"Fuck me!" I cursed seeing the Scarlet Scaled Rhinoman descending at me with all its fury. It is powerful, more than even Chimpman, I had sent to my core a second ago. For a fraction of a second, I thought of bringing it out. Which I could, since the runes hadn't come out yet? I discarded the thought as it came. It is the stupidest idea I ever had. However, I have to do something or the next second, my body will be lying there and Grimms inside my core might come out. I am not sure if they will come out. I had not died. So, I don't know whether they will come out or not. I couldn't take the reference from the Prime's core either, since our cores are significantly different. I quickly pushed the irrelevant thought to this moment and turned to the enemy, who had appeared above me with its ax shining brightly with deep scarlet energy. "Die!" It roared and swung that massive ax at me, with its full power. It didn't seem to hold back anything and if I had been in its place, I wouldn't have either. I had just killed the Grimms, who are only slightly weaker than it. You don't hold back against such enemies, or you lose your life too. Its ax moved fast, but to me, it felt like, it was descending slowly. I could even see the two natives trying to come to help me, but being blocked by the Grimms. There is no one who will save me; at least from this attack. I will have to save myself. BANNNG! The ax came descending before something shocking happened. It stopped when it reached a meter above my head, by the purple round shield which materialized after the attack. Puh! I stumbled and vomited the blood, with a surprise in my eyes. I thought the reaction would be stronger, given the power of the attack, but my shield had handled it. It had handled it better than I had imagined it would. Only injuring my internal organs, a little, which immediately begin to heal with my own, healing energy and one coming from the formations in my core. If it had been a lone injury, my own healing energy would be enough, but I don't think this would be the last injury I would have. A frown appeared on its face seeing the shield, which was lighting up brightly. It absorbed the massive energies and the huge physical blow, saving me from what would have been a certain death. The frown lasted for a second before it swung down its ax again and this time; it was blazing in the crimson fire. BANNNG! I moved my shield, and the ax landed on me and this time; it was even more powerful that I had needed to take a step back aside from vomiting a couple of mouthfuls of blood. "No wonder Itks died by your hands," it said, with raging anger blazing in its eyes as it is blazing in its ax, which it used for another attack. Hun! I moved my shield once again, but suddenly, it changed direction. It moved at incredible speed and appeared behind me, with an ax coming at me, at an even greater speed than before. BANNNG! It crashed against the invisible shield which materialized, while the one which had been above me had dissolved. It glared at me fiercely, while I smiled as I wiped the blood off my lips and moved my shield again as it attacked. It is not the only one who could create an illusion. It may look like it is attacking me from behind, but it had already appeared in front of me and attacking. It is happening extremely fast, which makes it even harder to detect. Thankfully, my strings could move fast too; this is one of the new things I had added to them and only possible because of the ancient runes. BANNNNG BANNNNG BANNNNG My shield had stopped its attack again while I stumbled two steps back, vomiting blood. It didn't give me a moment and attacked again and again, while I bore them, getting injured at every attack. I am also angry that I am waiting for others to save me. I am using the strings to defend, which means I couldn't use them to bind, and I am not powerful enough to attack it. This means I am waiting for others to save me, while I defend against it. Looking at the battle, two are trying to do that, but two Grimms are stopping them. If they want to help me, they will have to finish the Grimms first. I had conveyed that to them clearly. Its attacks kept coming and coming and they were of the different types, but my shield was defending against all of them, with some damage to me. Buzz! Which began to heal immediately, thanks to the strengthening energy that came flooding into my body. It made me relieved because it is not only helping me heal my injuries faster, but also strengthening. Which in turn strengthened my strings, and they needed as much as strength, they could. Hun! It was attacking, when it had suddenly stopped with a grin on its face. As if it understood something. "You have one shield, capable of defending against attack from one side," it said and raised its hand, and I could feel it activating a move; a powerful one at that. "Will your lone shield be able to defend against the thousands of attacks coming from all directions?" asked Scarlet Scale Rhinoman and immediately thousands of blazing scarlet lances materialized around me. They are in every direction, including the ground. The Earth-Sovereigns are extremely powerful beings, and attacks like this show their might in full glory. Sup Sup Sup "Defend it if you can, native," it said with a grin and thousands of blazing scarlet lances came at me. It took them less than a second to reach me and I have to say, I am scared. BANNG! "Cage In The Rose Garden," I muttered as the first lance crashed at my defensive method. BANNG BANNG BANNG The first clashed and then came others in tents and hundreds, while the beautiful bird cage surrounding me remained around me. It is a cage that looks like; it is made of delicate white metal and green and purple vines around it. Around it is a garden of roses of all colors, and they looked beautiful and remained unaffected, even when lances came. The lances clashed against the cage, but there was only a faint bending and nothing else. The attack is extremely powerful, but it is not as concentrated as the one which is performed at the close range and since it is an energy attack, it is even better, as I am absorbing it all. Hun! A few seconds passed, and what I had feared had happened. It came, hiding in the lances, with the most powerful attack, it had launched against me. "DIE!" It roared mightily as it became visible in front of the cage and swung its ax with all its strength. Seeing the power, I felt real fear that the strings would break, and I would die by that ax.