"Usually, I am not one to enjoy fighting."

Various elemental auras enveloped Henrietta, as she walked dangerously close to Miasma.

In the back, Orion observed her with careful eyes, ready to act on the slightest problem. Amelia was the same, her gaze alternating between her mother and Orion, who confirmed to her with a nod that it was fine to let her act on her own.

Karteira and Elliott both walked around the two, prepared to assist the Remnant.

"Yet, I've killed my fair share of people."

She touched the sapphire on the back of her hand and caressed it.

"Out of desperation, I once killed countless people. Many of your corrupted fell by my hand."

"..."

Miasma removed his hand from his face, revealing the split eye underneath. Not knowing what to expect from her, he quietly stared at Henrietta.

"But the one to bring me out of it was Tetra. I cannot count the number of times she saved me from a mental breakdown."

Orion closed his eyes and frowned. He was also containing the agony of losing a close friend, yet, he was unable to gather how painful it was for Henrietta before this moment.

Now that he understood, he realized the situation. Quietly, he opened his eyes, and aimed Alcyone at her back.

As his arrow pointed straight at her back, she continued.

"Now that you've killed her, how miserable do you think I am?"

"You, of all people, had no right to take her life for your pathetic plan to save a single woman!"

"Do not insult Frey!"

Henrietta lifted her eyebrows.

"That is grand of you. Never have you accepted the death of that woman, when your son managed to focus on what's truly important."

"Yet, once again, you tortured him into doing your despicable actions, staining his hands with blood he wasn't meant to touch."

"How pitiful can you be, destroying life as easily as that?"

The four gems and the runes engraved on the necklace shone brightly.

"Since Tetra isn't here anymore to stop me... to alleviate these feelings, all is left for me is to kill you."

She watched as Miasma gritted his uneven row of pointy teeth. Slowly, his body straightened, and he glared at her.

At this point, Miasma finally became serious. His dark purple skin stretched, ripped, and transformed.

His body expanded, his muscles grew, and he progressively got taller. Spikes broke out of his shoulders, a row of bones formed along his spine, and two large horns sprouted from his forehead.

The amount of corrupted energy released by his body was incomparable to what had been recorded before.

This demented mass of tainted matter smiled maniacally, as two rotating spheres of dark purple matter formed in his hands.

"I was getting tired of your preaching. I'll rip your arm off once again, if that's all it takes."

Suddenly, a white arrow flew into her back. Henrietta smiled briefly, before focusing her entire being on her opponent.

"This one?"

Henrietta leaned forward, and disappeared. Miasma's eyes frantically searched for the woman.

Henrietta appeared at the same place, a dark limb in her hands.

"..."

Miasma glared at her, before glancing at his missing arm, gushing a dark matter out of it. Without giving it another glance, the arm grew back instantly.

The right arm of Miasma faded in Henrietta's arm as if it had never existed.

"I can't remember... was it the left arm? Or the right arm?"

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With a smirk speaking louder than her provocation, Henrietta began to lose the grip on her emotions.

She needed to kill Miasma, and stop this madness for good.

The same could be said for Miasma. He was losing patience rapidly, and realized that the woman in front of him was probably an actual threat to his life.

They exchanged a silent glare, before Miasma attacked first.

He broadened open his arms, before slamming his hands onto the ground. Pools of dark goop formed under his palms, until they formed two deadly Corrupted Lords.

A squirrel with sharp claws, and a large starfish the size of a man with a dark jewel embedded at its center.

But before they were even able to take a step forward, they both exploded into thousands of pieces.

Earthen spikes appeared from under him. Miasma's face shook, before he jumped backward.

Where his two minions appeared, he noticed a faint green color swirling.

"Oh, I haven't told you. Those elementals..."

Henrietta looked at the rings on her fingers. With a faint smile, she returned to the assault.

Rushing toward Miasma, a long pole of fire appeared in her hand.

"Those are the five founders of the elemental factions. Be good to them."

Thrusting the fiery weapon at him, she unleashed a rapid combination of attacks to push back Miasma.

"Tsk!"

The rod of fire spun wildly around Henrietta, slamming on Miasma's arms as he stood his ground.

Dark energy converged toward him, before exploding outward in a large circle with his body as its center.

Jumping backward to avoid the sudden pulse, Henrietta released the fire in her hand, and switched to range attacks.

