[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/gR6oFps.png[/img] [h2][b]"Hercules"[/b][/h2] [i]Banquet of Kings, Academy[/i] 
Directly Addressing: [@ReallyDumb][@SSW][@Phonic]
Indirectly Addressing: [@Froppy][@wug][@Yankee][@BB][@Crusader Lord][@Phlogistinator][@Aoko Aozaki][/center]
"...ah, you as well. If I was a tyrant mad with weakness, then you are a tyrant mad with strength."

Facing the demon lord, the Faker's blood began to boil. The flow of magical energy around him was writhing, changing. Something impossible was taking shape.

[s]It hurts. It hurts. The spiritual foundation is not meant to contain such things. A man is not meant to become a god.[/s]

Stop hesitating. Stop cowering. [b]He[/b] would not be weighed down by weakness. [b]He[/b] would not feel fear. [b]He[/b] would not feel resignation. 

The boy still believes in you. Your allies still believe in you. The muse seeks to play your story. For their sake, you must be strong.

So, stand up. Focus. 

Make the energy usage from the magical energy circuit feasible. Backload processing through raising the corrective influence of the world. Analyze, interpret, and design a solution. Do not delay, this is not a foe that you can underestimate. An attack is coming, you must be faster. 

[center][Born in the Purple -> Eye of the Mind (False)][/center]
Faster.

[center][Septem (False) -> Battle Continuation][/center]
Faster.

[center][Incitement -> Bravery][/center]
[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfIsbeR6nWw]Faster.[/url]

[center][b][Descent of Mankind's Once Dazzling Star -> Twelve Labors][/b][/center]
As those swords shot out, he moved. 

No, perhaps it was mere moments before the attack was made. 

Regardless of if the elephants launched their assault upon him, he would not be delayed. "Something" appeared over his form as his figure blurred, coming to a stop in front of Tom Fruz, his back turned to the human as he faced those swords head-on. 

[b]"Not enough-"[/b]

[color=ed1c24]Life penalty, body penalty, freedom penalty, fame penalty, fortune penalty. [/color]

Arrows launched out towards his opponent. Three of them met swords, but the rest wove through that hellish lattice of steel, shooting towards their owner. At the gaps in his armor, at the vital areas, at every weakness those eyes could bear witness to.

Clouds of dust were kicked up as those swords met arrows, the Faker himself becoming obscured from sight in the clash that ensued between himself and the thirteen swords that remained.

This is foolish. With the combat skill of Hercules, he could surely have shot down the remaining thirteen swords before they had reached him. Instead, he had gambled upon attempting to hit the enemy. For this hubris, he will be pierced by those very blades he ignored. All the more so given that the assault from the artillery of the Rider's elephants has surely at least scratched him. To take such damage at the beginning of a fight is nothing short of idiocy.

And yet...

[color=ed1c24]Give the penalty that extends so much punishment, mud, darkness, and malice.[/color]

When the dust clears, he stands, unharmed. The bombardment from the elephants does not seem to have even brought a scratch to him. The eleven swords are nowhere to be seen. In their place are thin scratches, barely breaking the skin along the Faker's fists as thin rivulets of blood stain his hands. Under the blessing of the music god, though, even those only last for a moment before fading, mending together in the blink of an eye. All the while, those arrows continue their path through the air to pierce the demon king.

"Do not get carried away, [i][b]monster[/b][/i]."