His blade clashed against the generals heavy armor as it wasn't strong enough to slash through it. "You think you could break through my armor that easily? The Great General Nori would never be that weak. Hahaha." He speaks before laughing as he looks down at Artemis.
Nori didn't hesitate to initiate his next attack towards Artemis whatsoever.
A fist like stone crashed toward Artemis's ribs. He twisted—barely ducking under it—feeling the shockwave brush past his cheek.
He staggered back, boots scraping against broken stone. Grit filled his mouth, his fingers aching from the jarring impact.
"Tch… Damn it," he hissed.
Nori advanced. Slow. Methodical. Each step was a promise of death.
Artemis lunged again, feinting low before slashing high—but Nori caught the blade on his gauntlet, twisted, and nearly tore the sword from Artemis's hands.
Power. Precision. Control.
Artemis was fast—but Nori was unmovable.
He quickly backed up after that and took a second to assess the battle.
Just like when I first fought the keeper, I'll need to use my power if I'm going to win against him. His armor is way more durable than my blade can handle so what can I do about that?
I don't know much about how to utilize the full extent of my shadows yet so what could I do here?
A warm embrace is all he can feel as she speaks to him. "You really do rely on me quite a bit, I might as well be the one in charge at this point." She says with a slight chuckle in her voice.
Nori takes notice of Artemis's eye, realizing that it's being engulfed by some sort of dark mist. "Shadows, something that hasn't been seen in a long time. You truly will be an interesting opponent for me to face." Nori speaks with a more serious tone in his voice.
"I don't have any other choice but to rely on you if I want to get stronger and if I want to survive this battle." Artemis says softly to her.
Arms begin to form from the shadows around them as they quickly charge towards Nori without any time being wasted. He begins to dodge them while swinging his hammer towards the ones he can't dodge.
A shockwave going past Artemis with each swing as Nori manages to survive the attack in its entirety. "You'll have to try a bit harder than that if you plan to win." Nori taunts him as he swings the hammer around.
He's not wrong, I'll have to attack at the same time as the arms do if I want to have a chance of getting some damage in.
He charges in once again as the shadows begin to assist more, arms charging towards Nori from all different directions as Artemis closes the gap.
Nori tries to block them as one goes for his arm while another goes for his leg, but as he goes to block these attacks he forgets about Artemis— His blade slashes across him once more but this time it was different, it was aimed for the gaps within his armor.
But it wasn't just his blade that was cutting into the gap, a combination of his shadows was infused in the attack as it went into the gap of Nori's armor.
It didn't stop Nori from throwing his fist towards Artemis though, he was a general for a reason. As his fist connected with Artemis's face he could feel a sharp pain go throughout his body.
Artemis's attack was successful and would do a lot more damage than Nori anticipated, even if he punched Artemis away from him.
Tumble!! Clatter!! Artemis tumbled onto the ground as he sword clattered on the floor before him. Blood dripped in front of him as he stared at the ground for a moment.
That guy has one hell of a fist... But it won't be enough to stop what I did to him, that attack will be the turning point of this fight.
"You didn't even need my help for that attack, infusing the shadows like that was smart." The girl says with more of an impressed tone in her voice.
Artemis looks up to see what's happening with Nori and he realizes that the shadows are tearing through his armor as he tries to smash away at them with his fist. He was no longer shielded by all this heavy armor, he was now vulnerable.
Sitting on the ground like this isn't like me— It was time for me to get up so I can finish this fight. Nori will die here today, I won't hesitate to finish him off.
The dust was finally gone but everything was happening a lot faster than the others realized, they were just seeing the current portion of the fight.
Artemis picks up his blade and stands up, he realizes that it's the perfect chance to try and finish the fight.
"Grahhh!!! This isn't ending like this!" Nori shouts as he slams his hammer down into the ground once again.
A small rumble goes through the ground as he continues to panic, shadows continue to rip apart his armor as Artemis charges in.
He brings his blade up as he reaches Nori, slashing directly across his chest and up towards his shoulder. Splurt!!!! Blood begins to come out from the wounds as Artemis's blade exits his shoulder.
Leaving a giant wound from his chest up to his shoulder, Nori felt his knees buckle as he fell to the ground. He manages to use his hammer to hold himself up as he looks towards Artemis. "This fight isn't supposed to end like this, it's too early..." Nori says with an annoyed tone in his voice as one hand grips his wound.
Drip. Drip. Blood continue to drip onto the floor as Artemis stands there before him. "Speed is kind of my specialty, I can tell it's not yours since you swing that hammer quite slow." Artemis responds while standing there.
I got blood all over my new armor and it's actually from me, that damn punch really threw me off.