The Second Fragment (2)
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Masamune watched as Charlotte quickly conversed with the 3 pointy eared blue humans, waiting for her next move. The gigantic being that towered over everything else stood unwavering, his dual shields in his arms.

She didn't know why, but there was an irrational hatred towards the fragment, Atyx. As if there was a nagging at the back of her mind...

Charlotte suddenly shot forward, with her right along, dispersing the thought from her mind. There was a big target in front, and she was hungry for some more golden Ichor.

She expected to cut right through the shields and get into the soft, juicy meats but was disappointed when she ricocheted right off, a golden rune glowing at the impact sight. 

Charlotte murmured something she couldn't hear, and continued trying to hack her way past. A golden rune appeared whenever she attempted to swing, bouncing Masamune right off. Charlotte even tried to switch sides as she darted around the gigantic shields, but Atyx moved one of his shields to block her attempts while keeping the other one in place to defend against the barrages of projectiles shot from the Elves.

Suddenly, the fragment slammed his shields into the ground, causing Charlotte to tumble straight into the sands as the entire world shook. 

[Fortress Above The Clouds]

The skies above parted as a cloud descended, with walls of pure light resting atop it, like a floating island. Charlotte's immediately summoned 5 blood shields instinctively. What she lacked in quality, she made up for quantity, although Masamune wasn't sure if they would actually do the job. 

But then again, Charlotte probably had no intent to get hit anyways. 

Masamune checked her Ichor storage. There was enough for a few spells, but she wanted to save it for now. Ichor was essential to let her participate in the fighting as well, rather than just be a sword. She estimated that it could probably last her... 3 spells after casting [Imbue Essence]. Plus, getting past the shields was extremely hard, with any attack just being absorbed or rejected. 

The floating fortress fired, shining beams pummelling into the sands, vaporizing the piles of weapons and armor that once stood there. As the beams were firing at her, Charlotte suddenly seemed to have an idea. 

[Masamune, I'll be using the Dragon's Blood.]

"...Alright." She didn't have a use for that right now, since her transformation had long since been completed, with her new form having small little dragon scales all over her skin. Her other eye turned a deep red, with her pupils having turned into slits. She didn't know how her physical form looked, but according to Charlotte, 'A lot more Dragon-y'.

[Got it!]

A small portion of the dragon's blood left her body and a sphere of blackish-red liquid formed around Charlotte, complete with horns, scales, and little dragon wings. She made a mad dash straight towards the fragment, with the fortress's light beams following hot at her heels. The gigantic shield swung around and crashed into the other, creating a solid wall right in front of her.

Air currents from flapping the miniature dragon wings propelled Charlotte up high in the air, with the beams following close behind. The beams crashed into Atyx's great shields, shattering many of the runes that appeared. 

Though that was quite genius, Atyx seemed to have quickly realized that as he called off the bombardment and swung forward, batting Charlotte out of the sky like a fly and shattering all 4 of the blood shields, except for the one made of Dragon's blood. The fortress, without any new orders, disappeared into light particles.

[Using a big attack next, hold on...] There was still plenty of Dragon's blood left, especially from such a massive corpse. Seeing that Charlotte was about to commit to a big attack, she decided to use her Ichor now.

[Imbue Essence] activated for 1 hour. A price of 5 liters of Ichor has been used to activate it.
[Essence of Holy] chosen.
Unlocked [Holy blessing] for the duration of [Imbue Essence]'s activation.
Unlocked [Holy Smite] for the duration of [Imbue Essence]'s activation.
Unlocked [Sinless Shackles] for the duration of [Imbue Essence]'s activation.
Unlocked [Angellic Defense] for the duration of [Imbue Essence]'s activation.


[Angellic Defense] used on 'Charlotte Rayne.' May the mantle defend her.
A sacrifice of 1 liter of Ichor is used.

Tacking on a defensive shield to Charlotte in case anything happened, she sat back and carefully watched the entire fight unfold, ready to jump in if need be.
...


Charlotte ran across the desert, her feet crushing the brittle aged armor below. She had Masamune in a tight grip, as her mind finalized on what skill she would use. Dragon's blood worked extremely well against Atyx, it seems, but she feared that she would run out of it before she even cracked the shield.

She had briefly talked to Isbert before this, and they decided that this would be a daring plan to find out whether or not they even needed to break the shield.

Atyx was playing extremely defensively this time, with him using only his shields to defend. She had the Elves' support from the rear so that there was only one shield she had to deal with at a single time. They had spread out a bit now, but Atyx was still keeping all of their projectiles at bay. 

Her foot dug into the sands as she propelled herself upwards, her miniature dragon wings flapping, giving her extra airtime. And as expected, Atyx raised one of his shields upwards, blocking her next attack. He, however, didn't notice the fact that Isbert was gone from his original position, reappearing below the shield's gap, dashing for his Achilles heel.

[Bloody Slash][Dragon's Claw]

What was once supposed to be a single crimson arc of blood turned into a massive blackish-red dragon's claw, swinging down onto his shield. Dozens of runes shattered as the claw made contact, with the tip managing to scratch the shield underneath.

