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<02/12/1972 – 12:15 | Eldora Tower Fl. 950, Eldora City, Junon Region, Sprawn Valley>

Just shortly after a few more encouraging words between Jane and Brock, she was already on her way up inside of the next elevator of Eldora Tower. Much anticipation filled her imagination and thoughts. Jane could feel herself trembling, her alertness at peak condition. She was more than nervous. How could she not be with how everyone hyped Sir Danton to such a high standard?

The best of the best in Leray matches; that was Danton's reputation. Jane only learned of the name from Rontellov, and more from the people in Eldora City, but with the unfair advantage of this symbol, Jane was obviously better...

"No!" she cringed. Jane quickly veered her eyes away from the top of her hand, denying the thought entirely. Though such a plan would most defiantly work, it just isn't fair to beat the champion using that symbol. Jane's JDT dress sphere covered her hands up with connective fingerless gloves, just enough to protect the symbol's appearance from the outside, or so on most occasions anyway. But as Jane thought about it further, it was much too late for that. Jane already cheated just to get to Lennith City to begin with, and cheated more in the championship battles. She never once invoked the symbol here, but even then, it contains passive effects. The symbol was responsible for passive MP conservation, higher ME levels, quicker skill mastery, and higher damage output. Her high HP endurance didn't used to exist, now a process built back up from fair time fighting in constant battles; Jane knew this much at least. Still, she has been using her symbol in every single battle, even if the use went as high as power shielding or as little as MP recovery time.

She shook her head once more. That's not what Jane came here for in the first place. She could remember last night in their hotel room clearly, the argument that happened over this petty desire. It's a true desire Jane took at heart that she even shared with others, but it wasn't the most important thing anymore. Only the General Army has the capacity to invade the dark zone and reach the Den of Purity, all in attempt to arrest professor Brightworth who has apparently gone rouge. It's amazing that Danton hasn't done anything about the situation, the guy in charge of this entire land sitting back and having fun while the people of Lennith are soon made to suffer.

Jane could feel her body tense in anger just by bringing it to mind. Her fists clenched tightly as her wish became more firm in hand. Symbol or no symbol, Danton needs to take charge and do what is right, or step down to someone who is willing to. It's possible that such a battle to the death need not happen if the man is as reasonable as people say he is.

A loud hissing sound from the opening elevator doors prompted Jane's attention, now revealing a large outstretch opening with a flight of stairs. The walls and stairs were connected as a floor, meaning there was no potential risk of falling down anywhere in particular; no missing floor. The metal steps ahead of Jane only seemed overwhelming due to the massive amount of space in width there was for the room, but the top of the stairs was easily visible from here. Jane stepped out of the elevator, pacing herself slowly and taking her time.

Jane had much time to take before she was supposed to conduct a battle. Breaks are required, thus there would be plenty of time between then and now for talking. Either way, Jane wasn't in the battle room yet, and completely alone from people or cameras. Jane proceeded up the steps slowly, drowning out the thunderous echoing of her footsteps in the air with her mass of thoughts in mind. What to say to Danton? What to ask? There could be any number of infinite iterations, as to how the man is really like, but just thinking about what Alpha Zero will do if left unattended had Jane's idea of it in clarity. It made imaginative appeal, but was left as a strong sensation, the same one driving her to the top of these stairs since the issue became a problem for everyone.

Everybody she has ever met and everything that has ever happened to her played back in her head. Jane planned on leaving Fronas town for a journey of Leray battles since she was just a child, but in the process of graduating from Dakota's training facility, Danny and Taylor showed up to spice her life up. As if that wasn't enough, some guy gave Jane a doomsday weapon out of nowhere. She questioned why she used the device on herself, how stupid she was back then. Ever since then, Jane met and lost battles to several people in the process of discovering herself, her powers, even her true motivations. Claudia helped her out with something that should have cost her job and potential citizenship. Alyssa aspired to be just like her from how focused and determined Jane was to fight for the right thing. Everybody who has ever met Jane was nice to her, despite several people who normally would not be in the surroundings. There was good mixed with bad moments, and now Alpha Zero threatened to erase all of it. Lennith City may just be one physical location, void of life when evacuated. To everyone living there, it's their only salvation, the place where their memories began, their home!

And who's to say that the expansion will stop there? You can evacuate a city, but not a whole country that's encased inside of a natural barrier. It would be total chaos! "Haaaah!" Jane sighed loudly, letting it all out in one escaped breath to try and comprehend it all. Instead, it only stressed her out. Finally at the edge of the last stair, she noticed a large gap in the ground between here and the next large circular room. The gap however was covered by an amazing bridge of light, some sort of pure energy that created some physical platform of translucent brightness in white color connecting here to that next room. Falling off would be difficult, but Jane could imagine someone shutting off the electronic bridge as she is standing on it.

As Jane squinted ahead of her, she could see two massive large structures with water running down them in the distance. Only part of the room was visible from here however, as the corridor of the bridge became narrow until the opening of the room itself was made to closer proximity. Jane stepped forward with caution, pausing with only one foot on the light bridge. The bridge didn't even react to her footstep, though the barrier itself held her weight as though it were a solid metal ground. After taking one more step, Jane's pace increased significantly upon realizing how safe the light bridge was. Hopefully there would not be any power outages for the next few minutes, though this thing probably runs off of magical energy too somehow.

After making it to the arena room, Jane could hardly believe her eyes. The room was designed five times the size that the previous arena rooms were. The ceiling would be impossible to reach, and the ground given to fight was at least 200 meters in diameter. The shape of the entire room was cylindrical instead of cubical, but the artwork was just as impressive. With painting tattooed to the floor, walls, and ceiling consisting mostly of blue and white mesh colors, there was a very attractive ambience to the space, especially when combined to the two pillars in the back. The pillars were miniature waterfalls, stone shrines with water running down into a small basin at low intensity from each structure, and the lighting of the room was well provided in all sections.

