Blood.
Is this… how the fight ends?
I coughed it up, feeling most of the damage that was caused by the hit on impact especially. My spine was definitely broken, not to mention most of my ribs, and internal organs were either broken or bleeding.
What was going through my mind exactly? I was the one who challenged her to begin with, so for me to play it "safe" and like a "True Queen" was nothing but pure stupidity and disrespect now that I think about it.
Was this my punishment for disrespecting her? Maybe she just finally had enough of playing hide and seek? But regardless, even though I was sure that my life wasn't in danger, I still needed to heal myself. The pain wasn't that pleasant after all.
Maia really sent me flying though, didn't she?
It was quite the pleasant scenery to look at on one side now that I was fully healed up. My mana regeneration was top notch, but that's mainly because of how long I've been alive for. You'd be surprised about how many things you learn to do in almost 2000 years with enough boredom at hand.
Should I just call it a day and admit my defeat? She did technically beat me after all, or at the very least she did completely blow out of the window any plan I had.
To think that my genius strategies would all be rendered useless by a young girl… though perhaps I shouldn't actually refer to her as that given their circumstances. Regardless, stances are that I lost the battle of IQ, whether it was because she outsmarted me or simply burned them down.
I could see light coming from the surface of the earth in the distance. One so bright that it stood out even from all the way here. Its color was a bright gold with black mixed within it. It must be Maia's aura. Is she coming to finish me off? Or to confirm her victory?
In either case, I don't… C-care anymore…
That's right. I've already lost, there's no point in even getting up from this man made crater that formed on my impact. It's useless, she's simply stronger.
I-…I really don't care anymore…
Of course, it would be nothing but wasted effort. Not to mention, for a Queen to cope this hard about her own loss would be nothing but disgraceful.
I don't care anymore… Even if I haven't used all of my abilities yet…
It is true that I haven't actually gotten to fight on my own, nor make use of my full arsenal yet. After all, I intended on only directly engaging in the battle in the eventuality of my plans failing.
I don't care… But my plans did fail… doesn't that mean that now I have to…
I did tell her that I'd be fighting myself from now on, but that was before I got sent to the moon.
I could still turn the tides around… N-no, I don't care anymore… I-I lost, that's it.
But I already healed myself, and it's not like I don't have any ways of fighting anymore.
The light was getting brighter, and closer.
Is this it?…
Am I really just going to wait here until she comes to end this whole thing?
Brighter.
Am I really going to lose before I even fight directly?
Closer.
No, wait- I, yeah, I don't care anymore.
But what if I do?
Brighter.
What if I actually don't want to lose yet?
What if I just throw away this stupid pride that has forced me to end up like this to begin with, and stop fighting as the Queen of Nature.
Closer.
What if instead, I actually give it my all, and put up the fight she deserves? Not as an arrogant Queen. Not even as a fellow coworker, or Sentinel. I could just fight with all I have, and give her the fight she should've gotten from the moment she accepted my challenge, as someone who wants to work with her as a friend in the future.
Brighter. I could even see her by now, approaching me with a smile on her face.
Maia was still having fun, yet I'm here thinking about whether or not I should give up? Don't make me laugh.
I should've done this from the very beginning, so I'll apologize for now, Maia. From now on, I won't be fighting you as a Queen.
She formed a fist, charging it up with flames while closing in the distance ultimately. She was aiming for my head. Or so it appeared at least. It almost made me want to tear up, you know? I could tell from her body language.
From now on, I'll be fighting you…
That even as she landed the hit, she knew. That I would move away at the last second, completely avoiding it. The whole moon was blown up into pieces by her punch, but it didn't make any difference to me. Speeding up, using the spread out moon rocks around me as supports, I dashed between them to catch momentum.
…As a friend. And, as Sylara Wynsorin!
It was my turn now. After getting enough momentum in, I was the one who landed a critical hit, straight into her stomach, sending her flying into space.
For a second, I did think about the possibility of Maia being shocked or distressed because of my sudden counterattack, but given the way she rebalanced herself and stopped her motion, and the way her eyes were literally lit up while she spoke and was coming towards me, I'd say that wasn't the case.
"So you can throw a punch, you damn scary cat of an Elf!"
Her grin was so large that it was almost contagious within this context. Her excitement was clearly out of any charts, but mine was rising just as fast. Intercepting her, I blocked a kick that was aimed straight for my ribs with my forearm, then tried to lay down a kick of my own, but before I could actually swing it, she moved out of the way, momentarily distancing herself.
