Chapter 333 - Battle Plan

"Hmm… I have several cleanse skills but even after chaining everything, there will be a 3 second gap before I can restart the chain." Cyril replied after hearing Shiro's question.

Furrowing her brows, Shiro wondered if it's feasible. Since the Executioner's Requiem refreshes the debuff every 5 seconds, once she cleanses it, she'll be free to control her body properly for the next 4 seconds.

However, for a high intensity fight like this, that 3 second gap where Cyril can't cleanse is extremely dangerous.

"Are you able to time it so that you can have a one second gap between each cast? That way, we can somewhat offset the delay." Shiro suggested.

"I can try but I can't guarantee anything." Cyril shook her head.

"That's fine. By the way, is your cleanse skill an area of effect or single target?"  

"Since I'm a combat medic, my skills effect the party. When I use my cleanse, everyone gets it." Cyril smiled.

"Great. That way, Keomi can help us as well. Since Lisa is in the party, she can give you an invite." Shiro said while glancing back at Blythe who was looking around in anger.

Currently, he was taking out his annoyance on the bystander adventurers that were unfortunately caught in the range of the item's effect.

Using the third stage of his skill, he was popping the heads of adventurers as if they were pockets of air on a sheet of bubble wrap.

"Get out here!!!" Blythe shouted out while crushing a man's head in his hands.

"Ooo yikes." Shiro muttered seeing the effectiveness of the third skill.

"Say sis, if you whisper to him all seductively like before do you think you can get him out of his anger?" Keomi asked curiously.

"Blergh! Hell no!" Shiro rejected instantly.

The previous action was but an impulse to extend the time for Keomi so that she could properly finish off Morthil. If she didn't do that and stopped Blythe from using a domain, there was the slim chance that Morthil could survive.

Seeing the pure disgust on Shiro's face, Keomi was slightly surprised.

"Eh? Didn't you always pull stunts like this before big sis?" She asked.

Previously, whenever she fought, she would always throw her enemy's mental state off through provocative talk.

"You forget? Memories." Shiro replied, blaming it on amnesia.

"Fair enough."

"Anyways, Lisa, try to make your way here without being detected by Blythe. Cyril, use your cleanse skills so that we can group up and practice on the timings while we can." Shiro instructed.

"Got it."

After Cyril casted her cleanse skill on the party, Lisandra dived low and started to fly towards Shiro's location.

Since she made sure that she was close to the ground in order to avoid detection, their speed was much slower due to the obstacles.

Once they regrouped, Cyril healed both Shiro and Keomi just to make sure that they were in top form.

"So what's the plan?" Cyril asked since she wasn't too sure as to how they were going to approach Blythe.

"You see…"

Explaining the details regarding his abilities and how they should counter them, Shiro proposed that she sends some clones to harass him first while they get the timing down.

Once she was sure that the group understood what they were doing, Shiro activated Fae Illusions while Cyril practised her timings.

Meanwhile, the first prince was observing the situation from a distant building.

"Hmm… Shiro seems to be fighting third brother but she's using illusions instead." Neldor muttered while looking at the scene from outside of the item's effect range.

"Also, do you know why Keomi is with Shiro? I didn't get any word of this." He asked with a frown.

"I… don't know what the branch master is thinking. Perhaps they decided to form a partnership considering the danger of the third prince?" One of the Rising Sun executives theorised.

"Perhaps. Either way, let's wait for now. Second brother is nearby and it would do us no good if we go in too soon. It would only give second brother the opportunity to attack us. Plus, from what I can see, if we get into his range of effect, we may lose control of our bodies." The first prince said while looking at all the adventurers that were affected by the item.

From their struggling expressions and collapsed bodies, he knew that going in would be tantamount to suicide.

"That being said, how can Shiro and Keomi move effortlessly?" He frowned since he could see the duo (Illusion) fighting against Blythe constantly.

"Perhaps they used an item to counter the third prince's skill?" The executive suggested.

"Whatever it is, are you able to get me in contact with Keomi? It would be good to get some information from her right now."

"Understood."

###

Suddenly feeling her phone vibrate, Keomi pulled it out and saw that it was one of her subordinates calling her.

"Big sis, my subordinate's calling me. I suppose it's the first prince's doing." Keomi called out.

"Mn? Oh take the call. And while you're at it, why not feed them some false information. I'll tell you what to say." Shiro looked over.

"Sure."

Pulling out her own phone, Shiro started to type down what Keomi should say.

"Hello?" Keomi answered.

"Branch master, you're fighting the third prince right now?" The subordinate asked.

"Yeah what of it?"

"The first prince is wondering how you can move in the area. From what we can tell, everyone is struggling."

"Oh that, you just need to use a debuff cleansing skill every 5 seconds to counter the item."

"Is that all?"

"Well I suppose it doesn't harm me for you to know more. You see, I've found out that his item has 3 skills so far. The first is solid illusions, the second is this zone that you can see right now which makes it so that you can barely control your body. The third is the worst since it reduces all of your armour and defence to 0 and could kill you instantly." Keomi reported while looking at Shiro with confusion.

She wasn't sure as to why the first prince should know so much. In her opinion, if they wanted to kill the first prince as well, they should just tell him about the first and second skill so that he's not guarded against the third skill.

However, Shiro only pointed back at the script since she had her own ideas.

"Eh!? He can reduce your armour and defence to 0!?" The subordinate repeated with shock.

"Yeah, but don't worry. As long as we make him spend mana faster, we'll have an opportunity to end him. Are you able to put the first prince on the phone?"

"Ah, sure. Your highness, here, the branch master wishes to speak to you."

"Hello?" The first prince's voice rang out.

"Neldor, are you able to get some support class users and help me drain his mana? It would be more beneficial for us. Plus, the second prince doesn't know the details so it would be a perfect chance to trap him as well. Killing two birds or rather, two princes with one stone."

"Hou~ That's an interesting proposition. Thought it would take a while for the supports to come so are you able to hold him in this location for now?"

"It should be within my grasps. However, you should note that despite cleansing the debuffs every 5 seconds, it's still risky so I would appreciate it if the help came as fast as possible."

"Of course. I wish you luck."

Ending the call, Keomi looked at Shiro.

"Big sis, why did we tell him so much information?" She asked.

"You see, by providing the correct information, we can sit by the side while he deals with Blythe. And just before he can kill Blythe, we'll go in and kill him instead, taking the Exp. If the second prince intervenes, we can take him on since he doesn't know what the Executioner's Requiem can do." Shiro smiled while putting her focus back on Cyril. Currently, they had managed to get the timing of the cleanse skill.

If things go right, Shiro should be able to react accordingly within this second and avoid a fatal blow. If not, she can still use her Rejuvenation skill and rewind the damage she suffered within the last 10 seconds.

With this as her trump card, she basically has a second life as long as she's able to cast it before she's truly dead.

"Right then, Keomi you'll be vanguard with me while Lisa will protect the other two. Our goal changed from killing him to just increase his mana expenditure so if it gets a bit out of hand, feel free to just retreat as far as you can." Shiro said with a smile before summoning Ataraxia.