Olivia and the group huddled together after experiencing the sudden surge of demonic aura from Erik's recent demonic transformation.
With a clouded face, she asked, "Is it over?!"
"Must be. Things have gone silent.", Jinmu walked out of the great hall and arrived outside.
His eyes narrowed after seeing the debris of the earlier conflict.
"Look at the impact of their battle. It may just be a small battlefield but the destruction…"
'The students of the Heavenly Magic Academy are truly one of a kind. Even battles of this level could already be destructive.', Haera commented.
Her heart beat unnaturally, but not as violently as it had in the past. She believed that Solordo's prior flames caused it.
They were uncontrollably being absorbed into her body as if the treatment from Eluard and the number of flames stored weren't enough.
'But I guess that is something that could be expected when he is the one who imprinted with a divine dragon beast, right?'
In general, warriors in the early stages of the higher blade realm were unable to fight with such intensity. Only those with particularly violent beasts imprinted on them, whose battle methods resulted in wide-scale devastation, were an exception.
Lucan sighed, "I wonder how far has Solordo cultivated. Two months passed but the difference in power is already this high."
"Don't lose hope.", Jinmu cheered up, "You're lagging because your magic root has yet to mature. And don't compare your speed with others. Haste will only slow you down."
"I know. I'm just envious.", Lucan retorted though accepting Jinmu's points, "I'm still stuck at being a trainee mage and that guy's already two major levels above me."
Olivia could sense the underlying self-disgust in his comments. This was the third time she felt concerned for others.
And for the previous one…
Emi softly grabbed Jinmu's robe and peeked.
The little girl gasped, catching everyone's attention, "Oh no, brother Solordo is gravely injured!"
Emi hurried to him. She was deeply worried that this senior of hers was at death's door.
"He-hey! Wait for us, Emi!", Lucan, Olivia, and Haera ran while Jinmu remained, on guard for any suspicious ambush.
'I don't know why brother Solordo did all of that. Maybe it was for my sake, or maybe it was for all of us.'
'But I need to help him regardless! Pay him back for the effort that he gave to me and my seniors!'
'It's the only thing I could do!'
Getting struck by Miriana earlier woke her up from her cold fa?ade. That was a front she set up for herself after naively thinking of the dark side of the world and 'adapting' to it.
Emi thought that with a change of personality, she could face the challenges unhindered by emotions and nonsensical words.
Thus, started her behavior of practicing all alone, hunting demon beasts with a cold personality.
She even imagined the day she would rescue her big sister by herself while standing on top of Erik's decapitated body which bled profusely.
She would then gaze at Olivia and leave her stupefied senior sister agape.
You are all to blame yourself, senior sister. Your misguided desire to leave your home behind forced that evil bastard to pursue you and along the way, enslaved my big sister out of my reach.
Do you still not understand? I waited for days for your explanation but that didn't happen.
I waited for you to redeem yourself and see if you could help me bring her back to me.
But…
But that illusion of her unfounded strength remained a fantasy.
Miriana proved her wrong, instilling the vicious woman's mockery deep in her memories. She remembered how the vicious woman told her…
You act brave, back the strength to back it up!
… showing a look of disdain for someone who was foolish enough to think that they were stronger than they actually were.
"Emi!", Solordo bent his head to the side and watched as his junior sister knelt down and laid her shaky hands on his worn-out body.
"What are you doing here? Stay back inside!"
He tried to push her away but the little girl remained stubborn, "No! You're still injured!"
"Fine, little girl! But if you want to heal me, drag me inside first!"
The outdoors was a dangerous area for him to recuperate. There was still that ominous demonic aura from earlier which aggressively approached their position.
'That Erik must be here to deal with me. Demonic creatures loathe those who smell of divinity!'
Solordo reckoned that although the traitors were 'demonized', they were drastically different from the likes of Erik who contracted with one of the pure demonic entities.
That, however, wasn't something he would ponder deeply for now.
The rest of his classmates arrived and he ordered them to move him out of danger's reach.
"You won't get away from my young master!", Grimmold coughed out blood as he channeled his nearly empty chivalric essence.
'Shadow Phase: Entangling Darkness!'
Shadow vines uprooted and immobilized the four of them.
"He's still up after all of that?!", Solordo gritted his teeth.
"Don't think I'm easy to drop on you all brats!"
Grimmold bluffed. He knew that a minor hit would knock him out. Using all sorts of skills inherited from the frostal shadow hound required a substantial amount of his chivalric essence.
That was why these beasts were extremely elusive as they did not want to mess with others unless it was necessary.
