City of Desire [Kingdom Building]

Proofread by Thomas F

Integration.

It is integrating skills into the Aura Method;

Some might say, I am already doing that, but no, I am not. Well, I am, kind of.

What the other two and I are doing is imposing our skills on aura methods. It is known as the first stage of skill-and-method fusion.

Second is integration, which the knight had been trying to teach me for the past few months.

The last is assimilation; fusion would be the right word, but assimilation rhymes well, and most people use that and call them the three stages of fusion.

Both the Knight and Bell had achieved it.

It's extremely hard; I have been trying constantly every day, but haven't succeeded. Though Sir Knight had stated, I am very close and only need the last push to achieve it.

Unfortunately, I could not get that last bit, no matter how much I tried.

My thoughts distracted me. I became slightly slower in dodging, and the hammer's spike touched my back. My armor defended the blow, but there is now a dent.

The armor was the best in its grade, but a glancing touch of the hammer had dented it.

If it were not for its protection, it would have broken my spine and ended the battle for me immediately. Its attacks are so powerful that it does not need to hit me directly with the hammer.

Just the spike would be more than enough to finish me off.

I may have defended it, but some force was carried over into my body. I didn't resist it. Instead, I used it to move even faster and dodge the attack.

It attacked again, and this time appeared in front of me, but I dodged it. I dodged the one that came after, and another, and another.

This will not do!

I thought as I dodged another attack. I have to defeat it, not dodge its attacks, but my attacks are useless against it.

It crushes my attacks with its hammer. If they somehow slip by, the shield defends against them. Not a single one of my attacks touched it; those that touched its hammer and shield didn't reduce the film.

I could see the film covering it; its shade and thickness have remained the same.

There has not been the faintest change in it.

I have to try, even if it didn't work. I said to myself, and a moment later, three cyan blades appeared around me, and I tried to integrate Tempest Razor into them.

It is the only level I could impose.

Integration is a deeper level of merging. It is weaving the skills into the aura method, bringing them closer to a fundamental level without changing their distinct identities.

I sent the blades, but its hammer crushed two of them effortlessly, while the shield destroyed the one that slipped past the hammer.

Seeing that, I created another three blades while dodging another attack from it. I tried once again, merging the skill deeper with them, before I launched them at the golem.

I have control and a sufficient understanding of the skills needed for it.

All I needed was the inspiration.

I attacked again and again, trying to integrate the skill and method, but my attempts didn't reveal any success. Still, I kept trying, because I don't have any other options.

My current strength is far from enough. If I want to defeat this opponent, I need more strength, more speed, more everything.

It is the only thing that could give me that.

Minutes passed after another, but no matter how much I tried, I could not weave them together. I tried other methods, and the result was the same.

It frustrates me, and I want to scream. Instead, I kept trying.

I had dodged another attack when a burst of emotions came from Azalia, along with images. An attack is coming toward me, and this time, there are six lances.

Immediately, fractals formed and Bark Shields appeared one after another until six of them formed. Seeing what happened last time, I don't want to take risks anymore.

Still, using aura for six shields had tired me further.

Still, it's not enough, and I imposed the Iron Veil on them to strengthen them further.

A moment later, the lances crashed against the shields and destroyed three within quick succession, before destroying the fourth one after a moment.

The fifth one could only stop them for more than a second before it broke, and they crashed on the sixth.

The cracks spread, covering half of the shield before they stopped. Seeing that, I felt relieved, but only for a moment, before I moved once more to dodge and sent another three blades at it.

It has a really tight defense!

I thought I had been attacking with blades from all angles, but it was defending them, no matter how I sent them.

Once more, it followed with another attack, and I moved to dodge, when suddenly I noticed the gem on the shield lighting up. A fraction of a second later, Azalia sent the images of a similar scene.

'An hour has passed since we started fighting,' said Jon. Clearly, the time had triggered something.

'But what?' I have just asked him that when the crystal flared, I was hit with the pressure. No, not pressure.

Gravity.

I looked at it in horror as it somehow increased the surrounding gravity by 25%. It might not seem much, but I am dodging the attack by inches.

To my horror, the speed of its hammer didn't slow down at all.

I cannot dodge!

I understood immediately, and if it hit me, it's game over. So, the Bark Shields began to appear in front of the hammer, while I pushed my Dominion Surge, forcing it to squeeze more power from Sap Pulse.

The hammer crashed against the shield, breaking it like filmy paper.

I knew it would happen, but I had to do it since it is less than half a meter away from me.

It crushed another shield and then another, while I pushed my Dominion Surge as I had never done. Even with it, it didn't give me enough speed so that I could dodge the attack.

Three more shields got crushed, and now there is only one shield between the hammer and me.

I should surrender!

That thought rang through my mind, but I didn't want to. There are other people more powerful than me, but there is no guarantee they will succeed.

These golems adjust their power according to the person. Meaning, it is unlikely they will have an easier time than I.

I have to win; the fate of my dominion depends on it.

The hammer struck the shield, and a shock wave was released by the impact. The wave spread through the shield, but it did not bring cracks.

Instead, it turned the shield into fine powder.

Seeing the wave and shimmering powder, something clicked in my mind. It pulled me in so that I didn't even care about the hammer coming at me.

The shield fully turned to powder, and the wave spread the dust far, and I finally turned to hammer and smiled.

The next moment, the lines of Sap Pulse glimmered, and I moved. My speed increased such that I dodged the hammer when it was only an inch away.

"It was so easy," I said and laughed joyfully. It really was; still, it took me months and this massively strong opponent to realize it.

I had merged Sap Pulse, the body method, and Dominion Surge, my speed skill.

The golem followed, its speed more than doubling from before, and so is the power of its hammer, but despite that, I didn't move.

Instead, a fractal appeared and turned into a cyan blade covering my rapier's blade.

A moment later, it shimmered as an integrated Tempest Razor in it. I understood the concept, now I can integrate any skill into the method.

I moved to integrate Sundering Blade, but stopped immediately upon seeing the method stabilize.

One skill it is.

I heard Bell mention that integrating two or more skills into a method requires practice, and that's fine.

I moved once more, and it reacted, and it's fast, but I am faster.

There is a theory that we have.

The golems react to power by increasing their own power, but the increase in their power is lower if the power their opponent had gained in the battle rather than when they came with before they fight with it.

This is my advantage.

I have to finish this battle here or on the next attempt. They will be even more powerful against me.

I stopped behind it and slashed my blade at it. It was moving incredibly fast. Descending is an aura blade, while Tempest Razor is an offensive method of speed.

It made my attack incredibly fast and powerful.

It tried to move its shield to defend, but my blade was now too fast; it struck the joint of its leg, and the result was immediate. The film immediately becomes slightly paler and thinner.

It made me happy, but a moment later, my expression turned somber upon sensing Jon and Azalia's condition.

'Don't stop them, let the attack come at me!' I said to Azalia and Jon. It's not just that the defensive golem's power had increased in reaction to mine, but also that of the artillery's.

Turning the condition of those two from bad to worse.

If they tried to stop those attacks coming at me, they would be defeated; that's how powerful its attacks are.

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