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"RAAAAHHHH!"
They roared in unison, everyoneâs Auraâs surging, their souls beginning to temporarily merge within a core, and that core became the heart of Fuyuâs body.
Her body rapidly began to regenerate, as it started to change, or it tried, giant arms surging from the sides, but it was sloppy, the entire thing trembling and causing chaos, it wasnât working properly.
"What do you think youâre even doing?"
Maeda reached them, mocking their stupid attempt at trying to do something, Rakasha gasping for air and feeling like throwing up, somehow he could take on everyoneâs souls, but there was something deeper he simply wasnât compatible with.
"T-TAKE THIS!"
He roared, the giant mechanical arms rushed forward, made of divine ice and black bricks, striking Maeda, who swiftly tanked both hits with his bare body, before swinging his spear down and destroying one arm with a powerful thunderous strike!
CRAAASH!
Then, he fired his cannon, destroying the other arm and making everything crumble down to pieces, completely useless!
BOOOM!
"Incredible, you only managed to make your struggle even more pathetic. Are these the men and women that fight for the Dragon King? It seems that he left me his weakest, is this an insult? Iâll kill you quickly and go help Mitsuhide, at least the ones heâs fighting against are putting an actual fight."
"{Stormline Impaler: Rankan No Yari}!"
TRUUUMMM!!!
Maeda pierced through Fuyuâs shield with his spear, as his cannon fired a giant beam of cursed energy and lightning, blowing her away with a massive explosion, sending her clashing into a large area of the endless castle that had yet to be destroyed, destroying it in the process.
BOOOM!
"U-Uuugh...!" Charlotte slowly opened her eyes, finding everyone was still alive inside, although battered down and exhausted. "Shit..."
Their plan ended without working at all, Rakasha was unable to unify their souls, and Fuyu could not properly transform. Maeda was a merciless warrior and went for the kill.
"If it wasnât because of this giant piece of divine ice, you all would be dead by now," Maeda said, slowly flying towards them. "Well, thatâs no more, I will destroy it, alongside all of you."
Maeda started charging lighting and cursed flames through his two weapons, pointing them at Fuyu. He knew this techniques could deal a lot of damage, but Fuyu was massive, he needed something even stronger, and more destructive.
"E-Everyone..."
Charlotte called for everyone slowly crawling her way towards Rakasha, who was coughing blood, feeling exhausted.
Everyone else slowly woke up, realizing their plan had failed spectacularly, and they were now about to die because of that.
"Iâm sorry... I... I couldnât do it... It was so hard to unify everyoneâs souls... I... Couldnât lead you..."
Rakasha sighed, gasping for air, looking at the frost ceiling.
"Maybe we judged him wrong... He wasnât the one..." Augustus muttered. "But heâs the strongest... what else can we do? Do we have to just ask desperately for help at the end?! Ugh, but itâs so frustrating! Why did Drake even let us fight this guy if we cannot even have a chance?! Was he toying with us? Mocking us?! That damn bastard, maybe he-"
"No! Drake would never do that!" Charlotte said angrily. "Drake knows what he says, and always knows what heâs doing, even though he sometimes is a bit clumsy or... well, rough around the edges... Heâs... our leader... he helped me so much back then... he helped all of us... we wouldnât be here if it wasnât for him, right? Most of us would be dead!"
"Sheâs not wrong..." Kraxka sighed.
"Drake knows best... but then how do we do it?" Larzak asked.
"He was so vague about it..." Hector muttered.
"Maybe we had to fight alongside Benladann and the rest, but that bastard sent us flying away, and theyâre now super busy with Mitsuhide!" Tisha said.
"No... I am sure he knew something..." Charlotte said. "I am sure that we can do this... we just have to find another way... We canât disappoint him, nor the people we came here for... like you guys with Surtr, or you other guys for Emerald, right? I-I..."
As everyoneâs eyes pointed at Charlotte, they nodded, smiling lightly.
She was inspiring them, moving them with their words despite everything.
"Charlotte... Hahah, Iâve never heard you speak like that, girl... you truly are a leader, eh?" Tisha laughed.
"Aye, sheâs our captain after all," Pekora giggled.
"Aye, aye, Captain..." Hector smiled lightly.
"Charlotte... I wish we could be stronger..." Larzak sighed.
"Even with Kateâs nanobots, this is as far as we can go, huh?" Kraxka asked.
"No..." Charlotte said. "This isnât as far as we can go..."
FLASH!
"Hm?!"
Suddenly, Augustus felt something, a tingle, a spark of power.
Something within...
Charlotte.
"We can go even further! Weâve always done so! We can always overcome everything when we work as a big team!" Charlotte stood up. "Iâve always been glancing at everyone fighting, always feeling so damn powerless! You think youâre weak? Hah! I am the weakest here; I literally have nothing! I am so weak I canât even hunt monsters on my own! Even though I supposedly ascended into a Goddess a while ago, I couldnât even muster the strength to confront my parents! And yet... Drake, and all of you here... you helped me overcome these things. Youâre all really strong, youâre... youâre my heroes, youâve always had been."
"Charlotte...!" Hector was moved.
"Are we...?" Larzak gasped.
"Captain... thanks..." Kraxka smiled.
"Thatâs really sweet of you..." Pekora said.
"I guess we are, heh," Tisha smiled proudly.
"Surtr... heâs also our hero," Jamar smiled, standing up. "Hey Charlotte! Can you hold this?"
The young Myconid pointed his hand at Charlotte, as his Psychic Aura surged, reaching her and infusing into her body and soul.
FLUOSH!
"Woah!"
Charlotte thought she would feel dizzy and throw up like Rakasha did...
However, there was no problem.
She felt stronger than ever, and it felt... just right.
"I donât feel bad like Rakasha did... why?" Charlotte was confused.
FLUOSH!
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