398 Chapter 398: Gattai

Craig and I were forced to disperse the moment the meteor shower of laser bursts landed on us. Fortunately, Black Tortoise was still around and I had him conjure a water sphere over and around us. Golden Kirin also moved under the protective umbrella, while Vermillion Phoenix banked and jinked, avoiding the scatter spray of destructive lasers.

\"What the fuck is that bitch doing?!\" Craig snarled. \"This is their trump card?\"

\"No, it's not,\" I told him. \"If it was their trump card, it would be a lot more destructive than this. They couldn't even penetrate my Black Tortoise's water sphere, so I doubt it's their ace in the hole. It's probably a cover…a smokescreen for their real ultimate technique.\"

I was right. Teresa was ejecting her battle armor, the jet thrusters, cannons, weapons and helmet detaching from her body and soaring toward the stationary Castellan. Both Craig and I watched in awe as, under the protective cover of the laser rain, the separate components of Teresa's battle armor attached themselves to the various parts of the Castellan. The jet thrusters clamped onto his back, giving the bulky, heavy robot flight capabilities and increased mobility. The cannons attached themselves to his arms, increasing their mass and power. The leg armor also connected to his legs, the helmet to his head, and the body armor to his mechanical torso, augmenting his already formidable defenses. A corona of mana gleamed over the Castellan's new form, allowing him to emanate an intense aura.

\"Did they…just gattai (combine)?\" I asked incredulously.

\"Huh? Gattai?\" Craig repeated. \"What the hell is that?!\"

\"Basically Wilhelm's Castellan is much more powerful than before because he fused with Teresa's battle armor,\" I explained as I scratched my head. \"This is going to be troublesome.\"

\"Damn it! We can't let him complete the Fusion!\" Craig realized how dire our situation was, but it was too late. Before I could stop him, he recklessly charged through the shower of lasers with his spear raised.

\"Oh no! Craig Carlson has just charged into the laser barrage, risking certain damage!\"

\"Get back here, you fool!\" I shouted, waving for him to return to the safe protection of my Black Tortoise. Unsurprisingly, he ignored me. A leader like Harrison, I was not.

Craig charged through the barrage, wincing as he took several hits. Cauterized wounds opened up and sealed from the superheated strikes, but he ignored the burning pain and continued to charge forward, his arm cocked back to hurl his spear forward at the illuminated Castellan.

\"It's a pity, Craig Carlson,\" Teresa said as she firmly placed herself between the charging spearman and the glowing robot.

\"!!!\"

Craig attacked her out of instinct, his spear stabbing through her gut and incapacitating her. Teresa doubled over, but she smiled before she collapsed.

\"You're too late.\" She glanced over her shoulder and back at her stunned comrade. \"I'm leaving the rest to you, Wilhelm.\"

\"Gattai complete!\" he shouted, the aura calming down to reveal his Castellan's new form. Gritting his teeth, he directed his robot telepathically. \"I'll be sure to avenge you, Teresa. And the rest too!\"

\"I'm sure you will.\" Teresa nodded, and then collapsed.

\"Gah…!\"

The Castellan swiped at Craig, almost knocking the spear out of his hand. Craig, however, stood his ground and thrust his spear forward, smashing through the summoned barrier and piercing through a portion of the Castellan's armor.

\"It doesn't matter. You can try to damage him all you want, but it won't work!\" Wilhelm shouted. As if in response, the Castellan pulverized Craig, who realized that his spear was stuck inside the Castellan's arm. Unable to let go in time, he vanished under the powerful weapon, a geyser of blood, dirt and rubble bursting upward.

\"Craig!\" I shouted, rushing forward the moment the rain of lasers stopped. My Celestial Guardians flanked me, but I saw that I was too late.

I was the only member of our team left in the arena. It was do or die. If I didn't defeat Wilhelm's Castellan, then Jing Tian Academy team would be eliminated right here and now.

\"Well then.\" Wilhelm also recognized that the fate of his academy's team rested on his shoulders. \"It's just you and me now. Let's settle this once and for all. Castellan!\"

The robot let out a mechanical bellow before charging forward with his hammer.

\"White Tiger!\" I shouted. All four of my Celestial Guardians attacked at once, with Black Tortoise conjuring a barrier that the Castellan smashed through. White Tiger swiped at the robot's arm, deflecting the hammer in a different direction, but the terrifying weapon continued to carve a destructive trail through the stage. Vermillion Phoenix, Golden Kirin and White Tiger unleashed their devastating elemental spells, destroying the surroundings along with the Castellan, but he withstood all of the destructive force with little more than cracks on his singed armor.

\"Damn it…this guy is an even better summoner than I am,\" I grumbled. Quality over quantity. I was somewhat confident in the quality of my Celestial Guardians, but the Castellan surpassed even that. Worse, I couldn't last long, not when I had summoned four out of my five Celestial Guardians. Maintaining the existences of all of them at once was taking a huge toll on my mana reserves.

