No... he couldn't deny it anymore...
Stark WAS a fantastic opponent, probably in his top 3 ever, an honor he didn't give easily.
It wasn't simply because of Kokoro's energy balls that he did that, but also since he knew victory wouldn't be possibly without giving it his all.
And now... both of them had to fight with everything they had, their destiny determined by the fight that is currently happening.
Akira lunged at Stark, but right afterward, a giant crimson cross appeared above him.
'Doesn't matter, that thing is probably buffing him...' Akira didn't stop, and his excitement grow more than ever before when he saw the blade on the verge of hitting Stark.
And yet... the cross reached it before he could attack.
'Huh?' he saw the crimson cross made out of right in front of him, one of the edges of straight line hitting him and sending him flying.
~SLAM, BOOM~
He hit a wall, then fell, his face showing some signs of visible pain.
"-4381!" and it actually did decent damage.
'Oh...?' Stark didn't expect this much, wasn't this cross made out from [Exorcist]? So wasn't it supposed to be mainly used against the undead and demons? And yet... it still did good damage, huh.
Maybe because [Domination] was mixxed in with it?
"Fucking hell..." Akira instantly got up, rubbing his forehead, he was protected by his armor, but his head wasn't, "QUIT TRYING SO HARD..."
~FWISH~
"MOONSLIGHT SLASH!" he yet again dashed toward Stark, this time faster and stronger.
And yet...
~FWISH~
The cross still ended up in front of him.
"NOT THIS TIME!" he tried to slash it using his two katanas.
But... it was useless as it fazed right through them.
"-4928!"
"STOP DOING THAT..." Akira gritted his teeth, and as he looked up... he saw the cross above him again.
~SLAM~
[Crucible Knight (ELITE)]
Another was a orange beast with flames on its back, also carrying a fire sword and a golden necklace between its neck, it looked like a lion with fire mane, yet the skin of its body was grey and it was standing on its two feet.
[Misbegotten Lion (ELITE)]
And the third was a giant black shadow that seemed to be formed from the darkness itself, floating above the ground and emitting a chilling aura, its presence making the air feel colder, it didn't seem to have a body except for its crimson eyes staring at them.
[Nightmare Shadow (ELITE)]
Way too many elites were present, and the difficulty jump from the last sublevel to this one was out of this world.
One thing was absolutely certain: none them, neither Stark or Akira, would be able to defeat all these things while they were cornered.
Was this the true reason no one completes a [Death] difficulty trial?
The levels before that had been a cake walk, and although many people died, it still seemed doable.
And now... the trial shattered that hope, giving them impossible enemies to defeat, all the while being together in a group.
It was unfair... completely unfair...
And yet... neither Akira nor Stark did back down, both kept staring at one another.
The monsters were a threat, that is for sure, but in the face of it all... nothing was stronger than them in this hallway.
And to add to that fact... both pulled out the item that would save them from this situation: the [Monster Scent] they both owned.
It was a spray with a green liquid inside of it.
[Monster Scent: Upon usage, all monsters will ignore you as they recognize you as their own, even if you kill many of them, this lasts ten minutes, one time use]
[Spray it on yourself...]
And so they did as told, both spraying all the green liquid all over their bodies, making their scent seem friendly to all the monsters, and thus making ALL of them stop their assaults, unable to understand where the humans that were just there go.
[You are protected from 'monsters' by "Monster Scent" for 10 minutes, use them wisely!]
So basically... they had ten minutes to end this fight and get out of this situation, and hopefully find the key while they were at it.
This was not a lot of time, but it could still be doable.
"I hope you are ready, Chosen!" Akira shouted as he positioned himself, holding his two blades.
"That's my line," Stark smiled as he also placed his two crimson fists in front of his face.
[EGO Meter: 95/100]