BOOM!
The second the Marionette Lord gave the order, thirteen arrows rained down on Damien's position as if they'd been waiting there from the start.
Damien was forced to teleport away, but when he came out of the spatial layers, the Strength Lord was already waiting for him.
BANG!
A powerful punch struck the forearms he just barely put up in time, throwing him back into the Venom Lord's range.
Damien gritted his teeth, twisting his body impossibly to evade the three barely perceptible needles that almost dug into his skin.
'Their teamwork is too good.'
Damien was facing three as one, and he wasn't even a Divinity. It was already a miracle that he could remain relatively undamaged as the clash began, but that wasn't enough.
'Iris is facing six. I shouldn't sit here and complain about three.'
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Three ballista bolts came from three directions, trapping Damien in a box.
As his perception spread, he saw the Venom and Strength Lords moving into position to strike him again when he dodged.
'I need to get rid of the archer first.'
The Bow Lord's strength, which had only just begun to show, was already extreme.
He could shoot regular arrows in an instant, and the ballista bolts that took a few seconds to prepare were able to instantly kill the enemy.
Moreover, his control was the reason Damien couldn't do anything.
'The Venom Lord's toxins are far worse than the other Lords who use similar abilities, but since it's venom, it won't work unless it's injected.'
It was another ability that could control his movements, but unlike what he originally expected, the Venom Lord was probably the one they wanted to deal the final strikes.
'Alright. Let's start moving.'
No time passed as he thought.
Now that he'd calmed himself and viewed the situation with a cool head, he was ready to start fighting.
WHOOOOOOSH!
Time resumed, and the roaring of winds caused by the ballista just barely inches away from him kept his attention as sharp as possible.
'Now.'
He had no choice but to teleport, but he was ready this time.
BANG! BANG!
The Strength Lord put forth two strikes with just as much power as before. His strength was controlled to the extent that they wouldn't cause extreme damage to the environment, but would give Damien as much damage as he wanted.
Damien didn't back away.
He tilted his body as he teleported and dodged the first strike and summoned his mana, pushing his own fist forward to connect with the one coming towards him.
BOOOOOM!
Damien's arm shattered on impact, but the force created by their clash pushed the Strength Lord back several steps as well.
The offset force aided Damien, and using spatial mana to guide it, it shot him towards the Venom Lord, who was still standing in the distance.
The Venom Lord grinned as if everything was going according to plan.
He raised his arm in the air, secreting a stream of venom and directly compressing it into a weapon that could pierce him.
XIU!
It blasted into the atmosphere and chased Damien's flight path. From the looks of it, he didn't have any time to evade or counterattack.
However, that was exactly Damien's expectation.
The Bow Lord was far separated from the rest. If he tried to directly target him, the other two would get in the way, and if he moved outside their expectations, the Bow Lord would force him back into the play they'd planned.
He couldn't let that happen.
His awareness allowed him a full view of the surroundings.
The venom blade was just inches away and more than sharp enough to impale him, and the Strength Lord was approaching from behind, ready to exacerbate the wound it created.
Damien grinned.
'Nice.'
That was the moment.
Flash!
His body teleported out of the mix and completely disappeared.
Unlike before, not a single wisp of his aura remained in reality, completely removing him from their perception.
Until–
BOOOOOOOOOM!
A massive explosion rang out several kilometers away.
Damien appeared directly behind the Bow Lord and struck out, finally using the combination of Spacetime and Elemental-Samsara, a force he titled Rudimentary Existence Law, to attack him.
The force of law was terrifying. It held the material existence rupturing of Elemental-Samsara, yet it also held the potential to strike the ethereal, using Spacetime as a medium to move past the physical plane.
"ARGH!"
The Bow Lord groaned in pain as he rapidly retreated, but Damien followed ceaselessly.
He couldn't use weapons, since none of them could contain his current force, but his fists were enough.
Especially since he could use the Venom Lord's strategy of compressing his mana into physical constructs.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The Bow Lord was forced to dodge and roll through the area as the surrounding mountains were torn apart. He tried to raise his bow, but he was always met with attacks before he could strike their creator.
Arrows streaked through the air, but they could only be used to offset the force that nobody expected a Supreme to control!
The Bow Lord finally realized Damien's danger, the reason why the Marionette Lord brought them all together for this attack.
After all, he understood why Iris needed to die. She was an extremely well-known powerhouse who would cause a myriad of problems once she returned to the battlefield.
But why did three of them need to focus on this small character called Damien Void?
Well, it suddenly became clear that Damien was not a small character at all.
The Bow Lord changed his strategy. He was skilled at ranged combat. The current situation only presented him with disadvantages.
"YOU TWO, COME HERE!"
He raised his bow, and instead of aiming them at Damien, he turned around and aimed his arrows at his allies who were rushing to his location.
Xiu! Xiu!
They flew just as fast but didn't have nearly as much power. Understanding his intent, the Strength and Venom Lords grabbed the arrows flying to them and gripped hold.
The Bow Lord suddenly pulled on the air, and as if they were connected to him by an ethereal string, the arrows returned to his grasp in a single instant, bringing their passengers with them.
Of course, Damien saw him acting. He couldn't prevent those two from coming, but he wasn't going to let the Bow Lord act without consequences!
He appeared behind the man and stuck his arm forward with his hand outstretched. A blade of aura formed around his fingers, swirling chaotically, and in the final moment–
SHIK!
His hand impaled the Bow Lord's chest.
'Seven Stars Encircling The Moon'
It was a variation, but the effect was the same.
The chaotic forces in his aura blade collided on command and caused a massive explosion that caused space itself to tremble.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Damien teleported away, narrowly avoiding the Strength Lord's incoming fist.
He twirled his body once he reappeared, swiping his hand through the air and grabbing the invisible needles that almost stuck into his forehead.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
As they fell to the ground below, he grinned.
The Bow Lord definitely didn't die, but he had a gaping hole in his right chest, and his shoulder was definitely not where it was supposed to be.
'That should at least subdue him for now, but I won't get another opportunity like that for a while.'
His target became clear with that. There was no way the other two Lords would let him easily approach the Bow Lord again.
'But that's fine. This is all according to plan.'
He didn't just rely on Seven Stars Encircling The Moon, after all. He was well aware of the impact it would have.
Instead, he used the opportunity it created to plant "something" in the Bow Lord's body.
For now, he just needed to wait for it to bloom.
His eyes were narrow and his mind was hyper-focused on survival.
Until not even one of them remained, he couldn't lower his guard at all.
'Then, the Strength Lord is next.'
