Bastard Homunculus: Reborn in the Corpse Pit-Chapter 157: The Hero vs Jules(Part 2)

Akila quickly turned his right side intangible as Jules slashed down at him, her blade phasing through his right shoulder and chest, before she swiftly caught his wrist as he drove his left blade towards her.

He turned his arm intangible to get out of her grasp, before backing away as a bead of sweat ran down the side of his face.

"This lady is so strong, she’s adapting to my Magic way too quickly! I may be avoiding her attacks, but she’s blocking all my attacks too, I can’t land a hit!"

"I think I have a good idea of what you’re capable of now. Playtime is over. [Flame Control]," Chanted Jules, forming several floating fireballs all around her, before spreading them out across the space.

She then shot towards Akila, firing off pressurized jets of flames from her heels to launch herself forward, before swiftly taking control of one of the fireballs and sent it zipping in towards him from behind while his attention was focused on her.

As she swung her blade across towards him, he began to turn the front of his torso intangible, before letting out a startled cry of pain as the fireball struck his back, sending him stumbling forward before gasping sharply as the tip of Jules’s blade sliced across the skin on his chest, inflicting a shallow, horizontal gash, trails of blood trickling down his torso.

He then lunged at her and swung both his blades outwards towards her, before she swiftly sprang back and evaded his slashes, as she sent another fireball shooting in towards his right.

"That won’t work again!" He exclaimed, turning towards the fireball, before crying out as she then launched in another one towards his left, striking his bicep painfully before he quickly swung one of his blades across and sliced through the first one, dissipating it.

"She’s just toying with him at this point, he doesn’t stand a chance!" Alphonse thought to himself with a grimace.

"D-damn it...there’s no denying that you’re stronger than me, lady, but I...I refuse to lose to a heartless Monster who’s complicit in the oppression of innocent people!" Snapped Akila, as he trembled in pain.

"Uh...I’m sorry, what?" Responded Jules in bewilderment, as Alphonse tensed nervously.

"You heard me...I’ve been brought here from another world, for the sole purpose of ending the cruel tyranny that the people of this nation have had to endure! I can tell you’re evil, what with that wicked face, and especially that cold, devilish look in your eyes!"

"Wha-...!?" Blurted out Jules as her right eye twitched in irritated disbelief.

"This is our chance!" Realized Alphonse eagerly, before taking a smoke bomb out of his Storage Ring and flinging it out, a thick cloud of black smoke bursting out and spreading across the space as the bomb exploded.

"What the...?" Coughed Akila, before flinching as Alphonse raced towards him and grabbed his arm.

"Phase us into the basement, we’ll escape into the forest from there! Do it now! Hurry!"

Akila hesitated for a moment, before complying as he accepted the fact that this was a losing battle, phasing through the floor along with Alphonse.

"Damn it, no!" Exclaimed Jules as she fired off a pressurized blast of flames to blow away the smoke, grimacing in frustration as she added, "They got away. I should’ve been more alert..."

"I’m sorry, they’re already out of my sensory range," Spoke up the Detection Mage.

"I don’t get it, why were you holding back so much, Commander? I know his Magic was tricky to deal with, but you could’ve finished that guy off easily if you really wanted to," Remarked Tilda as she approached Jules.

"Yeah, sis-...I mean, Commander. He was fairly skilled, but it seemed apparent that he isn’t very experienced in real combat. You should’ve been able to defeat him without any trouble," Chimed in Siele.

"I know, but...I don’t think he was a bad person. Based on everything he said, I think it’s fairly safe to say that he’s being deceived by Plore. He also mentioned being brought here from another world, I wonder if that means-...? Let’s search the mansion, we’re bound to find something useful since they left in such a hurry. Hopefully, that’ll include a lead as to where they’re going to hide next," Sighed Jules, sheathing her blade.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the forest...

"Okay, I think this should be far enough. That was way too close," Muttered Alphonse, flopping onto the grass with a stained sigh.

"I-I’m sorry...if I were stronger, I could’ve defeated her, I-..."

"No, that was far too high a hurdle for your first real fight...that woman is the Commander of the Knight Order, one of the most powerful individuals in the entire nation, and two of the others with her are among the strongest Knights in the Order after her. Even if you’d reached your full potential, that would’ve been an uphill battle, let alone at your current level," Alphonse informed him bluntly.

