Using Taygeta, Orion tried to cripple Amelia's speed, and her ability to use magic.

Knowing that she would instantly lose if she was hit by only one of these, she focused everything on dodging.

There was a slight chance that countering one arrow could bounce it back at her.

So Amelia returned Leima, and switched back to Aura.

'Wind Cloak.'

But Amelia remembered something while dodging. Wind Cloak and Water Sliders weren't abilities. This made her think on the spot.

'Calm Analysis.'

Her processing speed quadruple, and while dodging, came to her own conclusion.

'These pseudo-abilities were made before they grew as elements. I simply applied the elemental magic itself on myself, instead of bringing its potential out.'

'Alright, then what do I want? What do I want from you?'

With a slide, her smile grew wilder, and she shoot the name of another new ability.

When they left Auro, Amelia asked a simple question to Orion, on their way to Eogis.

-

"I think we can continue. The rain seems to have moved far away, and no other rainclouds are coming either."

"How can you know that? For me, every clouds look the same. Maybe the color is different sometimes, but I didn't think it would be relevant to rain."

-

Orion began to explain a small part on how rainclouds are created. He stopped at one point, but explained the rest later.

What Amelia thought of was one of the event happening in case of a storm.

"Downdraft!"

Her body began to glow green, and the scale of Ruminona in her soul began to chime in returned, empowering the ability.

A pink wind pushed the arrows coming at her, to Orion's astonishment.

He stopped shooting and prepared himself for close combat.

The strong wind began to change, and Amelia crouched low on the ground. She focused on her legs, and jumped with everything she had.

Wind currents carried her in the air, as she tried to stay stable. After a few seconds, she stared at Orion, and lunged at him.

With the wind behind her, she came crashing where Orion was, with powerful wind bursts capable of pushing Orion back.

"Tch!"

She heard the frustration of Orion, and took this opportunity to go closer.

Orion released Taygeta, and this time chose to stay unarmed.

He noticed that Amelia was not going to attack with her daggers. Amelia canceled Ceres, and only kept Aura in her hand.

With an agility she never demonstrated, she began to unleash a flurry of kicks on Orion, who could only defend because of the strong burst of winds that shook him to his core.

But she wasn't able to move Orion an inch from where he was standing.

'What is he, a wall?! How can he resist those kicks.'

Receiving them was one thing, but he was also diverting their direction to avoid direct damage. He only had to deal with the wind bursts.

Each kick was terrifyingly powerful, but Orion managed to defend, and found an opportunity to move away.

Amelia looked at him in wonder, but Orion pointed up. She immediately looked up, and noticed a volley of dark arrows falling at her.

'When did he shot these?!'

This trap was set when Amelia lost sight of him in the air, when she stabilized herself. Orion knew he would be unable to defend for a long time, so he shot his arrows in a way that would make them fall straight down.

He only had to defend his spot for a short amount of time.

Amelia pointed Aura toward the arrows, and a pink shield of wind began to envelop her. The arrows bounced on the shield, successfully defending against the trap.

But, she greatly underestimated the range of the trap.

"Did you lose sight of me?"

Orion's voice was right next to her. She dropped her gaze and watched with horror as Orion was about to punch her side.

*BOOM*

Stolen story; please report.

With a powerful blow containing the strength of the Arm Overdrive, Orion sent her flying a few meters away.

"Ugh!"

Managing not to roll on the ground, she grabbed her side in pain.

'Even with a barrier, he still managed to damage me. He really is a monster.'

The distraction was successful. Orion managed to directly hit Amelia, even though she did her best to protect herself in a split second.

Taygeta reappeared in his hands, and without waiting for her to get over her pain, he shot arrows after arrows.

Ignoring the pain, Amelia stood back up, but there was no way she could do anything fancy now.

Aura disappeared from her hand and was replaced by Dana and Ceres.

The next phase of the fight was going to be a ranged exchange.

Orion, decided to cripple Amelia to end the fight, and Amelia, decided to bring Orion on one knee.

Amelia slid under the first volley of arrows, and slashed Dana horizontally, sending a few icicles toward him.

With swift movements, he dodged each one of them, before firing more arrows.

To counter that, Amelia pointed Ceres forward, and attacked with metal nails. The two attacks crossed, and some managed to go through to the other.

Amelia used Dana and Ceres to stop the arrows with the blades, while Orion stepped left to avoid the dangerous nails.

While these exchanged continued for a few minutes, Orion was walking closer and closer toward Amelia.

'Why is he getting closer?'

And when confusion appeared on her face, Orion took notice of it, and released Taygeta. He ran using the Second Gear and his light enhancement, sliding and jumping over the icicles and nails.

'Shit!'

Amelia was slow to react, but still defended against the next attack by creating a thick wall between her and Orion. Orion jumped in the air, and hit her with a flying roundhouse kick.

Even with a protection from Ceres, Amelia could only block the hit, but not the blast of destruction coming from it.

She was sent flying once again, but this time, with no way to catch her balance. As she roll on the ground, she managed to see the wall she created crumble in dust, while Orion was already aiming at her with Alcyone.

