Agnisotra: Origin Tails

As I watched as Agnis was blocking this uhh what is it? Spirit laser? Yes, let's go with [Spirit Laser]. As I looked on how he was using his frost magic to block the laser and how Gregory was doing his best to speed up the process of dispelling his sealed state, all I could do was watch. Normally I would help out by providing energy to help block tricky attacks but something tells me that this is the last thing Agnis needs. He seems to throw around a lot of magic to the point it seems like he is wasting mana. What I know from his frost magic is that when something gets absorbed by it, it turns into usable energy for him. I can't imagine the amount of energy he gets from this so the wasteful way he spends mana might be related to that. I looked at Ted.

He kept making rock walls which got instantly vaporized by the laser. I assume that is his way of helping out. I'm not sure if it is actually doing something. Besides Agnis who is in the worst state of us all since he's all freezing up, Gregory doesn't seem to take this situation well. I also feel a bit guilty, we always poked at Agnis about why he never uses his overpowered frost magic to block stuff or just spams it and overwhelms opponents. I guess this is the reason. I've never seen Agnis being hot or cold but he is shivering and actually freezing over. I had the idea of thawing him out to help but since he's getting frozen over by frost, I will just feed him more energy.

Aargh! This is so frustrating! Isn't there anything I can do to help out? Can I do anything to help speed up getting rid of that seal on you? Ugh, I'm afraid not, I'm not very familiar with spirit magic so it is taking me longer than usual I will just have to carefully dispel it and avoid triggering any trap mechanisms.

Trap mechanisms? Yeah, skilled users will put those in anything that seals or restrict the opponent's movement, if a mistake is made in dispelling them it could either do damage or become stronger and you will have to start over with the dispelling process. The most effective way of dispelling stuff like this is dealing with it before it gets cast but I assume Agnis wasn't familiar with spirit magic either so that would've been a tall order, which sadly he is paying the price for now. Even though Agnis is probably in a lot of pain right now I haven't heard him saying anything or making any sound. I checked if he was still alive. He seemed to be but I was wondering something.

Hey Gregory, I'm curious about that something can you check out Agnis? He is still alive but my intuition tells me something else. Ugh, yeah, I can, I've passed the hardest part, it should take a minute tops before this seal is dispelled. Hmm, nothing seems off… oh. Oh no.

I don't know what you're sensing but I guess this is serious. Normally I try to lighten the mood in dire situations but at this moment I don't feel like that. If I make one mistake here Agnis might get wiped out.

I don't know exactly how but it feels like he expended 2 lives since he started blocking this laser. What? How is that possible? Don't you guys get a small heal and restore when you expend a life and get revived?

The circumstances vary a lot, normally that is the case but I don't think he lost any lives because of that laser, it might be related to the insane amount of energy that's flowing in his body and his violent expenditure of it. He normally has great control over how he spends it but I assume he is in no state to regulate that properly because if he doesn't get rid of it fast enough, he might explode or even worse, die of mana poisoning. Yikes. Uhh, I've heard about that before, wasn't that the only way you guys can die for real even though you still have a lot of lives left?

Yes, so I assume Agnis is expending lives in the hope he can finish this counter of his in time before he might explode, which might not cancel out the laser and we will get hit by an explosion and the laser, or trying to contain it and die of mana poisoning. Counter?

It is slight but he's pushing back on the laser, the moment the pushing force equals that of the laser he can return it back. It will be strong but I imagine he will still hold back to not vaporize everything in the surroundings. He seems to be good at vaporizing things.

Alright, I'm free... The moment Gregory broke free of his seal an epic scene played out. The frost wall started to glow deep orange, It looked like frozen orange soda but more sparkly and uhh electric. I will dub this attack of him [Electric Orange soda]! And well it sucked a lot of mana to the point that even I could feel it. And his wall turned into an orange soda laser and shot back at Nayani. I saw Agnis striking a cool pose.

I made 7121992 illusion layers, use them wisely. I will be frozen for about 3 hours, don't die! Not going to lie even though he looked messed up it was so badass.

