Stone Mage: Revenge of the Villain System

After Cermin had summoned the Shield of Solace around himself, none of the stray sparks of lightning can burst through and affect him and Zeriav. The sparks clashed against the light, and were repelled before they can do any damage.

“So you have a fancy golden dome to protect you, huh?” Zeuxis laughed. “How pretty! But I always find blue prettier than gold, don’t you think?”

He then summoned the sparks that got repelled back to him, and surround him….

Slowly forming a wall made of electricity. A Shield of Lightning for himself.

Cermin gritted his teeth. He thought that having a defensive skill would give him an advantage in a fight with someone as volatile as Zeuxis, but he actually came up with this.

Little did he know that a little birdie was whispering in Zeuxis’s ear, and told him that he should recollect his fallen bolts to surround him.

‘He’s confused right now. Attack that house over there, and bring the roof down on him so he can see the limitation of his Shield.’

Zeuxis followed this advice, and struck down above Cermin, who tried to dodge and move away.

But he was not able to move in time, and the large chunks of stone and bricks came crashing down on him!

“Ahh!”

He raised his hand defensively….

And the Shield of Solace became even larger around him, and bounce off the debris away!

“You will come to regret that, daemon!” Cermin went forward to slash towards him.

But since his weapon was close range, he would have to move closer to Zeuxis to deal any impact on his body. The shield made of lightning causes sparks to move and electrocute Cermin’s hand.

He almost let go of his sword because of it. He was using his right hand and if felt cramped and grounded from the shock, so he moved to use his other hand.

Ronin spoke through Espinella’s connection to all the daemons directly to Zeuxis’mind. ‘Good. You made him use his non-dominant hand. Time for the third phase.’

(You really are a cunning one, prune.)

Ronin scoffed. ‘Been a while since I last heard that nickname. Can’t say I miss it.’

‘Now, focus. Your objective is to knock him out, not kill him. Don’t get carried away.’

Zeuxis continued slashing forward with lightning strikes, heightening the voltage to see the limits of the damage the Shield of Solace can take.

(What if he tries to kill me first? I know I can be resurrected again, but it is still pretty painful and there’s a chance that I’d be crippled for a while if my bones took too much damage.)

‘He won’t kill you. I know his fighting style, he also always goes for knocking you out rather than aiming for the kill.’

(If you say so, prune. I’ll go easy on him and then kill his priest friend as planned.)

‘If you say so’. He had been told this many times during battles like this by Min Cheng himself.

This reminded Ronin of the times when he had been a system, and had thought Cermin how to survive fights like this even with his intention to not murder the enemy.

Right now, he was being like a system to Zeuxis too. It’s really the only way because he can’t fight directly, or else his cover will be blown.

With his non-dominant hand, Cermin’s blows have become less effective. He tried to cut a tall wooden post used to wave flags in the town, and bring it down towards Zeuxis.

Zeuxis’ shield of lightning made it burn, and he did have a look of panic for a biit as the fire had spread.

Cermin came to a realization. (He can survive lightning, but not fire.)

He used this to his advantage, and continued hitting more wooden objects around. Chucking wooden planks towards Zeuxis so that the lightning that shields him will catch it on fire.

Ronin was actualy impressed by this sudden ingenuity. ‘Not bad.’

(Not bad!? You prune, I will be turned into roasted meat at this rate! You said he’s not trying to kill me!)

‘He knows the rain will put out the fires if he ordered Zeriav to bring a downpour. He’s planning to knock you out by suffocation.’

Zeuxis covered his mouth as he started to cough from the smoke. (Well, what shall I do to not pass out with my lungs filled with smoke?)

‘Make him believe it’s working first.’

Zeuxis raised an eyebrow, but did as told.

“Cough! You golden turd! I will have your head for this! Cough! Cough!”

Cermin’s eyes beamed when he saw that his plan was working.

(Nice! Ah, if only System-chan was here! She would be very proud of this maneuver!)

Ronin rubbed his face. ‘For the longest time….. I’m a man, you idiot!’

