Point-of-View: Shiro Blanc

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  "If you're so confident, then come on, finish us off already," I taunted warily, as the Fire Sage glared daggers at us.

  "I shall make you regret your arrogance, human!" She snapped, zipping towards me at a blinding pace.

  That's some serious speed, I'd say she's close to about three times my maximum speed……but still, I can just about keep track of her movements. And that's plenty.

  Right as she closed in on me, I quickly formed an Absolute Defense barrier around her, trapping her inside it, as it just barely manifested in time, her head hitting the wall of the barrier with a thud as it trapped her.

  "Minise, now!" I exclaimed urgently.

  "Alright, way to go, dude!" She responded, as about twenty Ghouls appeared inside the barrier, barely enough room for them to even move.

  Okay, there's no way she can avoid taking damage in this situation……my thoughts were cut off as, suddenly, a fiery explosion burst out inside the barrier, incinerating the Ghouls.

  The flames quickly dissipated to reveal the Fire Sage, with a few claw marks on her body……while she struggled to breathe. Her flames must have eaten up most of the oxygen inside the barrier……and the Ghouls she just turned to ash have already respawned.

  She blasted out more and more flames, but with no oxygen to burn, they faded almost instantly, and as the Ghouls respawned again, I felt it nearing, the time limit for the barrier.

  "Hey, I can only hold this for five more seconds!" I yelled out at Minise.

  "Got it!" She exclaimed, before all the Ghouls vanished as she reverse summoned them, "Hey, the moment your barrier disappears, let's attack her relentlessly!"

  Good call, she's bound to be light headed and out of breath, even with the immense power gap between us, she's bound to be severely weakened right now, at least for a little while. And we need to take full advantage, this may be our best chance to kill her.

  The Fire Sage let out a sharp gasp and inhaled deeply as my barrier dissipated, a stifling wave of seriously intense heat bursting out from it and causing us to stumble back……holy crap, I think some of my hairs got singed, just from the pure heat.

  I doubt I'll get a chance to capture her in an Absolute Defense barrier again, she'll be too wary of that……so it's now or never! Minise and I both shot towards her simultaneously, I fired out a barrage of Obliteration Magic blasts as Minise shot out several ice shards from her knuckle spikes, right as the Fire Sage got back on her feet, still breathing heavily, a dazed look in her eyes.

  She quickly flew up as our attacks converged on her, letting out a scream of pain as one of the ice shards gashed her calf and one of my blasts struck the bottom of her right foot, eradicating her sole.

  She let out a furious yell as she blasted out massive fireballs at us, Minise quickly sprang away to avoid the flames, while I used Teleport to appear right above the Fire Sage and formed a bone sword, driving it down towards the top of her head.

  She evaded just in time, as I grazed her shoulder and she countered with a fiery punch to my midsection, burning through my armor and scorching my skin as she knocked the wind out of me, before I quickly grabbed her arm and drove my knee towards her midsection with all my strength.

  She let out a sharp gasp of pain as my knee struck her with immense force, her ribs cracking upon impact. Tch, my hands had been scorched right down to the bone, her entire body was like a freaking furnace……her Sage Mode might be the trickiest to deal damage to, especially with physical attacks……anyone who doesn't have a Healing Factor, which is most people, wouldn't be able to afford to get into a close combat fight against her.

  I then quickly used Teleport to warp to a few dozen meters behind her, as the heat emanating from her suddenly intensified drastically, and the instant after I teleported, a devastating wave of heat burst out from her……holy crap, even to me, that would have done some serious damage if I hadn't teleported when I did.

  She then quickly flew off to the left as a chunk of rubble came flying up towards her, clipping the side of her right arm as it whizzed past her……I glanced down to see Minise extending out branches of wood to grab large pieces of broken concrete and then swing those chunks up at the Fire Sage, flicking her wrists to catapult them up with as much momentum and speed as possible.

  As she evaded another thrown projectile, I teleported right above her again, she responded immediately by letting out a furious roar and driving her flaming fist up towards me, I quickly split using Quintuple, my copy and I appearing on either side of her, while her body's momentum was still directed upwards, to where I'd been before splitting into two.

