Chapter 150 - The Skirmish Outside

"Could this be the place?" Kai Xin turned to the Serpent Summoner as he was here before already. "Yeah. No doubt about it. Tread carefully, everyone."

"It reeks of death here." The Allcaster said after inhaling a faint gust of air. "Well, it is where almost fifty rookies laid down their lives for that little despicable experiment by the High Council, so yeah." Vale replied back.

Yin Sohaya gulped. It was as if the sacrifices of everyone while they fought the Angel here came back to him. All the sense of guilt, powerlessness, and carelessness flooded his mind. Suna tapped him lightly, just enough to shake him out of it. "You alright?" She asked. "Y-Yeah. I am fine."

Gavin was the one leading this mission, he had already briefed them of everyone's positions and what they would do if they were ever going to be locked in battle. He called Fen and asked the Allcaster to approach him. "Do you sense Adam Rosa's Anima cells anywhere?" The Serpent Summoner asked him. "No. Not at all. But I do sense many Angels heading towards us, about thirty of them. They all share the same Anima cells, so there is no chance they are Seraphims." Fen replied back.

"I see. Then it seems like it is safe to assume that Adam already knows of the Sword of Alacrity's location." Gavin clenched his fist. "Everyone! Prepare for combat! Thirty or more Angels are coming in from the north!" 

They all went in to attack positions and stances after hearing the mission leader's calls. As sour as Ignis Silva's face was that he was not chosen, he had already moved on and was prepared to follow the Serpent Summoner's shot calls for the entirety of the mission, that was how committed to the rules he was.

The long range spell casters formed a line at the back, led by Fen Kaori and Gavin Khalil. They were preparing their grimoires while he pulled out his paintbrush and blank canvas. While the front line bruisers was led by Faust Keisuke and Luken Regalia, the Commander, this was where Yin Sohaya and Suna Izanami was situated in. The middle part was tasked with backing up the bruisers and killing all those who rushed in to the back lines of casters, it was led by Ignis Silva and Kai Xin, this was where Hector Incendium and Zachary Lancaster were placed in. Finally, the reconnaissance team tasked with going straight to where the Sword of Alacrity could have been was the Basilisk Slayer and Vale Ashford, the Specter.

"For mankind and Niflheim!" Gavin shouted, they all followed shortly after. Their war cry had already been voiced out, the inevitable battle was getting nearer and nearer as the silhouettes of about thirty Angels began to make themselves clearer in the skies as they approached.

The Allcaster noticed them first before Amara the Emerald Dragon did as this was one of the upsides of having that much Anima cells, the sheer concentration it required to act like the team's 'radar' was very needed in this situation.

Gavin summoned Ryoko, the Elder Wyrm to aid in the assault of the bruisers, this might have been overkill for them to expend everything, but it was also in preparation and assuming that Seraphims would follow soon after they had exterminated them all.

A familiar flashing red light invaded Yin's field of view. It was the System. [ Quest : Survive the Race to the Sword of Alacrity.] the System's voice said. "What does it look like I should do?!" Yin exclaimed back but he had forgotten to reply back with his mind, he instead said it verbally. This caught the Commander's attention. "Calm down, Yin boy, I've got your back in case something happens, not only yours, but I have got everybody's back here!" The Commander was pumped up which made the others share in the same fervor as he did.

For a moment, time stopped once more. Only Yin was ever aware of this, everyone had been frozen in place. "W-What the hell is happening?" Yin was confused until the blackish void like form of the Creator appeared before him. This was the first time that he showed himself in the outside world to Yin. "Hello, Yin." He said. "Why are you here outside?" Yin was confused. "I have come to bring you a gift of some sort, something that will aid in your incoming battle." The Creator pulled out a sword from out of his own body. "Here." He gave it to Yin. It was a sword with its hilt forming a skull shaped pattern. The sword's size itself was longer than usual, but too thick to be called a rapier. "T-This sword, is it from the System?" Yin wanted to know. "That is right, my dear Yin, use it well, you do not need to ask how you would be able to wield the sword at all, trust me, you already do. Just rely on your instincts and you will be fine." Said the Creator before he waved Yin goodbye and vanished, resuming time to its natural state and flow altogether afterwards.

"Eh? Where did you get that sword, Yin?" Suna was confused after seeing Yin hold on to the long blade.

"I-I found it laying on the ground, perhaps it belonged to another Slayer who perished here, yeah, that is probably it." Yin nervously answered back. Sun was confused as to why Yin would use a weapon he has never practiced with ever since, especially now that it was a do or die scenario.

The Angels stopped for awhile mid air, scouring the situation for about ten seconds, Gavin gave the signal for the Allcaster and the long range Slayers to throw in their spells first. Some of the Angels dodged them easily but the they were aiming for their wings all along, some fell to the ground after having their wings hit. This was the time where Luken gave the clear go ahead for the bruisers. "Let's fucking go!" He exclaimed. 

He placed his rapier in his waist and shot the Angels with water droplets from his fingers. "Aqua Juxtaposition!" he shouted, the water droplets turned into mirages of him and each one pierced the downed Angels straight in the heart. The Commander had already eliminated two Angels in the process of his attack.

While their skirmish was taking place, Vale and Artorias sneaked around the place, careful not to be seen by the Angels, they had a map with them which marked the location of the sword, they both followed it intently. Once they got there, they dug deep in the ground, remembering what the Emperor said to them that it would be buried about twenty or so meters down below. The Basilisk Slayer took out his huge great sword from his back and began digging while the Specter stood by, keeping an eye on the surroundings, in case someone had planned to ambush them.

Yin could feel that he really was getting stronger, although he was still struggling against Angels, he was not as powerless as he was before. He activated his Binding Chains after decaying a couple of Angel's limbs. Ignis and all the others who had never seen it first hand were pleasantly surprised. "So, that is the Six Blades' Yin Sohaya's powers, eh? Not bad." He said while throwing his playing cards at the winged harbingers trying to close in on the spellcasters at the back.

Zachary was also casting his azure flames alongside the leader of the Inferno Garden. "How fascinating, blue flames…" Ignis said to himself. Suna Izanami was going one on one against an Angel all by herself, she was pulling her own weight in the fight. There was no way that she would not do anything after being recruited by her seniors, that was what she thought.

"I may have underestimated the young core of the Six Blades. They each have their own unique quirks and ways of fighting, yet they all complement each other very much in the battlefield. I have got to give it to you, Gavin, Luken, you two chose exceptional individuals." Ignis said. "Hector, we can handle it here, I want you to join the bruisers in the front, show them how the Inferno Garden does their jobs." He said with a grin. "Very well, sir Ignis." Hector complied and jumped in, pressing an Angel down on the floor by stepping on its neck, before fully eviscerating it with his flames, burning it into ashes until nothing remained of it.

Everyone's eyes were widened by what they saw. "T-That's the power of a prodigy for you…" Someone said from the back. Zachary saw the sheer difference in his and Hector Incendium's power level. But he was not about to get left behind in this battle, he was casting even more advanced spells now, far too recklessly, in fact. 

Ignis placed his hand on his shoulders. "Competition is good, believe me, it really is.. But do not exhaust yourself this early by casting far too much than you are normally able to."