When I recovered enough energy to lift my body out of the rubble, I was surprised at the scene happening in front of me.
Irja was once more in her Vibrant Spirit Form. Inside a triangle made by her and her two Lesser Spirits, a literally smoking hot mess of a body was currently shivering in anger.
With most of her clothes burnt or destroyed from the amount of energy Irja poured onto the attack I failed to witness, Rowena's closed wounds opened and a mixture of red and gold flowed down to the ground as it seeped out of her opened wounds.
"YOU ANT!!"
An ear-piercing scream echoed as she ignored her bleeding wounds to jump towards Irja, aiming to end the woman.
Because Irja strained herself by prematurely ending her recuperation and possibly using that Transformation of hers once more, the wound that should've been closed during the period I bought for her opened and the gush of blood once again blotted that side of hers.
While kneeling on the ground, Irja weakly smirked as she pointed her broomstick to the incoming Rowena.
This woman… Why didn't she want to dodge? Why didn't she stall for time instead to wait for the incoming reinforcements? Why was she doing that? What's pushing her to face someone stronger than her? No matter what angle we looked at, she's currently being overwhelmed by her adversary!
I don't know… No matter how I overthink these questions, only Irja could answer them.
"Ant, huh? Let this ant sting you to death!" Irja grinned and returned a scream.
Although hers was too weak to overcome Rowena's shrill scream, Irja's surge of energy following that says otherwise.
It completely matched what the enraged Rowena was projecting!
From where I was, I could feel that their combined energy was enough to pulverize me down to the last grain of ash if those were directed and unleashed towards me.
As if pouring everything she had and channeling it to her Output Enhancing Equipment in a bid to amplify it, Irja's multicolored hair floated along with the rubble and the puddles of blood around her.
At some point, her two Lesser Spirits appeared behind her and superimposed with her growing visage giving her the look of a vibrant but terrifying figure.
To some, she would inspire awe while to the rest she would inspire fear. What she's doing was not an application of some kind of a skill. At least it wasn't a part of what she told me and it's a bit different from when she was activating a skill.
If I have to guess, it was the culmination of her Transcendent Pathway as well as her genius in Energy Molding.
Perhaps, to bridge the gap between them, Irja was determined to empty her energy reserves down to its last drop to encompass one desperate counterattack.
If Rowena successfully hit her, she would bring her the same amount or even stronger counterattack by borrowing the former's overwhelming advantage and momentum.
And yet, I still couldn't help but ask myself why she's doing this… This woman…
At the same moment as what's happening in front of me, my feet had started moving subconsciously. No. It wasn't my subconscious but my growing desire to go to that woman's side to stop her suicidal attempt.
Although I couldn't see her reason, her aim was wide and clear. Her life in exchange for taking the enemy down with her!
Whooosh! Whooosh! Whoosh!
From my legs to the soles of my feet, colorful expunges of Elemental Energy simultaneously launched me from the rubble where I was.
In my eyes, the scene that I was just watching from afar magnified in a blink of an eye.
Giving the furious Rowena a side glance, I waved my right arm down.
Following that, the Energy Zone which followed me from where I was transformed its nature to an offensive one. The pure mixture of Dark Energy and the foreign Physique-type Energy expanded and surged down acting like a heavy load that held Rowena in place.
Without any chance to look at its final outcome, my arms already circled around the woman I came rushing for, tackling her down to the ground.
Because of the speed of the simultaneous use of Elemental Steps, the tackle I did not only pushed both of us to the ground but also rolled us away from that place. Despite the surge of Energy which seemingly burned as well as drowned me in this attempt, I kept my hold on her, enclosing her in my arms.
Once.
Twice.
Thrice.
Ten times.
Ending up filled with bruises and cuts, we ultimately rolled to a stop 50 meters away from where I tackled her.
The long white robes covering my body were wet and burnt on various parts but the same couldn't be said to the woman closely held by me.
The rampaging energy which she ought to unleash had already settled down. Even though her injury was less than what I received, the opened hole on her side pushed her near-critical state once again.
