*WHOOSH*
With the wind hitting his face, Wilhelm sped up until he arrived at his destination. After dividing himself into two parts, Wilhelm noticed something different within himself.
Namely, he felt that his magic reserves had been divided in half, and he had a feeling that his equipment felt weaker than it should be. But the fact that the equipment as well was replicated it would make sense for the integrity of the equipment to be divided as well.
Then, as he reached the place, he spoke out loud.
"Captain Yami, is this the spot?"
"Yeah kid, this is it." He replied in his gruff tone, with a hint of seriousness in it.
Looking at the spot in front of him, Wilhelm brought out his hand, clad in armor, in front of him, beside which his grimoire floated in the air.
*Inhales*
'Okay, I have to not only break this spatial barrier, but I have to break through this cavern created by Gifso. But there can be, no, scratch that. There is a person out there who has cast this barrier, and maybe will attack me if I can break through it all.
Better to prepare my rifle as well.'
*CLICK CLACK*
He cocked his rifle that was previously strapped to his back.
'Now, to break through this barrier, I need magic with high penetration power, and I have got just the thing.'
Beast Magic: Preying Blade
Beast Magic: Bear Claw
Fire Magic: Mana Skin
Spatial Magic: Spatial Bullet
Immediately, he felt a decrease in his magic reserves due to the use of these magics simultaneously at such intensity, where a solid construct of mana collapsed in his arm, following which he nocked his arm back and then…
*BOOOM*
…smashed it straight into the ground in front of him.
With a thundering sound, Wilhelm's fist, powered by his attacks in a perfect manner to pierce Gifso's creation, fractured his barrier, and so did the spatial barrier surrounding the place when the mana from the hand shot out like a bullet with spatial magic.
As Wilhelm predicted, the barrier clashed with Spatial Magic and dissolved.
'There he is!!!'
Wilhelm screamed internally as he leveled his rifle at the person who was probably the caster of this barrier, and without hesitation, pulled the trigger.
*THICK*
With the majority of the sound of the rifle muffled, the enhanced piercing round shot and pierced through the head of the caster in an instant before the caster could even register the collapse of one of his barriers, because he was more focused on containing Yami than isolating the dungeon created by Gifso.
"Captain!" Wilhelm thundered and immediately, as if waiting for those words, an abyssal black line grazed past the spot where Wilhelm had created the fracture, and then, Yami was standing there with a cigarette bud in his mouth and a sword in his hand.
Then he looked down at Wilhelm and said, "Good one, kid.", in his gravelly tone. And after that, the ground beneath his feet cracked and…
*BOOM*
…he propelled himself, crashing into the walls of the cavern like a battering ram.
"…"
Seeing the destruction, Wilhelm was left momentarily stunned before he broke himself out of his stupor and began to move in the direction where Rhya's mana signature, along with the dwindling signature of Magna and Luck was.
Shaking his head, Wilhelm just stood on the broom and started to move in the direction that Yami had just trampled.
While this was happening here, on the other side…
"Hahahaha!!! Dodge this, noble's filthy lap dogs." One of the members of the Eye of Midnight Sun cackled as he showered Gauche with metal chains that shattered through his mirrors, rendering them useless.
"Argh!" With a grunt, Gauche dived from the spot where he had stood previously, which was now smashed thoroughly by the chains. Just as he was about to take a breath of relief, more and more chains sprouted from thin air, aiming at him.
Stumbling, he barely managed to evade the attacks, but this led to the accumulation of a lot of minor scrapes on his knees. As he lay on the ground on his back, he opened his eyes to find a chain closing in on him.
Putting all of the pain behind, Gauche rolled aside just before the chain smashed where his head should be.
Feeling himself getting overwhelmed, he aimed multiple mirrors at the man's face, which he smashed before they stabilized. But taking a small period of reprieve, Gauche took a momentary shelter behind a chunk of debris.