Jane noticed then the person standing perfectly in between each structure, far out in front of them though also in the dead center section of the arena. There were more people distant and hidden in the far back, outside of the circle itself, which would be designated as part of security. There were at least ten distinct drone cameras up in the air hovering and flying. Jane formatted her stance once more with the realization that she would be on live feed, thus she would also need to watch her words until the timing of them is adequate. Though there was no announcements she could hear. Even Danton keeps the announcer muted in the speakers, which wasn't that surprising.

Jane had to walk a long way before reaching the center of the field and getting to have her first view of what Danton really looks like. Jane made sure she was ready for everything, talking and fighting it all out in her mind before reaching the center of the field, though her eyes constantly blazed left and right over the appealing aesthetics. The running water in the back was beautiful, and Danton's position of stance made him stand out in the same frame.

"At last!" he spoke. Danton's bellowing volume rushed through the air, replacing the silence and adding ambience to the sound of rushing water behind him. Danton studied the woman in front of him, realizing how young and naive she is. "You're the kid that's been causing excitement in these vertical halls."

Jane stopped just short of twenty meters from the man, realizing how easy her voice would carry through the space. Jane took in all of her surroundings, getting to know the battlefield and the champion well. The champion of Leray magic turned out to be a well-refined man in his upper thirties. Perhaps Sir Danton was older, though he made himself seem younger through the use of invisible make up. His medium cut brown hair was stiff as a stone, Jane could make out the shiny silver in his eyes from here too. Average body size, perhaps more muscular under his royal robes.

Danton's clothes consisted of a most unique fur coat that swiftly turned into a battle suit leaving from the sleeves down into the fiber layers of the material. The cloak mostly resembled something similar in appearance to royal attire of the highest status, though his black fingerless gloves contrasted that stigma to a high degree. It's a mixture of nice clothing and battle gear all condensed down into one solid suit, though Danton likely had additional layers underneath in the event the air became too hot, so Jane assumed...

The two small fountains behind Danton were one of the main attractions in the room, and part of the battle arena seeing as they were built just in range of the circular floor. Past a certain limit, the floor on the very edge dropped down too far to see from where Jane was standing, and the only other floor aside from the light bridge she had just crossed was more connective metal ground past the water fountains towards the next service elevator. Jane could still see security guards all dressed up in protective metallic body armor that shielded even their faces, protecting their identity in the process.

All of the drone cameras began floating around closely to Sir Danton and Jane Venn. At the same time, Jane took more notice by the distraction of the artwork once again. The symbology and paintings used as tattoos on the solid metal of the floors, walls, and ceiling were breathtaking, the blue and white colors blended together perfectly. Danton built this room for his art and his battlefield, as well as his place of relaxing, which for Jane's standards was rather impressive.

Noticing some delay within herself to reply to Danton's informal greeting, Jane tried once more to focus. At first she was about to start spewing out the same words as before with the previous battles, but Jane knew she didn't need to fight this time, and chose her method of speech carefully. "Sorry if I disturbed your nap time, but I have some serious business in Eldora Tower, particularly with you."

Danton relaxed and eased his muscles. It was surprising to see someone walk up before him on live television while being so candid and loose. Jane didn't seem the least bit nervous or formal where she should have been... Danton noticed that Jane's dress sphere was highly unusual too. Type 40 Protection Sphere, though modified and integrated with an additional overskirt, shoes that always stay on the wearer's feet, and white fingerless glove attachments, but the impressive part of the dress sphere was the artwork done to it. The green and white designs and patterns made for an attractive piece of attire even in a battle suit, giving the garments more formality in these situations. The green color used also perfectly matched the color of her eyes, contrasted with Jane's dark black hair. There were acronyms in a few places on the suit, particularly the largest one on Jane's chest, JDT.

Danton granted the attitude, given there were several minutes to talk right now before the battle should begin. "Yes, you've come here to defeat me and become the Leray champion. I don't need to hear that story again."

"That's not why I'm here!" Jane let her voice raise aggressively despite being video recorded. It didn't matter what she said now, because she was finally meeting the target face to face. Danton cannot run or hide anymore. "You and I need to have a chat about that place, the one I know you won't have me say on television."

Danton tightened his chest immediately, realizing that this wasn't as he thought before. Who is this person? Is she referring to a secret military protocol? Danton turned around only a quarter way, lifting his fist straight up into the air as a hand signal. "Escher! Mute all cameras for five!" Danton waited for a few seconds, and continued to focus on Jane after hearing a small short beep from one of the drones flying above him. Jane looked ready and refined, but it didn't explain what she was doing here. "Do not tell me that you've battled and defeated all of the elite warriors of this tower just to chat with me about restricted information related to the operations of the General Army."

"I don't have to tell you that," Jane responded. She stepped forward with just two paces. "You know why I'm here, champion of Leray magic. Your prestigious title also gives you the job of leading the General Army in several operations. I've come here to discover why you've stopped protecting Lennith City, and if I'm lucky, offer assistance with the apprehension of professor Brightworth."

Is this woman, part of...? "So you are pulling my chain!" Danton took three steps forward quickly, hoping it would intimidate the girl. "I don't know who you think you are, but I don't make such appointments with any civilian regarding those matters. I don't care how powerful you are." Danton discarded all candidness in his voice, certain Jane wasn't a secret FMCI agent, as they would have ordinary access to this tower floor by credentials alone.

"Funny you should say that," Jane began. "Look around you Danton. The world is watching us both right now. I'm just one battle away from the title of champion myself. And with that comes my new status as leader in the General Army. That threatens your position of power legally and certainly, so I'd at least pay attention to what I have to say before you begin making your threats."

Danton opened his mouth to retort, but fell short of anything useful to say just after considering her words. Jane has just one point. If she wanted to, she could simply beat him in battle and take full control of the General Army legally. But it might as well be a coup! The General Army will never stand up for this petty behavior. Why have this be a person's motive? No random civilian could see all of this and be so strong at the same time. Is Jane really acting alone here?

Jane relaxed though kept her voice loud and clear, making certain to highlight everything she needed to say. "Now that I really have your attention, I should remind you about the restricted zone above Lennith City, code name Alpha Zero. You should know all about it, and perhaps about its energy patterns indicating a soon predicted spread over physical land and power."

"You really think we wouldn't be on top of that already? What is your interest in Alpha Zero?"

