Point-of-View: Belia Lasmodeus

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  My halo began glowing darker, as a black aura surrounded me and a black pattern appeared all over my body, wrapping around my torso, arms, legs, neck and a couple of streaks halfway up my face, my hair turning wild and standing up slightly as my power surged. I then turned my attention to the two Elemental Sages with a smirk……

  "Well? What are you waiting for? Come at me, if you dare," I taunted in a quiet, confident voice, provoking them.

  "Why, you……!" Exclaimed the Fire Sage, flying up and swooping down towards me as she turned herself into a blazing, living fireball.

  I teleported to evade the scorching inferno flying towards me and reappeared in front of the Earth Sage, who stiffened before quickly drawing his fist back and driving it towards me. I scoffed before responding in kind, rapidly throwing a punch and slamming my fist onto his.

  Woah, not bad, his raw strength is just slightly weaker than mine is in my Demigod Mode form……impressive. As our fists slammed against each other with an earth-shattering amount of force, a massive shockwave burst out upon impact, a crater forming below us as the force tore the ground apart.

  The Fire Sage got knocked away by the shockwave with an alarmed yell, as everything it the surrounding area got blown away, several heavy cracks appearing throughout the barrier that was surrounding the Elf forest as the shockwave struck it as well.

  The Earth Sage then grimaced, his knuckles bleeding slightly as he pulled his fist back, before swinging his other fist at me with a fierce roar, which I evaded by teleporting to his left and starting to drive my knee up towards his side, when he swiftly reacted by bursting out a mountain of spikes at me, which I narrowly avoided getting skewered by, by activating my Dimensional Magic defense just in the nick of time.

  Whew, close one. But……compared to what Azyl is capable of with his Water and Ice Magic, this is absolutely nothing. The other four Elemental Sages are a significantly physically stronger and faster than he is, but when it comes to Elemental Magic, they all pale in comparison to him.

  I quickly flew up and out of the Earth Sage's range, and as I did, the Fire Sage swiftly zipped up towards me, scorching flames roaring in her hands as she shot through the air and closed in on me rapidly, before teleporting behind me and blasting the charged up flames at me, a literal sea of fire blazing towards me from near point blank range.

  I felt my wings and the skin on my back start to get burnt, before I cut the rest of the flames off with my Dimensional Magic, opening a portal before I could get scorched further. She then flew above me and formed a massive fireball, before swinging it down towards me, right as a barrage of several earth projectiles were fired up at me from below.

  Don't they learn? No matter how big their attacks are, it's useless against my Dimensional Magic defense……and I don't think they've figured out the time limits of how long I can continously maintain this technique like Kuro and Azyl did.

  Well, whatever……I activated my portal defense both above and below myself, and the moment both their attacks fully sunk into my dimension, I used the open portals to return their attacks, sending the earth projectiles shooting up at the Fire Sage and sending the fireball blazing down towards the Earth Sage.

  Mortals can't activate spells as fast as I can, I can do so pretty much instantly, but they can't, especially when panicked or caught off-guard……so I highly doubt either of them will be able to cast a teleportation spell in time……let's see how they defend themselves from this!

  A thick dome of earth began forming around the Earth Sage, a look of alarm in his eyes as the massive fireball closed in on him……how foolish, he's basically baking himself alive with that move, and in the worst case scenario for him, the fireball will burn long enough to turn his dome of earth to a prison of molten, hot lava……

  Meanwhile, the Fire Sage responded a lot better, rapidly intensifying the flames around herself, the earth projectiles literally melting before they could reach her……I see, since those projectiles had been fired upwards, their momentum died a lot quicker than they would have if they'd been fired downwards instead.

  They still had enough momentum to reach her with decent speed, but they just weren't fast enough to really trouble her, and the moment she evaded or melted all of them, she teleported, reappearing right in front of me with her fist drawn back, intense flames swirling around it.

  Not bad at all……but I can easily activate my portal defense before she can……and then, she suddenly teleported again. Behind me!? No, she's not……crap, above me! Before I could turn my gaze upwards, a scorching impact struck the top of my head, searing off my hair and my scalp, before sending me flying down towards the ground.

  Impressive force, and wow, that really hurts, but she's not nearly as strong as the Earth Sage is, I'd have taken some serious damage if he'd been the one to land such a solid hit instead of her. I swiftly spread my wings open to halt myself before I could crash onto the ground.

  Right as I re-stabilized myself, a pillar of earth suddenly shot up towards me at an angle, and perched at the end of it was the Earth Sage, who was covered in heavy burns and had a look of rage on his face. He then leapt off of the angled pillar of earth as it closed in on me and swung his metal club towards my head, using his weapon instead of his fists for the first time in this fight.

  But it wasn't going to make a difference in the end, as his swing failed to connect, of course, thanks to my portal defense.

  Don't they yet realize that so long as I can see an attack coming, it doesn't matter how powerful it is……suddenly, I let out a gasp and coughed out blood, as a massive spike of earth rose up and pierced through my back and burst through my front. Okay, ow……looks like they definitely realized it.

  Before I could move, another crushing impact struck my back, just above where I'd been pierced……this time it's a blunt pillar of earth, not a spike, and it sent me flying forward and off the earth spike, a huge hole in my torso as I flew through the air.

  Grr, damn it……I quickly activated Restoration Magic to heal myself and began to stabilize myself, but before I could, I felt an intense heat emanating from behind me, suddenly striking my back before I could react and scorching my skin badly.

