[POV Liselotte]
The air was burning.
Every breath was an unbearable mix of dust, raw magic, and the scorching heat radiating from the elental. My lungs struggled to hold firm as I raised yet another wall of ice in front of .
The impact ca a mont later.
“Tssk!”
The wall cracked under the impact of the blue fla, fissures spreading like broken veins. The shockwave pushed back, my boots sinking into the scattered ground of what had once been the village center.
The elental roared.
A sound without shape, without a throat, without flesh… but full of rage.
The creature was larger than before—three tis larger—and its body was made of floating stone fragnts intertwined with fire, lightning, and flickering arcane energy.
And… there it was.
What I had seen inside it.
The core.
A piece of the artifact we had activated.
It glowed like a broken, starving heart, pulsing between the molten rocks.
“If I destroy it…” I thought, gritting my teeth.
Maybe the monster would collapse. Maybe the breach would stop vomiting power. Maybe everything would end.
But every ti I tried to get closer, a burst of fire or lightning forced back. The elental knew I had found its weak point. And now it was furious.
“Lotte!”
Leah’s voice reached from the distance, cracked by exhaustion.
“Can you keep going?”
“Yes!” I shouted, though my arms were trembling. “Focus on Marcus!”
She didn’t answer.
She couldn’t.
She was too busy.
Because on the other side of the battlefield, Leah and Marcus were trading spells like poisoned arrows.
Flashes.
Explosions.
The dry crack of mana tearing the air.
I forced myself to focus again.
The elental raised both arms—if they could be called that—and a circle of light ford beneath its floating fragnts.
No.
I recognized that.
“You’re going to use another multi-discharge!” I yelled.
I ran to the side, tracing an icy arc with my hands. The ground froze under my feet and I raised a curved barrier that shielded from the front and one side.
The attack hit a second later.
Flas.
Lightning.
Blue.
Red.
White.
An impossible mix slamd into my wall like a giant hamr.
The ice cracked so loudly I thought it would burst.
But I didn’t yield.
“Co on… co on… HOLD!”
The wall held.
For now.
When the attack ended, I was gasping. I paused only a mont to catch my breath—and then I saw it: the core vibrated. A pulse that sent molten stone fragnts flying outward.
The creature was entering… rage?
Or its magical equivalent?
The heat surged.
The air rippled.
And a ring of fire expanded toward .
“No!”
I jumped back, summoning an ice column under my feet to propel above the attack. I landed rolling, feeling the heat lick my back.
When I looked up, Marcus was laughing.
I couldn’t hear him completely over the roar of battle.
But I could see it.
The laughter shook his chest as he hurled a whirlwind of dark mana at Leah.
And she…
She was holding on.
Holding on as always.
“Leah!” I shouted, not knowing if she could hear .
Between two bursts of light, she staggered back, breathing hard. Her eyes were locked on Marcus. A look I hadn’t seen on her before. Pure determination—but also… fear.
Marcus raised one hand, gathering blood-red magic.
And then he spoke.
“Do you want to know why I’m doing this, Leah?”
His voice carried clearly, as if magic had carved a direct echo toward us.
Leah clenched her teeth.
“I don’t care about your excuse!”
“Oh, you will.”
His smile twisted.
“Because the kingdom’s justice is a farce. Because the powerful can crush whoever they want without consequences.”
Leah fired a beam of light straight at his chest. Marcus deflected it with a lazy gesture.
“The Duke Albrecht Von Krannsen…”
The na hung in the air like a blade.
“…killed my wife and my son.”
My heart stopped.
The elental’s flas dimd for a second.
Or maybe it was just my mind trying to process it.
Marcus continued.
“And do you know why he killed them?”
His eyes widened, full of that madness we’d seen grow since we activated the artifact.
“Because I refused to cooperate with him. Because I didn’t want to help him create an artifact that would give him more power than he already had.”
Leah trembled.
I could see it even from here.
“That… that can’t…”
“IT’S TRUE!”
The scream shook even the elental.
Marcus pointed a trembling finger at her.
“The heir of that damned duke was here, in this village, disguised as a simple guard… and I already killed him.”
His smile twisted even further.