Jane felt Danton's tone become demanding, but didn't let it bother her just yet. "I've noticed that your troops have suddenly decided to pull out and stop the invasion operation. You've scheduled an evacuation of Lennith City officials, and decided to give up on the dark zone. Much of this is public knowledge, but I'm specifically here about your shitty decision to pull out."

Does she really believe that she is in control? Can Jane really be this stupid?

"Sir Danton? Do we need to send elite security units to your position? Please respond!"

Danton glanced down at his small communicator around his wrist disguised as a bracelet, and spoke into the machine. "Not just yet. I'll handle things from here." Danton pressed the button to sleep the device, and addressed Jane's supposed concern. "You're upset because we've temporarily pulled out? That's what you're bothering us about? Seriously, I never would have thought—"

"Do you not care about the lives in Lennith that will be destroyed?!" Jane interrupted Danton willfully until he provided the answer he needed to.

Protecting his defensive desire and stance, Danton replied swiftly. "Of course we do! Don't you understand that we've already tried to invade Alpha Zero?" Danton paused for a moment, considering how far this information leak has gone. "There's no point in denying the information that you already should know. You should also know how many people we've lost just in attempts to scout the zone for tactical intel. We're holding back until we come up with a better strategy... Jane Venn, born in Fronas and graduated from the Dakota training facility, why have you come before me with such sensitive knowledge and a will to take over the military? What do you have to do with the dark zone?"

"You're being an idiot, Danton!" Jane spat. "You really believe it is acceptable to just pull out because of what you don't know?"

"Watch your tongue lady!"

Jane ignored Danton's threat and replied rapidly. "The zone is spreading, and will continue to do so even after it has desecrated Lennith City; it will not stop there. The growth will only continue until it is much too late to do anything about it."

"What part about losing soldiers did you not just comprehend?"

"Are the lives of the citizens of Sprawn Valley not equally as important to you sir?" Jane challenged. "I know that you've lost people, and I'm telling you that cowering in fear is only going to make things worse. There isn't a need to hold back..." Jane tilted her head down in shame, remembering all of the traumatizing experiences she suffered from going in alone. "I've been to Alpha Zero before. I've gotten deep inside, and seen the structure of the place with my own two eyes."

At this point, Danton couldn't help himself from letting out an audible gasp. His eyes squinted with his brows creasing the same direction, a face full of certainty. "You're the one they were reporting. You're the dark zone survivor!"

"Then you should know my reason for this visit."

Danton put the pieces together quickly. Jane Venn is the same girl who supposedly ran into the dark zone. According to military and medical reports, she came back damaged, dejected, and scared, but somehow survived the incident. And now she stands at this chamber today, strong enough to legally fight her way to the top of this tower. "You're the real idiot, you realize that? You should have been killed with how far those civvies found you. You managed to get more people involved, and they somehow survived long enough to drag you back. Yet now you have the audacity to waltz into these sacred chambers and make demands to my army regarding my operation?"

Jane argued, "But I've seen what's inside. I battled with some of the monsters and creatures that spawned in the region, and dealt with some of the technical booby traps that were set up to stop our advance to the Den of Purity. Brightworth is the one that set up the dark zone, as far as the reports say, but as twisted and dangerous as that place is, I did notice one particular weakness of the zone's power, something the army could use with a simple plan."

"And now you're suddenly an expert in military tactics?" Danton didn't hear Jane say anything else, perhaps beside herself with his continued questions. "The weakness then?"

"It's simple," Jane iterated. "The dark zone spawns monsters and creatures that are from the dark magic frequently, but the density of which is relatively low. For a small group of individuals, it really is a suicide mission, but for an entire army's worth of people grouped together, they'd fight the same amount of density and creatures while advancing. You actually have safety in numbers, not as much for skills when facing Alpha Zero. If you can find Brightworth in there, I suspect you can shut down the source spreading dark energy."

For several long seconds, Danton was quiet, considering Jane's tactic and how easily she gave it up for nothing at all. How does she know all of this? What is Jane Venn involved with? "So your plan is to risk the lives of the entire army itself, the one thing that keeps the peace of this country - on an adolescent plot that sounds more reckless than anything I've heard all year?" If Jane is an enemy, she would want this; to throw all of Sprawn Valley's military power into one small place only to have them wiped out. This must be some lame attempt to set up a trap!

"All of us make up the peace and protection of Sprawn Valley," Jane coaxed. "Naturally, I would be assisting the team in there as well, and would encourage you to do the same for the added level of skills and protection for Leray battling."

"Well I would be lying if I didn't make it clear to myself right now, that this has never happened in Sprawn Valley history before. You're bravery seems to be in the right place, but you are young and naive to think you could just order my troops and even myself into death valley while I sit back and watch the number of deaths of my units tally up."

"Are you kidding me?"

"I'm amazed you decided to battle your way up here just to ask such a ridiculous thing of us, and less so by the fact that you've violated a military order to leave the city of Lennith while under watch from your condition, breaking another protocol by advancing into the dark zone by yourself in the first place for reasons still not made clear. As far as I should be concerned, you're a criminal. Though I cannot really prove it just yet, not even by that confession you just made. So here is your chance right now to walk yourself back down those steps and announce your resignation from this championship."

"You—"

"That is my final offer!" Danton made himself firm, putting Jane down right where she deserved to be. She is absolutely crazy to think she could just order the army to go on a suicide mission based on some hallucinated trip into the dark zone. She probably suffered some brain damage after being pulled out. Nothing about this girl seems okay, less so her flawed plan to march into a dangerous uncharted territory. Those markings on the dress sphere could represent some sort of gang for all he truly knew.

"I don't care about controlling your army or being in charge. I only came to Eldora to assist in this one mission to take care of Alpha Zero permanently, and you're turning me down." Jane saw Danton nod at her, unwilling to utter any more words. "You're a coward, you know that? But no matter. I'm no longer asking for permission regarding this plan anymore." Jane reached for both of her daggers and pulled them out in front of her opponent.

"Are you prepared to attack me right here and demonize yourself in front of the world? You think my soldiers would follow your lead then?"

