"Umm are they dead?" Lizzie asked seeing neither of Hercules or Ilpyo so much as twitch after those hammer shots they weren't sure if Noraa really killed them.
"Of course not! I think…" Noraa stomped on the sleeping Hercules who groaned in pain but didn't wake up. "See they're just sleeping. The rest of you take a minute to find a partner and come up with a strategy while I move these two." Which wasn't long at all because he just sent them both flying into the bleachers with a single kick each.
"(Hey kid.)" The voice of the monkey king sounded out in Gil's head. "(Don't take a partner against that man, I'll help you defeat him yourself.)"
"(You can't be serious…this is still Noraa we're talking about.)"
"(Why wouldn't I be?)"
"(I know I have the best shot here, but some backup would be nice…)"
"(I am all the backup you will need! For I am the mighty Sun Wukong! Great sage eq-"
"(Ok, ok I get your point, you're really strong.)"
"(Hehehe good, Good, GOOD. We shall put on a show worthy of one who stands above the heavens!)"
"Gil…Gil!" Hope snatched him out of his mental conversation. "You want to go next with me?"
"Actually Hope, I noticed our group has an odd number of people. So I guess I should be the one who goes alone. I think you and Kelly would make a good team though." He looked to Kelly who looked back at them and agreed with a silent nod. Raphael and Landon were already discussing their plans, which were more like a pep talk for Landon.
"Alright, Jojo let's get our concussions out of the way." Lizzie dragged her sister down the steps and center field with Noraa before anyone else moved.
"Hold up Lizzie shouldn't we at least come up with a plan first?!" Josie wasn't eager to go next after what she just saw.
"I don't know, hit his hat with magic or something…"
"Wow…how inspiring. But whatever, we're here now" Josie sighed accepting her fate.
"Ready girls?" Noraa asked.
"Yes" Josie answered.
"As ready as we'll ever be." Lizzie answered.
"Cool. Catch." Noraa gently tossed a summoned Mjolnir to Lizzie and she panicked, catching it instead of dodging. As soon as she caught it she was pressed to the ground, Noraa was controlling it enough not to let it actually crush her though. "Then there was one." He said turning to Josie.
"Lizzie you weren't supposed to get trapped that fast!" Josie was backing away from Noraa. "Why didn't you just dodge it!?"
"Shut up Jo, I panicked! Help me out! This thing is heavy as hell!"
"A little busy at the moment!" Firing fireball after fireball Noraa simply deflected all of her spells with a metal bat. It vanished and a big jagged bladed cleaver appeared in his hands and he raised it high. "You wouldn't…" Noraa gave no answer and swung down, in her panic she fired again but the spell went from a fireball to an inferno engulfing him completely. "Are you ok? I'm sorry I didn't mean to-"
"Sorry? For what? That's the best one yet!" An excited Noraa was grinning like a madman as his slash parted the flames around him and sent a fissure in the ground stopping just short of Josie. "We're going to need you to launch everything on that scale and up from here on out, like each one is for your life."
"E-every…spell?!" Just that last one took a lot out of her to cast.
"Well if you can't, you'll die sooner than later. The basic stuff needs to be second nature to you" raising the blade once more. Josie was helpless to stop him as she began to regret not training seriously, but before Noraa swung Mjolnir hit him in the back of the head, but it felt lighter than usual. "The fu-"
"HAH! Suck on that! No stupid hammer's going to stop me!" Noraa turned to see Lizzie with black lightning glowing in her eyes and radiating around her like some kind of dark super Saiyan.
"She siphoned Mjolnir? Great thinking Lizzie!" Josie yelled out.
"I never actually thought she'd be that bright." Kelly commented.
"That's so badass!" Landon was ecstatic with the show.
Lizzie had a mischievous grin on her face "Get ready Noraa, I bet you'll feel this!" She launched the lightning from her open palms, and it arced out wildly, frying everything in its path. The wide range and power of the attack was so great Noraa's shields barely held out.
"Gaaahdamn girl that was a nice move." Noraa was clapping in applause relatively unharmed, "but I don't think you can handle god-level magic just yet." Looking at Lizzie she was heavily fatigued from her own attack, breathing deeply and barely standing. What's worse even with Noraa's shield in play Josie still got fried too, she was completely out of it. The others gave her a look like 'wtf Lizzie'?