"When you live almost 2000 years you pick up pretty useful skills sometimes, you know? Though it's been probably at least a few hundred years since the last time I hit a good punch."
"Is that so?"
Spheres of fire formed behind her, and I created some roots of my own, keeping them behind me. Afterwards, with some smaller vines, I made a staff for myself to use.
"It sure is."
"A staff, huh? Didn't think that would be your weapon choice."
"What, did you think all elves use bows?"
"Actually yeah, uhm…Something along those lines?… sorry?"
Shrugging my shoulders, I gave her a light smile. Honestly, I can't blame her. Most elves do live in trees in our forest, so a bow is just the most convenient weapon in most cases. Of course, it goes without saying but even though I am well above average in archery, I couldn't even consider it as my weapon of choice. It was painfully obvious just how much superior Maia was as an archer, even just from her base stance.
She was so relaxed that you'd never even see it coming, but to anyone who's seen experienced archers it was as clear as day. She was ready to create a bow and fire out an arrow at any moment. Not to mention her speed being well above pretty much anyone other than Mio, and I hope myself as well.
"Pay it no mind. It is not quite fully untruthful after all."
"Wait actually?"
Swinging the staff around my arms, just to get the hang of it, I replied.
"It is certainly easier to shoot down a boar from above a tree than go and engage with it yourself after all."
"I guess that makes sense- wait, aren't elves vegetarian?! And do boars even live in elven forests??"
I didn't quite lose my edge, but it had been quite a while since the last time I used a staff, so this warm up was well appreciated, although it did come with a side of stupidity and stereotypes.
"I can see why you'd think the first part, but really? Asking if boars live in forests is a little disappointing even coming from you, Maia."
She scratched the back of her head apologetically, which was a pretty fun sight to see compared to the blood lusted girl that I was fighting earlier before this little moment of tranquillity. But regardless, it was getting prolonged a little too long. As she spoke, I finally stopped playing around with my staff as well.
"Sorry…"
"Pay it no mind. Let's just put that aside now, shall we? Our real fight begins here."
"Thanks, Queen of Na-"
"Just call me Sylara. I've been calling you Maia from the very beginning after all. It feels weird when you call someone by their name and they use your title instead. I plan on fighting you as a friend from now on, not a Queen."
She looked quite a tod surprised at first, but her expression swiftly transformed into a delighted smile.
"Alright, Sylara. Let's get this done with."
But before she could actually do anything, I had something to do first. Had we begun the fight as of now, I would inevitably lose due to my mana being almost dried out currently after all. Which is why…
"Eat Up."
Great Spirit King of Nature's first ability, second mode.
This wasteland of a planet we left behind, shall be your feast. Eat up, consume it all. Nourish yourself, as much as you can. Don't leave anything behind from it.
"Devourer of Nature, The Great Plant of Nourishment!"
Arise from nothingness, devour it all. Whether I fight Maia as a Queen or not, it doesn't shift my Authority. So as the Ruler of all Nature, I command you to take it all then give it to me.
"What the hell is that?!"
I couldn't blame her surprise. After all, seemingly growing out of nowhere, a great killer plant had arisen, and in a single bite… it completely ate our planet, leaving nothing behind. That was the first ability's second mode. Of course, I could adjust its side to fit my needs, but generally speaking this much was its base one. All of the mana that made up the planet was then transferred to me almost instantly, and the plant vanished into nothingness once again.
"I told you about the second mode earlier, didn't I? Weren't you listening?"
"No matter how you twist it, no one said anything about a planet eater plant?!"
"Yeah yeah, stop whining though, will you?"
"How am I the one whining- woah!"
Interrupting her, I sent a vine straight towards her face, slow enough for her to be able to react even with her guard down. I really meant it when I said this chit chat had been going on for way too long after all.
"At least let me finish…"
"I have no reason to- wuaaah?!"
"Ha hah! Got you!"
She had done the same exact thing I did but with an arrow. I guess this wasn't going anywhere, huh? So then that meant there was only one way for us to finally start this once again. With that in mind, I started rolling my staff on itself In my right hand, standing as straight as I possibly could, my legs slightly apart as I prepared myself.
Seeing that, Maia finally managed to compose herself, straightening her own back as she centered her body, creating a flames bow in her left hand. Her right hand gracefully touched the bow's fire made string, then pulling her hand backwards, an arrow formed.