"You really are an idiot Danton," Jane repeated. "There's a reason I chose to fight your warriors before seeing you. I still haven't resigned from the championship, and that means I have the absolute right to fight against you in a one on one Leray match. If I win the battle, status of the championship and their power is transferred over to me as the victor. In that moment, I can then do whatever I want with your solders. Though I will still uphold my promise anyway by taking out the dark zone and then resigning my power back over to you, or another fit to rule the General Army once operations are complete. If you won't go along with my plan, I'll defeat you in a battle and force myself up the ranks to allow myself full authority over the entire operation. That is the law!"

"I see you've come prepared to lose then," Danton taunted. "There is a reason we've been holding outside of the dark zone for a while, and that is because it is a deadly mission meant only for the elites."

"While you're here battling with me, we could both be out on that field proving those words true. But instead, you're here twiddling your thumbs rather than saving this land. That is why I've come to defeat you in battle, why I've come to win!"

"Hm-hahaha!" Danton laughed momentarily, placing his character out of prediction. "You think it will be so easy? They don't call me the champion for nothing Jane!" Danton began charging Leray energy into an aura surrounding his entire body, then pressing another button on his device to unmute all cameras flying in the room, which also triggered their script to gain altitude as the start of battle was soon to begin. "I'm game to give in to this silly battle of yours Jane, but as defender of champion status of this tower, I will not let you win!"

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Chapter Theme Shift: Aftermath ~ Revolt Production Music

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Jane took several steps back, the radiant light around Danton growing brighter as if he were about to unleash a primitive attack before the battle could even begin. At the same time, Jane saw the start of a Siriean dome spread from the center of the air all the way out to the edge of the walls. The shield itself was about as massive in size as the room as, giving them both plenty of room to fight. In the same instance the dome shield appeared, Jane engaged her energy scope knowing the official battle has finally begun. Losing to Danton is no longer an option since it would be the only way to take charge of the army, just as Jane discussed with her friends before. How was she to know that winning would be the requirement? Danton was anything but reasonable, but even he would have to honor everything inside of him for this kind of role.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/T1dbs453/S3-Jane-N-000.png]

Danton took notice of Jane's ready fighting stance, her blades and her suit. The blades she was holding were Rigel Runes, very predictable and weak blades to carry into a battle of this caliber. The JDT acronym still had no immediate resemblance to anything Danton was familiar with, and he had time to talk before fully charging his MP energy into the spell he needed. "So Jane? Before we begin, you mind telling me what JDT stands for?"

Jane smiled while waiting on Danton to use his energy scope and charge up his energy early to the fight beginning. Danton's name in the energy scope had stars surrounding the text, possible indication of his high status? "That's something you'll have to figure out later. Now are we going to battle or not?"

image [https://i.postimg.cc/QNQW3hjY/S3-Danton-N-001.png]

"Very well," he replied. "The battle between the champion and Jane Venn will now begin. Just know that I never hold anything back, nor do I underestimate the abilities of anyone. To defeat me, you'll have to overcome a power that nobody in this world has ever matched since my title of champion at Eldora Tower." Danton's pitch in his voice was deepening rapidly while echoing as though he had some malfunctioning microphone by him, but it was just the magical interference from the massive amount of energy building up, now being released into its form. "Let us ride! Entiene!"

Jane took several more steps backwards as the light surrounding Danton became that much brighter and stronger. At the same time, a new energy scope was forming to indicate that of a magical summon being used, Jane watched in horror as the bright light around Danton transformed into a massive radiance that spanned everywhere. After opening her eyes again, the largest creature ever to be seen was standing before her, the summon Danton referred to as Entiene. As the spiritual light materialized into the formation of the summoned creature, Jane was at a loss for breath, frozen by the stunning appearance of a dragon, the scaled beast sitting on all of its legs while taking up about a third of the entire room from all dimensions. Entiene stood massive and tall, as well as retaining its translucent properties since the elemental makeup of the creature is all spiritual energy. It's a ghostly dragon with the ability to do anything Jane could imagine and more, and standing on top of the creature's hind head was Danton himself, riding the top of the spirit dragon while preparing for a battle Jane did not expect.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/QM7dJJtY/S3-Entiene-N-000.png]

Summons are legal in Leray matches too, but this is a summon nobody had ever seen before. Jane remembered hearing something about Danton containing a summon by rumor she overheard, but nothing about it sounded this scary to any degree. As the red eyes of the dragon activated, the beast wailed its cry so loud that it distorted the visual field of the air affected in Jane's vision, and nearly made her ears deaf. The power of this creature was unknown to Jane, but Danton seemed pretty confident standing up there, magic staff in hand. He would be hard to hit with the summon protecting him. The creature stood about 150 meters tall when not stretching its neck, while the rest of the body got completely in Jane's path. She had to back up further just to make sure she wouldn't immediately get stepped on, failing to pull her concentration to the battle together.

Noticing Jane's fear and indecisiveness, Danton smirked with overwhelming confidence. It was true that he rarely uses this summon in legitimate battles, but that was only to save the best for the best of challengers. He hollered down at Jane knowing his voice would carry after the wail of his pet died down. "Meet Entiene! It's a summon bound only to my essence. You can only obtain rare summons like this by passing the trials at the Eupharus Island summit! Once you do, that creature is bound to you alone until your time of death. I don't think you have what it takes to pass those trials Jane. Therefore, you'll have a true test of strength!"

Danton's words followed by another massive roar from Entiene had Jane backing away and huddling against desired plan. The thing was way too big and massive to fight, far beyond anything Jane has ever seen in any of the most action packed farfetched movies. It was legendary! And now everybody in the whole world watching would know of it. This dragon rarely summoned was meant for her? Jane didn't know what to do anymore. No way would a creature of that size and power be capable of taking damage. Even if Danton is somewhat uncovered and vulnerable, his endurance was likely as legendary as this beast is. Entiene; that is the name of this summon. Jane has to fight two enemies here instead of one, without the ability or knowledge of summoning spells.