The dark opal glowed brighter, until it released a constant flow of electricity that followed Henrietta's every movement.

When she pointed her finger at Miasma, hundreds of arcs crossed the distance instantaneously, crashing into the dome of energy released by Miasma.

Eating away at its edges, the lightning began to erode the dome, until it entered and attacked him.

Like a snake, it wrapped around his body, and burned him with a sizzling sound.

"Enough!"

The dome shattered, revealing a perfectly fine Miasma. He aimed his right palm at her, and glared at her.

But nothing happened. Or at least, that's what Henrietta thought, before suddenly frowning and moving away hurriedly.

A jaw of corrupted energy formed where she was, and closed on empty air. Keeping his gaze on her every move, the claws caught on rapidly behind her.

Then, as the trap finally opened under her feet, Henrietta returned on the offensive. This time, the runes engraved on the necklace glowed, before the ground under her feet expanded upward.

A pillar of dirt and rock lifted her in the air, as the jaws devoured the base of the pillar. While falling down with the earth formation, she fired a volley of piercing metallic bullets that exploded in contact with a surface.

Everyone watching this was shocked.

Henrietta, who was usually pretty distant and relaxed, was aggressively fighting Miasma, who appeared to struggle in front of her.

Orion watched carefully, analyzing her actions. Something wasn't right to him.

'These attacks aren't strong enough to fell a monster like Miasma. What's her goal?'

He watched the next part of their exchanges, where she used exploding water bubbles to damage Miasma. Yet, again, it wasn't enough to even damage him greatly.

'Knowing that the source of her magic came from elementals sure was a surprise, yet, this doesn't appear to be enough.'

His mind was working in overdrive as he carefully observed.

Occasionally, he could notice clear struggle on her face, as if what she went through looked unbearable to her.

"..."

Then, Orion understood.

'She's providing us time! Fuck, we're stupid!'

Suddenly realizing that this whole fight was just a way for Henrietta to help in her own way, Orion winced.

A sour taste developed in his mouth as he turned his head toward Elliott. Feeling the gaze of someone on him, Elliott looked at him.

When the two looked at each other, Orion used the opportunity to create a one-way portal next to him, small enough to let his words go through.

"We need to locate Tetra's source. Henrietta is buying us time, but not for long."

"!"

The sudden realization made Elliott focus back. At first, he thought that she was determined to kill Miasma, and that was why he respected her choice.

Yet, something felt awfully off. With this insight, there was only one thing to do.

With a nod, he focused his gaze on Miasma. Both he and Orion scrutinized every movement, every change in Miasma that could indicate where the source could be.

Their battle kept going for a few minutes, until Henrietta turned pale with each passing seconds.

"Is that all you got?"

Miasma glared at her while lifting his chin, a dark grin in his face.

One large problem with him was that it was impossible to damage him. The corrupted air and particles floating around constantly provided him with energy, enough to heal any damage caused.

The same couldn't be said for Henrietta. The amount of power she could draw out of the elementals was finite. With more uses, her energy drained faster.

It wasn't as if she were tapping into an internal magic supply like Orion or Amelia did. She truly was wasting time and energy into helping Orion find her friend's stolen power.

Yet, even after exchanging blows with him, she was unable to locate it.

'Where is it?! Tetra, where are you?!'

Her mental strength was also rapidly draining. She was unable to fight any more than this. She glanced over her shoulder, and looked at her daughter.

The next moment, Miasma bent forward, and aimed his two large horns at her. Tainted particles gathered between them, forming a sphere of dark matter.

After only five seconds, Miasma fired it at her.

"Die!"

A massive beam of dark energy crossed the distance, about to engulf Henrietta.

"Not on my watch!"

A portal opened above her, dropping a woman in front of Henrietta.

With an earthen dagger in her hand, she pierced the ground with its blade.

"Amelia?!"

Ten rocky walls formed in front of them, holding the advance of the beam.

"No time to think!"

She grabbed her mother, and threw her high into the air.

"Karteira!"

"Got it!"

A trail of light traveled across the place, and caught the exhausted woman with ease. Then, Karteira ran back to Orion, where she was safely returned.

Satisfied, Amelia focused on the beam rapidly breaching through the earthen walls.

'I guess it's my time to fight him.'

Cold air gathered around her, while shards of ice gathered into a scythe in her hand.

'Dana, we have work to do.'

As a blue crown appeared on top of her head, the dark beam swallowed her.