I charged up some mana in my hand, then transferred it inside my staff. Centering it towards the top end. Of course, no one in the world besides Mio and Cael could modify the flow of materialized mana, but that didn't mean others didn't still use mana attacks or blows. At the very least, we can control the range and intensity, so it's still the greatest offensive attack, just not as effective as those 2's.
And worry not, the fact that I mentioned Maia's little brother may seem weird at first, but it is merely because he's all that Mio talks about. All of the Sentinels know more about him than Maia from Mio's stories alone.
Once again, the tension had grown, but this time it was accompanied by the rise of both of our morales. There could be no specific signal in space for us to take, but that wasn't a problem. I didn't think much about this first showdown after all, so I was the one to begin.
In a fraction of a second, the moment my staff's top was facing her, without ever stopping its motion I released the mana attack, and she was obviously fast enough to fire her arrow in time to counter it. Right afterwards, we both got moving.
Constant fire and branches or vines were having their own fight around us, while we went through a constant sequence of direct battling, her with her own hands and me with my staff, and just flying around to also get distance between us if needed, but the action behind and around us never stopped.
As expected, I can definitely keep up! not only that, but Maia really is amazing.
This was the first time in my whole life that I was able to freely fight at this scale, and it was liberating. Our clashes felt comforting in a weird way, and although I had lost count of how many planets we had already destroyed alongside our dash and punch, or blew up with either fire or my mana, it didn't really seem to matter much since I could feel only one in our solar system being left.
There were about 12 total, so 11 had already been destroyed, 1 which became fuel for me. I was getting out of mana, but we were coincidentally clashing towards the last one, and frankly speaking, like the rest, the force of our clash alone would probably leave no trace of it behind, so there was no point in consuming that one.
Thus, the most logical thing for me to consume next, was the very core of our solar system. None other than the Sun itself was the next to get engulfed down by my killer plant, but it happened while we kept fighting, not distrusting our momentum.
With our solar system being completely whipped out now, we subconsciously decided that there was no point in bounding ourselves within this area anymore.
Planet after planet, star after star, system after system. We went around our galaxy, leaving behind nothing as we moved on to the next location. It isn't as if we actually intended on destroying it all, but it felt only natural for us to try and find some kind of land to continue on, perhaps as an instinct? But whether we accidentally blew them up or not, no planet was able to survive even us clashing near it, which is why our wandering continued.
To me however, it was mostly ironic. The Queen of Nature destroying the very foundation of Nature, huh? And to think that I had lost my contract with this stubborn spirit of mine just because of a simple change I did back to our planet… but it matters not now, as I was long past it. Mio had already sorted things out for me after all.
In a matter of a few minutes for us at least, we had ultimately destroyed every single solar system in the galaxy, and I was certain of it since I could feel it. There was nothing left inside of it other than mostly vacant planets or asteroids and such.
Whether Maia realized it or not, I subtly changed our fighting pace and fastened it up, and shortly after we had gotten out of the galaxy as a whole. It wouldn't account to that much individually, but if it was all of the remains of it, then the mana consumption should suffice for the moment.
Summoning the killer plant once again, I had it engulf the remains of our galaxy as our fight continued onwards to a new one, entering it and repeating the same process incidentally.
We don't seem to be getting anywhere with this, other than having a little fun though.
Which wasn't necessarily a problem, but would this drag on too long and we'd end up just becoming galaxy destroyers for no apparent reason other than not being able to finish each other.
I'm not quite fond of having to use this… even I feel like it may be considered cheating after all. Yet it may be necessary.
We were approaching each other once again for a clash, but this time, once she was close enough instead of going for any attacks, I grabbed her arm. She didn't quite expect it I assume from her look of surprise, but she probably realized where I was going when I threw her downwards into space, and distanced each other. Seeing how I wasn't coming towards her anymore, she had also stopped moving, looking at me with an expectant expression.
"What's up? You tired or something?"
"Of course not. But I don't think I need to spell it out for you, do I? This isn't going anywhere."
"I can't deny that, but are you not having enough fun as is?"
"I am. This is the most fun battle I've ever experienced in my life. Which is exactly the problem. This is so fun that I fear we may never conclude this fight, and just endlessly go around in this space."
"I see… but that means you're confident enough to be able to put an end to this fight?"
