Despite her will, Natalie could only do so much against the enemy in that situation. Alexander raised his spear and tried to use Gungnir, but he didn't have it in time, Icarus also used his max speed to stop Zenis when he began to move his sword, but he hadn't been fast enough… Natalie raised her remaining sword to block the attack. Still, before the weapons could collide, Zenis' attack suddenly stopped, and he was sent flying in the opposite direction at a fearsome speed.
Zenis collided against a mountain in the distance, and the impact made the whole thing crack while half of it exploded. The impact caused a massive tremor that lasted for several seconds. The gravity field dissipated, and everyone frowned because they couldn't understand what had happened. Still, after a while, Natalie smirked.
"So, you really are still alive… Wait, you can't hear me, right?" Natalie asked. "Well, thanks for the saving, but that was unnecessary. I had everything under control here."
Natalie was the first to realize that Billy intervened with Mana Shield and Reflect. He probably could see things thanks to the armor, and thanks to it, he could intervene as well, but his actions were limited due to the amount of mana he had. That was probably why he waited until now to do something.
"Billy, huh… I should have known that he would wait until the last moment," Alexander said. "It seems he can interfere, but he can't return yet."
"Still, to be able to repel an attack of that level…" Icarus said. "We thought that he was sent to a place where mana doesn't exist, but maybe we were wrong if he could afford to do that much."
"No, you are right… if he had his usual skills at his disposal freely, he would have found a way to return already," Natalie said. "He managed to give us a hand here, but his actions are limited. We need to do better until he returns."
Fortunately, the others managed to finish the hydras in time and join them. They were a bit tired, but they were feeling a lot better now that they had confirmed that Billy was alive. Still, it was weird because the enemy was taking his time to return to the battlefield.
"Share your mana with the others," Icarus said. "They can use some of the mana thanks to their cores… we need to hurry up before Zenis returns."
Meryl and Lucyna nodded because they couldn't use that much mana without feeling like their heads were going to explode, after all. Better make good use of it…
Eventually, Zenis rose from the mountain and began to fly. That surprise counter really got him since he had some blood on his face. He had no idea how Billy managed to interfere with the battle from that world, but it didn't change the fact that it happened, and he got smashed again. This time, by the power of his own attack. The damage was a lot smaller than before, but the humiliation and shame were many times worse.
"To have my powers being countered not only but twice when I went all out…" Zenis thought. "How… I am starting to feel like my pride and arrogance are products of my madness. How can I be proud and arrogant when someone so much weaker than I can do this much damage against me?"
It wasn't the best of times for him to have an identity crisis, but Zenis couldn't help it at the such moment since he was having such a hard time killing that army in front of him. Sure, they had some powerful armor and they had three reincarnated individuals on their side with the power of three powerful cores. Still, that wasn't supposed to be enough against him.
When he felt the surge of power inside him growing, Zenis felt that everything else didn't matter. Still, now that he saw that his power was nowhere near absolute, that feeling began to get weaker. Billy's voice also began to echo in his head… that feeling truly wasn't his. The same thing happened once he got the powers of the other reincarnated, he began to think of weird things, and his logic began to take a turn…
"No… in the end, this is all for my survival," Zenis said. "I need to defeat all of them and obtain the power to protect at least myself…"
Zenis recalled that the temple city had some sort of relic that could protect the temple, so he had another reason to destroy everything around. There was no need to hold back anymore… he raised his arms, and then he created that dark sphere of energy again. People like Natalie who had good senses immediately understood that such an attack was bad news and yet, there wasn't much that they could do. Only a handful of them could fly because of the armor, and going in such a small group against the enemy wasn't a good idea in such a situation.
"We need to retreat…" Natalie said.
"I agree…" Icarus said.
The whole army understood that they needed to enter the barrier when they saw the sphere getting as big as a Hydra. Still, those who had more experience using the innate skills and those who knew about the powers of the relics also knew that the barrier wouldn't be enough to protect them. So, they couldn't help but sweat cold… The enemy was going all out to wipe out the whole area from existence.
"Isn't there anything that we can do to stop that?" Lily asked.
"Most likely no… he probably used the same attack when his fight against Billy was about to end, and when that happened, only his base endured the impact. Everything around was consumed until it became dust," Meryl explained. "Unless…"
"Unless what?" Natalie asked.
"Unless we use that relic," Meryl replied while looking at Felipe and Beatrice. "If we feed it with all of our mana…"
