Chapter 4, Part 5

Author’s notes: In case you didn’t see it on the front page, I am looking for proof readers to help make the story better. Find typos and misused words as well as comment on plot holes or character inconsistencies. Please email me at jaconue5 at gmail.com if you are interested

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“Fight. Me.” Cocytus said as he got in front of Sir Armoreth.

Sir Armoreth raised his sword as he squared off against Cocytus, who held only a single weapon – the sharpest one among the twenty-one in his arsenal, the God Slaying Emperor Blade. For a moment both warriors stood still, then both stepped forward and their blades clashed. They swung and parried each other’s attacks over and over. The pace gradually increased, but neither one was willing to retreat.

Both swords turned into a blur as sparks flew all around them. Seemingly satisfied with the speed of the fight, both began to increase the complexity of their attacks by layering feints. At some point, Armoreth had switched to the same style he used in his fight against Momon, which emphasized speed while giving up power. But it wasn’t enough to get past Cocytus.

Dozens of strikes had been exchanged in a short time, but not a single hit got through. His excitement growing ever bigger, Cocytus thought to move the fight to an even higher level. Holding his weapon in the right arm he delivered an overhead diagonal attack from the left. Sir Armoreth moved his blade to parry the attack when Cocytus suddenly grabbed the hilt of his sword with his other right hand and rotated the handle to change the trajectory of the strike into a horizontal sweep from the right. Caught off guard, Armoreth had no choice but to jump back.

“Excellent.” Cocytus praised as he exhaled a cloud of cold air.

Among all the guardians, Cocytus was the only one who enjoyed fighting. As a warrior, he longed for an exciting fight against a worthy opponent. Unfortunately, most of the residents of the New World were too weak to give him what he craved. As such, when he heard Pandora’s Actor’s assessment of Armoreth’s strength, Cocytus immediately asked to be the one to fight him.

His mandibles trembled from excitement, making clanking sounds. Yes, this is it. His raw abilities are quite adequate. But. In his mind, he recalled the two Lizardmen who bet everything to land a single strike against him. What will he do when he’s pushed beyond his limit? Not good, I am getting too excited, he thought.

He stood still and took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled the cold air to calm his anticipation. After regaining his focus, he lunged at his opponent. This time he wasn’t holding back, the blade zipped from side to side as he mixed attacks and feints. This flurry proved too much for Armoreth, who, unable to stand his ground, was forced to retreat again and again. Suddenly, he saw a chance – an overhead slash, which was executed at a slower speed.

Armoreth didn’t dwell on why this attack was moving slower than the others. He swung his sword to intercept it and was already planning a counter. But, when the two swords clashed, Cocytus used both of his left hands to grab Armoreth’s arms. He tried to to wrench his weapon away, Cocytus wouldn’t let him go so easily. Armoreth watched as Cocytus delivered a horizontal slash. Unable to parry or retreat, there was only one option left for Armoreth.

His arms still raised, he stepped forward, avoiding the blade’s edge and trying to push Cocytus off balance with his body. However, Cocytus had anticipated this, he used Armoreth momentum to pull him forward even more, while moving to the side, utilizing the momentum from his previous attack. With a judo-like move, Sir Armoreth was sent tumbling to the ground. However, Cocytus was unable to immediately follow up with an attack. Armoreth rolled onto his knees and used a horizontal sweep to negate any attempts to pursue him. He stood up and took a stance, ready for the next exchange.

“Show. Me. More.” Cocytus said without trying to hide his excitement.

He rushed forward with a new flurry but stopped when his sword bounced off Sir Armoreth, who stood completely still as if frozen. Confused, Cocytus looked around before realizing what had happened – the Second Seat of the Black Scripture must’ve used his item to stop time. Cocytus backed away from his opponent and waited for the time to resume.

“Disappointing.” Cocytus voiced his feelings once the time flow returned to normal and his opponent began to move again. Having no countermeasures against time manipulation was a major weakness.

However, Sir Armoreth was oblivious to the fact that time had been stopped and continued to fight as if nothing had happened. He lunged at Cocytus with a series of several attacks chained one after another. The guardian blocked them all before retaliating with an attack of his own – a stab, aimed at opponent’s left shoulder. The attack landed.

“What?” Cocytus wondered out loud in surprise.

He wasn’t surprised that his attack got through, but rather the bizarre way in which it happened. After blocking a series of attacks, he made one himself, yet Sir Armoreth didn’t react to the counter until the blade had already pierced through his shoulder. Even more surprising was the way he responded – rather than retreating or perhaps launching an attack of his own, Sir Armoreth tried to parry the attack as if Cocytus had only begun his strike.

What’s going on? Cocytus thought as he backed away. He seemed fine when attacking, but it looked like his reaction was slowed when I retaliated. I should confirm a few things. Having come to this, conclusion Cocytus began his tests.