'I hope this works! Get here and finish them, young master! I can't hold them for long!'
Unfortunately for him, Olivia arrived and she knew how these people usually behaved.
"Stop fooling around, Grimmold!"
"Princess Olivia?!"
Hearing her voice almost blackened his sight.
Seeing his reaction, Olivia smiled and created a massive pillar of ice. It swung violently like a bat, sending Grimmold flying off into the distance.
The dark vines retreated, releasing them from its firm grasp.
Solordo was about to ask for additional help when the winds surged and a demonic shout resounded.
"You won't get away!"
Erik landed from up high, blowing all of the snow away. He quickly rotated his great axe and vertically swung it towards Solordo.
A destructive wave of demonic power traversed the ground, cracking it into two.
Solordo used his remaining hand and blasted his classmates away from danger using wind magic. He then used his dragon tail and transferred it to his left hand now infused with fire.
'Weapon Enhancement: Flame Halberd!'
He sent out a flame wave of his own and clashed soon with Erik.
Their simultaneous attacks caused an enormous shockwave that plowed through all of the snow within a hundred meters.
Amidst the smoke, Erik advanced and caught Solordo off guard. He grabbed the fully-armored knight by the neck and spat on his face, "You're weak!"
He punched Solordo's face and was thrown quite a distance. Solordo was knocked unconscious, laying undefended under the deep cave-in of snow.
"Stay away from brother Solordo! Greater Vine Entanglement!"
Emi sprouted several large tree roots that soon encircled Erik.
'She wants to absorb that guy's life essence but he is in a demonized form!', Lucan realized what she wanted to do, "Wait, Emi! Don't do that!", smacking her hands away before any self-harm was done.
"Brother Lucan! What are you doing?!", Emi was dumbfounded. Was this senior brother of hers helping the enemy?
"Idiot! He's demonized and you absorbing his life essence won't do any good!"
Erik snorted when he heard their arguments.
"Pathetic weaklings! Demonic Implosion!"
His body lit up as he gathered demonic essence.
"Don't be too impulsive, Emi! Oh no, come here. He's going to launch an attack!"
Lucan grabbed Emi and tore off a small section of earth before propelling away to escape Erik's sudden retaliation.
Emi's tree roots were quickly destroyed by a loud explosion. The remaining pieces instantly were submerged in demonic essence and rapidly decayed.
"I'll deal with you later!", Erik gestured at Solordo and turned his body around, "As for you brats… Your humiliation of me cannot go unpunished! I will play with you little folks until you feel despair deep within your hearts!"
Olivia became numb to his complaints and emotionlessly sent a barrage of sharp ice spikes right into his face.
'Let's see how long you can endure against my attacks!'
She had received a message from Jinmu earlier, prompting her to incessantly assault and irritate Erik for as long as she could.
[ Jinmu: You don't have to worry about your mana usage. The environment is to your advantage and your mana will be replenished long before you realize it. ]
[ Jinmu: Lightning is very effective against demonic essence, second only to light and divinity. Make use of your magic root's characteristics and wear him down. ]
[ Jinmu: Your distraction will give Emi ample time to heal Solordo back up. ]
Looking at the long logs of Jinmu's messages, Olivia felt hopeless.
'Tsk. He didn't even bother to explain why but I have no other choice now, do I?'
"Hmph! Useless!", Erik grasped his great axe and smashed her ice spikes.
The lingering lightning effect affected his demonic essence, inducing a weak electrocuting effect within Erik.
"You-!", he gritted his teeth, 'Why does her ice magic electrify me?!'
First was the ice wall and ice stingers. Now, even a simple ice spike contained a small trace of lightning magic?
Olivia sent a few more ice spikes, annoying Erik to the core.
"That's it, Princess Olivia! If you won't lower yourself under my service, I shall force you to do so!"
With crazed and lustful eyes, Erik dashed in front of Olivia.
She grinned in elation, knowing that Jinmu's plan worked out. She then imbued her entire body in lightning, giving her the speed to outmaneuver her enemy.
Erik tried to grab her neck but widened his eyes after seeing a glimpse of a lightning figure where she stood.
'This is-! An adept wizard's partial magical metamorphosis!'
He stared in stupefaction, wondering how powerful Olivia was.
'She- she does have lightning affinity! I thought she was just playing tricks with me!'
Just as he began to unravel a part of her mysterious magical background, the lightning crept on his armor, engulfing his entire right hand.
Olivia grasped her hand and detonated her trap, "Lightning Claw!"
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