  Did she just teleport behind me and attack? Another earth pillar struck me from directly below and sent me zipping up through the air with a gasp of pain, before a crushing impact struck me as the Earth Sage teleported above me and slammed his club onto me, striking my chest and caving my ribcage in, before sending me hurling towards the ground and crashing onto it with a devastating impact, sending out a powerful shockwave and breaking……literally everything in my body.

  Ow……damn it, this really hurts. Okay……that's enough messing around, time to take this more seriously. I decided to give them a handicap by only using my raw strength, Dimensional Magic and occasional teleportation, in order to make this more fun……probably not the smartest move I've ever made.

  And I have to admit, I'm pretty pissed off from being knocked around so much, like a bloody ragdoll……okay, I've decided, I'm going to kill one of them.

  The Fire Sage then swooped down and teleported, reappearing right above me and blasting out a fireball at me, which I evaded by teleporting out of the way and countering with a huge blast of water, which struck her and burst into an intense explosion of steam, before trapping her inside a highly dense barrier.

  Should take her a while to break out of that……and if I had to pick, I'd rather kill the other one, the Earth Sage……because the strikes he landed hurt a lot more, simple as that. I shifted my gaze to where he was, and as my murderous intent peaked, I shot towards him at top speed, before teleporting behind him as he sent a wave of earth spikes shooting towards me.

  He began to spin around in alarm, but he was far too slow, as I slammed my fist against the side of his face, knocking out a couple of teeth and cracking his cheekbone, as he stumbled back with a groan. Woah, not bad, a full power punch from me and he didn't get sent flying? Talk about sturdy.

  But……while his strength and durability may be the best of the Elemental Sages, he's not nearly as fast as the others are……and that's going to cost him his life.

  I evaded as he swung his fist at me, before eliciting a gasp of pain from him as I slammed my knee onto his midsection, followed by a barrage of punches to the chest, blood pouring out of his mouth as I felt his ribs cracking and snapping like twigs.

  He let out a pained cry of anger and threw a clumsy punch at me, which I caught with my hand and flashed him a smirk……as I activated my Weathering Magic. He screamed in pain as his right fist rapidly aged and decayed, and as he struggled to break free of my grasp, let out an agonizing screech as his rotted fist got torn off from his wrist, coagulated blood bursting out of it.

  He then swung his club at me with his left hand while several earth spikes burst out towards me, before I responded with a shockwave of Weathering Magic, the earth spikes crumbling into dust and the metal club rusting severely, before I stopped it with my hand, and then shattered it like glass with a slight clench of my fist.

  "It's over for you now, Earth Sage……time to pass on the torch to someone else," I remarked maliciously, before teleporting behind him and driving my hand through his back and grabbing his heart, "Now, then……die."

  Before he could react or attack me, his body went limp as I aged his heart into dust, which crumbled inside his body. I then yanked my hand out of his corpse, right as the Fire Sage finally broke out of the barrier I trapped her in. Took her long enough.

  She let out a roar of anguish and fury as she saw the corpse of the Earth Sage by my feet, and shot towards me at a rapid pace……but she was completely blinded by rage, and such a direct attack against me is less effective than a pebble tossed at me from someone hiding behind a bush or something.

  I teleported right in the middle of her path, and as she began to halt in alarm, I shot towards her and grabbed her face, holding on tight before she could react……ow, she's seriously hot, and not in a sexual way, my palm is completely cooked already.

  "Go to sleep," I remarked with a scoff, before slamming her head onto the ground with immense force, knocking her out and returning her to her normal state, the intense, fiery aura around her fading……I held back just enough to avoid killing her, though she's going to have quite the headache when she wakes up.

  Alright, that takes care of that……now, then, let's see how the battle is progressing elsewhere. Ah, Hacte and Druj seem to be doing rather well……Shiro seems to be heading for something with a look of interest on his face……I can't find Gela……that means she's either dead or knocked out.

  Eh, who cares, she's violent and all, but she's really not all that powerful, and also, I don't like her……not sure why exactly, but something about her just rubs me the wrong way. Well, anyway, now let's see what the summons are upto……

  Huh, I can't find Shin……is he dead? Let's check for Kyle……oh, she's barely conscious……and looks like Shin is with her, unconscious. They're both badly injured……and fighting the Lightning Sage, Bell. Guess I should save them, they are quite powerful, after all……I opened portals beneath them and sent them back to Silvland, before Bell could finish them off.

  Can't let her claim that lightning-wielding hammer, Mjolnir, that might make her too powerful for even me to handle. I then opened a portal for myself right behind Bell and aimed a kick at her butt, but since she's so short, I ended up kicking her lower back instead……huh, I think Shiro is starting to rub off on me.

  I should probably go heal those two before checking up on the rest, they looked in pretty bad shape. I then opened a portal to Silvland near where I dropped them off and……w-wait a second, what is th-this?

  I was in a crater……a massive, huge crater, literally the biggest crater I'd ever seen. Shin and Kyle were nearby……I cast healing spells on them, before returning my attention to the crater we were in……am I at either one of the locations where Bronztan and Goldway used to be?

  No, this crater is……bigger and deeper. Is this……Silvland? Or rather, what used to be Silvland. But……who did this? Sant? No, it can't be……this isn't something he'd do, he's way too pacifistic. That leaves one more obvious suspect……Kuro.

  My shoulders slumped as a slight sense of defeat enveloped me……heh, I have to admit, this was well played. Really well played. And I can't deny that……I'm frustrated, and maybe a little annoyed too. Okay, fine……more than just a little annoyed.

  Nothing I can do about it for now though, guess I should check on the other summons too and then it's about time for me to withdraw my army……huh, I can't find Dwayne……in that case, let's look for Lily……okay, there she is……w-wait, what is this, what's going on!? The……the entire forest……is frozen……

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