Romulus found it rather amusing that his strike had missed, looking at Takumi, who was still in an intangible state.
"Interesting ability, however..."
Seeing that he had dodged Romulus's attack, Takumi breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he wanted to run out of his attack range, he heard Romulus swinging his club again.
Helpless, Takumi could only reactivate [Escapist], which had been deactivated for less than a second.
Romulus's attacks continuously passed through Takumi's body, leaving not a single wound.
But he showed no sign of impatience. With a faint smile on his face, he wielded the Spear of Nation Building (Magna Voluisse Magnum), slashing through Takumi's body time and again.
Yes, he wouldn't be anxious in the slightest.
But Takumi was anxious!
Takumi never thought his ability was invincible. Even Obito (from Naruto), who could stay intangible for five minutes, had times when he suffered losses, let alone Takumi, who could only stay intangible for five seconds.
Every attack from Romulus was timed perfectly, always catching the moment Takumi wanted to deactivate intangibility to refresh the cooldown, forcing Takumi to continuously activate [Escapist] without finding a chance to buffer.
Even though Takumi ran in various directions, Romulus's attacks followed him like a shadow.
Five seconds... four seconds... three seconds... two seconds...
Seeing the duration of [Escapist] about to end, fear inevitably filled Takumi's eyes.
If this continued, he would definitely—Die!
Takumi had never tried deactivating intangibility while a foreign object was passing through his body, but he knew without trying that if he deactivated it in such a situation, he would definitely die miserably!
Fortunately, a red figure appeared in Takumi's line of sight just in time.
"[Fax Caelestis (Scattered Petals, Falling Sky)]!"
Carrying countless red petals, Nero slashed her sword against the Spear of Nation Building.
Successfully slowing down Romulus's offensive.
Nero hurriedly dragged Takumi back, retreating to a relatively safe distance.
"Are you alright?"
Only then did Nero have time to check if Takumi was injured.
But she only took a glance, then continued to stare intently at Romulus in front.
The battle just now had proven that they couldn't relax even a bit when facing this Roman Divine Ancestor.
Takumi gasped for large breaths of air, his heart in his chest feeling like it was about to jump out.
This was a normal reaction after surviving a disaster.
After buffering for a second, Takumi barely returned to normal.
There was still some fear lingering in his eyes.
"...I'm fine..."
Takumi suppressed his voice to make his tone calm, then stood up.
Holding the flag-spear, he assumed a fighting stance.
[Disengage]
Under the effect of the skill, Takumi's condition improved significantly.
Rune Magecraft probably wouldn't have any effect now except for reinforcement.
So the best way to fight now was probably for the two of them to engage Romulus in close combat together.
Romulus didn't give the two much time to think; in the blink of an eye, he attacked again.
Just like when facing Caesar before, Nero took the main offense, and Takumi supported from the side.
The two met Romulus head-on.
Lights of blades and shadows of swords flashed in this space again.
The sound of metal clashing rang incessantly.
Unlike Caesar's golden sword with its rapid attacks that were overwhelming.
Romulus's attack speed wasn't that fast, but his rhythm in battle was ridiculously strong.
While making the two exhausted from coping, they couldn't find a chance to fight back at all.
To the point that Takumi had to activate [Escapist] almost every two seconds just to barely keep up with the rhythm of this battle.
His head was swelling, his mind sounding alarms.
Takumi, who had never used [Escapist] so intensively, while enduring his body's protests, couldn't help but ask:
Is Romulus really going easy?
Takumi was certain he absolutely went easy in the game's story, but now?
He didn't feel like he was holding back at all!
Every move was fatal, every spear strike was incredibly heavy. Just blocking his spear required one to be fully focused; the slightest carelessness would lead to death on the spot.
If not for Takumi and Nero's quick reactions, they would probably have died several times already.
"Is this all you have?"
Romulus looked at the two with disappointment, but the movements of his hands showed no sign of stopping.
Still, he swung his weapon down strike after strike.
Under his powerful attacks, the two could only fight and retreat.
