Chapter 794: Chapter 794 - Desperate struggle [2/2]
"W— We thought you left!" one of the remaining six invaders exclaimed as they halted in their steps. At first, deep relief obviously flooded them, but then his words sank in and anxiety returned.
"We— We weren’t fleeing!" another stammered in a panic, eyes wide, hands waving in front of him. "We just needed to reposition!"
"Hmpf," the confessor snorted with stern cruelty. "It’s interesting how you seem to think that lying to me will help your cause."
As the six hunters flinched at his words, the Maghreb trio recovered from their surprise and quickly regrouped. Nasir and Zohran defensively flanked a tired Zahra, who had her eyes closed in meditation as she tried to recover as much mental stamina as she could.
"Who are you?" Nasir growled coldly at the confessor. Next to him, Zohran appeared to have lost all of his previous uncontrollable rage.
The well-dressed man didn’t answer, but focused on the six hunters. Six midnight plates circles around him. "I was hanging back to see if any of you were worth anything at all," he smirked derisively. "It won’t surprise you to hear that I’m sorely dissapointed."
The hunters flinched even more, and the trio was fine with being ignored for now, as they could use this time to recover as much as they could. Meanwhile, the confessor waved his walking stick at the two corpses Zohran had just created.
"The only one who showed any grit was the dead fellow over there," he continued coldly, likely indicating at the blood-affinity wielder. Then, he switched to waving at the trio, and his voice turned from cold to carefully suppressed rage. "But not even he figured out that these beasts were playing you all for fools!"
With a thunderous crack, he returned to walking stick to it’s rightful position on the ground and leaned on it a little with narrowed eyes. "They were holding back on purpose, just so they could surprise you here! I also must admit, that dog over there has impressive willpower, as he recovered from the Primarch’s spell extremely rapidly. Yet none of you figured out he started acting at that point!"
The Maghreb trio completely ignored his insults and dismissive attitude, favouring their own recovery. In fact, they wished he’d continue talking as long as possible. Not only did they feel the awesome power rolling off him, but Nasir and Zohran had actually experienced it themselves when this man effortlessly defended against both their attacks at the same time.
They didn’t know who this man was, nor why he was so powerful, nor even why Zohran and Nasir instinctively felt like his physical power could match their’s, despite obviously being an Arcanist. All they knew, was that they’d have to defeat this man if they wanted to keep themselves, and their city, alive.
Meanwhile, the newcomer’s six midnight plates started spinning rapidly, then shooting straight for his subordinates. The invaders panicked. Life flashed before their eyes, and some screamed for mercy.
But... just before impact, the six plates stopped just short of lopping their heads off. The invaders stood completely still, trembling with terror and unable to even think of moving an inch.
"Perhaps it’d be better just to kill you?" the man muttered mockingly, cocking his head. "Not like we don’t have people lining up, begging to take your place..."
Standing on the sidelines, the trio was obviously shocked by the casual attitude this man took to killing six third-rankers, like they were mere chaff. The three of them knew how hard and rare it still was to reach the third-rank, but this Humanitas Sangh really had enough of them to not even bat an eye at loosing six?
And the six invader’s reactions suggested they didn’t think it was a bluff.
"N— No!" one of the men screamed. The spinning plate near his jugular prevented him from moving his head much, but he shook it as much as he could. "L— Let us make it up to you, Confessor! Please!"
"Hmmm," the man hummed, seemingly deep in thought, his eyes cold and arrogant as he scanned the pleading faces of his subordinates. Then, suddenly, the plates pulled back, and the six men and women breathed a sigh of temporary relief.
"Fine," the man chuckled cruelly, stroking his short, well-kept beard. "I’ll give you a chance to earn back your lives." Indifferently, he used his walking stick to wave towards Nasir. "You six deal with the leech while I deal with the dog and its mistress. Do that, and you may yet live... assuming you can kill him."
Naturally, the hunters reacted with eagerness. Wide, cruel grins appeared, and they all conjured new magic circles. Their arrogance surfaced once again, as they seemed sure they could at least do that much. "As you say, Confessor!" they roared in unison, then turned to look greedily at Nasir.
At the same time, the well-dressed man turned his face and spinning plates in the direction of Zohran and Zahra. "I do appreciate you three had the decency to wait for me to finish speaking to my people," he smirked, before waving his hand and causing the plates to circle around him. "But now it’s time to—"
"No!"
Suddenly, Zahra opened her eyes, which she’d kept closed while mentally recovering, and pointed at the confessor. Instantly, before he could react, sandstone pillars shot out of the ground and enclosed him in a kind of pyramid-shape.
Much of the exhaustion she’d recovered returned, but the man was entombed for the moment. Not even sound escaped from behind those pillars, but they immediately started trembling and cracking. Without delay, more and more pillars joined the entombment, and Zahra’s exhaustion increased exponentially.
Whatever the connection exactly, Zahra was obviously involved with these pillars somehow. Yet, whatever she was doing, it mentally tired her out.
"Q— Quickly!" she stammered, her body shaking a little as she prepared her own spells and turned to the remaining six. "L— let’s deal with them before he breaks free!"
Neither Zohran nor Nasir skipped a beat, and immediately charged the shocked hunters with determined expressions. With the hunters caught off-guard, having lost two of their number, and the trio no longer holding back, things quickly collapsed for them.
Their spells were still prepared, but two of them were immediately blinded again by Zahra. Only four, hasty spells flew at Zohran and Nasir, who quickly dealt with them and rushed closer.
Such was the combined power of these three. Alone, they could each deal with two, but combined they were even stronger.
Unable to get themselves together in time, two more hunters quickly died to sabre and spear. After that, it was practically over. They had no more ability to properly protect themselves, and one after the other fell to their weapons.
Meanwhile, the pillar spawning began to slow down, and the area they needed to enclose became ever larger as the confessor broke down the inner ones at increasing speeds. Zahra was swaying on her feet, her eyes glassy.
Finally, just as the last two hunters fell dead to the floor, Zahra lost her concentration. With an explosion of yellow sandstone, the confessor broke free, his face twisted in fury.
"You’ll pay for that!" he roared.