Point-of-View: Shiro Blanc

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  "Let's take this somewhere less crowded, shall we?" Suggested Belia with a smirk, as Sant shot towards her with a concentrated blue blast charged up in his right hand……that must be Destruction Magic, it matches Belia's description of it.

  Right as he closed in on her, she opened a portal behind herself and sunk into it, her expression daring him to follow after her. Which he did, flying through the portal without hesitation, the two of them disappearing into it as it closed up.

  "I wish you success, Lord Laus……now, then," Remarked the Fire Sage, shifting her attention to us, "I shall dispose of the two of you, surrender and you will not suffer……ahh!"

  I cut her off by striking her with Repulsion, sending her flying back through the air, before she halted and stabilized herself by spreading her wings out, blasting flames out of her mouth towards me as she did, I swiftly grabbed Minise's arm and activated Teleport to evade the massive wave of flames, before entering Demon Mode.

  "Tch, they're surrounding us," I remarked with a frown.

  "Yeah, I'm not blind, dude," Replied Minise with a grimace, as she unleashed her full power, entering what she called her Undead Mode.

  A dark mist enveloped her as her eyes began glowing a bright red, the wooden bands around her wrists grew and wrapped around her entire forearms, while her pale knuckles extended out into icy spikes, her fingernails growing out into sharp, curved claws.

  Most of the Fairies were spreading out throughout the Rustlands, but a fair number of them had stuck around to assist the Fire Sage, and were now surrounding us, thousands of them……it almost looks like an absolute swarm of fireflies all around us.

  The Fire Sage was hovering above us, and her bloodlust was palpable.

  "Those with Fire Magic, ATTACK!" She commanded, which was immediately followed by several fireballs shooting in towards us from every possible direction.

  I quickly put up an Absolute Defense barrier around Minise and I, which blocked out all the flames, and as soon as they ceased, I took down the barrier and fired out a barrage of Obliteration Magic blasts at the Fairies all around me, wiping them out by the hundreds with each blast……it's annoying the way they zip around while being the size of insects, but when grouped together like this, it's easy to take out several of them with a normal sized blast.

  Minise was firing out a barrage of ice shards from her knuckle spikes, the power she obtained from the Icemen, piercing through several of the Fairies as we kept them at bay……hm, why isn't the Fire Sage interfering?

  Her bloodlust and rage are increasing, I can feel that very clearly, so then why isn't she jumping into the fray? Is she afraid? Or maybe she's using her fellow Fairies as cannon fodder in order to gauge our capabilities and/or wear us down?

  "Do not stay grouped together too densely, you are too easily targeted, spread out further! Now, those with Water Magic, attack!" Exclaimed the Fire Sage, the other Fairies quickly carrying out her orders.

  Before I could put up another Absolute Defense barrier, Minise swiftly planted her palms on the ground, as the wooden bands around her forearms rapidly drilled into the ground, before bursting out and forming a dense wooden dome around us, which absorbed the impact of the countless Water Magic blasts, several cracks appearing in the wood but it remained intact.

  "This is getting annoying……," Muttered Minise in frustration, before her eyes lit up like she'd just gotten an idea and then turned to me, "Hey, Shiro, that Absolute Defense thingy of yours……could you make one in the shape of a donut? Like, envelop all the Fairies surrounding us, but don't envelop us?"

  "I mean, I've never tried that, but……I think so?" I responded doubtfully.

  "Alright, then do it……no time to explain, just trust me!" She exclaimed urgently.

  "If you say so……," I replied uncertainly, as she quickly took down the wooden dome right as the Fire Sage blasted down a huge wave of flames at us.

  I pointed my palm up and used Repulsion to dissipate the flames, before capturing all the Fairies around us in a massive donut-shaped barrier, with Minise and I in the hole……that sounds wrong, but you know what I mean. Still, this means that we're vulnerable to the Fire Sage above us.

  And it looks like she's realized that too, as she was swooping down towards us, before halting as I covered the space above us with more barrier.

  "Make it fast, I can only maintain this for half a minute!" I informed her.

  "Nice! Now, it's my turn……summoning!" Exclaimed Minise with a smirk, as dozens of Ghouls appeared inside the donut-shape, immediately and ravenously chomping and clawing at the Fairies, as their tortured screams rang out all around us.