Damn, I was too late. Ugh, I hope he doesn't die in there, I didn't know he could be frozen, do you think he will survive that long? I don't know… but all we can do is believe in him and grasp this opportunity. Gregory seemed quite depressed while saying this, I didn't feel great either but I agreed. At this point, we had a task that Agnis gave us. I looked at the molten path the [Electric Orange Soda Laser] made and in the back where the wall was molten, I saw a silhouette.

I don't know how she did it but she managed to resist the effect of getting frozen by that attack, it does seem that the damage part of that counter got to her. To be honest I was shocked. I had the feeling she might survive that counter which she did but she didn't seem as damaged as I hoped she would be. She was visibly bleeding and seemed to have some lightning burn marks but besides that, she seemed to be relatively fine. She looked way worse for wear than before the counter though.

Damn, are you immortal or something! What a cheat! My buddies looked at me. I expected a retort from Agnis but then I remembered he was incapacitated. I don't know why but only now did I snap. I guess I still have some growing to do since I only really registered what happened after I didn't get the usual retort. Watching my buddy almost get torn to shreds by a bigass laser should normally be enough.

Alright, I'm properly pissed now, time to put this spirit in the ground. I don't think you can bury spirits. Drop it, Ted!

“Ugh, that was unexpected, where is that brat? I'm going to kill him; he should be unable to fight now!” Nayani looked around but couldn't find Agnis, we also didn't know where he was but that wasn't an issue for us, as long as she couldn't find him that’s all that mattered now. Nayani seemed to look for Agnis quite frantically. I don't blame her if Agnis could still move he would use this moment to drop into stealth and prepare a nasty attack to one-shot her as he did to her sister. Ted took a fighting stance. Don't bother looking for him, you won't find him. As a response to your [Spirit Laser], he made a stupid amount of illusions, he could easily hide himself.

“Illusions eh, I assume it's the kind that undoes fatal injuries or death, depending on the severity it could take up multiple layers. That is not an issue I've fought illusionists before. It doesn't matter if I have to kill you brats 20 or 30 times, even better I will savor those various chances I get to kill you brats. Now in what creative ways will I kill you? The biggest annoyance was that ice brat which is gone now so it should be easy to take you guys out, although I will need something special for wall brat over there.” She said as she pointed a bloody finger at Gregory. Gregory laughs. You have no idea how much energy you spent on that laser, do you?

“Of course not! My energy is almost infinite here.” Well seems that is your downfall, your seemingly infinite power gave Agnis enough energy to weave 7121992 layers of illusions. Even if it takes you 10 seconds to kill us per layer, it will take you over 2 years to get through all of them. Nayani realizing that there is a good chance he isn't bluffing starts to get upset.

“But that is the same as altering reality! Why are you guys so stupidly overpowered?” Says the chick with infinite energy at her disposal! Gregory and Ted look at me. You know that's almost the same as you.

Oh yeah, haha. I'm sure if Agnis wasn't an ice cube he'd retort to that with spirits that are overpowered. Well, he can still be hit and doesn't get infinite energy from his chill spot so at least that would be accurate.

“I hate how you guys are so calm, I'm going to murder you brats.” Good luck, we got 7121992 lives. As a blast hits us from nowhere. The sound of glass cracking can be heard. Cracks appear in space and shatter. Behind it is the same situation as before the blast happened. Oof, I guess that is one layer gone. Time for round 2 guys. Yeh let's not try to get one shot like the last layer.

\Ugh, I didn't see that one coming. Another blast from seemingly nowhere but this time Gregory blocked it with his [Shadow wall], I decided not to waste any time and started generating a lot of energy. I was hesitant to use magic since I'm more prone to nausea than Agnis and Gregory since I'm always using a loophole. But I might need some. For now, I will feed that energy into my [Thunder cloak] and for the first time start using red lightning in combat. I grabbed a handful of marbles and sloppily poured the red lightning into them. They seemed to absorb them well. I remember Agnis mentioning that he tuned my batch together with Gregory to account for how I infuse energy. The marbles started glowing. I think they are full now even though they keep absorbing energy, there is probably a reason for that so I teleport behind Nayani after throwing some and throw some more after the teleport wedging her in between the marbles. Her reaction was to jump away from me making my attempt at a [Raishin kick] miss as well as the marbles that I threw after I teleported. The marbles I threw before teleporting hit her though.

