"Leave it to me friend."
Since there was still a relatively strong barrier around the core they were protecting, he should be able to buy Nox a few seconds.
Rhett walked forward with his sword and translucent shield in hand.
At this point, the smaller golems had already climbed up the edge and unto the ring like that the two and the core was on.
Rhett took a combat stance and muttered, "come at me little
The smaller golems looked between him and Nox who had his eyes closed, then charged.
Rhett shifted his weight, the translucent shield catching the light of the lava streams as he slammed it forward.
The force sent the first golem flying, smashing into the edge of the platform with a shower of molten fragments.
Another came from the side, swinging its jagged arm, and Rhett deflected it with a clean, practiced motion, pivoting on his heels.
Sparks rose where the golems attacks reached the shield before Rhett put more force into it, throwing the golem off balance for a bit before he slashed at its core with his sword.
The golem crumbled into rocky remains, but Rhett was already focused on the next target.
The golems seemed to be coming in unending waves, and he managed to keep them all back, slamming his shield on a few, while destroying their cores with his sword.
Everything was going well....well, except the fact that Rhett as much as he was a hard worker, his SE was only that of an Elite rank and it wasn’t infinite, unlike Nox’s.
The toll of pulling and using so much SE was quickly showing and if this didn’t end soon, he’d run out before the timer did.
[Time remaining: 00:11:58]
Nox had asked for a few seconds, but Rhett had managed to hold on for more than a few minutes but the heat was quickly getting to him.
Right now, his SE was split between making sure he didn’t run out of breath, enhancing himself and his solar techs.
He slammed his shield into another golem before turning to Nox who still had his eyes closed, "hurry friend, else we will certainly lose this battle."
***
"I passed out?" Nox question.
The reason?
Well, because he would only appear here when he passed out but as far as he could remember, he was only trying to compress his SE into his none existent core.
"Σφάλλεις ν ταύτ τ πράξει" the being of light’s words snapped him out of his thoughts as he looked up at it.
"Hm?" Nox asked, not quite understanding it well causing the being to place a hand on its chin (?) and a while later, it spoke again.
"You’re doing it wrong," it said, causing Nox to freeze, looking strangely at it before he asked,
"You can speak Solari?" He was a bit surprised since the being either spoke in what Nox had realized was ancient language or didn’t speak at all.
Instead of a reply, the being of light just continued, "if you want to compress the Θεîον δύναμις, you don’t force it, you guide it."
Seeing as it had no intention to answer his previous question, Nox didn’t ask anymore, instead he just focused on what the being was saying.
"Guide my SE?" Nox repeated in question.
"Yes," the being nodded, "as a @$to&@ton this should come easy."
Nox didn’t understand or more accurately, some words didn’t seem to register before before he could ask, he felt himself being pulled backwards.
The being of light continued shrinking as the distance between it and Nox grew.
His surroundings got darker and darker until he was now in what seemed like the void, but that darkness didn’t last as his eyes soon snapped open.
Cold sweat, one that wasn’t because of the heat from the lava ran down his back as he slowly caught his breath.
According to that being of light, he just had to guide his SE and it would listen, which shouldn’t be too hard right?
After all, everytime he used his SE, he was basically doing just that. Plus, there was also the fact that restrained SE wasn’t a new concept to him.
He had achieved it before, even if it was with the help of that mask.
Letting out a breath, he closed his eyes again and slowly started moving all his SE towards a single spot,
His heart.
And just as that being had stated, the process was pretty smooth.
***
Rhett’s arms were beginning to shake under the strain. Sweat dripped from his brow as molten fragments scattered around him, each impact sending tremors through the platform.
He gritted his teeth and slammed the shield again, throwing another golem backward. His sword flashed in the lava-light, cores shattering into fragments, but the unending wave kept coming.
His SE was draining faster than he could keep up, and every slam felt heavier than the last.
[Time remaining: 00:10:42]
Then, he saw it Nox’s silhouette was calm, almost serene, as if he were no longer part of the chaos.
For a moment, Rhett wondered if he’d gone mad from exhaustion, but he quickly shoved the thought aside and returned to battle.
His vision was slowly swimming and he knew that there was only one way he could keep up for a while longer.
The Golden Knight.
His distracted thoughts made him realize a bit too late that a single golem had slipped past him and was lunging towards the defenseless Nox.
Rhett wanted to dash towards the creature but he was forced to lift the shield when another golem jumped at him.
"I am sorry friend," Rhett muttered as he slammed his shield into the golems, trying to clear way to Nox.
The golem, made of rock and lava had what seemed to be a spear made of the lava itself in its hand as it quickly descended towards Nox who was seemingly unaware of the incoming danger.
The moment it got close enough,
Boom!