The fierce battles ensue not just within Nea's water domain, but also outside of it, up in the skies. Thousands of Mermaids and Nagas watch the spectacle, torn between which battle to follow. Each of Lucien's girls displays an array of unique skills and abilities, which make for an equally captivating show.
Visually, however, the battles led by the blue-haired sisters, Marie and Lena, are the crowd favorites. Known for their flair for dramatics, the sisters have always loved making a grand spectacle with their spells, a characteristic that has been further amplified by Lucien's empowerment.
"ROOOOAAARR!!!*"
Lena's enormous ice dragon roars as it strikes the Naga Elder facing her group.
*SCREEEEEHHH!!*
A short distance away, Marie's giant icebird emits a piercing cry, unleashing hundreds of ice spikes at the Naga Elder opposing her group.
The power and elegance of the sisters' magic is awe-inspiring to the spectators. However, they share a common drawback with their mother; their ice mana proves ineffective in dismantling the Naga Elders' dark armor.
"Damn it!" Marie swears in frustration, as her attacks have no impact on the Naga Elder, besides keeping him at bay.
"What's the issue?" Anne inquires, situated alongside Elsie behind Marie atop the icebird.
The fox-girl cousins are eager to lend their aid, but their power level significantly trails behind Marie's.
"It's his armor; my magic doesn't break through it," Marie explains. "We need to deploy a different element, but I can only wield ice magic now."
"A different element?" Anne muses aloud.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"Like the life element?" Elsie proposes, echoing her cousin's train of thought.
"Why have you considered the life element?" Marie queries, her brow furrowed in confusion. She can't fathom why the cousins bypass the conventional choices of fire or light, instead opting for life - a rather esoteric element in the realm of combat.
Both fox-girls skillfully draw out intricately embellished daggers from their dimensional storage rings. The blades exude a vibrant green glow, the tell-tale sign of the life force it harbors.
"Blades imbued with life mana?" Marie gasps, her eyes wide in bewilderment. "Who the hell had such a brilliant idea??"
"There was an abundance of life crystals in the Purple World..." Anne begins to unravel the mystery.
"And Rebecca had this curious idea to harness them into creating weaponry..." Elsie adds, her voice reflecting the adventurous spirit of their endeavor.
"The results were not exactly what we hoped for, the effectiveness of these weapons was limited... but their beauty was undeniable and we felt compelled to keep a few." Annie and Elsie share a knowing smile, reminiscing about their journey.
"Well, it's our best chance now!" Marie echoes their smiles, her mind whirling with possibilities as she realizes that these unique blades might just be the key to penetrate their opponents' formidable dark armor.
Those blades represent not only a chance to secure victory in this battle but also to defeat her opponent before Lena's team manages to do so. This thought invigorates Marie, fueling her fervor to plunge both life blades into the Naga Elder.
Marie herself doesn't possess the requisite physical strength for such a task, but Anne and Elsie do. Their absence of magical elemental affinity is offset by their remarkable agility and formidable physical prowess.
"Naughty foxes, think you can handle this?" She queries the cousins.
Anne and Elsie exchange a glance, their eyes ablaze with unyielding resolve, their smiles replete with grit.
"Just get us close to him."
"And we'll take it from there!"
"Then let's get this show on the road!" Marie grins, propelling her colossal icebird towards the Naga Elder.
*SCREEEEEHH!!*
As she advances on her foe, Marie orchestrates her icebird to unleash a barrage of icy spikes at the Naga Elder. Simultaneously, she instigates deluges of ice and an array of attacks that hail from all directions, unleashing her energies without restraint.
Engrossed in deflecting the onslaught of icy projectiles, the Naga Elder, even though aware of Marie's approach, finds himself at a loss for a countermeasure.
As soon as she is within a stone's throw of her target, Marie conjures numerous strands of ice connecting the icebird to the Naga Elder.
As the icy assault persists, the fox-girls nimbly traverse the frosty lines, making a beeline for their quarry.
The offensive may seem simplistic, stirring worry amongst observers that Anne and Elsie might sustain injuries upon confronting such a formidable adversary.
Yet Lucien is privy to the fact that Marie's tactics are anything but simplistic.
While capering across the icy threads, Anne and Elsie leap from one strand to another, their reflections captured in the thin sheen of ice morphing into doppelgängers of the fox-girls.
Convinced he has deciphered Marie's stratagem, the Naga Elder suspends his defenses against her relentless assault, instead channeling his dark mana. As the girls and their icy replicas close in for the attack, he unleashes a potent wave of this ominous energy.
*BAM*
Multiple icy clones disintegrate under the impact of this forceful blast, only then does the Naga Elder realize that none of them were the authentic fox-girls.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"Now!" Marie commands, and only then do the actual Anne and Elsie emerge from the shadow of her icebird, recommencing their swift dash across the ice lines.
"Woah!!!" The audience erupts in a fervor, watching Marie and the fox-girls toy with their opponent. Even members of the Naga army can't resist acknowledging the skill of the girls.
"HAAAAA!!!" The Naga Elder bellows in fury, propelling himself towards the girls, brandishing his colossal dark mace in a reckless frenzy.
Once again, everyone frets over the safety of the enchanting fox-girls, and yet again, they find themselves hoodwinked by Marie's spellcraft.
The Elder Naga seems oblivious to Marie's flurry of assaults, directing his attention towards the fox-girls instead, only to be taken aback when he discerns they are nothing more than cleverly disguised ice doppelgängers.
Emerging from the womb of gargantuan ice stalagmites, the actual Anne and Elsie launch their surprise attack, the formidable blades pulsing with life energy aimed at the unsuspecting Elder Naga's exposed back.
Their strategy appears flawless, but the Elder Naga's agility and swift reflexes are not to be underestimated. He senses the incoming assault of the fox-girls in the nick of time, mustering a swift countermove.
The nimble duo's agility outmatches the cumbersome swing of the Naga's massive mace, forcing him to abandon his weapon in favor of a more direct approach. He ensnares Anne and Elsie's petite hands with his colossal, scaly grip.
"No!" The distress in Marie's voice is palpable as she watches the fox-girls falter.
However, Anne and Elsie refuse to accept this as their downfall. With seamless synchronicity, they relinquish their hold on the daggers, deftly catching them with their enchanting, bushy tails.
"Wha-?" The Elder Naga anticipates an assault from their nimble tails and relinquishes his vice-like grip to snatch the airborne daggers.
But the cunning cousins outfox him, playfully tossing the daggers to one another before reclaiming their weapons and driving them deep into the Elder Naga's body.
The blades, imbued with potent life force mana, easily perforate the Elder Naga's obsidian armor. Streams of verdant light burst from the puncture sites, dismantling his previously impervious defense.
"Hurray!" Anne and Elsie exclaim in unison, just before they leap onto Marie's majestic icebird, which swoops in for a timely rescue.
The Elder Naga, though not yet defeated, is left vulnerable without his protective dark armor, making him an effortless target for Marie's chilling ice incantations.
Before she annihilates her opponent with her icy sorcery, Marie steals a glance towards Lena's group, expecting to see her sister struggling. But the reality defies her anticipation.
"Ah, for heaven's sake!" Marie exclaims, her voice a cocktail of frustration and disbelief.