238 Chapter 238: Three Celestial Guardians (2/2)
Crack!
A web of lightning blasted and seared across the weaving arms, disintegrating at least a few of them. Bellowing, White Tiger leaped forward, only to be deterred by a whip. As it dodged the whip, a scimitar came swinging by and almost eviscerating it. A sword would have decapitated it if its summoner hadn't deflected it with a lightning bolt.
”Damn it!” Glen cursed. ”There's just too many arms!”
”Shun Yin!” Angelica called out. He immediately understood what she was intending and responded, reaching out to grab her hand.
”Resonance!”
The two of them merged their mana together, and while Glen and his White Tiger were still distracting Serena, cast a combined fire spell.
”!!!”
Serena recognized the danger and spun around, her spectral arms all surging toward the couple. However, Glen had managed to buy them enough time to cast their spell, and the two of them unleashed a gigantic fireball that incinerated a few of the arms, causing the shadowy weapons to topple onto the ground.
”That's really powerful. I see…by synchronizing your power, you're able to amplify the effects of your spell by not just double but several times. Impressive. Really impressive. But…”
Her remaining spectral arms reared up, bearing their weapons in an intimidating manner.
”…even with that increased power, you only destroyed a fraction of what I have.”
”!!!”
Shun Yin and Angelica continued to link their hands, this time casting a firewall spell. Even as the shadowy arms and weapons surged toward them, they conjured a combined crimson and white firewall. Glen tried to help, but a few of the arms snaked away to attack him and his White Tiger, forcing the summoner and his Soul Beast to keep their distance.
A hammer and a mace slammed into the firewall in unison, but the reinforced barrier held. Strengthened by Resonance, the two's combined spell would withstand whatever attacks Serena threw at them for a while.
”You kids did well to hold out this long.”
”?!”
The three of them turned and spotted Lionel diving down, his sword flashing. A trail of flower petals followed, and he ripped the shadowy arms into shreds. Serena recoiled as the backlash of her spell struck her, but she managed to conjure a fresh batch of armed…arms.
”You…!” she hissed.
Lionel ignored her. Instead, he raised his sword. A green dragon coiled around his blade, intensifying the swirl of flower petals around him. Serena raised an eye when she saw the green dragon curl about the sword and snarl at her, and then she lifted her gaze to Glen's White Tiger before finally settling on Michael's Vermillion Phoenix.
”Amazing. I never thought I would see three of the four Celestial Guardians appear in one place. The only one that is missing is Black Tortoise.”
”Don't worry. One day my adopted son will be able to summon all four Celestial Guardians! No, five, maybe!” Shun Yin proclaimed proudly. Everyone stared at him.
”Your adopted son, eh?” Lionel chuckled. ”If he really achieves that, I'll marry my daughter off to him.”
”Hey! Not fair! If Shun Yin's adopted son were to marry anybody, it should be my daughter!” Glen shouted. ”We're best friends!”
”I don't remember being best friends with you, and neither of you have any daughters yet,” Shun Yin muttered under his breath.
”Stop talking nonsense!” Serena screeched as she launched her mass of spectral arms at them. Lionel returned his attention to her and swung his sword.
Dozens of vines whipped out from the ground and ensnared the shadow arms. They curled around the spectral appendages, coiling around them and restraining them. The vines also lunged at Serena, but her Assassin's instinct told her to leap away and avoid them at all costs. A few vines managed to catch her right arm and left leg, tangling her up and tripping her over.
”That's…?!”
”Hundred-Colored Flowers,” Lionel intoned. The spectral arms began shrinking and wilting as their mana were being sucked and drawn into the vines, where flowers of myriad colors began blooming as they drew upon the enemy's power for nourishment. He didn't elaborate – only a fool or a manga character would explain his spells to an enemy.
Serena swiftly cut away several of the vines with her short swords, but it was clear that she was severely weakened, a huge chunk of her mana drained out of her. Her spectral arms faded away – without the mana to sustain them, she could no longer maintain their existence.
”Time to finish you off,” Lionel declared as he stepped forward and slashed at her, but Serena barely managed to parry his blow.
A terrifying screech diverted his attention away from her. Cronus had managed to bury a fist in the Vermillion Phoenix's belly, and seemed to be doing something to it.
”You!” Michael's face contorted in fury and he lunged at the time spirit Assassin, swinging his flaming sword in order to free his Soul Beast. Cronus casually spun around, using the Vermillion Phoenix as a shield and forcing its summoner to stop for fear of hitting it accidentally. The moment Michael hesitated, Cronus ruthlessly whirled around and kicked him, sending him flying.
”Gah!”
”Mike!”
”Brother!”
However, Glen and Angelica's attention was captured by the fate of the Vermillion Phoenix. Silver mana was building up inside its body. The Vermillion Phoenix thrashed about and flailed, ripping chunks of flesh and muscle off Cronus's body. However, the huge Assassin held on stubbornly, probably confident in the fact that he could later reverse time to heal himself…or make it as if the injuries had never happened.
”Not good!” Lionel's face twisted, and he spun away from the downed Serena to dive at the two who were locked in combat. Yue Guang followed suit, but both men were too late.
Vermillion Phoenix ceased to exist, the silver mana surrounding its form and then crushing it into an orb before fading out of time.
”Even if it's Vermillion Phoenix, it's still not immune to the ravages of time,” Serena remarked sinisterly, even as she continued to lay on the ground.