  The Fairies were frantically zipping about and trying to regroup, some of them managing to take out the Ghouls, which they heavily outnumbered, even after the thousands of them that we'd already killed. But that doesn't matter……because the instant a Ghoul is killed, Minise immediately respawned them right back where they died……

  "Stop it, you damned humans!" Screamed the Fire Sage furiously, desperately blasting down fireball after fireball at the barrier, but to no avail……there's absolutely nothing that can get though an Absolute Defense barrier……I mean, it's in the name.

  "It doesn't matter how many times they kill the Ghouls……cuz I'm respawning them back right here!" Exclaimed Minise triumphantly.

  "Yeah, uh……there's just one problem with this strategy," I remarked sheepishly.

  "Huh? And what's that?" She responded warily.

  "I, uh……can only hold this barrier for a few more seconds."

  "Oh, right……I forgot about the time limit……well, fuck."

  Right on cue, the barrier faded, blood splashing onto the ground all around us as the remaining Fairies flew up in terror, some of them with pretty severe injuries, as Minise quickly reverse summoned the Ghouls before they could run amok.

  "We didn't get all of them, but their numbers aren't nearly as overwhelming as before," I remarked, keeping a close eye on them.

  "Yeah, true enough……and we're both still more or less at full power, including stamina and Mana, so we should be able to handle this much-," She began to reply.

  "I shall take care of these two foul creatures myself!" Suddenly exclaimed the Fire Sage furiously, "The rest of you, head inside this nation and destroy it, along with the others who already went in, as well as our trusted allies, the Elves, Dwarves and Halflings……do all that you can to ensure that Lord Laus's orders are fulfilled!"

  So, she's finally taking some real action, huh? As the other Fairies all scattered and flew away, the Fire Sage swooped down and landed a few meters ahead of us, a confident look on her face.

  "So, just you, huh?" Remarked Minise with narrowed eyes, "Well, if you really think you can take both of us on, then bring it!"

  "Before we start, there's one thing I'm curious about……," I chimed in curiously, "Had you also joined in with the other Fairies earlier, we'd have had a much harder time……so why didn't you?"

  "I see no need to explain myself to a human such as yourself, but I suppose I can be so gracious when considering the fact that you will soon die……I was simply gauging your strength, as well as avoiding getting caught up in any crossfire, especially with Obliteration Magic in play……and through my observations, it is clear that neither of you are a real threat to me, so I determined that I alone would be enough to kill the both of you," She responded with a condescending look on her face.

  She isn't simply trying to provoke us or anything, she's genuinely looking down on us as inferior beings. That kinda ticks me off, no one scoffs at my existence and gets away with it……

  "So, it's just like I thought, you were using your fellow Fairies as sacrificial pawns to see exactly how strong we are, just in case we might have been too strong for you to handle? Now that's just pathetic," I sneered condescendingly……if there's one thing I know, it's how to push people's buttons.

  "How dare you, you weak, inferior creatures-!" She began with a vicious snarl.

  "Oh, we're fully aware of just how much stronger you are, butterfly," Taunted Minise with a smirk, "But you know what, somehow……I don't think we're going to lose, not to someone like you, I mean……that'd just be embarrassing!"

  Not bad, she's pretty good at provoking people too. And based on the Fire Sage's absolutely enraged expression, it definitely worked, no doubt about that.

  "Before I kill the two of you……I shall do everything in my power to ensure that you suffer!" She screamed furiously, before shooting towards us at top speed, the flames around her intensifying.

  Minise quickly zipped out of the way as I used Teleport to appear above the Fire Sage and shot out an Obliteration Magic blast at her, which she evaded with stunning speed and slammed her fist onto the side of my face, scorching off the skin and flesh and sending me flying across and crashing onto the ground.

  Minise then restrained her by extending out a length of wood and wrapping it around her, but before she could do anything, the Fire Sage intensified her flames further, burning the wood to ash in a matter of seconds, the air around her shimmering violently as she fired out a ball of flames at Minise who sprang back and narrowly avoided getting caught up in it.

  "Your words have proven to be empty, you do not stand a chance of defeating me, humans!" She declared triumphantly, as the two of us got back on our feet.

  If anything, those words only make me all the more certain that we can defeat her……

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  Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

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