  I slammed my foot onto her right side with as much power as I could generate, while my copy balled its fists together and swung them across to her left with immense force, a cry of pain escaping her lips as we both struck her simultaneously……damn it, not good enough, with my power halved in this state, this isn't enough damage. In that case, how about this……

  She suddenly let out an excruciating scream as I extended out a bone spike from my foot, piercing in into her right side, before I was suddenly sent flying back as she swung her arm out at me before I could pierce any further, striking and dislocating my jaw as I went flying through the air.

  I rapidly spread my wings open and stabilized myself, regained my bearings and started healing, right as a loud crash erupted from where she was. I rejoined with my clone to restore my full speed and power, shifting my gaze to the direction the crash came from. Bits of rubble of dust were raining down from the Fire Sage, a look of absolute outrage on her face.

  I see, her attention must have been shifted solely to me when I pierced her with the bone spike, and when she knocked me away, Minise must have used that opening to toss another chunk of rubble up at her, and this time, hit her target dead on.

  The Fire Sage was clutching the spot where I'd stabbed her with a pained expression, her eyes slightly glazed……she was covered in claw and bite marks from the Ghouls, they hadn't managed to bite off any chunks of her, but they at least did some damage. It doesn't look like their paralyzing venom has much of an effect, but her movements are a bit stiffer than before, so it wasn't completely ineffective……

  "Enough!" She screamed furiously, her voice trembling with rage as several waves of heat burst out from her, forcing me to back away a fair bit.

  She then took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, before forming a sphere of flames around herself, hiding herself from our view. Uh-oh, not good……she's starting to calm down. This might get tricky……

  The flames then disappeared, revealing the Fire Sage with all her injuries healed……crap, that's right, they can cast General Magic spells without parchment, she must have used that shield of flames to buy herself time to cast a healing spell on herself.

  "Now you die," She remarked icily, before zipping towards me, closing in rapidly with a fiery fist drawn back.

  I teleported just in time to evade as she drove her fist forward, but the instant I reappeared, she immediately pointed a hand at me without even looking and fired out a massive fireball at me, which I evaded by splitting into two again.

  How did she just……I thought Fire Magic doesn't have any sensory techniques!?

  Crap, no time to think……she was swooping down towards Minise, who countered by blasting out a deafening shriek, the power she obtained from the Banshees, the Fire Sage quickly flew up in alarm, a slightly dazed look on her face as she narrowly avoided taking the full brunt of the sonic attack.

  She then stiffened in horror as a bunch of the Fairy corpses on the ground suddenly flew up and surrounded her, growing to their larger forms and firing out fire and water blasts at her, lifeless expressions on their faces……ohh, so this is the necromancy ability she gained from the Liches.

  "Wh-what is this……you have……y-you have desecrated their bodies, how……how dare you……how dare you!?" Screamed the Fire Sage, her body glowing a fiery orange as she turned the Fairy corpses to ash, before charging up an absolutely massive fireball in a matter of seconds and swinging it down at Minise, who sprang back in alarm and raised a wooden shield, but it wasn't enough.

  Before I could do anything, the Fire Sage sent a barrage of flames my way, obstructing my vision and preventing me using Teleport, as I was just barely able to keep dodging the rapid flames blazing towards me.

  As the fireball scorched through the wooden defense, Minise channeled intense flames into her fists, driving them forward in an attempt to cancel out the Fire Sage's attack……damn it, I can't focus my gaze on a spot long enough to activate Teleport, these flames are getting really annoying!

  Minise then let out a scream of pain as she failed to fully counter the mass of flames barreling down at her, collapsing to the ground as the flames dissipated, her arms severely burnt and she had multiple smaller burns all over herself, her body trembling in pain as she struggled to get up.

  "You ought to pay attention to your opponent, human!" Exclaimed the Fire Sage, as she closed in on me from behind, a couple of bright, fiery flashes appearing in the corners of my eye as she spoke.

  Shit, I got careless……huh? My arms……they're gone……turned to ash. The air around her palms were shimmering violently, while her hands were glowing bright orange. I quickly spun around and began to slash at her with my tail, but she grabbed it with her left hand, before slamming her palm onto my midsection, as the glow around her right hand intensified……and she instantly burnt a large hole through my abdomen, turning that spot to ash.