(I know that, who are you calling an idiot?) Zeuxis asked him in confusion. (Or do you also secretly want to shift your gender like Belladonna—)

‘No. I’m happy enough as man, just ignore that and focus on what I’ll say.’

As the smoke came to increase all around Zeuxis, growing thicker along with the growing fire, it became harder to see things.

Cermin could barely make out Zeuxis’ shape now. And when he looked around the last place he left him—

Zeuxis was gone.

“Zooming Dash!” Zeuxis yelled as he activated his skill, zooming past the fire and suffering afew burns.

But he kept going, and used the smoke to hide his location. He will continue to do so until he thoroughly befuddles Cermin. And then…..

He will scale the walls on the inn they stayed at, climbing up to strike him from above, and electrocute him just enough to make him lose consciousness!

It was a good plan, but then Cermin yelled.

“Sight of the Orbit!”

His eyes suddenly glowed bright yellow. Then…..

More pairs of glowing eyes grew around him, floating around like stars. They circled too spinning and spinning the more Zeuxis moved.

“What in the Abyss is that— Ack!”

Cermin had used a wooden plank that was not on fire to hit Zeuxis square on the foot, faltering his Zooming Dash a bit.

He moved as fast as lightning, and it was virtually impossible to hit him with just normal dexterity.

‘He has a skill that gives him 360-degree vision, as well as sharp aim.’ Ronin concluded. ‘Interesting.’

(I find defeating him with this kind of skill more interesting right now.) Zeuxis sassed him.

‘Get farther out of his reach. Run towards the next road over there.’ Ronin told him.

His elder brother did so, running away from the glowing-eyed prince. Ronin believed he must own 5 skills like him, and so far he exhibited three.

Sunburst, Shield of Solace, Sight of the Orbit. All begin in ‘S’.

The creators of the video game got alliterative with picking names for him and used a bit of creativity, yet not for anyone else. Lazy bastards.

Ronin wondered what the other two ‘S’ skills he had, and how he can make Cermin bring them out before he have Zeuxis go all out in defeating him.

‘Can you propel yourself with that lighting bolt? Hit it to the ground like a javelin and send yourself flying, then use the Zooming Dash so you can stay in the air for a while?’

Zeuxis thought about it. (I haven’t tired that before. Might be tricky even for me. Can you explain how to do it?)

‘Just use force stronger than the mass of your body.’

Zeuxis made a face. (Right. Of course. Thank you very much for making me do science in a fight, prune.)

They kept on bantering some more like brothers do as Zeuxis prepared to propel himself using his now 9 feet long Dagger Bolt, and as he took some momentum while running…..

He exerted as much force as he could so he can raise his body several dozens of feet high in the air. It worked, and he sed his Zoomng Dash to stay there while zooming fast above Cermin.

“Hahahaha! Throw planks at me now, you banana-face!”

Cermin’s glowing eyes when in a frezy from this, and Zeuxis was too far away for him to hit with wooden planks.

His eyes then cleared, and held his head. “This is making me dizzy… Won’t you just hold still?”

As he said this, all of a sudden…

“Wait….. What’s happening to me? Why am I getting pulled closer?”

Cermin summoned his 4th skill. “Shadow Seeker!”

Ronin’s eyes widened as he also felt his body experiencing this magnetic pull towards Cermin. It brought the lightning towards him as well, but his shield protected him from it.

He grabbed onto a pole to keep himself from being pulled. ‘It must be a skill to get a pull towards creatures and objects of the shadows— latch on to something!’

Zeuxis did, latching his Dagger Bolt to the rooftop of building whil Cermin’s skill was trying to drag him down…..

And not even a second after latching on ther, Cermin yelled:

“Slashing Ray!”

He slashed his sword at Zeuxis’ direction, and it sent a ray of pure sunbeam towards him!

(You told me he won’t kill me—- Ahhhh!)

Ronin blinked as the ray of light enveloped Zeuxis, and he called out. ‘Zeuxis? Zeuxis, can you hear me? What’s happening to you right now?’

But there was no response.

And soon…..

There was also no Zeuxis.