Kuzon's smile in the dreary silence of the wide expanse seemed to do the trick.
He could see the mask of bravado that his adversary donned begin to crumble slowly. However, it still wasn't enough.
"That's a nice theory you have there, Kuzon. Still, do you really think I—"
"Wouldn't have countermeasures for that? I thought so as well. That's why I had to use my [Marionette Flies] to scour the entire dimension to see if there were any more versions of you hiding around."
With Legris' strange energy, it wouldn't be difficult to locate him, since his presence in itself was a distortion of reality.
However, even though Kuzon's constructs scoured all through the crumbling dimension…
"... They found nothing. In essence, the versions of you that are fighting against Edward and I are the only versions of you that exist here."
It made sense too, considering how formidable Edward and Kuzon were. He needed all hands on deck to be able to defeat them, and he probably couldn't spare having an extra lying around doing nothing.
'In essence, my point still stands.' Kuzon's smile grew wider.
Killing all the Legrises at once would be the best way to resolve the situation. If there was even one more left, then Legris could respawn.
'Looks like capturing him is out of the window.' Kuzon's thoughts trailed.
These were desperate times, and they had to resort to the most desperate measures. Right now, he and Edward understood that.
And so did Legris.
"I… see…" He whispered, the darkness that clung to his body flickering with every word he uttered.
Something about his tone rang ominous, and Kuzon prepared himself for the eventual consequence of his goading.
"I guess it can't be helped then…"
Legris was no longer grinning. His deep scowl rang of malevolence, and the deep seated darkness in his eyes oozed only animousity.
He was no longer joking around.
'As expected.' Kuzon braced himself, already feeling the lashes of dark energy dancing around as the strange black power seemed to be consuming more of the space around it.
"I have to go all-out."
~VWUUUUUUUSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHH!!!~
Right before Kuzon, ten Legrises manifested, their numbers a staggering promotion compared to what he had to deal with just earlier.
The glare that Legris gave was proof of his absolute desire to win and eliminate those who stood in his path. It forced Kuzon to swallow his saliva and brace himself for the challenge.
'He just manifested ten against Edward too, so does that mean his limits are twenty in total?'
If they defeated all twenty at once, would that finally get rid of Legris?
'I can't jump into assumptions. I'll have to test out my theory. Once I can do that, then I'll work with Edward to finish off all twenty of them at the same time.'
The problem here was how to destroy them all at once—at least, before the respawn began.
The speed and power they would need to pull that off was extraordinary.
'Right now, the limit I can handle at once is five Legrises, and that's not even accounting for the fact that he's now more serious than ever.'
While he suspected that Edward could indeed take on ten Legrises, Kuzon also doubted that he could finish off ten at the same time.
'We need to sync our attacks together, and ensure we eliminate everyone at once.'
That meant regrouping. However…
The ten Legrises currently encircled Kuzon, their determined gazes and flickering dark auras a perfect representation of a cage meant to hold him in.
'It seems Legris already understands what I'm about to do.'
Right now, his focus had to be getting to Edward and restrategizing a way to defeat all the Legrises.
'Fortunately, I've gathered enough power now…' Kuzon's nervous sweat slowly dried out as golden energy began to surge from his body.
~VWUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSSSSSSSHHHHHHHH!!!~
"[Absolute Emperor's Transfiguration]."
In this form, at the very least, he now had heightened speed and strength. If he used his threads and dense Aether, concentrating them in areas where he desired to land his attacks, then he would be able to fight with no consequence.
"Let's begin."
~WHOOOOSHH!~
All ten Legrises lunged at Kuzon, their bodies becoming a myriad of blurs as they hungrily sought to devour their sole target.
'My Martial Art skills aren't too advanced, but…'
Kuzon wrapped himself in sufficient threads, while also spreading the same around him, allowing for better mobility, sensory awareness, and reactive capabilities.
'... I'll do my best!'
~WHAM!~
The first hit was swiftly sent to Legris, the first one to appear in front of him. The blow was enough to shatter his skull and rip his head into pieces, but not before he reached out both of his hands to touch Kuzon.
Fortunately, Kuzon was well protected by his dense layer of Aether.
Unfortunately, before he could even replace the corrupted components that had begun to seep through, the nine other Legrises, plus a respawning one, completely overwhelmed him.
~WHOOOSH!~
Kuzon swiftly launched himself above the herd, blowing all of them away by the sheer pressure he emitted. He gazed down on them as they looked up to him, their determined gazes unable to let go of his sole form.
~WHOOOOOOSSSSSHHHH!~
In their horde, they rushed at him, but Kuzon was too quick for them.
He vanished from his position and appeared at a relatively closer point, thanks to the distortion of space all around him.
Surprisingly, however, there was a Legris who was waiting for him there already.
"Predi—"
"..ctable? No… I expected this!" Kuzon grinned, twisting his body to give the Legris behind him a roundhouse kick, while using his devastated body as a propeller to completely sever the heads of two other Legrises that were approaching him.
So far, he had eliminated four Legrises, all within the span of barely three seconds.
However…
'They're already respawning.' Kuzon's thoughts trailed as he watched Legrises replece the ones he had already killed.
'Looks like this will be quite difficult…'
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[A/N]
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