Chương 84: Adapt

The breaking of the spell sent the tall man flying, but he caught himself before he crashed. He finally materialized, floating in the air and glaring at her, shock and anger dancing in his gaze. Ari targeted him with a [Petrify], but it was immediately intercepted, and the rest of the phasewalkers began to send a barrage of spells at her too. She caught all the spells with a single hand up, earning choked gasps from them.

Then, she broke them simultaneously, and the resulting backlash sent shockwaves ricocheting out of the bare land, kicking up dust, leading the others to break concealment. The Calor orbs still swam through their body, and Arielle attached herself to them. The orbs were firmly held by their core, and she wondered what would happen if she tested that connection. Would it hurt? Would they die? She didn't want them to die without first telling her about Elric.

"Where's he right now?" she demanded.

"What are you doing to him?"

"Is she the Archmage?" One of the men whispered, his hand shaking with his wand out, and pointed at her.

"No fool. Otherwise, she wouldn't be asking about him." The first man looked the angriest, and beside him, a younger boy, about Ari's age, took a step forward. His orange gaze was reminiscent of flickering flames. He moved his wand in a rhythmic motion, creating a collection of Calor that grew bigger and bigger and bigger. She guessed he was going to throw a fireball at her. She broke it before he could finish, and once again, the backlash hit him straight in the body. But it didn't move him.

He seemed to absorb it, inhaling deeply even as his body shook with the force. Then he smiled. What was that about? Was he taking the force, converting it to power? Fascinating. A snarl curled his upper lip.

"Where is Elric?" She really did wish she had a spell that could read minds, as it would save her so much effort. They were wasting her time now, and she didn't know how to make them stop. Torture? She tugged at the orbs in their body a little, and they all hissed, bowling over with their hand on their stomachs. So it did hurt them. Good to know.

"How is she doing that?" the one with the shaking wand demanded of the taller man.

"Answer my question, and I'll tell you." She did it again, and they swallowed their sounds of pain, except the boy. He opened his mouth... And roared. Even that seemed too mild a word for what happened. It was an explosion of energy that hit the air, throwing Arielle back though she shielded herself. He wasn't done. Echoed sound waves hit her again and again, the rush of air striking her shields with the strength of a battering ram.

When she hardened the [Air Shield] into rock, the sound attacks turned liquid, lava bursting out the sides of her fortress, some of it singeing her hair. She flew away, but the fire chased her. She created a shield laced with Vacu to counteract, but then the lava turned to air once more, gliding through the cracks, and then a burst of sound hit her in the gut.

"Oof!" It felt like a punch. He did it again, but this time she gritted her teeth and broke the spell before it could touch her. Before she could think of a counter, several arrows of flames came from either side of her. She shot up higher to avoid them, but the second they missed her, they corrected course, launching up for her again. She broke all of the spells, but one of the spells then transformed into ropes that attached to her shield and yanked it down. Interesting.

Without warning, the air heated up and fire surrounded her once more, so quickly before she could blink. But then a bird, Vittoria's portal bird, was suddenly in front of her and spread its wings, flapping to siphon the fire into its open beak.

"You're getting distracted," she heard Vittoria's voice as though right next to her, even as the bird shot up in the sky once more.

"Focus." Someone shot lightning at her, and she broke the spell before it reached her.

"I am focusing," she responded, her heart racing from the close call.

"Not enough." She was doing as much as she could. It was just that the Phasewalkers were constantly changing the battlefield and their mode of attack. And when she broke a spell, they would reuse that energy to form something else. They were not reusing the used orbs themselves. They were replacing them quickly and using things like sound and heat gotten from backlash to strengthen the force of their next attack. That was what they were known for, after all.

"They are very adaptable," Ari murmured as fire came at her from three sides and she whirlwinded it into the air.

"Yes. Which is why I wanted you to take this fight. So far, you've only fought people who are static with their magic," Vittoria said." These people are fluid. Even worse, they're used to working as a team, so you have to be quite creative with how you take them down. Watch out for your left." Right as she said the word, something came at her, and Arielle barely dodged in time. She held up a hand to break the spell after the fact. Her heart was in her throat now.

That flame had come very close to touching her, and now the sense of danger was hitting her.

She had underestimated them coming here, believing that her ability to break their spells would be enough. It wasn't. She was on the defensive, the same way she had been during her fight with Professor Graham. She hadn't thrown many attack spells their way because she was too busy trying to avoid their attacks. She needed to be faster, think faster. Or maybe thinking was the problem?

"You have a wonderful mind," Graham had said.

"But sometimes you need to learn to shut it off and just fight." She didn't know how to do that yet, but the closest thing she could do was use the [Sensate] combo that she'd adopted for her fight with Selena and Graham to boost her speed, breaking their spells right as they created them. Once it activated, everything kicked into overdrive. Her gaze shifted so fast she got dizzy. Her head and hands turned to catch the spells coming at her.