While gritting her teeth, she slammed one of her elbow on the ground, and bounced herself up.

She was starting to get tired, and her body was starting to hurt a lot.

"Let's end this. You better dodge this!"

Orion prepared himself to release everything. With Alcyone in hands, a sudden burst of magic was felt all around him.

'He wants to finish this with an Overdrived arrow?'

She looked at the situation in front of her.

*Click*

The arrow, fired with all of Orion's power, flew straight toward Amelia.

A trails of light followed it, increasing its velocity more and more.

'I've done enough, I can't stop this.'

Amelia was about to give up. There was nothing to do against something like this.

Until she glanced behind her.

Karteira was right there, tens of meters away.

'Fuck! Why is she behind me?!'

She turned to look at the incoming arrow in despair.

'I can't dodge this! If I do, what about Karteira?!'

There was only two choices available to her. Shout to notify Orion before it was too late, or dodge and let the arrow continue its trajectory.

She chose the third option. While letting go of Dana, she shouted.

"VESTA!"

The fire dagger Amelia did not use until now manifested with a blast of yellow fire in front of her.

Grabbing the dagger with determination, her appearance changed drastically.

Her hair turned red, her pink eyes changed to bright red, her arms were engulfed in fire, and her heels let out a strong fire, burning the ground underneath her feet.

"CERES! THREE METAL WALLS!"

She pointed in front of her, and three walls made of pure iron formed in front of her. They were almost one meter thick, but were paperweight against an Overdrived arrow.

The three walls were breeched without causing any resistance.

"DAMN IT!"

With everything she had, she let go of Ceres, and gripped Vesta strongly, enough to cause blood to flow out.

"INFERNO!"

Scorching and bright fire engulfed Amelia.

A giant explosion of fire happened before the arrow touched, and all of that same fire was absorbed by Vesta.

Horizon came to a stop in this split second. Amelia, with the desire to protect Karteira, slashed Vesta downward, creating a blade of fire so intense the air warped around it.

Both attacks touched each other with an unbelievable explosion. They both grinded against each other for a minute, before the winner continued toward its victim.

"I'M NOT DONE YET!"

Orion's arrow was stronger than Amelia's fire blade.

So, as a last resort, she decided to take it all.

She took a defensive stance, preparing herself to be pushed back, while grabbing Vesta with both hands.

The Overdrived arrow hit Vesta, making Amelia realize how much power was behind this single arrow.

On the other side, Orion was in shock, but was ready to create a portal the instant Amelia would show any weakness against his attack.

He knew that Karteira was behind Amelia, and he had already made plans to extract her away with a portal if Amelia had dodged.

But she completely broke his expectations. She showed all of her potential in this fight, how good she alternated between each situations, and how varied her attacks were.

Switching between elements was her strongest point right now, but Vesta was something else.

Her determination to protect Karteira was what made her bring more power out than ever.

With a pained face, and trembling arms, Amelia was pushed toward Karteira.

'Damn it! Damn it! DAMN IT!'

She was cursing at herself, at the lack of strength she had against a single arrow.

Glancing behind her, she was now a few meters away from her friend, who was looking at her with worry.

Karteira knew Orion would bring her away at any moment, and that by not doing it, he was testing Amelia, like he tested her before.

'One last push! It's all I ask for!'

Vesta grew hotter in her hand, and forced the last strength she had to emerge.

"EEEEY!"

She flung the arrow upward, forcing it to deviate from its original course.

Amelia let go of Vesta, powerless, and crashed on the floor, unconscious.

~

Orion appeared right next to her, and healed her without hesitation.

"Broken arms, broken rib, nosebleed, fractured legs..."

Karteira could only worry when she heard his diagnosis.

"She's going to be alright in a second."

He turned around and smiled at Karteira.

"Orion, what in the world was that fight?"

"..."

He stayed silent. He himself was unable to find the right answer to that question.

"Was that everything you both had? If so, there's no way I can compare to any of you."

She dropped her face in defeat.

"Magic is magic, strength is strength. You possess more raw strength than both of us could muster, and that is you. Don't compare yourself, just catch up using your wits and abilities."

"Also, you can't use magic, but you can store it. Don't think I don't know, you've been trying to store the fire element inside your armor to make the process of steam easier."

"How?!"

With pure shock, she could only ask.

"I'm observant. The rate at which you create steam is too irregular to be normal recently, and it's always when Amelia is near to help you."

"That's what I meant by wits. You've got the brain to make yourself stronger. Talk more with Amelia, you should be able to come up with abilities that exploits unexplored territories."

He stopped healing Amelia and carried her in his arms.

"Let's return for now. She needs to rest."

'You've outdone yourself Amelia. I can't ignore you anymore.'

Orion opened a portal to his house, and entered it with the help of Karteira. Orion placed her in her bed, looking for any irregularities in her current state, but she was simply exhausted at this point.

With that worry out of the way, Orion left Amelia in the care of Karteira, and went to explain what happened to the sisters.

Later, Amelia finally her eyes.