Danton noticed Jane's fear still resonating inside of her. She was frozen still right now, as predictable as she was. After shutting his eyes momentarily and connecting his thought waves to the creature below him, Danton began casting ideas for spells in his thoughts, talking to Entiene for the first preparation of long-range attacks. The connection caused his eye color to change with a glow of yellow hue, the phenomena that happens between most people and their best summons. A holographic box appeared to the side of Entiene's head, the action display center used to identify the actions or skills of very specific creatures. Danton knew it wasn't a real requirement, but this way at least Jane would get to know what attack is coming her way. In the action display box, the holographic text formed to spell out the name of a magical skill soon to be used and only known by Entiene. Stinger! That is what the ADC read back without any particular noise, and it would be just large enough for Jane to read should she be paying it any attention.

Jane noticed a similar action display box, the same kind she had seen before back in the dark zone aligned with specific creatures and more so with the sentry turrets she had to fight before. Stinger! Entiene was about to use an ability called Stinger, hopefully requiring its entire body to move. The speed of this dragon had to be limited. Jane realized by now that she had her first chance to attack and lost it from standing as still as a stone. She shook her head, trying to snap out of it, but it was too late to counterattack or defend herself as the creature made its move. The sharp ears of Entiene began glowing and sparking up with static electricity, quickly building a charge of visible energy that Jane noticed much too late. By the time the energy was charged, Jane was suddenly zapped by two long-range electrical strikes of lightning, one from each electrically charged ear. Zapping Jane in place was the form of the attack from Entiene, expending very small amounts of its own MP energy while leaving Jane with a painful mark of burning electrical damage. When it was over, Jane quickly tried to collect herself, realizing that she was only hit with a low power level attack after checking both energy scopes.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/1tZ5CVVm/S3-Entiene-N-001.png]image [https://i.postimg.cc/BQGZJKm2/S3-Jane-N-063.png]

Entiene only used one percent of its total MP energy to deal four percent damage to Jane's overall HP. Statistically speaking, the odds were entirely against her. Jane recovered from the shock quickly though, since the overall damage to her health was light, but she quickly realized how important it was to begin fighting back instead of planning a long strategy in her head.

Danton locked eyes onto Jane's body, taking all mental notes of her future movements. Jane certainly didn't seem like much of a fighter, but she has to have some sort of style in order to make it to this chamber in the first place. Yielding caution, Danton waited patiently for Jane to take her own turn.

"Now it's my turn," Jane remarked. With Leray energy building into her hands, Jane's eyes turned from green to glowing blue as a result of the magic reacting in her system. As it was time to release her magical attack, Jane aimed both her arms at the spirit dragon and chanted the name of her spell gracefully. "Quantum Beam!" Shooting a wide beam of blue energy from her hands, the magical essence of the attack collided into the stomach of the summon and spread outward. By the time Jane's spell ended, no noticeable change occurred within the beast. Its MP recovered back to 100% by passive regeneration, and the HP stats remained undamaged completely! The dragon didn't react in the slightest, and neither did Danton.

"Hahahaha!" Danton knew Jane was under-leveled, but this showcase of her skills was laughably weak. "You thought that would cause harm to my Entiene? You don't need to hold back just because my summon is unknown to you." Danton only gave Jane the slight consideration to stop fooling around, and gave his next command to Entiene without uttering a single word. Telepathically linked, Danton and Entiene made a new term appear into the action display center, and gave Jane fair warning for what was to come.

Dragon Breath! Jane read the new word carefully, more worried by the oncoming attack than what it actually would do to her if she failed to block it out. The dragon finally started to move, only using its neck to steer its head while opening its large mouth, but it was enough to make the hairs on Jane's skin stand straight up. After receiving enough charged energy into her hands, Jane threw the aura around her with the chant to make sure her shield was strong enough to withstand the attack. "Power shield!" The aura of protection visibly surrounded Jane and remained active for as long as she concentrated on the aura. Meanwhile, Entiene lowered its head while breathing fire that was somehow colored between dark blue and violet. The magical flamethrower coming from Entiene blasted far beyond the reaches of Jane and her shield, but the flames themselves failed to immediately penetrate the protective aura Jane created for herself.

Jane waited out the brushing of hot blue fire, noticing all of the small hexagons forming everywhere on the front of her shield to indicate heavy damage rejection. The concentration Jane once had was already beginning to slip, which spoke a lot for the potential power of Entiene's magical attacks, as well as how hot that blue flame must be burning.

Danton finally got to see one of Jane's more official strategies for self-defense in its finest form. As the blue fire blocking the view itself faded away while Entiene brought its neck and head back up to the original height, Danton saw the protective aura surrounding Jane, plus the fact that her health stats didn't decline at all. Her MP stats declined ever so slightly, which meant Jane could continue shielding from powerful attacks if her timing and concentration remained precise. Danton had to consider the idea of Jane's power shield carefully. Normally, the power shield spell becomes less popular with the known formula of magic, which only blocks out damage by 50%, while expending over 10% MP reserves for the highly trained. However, Jane was condensing and conserving all of her Leray energy, and at the same time creating a defensive rejection aura powerful enough to block out damage by 100% should it not fail to hold up. Though the new formula seemed intriguing, Danton knew deep down that it would not have been enough even for the lower level elites to get overwhelmed.

"Crimson Flare!" Jane immediately summoned a massive sphere of non-elemental and fire elemental energy now traveling at a low speed towards the dragon. Evasiveness wouldn't matter since Entiene was the size of a third of the entire battle arena, but Danton didn't even do anything to counteract the oncoming sphere. With a power level of 5.6, Crimson Flare had to at least put a dent in Entiene's base HP level. The sphere ended up collapsing its energy upon impact with the spirit entity, entirely absorbed by the summon without taking any further damage. Just like that, the essence of Entiene swallowed that sphere whole and negated all damage done to it. Jane once again failed to damage the dragon.