Sweating profusely, unable to find an opportunity to reply.
"If it's just this, you are not qualified to take over Rome from My hands!"
Saying this, Romulus seemed to get a bit more serious.
Red magical energy emerged on his body.
Then, with the speed of a thunderbolt, he smashed down a spear strike.
His target was Takumi, who could no longer activate [Escapist] properly.
Facing this suddenly accelerated strike, even Nero didn't have time to react.
Only Takumi, who had been maintaining a defensive stance, barely managed to block with the flag-spear in front of his eyes.
His eyes reflected that strange spear shape.
The Spear of Nation Building, carrying the wail of the air, knocked straight onto the flagstaff. Takumi's strength played basically no buffering role.
The flagstaff was driven by Romulus's attack, first smashing onto Takumi's forehead, then imprinting entirely onto Takumi's body.
BANG!!!
Like being hit by a full-speed dump truck, Takumi was sent flying directly by this strike.
He smashed through the wall behind him, disappearing from sight in the blink of an eye.
"Performer!"
Nero's face was full of anxiety. She raised her foot to go check on Takumi's condition.
But Romulus's merciless attack was already approaching. If she ignored it, she would be heavily injured at the very least.
Nero had to pull her attention back, hurriedly blocking Romulus's attack.
'Performer, please don't let anything happen to you!'
Praying silently in her heart, Nero's eyes became fierce.
On the other side.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Takumi smashed through several walls before finally falling off a relatively thick wall.
If not for having physical fitness comparable to a Servant, Takumi would probably have died when hitting the first wall.
But even so, Takumi didn't feel good.
His whole body felt like it was falling apart; everywhere hurt.
Especially his back. If Takumi couldn't still barely move, he would definitely think his back was broken.
lying on the ground, Takumi barely propped up his body with both hands. Red blood dripped down from his forehead.
'Where... am I again?'
Takumi thought somewhat confusedly.
His head now felt like a bunch of large men with bad drinking habits were shouting inside—playing finger-guessing games, karaoke, demolishing the house... all kinds of chaos.
There was also a constant buzzing tinnitus, making him unable to hear what was happening at all.
Even his vision became incredibly abstract, like he had eaten undercooked wild mushrooms.
Before Takumi could sort out his fragmented thoughts, the side effects of high-intensity use of [Escapist] attacked together with his body's protests at this moment.
"Cough, cough... ——!"
Takumi coughed twice, and the next second he vomited.
Unstoppable vomiting.
The undigested meal from the last time was all vomited out. Looking closely, there was also quite a bit of abnormal red.
After vomiting wildly, Takumi felt slightly better, and a trace of clarity flashed in his eyes.
'Right... I have to go back—Nero still needs me over there...'
Takumi suppressed the urge to vomit again.
Swaying, he climbed up from the ground.
'I can't stop here...'
His vision was still distorted; Takumi couldn't even see the road clearly.
His head was also a mess; his originally obedient limbs swayed left and right as if reporting errors.
He took two steps.
Takumi fell uncontrollably to the ground.
'I promised to stay by her side always...'
The dream from that morning replayed in Takumi's mind.
The scene of Nero being pierced through the chest by a strangely shaped weapon seemed vivid before his eyes.
He wasn't clear what Romulus was thinking, or if he was really completely controlled by someone.
But Takumi knew:
'If I don't go back quickly, Nero might die fighting alone—'
Takumi gritted his teeth, a ruthless light flashing in his eyes.
Then he leaned back slightly, gathering a bit of strength.
He smashed his head heavily onto the ground.
Thud—
A dull sound rang out.
Takumi slowly raised his head.
Crimson blood flowed straight down from his forehead, crossing his eyebrows, flowing along his nose into Takumi's mouth.
Takumi's expression was ferocious.
It hurt. It hurt so much he wanted to roll on the ground.
But he was awake. Aside from the stinging pain like needles still coming from his head.
His vision was no longer distorted.
His limbs finally learned to obey the brain's commands.
This is enough.