That wasn't her objective though, as Isbert plunged his icy blades into the heel of Atyx, golden Ichor splurting out of his wound. It was minor, yes, but this was enough to show that he could be damaged without his shield. Charlotte swooped down and allowed Masamune to soak up the Ichor from the sands, and quickly flew away before Atyx could retaliate. 

"Foul Mortal."He cursed as his heel regenerated. "Your dirty little tricks end here!"

[Grounds of Absolution]

All sins can be forgiven given time, some can be solved immediately by destroying said sinner. The Holy Council chose the latter.

A golden circle spread out from Atyx, pillars of white rose from the circumference of the entire thing, rising high into the skies. They began to spin, slowly at first, before rapidly accelerating past the sound barrier, gusts of wind being kicked up into a tornado. It slowly closed in, and one didn't need a good imagination to see what would happen if one got trapped by it.

"BE JUDGED!" He roared, his massive frame stomping towards Charlotte, a shield in hand, threatening to swat her into the pillars. 

Seeing that Atyx could be injured by his own spells, she grinned. It seems that even gods can be clouded with anger, preventing them from greater cognitive abilities like thinking of possible repercussions. The Staff fragment didn't simply because a mage couldn't be damaged by their own spells unless they mess up on the spell casting.

A shield warrior, on the other hand, could

Seeing Atyx barrel towards her, she readied herself to dodge at the last moment. In the meantime, she acted like she was casting a spell. Atyx didn't know that Charlotte didn't need cast time, since it was a skill, not a spell. 

[Ichor Runes][Dragonic Runes]

Blackish red runes lit across her body, and the miniature horns atop her forehead glowed red and extended to half a meter in length. Dragon scales rippled across her skin, giving her a glossy look as her pupils turned into slits. 

A single step allowed her to sidestep Atyx's charge, which was now more of a meteor of brilliant gold. Her wings grew larger, and she took to the sky, pointing Masamune at Atyx. In her other hand, she held up her middle finger.

[Ichor Beam][Dragon's Breath]

A dragon's head made of blackish-red blood appeared above Charlotte, with its jaws wide open. And from it, a thick, crimson beam shot towards Atyx, who immediately clamped his shields together. His legs dug into the ground, stopping him from sliding back any further. 

Isbert and Fay appeared behind Atyx, who couldn't block the both of them with his shields engaged on Charlotte and sliced his heels open. He roared as he fell backward, his upper body being caught in the pillars like a blender. Chunks of flesh, divine bone fragments, and Ichor flew as the pillars ground to a halt.

Taking this chance to deal free damage, the elves pummeled him with everything they had, and Charlotte followed suit with her Dragon's breath, which was surprisingly still going. 

Their chance was shortlived, however, as from Atyx's body, a shining bubble of light repelled all of the elves, sending them flying backward. Once the light died off, Atyx stood tall as ever, his upper half now newly reformed. 

"Your dirty tricks shall not work twice!" He roared, as he picked up one of his great shields. His massive fingers reached for the [Holy Light Gem] at the center, with thousands upon thousands of golden runes appearing, attempting to stop him. The smell of burning flesh filled the arid air, as the tips of his fingers turned to ash. 

Isbert didn't waste his time and decided to go in again, with more projectiles being shot at Atyx. Masamune of course didn't waste this time either, quickly casting [Holy Smite], that struck Atyx from above, interrupting him.

"RAHHHH!" He plunged the remainder of his hands in and tore the [Holy Light Gem] from its resting place. All of the golden runes across the great shield died, scattered into the wind as gold dust. "Defy me?!" His massive foot stomped onto the ground, creating cracks in the desert. Charlotte flew out back to safety with her wings, dropping Isbert back near the rest.

Atyx slammed the gem straight into his forehead, embedding it deep. He groaned as a golden light pulsed throughout his body.

Atyx is now fully invulnerable to damage until the [Holy Light Gem] is destroyed.


5 minutes have run out! A random debuff has been applied to all challengers.
You have been inflicted with [Sinners Remorse]. All damage is lessened by 5%, and there is a 1% chance of Atyx reflecting damage done back at you. 

Atyx picked up his great shield once more, a gaping hole where the gem once lay. On the other hand, the remaining great shield that still had its gem molded itself into a great hammer that stood taller than Atyx himself. 

"BECOME DUST, FOUL MORTALS!" He screamed, the air being pushed out from all around him.


To clear up something, the Light gems are what give Atyx his invulnerability to damage. In the Staff fragment, the Light Gems were being used as a power source. By bringing it out to use, Atyx forsakes his ability to take damage in return for the ability to dish damage.

Here in the Shield Fragment, Atyx embedded both of his Light Gems into his shields. Thus, it only protects the shield from harm, and not Atyx himself. The golden runes are the defensive formations talked about earlier. And by embedding the Light Gem directly into his body, Atyx had effectively made himself immune to all damage until it is shattered.

As for why the system mentions that Atyx cannot be damaged until his light gems are shattered? The system only detects the fact that there is a light gem present, not whether or not it is making Atyx invulnerable or not. It only knows that it can make him invulnerable, hence why it was listed there. A little bit of Atyx trolling and gaming the system.

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