Nuriel waited like a hawk midair. He closely watched the ongoing duel between two monsters who were fast enough to the point they could sometimes leave shockwaves.
However, Yevdokiya seemed to be slowing down as some of the entity's slashes were finally hitting her.
The glow of the shield around Yevdokiya seemed to grow fainter and fainter each time the entity landed a hit.
He looked back at the track and field to see that they were already finished setting up. Seeing the sight both astonished and scared Nuriel.
'They're quite religious...' Nuriel commended their work.
Now he had to get Yevdokiya to lead the entity into the killzone. But seeing the dangerous fight made him rethink his decisions.
"Could you just tell Yevdokiya to come here?" he quietly muttered.
. . .
[No]
'How direct!' Nuriel was beginning to think that there was something more to the AI, but he held that thought back for the meantime.
Regardless, even if he had the ability, he would still hesitate to do it like that. It was instead better to do it himself, with his own voice that he used for her, so he could build a sense of familiarity with her.
Nuriel picked up his speed. He could only imagine the consequences if he were to suddenly crash into a wall or get swept away with the entity's deadly attacks.
Locking his eyes with the blue dot, he quickly began his pursuit and kept his distance away from the entity.
Unfortunately, they were close to the ground since she was utilizing the maze like environment of the surrounding buildings to slow the entity down. So Yevdokiya's quick turns and dodging made her unpredictable.
He patiently waited until she was directly flying along a long strip of road. This was also one of those times where Yevdokiya could outrun the entity, giving Nuriel a chance to grab onto her without worrying about attacks that could hit him.
Nuriel continued following, constantly checking what move Yevdokiya would do next.
He waited.
And waited.
Eventually, as the entity drew uncomfortably closer to Yevdokiya, she suddenly made a 90-degree turn towards a long and empty strip of road to gain some distance, utilizing her superior acceleration and sheer forward speed.
'There!' Nuriel also picked up his speed, but Yevdokiya was already flying so fast and so, he had to go faster than her.
That meant that the winds were so strong to the point that he struggled to even open his eyes, but regardless, he continued moving forward.
He didn't care what would happen to him next—whether it be the consequences of suddenly slamming into a building or being careless enough to accidentally lower his altitude and scrape himself along the rough road.
Nearly blind, he extended his hand and swung it around, hoping to get ahold of Yevdokiya. Since he didn't know when she'd turn, he was desperate.
Touch.
He felt the clothes she was wearing. A faint smile crept up on his face but quickly disappeared as he lost contact and heard a metal squeaking.
Could it be the swiveling pedal on the metal pole? Is she going to turn? Dozens of microsecond thoughts came to Nuriel, but he didn't hesitate. It was now or never!
Grab.
Whoosh!
Yevdokiya pitched up at a 45-degree angle, putting everything she had into the thrusters, which were spewing out massive amounts of thrust. However...
Nuriel's mind screamed. He wanted to scream in pain but couldn't find the ability to do so.
His right hand was desperately clinging onto the burning hot thruster. The heat was engulfing his entire face and torso as if he was showering in crackling hot oil.
The pain was unimaginable. He felt his skin, his eyes, even his bones light up in agony as Yevdokiya continued to crank up her speed. He wanted to let go, but he maintained his grip.
Despite the burning sensation, his form still maintained its clarity.
Slowly, he lifted himself up inch by inch, eventually grabbing hold of Yevdokiya's legs.
After a minute, he hugged her from behind, mentally exhausted from the burning that was still sticking to his skin like phantom pain.
He pieced together his thoughts. "Good to know that I won't die in this form... but it hurts like hell!"
Thud.
One of the fabric-like tentacles managed to just barely scrape her shield.
Nuriel turned to see that the entity was already so close due to Yevdokiya pulling up and losing a lot of her momentum and slowed down, however, she did have, although minimal, the altitude advantage.
If she could descend, then she would certainly outpace the entity with the help of gravity, giving her the ability to dictate where they would go.