“Aaaagh!” Nayani looked around. “Where is he?” Hehe looking for Agnis? I said as I was juggling 3 marbles. I saw Gregory making a gesture that I should buy them time. It seems Ted shoved a lot of charged marbles in his hand cannon and needed time to fire it off. That sounded like a cool idea.

Uhh, so nice weather, eh? I see Ted and Gregory facepalming, Ted’s facepalm almost messed up his charging cannon and Gregory and Ted were panicking while trying to prevent the cannon from misfiring. Nayani turned around and saw Gregory and Ted messing around.

“Nice try brat, we’re in a cave and you suck at buying time.” As she sent an ice wave at my buddies. She kept her eyes on me so I didn't have an opening to take advantage of this. She also threw an ice blade at me which I was ill-prepared for. I fed more energy into my [Thundercloak] but then realized it wouldn't protect me from water-based attacks. Bracing for the impact a sapphire hammer flies by and smashes into the ice blade shattering it. Nayani who turned her head towards where the hammer came from took a barrage of earth-charged marbles to her face.

Seems your hand cannon is useful for something. Ugh, this is so gimmicky! Nayani who rubs her face which got scratched starts throwing tornadoes at us. I see a shadow moving in the corner of my eye. Gregory still had his shadow attached to the hammer which he used to smash at Nayani. She didn't seem to intend to block it. It wacked her good and she got sent flying into a wall.

Hmm, that is odd, that wasn't supposed to work. Gregory scratched his head and launched Ted with an earth pillar at Nayani. Ted who had charged his cannon with a new load of marbles flew at her and aimed his hand cannon at her. I decided to play a supporting role here. Nayani seemed to be weaving some magic, since this magic circle doesn't look familiar it would probably be spirit magic. Which to be honest is overpowered as hell. So, I threw my spear at her. This is risky because I can't use my [Raishin kick] without my spear. The spear flew straight and true and Nayani interrupted her cast to dodge the spear. I guess after getting whacked by Gregory’s hammer she isn't sure what attacks hit her or not. It sounded like a good move but I only realized now that it might as well just not do anything to her. Although so far, she only has been hit by Agnis’ attacks and Gregory’s hammer. Hmm, I get a weird feeling. Did she get hit by Gregory’s hammer? Ted shoots off another round of marbles but this time Nayani blocks the majority and moves away and stops close to the root. Her power started to swell again. It also seemed that she slowly started to heal a bit. Hey, that is cheating!

“Take this brats!” She started to gather wind in her palms. Uh oh. What?

Remember that wind nuke I used when we were fighting the PB? How could I forget you almost killed me with tha... Oh, this is the same, isn't it?

Yah. I grabbed Ted by the back of his collar and teleported toward Gregory. He was already ready with [Earth wall] and [Shadow wall]

“I will blow you guys away!” That ball of compressed air she had was way bigger than what I made outdoors when fighting the PB. Is she trying to bring the cave down on us? So, guys I was thinking, we might not need these marbles.

Well, we used all of your and my marbles in the last attacks so it is not like we could use them even if we wanted to. No, listen, that hammer slam wasn't supposed to hit her. Tremors were felt as the attack hit Gregory’s defensive walls. Normally there would be a frost wall inside…

So, I have a theory. I can't confirm it because Agnis is skillful at making illusions. But what if. What if because of all of his illusion layers, all of our attacks count as his attacks? Since we are in HIS illusion. Hmm, so you are saying that because we are in his illusions, we can directly hurt her since a spirit weaved these illusions? Wait does that mean I can hit her with my [Raishin kick]?

He did promise you after all that you would get a chance to use it on the boss. That is great and all but even if that is true, I don't think we can do much to her since the infinite energy thing.

I can try to divert the power the root is giving off toward my shadows. It will power me up and will give her access to less energy. The root generates a boatload of energy so it won't make a huge difference but it might be good enough to not get vaporized. The force hammering on the walls increased and the walls started to crack.