Breathing rapidly, Gauche calmed himself to think of a plan to get himself out of this precarious situation.
"Dammit, nothing seems to be working." Gauche muttered under his breath.
'Now, the only thing I can do is try to attack him when he is distracted. And the only way to do that is not something that I would like to do, but I will have to do it. For Marie!!!!' Following this, he shouted back to divert the man's attention and use it to launch an attack at him from a tricky angle.
"Where are you, false-knight? Scared? You better b-"
"Try hitting me you, elven c*ck sucker!!" Gauche quipped back, conjuring more mirrors that were shattered before they were even formed properly.
"You.are.so.dead." The man intoned, punctuating word by word with such anger that the veins in his eyes were visible. Bringing his hand out, he unleashed what seemed to be an endless barrage of chains that seemed to sprout from everywhere.
"HUP!!" Making a grunt, Gauche started to dodge once again through these to the best of his abilities. 'Maybe egging him on was not a great plan.'
He thought through gritted teeth, with grains of dust filling the empty space left by the chains.
This seemed to be going on for a while, where the speed of the chains dropped noticeably, and the state of both Gauche and his enemy seemed to be deteriorating as well.
"TAKE THIS!!!" 'Chain-man' shouted as his magic suddenly flared and more than 30 chains appeared from every side of the room, all of them aiming for Gauche, whose frown only deepened.
'Damn it!! Instead of getting weaker, he has this much mana left. How am I supposed to take a shot at him?'
*THWP*
"AAARRGHH!!!!"
Gauche's voice erupted in pain as he could not dodge the final attack due to being exhausted beyond reason and was struck in his legs and abdomen, the latter of which fractured under the force behind the attack.
*THUD*
With a resounding thud, his body collided with the ground and tumbled over. When it finally stopped, Gauche was left lying on the ground, groaning in pain, to the point that he was unable to move.
But not giving his pain any mind, chainman brought out his hand with a sneer pasted on his face, following which chains started to sneak and ensnare Gauche's fallen figure.
Then, with another gesture of the hand, Gauche was lifted.
"ARRHHH!!!"
With a loud grunt filled with pain, Gauche tried to move, but it only served to put more strain on his injuries, but this did not bother Chainman. It actually brought him sadistic glee.
"Hehehe…what did you say? Elven C*ck sucker? Try saying that now."
"Ar…rg…"
"What did you say, I can't hear you." Chainman said making a douchey face as he waved his hand and the chains tightened their grip on Gauche, whose grunts soon became full-on shouts.
"AAARRGGHHH!!!"
"Huh, that is what I thought. You useless Clover Kingdom's lapdog." Chainman said with venom in his tone.
"AAARRRGGHHH!!!"
But Gauche was in no shape to say any coherent word, much less reply to anything. All he could do was wail in pain that was spreading through every part of his body.
Gauche's mind, registering too much pain, decided the best possible course of action. To shut itself off.
'Haah…I guess I should sleep…for a bit. Marie's there too. Marie, wait for your brother…I'm coming.' With those thoughts, Gauche drifted off to unconsciousness.
As he did so, his body became completely limp and hung on the chains, like clothes drying on a string.
"Huh, that's it? I thought you got more inside you.
Well, I guess that is too much to hope for from a kneeler." Chainman said with a scoff, then he brought his hand in the air, speaking in a dismissive voice, "Well, this is going to be the end for your story 'ere." And just as he was about to bring a full stop to Gauche's life.
*THWSH*
Mineral-like rock erupted from beneath his feet before he could execute Gauche.
"Wha-"
That was all he could mutter before his mouth was covered to his nose, essentially cutting off his air supply. The only thing left open were his eyes, which were staring wide open and darting all around in panic, looking for the source of his situation right now.
'What happened? I cannot breathe. I CANNOT BREATHE!!!'
He started hyperventilating…without ventilation.
