'What's this development? Since when the corrupted were sentient?'

Orion looked at a crazed Corrupted Lord laughing while blasting explosions at Amelia.

"Hahaha~ That feels great! Resist as much as you can! I want to enjoy this a bit more!"

This was way too strange. He was also worried about Amelia enduring all those attacks, but he promised to not intrude on Amelia's fight.

But if it went too far, he would step in. There was no way he would watch Amelia lose her life, but he had to reign over his own overprotective feelings right now.

To Amelia, this fight was her way to get some peace. He wouldn't dare trample on her resolve.

-

"Amelia."

"Yes?"

"I have something I need to ask you."

"Tomorrow, I'm attacking the city of Haravel. It's the city where Kelvin rules over."

"I won't force you, as he is a powerful man, but would you like to avenge your mother and Bandir's people by yourself?"

"..."

"Are you sure you want to leave that responsibility to me? Am I strong enough for that?"

"It is yours to decide. Make your choice tonight, and come see me in the morning. The plan will change depending on your choice."

-

'Accepting even thought she still fears her lack of power... Now, look at her.'

Orion managed to catch a glimpse of her between the explosion.

Her face wasn't showing even a single trace of worry. She was focused on defending, and was successfully doing so.

Encased in a cocoon of ice similar to the one she was released from when she merged with her water/ice element, nothing managed to break through.

Each time a crack formed, she repaired it with water by making it infiltrate the crack, and freeze it again.

This continued until the explosions stopped.

"Hmm? This is more than I expected. You haven't sustained any injury at all."

The warped smile on the Corrupted Lord's face was disgusting to look at. It was very repulsive, and perverse.

"That makes me want to rip your limbs one by one~"

Amelia glared at the strong being in front of her. Without warning, the cocoon exploded in a thin mist that hid her from his sight.

"Playing hide-&-seek now? Sure, I can-"

*Slash*

"Hmm?"

The corrupted looked at his right arm, or to be precise, at the missing arm.

"You sure don't play around."

He slightly turned counter-clockwise, avoiding the next slash that was going for his left arm.

The arm that fell on the ice began to liquefy in a purple goop, while a new arm formed on his body.

"But that won't be enough~ You know it too, isn't it, girl~?"

"Stop talking, your voice is making me nauseous."

Another slash came out of the mist, this one going for both legs.

Kelvin's left hand swiped from left to right in front of him, creating a wall of fire stopping at his chest.

The wall of fire swallowed the attack as if it never existed.

"You will have to make me."

The corrupted's gaze darkened. He didn't like to be insulted either it seemed.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"Don't mind if I do then!"

Amelia rushed out of the mist cloud from the left side, and ran toward Kelvin to attack.

The corrupted Kelvin lifted his right hand, and with a strange move of his fingers, made the fire sword that was stuck in the ground further behind him vanish and reappear in his hand.

"I'll entertain you for a bit, as thanks for making me free. But when I'm done, I'll ravage that frail body of yours."

Orion, hidden behind the rubbles of Bandir, broke a brick next to him with his bare hands from anger.

"Watch your tone. Say more and I'll transform you into a porcupine."

Is voice echoed from everywhere, warped by the void element. Both the corrupted Kelvin and Amelia heard the wrath coating those words.

Those words made Amelia smile slightly, giving her more energy at the same time knowing he was watching.

She approached Kelvin at high speed, and stabbed at him with a fake Dana.

"Khh!"

As he was trying to find the owner of the voice he heard, Amelia managed to take him by surprise, making him react hurriedly.

He blocked the stab with his fire sword, but Amelia released her grip on the fake Dana, slashing with the real one at the same time.

Losing his balance from the sudden lack of resistance, he bent his body forward, leaving a big opening for Amelia to slash at his face.

"Not so fast!"

He pointed his free hand toward Amelia's waist, creating an explosion of fire.

Amelia stomped on the ice. A pillar of ice suddenly appeared, enough to launch her above the Corrupted Lord. She flipped over his shoulder, avoiding the explosion, before her feet finally touched the ground.

With another fake Dana, she stabbed his open back, leaving the icy weapons stuck in the flesh to cause as much damage as possible.

"Kuh!"

He went to hit her with his elbow, but Amelia had already moved away.

'Now!'