Yikes. I also have another suggestion. Like this, we can't do much damage to her. As he gestured to us hiding behind the walls. Do you want us to get vaporized?

Technically we have 7121991 lives because of the illusion layers Agnis gave us, so yeah? If there is a time to use reckless and risky attacks now is the time. She definitely won't expect us to forego defense to keep attacking her. Gregory grunts as his walls take more and more damage.

So, what are you going to do then? You don't have many offensive skills, right? I will practice more with my hammer and I can still provide some control and disruption. It won't be as good as Agnis but it could make it easier for you guys to hit her. So, I will cancel the walls and after this layer breaks, we will go full offensive is that okay?

Sounds good to me. A question If I prepare an attack now will it get canceled when the layer breaks? It shouldn't, I assume Agnis set this up to give us all the advantages and our opponent all the disadvantages but trying won't hurt, he did make all these layers in a hurry after all.

Some messed up silver lining but let's see what we can do when we don't need to worry about defense or dying. Gregory dispelled the walls and we got hit full-on. There was no pain since the illusion layer instantly shattered and it was as if Nayani never decided to use that attack.

“This is getting annoying, stop wasting my time and die already!” Two layers in and Nayani is really annoyed, she has a rough road in front of her. I instantly used [Lightning step] to close the gap after the layer broke and threw a red electrified hook at Nayani. I hit her and she got sent flying and crashed into the root.

Ooh, you're right Greg! We can kick her ass now. I briefly left my guard down and an ice disk cut me in half. Another layer broke. I patted my torso which was cut in half a moment ago. Another ice disk flew at me which I narrowly avoided. Ted rushed in and locked Nayani in close combat. This didn't give her enough time to throw magic around.

Good one Ted! I charged up a red lightning spear and threw it at them zapping both Ted and Nayani and followed up with a [Nova blast]. Another layer shattered as this inflicted great injuries on Ted. Hey, I know we have a lot of lives with these illusions and all. Ted said as he blocked an ice punch.

But could you at least warn me before you throw your attacks at us, they hurt! I already had another lightning spear charged and was about to throw it. Watch out! As I repeated the same combo. Another illusion shattered as Ted yet again got great injuries.

For fucks sake Raishin! I mean with that, allow me some room to dodge! Third time is the charm? I said as I had another red lightning spear in my hand. Ted and Nayani ran away. I ran after her with my lightning spear in my hand.

Hey Nayani, you're not supposed to run away!

“I'm making a strategic retreat!” As she turned around. I felt a familiar feeling. It seems she copied Agnis’ frost traps. Uh oh. She made an ice spear and threw it at me. A shadow appeared and so did Gregory, who smashed the ice spear away with his hammer. Huff, can you guys, huff not move around so much, I'm not as fast as you guys.

It is not that we’re fast you’re just slow. Nayani froze the ground and Gregory slipped. But Gregory being accustomed to Agnis freezing the floor under him, managed to skate towards her and brought down his hammer at her. She blocked it with an ice shield. She did this with one hand and shot a wind blade at Gregory with her other hand. He hardly took any damage. Heh, I don't normally take damage directly but even if I do it generally doesn't do much damage. It seemed like Gregory used some earth magic to make his hammer vibrate and a lot of cracks started to appear on the shield. I decided to assist and used a wind-imbued flying kick at the back of the hammer adding a lot of extra force shattering the shield and bringing the hammer down on Nayani.

She is gathering a lot of energy, get back! Numerous ice spikes erupt from the ground and impale us. Another layer shattered.

How is stealing energy from the root going? She still has access to too much energy; I'm reaching the limit of the volume of energy I can store per minute. I'm not running out of capacity anytime soon but this root generates so much energy that I can't put a dent in it energy-wise. So why couldn't you guys destroy the root again? Gregory smashed numerous ice spikes flying at us. He also made shadow clones that looked like us to confuse Nayani, which... Wasn't working at all since she was just blasting the whole area. “Hahaha If I keep this up I can just rapid-fire and kill you!” Gregory threw his hammer with a shadow attached. Nayani dodged but since the hammer was still attached to the shadow Gregory changed its trajectory and hit her from behind. This sent her flying at us and I wanted to use this opportunity to hit her with another [Nova Blast] but she used wind magic to speed herself up and sliced us with wind blades. Another layer down. The exchange of attacks went on for about an hour.