At the same time, she began to utilize [Kinetic Push] [Mass Anchor] [Cross Dissolve] [Air Tentacles] against her opponents. They followed one after another, until they became variations of themselves. She lost track of the spells she was casting, and couldn't tell you when one spell ended and another began. She was moving too quickly to think about it, and was simply now reacting, adapting to their crazed pace. The fight became a storm of spells rippling the atmosphere, turning it into a sea of color.

"Senior Brother, what is this beast we face?" one of her opponents shouted, breaking her focus. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"I told you this was a mistake," another said.

"Now we must die at the hands of this demon." Demon? They called her a demon? That was rude. Just for that, Arielle targeted him with an [Air Slice]. He jumped out of the way in time." Not that you're doing badly," Vittoria said as the bird circled above her.

"But perhaps there's a more efficient way to end this, right? Remember, you don't have time." Arielle nodded, drawing a breath at the context. The problem was that they were as good at avoiding her spells as she was at avoiding theirs. Better even. They could also reform any of her spells that used Calor, for example, [Air Control], simply because Calor liked them better than Ari. She'd tried to yank at the Calor orbs interspersed within their body, but other than pain, that didn't really do much to slow them down.

Their speed advanced to match hers, especially the boy's. He was the bigger threat, and she noticed his casting speed increased the longer they fought. But somehow she kept up with him. It wasn't a conscious thought. Her body moved by instinct, breaking every spell he cast and countering what they threw at her. It was more than just self-preservation. Elric was in danger right now as they spoke. She had to defeat them to save him. Of course, her method wasn't perfect.

It kept her from getting hurt, but she wasn't making much headway as Vittoria pointed out.

"You're still on the defensive, Arielle," she said.

"You need to start thinking of proper offensive strikes, not these weak spells you insist on using." Yes, but if she used her powerful spells, she would get a [Hidden Ability] marker. Unless... The next flurry of fire attacks, she grabbed onto it and reversed the direction, dispatching the roaring furnace to them. They dispersed the fire into the air once it reached them, and Vittoria sighed.

"That was a solid idea, but it's no use using their own moves against them; they're trained at deflecting them."

"I can't do anything that will–" She cut off as she suddenly had to dodge a missile.

"–earn me a [Hidden Ability] marker."

"When in a war," Vittoria said." With a well-organized militia, you must first identify the weakest and the strongest link. Now I can help you by telling you that the little boy in the middle–he's the strongest link. His attacks bear the most weight, and the only reason he hasn't turned this place into a sea of lava is to avoid gaining too much attention. He also doesn'twant to waste his energy as he waits for Elric to arrive. Take him out, and you'll have won half the battle."

Ari nodded, not speaking so as not to break her focus.

"The weakest link is that one that keeps yapping and trembling," she said." He's the one who is easiest to break. His attacks lack the conviction of the rest, and he's not as adaptable even though he is technically higher ranked."

"So what do I do with that information?" Somehow, her body was moving on autopilot while listening to Vittoria, doing well… Until the boy hurled a seismic force at her at an insane speed. It split the air, broke her shield, and sent Arielle back into a tree. She caught herself before she hit it, but braced herself on the branch, catching her breath." He's really something," Vittoria said." Watch the flow of battle, Arielle. Wait for an opening. Then pick them off, one by one, by targeting their weaknesses.

Or you can do it all at once if you get lucky. Remember, they are trained for change, so perhaps the best thing to do would be to anchor them." Anchor them. Like with Earth. Protrusions of dirt burst from the ground and trapped their feet, but [Earthen Grasp] wasn't enough, as an explosion of air from their bodies blasted through the earth.

[Mass Anchor] also did not work against them, mostly because it worked best with one person at a time, and their weights offset each other. It was hard to weigh them as a unit because they were too mobile. She did need more powerful spells. Was it worth it to risk the [Hidden Ability] marker, especially now that Elric was in danger? Arielle was about to do it, to use a Master Tier spell to capture them, but she had a thought. Raw power wasn't everything.

It might be antithetical, actually, since they seemed to get more powerful the more explosive spells she used. But Professor Graham had beaten her, barely using any spells at all. He'd simply found and exploited the openings she'dgiven him, and while she may not be able to do it as well as he, she figured that she could attempt the same thing. She watched, waited, dodging their attacks. Waiting for the opportunity as he'd done to her. Until she found it. Not something loud and explosive, but small and acute.

Paralysis. Arielle had a sudden idea, and to confirm its validity, she activated her aura-reading. She focused on the flow of mana in each of their bodies, confirming that the Calor interspersed in their body was attached to certain focal points. It was a similar situation to Lyra, except that it wasn't just the cores. It was the nerves and veins and inner channels within the body. That was why it hurt when she tugged at them.