First, he allowed Armoreth to launch a flurry of attacks, parrying them all. There seemed to be no difference between the speed and power of these attacks compared to previous. Next, rather than parrying, Cocytus dodged an attack, moving to the side. This time it worked.

Cocytus’s mandibles trembled in disbelief as he watched Sir Armoreth make another attack at the spot Cocytus occupied previously. It wasn’t until that attack was completed that Sir Armoreth seemed to realize that his opponent had moved, he retreated several steps while taking up a defensive stance.

Cocytus wasn’t done though, he wanted more information. He moved toward Sir Armoreth until reaching striking distance, however, rather than attack, he moved to circle around his target. As he predicted, Armoreth didn’t react in time – Cocytus was able to move almost all the way behind his opponent before Armoreth reacted by swinging his sword in a circle, in an attempt to defend himself from all sides.

After moving in front of his opponent, and blocking a few attacks, to make sure Armoreth knew his position, Cocytus went on the offensive. A diagonal slash, a horizontal slash from left to right, followed by a stab in the stomach. All three attacks landed, the unbelievably sharp blade cutting and stabbing through the armor with ease. As before, Sir Armoreth seemed to have a delayed response. By the time he tried to parry the first attack he was already getting cut by the second, he then tried to parry the horizontal slash as he got stabbed, and when he retreated to avoid the last strike, Cocytus had already withdrawn his blade.

“What’s. Going. On?” Cocytus asked after observing the result of the final test.

“I should be the one asking you that. Why did you become so much faster all of a sudden?” Sir Armoreth replied, showing no signs of pain or discomfort, despite his wounds.

“Is. That. How. It. Looks. To. You?”

“I am afraid I can’t keep up with your combat flow acceleration technique,” Armoreth replied gloomily.

I see, that’s how my movements look to him. Then, I should end this quickly and not allow him to realize his mistake, Cocytus thought.

He dashed toward Sir Armoreth with a horizontal swing. The God Slaying Emperor Blade effortlessly cut through the armor, splitting his opponent in half. A diagonal slash followed the first attack, and Sir Armoreth was beheaded before his torso even hit the ground. Cocytus sheathed his sword before looking curiously at his defeated opponent.

As Ainz-sama suspected, it’s just armor, Cocytus thought as he observed the empty armor move for a moment before it stopped. Cocytus shook his head and moved toward the humans Mare and Aura were fighting.

He felt disappointed by this fight – just as it was about to get interesting the time stop was used, and it clearly affected Sir Armoreth, ruining any hope of an exciting struggle Cocytus had. As for what exactly happened, this question was better left for Ainz-sama.

He made his way toward the large group of humans fighting the two dark elves and Sebas.

“He. Is. Dead.” Cocytus declared.

***

The Fourth Seat of the Black Scripture scanned the battle quickly deciding on what she should do. Known as Divine Chant, she wore a set of caster gear in green, white and light-brown colors, her role was to provide support for the group. However, things were moving too quickly.

After the boy elf cast an earthquake, which separated the group, casualties began to pile up. The captain of the Windflower Scripture, Kergor Bosk had already fallen after Mare whacked him with a staff. Several other members of the Scripture had fallen to Aura’s arrows. The whole Windflower Scripture was in disarray, it’s members unsure if they should wait for an opportunity to strike or if rushing the two elves was the best choice.

The Black Scripture fared better, with only the Third Seat kneeling on the ground clutching his right shoulder, which was pierced by an arrow. His staff laid on the ground next to him after it fell out of his limp hand.

“Don’t falter. For the Six Great Gods!” The Second Seat of the Black Scripture shouted.

Divine Chant was greatly encouraged by these words. Normally, Loras, the Captain would be the one giving orders. In his absence, the command fell to the third and after the Fourth Seat. Due to the abilities of his equipment, the Second Seat, known as Time Turbulence, rarely led the group, proffering to focus on surprise attacks and finding opportunities. However, at this moment he chose to lead, likely realizing the situation the group was in.

I should heal the Third Seat, she thought as she began to move toward the downed magic caster. Unfortunately, the reality wasn’t so obedient.

“Damn it!” She cursed as she saw Time Turbulence fall. She wasn’t sure what exactly had happened, but the fact that the man looked like a pin cushion, and that it happened in an instant, pointed to him using his ability, though it clearly didn’t work. With the Second and Third Seats downed, the command now fell to her.

“Fifth and Seventh, stall Aura! Cedran, protect me. The rest of you, kill Mare!” She quickly shouted commands as she ran toward the struggling Third seat.

Although the Fifth Seat, known as One Man Army, looked similar to his sister, Clementine, his fighting style was completely different – he was a beast tamer. He activated the rings on his fingers, summoning two Giant Basilisks, before sending them at Aura. Possessing the ability to petrify and poison, these beasts were the ultimate choice when it came to stalling.

The Seventh Seat was a blonde girl dressed in a school uniform – black stockings, short white skirt and brown jacket, purple-framed glasses and horns-like hair accessory. In her hands, she held a light-purple handbag.