We burnt through about 200 illusion layers. Nayani seemed beat up. But this could change at any second. We got a bit used to her attack patterns but she was still overpowering us. We did manage to keep her busy enough so that she couldn't tap into the root's power and heal. It seems that as long as she takes direct hits her recovery will halt. So, we just have to keep attacking.

“Ugh, how did I get stuck in the most pain-in-the-ass fight ever?” There is an easy way to fix that! Just kick the bucket so we can move on!

“Not a chance!” She sent a gale at us and it started snowing. “I changed my mind, I'm not going to kill you guys, I will freeze and preserve you. I won't have to worry about those illusions if I do that.” Haha, that won't work! Hey Greg, that won't work, right? To be honest, I don't know and I don't want to find out. Gregory used his water magic to try and dispel the snow. Leave it be Greg it's just snow!

Uhh, you weren't there when we got attacked by the berserk water nymphs back at Hourai were you? Hmm? We couldn't calm them down after this jerk embarrassed and upset them. And Agnis froze them to calm them down. We were in a cave like this and it started snowing. Every snowflake that hit their body froze and turned into ice. The ice crystals grew and started covering parts of your body. Get hit by a couple and you're doomed to get frozen completely. It won't kill you but it's not something you want to get hit by.

So that's why you're so paranoid about snow? Only indoor snow. If it snows outside and an ice user activates it, it's game over, fighting an ice user in the snow is a stupid idea anyways. Ted and Greg block the ice disks and ice spikes fly at them. I throw back lightning spears but it seems we're at a stalemate. Gregory is too occupied dispelling the snow to do a proper job shielding us. Another layer is gone. We’re not close to being defeated but this fight is wearing on us. Nayani seems quite battered but it doesn't seem like we did enough damage to her to push for the deciding moment. Till now the [Lightning Orange Soda laser] is still the attack that did the most to her. I wonder if my [Raishin kick] can out-damage that. It is a tall order because that soda laser was truly impressive. It wasn't even at full power because else we would all be vaporized. But wait there are a gazillion layers why didn't he just do that and one-shot Nayani? Ugh, this is a problem for Gregory! I'm just here to smash stuff. It is time for my prized [Raishin kick]. Alright, I said I was going into serious mode before but now I really will go into serious mode.

Agnis said she is supposed to be weak to fire right? Yeah, Agnis tried but got shut down and it was too hot for us.

I'll torch her then. I had 2 marbles left. I charged them with fire and threw one at her. I observed where she would dodge to. This I've learned from observing Agnis. He has no reason to miss with those eyes of him but he still does, why? Apparently, he does this to force an opponent into another spot and catch them when they're in a position in which countering or evading is hard. I will have to do this on feeling because my eyes aren't as good as his. I teleport toward where I expect her to dodge. I flicked the other marble at her before she could put her foot on the ground. Making her unable to move out of the way before her foot lands. I was off by a bit and the explosion grazed her.

“Ugh what is with you, you're starting to fight like the ice brat.” I took this moment to throw a fire punch at her which she blocked with an ice shield. In this brief moment, I got reminded about Agnis complaining that people who say that water magic is strong against fire are morons, as we both get blown back by the following steam explosion. I took some damage and lightly burnt my hand but the injuries were seemingly not enough to make the illusion layer shatter. I guess I got to put up with this until this layer shatters. Nayani as always looked like she didn't take much damage. But oh, it looks like she burnt her hand too. Hehe, it seems you are weak against fire!

“Not that it matters to me but if you knew that why didn't you use it earlier? Do you love watching your friends suffer that much?” She said with a nasty smirk. Yeah, why didn't you use fire earlier? Agnis we can understand because just being near him when he uses fire magic will just make us sweat buckets and even activates my minor heat resistance, which is crazy if you think about it. Don't bother he was probably too busy thinking about how to land his Raishin kick or how to make the coolest moves. Ugh, hit where it hurts.

