhaled and responded in response to their actions, but his eyes shimred with opaque light that soon turned blacker than the abyss. Although it was incomparable to Furcas' ability, Apollo's perception of ti reduced to half of what it was before.
Thus, even though they were moving at obscene speeds, Apollo could sense their movents better than better. However, this wasn't a state Apollo could uphold forever, it put a huge strain on his Tainted Temple to emulate this technique.
After all, it wasn't his, but Furcas's technique. Due to the absorption of Furcas's fragnt, Apollo finally arrived in a situation that warranted the use of the ability that accompanied it—a watered-down version of Furcas's eyes.
Nevertheless, no matter how reduced the effects were, it was still potent nonetheless. A 50 percent reduction to ti perception was a god-like ability in a conflict against multiple enemies. It gave the ti needed to assess the possible route and concoct a viable retaliation plan.
Of course, this didn't do anything to Apollo's body as a whole, hence, his lack of movent. Only his mind was affected, creating an imbalance in which Apollo didn't wish to deal with.
If he moved while in this state, then he would have to account for the change in his sense of ti. Even the slightest incorrect calculation would result in a catastrophic outco. There was even the possibility of his mistiming his movents and missing his target completely!
While fighting against enemies of the current caliber, mistakes weren't luxuries that he could afford to make. Granted, it could all be solved by a simple summoning of his Demons, but then that would defeat the purpose of his prior action.
Soon enough, after absorbing enough of the puppet's behavior, Apollo canceled the technique, the puppets' speed skyrocketing as a result. However, because they moved too fast, they didn't possess the ability to alter the path of their strike.
Because of this, Apollo was able to react preemptively. In that slowed state, he had already comprehended and estimated just where their strikes would land. Luckily, it seed they were just testing the waters with light blows.
This was perceived from the lack of essence within their strike. To Apollo, they just seed like pure, deadly strikes. Nevertheless, without essence, there wasn't a threat to Apollo's like.
anwhile, Apollo made his own guesses surrounding the reason for their hold on using essence, 'If I compare this to my earlier actions, aren't they identical? Could it an they been instilled with my movents and reaction preferences? If so, then isn't it the sa as fighting against myself?'
After nurous clashes, Apollo started to conclude his guesses were correct. The pattern of their attacks and reactions all matched his. Furthermore, their bodies were nearly identical when taking their energy signatures out of the equation.
In other words, neither side was gaining the upper hand. In fact, Apollo felt as if they were toying with him because they possessed the advantage in number. Yet, despite this fact, none of the puppets made any sudden changes.
This led Apollo to understand their words, 'It seems they believe I'm unable to win, so it is justified to toy around with ? Very well, I have soone you can very much toy with. Valac, co forth!'
A portal appeared above Apollo's head, and from within a figure stepped forth. Holding a majestic spear with a malignant expression, Valac donning his demonic form stepped forth. Since this space was cordoned off, there was no threat of revealing his identity.
Furthermore, Apollo permitted him to reveal this form. Even if these puppets were linked to soone, it was clear that person wasn't part of Astarat. Or, at the very least, said person never made a public appearance. This was proved to be true from the lack of information surrounding this realm.
Its origin was unknown, and the only information recorded was thanks to the efforts of those who had already experienced this place. If not for them, then this place wouldn't even exist in the records, yet remain a presence that was right under their noses.
"Ah, ti to let loose. You sonnuva bitches are mine. I like to play as well," Valac exclaid. In the next movent, he disappeared from where he stood, turning to nurous afterimages in the progress. Additionally, a single wing sprouted from his back.
Unlike his other fights, he had no intention to take the squabble into the air. While two wings provided flight, one wing produced a noticeable increase in his speed. Unsurprisingly, the sharp exterior of the wing pierced through the resistance against his body, inhibiting his top speed.
No matter how the air impacted him, it could longer affect his speed in the slightest. On the other hand, while the puppets didn't voice displeasure or present much of a change in expression, their movents changed, adopting an unfamiliar movent pattern.
Moreover, they imdiately resud the use of the source's essence. The increase in difficult excited Valac, but unfortunately for the puppets, they weren't aware of the fact that Valac and Apollo couldn't be compared in their current form.
During their last fight, without the help of Ouroboros, Apollo would have never won.
Suddenly, Valac rushed forward, hosting a nacing grin. He responded to one of the puppet's attacks with his claw, while he dealt with the other two by swinging his spear in an arc, a pale blue fla dancing across the space before him.
Although they tried to handle the strike, the puppets were devastated to find out the weight behind this individual's attack outclassed their own. Another change in montum took place, most of their energy pooling towards their limbs.
"Newcor unaccounted for. Restraints lifted. Output amplified 50 percent," the puppets uttered together, chanically.
An imdiate change took place, their actions grow both stronger and faster. Be that as it may, it wasn't enough to faze Valac, who took pleasure in clashing against strong enemies. If he didn't there wouldn't be a reason for him to butt heads with Fuhrer and the others.
Albeit slower than before, Valac gradually took control of the battle, avoiding their strikes and sotis redirecting towards another puppet. Even when they control elents such as wind, lightning, and earth, Valac's odd fla lted all their attempts.
The remnants of the flas even burnt so of the puppet's outer shell. Compared to Valac who was untouched, the puppets weren't faring well.
"Co on, you should be capable of more than this? Don't doubt a demon's adaptation ability. You may have thought the upper hand was yours, but sadly, that isn't the case. I AM the upper hand," Valac said, bursting into a fit of maniacal laughter.
At the sa ti, he lifted his hand, a large image form from ludicrous amounts of his manifested fla appeared above him. Slowly, it grew to encompass half of the area present. Even if they wished to dodge his next strike, doing so would prove difficult, after all, there weren't many options for them to rely on.
On the other hand, as Valac witnessed their stuck figures, he could only release an amused chuckle, "Bye-bye ~" He teased, dropping his hand.
'Bang!' 'Fwoosh!'
Without fail, the hand descended with a loud explosion accompanied by a deluge of flas that presented a prolonged sizzling noise. Before Apollo's eyes, the alert of the cleared phase appeared. However, that wasn't the only thing that appeared.
[Error! Recalculating difficulty! The introduction of a new foe will now increase the difficulty! The next phase will experience further changes!]
The smashed puppets vibrated before flying to the sky, revealing another spectacle.
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Announcent for June 1st and moving forward. (Won't affect chapter cost.)
First of all, I want to thank all of those who stuck around during my hard tis, throughout the sporadic release schedule. You don't know how much your actions helped . But, let's got to the announcent.
As the release has stabilized, two things will be happening. I will be going full-ti, devoting my ti to writing. In other words, this will beco my sole source of inco.
On the other hand, this also ans the chapter output will increase. From June 1st (EST Zone), you can expect 2 chapters per day, but we also need to recover and tackle the new Win-Win that is coming out.
We are in this together as this is my only ans of inco now. Side note, since I am shifting to full-ti writing, another story will be published soon. If you join the discord, you can read the chapters in advance up to ~Ch.15.
Discord: sdiscord.gg/EX63KcUWjG
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