>>5273744>>5273745>>5273749<span class="mu-i">"Farnese! Get as far away from us as we can! The enemy is trying to take our knowledge of magic! Unstrap Gunpowder from The Pegasus and send him here!"</span>
<span class="mu-i">"U-Understood! That much I can do..."</span> She attempts to run where Gunpowder was resting, and with the help of Serpico, the horse is set free to run off towards the hill of swords.
Outside the armory, the entity was waiting for you behind the rock walls of the mountain to behead you with a swift swing of the blade, pulling it from the cemetery of the falcons to use it as a weapon.
Your acrobatics don't fail you as you repeatedly tumble forwards with Hyde on your back and push the creature with the pole of your lance while dodging the sword and the illusion copies that the entity manifests, and as it staggers, you ready another whack at it's head as the weapon--
--Passes through him?
Starting to aim the spikes of the halberd at him, you try to poke and impale the creature several times, but the image of it's body just dissipate into thin air as it's foggy silhouette forms back into a faceless humanoid. Why can't you hit it when you just pushed it off?
"Your energy is lacking, inconsistent in all of your movements." The entity speaks up as several swords are pulled out of it's body, with the creature seemingly impaling itself with duplicate blades.
This is likely the first real fight this entity has, and given how it's learning as it fights with the experience of countless lives inside it, you never know which one of them was a powerful warrior, or perhaps an actual magician reminding itself of it's real identity.
If you're going to fight it, just physical attacks won't make it, you have to imbue your blade with your soul energy...
Then again, maybe not. Farnese knows magic, and if you could use her as backup energy tank or even let her do the Od transfer to your blade, it could be useful.
Hell, you don't even have to go that far, Hyde is right here with you, slingshot and pellets in hand. If he can remember who he is and aim properly (provided the entity didn't give him an aneurysm) you can surely attempt to make him fight this fight for you while you don't endanger the risk of endangering more of your life expectancy.
"The Hunter's memories of magic aren't nearly enough for us to know of it's intricacies. Teach us how to know, Vlad. Lend us your strength." The creature walks forward, still aiming it's hand at your forehead.
>Transfer your own power into your halberd. You can handle him yourself.>Try to heal Hyde and see if he's responsive to fight.>Ask for further support from your fighters.>See if you can beat the entity in a race to find Farnese.>Blast him with your Od. 