“And when I’m done with you, I’ll finish off everyone who carries his blood.”
“Marcus…”
Leah took a step back.
“No… you can’t…”
“I CAN!”
His magic burst like a crimson whip that Leah barely blocked.
My blood froze—and not because of my powers.
That man…
He was completely broken.
And completely convinced.
“Lotte!”
Leah’s voice ca again, barely audible.
“Hold on… just a little longer…”
The elental’s roar pulled back to reality.
The creature raised both arms and unleashed a storm of molten rocks. I dashed forward, conjuring an icy shield around my body as the fragnts rained down like teorites.
The ice shattered.
I jumped.
Rolled.
A bolt struck in front of .
I raised another wall to deflect it.
The core glowed brighter.
Faster.
More unstable.
“I have to destroy it!”
I launched myself forward.
The elental responded with a full-body spin, releasing a shockwave that tore through my barriers. I flew backward and rolled through the dust, coughing.
It hurt.
My arms, my legs, even my chest burned.
But I stood up.
I always stand up.
“I’m not letting you win!”
I ran and swept my hands through the air, forming ice spears as large as tree trunks.
“FALL!”
The spears shot toward the core, piercing several layers of burning rock.
But just before they reached the center, the elental flashed red and absorbed the spears as if they were drops of water in an imnse fire.
“No way…”
It was changing.
Learning.
Adapting to my attacks.
It had entered a state of absolute fury.
The ground beneath its feet—if they were feet—began to lt.
Another blast of blue fire rushed toward .
“No!”
I conjured a double shield, sothing that was still difficult for . Two layers of ice spun around like a protective vortex.
The attack hit.
The world beca a whirlwind of blue light, fire, and vibration.
My shield nearly broke.
But it held.
Until lightning struck from behind.
“Agh!”
The impact hurled several ters. I hit the scorched ground and groaned as pain stabbed through my ribs. I tried to stand, but my legs trembled like they weren’t mine.
I can’t fall.
Leah is fighting alone.
Chloé isn’t here.
I can’t…
“Lott—!”
Leah’s voice was cut off by an explosion.
My vision cleared just enough to see her being thrown back by one of Marcus’s attacks. He advanced with hatred in his eyes… but also tears.
“The Duke Von Krannsen destroyed my life…” Marcus said, voice shaking but full of resentnt.
“And now I will destroy everything he built.”
Leah brought her hands together, trembling, gathering light.
“I won’t let you hurt anyone else!”
The elental roared again.
It was gathering energy.
And then I understood.
“Leah…”
My voice was barely a whisper.
“He… he’s telling the truth.”
She turned her head for a mont.
Just a mont.
And that mont almost got her killed.
A bolt from the elental landed between us, separating us.
“Lotte!”
“Leah!”
A wall of blue fire rose between us like a barrier.
Marcus spoke again, but his voice was no longer a scream or a laugh.
It was sothing broken.
“My family… my ho… everything was burned on a noble’s whim. And no one—not a single mage in the kingdom—did anything about it.”
His stare hardened.
“So yes. I rebel. And I will destroy everything that duke protected.”
“But that doesn’t give you the right to kill innocents!” Leah shouted, barely holding on.
“Your pain doesn’t justify this madness!”
“It’s the only justice I have left.”
Another explosion separated their voices.
The elental moved toward with a roar that shook the remains of the houses around us. Its core glowed in a frantic rhythm, as if it were alive. As if it sensed my determination to destroy it.
“Alright…”
I stood slowly.
“If I can’t break you… I’ll freeze you from the inside.”
Blue fire spiraled around its body.
Lightning burst from its arms.
Pure magic crackled from its core.
I moved forward.
Every step hurt.
Every movent burned.
But I kept going.
“Because Leah needs to win… because Chloé isn’t here… because if I don’t stop this, everyone will die.”
The elental lifted a sphere of energy mixing all its magics.
It was… enormous.
Glowing with a violence impossible to describe.
“If you throw that…” I thought.
The whole village will disappear.
But I was already running.
Cold followed my steps.
Ice covered my hands.
I shaped a spear, draining every last drop of my mana.
“You’re NOT killing anyone else!”
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