If I didn't end this battle soon, I would run out of mana first. Then it would truly be the end.

\"…hmph.\"

Smiling, I drew both of my swords again and lunged forward, in concert with my summoned beasts. What was the point of carrying Hei Yue and Bai Ri if I didn't use them in combat? I should use them in conjunction with my Celestial Guardians. I should use every tool, every weapon at my disposal. I would be stronger if I attacked together with my Celestial Guardians, rather than just relying solely on their spells alone.

Spurred on by my thoughts, my Celestial Guardians attacked together. White Tiger and Golden Kirin attacked from the sides, forcing multiple barriers out of the Castellan. While he was distracted, waving his huge hammer around to knock them back, I darted in underneath his defenses and thrust my swords upward. However, he conjured new barriers to block my blades while counterattacking with a spinning strike with his hammer. Before he could pummel me to the dust, I dove to the side, only for a freshly materialized barrier to block my escape route.

\"Kuh?!\"

I collided with the barrier and found my momentum halted. Not wasting the opportunity, the Castellan swung his hammer when he thought I was cornered, but I plunged Bai Ri into the ground and whirled myself away from his hammer and the blocking barrier, barely avoiding getting crushed into a bloody pulp.

While I evaded, Vermillion Phoenix launched a blazing bombardment from above, his fiery feathers striking at several points and from different directions. The Castellan didn't even bother to look upward, with multiple barriers materializing to parry those flaming strikes.

\"Bloody hell, he has gotten so much stronger than before,\" I murmured with a curse. \"And I don't remember him being able to conjure multiple barriers at once before, either! Is this a new ability gained from gattai?\"

\"Ha ha ha ha! Useless, useless, useless!\" Wilhelm shouted, sounding suspiciously like Dio or his Za Warudo. I guess some people loved Jojo way too much.

\"How the fuck am I supposed to defeat a monster like him?\" I grumbled under my breath. Shaking my head, I decided to go all out and summon Green Dragon. Plants and wood emerged from the stage to ensnare the Castellan, inhibiting his movements, but the monstrous robot tore free of his restraints with a single violent movement.

\"Ha ha ha ha!\" Wilhelm was still guffawing from before. Damn it, that annoying laughter was starting to get on my nerves. \"I'll be honest with you, but the power of the gattai Castellan has surpassed even my expectations! I'm finally able to understand and use the true power of my Castellan! This is the miracle of technomagic!\"

All around us, the spectators either cheered or murmured in awe. Obviously I wasn't going to bother with the infamous cultivation clichés where they trash-talked about me and talked about how I was doomed to lose and whatever. This was reality, and they were more likely to be impressed by the Castellan's display of power than they were about trash-talking the protagonist.

\"True power, huh?\" I took a deep breath and lowered my sword. Forcing myself to calm down, I considered my various options.

\"Now, take this blow of mine!\" Wilhelm yelled. \"Castellan, Mjolnir Hammer!\"

\"!!!\"

My jaw dropped when I saw the gigantic double-head of the Castellan's hammer fly right off its shaft, spinning rapidly in my direction. It was all I could do to get away in time. Even Black Tortoise didn't bother to throw up his water sphere, knowing that the devastating attack would obliterate whatever barrier he conjured. My Celestial Guardians scattered along with me.

Boom!

The glowing double hammerhead slammed into the ground, carving a huge trail of destruction into the stage and threw up scorched debris. Backing away, with my Celestial Guardians on either side of me, I gulped.

\"Whoa, the impact has increased several fold too. If I take a hit like that face-on, even with a barrier, I might not get away unscathed.\"

Perhaps my Snow Aegis might just be able to withstand it, but I wasn't going to risk testing that out in an official tournament battle where our advancement to the next round was on the line. There was no point in meaninglessly receiving an attack and potentially taking damage when there was no need to.

The double hammerhead then dislodged itself from the ground and swiftly spun back toward the Castllan, refitting itself back onto his glowing shaft and returning to its normal condition. The Castellan pulled his hammer back as he readied for another attack. Behind his mechanical puppet, Wilhelm grinned malevolently.

\"Come on!\" he sneered. \"We're not done yet! Not by a long shot!\"

\"Uh huh,\" I replied dryly. \"I'm sure.\"

The Castellan didn't even bother to reply – I doubted he could. All the speeches were being made by his owner, Wilhelm. The puppet master merely curled his lip, wisely not wasting any time on arguing. At a mental command, the Castellan aimed his hammer at me again and fired the glowing hammerhead in my direction.

\"Not this bullshit again,\" I sighed as I dove to the side, running along the stage to dodge the second shot. The hammerhead continually returned to the shaft so that the Castellan could continuously fire off a barrage over and over again. While he did so, my Celestial Guardians bombarded him with fire, wood, lightning, ice and earth spells, trying to break his barrier, to no avail. Shimmering pixelated barriers hovered around the Castellan, absorbing and intercepting those spells without the mechanical robot sustaining any damage behind the gleaming walls.