  No way……even my reinforced skeleton can't handle this level of heat, she concentrated the flames so much that the intensity instantly turned the point of impact to ash. Before I could react, she grabbed my face, the intensity of her heat diminishing as she swung me down towards the ground with immense force.

  I crashed down with a devastating impact, several of my remaining bones cracking as the force traveled through my body, rattling me. She lowered the heat before grabbing my face, otherwise, my head would have turned to ash, and that would have been the end of me……heh, guess she wants to take her time finishing me off, huh.

  "What a fascinating healing capability," She remarked, as she descended and fired at my legs, burning them.

  I quickly blasted water out of my mouth to put the flames out, but most of my skin and flesh had already been scorched off.

  She then shot out a fireball as Minise fired some ice shards at her, melting them all before they could even get near her, before Minise rolled out of the way, narrowly avoiding the fireball.

  "Neither of you deserve painless deaths, and I shall ensure that will be the case. You first, I shall make you pay for desecrating the corpses of my kinsmen," She remarked coldly, walking over to Minise, who tried to get back on her feet but failed, collapsing onto her knees again.

  "D-damn it……," She muttered in frustration, before being knocked back as the Fire Sage kicked her face.

  "I……I will make you suffer, suffer, suffer, SUFFER!" Screamed the Fire Sage, stomping on Minise's chest as she got knocked onto her back, "You……disgusting……filthy……lowly……human……how DARE YOU!?"

  Shit, I can't move……I've lost too much blood and it's taking too long to heal all these severe injuries, I'm not strong enough to even enter Vampire Mode right now……I gritted my teeth and focused my Healing Factor entirely on one arm, growing back my right arm as fast as possible.

  The Fire Sage then grabbed Minise's hair and lifted her up by it, blood pouring out of her mouth as she let out a weak cry. As she drew her fist back to deliver the finishing blow, I pointed my partially healed arm at the Fire Sage, charging lightning into the stump of my wrist……and firing it, striking her back before she could kill Minise, a surprised exclamation escaping her lips as my attack struck her.

  "Tch, how foolish of me……of course I ought to have killed the one capable of healing himself first, a careless oversight. I shall rectify it right away," She remarked with a frown, dropping Minise and walking over to me, her hand glowing and shimmering with heat.

  Heh……this might be it for me, she won't bother turning down the heat this time, I can tell from her bloodlust……she means to finish me off right now. I can barely move at all anymore, my vision is too blurry to use Teleport, and the little bit of stamina I've got left is basically nonexistent……funny, I'm a lot more calm than I'd have thought I'd be. I wonder why that is……oh, well, it doesn't really matter……I'm about to die.

  "Go ahead……give me your worst shot," I smirked up at the Fire Sage.

  "How unpleasant……I shall kill you right away, you showed no signs of distress regardless of what injury I inflicted upon you, attempting to make you suffer will be a futile effort. Therefore……you will die right here and n……," She abruptly trailed off……as her fiery glow suddenly disappeared and blood poured out of her mouth……and a wooden spike poked out through the top of her head.

  Huh? What just……I then noticed Minise's palm on the ground, as well as the bottom of the Fire Sage's right foot, through which wood was burrowing up into from the ground. Minise sent her wood burrowing underground and then pierced it through the Fire Sage's foot, up through her body and out through her head.

  She did it……she killed her. An opponent that's stronger than the both of us put together. She then met my gaze with a faint smile, the light in her eyes starting to fade……

  "H-hey……you……ok……?" She began weakly, before trailing off as she lost consciousness.

  I could feel it through my Lightning Sensory Field……she was still alive, but her heartbeat was weakening at an alarming rate. No……no, I refuse to let her die……

  I gritted my teeth and crawled over to her with all the remaining strength I could muster, ignoring it as my vision blurred and began to darken, partially entering Vampire Mode as much as I could, managing to do so just enough to manifest my fangs and claws, before biting into the side of her neck.

  I then shifted my gaze towards one of the nearby buildings, one with the wall broken in, focusing on the inside of it as best I could……and used Teleport to move the both of us into it.

  I'll……I'll use my remaining stamina to make sure she doesn't die……I myself might die as a result, with so many of my own injuries left unhealed, but you know what……I really don't care……

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