Danton was certain Jane would lose at any moment now, though still went ahead with normal attacks against her. This was a battle after all. "Quake!" he howled. The word Quake appeared in the action display center, something Danton ordered directly instead of telepathically. Upon doing so, Entiene lifted its front left leg up as high as twenty meters, left to smash it down into the ground at a high velocity. The ground rumbled violently while the force of the seismic activity knocked Jane off her feet in milliseconds, causing immediate falling damage to her health. However, since the damage alone only involved quaking the floor and knocking Jane over, the damage to her health was light in return.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/yYX1x8Gt/S3-Jane-N-064.png]

Jane was back on her feet in seconds, still full of energy and taken little damage compared to the maximum amount she could endure by the rules of Leray magic. Since magical damage wasn't enough to harm the beast, Jane went with a slightly different strategy. "Charge Attack!" Though the monster itself was terrifying to glance at, Jane had no choice but to sprint towards the summon. She initiated her combination sequence by forming two sub machine guns in her hands, the same combo as Bullet Blitz. After emptying both chambers with a rapid-fire dash towards the target, Jane shot two Magical Blitz spheres at Entiene as well, still falling short of any potential damage. Jane continued her sprint, curious to see if physical non-magical damage would suffice.

Instead, Entiene's tail whirled around to its left side, the very edge of its large stinger striking Jane with the speed of a bullet and the force of a large boulder yielding that speed. The force of the sharp tail slammed Jane backwards into the air with more blunt force that any piercing damage due to the angle of its approach. The damage was quite severe to Jane as she flew back farther in distance than she started with before charging at the beast.

Raging Tail! That was the skill Jane failed to see in the ADC while Danton sat back and watched in ultimate pity. Jane landed roughly with a roll, struggling through the intense level of new pain just to stand on her legs again. The hit went straight to her chest, causing cramps everywhere as far as Danton could see, but Jane still refused to stay down. Despite her HP remaining quite high, she was obviously hurt beyond what normally complies for Leray damage. "Why don't you just give up already? You're so far outmatched that I've grown bored and disappointed for the rest of the entire day."

image [https://i.postimg.cc/SxSyMpFs/S3-Jane-N-065.png]

With her heart heavy and the reminder of her purpose here fresh in her head form before, Jane gave herself all the physical juice she needed to keep standing up to any challenge in front of her. Danton has to go down in this one single battle no matter what. She pulled her daggers out in preparation for a continued fight. "You're mistaken," she groaned with pain in her lungs. "I'll never give up! I'm fighting for a cause worthy of battle, and that's why I'm going to win! Mako Strike!" Releasing Leray energy form the tips of her blades in the form of powerful spheres, Jane's Mako Strike released two of them, all flying quickly towards Entiene. Danton nor Entiene tried anything to stop the oncoming attack, expecting the same result as last time. Though despite how pitiful the reaction was, Jane noticed the magical spheres she fired knocked down one percent of Entiene's base HP. The dragon didn't react or even huff in response, and Danton didn't really say anything about it either, but it proved to Jane once and for all that Entiene isn't an invincible creature despite its ghostly essence of the aura.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/G2J3Z3vk/S3-Entiene-N-002.png]

Danton tensed his right arm fusing with MP energy, while the dragon began to react. Energy Raid! appeared in the ADC, Danton remarking just before Entiene was about to attack. "How noble of you, but your willpower won't save you!"

Jane could feel the attack coming despite it not being visible or invoked yet. She responded by charging her energy into both hands again, preparing her power shield for the right moment. As Entiene opened its mouth, over a dozen small partially visible photons of pure energy shot towards Jane in the form of a barrage attack. It's like a Photon Burst attack, only Entiene was using its magical energy to increase the power level of the same spell. Jane had her shield up quickly, protecting her by absorbing each of the magical photons that left behind very tiny hexagons in the same field. Jane nearly lost concentration already, the power of the damage overwhelming her focus. Each photon that barely missed the shield and hit the floor had an explosive reaction that showed to Jane just how strong the projectiles would have been against her, but the attack was also very fast and speedy, thus it was already over. Jane lowered her shield before it could fail in her concentration, leaving her undamaged and ready to strike back.

Jane charged an attack without chanting the name, instead giving Danton the truth he sought for this battle, knowing he would not listen. "I'm not losing to you or to Entiene! I've come too far to quit now! The lives of Lennith City will be spared! So will JDT." Without screaming the last acronym of her team, Jane left Danton questioning the meaning of the word again, but he heard everything else. Jane simultaneously created the three spaced out glyphrings of all basic elemental magic in the form of a Tri-Attack spell. "I won't let our efforts go to waste!" After using her magic to fire from all three glyphring to use a Fire Bolt, Ice Bolt, and Thunderbolt against Entiene, Jane ended up dealing elemental magical damage to the spiritual creature, knocking down more health than what Jane initially expected. Entiene even reacted to the damage this time by swaying its neck slightly and roaring for a full second. It was in this same instance that Jane realized the weakness of Entiene, its weakness against elemental magic.

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image [https://i.postimg.cc/hvD4gF0N/S3-Entiene-N-003.png]

"She's beginning to learn the elemental resistances," Danton muttered quietly. "I'll take my turn Entiene. You rest and recover your MP while I deal with this pest! Downstrike!"

Jane could hear Danton yelling just loud enough to barely be picked up, despite how well everything echoed in this room. The constant breathing of Entiene was loud and overcrowding of all other sounds, but Jane did hear a pattern of attack coming her way. Despite not knowing what was to come next, Jane invoked another power shield around herself anyway, making sure she was well protected. Nothing came into the action display center of the holographic text box, which meant this was a spell Danton alone was about to invoke. Two against one defiantly seemed unfair, but Danton wasn't called the champion for nothing. Jane heard that line one time too many to give up on the fight.

Danton released the electrical energy, sending lightning bolt after lightning bolt several times over on top of Jane, who had just protected herself with another power shield. Danton kept the spell going however, testing the durability of the powerful negation field. In total, Danton ended up rapid-firing lightning bolts from a random space in the air for ten strikes total. Though it barely drained his own MP energy, he soon realized that he wasted such energy after Jane's shield help up to the attack wonderfully.