“How about I add another one to that?” This time she came at me with a wind punch and I blocked it by temporarily imbuing my [Thunder Cloak] with fire. The wind fed the flames and it started to become hot. Hot, hot, hot! “Ugh, why is my compatibility against fire so poor?” To keep yuki-onna’s power level in check.

“You! How do you know what I am?” She said as she crossed her arms covering her chest as if she got exposed. Courtesy of the one you call ice brat; you can thank him later.

“Ugh, what is he, in all the thousands of years I've been alive I've never fought anything as annoying as he, there were stronger opponents than him for sure but this brat makes fighting against him just unfun! ” Haha, yeah people that have fought him for real generally don't want to ever fight him again, he sees it as a badge of honor since that means he’ll have to deal with fewer possible enemies in the future. What are you boasting about as if you're talking about yourself?

Hey, can't I be proud of my buddy? We're still kind of messing around but at least it seems he found a way of how he wants to fight. Speak for yourself! I know how I want to fight already! Yeah, me too!

Huh, what? I'm the only one who’s unsure? I threw a fire fist at Nayani followed by a [Flame wave] but she seemed done blocking fire attacks and just evaded them. I looked around. I threw my spear multiple layers ago and almost forgot about it. I spotted it on the other side of the room. There were a lot of attacks flying around between me and my spear. Gregory was going ham with his hammer; Ted had a rock-solid formation by blocking and attacking with [Rock-et punches] He closed in and went close combat with Nayani while infusing his fists with fire. This seemed to put Nayani on high alert and she focused hard on her exchanges with Ted. This was my chance. I teleported toward my spear but I crashed into the wall next to it. What is this my teleport misfired? Impossible! I never messed up my teleports! Besides that, one time, I teleported in here, well not in here above here.

Oh, I remember Agnis telling me something about it, something, something can't teleport well in areas where magic density is high? Low? I can't remember it well. What a pain in the ass. At least I got my spear. I looked at Nayani and used [Spot weak spot]. There don't seem to be many weak spots on Nayani, which is impressive, most creatures have multiple ones but Nayani only has one, right below her right shoulder blade. She does seem to block a lot of attacks with a one-handed shield or barrier in which she uses her right arm. Alright, I found where the first real hit of my [Raishin kick] will land. I was excited, it might really happen, my prized [Raishin kick] was a skill I made inspired by Agnis and Ted's combos. During sparring matches whenever Ted locked me in a combo, it would hurt a lot but I could escape if I'm lucky and paid attention, he does hit pressure points though so the longer I stay in it the less likely I can break out. Agnis' combos are just impossible to break out of, his combos do less damage but it doesn't matter because I'm stuck in it till, I get defeated. He uses various paralyzes, stuns, and knockdowns, he also once launched me in the air and disoriented me.

I did hear afterward that it was an impressive sight and I asked Agnis to show how it looked from a third-person perspective. I gotta say it looked fun to do, but not fun to be in. So, I will combine the control that Agnis uses and style points and Ted’s damage, although my combo will do vastly more damage. I normally would use lightning with this but maybe I should alter it [Raishin fire kick]! Yes, that's more like it! I'm not as precise or have godly timing as Agnis so the hit on the weak spot must be effective. I try to sneak behind Nayani but she spotted me and sent a large volume of water at me. Gregory made some shadow clones and seemingly also of the hammer and he with his clones started hammering away.

Enjoying your hammer time Gregory? Focus, please! Gregory smacked the ground since Nayani used [Frozen ground]. The floor cracked and it became walkable, kind of. We are used to moving on slippery floors but she doesn't need to know that. I finally spot my moment. I teleport behind her and sweep her legs with my spear. Mid-fall I hit her weak spot with a fire knee.

