New Game+

During the time when Seeker and the Tyrant Empress were talking, Seeker had been using her comm device to leak his conversation with Arthur's team.

"We have to make sure we don't see her," Arthur explained as they moved closer.

"The Empress is extremely powerful. Our biggest advantage is that we've yet to see the Empress. So as long as we don't know what the Tyrant Empress looks like, we can minimize her lust."

"How can we fight without looking at her? Should we use Realm Somatotopy to sense her? Or will using it make this Realm of her's affect us?"

"It's probably dangerous to use Realm Somatotopy."

"Then how? Wait. What about Meryl?"

"Yeah. I'm a woman! Maybe the lust won't affect me like you guys!"

"Are things really that simple? Her power is something all the future Overcomer's feared. Are you prepared to be a lesbian for the rest of your life?" Lowengren argued.

"But I thought Seeker could do his own Realm! Wouldn't that help us?"

"Of course not! For us, the effect is almost useless! Seeker has the highest level of his Unlocking and because he is the originator of the emotions, he can partially resist the Empress. Although he is leaking that emotion, we only get a fraction of it. So unless we have Richie's instincts, Lennox's thought processes or Meng's ability to destroy the pheromones, we wouldn't be able to resist. Unless we become Overcomers, don't think about seeing her, hearing her, or getting close to her! Even Seeker kept muting the transmission when the Empress would speak! We cannot dare get affected until we defeated her!" Lowengren impatiently explained.

"Then how CAN we fight? We can't look, can't hear and if the pheromone thing is present, shouldn't we be able to breathe? How then? How?" Lynd almost shouted.

Lowengren was silent but he glanced at Arthur. Even he couldn't think of a way to fight the Empress.

"Lynd. Calm down. Let me observe the battle from afar first."

"What? That's crazy! You'd see the Empress!" Lowengren argued.

"I will Limit my Unlocking. By limiting it, I shouldn't be able to see things clearly. Based on their conversation, the distant we are at should be far from the Realm of the Empress. If I can't see things clearly, I doubt the powers of the Empress would work on me."

Lowengren remained silent. But his expressions were getting more and more frustrated.

Arthur simply kept quiet and continued to move.

They continued to listen on the conversation between Seeker and the Empress.

It was then that they noticed a large metal ball flying up to the sky from the base they came from.

"What was that?" Lynd wondered.

"That should be Meng. We're getting close. Follow where he falls." Lowengren answered immediately as he gave a frustrated grunt and dashed ahead.

The transmission from Seeker ended as they heard a powerful explosion.

"Enigmatic Magnetic Pulse? Looks like Meng's attack caused the Empress to revealed her tech." Arthur frowned.

"Great. We can't communicate with Seeker anymore." Lowengren gave a frustrated snort.

The sounds of lightning and a strange and loud sound of rushing waters could be heard as they drew closer to the battlefield.

"The battle should be in view if we turn right on this building. Stay here. I'll take a peak." Arthur crawled up to the wall and gave a peaked to view the battle.

A transparent dome had covered a large portion of the land.

Outside the dome, was Richie who continued to let out a strange hum. As the sound resounded in the air, it sounded as if a thousand voices were making the sound.

Inside the dome, lightning bolts continued to race from one edge of the dome to the other, ricocheting back and forth. Lennox could no longer be seen as he finally turned into pure electricity which continued to race throughout the dome.

Aside from the racing bolts of lightning, several figures could be seen moving inside the dome. Two strange metallic objects kept clashing with each other. Each clash would result in explosions. Seeker's figure couldn't even be seen in the epicenter of the battle as the moving lightning and the metallic objects took too much attention.

"Alright. Time for the plan." Arthur ordered casually.

"What is YOUR plan?" Lowengren tried to contain his building frustration and asked Arthur in the calmest way he could.

"Ambush her. Meryl's attack combined with the flash and certain skill that I've been practicing to use. Once we get the chance, Lynd and Meryl can use their flash and we raise our Unlocking attacking at a position where her voice, realm, and pheromones would least affect us."

Lowengren frowned and almost cursed.

"Just as I thought! This plan is too simple! How do you blind her if we lower our Unlocking?! How do we even get into that battleground? Those are Overcomers! Chaos Order doesn't stand a chance against them! The battle would be too fast for you to estimate if you limit your Unlocking!" Lowengren gave an agitated answer. When Seeker used the comm device, Lowengren couldn't think of any way to fight the Empress.

"It is as I have suspected! We're just launching a desperate attack! You're not even sure we'd win!" Lowengren cursed.

Lynd and Meryl gave Arthur a surprised look. Lowengren had always been able to guess Arthur's thoughts.

"Arthur…"

"Is this true?" Lynd sighed solemnly.

"What I am certain of… Is that they are bound to lose. If we don't help them, they won't win." Arthur summarized.

"How can you be so sure? Zeeks there! He can do this!" Meryl asked.

"After several clashes, the object that the Empress is riding on had shown no signs of being destroyed. And that's considering it's facing an attack coming from Meng. The Empress is slowly breaking away the resolve of the Overcomers. Lust is never defeated if it's always there to tempt you. And because they have the most dangerous temptation, their battle will slowly move towards the Empress's advantage unless they can defeat her before they succumb. That's why we were called into the battle. They are to weaken the Empress as much as they could before we dive in and take the Empress out."

"So this is it? You're leading us into an all-out attack that could kill us?" Lowengren complained.

