"Ah!" Tyel let out a shocked breath after he found himself again with his throat intact. He had just stood up, and everyone else was looking at him in confusion.
"What is it, Tyel? Do you want to wait?" asked Liro, worried at the sight of Tyel's sudden expression change.
"Did something happen?" asked Darian, curious.
"Ohh, let me guess!! You've used your power?" said Catripple, excited while clapping her hands.
"Yeah… I've seen the future of us going for the sanctuary's exit… and Ashikunz saw us almost immediately," said Tyel with a worried tone.
"Isn't it dark outside?" asked Martheel, confused.
"Maybe he can see in the dark without any problem?" pointed out Darian. Tyel, hearing Darian's words, nodded his head.
"He clearly said that not all Krukin can look into the darkness, but he could without any problem," said Tyel. "That is how he was able to find us."
"Have we got any other exit?" asked Liro. Tyel, while scratching his chin, thought about a plan.
"We can still go there from that exit… but Liro, can you help us with your illusions?" asked Tyel.
"I'm not sure… I feel like my soul still can't keep up with much more magic," pointed out Liro as he looked first at his hands and then at the bandages covering the bullet that pierced his body before.
"You will not need much soul to let us escape, right? We can all camouflage with the environment around us and then we will just flee from the city," proposed Catripple, but with that, everyone looked at her in confusion.
"Leaving? What are you talking about?" asked Syrmax, confused.
"It's not like we can win against this Ashikunz now…" she said as she scratched the back of her head awkwardly.
"We know it's impossible… but we have to stop him now… have you seen all the robots around?" asked Darian as he opened his hands toward the glass in front of him.
"We believe that he's only waiting for our defeat to prepare his plan of attacking the whole world… if we escape now, there will be no one to stop him… and he will arrive at all the other cities too," added Lily.
"And these are the only robots we've seen… there are surely more, all in the city and in some other places too," pointed out Syrmax.
"And I'm against this bullshit plan." Vane, with fire burning in his eyes, clashed his fists together. "After what they've done to Mary, it's not like they deserve a peaceful death."
"I've thought of something… Liro, are you willing to bring three of us and yourself with your illusion?" asked Tyel. Liro looked at his hands once again and let out a deep breath.
"I…" After taking the breath, Liro looked at Tyel with a serious look. "I'll do it; just tell me what we have to do."
"What do you have in mind?" asked Orechin. Tyel began to walk toward the exit from the sanctuary. "Just trust me… the future sight will bring us to the win," said Tyel while smirking.
As they finally arrived at the stairs, Tyel had finished explaining his plan to the group, and Liro, followed by Tyel, Orechin, and Vane, went up the stairs.
"Are you sure it will work, Tyel?" asked Lily, worried. "I can try to come too." Lily tried to go up the stairs, but Tyel stopped her.
"It's too risky; the four of us will be enough," said Tyel as he stopped Lily from going up the stairs too.
"Liro, tell us when you're out and you've activated your illusion," ordered Tyel. Liro, once up, became invisible and called for the group.
"One by one… we're ready," he said. Right before Tyel's body could peek outside, Liro grabbed his hand and he became invisible too. Orechin and Vane, who respectively followed Tyel from behind while Orechin touched his feet and Vane touched Orechin, both became invisible.
"Good luck, everyone… please be alright," said Darian as he looked at the group disappearing right on top of their heads.
"Soon we won't be able to speak anymore… Orechin, have you understood when you have to create the crystals?" asked Tyel as the group, all invisible, stopped for a moment right next to the exit.
"Don't worry; I'll position a small blue crystal between his legs, and with the green one, the three of us will take his energy," said Orechin. Tyel, hearing the exact plan he had explained before, nodded his head.
"And then Vane… you will try to rip off one of his legs… are you sure you'll be able to do it?" asked Tyel. Vane positioned his left hand on the muscles of his right arm.
"I'm strong now, and I'm even stronger once I've turned into a polar bear, so don't worry; if you make him weaker, I'll be able to do good damage to him," he said while smirking.
"And then we will simply run away after that?" asked Orechin for the last confirmation. Tyel nodded his head. "…I don't know in which future this could have happened… but if you say it works, I trust you."
"Please, guys… it's not easy for me to hold this illusion," pointed out Liro as small cuts had already started to appear all over his body.
Everyone else, completely forgetting about Liro's condition and snapping back to reality, began to walk to reach the place where Ashikunz was hiding.
'I'm seeing him…' thought Tyel. Right after the group had entered the main area, they completely stopped talking and simply followed Tyel's orders, who decided where to go, as they knew he was the only one who knew Ashikunz's position.
'At least I've found him immediately… they might have suspected something if I hadn't found him immediately.' Tyel noticed that Ashikunz was exactly in front of their hole.
Tyel looked back at his group, and all of them were ready to try the plan. 'I know this plan will not work perfectly fine… but I need to realize if blood actually dripped from his armor.' Tyel remembered the cut Vane was able to create on Ashikunz's armor, from where the blood was dripping.
'Before fighting against the enemy and winning… I need to know his weakness… and if that thing is actually armor and not his real skin…' While Tyel was lost in his thoughts, the group had finally reached Ashikunz, and they remained still behind his back.
'He hasn't spotted us yet…' noticed Liro. Ashikunz remained with his head looking both to his left, right, and to the front, but never to his back.
Tyel gave a small bump to Orechin's shoulder to help him understand that the attack was about to begin.
With that, a small blue crystal appeared over Orechin's hands, and he carefully positioned it between Ashikunz's legs.
