Everyone acted at the same time. A raging, glacial blue fire encompassed Nero just as he threw out as many Snowflake's as he could. A tide of red sand encased Gabriel, leaving him looking more like a red snowman than a real person. At the same time, he moved to the side so that the effect of his Fair Weather card and Nero's wouldn't overlap.
They needed as much visibility as possible to deal with any other foes that might be hiding in the fog.
Thin, blue streaks of electricity started to dance all around Arter's body rapidly as he threw away his briefcases and drew his sword.
Maximilian's hair began to shine brightly, but it was his fingertip that suddenly shot out a beam of light so bright it forced everyone to close their eyes.Yet his foolproof attack, which had rendered every foe before this unconscious and at his mercy, failed - and for good reason.
The monstrosity that was inhabiting Jack no longer had eyes. Instead, it had two tentacles coming out of those holes. So as a result, his own teammates were the ones who suffered from the collateral consequences of his attack.
But, fortunately, he immediately realised that this would not work, while the others had seen him flash blinding light so many times that they were ready. Everyone closed their eyes the moment they detected the brightness from his hair rising, resulting in them missing the light shooting out of his fingers. They did, however, see that the light had no effect on the tentacle monster.
As it happened, the tentacle monster was actually the slowest to act. It was only after the beam of light struck it that it seemed to notice the presence of new targets. Once it did spot them, however, it wasted no time in attacking.
Instead of bringing Jack's body forward, the tentacles sprang out of his body like bullets from a gun, each with enough force to burst through their skin and enter their bodies. Their aim was also incredibly accurate, so instead of shooting out in random directions, each tentacle shot out towards a specific person.
Even though he was well protected by his flame, and had access to defensive cards as well, he did not need them. Despite the speed of the tentacles shooting out, with all the boosts he had to his body, as well as his manipulation of his internal aether, Nero easily cut through each of them.
Gabriel was not as fast, yet the tentacles proved unable to pierce through the thick layer of red sand surrounding his body. Instead, they suffered severe burns and tried to retreat into Jack's body, yet once they had touched the red sand it was not so easy to escape.
While they had not cut through the sand, they had created small bumps in them, and for each grain of sand they displaced, two grains of sand wrapped themselves around them. They were locked in the embrace of the red sand, which is why when the sand squeezed the burning tentacles, while the tentacles themselves tried to retreat, blood vessels all around their body burst.
Yet their red blood was not visible in the red sand.
Arter neither had reflexes as quick as Nero, nor defence as solid as Gabriel's, but he did have protective cards on him. The tentacles crashed into his body and bounced back, unable to pierce through his skin. Yet the moment they failed to cut through his body, they were also condemned to death.
Though they bounced off his body, the electric current travelling around his body paralyzed them so that they fell backwards, they lay on the ground waiting for Arter to make short work of them, and he did not disappoint.
Compared to all of them, Maximilian fell short. Despite having an extraordinary innate ability, the compatibility of his enemies with his ability put him at a disadvantage. But being at a disadvantage did not mean being destined to fail. As the heir to Maxim's card shop, the kind of cards he had access to were beyond what most people would ever see in their lives.
While he tried to fight off the tentacles, he failed. Yet when the first one touched his body, primed to rip through his skin and feast on his innards, Maximilian's body automatically teleported half a metre to the side, effectively dodging every single tentacle.
His eyes flashed, as he realised that one of his hidden aces had been revealed. A self activating card was something most people did not even know about. The fact that it had been activated literally meant that he was an instant away from death. He did not take that knowledge well.
Yet the fight had begun, and there was no time to dwell on such matters, lest he end up dying for real.
Nero took everything in, though he focused only on the tentacles. Most of the ones that had been ejected had been killed, with only the ones that targeted Maximilian returning to Jack's body. Yet new tentacles still emerged from their former comrades' flesh, and their strategy changed after facing such an overwhelming defeat.
They began to tremble in the air, as if they were letting out a scream that the others could not hear. Other corrupted creatures could hear those screams, however, which is why all the berserkers and dark berserkers which had entered the Vault in the few seconds its defences had been down all swarmed towards the group.
At the moment none of them knew that, however, so they rushed towards Jack's body to lay it to rest. Even though, without the element of surprise on their side, the tentacles seemed powerless, each of them felt an acute threat for the tentacles, as if they were genuinely more dangerous than any other enemy they had come across.
Nero's blue flames sizzled as they burned the cursed energy emanating from the tentacles, and Arter's electric arcs burned through flesh and turned it to ash. Together they were eliminating the tentacles from the source. Gabriel had used all the sand that surrounded himself and forced it to pour through every hole in Jack's body, pushing the tentacles down while burning them.
Maximilian was the only one who did not attack. It wasn't because he couldn't but rather because the others didn't need his help, and he might end up getting in their way, so he stood back. That did not mean, however, that he was slacking. Far from it, which is why when the first dark berserker dashed through the fog towards Gabriel, he was the first one to act,
A much more concentrated flash of light, one that wouldn't blind his allies, shot out of his finger tip, blinding and disorienting the dark berserker. Even though it was not rendered unconscious, it was debilitated temporarily.
Near the three furiously attacking the tentacles, that may as well have been the same as death.
Arter cut off its neck, just in time to watch a berserker break through the fog, followed by several more. In an instant, a swarm seemed to have surrounded them.
Yet Maximilian struck faster than any of them could attack. Compared to the rest, who had avoided the dangers of the tentacles on their own, he had to rely on his father's tricks, which greatly embarrassed him. Perhaps that's not what he should have been feeling in the midst of battle, but it was, so he was determined to redeem himself in his own eyes.
So he unleashed the full might of his newfound abilities.
In the span of a few seconds, from one, to ten, to dozens of berserkers and dark berserkers broke through the fog, yet it was all for naught. A beam of white light struck each and every one of them, dropping them to the ground like flies, ready to be killed based on the whims of others.
He did not miss even once, his aim perfectly striking their eyes every time. For all the resilience they boasted, the berserkers and dark berserkers were completely unable to resist his attacks.
Maximilian was so focused that he completely missed the wary look Nero gave him. Single handedly, in a matter of seconds, he had brought dozens of berserkers to their knees, and he did not seem like it had been a burden on his aether reserves.
Maximilian had transcended the realm of formidable Neophytes and become an absolute weapon. The nature of his ability was such that Nero even doubted he would be able to defeat him - after all, he'd have to fight with his eyes closed throughout to even have a chance.
Yet besides that wariness, Nero was also filled with great expectations.
As soon as they killed the last of the tentacles, which was actually a lot less daunting than they assumed, as well as killed the last of the berserkers, Nero approached Maximilian once more.
A part of him clearly kept an eye on the black briefcases, but he made no attempts to approach them himself.
"That was a close shave there," he said, patting Maximilian's back as if reassuring him. "I didn't know the Ayubi family sold their cards to Kolaris. I thought because of the feud, they would avoid doing that."
Nero didn't even pretend to wonder about the origin of the card that allowed Maximilian to teleport. Everyone knew that only the Ayubi family boasted innate abilities related to space. They were also the only ones who could create cards with space attributes.