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"IMPUDENCE!" the target of his spells shrieked, blasting the fire away from her with an explosion of Light erupting from her very skin. Her dress had received quite a bit of damage, with several holes and scorch marks now decorating it, and one of the sleeves had either been torn off or had simply fallen off after being severed. As far as wounds, all she had were a couple of minor burns here and there.
Talk about tough.
"You…!" Armârôs seethed as she glared down at him. If looks could kill, Issei would likely have been reduced to smudge on the floor in an instant. "You lowly piece of trash…you dare to actually harm me?! You dare to ruin my clothes?! I am going to flay your skin from your bloody carcass and use it to sew a new dress!"
Wow, angry much?
"I can't help but get the feeling that ruining your extremely odd choice in clothing is actually the greater of the two offenses in your eyes." Issei drawled out, doing his best to appear unfazed.
"I made these clothes myself, you peon!" the Fallen Angel snarled.
"Ah. That makes sense." Issei nodded subconsciously. Having your own work ruined does suck…like that time Matsuda had overwritten his save files for Legend of Dragoon with We Love Katamari. It had taken him quite some time to forgive his friend for that.
Don't look at him like that! Legend of Dragoon was a classic!
Wordlessly, the two combatants squared off with one another and started to plan their respective assaults in their minds. Issei knew that she would be ready for his fire spells by this point and he doubted that his [Rope Binding Prison] would be able to slow her for more than a few seconds with the way she was wielding those Light Blades.
All of that aside, fighting her at range was stupid. She had the ability to create and fire spears of capital-L Light without needing words or gestures, and she was able to telekinetically control them too. Add into that her presumably greater experience at fighting and Issei knew that he would be cut to ribbons if he tried to duke it out with her at range.
So then, close-range, where he'd already proven that he was at least close to matching her physically, was his best option.
Almost as if someone had rang a bell to start the next round, both Issei and Armârôs made their moves at the same time. The Sekiryūtei charged forwards, ready to dodge and block any spears sent at him. Armârôs…flew back and into the large atrium, heading up to the ceiling.
Oh…shit.
Issei stared up at the sheer number of Light spears that Armârôs had arrayed around her; there had to be well over two dozen of them. Judging from the look of strain on her face, this was around about her limit.
"Die!" she ground out and sent the deadly weapons right at him.
"[Lesser Barrier Shield]!" Issei commanded time seemingly slowing down around him as he manipulated his mana as quickly as possible, utilising his newly acquired [Dual Casting] skill before using it again, layering the four shields over each other. He then used [Unified Shield] three times, first merging the four shields into two and then the two shields into one. It was an application that he'd thought up on the fly just now, but if the shields retained the bonus Durability that the skill granted them even after being merged again…
The spears rained down on Issei's defensive bulwark. Several missed him completely and slammed into the concrete floor and the zombie corpses lying upon them, ripping through chunks of stone and utterly disintegrating the corpses with ease. The rest fell square on Issei's doubly reinforced shield.
The first several cracked the outer rim; the next few spread the weakness to the rest of the shield. The last five reduced the last fragments of Durability from it, shattering the shield to pieces, with the spears going through it and aimed right at Issei.
"[Force Reduction Field], [Bronze Skin]!" Issei had already started casting even as his barrier began to give way, and feeling his MP coming close to tanking out at the activation of those two skills. He grabbed one of his few remaining MP potions from his inventory and crushed it in one hand. As he hoped, the effect was exactly the same as if he had drunk it, giving him enough MP to hold the spells for just a bit longer.
Then the spears were upon him. Although slowed down slightly by his [Force Reduction Field], they were still blindingly fast. He was lucky enough to avoid two by moving back a step, but the others struck him squarely in the chest.
"Gaaah!" Issei choked out as he was thrown back skidding several feet. It felt as if he'd just been kicked by a horse!
You have lost 265 HP!
'Crap on a stick! That's the most HP I've lost at once, ever!' Issei winced as he pressed a hand to his cuirass. There were dents where it had been struck, but it was still in serviceable condition.
Armârôs was staring at him hard. "That armour…it's more than a disguise…" she said in sudden realisation. "It was forged with magic!"
"Only an idiot would confront a Fallen while wearing regular steel." Issei informed her tartly. "Now it's my turn…[Earth Shot]!"
The sudden appearance of a large missile made of rock aimed right at her didn't shock the Fallen too much; she simply summoned a curved sword of Light and smashed it into gravel. As she did that, however, Issei was charging at her.
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