'He hasn't noticed anything yet… it worked,' thought Orechin as Ashikunz, in front of him, didn't notice anything.
The blue crystal was under Liro's illusion too; in fact, once his power changed, he unlocked the possibility to create more illusions within the range of 5 meters near the first one he created, so he would be able to place multiple illusions in just a single space without them touching each other.
Orechin then proceeded to create three green crystals as big as his hands, and he gave each of them to Tyel, Liro, and one for himself.
Liro's body had started to bleed long ago; even if he activated his illusion, he would never be able to prevent the sound of the blood falling on the ground, and so, while he was covered in Tyel's Timehors costume, he was preventing the blood drops from falling on the ground, and they fell on the costume instead.
The three men with the green crystals positioned themselves behind Ashikunz, while Vane walked silently toward him.
'He hasn't noticed us yet… we're draining his strength,' thought Tyel as he let out a sigh of relief. Vane was now about to touch Ashikunz's leg as he stopped, waiting for the group to give the signal.
'Strange… they haven't arrived yet.' Ashikunz looked at the city, and with his perfect vision, he noticed that the trapdoor had opened, but no one had come out.
'I don't think they have used the illusion guy to go away… knowing they will never leave the city… I believe it is just a diversion; it feels like they are about to exit from another place—' Ashikunz began to look around once again until his eyes were caught by something: the leaves around him had started to move slightly faster, differently from the ones farther away from him.
'Strange… there isn't much wind…' Ashikunz at first didn't give it much weight until he realized something. 'Once they go away, they move normally… but when they go toward me, they pick up a faster speed again… where have I seen this—' Ashikunz had finally understood without hesitation; with the spear still in his hands, he slashed it behind him.
"Now, Vane!!" shouted an invisible person behind Ashikunz the moment he realized that the Krukin was about to slash the spear behind him. Before the enemy could even do anything, Vane pierced his claws directly into Ashikunz's armor.
'Damn, I can't pierce it!' thought Vane as he put in more strength while Ashikunz slashed his spear at human height. If there had been someone there, Ashikunz would have slashed their bodies in half, but no blood splattered.
"They're on my leg!" Ashikunz looked down toward his leg, and Liro, who couldn't maintain his illusions anymore, made them disappear.
"I'll rip it in half!!!" shouted Vane as, with all his strength, he tried to pierce into Ashikunz's leg, but the more he tried, the less damage appeared. "Why isn't it enough!!" shouted Orechin in anger.
'I… I will… destroy it…' Vane was finally able to pierce his claws inside Ashikunz's armor, creating small holes. Even if it was clear that his claws hadn't pierced Ashikunz's skin yet, just by piercing the armor, some blood was flowing out.
"Huh? How is he bleeding? I've pierced only his armor…" whispered Vane, confused. Hearing this, Tyel's eyes lit up.
'Is the armor really his skin then?' Tyel wanted to think more about this, but he didn't have any time, as Ashikunz returned to speak with his serious look.
"It's nothing… but it was a great try," pointed out Ashikunz. Even if Vane was slowly digging into his skin, Ashikunz kicked his leg as hard as he could, and Vane was sent flying toward a nearby tree. As his body smashed against the object, it flew for a few more meters until it stopped completely.
With both his hands, he punched Liro and Orechin, who were exactly on his right. 'I hoped we would have been able to discover more…'
Tyel looked scared at Ashikunz, who was about to pierce his spear to cut off his head. 'At least my theory was right… the armor is really part of his—'
"Déjà Veil."
'Of his skin… you could have at least let me finish it, you fucker.' Tyel had an annoyed look over his face after he respawned. Everyone else, confused by the sudden switch-up, remained still for a moment.
"What is it, Tyel? Didn't you say we should go out from the sanctuary's exit?" asked Catripple, confused. Tyel, who had just stood up, returned to the ground.
"The other attempt I was about to explain to you had just failed… I looked into the future." Tyel sat down on the ground, his body having just started bleeding.
"Hey, you're bleeding, Tyel… are you sure your head isn't hurting much from using your power?" asked Lily, worried, but Tyel shook his head.
"Don't worry… it's just that I was able to see in the future… that he bleeds directly from his armor." As he said these words, everyone else looked at him in confusion.
"What do you mean he was bleeding from his armor? That can't be possible," said Martheel, surprised.
"Exactly… like, the armor is just something that you wear… if it gets pierced and you don't touch the skin… how are you supposed to make him bleed?" asked Darian, confused, unable to find any explanation.
"It happened… let me explain everything."
With that, around 30 minutes passed, and Tyel explained how it went and the exact words Vane had said in the future he looked at.
"So Vane actually pierced his armor only…" whispered Darian, confused.
"…But that isn't possible, right? It doesn't make sense," pointed out Liro, as he couldn't explain it either.
"Maybe it is actually his body? Like, isn't it possible that he was born like that?" proposed Syrmax, but the others who had seen other Krukins shook their heads.
"They're all black; every time they have a different color on their body, it's because they decided to put something different on their bodies… and I believe Ashikunz is no exception," pointed out Lily.
"Then it is definitely a special armor… it's just that… how does it even work?" asked Catripple. The group turned silent, thinking.
"Tyel, have you discovered something more in the future sight?" asked Darian, but Tyel shook his head.
"I've told you everything… after that, I simply got killed," he said.
'Before Vane could actually pierce his leg, we used Orechin's crystals…' thought Tyel as he tried to find an explanation.
"Wait… we used my green crystals before Vane pierced his leg, right?" asked Orechin. Tyel nodded. "Then might it be something related to his temporary resistance?"