[Raishin fire kick]! Oh no here he goes. Let's see how strong this skill of his is. The fire-imbued knee I gave her launched her a bit in the air, I imbued my spear with fire and poked at her while she was in mid-air to change her position so that I could hit her better. Her weak spot was faced towards the ground. I followed up with a fire vertical roundhouse kick which landed on her weak spot sending her flying upward again, I jumped up and used some lightning kicks to paralyze her before kicking her to the ground. The moment she gets up I swept at her feet again with my spear but this time I unleash a flurry of fire punches whenever it seems she doesn't flinch from the punches I throw in an electrified punch to briefly stun her. I was pouring a lot of energy into it. For the first time in a while, she seemed to take damage. I threw a heavy punch which sent her back a bit and made her stagger, I followed up with a flaming shoulder bash which in turn pushed her back again but she was still in range of my spear. She tried to weave some magic but I wouldn't let her! She would ruin my Raishin kick! I slashed and stabbed at her by alternating fire and lightning, she managed to block some but the majority landed. I teleported behind her and landed another blow on her weak spot. At this moment something surprising happened. My fist exploded in a bright orange light and my body felt invigorated as I started to glow in an orange light which made a strange buzzing sound.

“Aaah, wait what is that sound that I hear?!” It is boss music! You're going down now! Holy shit! Wait did he trigger a critical rush?!

Yeah. Weren't tailed beast critical rushes special or something? Hmm, you know how any creature can land a critical hit (crit) yeah? It is rare as, like 1 in 10 million chance, some individuals never land one some land multiple. The more attacks you can do in a battle the higher the chance becomes of landing a critical hit. So, whenever you land a critical hit or a crit as Agnis calls it, your critical damage does three times its normal damage and you get bathed in an orange glow like that. That state is called critical rush, your critical rate gets boosted to 1 in 100 000 and whenever you land a crit under it. it will do 5 times as much damage as normal. Now this state is only active for 2 minutes. There are no real effective ways to boost the chance to land a critical hit. For tailed beasts this critical rush is a bit different normally critical rush ends after 2 minutes or after 3 crits, initial crit not included, but this is not the case for us, every crit extends the critical rush duration by 10 seconds and there is no limit on how many could be landed. also, hard to cast or setup skills become easier to use during this. So, there is a tailed beast with a crazy number of crits? Not really the maximum seems to be 4 crits by Agnis’ mom, that is excluding the initial crit

Hmm so, in theory, it could land you more crits but it doesn't make a big difference. Ohh, it does, there is a high chance that whatever Raishin tries to do now will succeed, which is scary since he has almost infinite energy at his disposal.

Does this mean we won? If he lands one or 2 more crits we probably win yes. I listen to Gregory’s explanation while unleashing a flurry of lightning and fire punches I hit some pressure points but I'm not sure how effective it was. I didn't know all of that about this crit rush thing. At least I now know I didn't mess up and that this is something I should get the best out of. Nayani seems to be in a lot of pain but I have no sympathy for what she did to Agnis and us. And she was planning to kill us anyways.

Things will get easier to set up, eh? It wasn't part of my [Raishin kick] but there was something I always tried to do but never could pull off. It was a skill I saw my sister once use. It was my thunder spear skill but stronger, it was faster, it hit harder, and was just way better. My sister gave it a weird name but it was a skill she learned from mom and modified. [Imperial thunder lance] oh It succeeded, and it hit her in her weak spot. The thunder lance exploded in orange light as it hit. Nayani screamed out as I did massive damage to her. Oooh, lucky! Another critical hit! I continued my Raishin kick. Nayani seemed a bit numb from that thunder lance. She did manage a counter which hit me in the stomach. A layer shattered but I was still in my critical rush mode. I didn't keep track of time so I don't know how long I have left so I will finish it off here. The finale of my [Raishin kick]. I really hoped this one would crit. I gathered all the energy that I could muster in my right leg. The energy that gathered was many times more than when I practiced it before. I hit Nayani and sent her flying into the root. No crit, too bad. I put as much energy into that burning kick So I was hoping she would be defeated now.

You did it! Hey, don't say that! Whenever someone says something like that the enemy gets back up! Some noise could be heard and a bloodied and burnt Nayani appeared. See! She collapsed on the floor.

