Gard impaled his blade into the ground while gripping it with both wrists.
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and focused on channeling his mana right through his body.
Gul lunged at Benoit in high speed shouting, "Megane!" He held his blade tautly.
Benoit blocked himself with his shield, making Gul bounced off it, gaining more speed as he launches towards the Kaiju.
"R-right away!" she held her staff tightly, then declared, "Scorch Suppress!" Nullifying the heat aura overlaying the Kaiju's body temporarily.
While flying mid-air at high speed, "Vibrant En Grande..." Gul muttered under his breath, targeting the Kaiju's torso with a surprise thrust, vibrating the hit area.
Imra, mid-air, quickly followed up with another strike aiming directly at the Kaiju's eye. "Wasp Needles," she mumbled.
A flickering storm of dual dagger stabs in the eye that felt like being stung dozens of times at once.
The Kaiju quickly regenerated from the vibrations of the blade and let out a sudden roar, launching Gul and Imra back into the ground, hitting the ruined buildings.
"Apex Sunder!!!" Baudin unleashed a sundering vertical slash that covered improbable distances.
Mana exhaustion was slowly taking a toll on him.
The slash pierced through the monster's skin, but it simply regenerated, leaving the attack useless.
One of the soldiers spoke, holding his weapon. "Fuck this bullshit! How long will it take for the reinforcements to arrive?!"
He held his electric plasma gun firmly while trying to shoot the monster.
Another soldier, holding a plasma gun tautly with his right wrist, spoke in a disbelief tone. "Oi oi oi, our attacks have no effect!"
A few meters away from Gard, Verene commented, "Arcane... I'm finally witnessing it for the first time..." Her voice and eyes filled with anticipation as she held her staff firmly.
Abruptly, one of the soldiers beside her spoke in a curious tone. "What's an Arcane?"
Verene stared at him. "Haven't heard of it?" The soldier shook his head in response.
A dark-skinned elf female wearing a coat, with silver wire eagle with arrows in talons depicted on blue wool attached to the back.
The coat flaps as the wind blew right through it, she walked past the soldier and spoke.
"An Arcane is the absolute pinnacle of personal sorcery."
The soldier's eyes widened; he didn't expect the Colonel to be here.
"Master Zen... H-how are you here?" His voice was filled with shock. "I though you were in a dungeon raid—"
Verene nodded her head "The moment a sorcerer stops 'casting spells' and instead becomes the spell itself."
She added,
"It is not a technique... It is a temporary godhood wrapped inside the user's own soul, projected outward as a living domain."
"The sorcerer must be Grade III or lower. Higher-grade sorcerers Grade II and I have souls that are too refined and rigid."
"Their mana circuits have already crystallized into perfect shapes; they can no longer melt their own soul to create an Arcane. This is why the strongest sorcerers ironically cannot use the strongest technique."
Zen stopped in her tracks, her eyes lock at the monster.
"Grade is not just power level — it is a measure of how refined and crystallized a sorcerer's soul has become."
She rested her left wrist on her hips.
"The gods are merciful," She said, "They gave the weak a weapon the strong can never touch. For if a Grade I could wield Arcane… the world would have ended the day the first one awakened it."
"Anyway." She shook her head and let out a deep breath.
"The reinforcements should arrive in 6 more minutes. Just hold on, everyone!" Zen shouted.
One of the soldiers complained, "6 more minutes?!" he spoke in an expressive tone.
"Our ass is getting destroyed by that Godzilla! It's because you guys are too—"
Zen interrupted, speaking in a stern, cold voice. "Shut up."
At the same time, she kicked him in the groin.
The soldier's face went red with agony as he fell on his knee. "That fucking hurts—! Dammit!" he muttered.
He slammed the ground with his right wrist in pain, while his friend giggled in the background, whimpering, "Deserve."
Back to Gard's point of view.
— Flashback —
The earlier interaction flashes through Gard's mind: "So what's your plan?" Gard asked Imra.
"I would like to make a request... use your Arcane, and then the rest of us will handle the monster as soon as it is weakened." She then rested her wrist on her waist.
She added, "That is the only way to beat that massive monster. So I'm asking you right now... Are you willing to take my request?"
Verene, who was healing Gard, interrupted the interaction with the remark,
"Hey! Are you crazy? Don't you understand that using an Arcane has a high chance of taking the user's life, right?! Especially since he's not even one of those Z-Rankers..." Her voice had a mix of worry.
"I know that, I'm not that dumb." She then turned her head back to Gard.
"That's why I'm going to ask you personally." Her eyes were serious.
She then added, "Are you willing to do it?" asking him once more.
"Gard's the only one who has a high burst power form of an Arcane, so I guess he'll be the best choice..." Lucien murmured, as Ivy seated on his shoulder.
"Geez... Of course I do." Gard smiled. "If it means saving someone's life..."
He then proceeded to stand up, fully healed from Verene's spell.
Verene then let out a whine. "Gard..." she mumbled, as she lowered her arms.
— Present —
"Spectral Ricochet," Ives then releases another shot of an arrow.
Followed by Regis, spell, "Gale Prism Lock!"
A massive prism wind cube surrounding the Kaiju, which imprisons and reflects bow shots with sonic rebounds.
The arrow bounces between the barrier at high speed, refracting and gaining power with each strike.
However... once again the Kaiju seemed to take no apparent damage, as it just let out another roar, destroying the barrier like a glass shattering.
The air surrounding Gard swirled and intensified as a light blue mana emanated from his body.
"I'll show you what humanity is capable of..." He muttered.