All of the corpses behind Billy began to tremble, and then suddenly, they exploded, and several bone spears emerged and flew toward the manipulator. Before he could use Icarus as a shield or finish him off, the first bone spears landed, and they pierced deeply into his flesh. Then he moved Icarus' body to block some of those, but he left himself wide open to the side, where Meryl attacked with another barrage of arrows that made his guard break.
In the end, the manipulator decided to throw Icarus toward Lucyna and Meryl to block their line of attack. Still, when he did it, Icarus' body stopped moving in midair before it slowly landed on the ground.
"I guess this is enough… do you guys want to see someone die before I have to join this fight?" Billy asked and then began to walk toward them. "What do you say, Meryl?"
"I am warning you… things will be a lot more troublesome if you become an enemy… having one-third of the powers of all reincarnated individuals isn't something that our minds can tolerate," Meryl replied,
"Even with his power to control emotions?" Billy asked. "Couldn't I control any support urges with that?"
"If that were something easy to control or such power was the answer, the maker would have targetted him first," Meryl replied. "They said that you have a family. Do you want to risk your peaceful time with them for the chance of obtaining more?"
That was a sound argument, but Billy didn't want to believe that something so…conceptual could get the better of him. He had never met such a thing in that world, so it was hard to believe that it actually existed. Still, Billy didn't have to obtain that guy's power to be able to use it… he just needed his blood.
"Now, I am starting to think like a vampire," Billy thought and then sighed.
In the end, that risk was one that Billy couldn't take… he will have to study more of that in the future since it was clear that someone will have to deal with the maker, and whoever kills them, it will obtain all of his powers and then go berserk, or so Meryl's words say.
Before they could finish the conversation, the manipulator charged at Billy. Still, then he was sent flying to the opposite direction when he hit his barrier, and Reflect was activated. That was quite satisfying. What it wasn't was the fact that Billy used a lot of mana for that. He had watched the battle quietly, thinking that Icarus, Meryl, and Lucyna were doing a poor job. Still, he finally could tell that the manipulator was a lot more troublesome than all the titans…
"Watch your step, or you might sleep," Billy said as he saw the manipulator getting up, and then he pointed his hands toward him. "The weather forecast says that it won't rain, but some lightning bolts will end up falling anyway."
Billy didn't hold back on his magic, and when the manipulator got hit by it, he began to tremble all over, and some steam began to leave his body. At first, his body began to burn, but then that stopped, and the damage began to decrease. Billy could see with Magic Eyes that he was using his skills for defense now.
"This guy…" Billy said while furrowing his eyebrows. "Hey, you better hurry up and prepare your best attacks. Unless you want me to get serious and kill him. Do you have anything that can take him down instantly?"
"I might have…, but it will require some time to prepare," Meryl replied.
"Then hurry up and get going!" Billy said when he saw the manipulator trying to get up.
Billy tried to use his wind Transformation to its limits, but it didn't make the Manipulator any weaker. It was hard to understand how he was resisting the skill so much. Still, it was probably because he didn't have shock Resistance, and the skill was leveling up a lot now after he obtained it. Moreover, his defense was spell based, so it would make sense that he could resist a lot more thanks to it.
"Is that the best you can do?" The Manipulator asked while smirking.
"Is that the best you can do?" Billy asked, trying to imitate the Manipulator.
"... I thought that you were their secret weapon, but I guess you are just a buffoon," the Manipulator said.
"... I thought that you were their secret weapon, but I guess you are just a buffoon," Billy said while rolling his eyes and making a weird face.
"Die!" The Manipulator finally snapped and then charged at Billy.
In the end, he was too fast for Billy to react and punched his stomach. Or so the Manipulator thought… His attack indeed made Billy feel like losing his lunch and regret the idea of not using the same trick twice. Still, Billy recovered fast enough and then used Destructive Aura. His power increased tremendously, and he grabbed the head of the Manipulator and then used lightning.
"How about a shock treatment?" Billy asked.
At point blank range and with the extra power granted by his Destructive Aura, the manipulator was unable to react and resist the full power of that attack. Although he could control his power to enhance his defense, he couldn't do anything else… in the end, he could only stall for time by focusing on defense and healing himself, which was exactly what Billy wanted while Meryl was preparing her attack.
"I am ready," Meryl declared while holding her bow alongside a weird arrow made out of bones.
Billy saw the eyes of the Manipulator turning to the side to see Meryl. He knew very well that he was in trouble and that he had to do something. He had planned to somehow use Billy as a shield, but then someone stopped all of them.
"Wait," Icarus said while he was getting up.