Nuriel cleared his throat and imagined his voice to be divine. Because of her throttling, he almost wanted to say certain things that would make a grown man cry—but that would have been counterintuitive.
'How should I even say this... since I'll need to act my role as her benefactor... so should I stick to a demeanor?'
Serious?
Nonchalant?
Male voice?
Female voice?
Thud.
Shatter!
Both Nuriel and Yevdokiya's faces froze at the sight of the shield shattering.
Recalling his previous life, handling multiple workers for his research, acting as a leader, he silently breathed in and out before moving closer to her ears.
'Good evening, if you want to live...
Despite the sudden voice from before appearing again, Yevdokiya continued flying.
Go to the College of War.'
. . .
Nuriel gulped and waited for a response. 'Was that good? Did I do it right?'
Yevdokiya had a questioned look on her face for a few seconds before responding. "Who are you?"
However, Nuriel didn't reply. It was best to tease her a little and not give her an answer. She was the one that had to come to him. He had to maintain his mysterious image.
Swoosh!
A sharp fabric-like tentacle went over them. Fortunately, Yevdokiya managed to dodge in the nick of time.
'Just go already!' he pleaded.
From the lack of response of that strange voice, she clicked her tongue and dived down towards where the voice told her to go.
With the help of gravity, she was slowly getting a bit further away from the entity.
After they were close enough, Yevdokiya's eyes lit up as she saw multiple anti-air cannons at the center of the track and field. Something clicked in her mind. She immediately knew why that voice wanted her to go there specifically.
She poured every essence she had left to go much faster.
In the field, the students waited with the massive anti-air cannons, loaded with fused ammunition.
"Look! Over there! They're coming! They're actually coming!" someone shouted as he pointed at the sky.
"Remember! Don't shoot at the blue dot! The voices told us!"
The gunners patiently waited. They didn't know how they could even hit such a fast-moving target, but with the divine voices they heard, they held their belief not in their skill, but in a much higher being.
In the sky, Yevdokiya steadied at around a hundred meters in the air, making a beeline towards the killzone.
One second... two... three. She went past the killzone and quickly turned around to face the entity, which was a good distance away from her.
She took out three small canisters with pins, Nuriel noticed large letters printed on them. Two of them had the text SMOKE, while one of them had a sort of beehive design to it with no text.
Before Nuriel could even think about what she'd do with them, she suddenly threw the three cans towards the entity, which was about to arrive at the killzone.
"Think fast!" she mocked.
She then quickly took out a bullet with strange engravings and directly loaded it into the chamber and aimed.
Just now, he remembered to try and project onto her Scepter.
Nuriel paused for a split second. He didn't know how to even do it. He punched himself mentally for such an obvious oversight!
Regardless, he closed his eyes and imagined what needed to be done.
All processing power of my Scepters will go to the Scepter fragment of the Blessed Desacares.
All processing power of my Scepters will go to the Scepter fragment of the Blessed Desacares.
All processing...
He managed to will the idea seven times in his head in a fraction of a second.
Though his eyes were still closed, a bright yellow light pierced through his eyelids and engulfed his vision.
Yevdokiya wore a shocked expression, as the tip of her barrel was emitting bright arcs of lightning and swirls of pure essence. But she did not let the sudden surge distract her.
Click.
Boom!
An endless and condensed stream of pure destruction left her barrel, striking the three grenades that were directly in front of the entity's face. Two exploded into thick smoke, the third flashed to blind the entity for a split second.
After the explosion, the stream of destruction bored a head-sized hole into its chest as the essence burned it from the inside.
The entity paused to understand what was happening.
. . .
"FIREEE!" a student commanded.
Although the entity couldn't see the ground due to the smoke, multiple flashes managed to break through, followed by large ammunition that promptly exploded in front of its face.
There were nearly forty anti-air cannons that were pointed towards the entity. At a range of only 100 meters, suffice to say that every airburst round hit its mark—to the point that it might've been overkill.
The entity, or what was left of it, fell to the ground, right on top of the students in the middle of the track and field.