"What? It's not like Josie can't siphon either! If she absorbed the black lightning or his shields, we could've hit Noraa from both sides!" Lizzie defended herself before anyone spoke.
"(Lizzie actually noticed it?)" Noraa thought as he had purposely thrown a magical weapon at her to siphon.
"I may not train as much as any of you, but my big brother is that nerd who spends hours making up battle strategies," pointing at Gil. "Don't insult my intelligence, I quit Noraa. I'm tired." Noraa picked her sister up and walked them off the field.
"For twins especially you two should also work on your teamwork, and work on refining the spells you do know to higher levels. You didn't have an effective weapon until Liz siphoned Mjolnir, but you couldn't control it and Josie is too afraid to cut loose in most situations. You two fail."
"I know we failed, I quit" Lizzie grumbled. "And you realize they can't hear your lectures while they're knocked out?"
"I guess we're up Hope," Kelly hopped out of the stands landing hard making dust fly and the ground crack.
"Hold up we were going next," Raphael said.
"Landon's gotta treat Josie…still can't believe Lizzie was the smart one here…" She walked away shaking her head.
"Piss off Kelly!" Lizzie flipped her off.
"Wish me luck," Hope said to an unresponsive Gil before following Kelly to the field.
"Whenever you're ready," Noraa said summoning a new weapon. Silver tonfa radiating killing intent, a weapon of pure slaughter. "Haven't used these in a while…" Noraa looked at his weapons completely forgetting the girls in front of him for a moment.
"Careful Kelly his weapons are silver this time. It's going to hurt like hell."
"I know. This ain't my first time seeing silver, but those aren't normal at all. The blood of the dead wolves cries out to me… Hope we can't lose." Kelly said grimly.
"We won't" Hope assured her.
"You get the plan right?".
"Yeah, timing is key." Hope charged in first, meeting the tonfa strike with her shin.
"(Ohh armor shin guards? Must've borrowed em' from Gil.)" Noraa could tell by the clinking sound she wearing metal on her legs. An offense utilizing defense, it was exciting to see. Just as the other Tonfa was inches from Hope's face, she was somehow a step back. "(Huh? No way I missed…)" Before he could process what just happened Kelly's claw swung past his face. "(Armored gloves too? Did they both expect me to use silver?)" She swung several more times and Hope joined in for a team rush. Noraa continued to block and swipe at them both but they both instantly shifted out of his way each time. "(Again? These two might be the trickiest ones.)" Oh well." Noraa threw his weapons at Hope but she substituted on impact.
"She's using her magic like ninjutsu?" Josie speculated now awake and fully restored.
"She and Gil really put a lot of hours in, years really," Lizzie commented watching the tag assault on Noraa. "Oh sorry for shocking you too."
"Don't mention it…seriously don't" Josie responded trying to move on from that embarrassing failure. "But the fruits of their efforts are really showing."
On the field, Noraa was seeming to be struggling in fending them off as they attacked relentlessly at any opening. Finally catching their rhythm Noraa began changing his strike speed accounting for their movements. He hit Kelly in the knee effectively slowing her and she shifted to dodge the next strike, but Noraa noticed she didn't move as far as usual. "Thought so…you're pausing time on everyone but you two to make it seem like you're teleporting around me. Not a bad trick at all. Looks like you can only hold it for a second or two though."
"(He really figured it out like that? I still haven't come close to mastering that time spell yet) You're sharp but that's only half of it," Kelly responded as Hope attacked him from behind and he turned to match her when she shifted to his side.
"Right Flamingo; front kick" A straight kick shattered Noraa's tonfa, before he could counter, she shifted again but she found herself back in her original position when Noraa summoned a dagger with an hourglass in the handle. "Huh?" POW! A front kick returned from Noraa sent her flying.
"Just so you know, this isn't my first time fighting a time user. Sands of time baby." Noraa turned to Kelly and charged at her but just before they met he stopped. Noraa wasn't sure how she did it but he couldn't move for a moment. "What is this?"
"Don't forget my mother is the goddess of heroes, and you just happen to be the most notorious one! I have the ability to suppress heroes."
"Not bad but, I'd have waited a bit longer to reveal a trump card like this" Noraa was breaking her spell with raw strength, slowly marching forward.
"I think I waited long enough," Kelly said back smugly.