Even as my Celestial Guardians' spells proved ineffective, the Castellan continued to repeatedly hurl his hammerhead at me, recalled it, then fired it off again.

\"Ignore those Soul Beasts!\" Wilhelm ordered, even as the five of them blasted him with their combined elemental spells. \"As long as you take out the summoner, they will disappear along with him!\"

Oh boy. So that was why the Castellan couldn't be bothered to attack my Celestial Guardians. Wilhelm certainly had his priorities right.

However, for now, we were at a stalemate. Even if I couldn't break through his defenses, his attack was still too slow to hit me. Powerful, yes, but much too slow. As long as I kept moving around, he would never be able to land a hit on me…

…or so I thought.

\"How infuriating. Castellan, cut off his escape route.\"

Wilhelm's voice was cold. His words hadn't fully sank in when I collided with a barrier. Bouncing off, I twisted around, only for a second barrier to appear behind me. And then a third. I was trapped inside a three-wall barrier, with the only open space leading straight toward the Castellan.

And the huge robot was aiming his hammer right at me.

\"Mjolnir Hammer!\" Wilhelm instructed gleefully. Trapped on three sides, with the only exit blocked off by the Castellan's devastating weapon, I had no choice but to see if my hypothesis from earlier was correct. Dropping my swords, I raised my right hand and gathered as much azure mana into my palm as possible.

\"I am the soul of my sword.\"

The faint outline of a gigantic snowflake manifested in front of me.

\"Fear is my body, frost is my blood.\"

The dual hammerhead was almost upon me, leaving a destructive trail in its wake as it hurtled right into the passageway created by the Castellan's barriers.

And I had my own barrier of my own. Taking a deep breath, I confronted the devastating weapon head-on as I coalesced the mana in my hand.

\"Snow Aegis!\"

The hammerhead smashed into the gigantic snowflake-shaped shield that solidified in front of me, its crystalline petals unfurling to bloom majestically. Debris and rubble pelted the icy barrier as the howling hammerhead ground relentlessly against my ultimate defense, but I refused to yield. Standing my ground, I bellowed.

\"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!\"

The entire area exploded, with destructive waves of mana engulfing me as they were amplified by the barriers. Even the barriers actually cracked from the tremendous impact, but they held. As the smoke dissipated, I staggered, panting.

Fortunately, my Snow Aegis had endured as well. Lowering my hand, I retrieved both of my swords even as my massive snowflake-shaped shield faded away from existence. Sweat poured off my face and I heaved from the exertion, but otherwise I was unscathed.

\"Ho…?\" Wilhelm folded his arms, impressed. \"You can still stand even after taking a direct hit from Mjolnir Hammer? It seems that we've underestimated you, Richard Huang.\"

\"…\"

I was too drained and exhausted to respond to that. Instead, I merely pushed my glasses up my nose and forced what I hoped looked like a confident smile.

\"What overwhelming power!\" the commentator yelled from above. \"It's all that Richard Huang can do just to defend from it! Is this match…decided, then?\"

\"Don't go and end it on your own,\" I snapped and shook my head. Glancing at both of my swords, I then raised my head and nodded at Black Tortoise and Green Dragon. The both of them reverted to their chibi forms and then hopped onto my shoulders. Black mana curled and flowed around the black blade of Hei Yue like a whirlpool while green leaves and pink petals danced around the white blade of Bai Ri as if spring was in full bloom.

\"Huh? I was wondering what you had up your sleeve, but you just turned your giant Soul Beasts into little stuffed animal versions? Are you kidding me? Did you think that by shrinking them, you'll somehow make them more powerful? Don't make me laugh!\" Wilhelm glowered at me, as if he thought I was making fun of him and his robot. \"Castellan, finish him off! Mjolnir Hammer!\"

His mechanical puppet obeyed immediately, blasting the bulky dual hammerhead in my direction. Trapped within the three-sided barriers for now, I didn't move from my position. Instead, I swung Hei Yue, frost trailing my blade as I cleaved the dual hammerhead and destroyed it. The frozen pieces of the obliterated weapon fell and shattered at my feet. Then with a single stroke of Bai Ri, I sliced apart the barriers that had been trapping me all this time.

\"No way! Impossible!\" Wilhelm shrieked when he saw the impossible sight.

\"I guess it's only elementary,\" I muttered to myself. \"If I can't cut through the barriers with large area-of-effect spells, then I'll just have to compress all that tremendous amount of mana into a single point and work on a single specific spot.\"

Smiling, I stepped out of the disappearing pixelated barriers and pointed Hei Yue at the stationary Castellan.

\"Now then…my counterattack begins.\"