“Come out, Martimer,” she called out as she opened the lid of the bag.

A strange creature jumped out. It looked like a black ball with two small stumps that on the bottom, which were supposed to be its feet, a stump on each side served as miniature arms and there were a pair of triangular ears on top. Two large eyes took up most of the top half of its body, while in the middle was a long, horizontal mouth filled with many large teeth. About a foot in size, it looked pretty cute, the teeth aside.

“Eat her!” The blonde girl ordered and Martimer began to run toward Aura while growing in size.

Martimer was a strange creature. Once it was told who to attack it would do so relentlessly while growing stronger and stronger. It would also enter a berserk mode and would no longer respond to commands until its target was dead. For this reason, it was unknown just how strong it could grow, as testing it against Zesshi was a no go and none of the enemies it faced could push it to its limit if it even had one.

By the time it reached Aura, Martimer was already the size of an adult human.

“Oh, cute, I want one,” Aura exclaimed when she saw the ball with teeth run toward her.

Aura swung her whip, which wrapped around one of the Giant Basilisks, nearly cutting it in half. Before kicking the head of the other Basilisks when it tried to bite her. Cursing at the dark elf, the One Man Army used another of his rings to summon a five-headed hydra.

Martimer lunged forward with its mouth opened wide, but Aura easily rolled away and swung her whip at it. A direct hit! But, it only served to anger Martimer, without damaging it.

“Rrrrraaaaaaawwwwwwwrrrrrrrrrr,” it roared while growing in size by about half.

Martimer jumped towards Aura with its jaws open once again. Aura moved as well, she dashed to intercept the large ball and kicked its side. It felt like kicking jello, her foot sunk into Martimer doing no damage before the force behind the kick sent it flying away.

Aura blinked a few times in confusion but then shrugged it off and continued to battle. However, she only had a few seconds before Martimer returned, bigger and angrier than before. Aura somersaulted over the angry ball with teeth as it attempted to bite her. After landing, she used her bow to shoot her target. The arrow pierced into Martimer and disappeared inside it, however, it failed to do any noticeable damage.

Good, looks like the two of them can handle the girl, Divine Chant thought as she observed Aura while healing the Third Seat. She then switched her attention to Mare, who was besieged by four members of the Black Scripture.

The Sixth Seat, dressed in a decorative armor wielding a very large lance, the Ninth Seat, Beaumarchais, nicknamed Divine Chain for the weapon he used, the Tenth Seat, a large, muscular, barbarian-looking man, known as the Strongest Human, fittingly armed with a large axe and the Twelfth Seat, dressed in a weird-looking red and black armor. Loras and Time Turbulence aside, the four of them represented the main close combat power of the Black Scripture. After surrounding Mare, they began to attack.

The Sixth Seat lunged with a strike and Mare responded by moving away from it. At the same time, the Strongest Human and Beaumarchais executed a pincer attack, one from the front the other from the back. The Strongest Human came in with a huge overhead smash. Mare wanted to respond with an aggressive parry but discovered that he couldn’t move due to a chain that had wrapped around him. Of course, as a guardian designed to fight against raids, it couldn’t be so easy to restrain him. The crowd control wore off a moment later, and Mare used his staff to intercept the opponent’s axe. There was no give in Mare’s block, and the recoil sent the Tenth Seat stumbling backwards.

The Sixth Seat stabbed at Mare again, forcing the elf to jump away. Beaumarchais attacked again, now targeting the staff in Mare’s hand. Before Mare could yank on the chain and free his weapon, the Twelfth Seat appeared in front of him with a punch. Two more punches followed with surprising speed. But when Mare tried to retaliate, his target had already jumped away and the Tenth Seat was charging forward instead.

Mare evaded another stab from the Sixth Seat and jerked his staff, making Beaumarchais lose his footing and fall as the human was pulled forward. Although he was now laying on the ground, the man held tightly onto his chain in an attempt to restrict Mare. The Strongest Man arrived with a horizontal slash designed to cut the dark elf in half. Unable to fully use his staff, Mare decided to block the attack with his arm.

The recoil of the impact sent the axe backwards. However, before Mare could take advantage of this opening a small figure had dashed out from behind the ax-wielding human and lunged silently at Mare. The elf recognized her immediately, she was the woman assigned to him when he stayed at the Slane Theocracy’s Capital, named Berta. A dagger in her hand gleamed coldly, while her eyes were focused on the elf.

He had just blocked the axe swing with his left arm, and the chain wrapped around the staff he held in his right hand restricted his options for blocking a surprise attack. Meanwhile, the Sixth and the Twelfth Seat had coordinated with Berta, and attacked Mare from behind at the same time.

Aura was preoccupied with Martimer, while Sebas was busy fighting the members of Zuranon and the Windflower Scripture. There was no one who could come to Mare’s aid.

If only I could use my full strength, Mare sighed inwardly. Having to restrict myself in order to make for a good show is just too much work. He complained as his body moved.

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