I didn't reply. Actions are stronger proof than words after all.
"Sprout."
It shook. What did? The whole universe we were inside of. Its roots formed within endless galaxies around us, rapidly growing upwards.
Life is yours to create. Reality is nothing but your soil, that shall nourish your fruits to come.
Its sheer size alone was sure to intimate her ever so slightly. But blaming her would be nothing but hypocrisy, when most if not everyone would as well.
After all, the…
"Great Tree of Life"
Was so large that it made galaxies seem leaf size compared to its trunk alone. Its branches were so long that you could line up at least 20 galaxies next to each other on average to mimic their size. Its real leaves were as large as galaxies, but that wasn't all.
"What the…"
Its size wasn't just for show after all, but it wasn't just there to intimidate Maia.
"Grow."
The leaves then almost instantly started changing into flowers. Each flower then sprouted on its own, giving birth to countless fruits.
The fruits then started to glow. Each one of them shaking lightly until…
"You have to be joking…"
From inside around 100 fruits, each one of them started glowing, mana bursting out of them, before it condensed back into each fruit once again. Then, after the outside had been broken, each one of them gave birth to… Me? I'm sure that's how it must look to anyone else, not just Maia, but it wouldn't actually be too inaccurate to say that.
The second ability of the Spirit King of Nature, allowed me to create life. For the time being, I began with creating 100 "clones" of myself.
They all had the same exact strength, intelligence, mana and every other stats as me. They were perfect copies. I was still in command of them, but they could act independently as well. I had them all line up next to me at the moment though as we looked down towards the speechless Maia.
That wasn't all though, since the ability didn't stop at creating clones of Myself.
From around 300 other fruits, I created clones of fully grown dragons, also calling them towards us.
I could do more, but honestly I'm not sure if it would be needed. I didn't have the tree go away though just in case, I'll keep it there ready to give birth to new clones if needed… wait. Actually, now that I think about it…
What would happen if I tried to…?
But just as I had that thought, I felt as if time had stopped. I found myself surrounded by mist after a single blink, yet it didn't take long for me to realize what was happening from the voice that had suddenly spoken to me.
"Sylara, what could possibly be going through your mind to even think about it?"
I couldn't see it, but I recognized it. I was in my own consciousness, and the one speaking to me was none other than The Spirit King of Nature itself.
"So it's a no-go, huh?"
"That should be common sense. Seriously, did you not listen to her story one bit?"
"Well, of course a Queen's attention is always sharp! But… I didn't think it would be impossible to even clone her."
"You could clone individuals like Vorathar or his son, but out of everyone you chose the one and only exception? Seriously, what's wrong with you…"
"Wait, I can?"
"Though I can't guarantee that you or Maia would be able to stop or control them."
"Well, that seems accurate… but is there really no way of-"
"Sylara, do I have to spell it out for you?"
It sighed, before continuing.
"There can only be one Mio. It is impossible to clone her, even for me, the incarnation of life itself."
"Instead of trying to copy her out of all people, focus on winning this fight with your reasonable cards. Show that damn fire host who's better once and for all!-"
"Yeah, yeah. I get it. Now then, I shall take my leave."
Interrupting it since I was in no mood for a yapping session about their rivalry, I went back to reality.
Regardless of whether I had a Mio clone or not, this fight was about to change its pace ultimately, leaving only one of us Victorious.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Maia's Pov)
You have to be joking…
A massive tree that makes galaxies look small, too many clones for me to even bother counting and God only knows how many dragons… wasn't this a one versus one?! Why does it look like I am about to get jumped? Why's Mio not interfering… this has to be against the rules, doesn't it? Doesn't it?!
But since she was probably just looking at the screen with a casual grin on her face, enjoying the show silently it seems like it wasn't actually against them. So what now? All of them lined up next to each other and the dragons were in front of them lined up. They were all above me as well so I wasn't only being looked down on by one anymore so it was also a lot more uncomfortable and irritating…
I was having fun while destroying stuff and actually having some real action, but isn't this a little exaggerated? I guess our friend over here didn't think that though, since shortly after, the dragons started coming at me.
Is she going back to indirect fighting?
Is what I thought as I made a fire bow as usual and started to burn off some of the dragons, but my eyes were forced wide shortly after. The dragons kept regenerating even after their whole bodies had been turned into dust.
"Let me guess… As long as the original is alive, any clone or creature will keep regenerating, huh?"