As the corrupted had his back turned from the mist, it was the moment where Amelia showed how treacherous she could be.

Icy needles and slashes emerged from the mist, coated with a thin layer of water to avoid them melting from the heat.

"What? Damn i-"

*Stab*

With the onslaught of attacks happening, he forgot Amelia for a split second.

She had already closed in on him, and plunged Dana into the core on his chest. Making some distance immediately, she avoided the purple blood coming out of the core and from his mouth.

He touched the core in pain, but realized soon that it was too late.

Needles and slashes rained on his back, puncturing his body. He tried to defend with fire as much as possible, but Amelia learned from before. She wouldn't accept the same result.

"H-HA! SH-! D-DAMN IT!"

The corrupted Kelvin endure everything, until his back became a mess. Flesh had been removed, in multiple part. You could even see his spine in some places.

Frostbites made it even worse for him, as the pain made it hard to control his fire.

"Ngh!"

He glared at Amelia, and before she could understand anything, an explosion happened near her left arm.

"Hyaa!"

She fumbled on her right, before creating an ice cocoon around her to look at the injury.

'That fucker! I was negligent!'

Blood was flowing along her fingers, straight to the floor. The hot blood reminded her that she was in a life or death battle.

'I've been too comfortable during the fight. The bone's not broken, but I can't use it anymore.'

A part of her forearm's skin had been removed, and a painful burn had been left going from the tip of her fingers to her shoulder.

She froze her whole arm to avoid having to deal with the pain while taking care of not causing necrosis to settle in. There was no time to joke around anymore.

If she wasn't treated, she could lose her arm definitely.

'I'm lucky it didn't hit my side. I would be done for.'

The cocoon broke, and she glared back at Kelvin's corrupted body.

'But that blast was pretty weak. I don't think he has much power left after all of that. I might just go for the kill.'

She grasped Dana in her right hand, readying herself to end the fight.

But that wasn't going to happen.

"Guh... Kuh... You little! Look what you've done!"

Fire began to engulf the Corrupted Lord. This fire was similar to something Amelia saw in her memories.

'Is that...?'

Her mother disappearing in the flames surfaced from her deepest memories.

Gritting her teeth, she began to think rapidly with 'Calm Analysis'.

'The cocoon won't hold against something like that!'

'Something... Something stronger! But what?!'

The same memories returned.

'Like mother... I need to use an ability similar to what she used for me!'

Her eyes showed determination as the fire began to condense in Kelvin's body.

"I don't care anymore! I'll take you with me if that is the last thing I do!"

He tried to walk forward, but his legs wouldn't move.

"Tch!"

You could see in his eyes that he was terrified of losing control of his element.

During that time, Amelia came up with a brand new ability. A very dangerous ability that required her full focus, as it could backfire on her at any point.

"Mirror Dome!"

Lifting her hand high above her head, she pointed Dana into the sky. Water pillars began to pop from the icy ground all around her.

They instantly froze, and broke down into very small, transparent rectangles that began to float around her.

She then pointed Dana at her enemy. The small mirrors moved toward Kelvin rapidly, and began to encircle him.

"What are you doing!"

One layer formed around him. This process repeated five more times, until Amelia's magic was almost depleted.

'There's still more...'

"Ice Pillars!"

Four water pillars, taller than the ones use for the mirrors appeared around the dome, forming a square.

"Dragon's Breath!"

At the top of the pillars, a dragon's head made of water formed and solidified. The four head looked directly at the pillar in front of them, and breathed a cold fire that froze everything on its path.

Between the pillars, a thick wall began to appear, made from freezing air itself. Once done, the four head turned, pointing at the top of the dome in the middle.

They breathed one last time, creating a roof connecting everything, perfectly encasing the dome into a box of pure ice.

"A-Ah... Ha..."

Amelia breathed roughly from using too much magic, but she was almost done.

'One more.'

Pointing Dana at the sculpture, she said.

"One last gift from me."

"The Azur Dragon's Seal!"

The mirror's inside the seal began to change, projecting only the one inside.

Kelvin couldn't do anything besides watching Amelia seal him in this frozen place. The cold wasn't affecting him, but the fire inside him was slowly consuming him.

Until.

"DAMN IIIIIIIT-"

*BOOOOOM*

The fire that took her mother's life erupted from the Corrupted Apostle.