“I'm sorry sister, I will join you soon.” Don't be silly we’re not going to kill you. You're back! I saw an area get blurry and Agnis appeared. He was thawed but still full of the injuries he got from that energy influx

Ugh this shit hurts.

“What do you mean you're not going to kill me? Quit that bullshit!” It is not like you will die you will just get sent back to the spirit world, I got a vague idea of where it is, and I’ll send you there with the energy of your sister, she should be fine, I think.

“My sister? She is fine?” The bloodied Nayani starts crying. Alright time to send you two back, just a heads up I don't know exactly where it is since the information, I analyzed from the essence that I absorbed from your sister was vague so don't blame me when you get sent to the middle of nowhere there, I'm sure it beats bleeding out of energy out here. Agnis opened up a portal and released some energy, the other sister appeared although a bit transparent.

“I'm free! Let's go, Nayani, we lost and this guy is kind enough to open a portal for us.”

“Sister wait! And Hey ice brat? You’re alright, I’ll kick your ass next time we meet though, and make you teach me all those tricks.” I sincerely hope we never meet again. After the portal closed Agnis collapsed. You had to play the hero again, eh?

Ugh not really, I just know that destroying spirits left and right is a bad idea. So, 3 hours already passed, eh? How are you feeling?

Like I got hit by a laser. Hahaha. Everyone looked at me.

What? I do have to say though that [Raishin kick] was quite impressive, we would still be popping illusion layers if not for the stupid amount of damage you did there. Yeah, that critical rush came at the right moment. Oh, he got into a critical rush? Nice! Alright, imma take a nap you guys deal with the root.

Wait! I said as I grabbed Agnis and shook him so he would stay awake.

Ouch, ouch, that hurts! What is it? I need you to check out that root, I got bad vibes when I got close to it but Gregory doesn't feel anything.

Hmm, hmm let me see, nothing to see on this filter, nothing on this one, damn my eyes hurt. Oh, got it, ah right, this is a problem. Ugh, there is more?

Hmm it's not a big problem but one nonetheless, anyone who destroys it and was involved with its destruction will get cursed, I can't read what curses it has though. This seal doesn't seem to be made by those spirit sisters, it's older than the other ones, and this one is written in ancient language symbols. I can barely read it. It looks similar to one I do know so what I pick up from it might be inaccurate. At this point, I’d just say blast the tree, Gregory and I will deal with the curses later. And with this, I'm going to nap. Hold on a second! Gregory grabs 3 potions out of his shadow and grabs Agnis and pours the contents down his throat.

Some healing potions before you pass out. Oooh mint flavored, alright good luck. Agnis popped out all his tails and curled up in it turning into one big ball of fluffy fur after which an illusion made it look like a rock that belonged in this cave. Gregory, remember which rock is Agnis, it wouldn't be funny that we will have to investigate every rock to carry him home.

I got it. Let's go. Ugh, that was rough, I surely hope the other guardians are easier than this one, we almost died.

Yeah, after we destroy this root, we should rest for a couple of days before continuing. We walked up to the root. There was minor damage to the root because of some stray attacks and when Nayani got launched into the root but besides that, it seemed to be brimming with energy, at least that's what I think, Gregory is the energy guy here. So, this is the root of all our problems, it is enormous though, I carrot see how to destroy this. C’mon Ted those puns weren't even good!

Can you vaporize it Raishin? It will take a bit but it should be possible. I start gathering energy for my [Supernova blast]. I see Gregory and Ted run off into my eye corner and create an earth dome next to the Agnis rock and make it sink into the ground.

It is time to say your butt goodbye! Take this! I said as I threw the swirling energy at the root. A shadow grabbed my ankles and pulled me underground. I heard a loud muffled sound. I wasn't sure if you were immune to your own attack so I dragged you in just in case.

Haha, of course I'm not immune to that! Might be useful to tell us you know; you could've fried yourself there.

Haha, no way! I do feel weird though. Hmm, I'm feeling a bit dizzy. Everything is starting to become blurry. I suddenly felt a ringing in my head and my head started to hurt.