It wasn't slow either. By the time my flames dispersed, their whole bodies were back to normal, and I had to constantly grill them over and over again.
She hadn't replied, but it didn't seem like I needed one as I had already and was still confirming my theory. Dragons weren't an issue, they weren't strong enough to withstand more than an arrow, but their number and constant regeneration was an issue.
They kept marching forward as they died and regenerated too, so the distance between me and who knows how many dragons was closing up. So much that I had to instinctively take a jump backwards and make more space between us only after about 30 seconds.
I couldn't get all of them in one arrow either, so I had to shoot multiple ones over and over to keep killing them, but no matter how much I did it, they just kept moving forward.
Annoying.
It took me less than a second to take care of all of them, sure. But when the full second mark hit, they had already travelled a few meters. Were dragons even always this fast? I hardly think so, honestly. They were probably made faster by her, which is definitely a great tactic on her side, but to me it was nothing but annoying.
Too many.
Like seriously, I keep killing and killing over and over but their numbers don't decrease whatsoever. This is clearly too many "immortal" fellas to bring on a battlefield.
Time consuming.
At this rate, I won't even have any time to try and turn tables. Try and take out the original? Yeah sure, lemme just find the time in between taking care of these hungry flying pets of hers.
If only i could use them…
There was a way for me to get around all of this, but I'm prohibited from using them. Prohibited by who? You don't even need to ask. But regardless, the reason was pretty simple. It's both dangerous and unsustainable.
Every time I used them I also ended up losing my mind although only slightly so far, so that only adds up to the cons. I can't blame her for prohibiting me from using them because of that, but it's definitely a stingy matter. Without them, I'm now forced to back up constantly because otherwise I'd end up as dragon food, and I'm honestly just getting more and more annoyed by the second.
When is this going to end?
However, it seems like the answer was right around the corner. When I took a step backwards this time, a vine which I hadn't even seen for that matter had scratched me on my left cheek. I didn't think too much of it- who am I kidding? This was clearly a poisonous attack, and the effects actually kicked in right away.
Sylara wasn't actually just fighting indirectly, she was actually just taking it easy but had all the intention in the world of actually joining in if she had an opportunity. This was annoying, so much so that I was really tempted to just disobey Mio's limitations… but that didn't really last long. It would be pretty immature of me after all, even if in the fit of rage.
Was the poison itself an issue? Not really, the detoxification process was simple, just healing my bloodstream enough to eventually get rid of it. But the problem was the fact that among the dragons coming at me, I now had countless vines doing the exact same, which I had to either dodge or cut off while still constantly killing dragons.
I could still use my bow for the dragons, but it was getting tight. My arms were now becoming targets as well, so I often had to use them to dodge upcoming vines. I was already using fire indirectly to protect me, but there were more vines than my fire could keep up with my current level of focus.
I could've made enough "automatic" fire to actually take care of all of them, but it would require too much of my focus outside of the dragons which kept regenerating at dangerous rates.
And just when I thought it couldn't get worse.
These poison vines are really getting in the way-
My heartbeat felt heavy. It was all because of a single scratch on my right arm which felt completely different than the rest. I glanced at it as fast as I could, and even though I had to turn my attention off from it almost right away to kill the dragons again, I could tell that something was wrong the second I tried to fire an arrow.
My arm…?!
It wasn't moving. This time forcing me to actually start flying around at full speed to be able to take a proper look at it without becoming food yet. They were following me, but I could focus my fire on both the vines and dragons from a distance pretty easily, so defense wasn't an issue, however…
You're really starting to get on my nerves now.
Roots were visible from right underneath my skin all around the small cut, and given the fact that I had 0 mobility in it now, it was pretty obvious what this was.
An infesting root, huh? I tried to just heal my body over it, but it simply did not work. Burning it would also do no good, since it kept regenerating instantly inside my arm. It didn't seem to be spreading anywhere else, either as a choice or simple inconvenience on her end, but it didn't make it any less annoying.
It doesn't seem like I have any other choice here…
So I cut off my arm from as high up as possible, pretty much right at the shoulder joint. I regenerated my arm as quickly as I could, but my movements had no changes. I glanced over at Sylara and her clones, and I was as shocked as I was annoyed. It was pretty obvious which clones were actually creating vines and which weren't from the mana leaking out of them whether they liked it or not.