With her eyes closed shut, her two delicate sets of fingers clutched tightly onto my collar as her body quivered violently.
"I'm not clear about what drove you to do that. However, Irja, that was extremely stupid. Stupid yet beautiful." I patted her now exposed head, the hat she was wearing was now nowhere in sight. Perhaps it got burned away or it was lost when we were rolling away but that's not important anymore.
I found what she did as extremely beautiful. Despite not knowing the reason why, that was my honest evaluation.
Being a Rank 2 Transcendent, although she was surprised at what I did, I knew she would be able to recover sooner than a Mortal Rank.
So after some pats, her quivering lessened as she somehow tried to bury her face to my chest.
However, I prevented her from doing that. Instead, holding her from the back of her head, I pulled her head up. To avoid her from rejecting, a medicinal pill was already clutched by my teeth. And to administer it to her, I had our lips overlapped once more, pushing it for her to consume.
When she felt that, Irja's closed-shut eyes widely opened as her arms weakly pushed me away.
Since it already entered her mouth and I saw her throat gulped it down, I separated from her.
It might've been seen by her as me taking advantage of her and in fact, I really did. However, that's not important anymore. While she's still processing what I did, I supported her up and forcefully had her face that bloodied golden mess of a woman.
"If you're going to get angry, do it later. For now, look up."
Up above, the three blue circles were already about to reach our position.
Unfortunately, the previous 20 was now 18. The stationary scout disappeared from the map and one of the four below also vanished from existence.
Since they're out of the Domain of Valor's range the buff has long expired. For them to hold out that long was already a miracle.
Out of the four, Faren has already fallen while Udann is seriously injured.
"… You have to answer later. What do you want us to do?"
She's gritting her teeth, alright. Although I expected this reaction, I'm not regretting that.
"It's simple, let's go down and regroup with them." As soon as I said that, I picked her up and immediately jumped in Monady and the other's direction.
Because of the damage she received, Rowena failed to react to what I did, buying us a few seconds of a headstart.
Thanks to the damage dealt to her, it's now possible to run away from her.
Apart from the Elemental Steps that were activating alternately without the need to cast, we traversed half the distance easily.
At this point, Irja succumbed to this situation and just held onto me.
"Do you think you can run away?!"
And likewise, Rowena caught up.
However, before she could grab onto us, Short-Distance Teleportation fooled her senses and put us away from her. Afterward, I continued using Elemental Steps, successfully regrouping to Monday's battered group.
"Irja! Ember!"
Sensing us landing behind them, Monady shouted albeit a little downcast. The death of Faren probably got to her.
"Take this."
Throwing each of them a medicinal pill, my eyes instantly observed Larnel and Yordi up ahead.
With this situation, holding back and trying not to stand out would just lead us to our death.
I'm a support. And a support doesn't just stay behind. I'm also responsible for analyzing the situation to guide everyone out of this seemingly hopeless situation. It's a shame for Faren but that's inevitable.
Because of the existence of the other three, Rowena stopped following us and just went back to also regroup with her companions.
In the end, we ended up in this situation but comparing the injuries of both sides, we're still at a disadvantage.
"That Medicinal Pill came from an Exalted. I know you all will have your own pills to save yourself. Irja here is the living proof of its efficacy."
Seeing their confused look on the pill as they hesitated to take it, I provided some context for them.
Well, it's only for prolonging our strength long until those three reinforcements arrive.
Although its efficacy could be said to be high, one needed sufficient rest for it to reach its full effectiveness. But there's no point explaining that now.
Upon hearing my words, the three took it and gulped it down.
Taking my eyes from them, I took out another tool from the Necklace.
"Irja, stop looking at me like that, use this instead of that broomstick of yours. Trust me on this one." Blocking her heated gaze on me that felt as if a knife would fly at my back any moment, I handed her the Totem Pole.
It's something I should've done earlier. It was long overdue but still, it's better late than never.
With this, our last stand starts.
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