"Even I can't think of a way to help them! That battle is too chaotic! Who knows what other technologies that woman has up her sleeves! We can't even get near that damned dome! Jumping in would be like jumping in the lion's den!" Lowengren exclaimed.

"No. There is a way to fight." Arthur revealed a rare and confident smirk.

"You're wrong, Lowengren. I'm not sending everyone off to their deaths."

Lowengren was surprised.

"Let's just say, you're no longer my equal in strategies. Pay careful attention to the plan. We don't have time."

The battle inside the dome continued to turn to the worse.

Seeker and Meng had always maintained a position far from the Empress's reach.

The technologies that the Empress revealed were far too many than originally anticipated. No matter what attack Meng and Seeker threw, the Rule would easily deflect as it would rotate with incredible speed.

Even the solidifying lightning bolts that Lennox sent out could not hold.

Seeker's body continued to gush out more wounds. Some like cuts, while others look like it was being burned. Meng's desolation protected him from the pheromones but his prolonged stay had started to slowly damage and burn his skin.

Meng charged forth once more and Seeker followed closely.

Utilizing rail technology, Meng zoomed towards the Empress at amazing speed. Another round of EMP was launched towards Meng hindering Meng's quick advance.

Meng drove his suit onwards enduring the purple lightning bolt that the Empress released and began to rush recklessly forward.

As Meng drew closer, he immediately activated his suit's electromagnetic capabilities and the parts of Meng's thick armor scattered.

The purple lightning continued to connect with these parts, causing the parts to fly out randomly.

Another bolt was released from the Empress and it shot towards Meng.

The purple lightning, however, disintegrated into nothingness as it drew closer towards Meng.

Meng shouted and dove towards the Empress. Strangely, the desolate aura somehow avoided the Empress and no corruption occurred around the Empress.

Meng didn't even hesitate and delivered a powerful punch.

BOOM!

A punch full of desolate force rocked the Rule's petals which faithfully appeared to defend the Empress and thrown the Rule backward.

The punch had actually dented the metal petal and a desolate force remained and started to degrade the metal.

"HAAA!" Richie shouted once more and compressed the dome causing the lightning bolts to change course.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Bolt after bolt rocked the Rule which activated all of its defensive capabilities.

A powerful shockwave as strong as a bomb suddenly exploded out sending Seeker and Meng back. The lightning bolts all disintegrated as it struck the ground and the surrounding buildings.

Lennox had returned to his human form as the shockwave had taken out most of his lightning bolts.

His appearance was horrible as chunks of his arms and legs were missing. Blood was dripping everywhere.

Lennox retreated to the far back to avoid Meng's desolation.

"I can't believe playing hard to get wouldn't work." The Empress's voice could be heard as the petals opened up.

Parts of the Rule's petals were bent and the part which Meng punched finally gave way and broke in half as the desolation finally ate through it.

"Scary." The Empress gazed at the part which was punched.

"I guess it's time for me to be more aggressive with you boys." She smiled as the Rule started to whirl and its petals slowly dropped.

"You know, I'm not just a pretty face. Behind this fragile beauty is the mind of a genius. Although I'm not as smart as you, Lennox, still, it's at a perfect level that matches my beauty." The Empress smiled.

"I thought long and hard as to what I can use against Lennox here, whose lightning form could basically negate almost all forms of weapons. This Rule is one of the things I knew I could use. But I knew it wouldn't be enough." She laughed.

The Rule slowly started to crackle with lightning and randomly shot out everywhere as it slowly started to transform.

"Then New Great Britain attacked Australia. And that battle brought a lot of inspiration for me." She smiled.

"Richie. Lennox. Work together. She's creating a lightning storm." Seeker frowned.

"Not just any lightning storm. Attack now and don't let it complete its charge! That signature is exactly the same as Britain's weapon of mass destruction! The Knights of the Round!" Lennox identified the weapon.

"Richie!" Seeker called out.

"I know! My instincts told me!" Richie added as he knew the lightning bolts which contained Enigmatic Magnetic Pulse could pierce through his current walls.

"Attack together!" Seeker ordered as he immediately dove forward.

Meng followed and Lennox raised his hands to shoot out several bolts of electricity.

Richie roared as a powerful force came upon the lightning storms to contain it.

The Rule, which the Empress stood on moved with incredible speed and continued to emit a powerful blast of purplish and blue lightning blasts coming from its body. Shockwaves also appeared here and then making it hard for the four to get closer.

Meng sent out his desolations but the Maw of the Dragon would not bite as the Empress stood revealing her beauty.

The battle moved extremely fast as the Empress started chasing the four who was desperately trying to retreat.

Ten seconds passed as this battle continued. Although it was an extremely short time, for the Overcomer's it felt like forever. The battle was incredibly critical. Lennox and Richie would always be a single move away from dying.

Lennox had his calculations to escape the approaching terror while Richie had his instincts.

Meng held on through his insane endurance and the desolate power that blocked many of the bolts. But whenever the Empress drew close, several of the bolts could pierce through the desolate realm.

Seeker was the only one capable of attacking at this point. His heightened senses and his brain which held memories of evading light speed attacks were being put to use at this battle. He dove in and would pass through the desolate area around Meng to get as close as possible to the Empress who was standing in the open revealing her seductive face.

An invisible wall appeared at a critical moment which blocked the Rule from advancing giving Seeker time to evade. The wall immediately crumbled as the lightning bolts pierced through it.

At the outskirts of the battlefield, Arthur signaled his companions.

"Let's start this crazy plan. Time to Tread in the Lions Den." 

It was at that moment, that Arthur chose to move.