Jane dropped her shield and immediately began invoking a more powerful spell, placing as much charging speed as she could to prove it would work. "Photon Blast!" Jane aimed both of her hands towards Danton, whom was slightly blocked off by the translucent view of Entiene's head. Jane's radiant aura unleashed the attack energy in the form of multiple visible photons all traveling at a very high speed. With a total power level of eight by average, it was certain to cause some damage. Jane's Photon Blast spell fired all of the photons forward and up, slamming into and going through the head of Entiene itself. Much of the same photons that drilled through the spiritual essence of the summon slammed into Danton as well. While Danton took multiple hits however, his body remained firmly attached to his creature. The spell in question dealt damage to both Danton's body and to Entiene, giving Jane a new sense of style with regards to Entiene's elemental weaknesses.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/x86f1sx8/S3-Entiene-N-004.png]image [https://i.postimg.cc/m2T1ZJDL/S3-Danton-N-002.png]

Danton glanced up at his energy scope, confirming to himself the physical sensation of magical damage dealt to him and to his pet. For all of the abilities used before, Jane was sure showing off her more powerful skills now. Though it still didn't surprise him. That shield can't protect the girl from everything...

Zoom Wave! After seeing another term appear in the ADC, Jane glanced all around her, alerted by the initiation sounds of newly formed Shadow Waves. There was a Shadow Wave in front of her approaching, as well as one from the far left and right. Jane glanced to her side and noticed more approaching from behind. There were eight different Shadow Waves total forming on the ground, spawned by Entiene's powerful magic without the creature even lifting a finger. Jane could finally feel her sense of readiness and preparation. After finally getting over the size of the dragon, it was quickly evident that Jane only needed to score enough damage to the creature to diffuse its essence back into the energy dimension. This fight could be done by any similar style as before. The battle against Krysta taught Jane how to invert special spells. The battle against Cleo and Brock taught Jane how to endure damage. The battle against Mainne taught Jane how to evade the most amazing, normally unavoidable attacks such as this one.

With eight Shadow Waves all advancing to converge on one single point, they may not hit all at the same time, though the combined power level of each of them would be ultimately deadly even with a power shield. Jane knew as well as everyone else how easy it was to evade a Shadow Wave, especially one of this size. Bound only to the ground, Shadow Wave auras do not fly. With that in mind, Jane released MP energy from her feet to give her a high lift into the air, at least by 25 meters up. In doing so, Jane automatically avoided all of the Shadow Wave attacks that were now about to converge and explode on each other. While she was ascending upwards, there would be plenty of time for a counterattack as well. Choosing to go with a different type of element, Jane chanted "Spirit Bolt!" and formed the pink glyphring from midair. After firing two brightly colored Spirit Bolts from each hand, Jane allowed the dragon to take care of its future wounds while she carefully landed on her feet, lowering the force of her descent with additional magical usage.

Danton almost lost balance with the way Entiene reacted from the sudden impact of Jane's Spirit Bolts, the creature wiggling its head around the in agony that Danton could sense. What he just witnessed by Jane's evasion and attack was something he only saw in a few specially trained warriors, and the use of Spirit Bolt apparently had the highest elemental factor of damage for Entiene than anything else did. Damn you Jane! That wasn't something you were supposed to figure out so soon! How do you go from a barely functioning rookie to near elite battling style?

image [https://i.postimg.cc/qBwMwRJr/S3-Entiene-N-005.png]

Jane landed peacefully and awaited Entiene's next reaction. Danton thought out what attacks to try next, since Jane was beginning to gain momentum. It could have been a fluke, but there wasn't a good enough analysis to prove it just yet. Jane may seem somewhat impressive right now, but it still isn't nearly enough to match Entiene's power. After charging a tiny amount of MP into his dark blue glyphring, Danton took aim at Jane and fired. "Aqua Blast!"

Failing to notice it in time, Jane was hit by a beam of oceanic water from Danton's glyphring, the beam that formed so fast and powerfully that it had her being pushed back by the beam of water alone. Despite the spell causing no official damage, Jane's entire body and outfit were dripping wet with the aftermath of an odd ability. It was very clear to Jane that there is one benefit to wetting down opponents, using that factor to increase electrical damage. Despite the ick factor of battling with the weight of all this water, Jane knew it was a feckless attempt to catch her off guard. "You'll have to try harder than that!" she teased.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/Qdfjgnhq/S3-Jane-N-066.png]

Jane noticed that her MP energy was falling fast, likely the residual effect of using Photon Blast. The fight would not be quick enough for Jane to save all of her MP. There was one spell however capable of regenerating that energy. Thank you, Claudia. "Energy Cycle!" Jane created a thin purple layer of auric light around her body, shrouding her with an effect that many people did not know of very well. Danton didn't seem to immediately react, but instead took notice of Jane's colored support aura.

"Whatever," Danton ignored. "Let's see how you deal with status effects then." After lifting his arm briefly, Danton's order got through to Entiene, creating the next skill name appear in the ADC. Spirit Breath! Danton waited patiently. Spirit Breath looks like Dragon Breath and works by a similar design, but is specifically made to cause a status effect of severe disorientation to human opponents by causing spirit damage to them. Jane only needs to breathe this air, and then her battling days are over.

Jane watched as the dragon began to open its big mouth again, likely to form some sort of breath or fume visible to her from the properties of Leray magic, but Jane already knew what to do. Power shielding wasn't going to work with Energy Cycle running, but this also didn't seem like the right time to start intentionally taking damage either from an unknown spell. Since this was an attack utilizing an airborne chemical mesh, Jane knew exactly how to reject the enemy spell. "I learned this from Taylor! Whirlwind!" Jane created a powerful tornado of visible wind far in front of her, growing in size due to the extra MP energy Jane assigned her magic to. Though the Whirlwind spell was far too small and distant to cause any potential harm to Danton or Entiene, her intention was indeed different. Just as the visible spirit breath of purple toxic air began to spread in Jane's direction, her Whirlwind spell of spinning winds sucked up the toxic visible essence of breath that Entiene created, sucking in all of the magic released and redirecting all of that energy to the upper-center of the tornado. In just three seconds flat, Jane's Whirlwind spell grew in size after taking in all of Entiene's breath, after which it simply collapsed and diffused into nothingness, taking the last attack down with it. Jane knew what she was doing the whole time too, using her own Whirlwind for cover from an air-based attack regardless of damage type. While this was all going on, Danton's view of Jane's current view became obstructed by the same twister of opaque spinning air.

