"Ahhh!"
Erza’s scimitar carved a clean slash across Ultear’s chest, tearing her clothes and drawing blood.
From the very start of their duel until now, it was the first ti Ultear had taken such a serious hit.
She gritted her teeth, clutching her wound with one hand while raising her other, palm aid directly at Erza.
Erza braced herself for her armor and weapon to crumble again under Arc of Ti, but instead, a block of solid ice ford in front of her, instantly sprouting jagged spikes in every direction.
She leapt back, but not fast enough, one spike grazed her cheek, another cut into her left shoulder.
"This is... Ice-Make Magic?"
Erza recognized it instantly, and the speed at which it was conjured was on par with Gray’s.
At the ntion of the magic’s na, a flicker of irritation passed over Ultear’s face. Of all the magic in the world, she had to use this.
If that was the case, then losing was not an option.
"Go to the future, rust!" The hands of a clock seed to turn within Ultear’s eyes as Erza’s weapon and armor crumbled to dust. In the sa motion, Ultear brought her palms together. "Ice-Make: Rose Garden!"
"Wah!"
A storm of ice roses and thorn-covered vines burst forth, tearing into Erza’s unarmored body and sending her flying into the muddy ground as the rain poured harder. Blood streaked across her arms and legs as she struggled to rise.
Arc of Ti... Ice-Make Magic as strong as Gray’s, perhaps stronger...
Just who was this woman?
...
"Stop!"
Cana’s voice rang out as five cards whirled through the air, sailing over redy’s head.
Three transford into jagged bolts of lightning, striking downward, while two embedded themselves into the earth ahead, glowing with latent power.
redy halted, raising her hand to conjure three shimring blue longswords from pure magic, cleaving apart the lightning before it could strike.
"If you keep standing in my way, I’ll just have to kill you." With a sharp shake of her red cloak, a dozen more magical blades appeared, all launching toward Cana at once.
"Not this type of attack again..." Cana muttered, though she could feel the swords were pure magical constructs. Still, the resemblance to Erza’s Heaven’s Wheel Armor was uncanny.
In a blur, she pulled two cards from her pouch, keeping one ready and throwing the other. "Solar Burst!"
A blazing explosion erupted several ters wide, but it wasn’t enough to destroy all the incoming blades. She imdiately revealed the card in her hand. "Wall of Power!"
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Three swords smashed against an invisible barrier, but the fourth pierced through, grazing her arm.
"Ugh..." She bit her lip, refusing to cry out, even though the pain felt as if her arm had been shattered.
Sweat dripped down her forehead. ’How can it hurt this much?’
"My ’Blades’ attack the sense of touch directly," redy said coolly. "Cana Alberona, lowest on the hunt list... die quietly here."
In a blink, dozens more swords materialized in front of her, all firing toward Cana with a sweep of her hand.
Cana moved in a desperate, zig-zagging dodge, hurling card after card from her pouch. "Fountain of Prayer! Icicle of the Reaper! Wall of Power!"
Water surged, ice erupted, barriers shimred into place. One after another, her spells intercepted and shattered the magical blades, blocking the rest just in ti.
Cana exhaled sharply. Another volley like that, and even without a fatal hit, the pain alone might have knocked her out.
This little girl was far more dangerous than her appearance suggested.
Seeing redy conjure even more flying swords, Cana scattered cards in every direction, so detonating instantly in bursts of fire or lightning, others transforming into various magical attacks, and still others embedding themselves in the ground without activating, looking for all the world like harmless darts.
redy relied solely on her swords, calmly and precisely countering Cana’s moves.
Two long-range specialists, each refusing to give ground, fought like true mages.
They wove offense and defense seamlessly, parrying spells, evading with sharp footwork, and striking back with pinpoint accuracy, all while keeping a constant eye on the other’s movents, searching for that single opening that could decide the battle.
The battlefield lit up with every elent imaginable, wind, lightning, water, and fire, while magical blades attacked from every direction: front, back, left, and right.
From ti to ti, redy’s swords slipped through Cana’s defenses, drawing a pained cry and opening fresh wounds. Yet just as often, Cana’s hidden traps would spring to life, giving her a mont to replenish her supply of offensive cards.
After a tense exchange, both won bore nurous cuts and bruises. They faced each other across the rain-slicked ground, breathing hard.
"You’re nothing but a minor character, the lowest-ranked trash on the list," redy said coldly, unable to comprehend how this opponent had lasted so long or why she was proving so troubleso.
It was as if... she had no exploitable weakness.
"Maybe so," Cana admitted with a faint smile. "Compared to those monsters, I don’t exactly stand out."
Her eyes sharpened. "But even soone like is trusted by my guildmates. And because of that trust... I have a reason to defeat you!"
"I also have a reason to win," redy shot back, raising both hands as dozens of magical longswords shimred into being. "And mine outweighs yours!"
She thrust her arm forward. The swords fanned out in a deadly pattern, encircling Cana from all directions, sealing every escape route before converging in a simultaneous strike.
Cana’s eyes widened. She knew instantly how dire the situation was. "I... I’ve never been good with ability-type magic," she muttered, "but this ti... I have to succeed!"
She shut her eyes. As the ring of blades closed in, she snapped them open, crossing her arms, left palm aid right, right palm aid left.
"Crush!!!"
A sharp hum filled the air as an invisible lattice of force spread outward from Cana, sweeping through the ring of blades.
The swords froze mid-flight, suspended as though ti itself had stopped. Though they were constructs of pure magic, their forms fractured into countless tiny shards...which then scattered like petals on the wind, fading into motes of light before vanishing completely.
redy’s eyes widened in disbelief. "You... you completely destroyed my magic?"
Cana lowered her arms slowly, her breathing heavy. She flexed her fingers, then clenched them into fists and smiled faintly. "Finally... I didn’t disgrace my good-for-nothing old man."
"That’s it!" redy suddenly thrust her hand forward, pointing directly at Cana’s chest. A wave of pink magic flared from her body. "Recall! The image of the person you care about most!"
Cana stiffened as though struck by lightning. Against her will, the image of Gildarts filled her mind.
"Feeling Link!" redy pressed her fingers together like a sword blade, her magic enveloping Cana before focusing into a point on her right wrist. A pink chain of light shot away into the distance, streaking toward another part of Tenrou Island before vanishing.
"Ahhh!"
A sharp, burning pain flared, and when Cana looked down, a chain-like mark had ford on her wrist.
"What did you just do?" she demanded.
"Lost Magic, Covenant Sense," redy replied evenly. "This magic links your emotions to Gildarts. Which ans... every pain you feel will be transmitted to him."
"You’re seriously not afraid of dying, are you?" Cana narrowed her eyes.
Because she knew exactly what would happen if her unreliable old man discovered his daughter was covered in bruises and bleeding wounds.
Her only real concern was that Gildarts might be in the middle of his own battle right now, and if he suddenly felt pain from injuries that weren’t his, it could throw him off at a critical mont.
Reviews
All reviews (0)