"I see...hm, okay then. If she’s really the best they’ve got, I don’t think we have anything to worry about...I know that’s not exactly convincing when I just got my ass handed to me by her, but I still have a lot of room for improvement, right? Once I reach my full potential, I bet I can take her. She was strong, sure, but she wasn’t crazy OP or anything, I’m sure I can surpass her with some more training," Declared Akila with a determined look on his face.

"Yes, I’m sure you can," Nodded Alphonse, while thinking to himself, "If only it were that simple. It doesn’t matter how strong he gets if he can’t apply his skills properly...I’m not exactly an expert, but since I was able to follow the fight closely thanks to my Detection Magic, it was clear that he was moving a lot more inefficiently than he did during training. He kept freezing up slightly every time she attacked, and the more hits she landed, the more clumsy and frantic his movements became."

"Al? Everything okay?"

"Yes, I was just considering our next course of action. We need to get you used to fighting...I think taking on Monsters should be a good start," Suggested Alphonse thoughtfully.

"Sure, sounds good. I couldn’t quite get my body to move the way I wanted it to...at the back of my mind, I couldn’t shake the fear that I might die if I make a misstep," Frowned Akila in frustration.

"I suppose that’s only natural. Come on, let’s get moving, we shouldn’t stick around in one place for too long," Remarked Alphonse, before thinking to himself as the two of them made their way through the forest, "I knew the Knights would catch up to me eventually, but I didn’t think it would happen so soon, I assumed I’d have more time. What an unfortunate turn of events...I should’ve put the Hero Summoning Ritual in my Storage Ring instead of leaving it in the basement, they must have already found it by now. Shit, I also added more notes for future reference, everything I learned about the ritual after summoning him. More importantly, I definitely won’t be able to summon anyone else now, so it’s all or nothing with this guy. I need to push him as much as possible to get him stronger...but I need to be careful not to overdo it, I can’t have him grow suspicious of me, after all."

Back at the abandoned mansion, in the basement...

"I think this must be it, Commander! These documents detail an Ancient Magic Ritual called the Hero Summoning Ritual, Plore must have used this to summon that guy!" Called out Siele.

"Oh, good work, Vice-Commander. Let me see," Replied Jules, walking over and skimming through the documents, "Interesting, so this-...hm? Wait, these notes look new, the paper is clearly modern, and the text looks like it was written recently. The handwriting is awful though, I can barely read it."

"What does it say?" Inquired Tilda curiously, peering over Jules’s shoulder.

"Apparently, those who are summoned using this ritual are able to choose their Magic Class and Combat Template. Furthermore, they have an innate ability to master their powers at an unnaturally fast rate. Huh? No way...it also says that summoned individuals possess a potential Magic Power Level of 150,000. It’s not as high as Raven’s potential, but still," Remarked Jules warily.

"I wouldn’t be too worried about that. Raven is immensely powerful, sure, and his current Magic Power is about four times higher than yours right? Despite that, it’s not like he’s drastically more powerful than you or Captain Aster," Pointed out Siele.

"Well, yes, but that’s only in his normal state. His full power, the form he called Dark Raven, is definitely a lot more powerful than I am. Anyway, we should assume the worst and consider him to be a serious threat. We have no idea how long it’s been since he was summoned, but considering how new these notes look, I doubt it’s been very long. Which is alarming when you think about how strong he already was-..."

"Oh, look here, Commander, these notes have been dated. The handwriting is so bad that I didn’t realize these were dates, but now that I look closer...," Trailed off Tilda, pointing along the margin of the page, with scratchy squiggles written next to each paragraph.

"Hm? Yes, you’re right, these are dates. The first entry is dated, let’s see...damn it, I can barely decipher it. I think it says, uh...okay, I think that’s a one. Is that a six? Maybe an eight? No, I think it’s a six. This might be a six as well...and I think the rest is 1919, the current year. One, six, six...the 16th of June. Hold on, that’s-...today’s the 24th, right?"

"Yeah, that’s right," Nodded Siele with a grimace.

"No way...he was that strong after just eight days?" Realized Tilda as her eyes widened.

"This situation just got a lot more urgent, he could become a serious threat if we take too long. Inform the rest of the Order, our current priority is locating Alphonse Plore and the young man he summoned, as quickly as possible!"