Humanity, beings not born with innate magic, must learn. Learning is the greatest ability the gods granted them.
Even so, they always have limits they can never surpass...
Flux, the current that guides them, connects them to magic. That is the weakness of humankind, because once their flux is depleted, they beco no different from ordinary people, nothing more, nothing less.
This is also the reason why not every mage will open a battle with powerful, wide-ranged offensive spells.
But Silvanus used them, and more than that, this was already the second ti he had done so.
A normal mage could only pour all their remaining strength into one final decisive strike...
"Ugh...!"
"CRASH! THUD!"
The queen’s towering figure was forced backward.
Now, countless wounds had appeared across her enormous body, so deep, so shallow. Fresh blood drifted through the water, almost making everything in their vision blur with red.
Opposite her, Aurellan’s Blade still stood tall. Even so, the light radiating from it was no longer blinding. Fragnted specks of light began to drift across its body, as though it was on the verge of dissolving completely into the air.
Because of that, Nicole would seize this final chance. The queen must be forced toward Aetherium Tower.
Aurellan’s Blade raised its hands. Magic circles spun without pause, each carrying streams of energy. They glowed brightly, flickering like a reactor on the verge of igniting.
Right after that, two magic circles lit up on both sides at once. From within them, countless arrows of light appeared like the herald of a storm. The arrows grew endlessly, twisting together, then tore through the water as they shot toward the queen.
The queen let out a thunderous curse and swept her hand. The water transford into a crescent moon that blew away the incoming arrows like a downpour. Colliding energies burst again and again, ringing out without pause.
But the arrows did not stop. There were even more of them now. The queen roared, her long tail whipping upward. The soft fin, delicate like silk, carried strength enough to smash the arrow-storm aside without receiving the slightest injury.
The queen spun around and fled outright. She realized that against this strike, she had no chance.
They had been fighting for quite so ti, and now both sides were growing weaker. The queen knew this was not the mont to clash head-on. She only needed to wait for the right mont...
The arrows relentlessly chased after the queen, gathering into enormous streams that forced her to flee along the path they dictated. Aetherium Tower was now almost within reach.
On the other side, Caesar had already brought Nana and Athena to the tower.
They could only stay still outside, watching the flashes of exploding light from the distant battle between Nicole and the queen.
The queen and Aurellan’s Blade were both massive, yet their movents were so fast that, to Athena and Nana, they were little more than afterimages.
Nana’s ears suddenly twitched. She instinctively turned toward the tower’s large gate and asked in confusion, "Is sothing being kept inside the tower?"
Athena shook her head and replied with a gentle smile, "No. The inside of the tower is where rituals are held for fallen rfolk."
"Then what about those chains?" Nana asked again.
Athena shook her head. "We don’t know anything about those chains. Ever since I was born, they’ve always been there. The queen mother never spoke of their origin. Why are you so interested? Truly, curiosity is the nature of humans."
Nana looked at Athena’s smiling face and frowned slightly. She couldn’t understand how Athena could still smile at a ti like this. It felt as though even if she were cornered to the brink of death, she would still smile and simply accept everything. It made her seem completely unreliable.
As if sensing Nana’s stare, Athena spoke, "Now, don’t look at like that. I am the great princess of Aqualon, you know."
"Alright, great princess of Aqualon, shut up." Nana said outright.
Athena couldn’t help but frown. Nana was truly rude. But even with a flicker of displeasure in her heart, the smile on Athena’s lips did not change at all.
"They’re here..." she whispered. At that mont, Nana’s gaze also shifted forward.
The waters began to surge violently, sending waves of shock through the surroundings, quickly rolling toward them. Caesar’s fur rustled slightly. It swung its body lightly, but its four legs remained firm like stone. Every muscle in its body tightened as though preparing for a battle that could not be avoided.
Right after that, its body suddenly shot upward into the water, hovering as its paws stepped atop a glowing magic circle.
A thunderous boom echoed out, yet no explosion followed—only the queen’s body being forced back by the storm of arrows. The arrows pierced into her flesh, but did not stop there. With unimaginable speed and overwhelming force, and in numbers beyond counting, they drove the queen backward entirely.
The queen’s body swayed. Her tail curled as she lifted her head in irritation and let out a piercing roar.
Above her, Aurellan’s Blade suddenly clasped its hands together. At the point where they t, powerful waves of energy erupted. In an instant, a sphere of light ford—growing larger and larger, flickering with a blinding brilliance. Even the surrounding seawater seed to boil and glow under its influence.
The queen watched this scene without a hint of fear.
Her massive tail swept across the ground, lifting clouds of sand and silt. She pushed off with trendous force, launching herself upward. At the sa mont, her claws suddenly extended, becoming thicker and sharper than ever before, trailing streaks of light like shifting moonbeams as she moved.
A sharp howl of the sundered water split the air as the queen and Aurellan’s Blade charged straight at each other.
Aurellan’s Blade slamd both hands downward from above, while the queen barreled forward without hesitation, leaving two blazing streaks behind her!
A violent shockwave burst outward—and then... "Boom!"
An explosive blast swept across the land. The ground around them sank under the unleashed force. Earth and stone tore free along with the water, spiraling into a vortex of endless energy.
"CRASH! BOOM!"
Another explosion followed. At that mont, the shimring body of Aurellan’s Blade began to flicker—its form growing lighter and paler. With each fierce clash, more dust-like fragnts of light scattered from its body. In the blink of an eye, it was almost completely transparent.
The queen, still pressing down with overwhelming force, let out a frenzied, exhilarated roar.
Her claws glowed sharply. In the next mont, the seawater behind her exploded in a burst of motion, forming a powerful current. Using that montum, she fully overpowered the steadily fading silhouette of Aurellan’s Blade, as though ready to tear everything apart.
Now, they could see Nicole’s figure inside Aurellan’s Blade, swaying and barely remaining upright.
The queen laughed loudly:
"Little human, stripped of your magic—let show you the primal power of those who stand above your kind!"
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