*THUD* *THUD*
With audible steps reverberating in the cavern, a figure fully clad in armor appeared, reflecting what little light shone in the cavern. Instantly, Gauche's limp body caught fire, which became the primary source of light in the cave.
As the knight in armor approached 'Chainman', to his oxygen-deprived brain, he appeared to be a walking nightmare. Or Knightmare?
Finally, the figure stopped in front of the man and spoke in a voice echoed out by metal.
"I will ask you once, I already know your reason for coming here, but I want to hear it from your mouth. Speak." And as he uttered the last words, the mineral in front of his mouth receded just enough to let me speak.
"Haaah!! Haaah!!! Haahhh!!!" Chainman panted, taking in a mouthful of air like a parched man drinks water. It took him about 10 seconds to settle when he leveled his gaze at the person in front of him.
He felt something instinctual looking at the man, a primal fear in his bones, and was about to blurt out the truth when, at the last minute, he squeezed his eyes shut. But when they opened, they were devoid of previous fear. They were filled with determination, resolve, and finality instead.
Boring his eyes into the dark holes of the helmet in front of his face, he spoke in an even tone.
"Kill me."
"Very well then."
The knight muttered as the mineral soon encased Chainman once again. For the final time. After he was covered, the knight clenched his gauntlet and…
*CRACK*
*PTUI*
…mineral squeezed until it cracked, and red mushy semi-solid liquid started to pour out from the cracks in it.
'Sorry, but you could not have been taken as a prisoner. If your boss, who is somehow able to use multiple magic like me, can escape, I want him to leave with as few people as possible.
And the rest have taken some as a hostage too, so you fail to serve a purpose…alive.'
As that train of thought ended, shiny emotes of light started to float into the grimoire, which glowed in tandem. As the light intensified, the grimoire floated into the air. The light caused Gauche, who was now lying on the ground like a sack of potatoes, out cold, to be stirring awake due to the annoying bright light floating near him.
As for Wilhelm, who was the knight, he was already prepared for this and had made a mineral glass that filtered out most of the light. So he kept staring at it.
It took a few moments, but the light soon died down, and his grimoire settled back into his palm. Along with the addition of new magic.
"Chain Magic, huh? Well, that is very specific." Wilhelm muttered as he examined new magic in his repertoire.
'But hey, I can use this magic like a wire in a circuit to use Regulus Aurum in a lower but controlled manner, hopefully. That thing is way too destructive to use in a group fight.'
Finding a good use for a niche and seemingly narrow magic, Wilhelm walked up to Gauche, whose features relaxed as the light had subsided, and…
*Zzzt*
"AARGH!! MARIE YOU ARE TOO YOUNG…to…use that…"
…electrocuted Gauche to jolt up from sleep, whose words trailed and became less prominent as he looked at the look of undisguised disgust and disdain from Wilhelm, who had removed his helmet after the grimoire acquired a new magic.
Wilhelm looked at Gauche.
Gauche looked at Wilhelm.
"I won't ask what you dreamed of. Don't tell me what you dreamed of.
Get up and move to the center of this cavern. Captain Yami is going to fight with one of the heads from Eye of Midnight Sun."
Then, without looking back, Wilhelm got up on his broom and moved away from the place at a swift pace, with Gauche following after him. Both of them moved together but did not utter a single word about what had happened.
*BOOM*
As they moved, they could hear the sounds of collision in the distance.
*BOOM*
As they moved, they felt the tremor in the cavern rising.
*BOOM*
As they moved, they could feel the clash of mana.
*BOOM*
As they moved, they arrived and witnessed the scene before them.
Asta, Wilhelm, Luck, and Yami were fighting against Rhya, who was using…dark magic against them.
'He got Captain Yami's magic? What is the other me doing? Did he get mine?'
Such were the thoughts that went through the mind of Wilhelm, who arrived with Gauche. As for the other Wilhelm, he breathed a sigh of relief seeing his counterpart arrive.
"About time you got here. We were just about to show him the power. The power of…"
***
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