Her sister had told her long ago that there was a method some fighters used to disable larger, more powerful opponents. They would fight by only targeting pressure points, sliding needles into the flesh to temporarily paralyze their limbs. Arielle could do the same thing, but instead, she would turn their own Calor orbs against them, binding them to the ground. That was what she focused on as she fought, her body moving back and forth.

She still wasn't as fast as she needed to be, and several times Vittoria's bird had to swoop in and swallow the attacks from places that Arielle had not been expecting. But she focused instead on the calor orbs on her opponent's body, attaching to them as they moved, using Massa orbs to form bonds with the Calor and binding them to the ground. And then, when she had all of it, she clenched her fist, pulling on them all at the same time, ensuring the bond drew taut.

"Ah!" Their sharp screams rioted through the air as they all collapsed in tandem, face-first into the dirt. And stayed there. Arielle released a sigh of relief as she descended.

"Not bad," Vittoria murmured in her head, the bird perched on Ari's shoulder briefly before taking off again.

"Not bad at all."

"Thank you," Arielle said, pleased. One of the men on the ground kept yelling. One was cursing. Another was frantically questioning who Arielle was and what she had done to them.

"How does she know this technique?" one murmured, and then immediately flinched into prayer that got more frantic the closer she got. When she was right in front of them, they paled and tried to rear back, but they couldn't move. She used air to turn them over so she could stare down at their faces. Some looked terrified, but the boy looked angry and defiant. Just in case, she trapped their hands in rocks and built a sarcophagus for each, burying them in hard coffins with only their heads showing.

"S.. spare us," the praying one said.

"Please."

"Don't beg," the tall one snapped.

"Have some dignity!"

"What is dignity in the face of death?"

"I will not kill you if you tell me where the Archmage is right now," she responded.

"Where is he? Tell me, and I will spare your life."

"I–""Tell her nothing," the boy hissed.

"Kill us if you must. But I will fight you again in the afterlife." Arielle blinked.

"I don't think we're going to the same place." Mossbornes believed that all good, honorable warriors went to a heavenly paradise upon death, while the bad, treacherous ones went to burn in the underworld for eternity. Arielle was a good, honorable warrior. Him... not so much. She opened her mouth to ask them again, but Vittoria's voice exploded in her head." Arielle!" It was urgent as the bird descended and transformed into a swooping portal.

"I found Elric. We need to go now."

Elric never thought he could kill two demons thirty-six times each. He was almost proud of himself for achieving that. His old combat professor would certainly be proud of him. He'd never been exceptional at combat, and he'd never pushed himself this hard, either, but he'd managed to do it even with the poison spreading through his body. He didn't know what the poison was. It didn't hurt exactly, although there was a burning sensation all over his body, causing tingling and shaking in his hands.

It was like someone had injected him with a virus, and if that imp was alive, he would take great pleasure in burying him all over again. Though at times, he'd felt like he could barely move, he'd somehow killed two of the behemoths and immobilized the rest. He wasn't sure how he'd managed it. One had their head severed, and one had been buried deep underground after an earthquake. On one, he'd inserted a sharpened shield in the middle of their body and kept it there.

On one, he had used [Unbroken Form] to them again and again with shards of rock. The other he'd kept in the lake. Some would be reawakening soon. He still hadn't found the overlord, but he wasn't sure it mattered. The demon had stopped attacking him for some reason, which made him even more certain that the goal hadn't been to kill him. Yet they had done something to him, and it was making his vision blurry. He tried to teleport, but he couldn't.

They had likely disabled his runes somehow, or done something to the general area to make teleporting out impossible. He felt suddenly violently ill. He threw his head back, breathing through his nose, trying to keep from retching. He saw a figure approaching. Was that Yseult? Or someone else? The Overlord? Why did he feel so sick, yet his heart was beating fast? He felt shaky but not weak, which was strange considering he'd killed all those creatures.

"You should have minded your business, Elric." The voice did not sound familiar, but perhaps it was simply Yseult in disguise.

"They will know," Elric said, but his voice sounded growly.

"Will they?" he sounded amused by the very thought of it.

"The council meeting."

"Will be postponed thanks to the emergencies." What emergencies?

"It doesn't matter. Because by the end of the day, you're going to be a murderer. Your soul is quite resilient, but the poison will win out eventually. There are a few people on the Mendelez Way waiting for you." What was he talking about? Elric's vision was getting blurrier. He didn't want to lose consciousness because he wanted to keep asking questions, but he didn't have the strength to even hold himself up. As he faded out, the last thing he heard the man murmur was, "What in the world is that? A bird?"