The issue was in the fact that only about 10 of them actually were doing it. And when they noticed I caught on, what did they do? Of course, they started smirking as more clones did it. By now, I honestly completely lost track of which one was the original, since they were all "perfect" copies with even the same mana…
And as if it wasn't bad enough already, I had absolutely no way of recognizing which vines were poisonous and which were infectious. They looked the exact same, now even more in number as I flew around aimlessly, constantly killing and dodging anything my fire couldn't take care of.
I was reaching my breaking point. Not because I was running out of mana or anything like that since it wasn't the case, but my mental one. Could I keep this going all day? Absolutely. Do I want to though? Absolutely not.
Just leave me… alone already!
While dodging a vine, with a movement of my hand I released flames from, I managed to actually take all of them out in one single hit fortunately, which was efficient in killing them, but it took me more to actually do a full swing than charge up an arrow so it was still not time effective.
It would've been so much better if I was getting jumped by all of her clones at once instead of this… like seriously now, did she only summon them for show? Or I guess it's for the vines? It does make sense to have others do your work for you, but it still seemed a little excessive to make this many clones with the sole purpose of vine making.
However once again, it seems like I was proven right in the worst way possible. A thicker vine which I hadn't seen had twirled around my left foot. Then, faster than I could actually cut it off, an infectious vine had cut my right arm. I tried to slice away my arm, but I wasn't in time before another one twirled on my right foot.
The mana drain sensation made it very obvious, but I couldn't even look down at the source of the vines around my feet. Another infectious vine has attacked my left arm, and I now have lost use of both of them.
And as if that wasn't enough, both infested arms were tangled by another vine each, and then they just kept going. One around my torso, one around each of my shoulders, one on each of my legs. At this point, the mana draining effect was actually more than just noticeable, and it was getting dangerous.
Not only that, but the emotional draining was also amplified severely, making it ever so much more effective. Pulling me down into the center of a massive pollen-less flower, the others just standing around it and feeding off of my mana, I could do nothing but watch above me at an angle. The dragons had long stopped, they were just flying around the area. The clones were watching me with an almost sympathetic expression.
"It's over, Maia." Is what their expressions were saying. "You did enough." "You did your best." "You entertained us enough." "You're Strong." "You were close" … "You Lost."
It's frustrating. Very frustrating. But…
I'm getting way too tired to even try to resist… maybe I should just accept my loss-
However, before I could finish my thought, I felt something out of the ordinary within the circumstances. Mana communication.
"Seems like you're having quite the harsh time there, huh?"
"I'm really not in the mood for your sarcasm…"
"Well, whether you're in the mood or not, it makes no difference to me. All I want is to let you know something."
"What? Don't tell me you're also going to be like "you've done enough!" Or "You did your best!" Are you-"
"You didn't do your best yet."
"So you're just here to mock me now…-"
"That's not it either, Maia."
"Then what are you-?"
"You can use them."
I was getting sick of the constant interrupting, however my eyes widened slightly as soon as I heard her words, even though my emotional drain was definitely still kicking in.
"Wait, you mean?!"
"If things go wrong, I'll take care of it."
"Are you sure about it, Mio?"
"I can't have my Lieutenant lose this badly, can I? What if they try to revolt because of it, demanding a replacement?"
"…I don't think you have to worry about that…"
"Haha, well regardless. This is as much as I'm willing to "interfere" with for now. Just try to contain yourself even after the side effects begin to kick in."
"Got it… My Dear Best Friend."
Was it just me going insane already from the emotional drain? I don't know for sure, but I swear that I felt it. Right before she shut off the mana communication after my final words, I swear I felt as if her lips had curled up into a smile. But I guess none of that mattered now though, did it?
Taking a deep breath, I then calmly began.
"Burn."
Destruction is your nature. Lit up, burst out from within the deepest roots of my soul, and destroy any of my foes to come.
Regeneration won't be permissible. Escaping will be futile. Any life shall perish, and go into non-existence on contact with it.
"Blazing Flames of Destruction."
Raging from all around my body, they instantly incinerated not just the flowers around me, but also the roots inside my arms. I stood there calmly for a second to regain my composure, but in the meanwhile I burst them upwards all around me, taking care of the dragons for good.
My one and only Spirit King ability. These flames transcended the concept of heat. They're so hot that they burn anything without any trace being left behind. Their rage is so deep that anything that gets burnt by them ceases to exist entirely, and their very record of existence gets erased alongside them.