"Missing something Noraa?" Hope asked with a confident smirk, she was twirling his hat on her finger a short distance away.
"Hold up! Did you just?" Noraa took his shirt off and laughed when he saw the back had been marked with a small seal. "Hahahaha you really are a different kind of monster Hope, I approve of you and Gil now! Not only did you use magic to simulate a substitution jutsu you even used it for a flying raijinn? Great thinking. Plus I like your innovation to make the most of an incomplete spell Kelly, it made all the difference for your little diversion strategy. You two used your heads and actually combined your skills for a fearsome combo. That's what a chemical reaction looks like! You pass!" After returning his hat Hope and Kelly triumphantly returned to the bleachers. "(That front kick looked a bit more lethal than the one the old man taught, it was sharper and seemed to cut instead of push…where'd she learn that from? And mage as ninjutsu? I guess that'd be like the runes those old mages use? The old man would be happy with her as his granddaughter-in-law. Hahah Gil better holds onto her, not too many are worthy of my little brother,)" Noraa chuckled to himself as Raphael and Landon replaced them with a little more confidence seeing someone succeeded. So what if they didn't have time-space arts? It can be done. "You're not going to faint again, are you?" Noraa asked Landon.
"No! You're the one who's gonna faint this time" Landon yelled back. "You ready Raf?"
"Yeah, let's get that hat." Raphael readied himself.
"Come at me whenever-" As soon as the invitation was issued Landon responded with a huge jettison of fire. Noraa calmly summoned a white-handled fan that had a red and white pattern on its feathers. With one wave a small tornado was pulling the fire in, and a second dispersed it. Landon and Raphael didn't have time to be surprised how easily a feathery fan stopped his attack because when Noraa raised the fan lightning was called down on them. avoiding lightning was not as easy as the others made it look, they both received nasty shocks from the blue. "(I almost feel bad for using the Bashosen on them…) You two have the least experience against such unrealistic weapons and powers. There's a lot worse than getting broken down on a wrestling mat ." Waving the fan again a giant fireball was sent hurtling at Raphael.
"I got you Raf!" Landon shot his own fire out to counter.
"Nope." Noraa waved the fan upwards and a large spire of earth came up and blocked Landon's flames. Raphael managed to dodge the fireball but a tsunami came crashing down out of nowhere before he could charge. In seconds the entire field was flooded.
"Nice save man" Raphael was being held in the air by Landon who had wings of fire sprouting from his back.
"No problem."
"The problem is how are we going to get passed that fan? It has all the elements."
"What if I-"
"You were supposed to come up with a plan beforehand guys" Was all Noraa said as a great inferno came at them. Landon returned a fireball of his own to counter it and several more Noraa fired off.
"Bro throw me at him! If I can get up close he won't be able to use that fan as freely. You cover me from above."
"GO FOR IT!" Landon shouted as he threw Raphael with full force.
Noraa calmly watched Raphael fly at him "You take out a caster by killing the distance and hitting them hard, usually a good plan but you forget one thing. I'm more dangerous up close!" Just as Raphael reached him he took a renewal taekwondo stance.
"Is he really going to?" Hope knew what was coming next and it wouldn't be pretty.
"Jin Hoechook!" With one kick Raphael lie unconscious on the other end of field and everything between them was completely tore up. The waters from Noraa's previous attack we dispersed as and rained down in a light shower.
"Damn…" Landon was dumbfounded and a little embarrassed he just threw Raphael to his death like that. "My bad. We should've come up with a better plan…" He didn't get the chance to think about it too much as wind blasts were thrown at him. Landon dodged them but then lightning and water slicers were added to the mix. After a short aerial evasion display Landon got downed by a flying blade of water, and before he could recover, he was struck with lightning…several times.
"Isn't that a little overkill?" Hope asked.
"Probably making sure he doesn't get up too soon. You know healing and all." Kelly figured.
"That's still just cruel…" Josie knew firsthand getting shocked wasn't fun.
"Don't be one-trick ponies! It was one thing for me to overwhelm you with a power gap but you guys had waaaaay too few counters. Even if you have only one ability you should be able to come up with multiple ways to use it. And remember your opponents abilities too. FAIL!" After clearing the field of those two, the only one left to take the challenge was Gil. Noraa simply pointed at Gil who was just opening his eyes from his brief meditation.