Whenever I used them, I ended up being slightly consumed by the pleasure of permanent destruction, which is exactly why Mio prohibited me from using them in the first place. However, since I had been green-lit this time, I could use them to my heart's content as long as I made it quick and didn't hit the original one.
Seeing that the dragons couldn't regenerate, all of their expressions mutated almost instantly… What a pleasant sight that was!
Sprinting upwards at full speed, I face palmed one of the clones and fled away with it. Glancing backwards while holding her by her head, I was trying to get a look at their reactions.
Sylara wasn't stupid. The dragons vanishing alone should've been enough to give her an idea of what would happen if those flames hit her, but given that none of them were even following me, it was pretty easy to deduce this one wasn't the original.
As gruesome as it may seem then, I let them out from the palm that was holding her body, instantly deleting her head. Given from the fact that the body simply fell into space headless, but the clones hadn't disappeared yet, she was in fact not the true one.
That aside though, no matter how hard I genuinely tried to, I could simply not stop grinning after I blew her head off. I'll be the first one to admit I love fighting, but this wasn't actually how I'd react normally after killing someone. This was one of the side effects of using these flames. The desire for destruction, and the pleasure they induced was amplified indefinitely.
I could definitely see a few creeped out expressions among the God knows how many Sylaras, and deep down I did feel judged but I couldn't actually blame them. Regardless though, this was clearly a sign that I needed to hurry up, which is exactly why I took advantage of their seemingly momentary movement freezing and face palmed away 2 of them at the same time.
I was honestly just choosing at random, which sure was risky, but I didn't off either one of them before actually checking, so it was fine. Neither one of these 2 wasn't the original either.
Each of their deaths felt better than the previous. My time was getting shorter by the second. Some of them were trying to run away, but I was faster in grabbing them and checking for the reactions before killing.
By the time I had gotten to the 10th kill, I could barely control the desire for destruction anymore. It was still doable but as I checked for the reactions for the 11th and 12th, I knew deep down.
This is my limit, isn't it?
I couldn't control my body anymore. My smile was doing anything but going down, and my movements were getting more and more unpredictable. I could also feel as if I was getting sick of individually picking them out.
The deaths of those two simply amplified all of those emotions. Afterwards, it was as if a switch had completely turned on inside of me, and my body was nowhere near my own control anymore.
…this is taking too long. Who cares about their reactions anymore?! I should just destroy all of them!
"Hahaha, hahahahaha!"
I couldn't stop my laughter. Completely forgetting what risks were, instead of doing any more individual picking, I formed a fire rope. Tying all of them up at the same time, I stood a few meters away from them.
Panick. I could see them all panicking while tied up, but neither one of them had enough strength to break free.
Cael, I'll borrow this one as well from you!
With my fingers clawed, I drew a line of fire in front of me. Then, that line's right end turned into a handle, while the rest took the shape of a blade.
Grabbing the blade, I then held it straight forward, aiming it towards them. Clockwise, I started moving the tip of the blade which left behind permanently still flames, until it was a perfect circle.
Afterwards, I took a few steps back. Keeping the circle there, I bent my knees and held the blade with both hands while leaning it behind me on my right hip.
I was charging it. Charging up as many flames as I could inside the single tip of my sword. It didn't last long, just a few seconds.
After I had enough, which honestly has fully lost its meaning by now since even without charging them at all they would instantly erase anything, I began.
In a single clean movement, I swung my blade forward, releasing them all inside of the circle of which purpose was purely to amplify the strength and range even further.
A blast raged forward. One so large that it could've engulfed entire galaxies. All I could see in front of me was red. A deep and profound red, signifying nothing but destruction.
The blast lasted around 5 seconds. After which, while the center still hadn't fully dispersed, I could tell that it did its job when it came to destroying anything in its path. There was a complete void in a massive area behind where the group of Sylara's were, absolutely 0 light coming from there. That meant, any galaxy or star in that way was surely gone.
However… from the center, which had almost fully dispersed now, I could see something other than red. Purple and black were mixed together within it, leaking from the sides of the remaining flames, and a single voice accompanied them.
"Well, I can't say I didn't expect this much…"
She paused her sentence, until enough flames had dispersed for me to actually see her. With a single arm spread forward, her palm open she then crushed the last remaining bit of my flames with it, and continued.
"But I think that this is more than enough. Don't you think so, Maia?"