"I'll show you the sting of my friends, the will of us all. Frost Blade!" While the Whirlwind had yet to subside, Jane crafted a sword infused with ice elemental magic, making the blade longer and thicker with additional damage potential. She then waited to see Entiene's body again before charging towards the monster on her feet, only to get close enough to throw the sword with as much force as possible. The spinning ice blade traveled through the air, sticking right into the spiritual skin of Entiene despite the properties of the dragon. Since the blade was infused with ice elemental damage, the type matched up to one of its elemental weaknesses and dealt damage to the creature, something Jane planned on doing. Since Taylor was a specialist in wind and ice elemental magic, it was the perfect combination to speak her words in the form of magical attacks in the battlefield.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/TYP2461D/S3-Entiene-N-006.png]

Feeling the pain displayed by Entiene, Danton stood his ground on top of Entiene's head and gave it a more intense command. "Come on Entiene! Show her your true power! Show her your absolute anger!" After a few questionable moments, the action display center reacted with a new spell Jane had yet to see. Quantum Bolt!

Jane braced herself with energy charging into her hands. Entiene's horns on the top of its head lit up with magical build up, soon releasing a powerful form of magical energy in the form of a concentrated narrow sphere of blue light. Jane could see the light condensing in form just before the impact was about to strike her. She responded swiftly, "Return!" Jane aimed her glowing hands of spewing energy towards the light, using her telekinetic reach to catch all of the energy in one go.

The sphere of energy launched, yet stopped in midair just two feet from Jane's face as she struggled to hold the energy in one concentrated area of anti-gravimetrical properties. Just as she concentrated hard enough, her spell had worked entirely. Though the beam transformed into a solid spherical bolt of the same energy frozen in place by Jane's telekinetic hold, she stopped the attack dead in its tracks. Now that she kept full control over Entiene's Quantum Bolt, it was time to send it back! "Hrah!" Jane threw the sphere in the direction of which it came from, allowing the Quantum Bolt to remain as a spherical projectile of small size and powerful energy potential.

Unable to comprehend what just happened and what was still ongoing, Danton watched as Jane unbelievably caught a Quantum Bolt with some silly spell, only to send it back with the same power to the belly of his summoned dragon. The impact was major to Entiene, making the creature wag around its neck and tail violently with an ear-piercing wail of pain. Danton had trouble staying on top of Entiene's head, failing to balance himself on the angered beast as its tail slamming the ground created small quakes in the entire room.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/jdkqVFnk/S3-Entiene-N-007.png]

Entiene stomped one of its legs in a frontal position, intentionally creating a wide spread version of a single Shadow Wave consisting of very high-energy potential. Jane realized that the summon must have done that in retaliation to her last spell, unable to control itself while Danton was trying not to dangle on the neck of his own pet. Jane was facing the biggest Shadow Wave spell she had ever seen. However, what to do about it was quite simple since it was what she always did with enemy Shadow Waves from now on. Lifting herself into the air again with a small amount of MP energy, Jane managed to gain a lot of altitude while the Shadow Wave below her continued on towards the edge of the field on the other side. While ascending higher off the ground, Jane made sure to throw in one more spell while she still had the chance. "Tri-Fire!" Creating a powerful red glyphring in front of her, Jane waved her arms left and right cycling between them in order to use and launch all three Fire Bolts towards the spiritual essence in front of her. The Fire Bolts all struck Entiene's astral body while Jane's glyphring faded as she began to descent back to the floor, but the damage registered towards Entiene was quite high in comparison to many of her previous used abilities at the start of battle, again confirming the elemental weakness attached to the champion's summon. While considering all of that, Jane monitored her own MP energy as the purple aura around her was still active. The regeneration was slow since she had not taken any active damage since invoking the spell, though it did help her to keep MP reserves higher.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/zGbzqFnD/S3-Entiene-N-008.png]

"Get it together you gas bag!" Danton managed to stabilize himself on the top of Entiene's head after finally calming his summon down. The spiritual body of his summon did in fact take on a lot of elemental damage since Jane discovered its weakness, but it became more difficult to attack her altogether. Jane was suddenly quick moving like Krysta, capable of immediate response in the right way, and in all that time, none of the lights in this room have turned red, which would have been the automatic indicator that illegal dark magic was being used. "Shut up and use Stinger!"

With a very short bark from the dragon, Stinger! displayed on the ADC bar to the right of Entiene's head. Jane sensed it coming after confirming that the sharp pointed ears on Entiene's head were indeed sparking up with electrical energy. Instead of using a shield however, Jane timed the attack compared to last time, and performed a backflip jump just before the supposed impact was to occur. Successfully timing her motion, Jane jumped out of the way of a lightning bolt attack just before its energy could surge into her body, now flipping once in the air until landing back on her hands and legs with a slight slide on the ground. Jane felt none of the pain from the scrapes on her skin, and the fact that she just dodged a Lightning Strike attack impressed even herself.

Danton growled with his teeth shut at the reaction Jane just gave him. It wasn't physically possible to evade a Lightning Strike that quickly. Something has to be going on that he can't see.

Jane's breathing increased quickly, the adrenaline finally kicking in with the intensity of the battle before her. Despite how serious she was about defeating Danton, the familiar excitement had filled her lungs. The battle itself was amazing to Jane, the fun she was having was unmatched compared to anything else she tried in all of her life so far. The thrill of getting hit with magic for damage had her trembling on the edge of her nerves! Now it was time to hit both of them where it hurts. "Star of Darkness!" Jane concentrated all of her energy towards Entiene, forming a red circle of the largest size anyone had ever seen before. Jane had to make it big enough for Entiene to be affected, which meant assigning more MP energy into the spell. Since this form of dark magic was both legal and safe to use, Jane figured she might as well use it to drain the HP out of Danton and his summon at the same time. Since the effects of the spell are infinite in vertical range, Danton will not be immune.

Danton realized after it was too late that Jane's spell will affect him as well. When inside of the boundaries of the circle, regardless of height, everyone inside will be affected by the life energy drain attack. There was nothing he could do while attached to Entiene, and the spell would harm both of them. Jane wasn't fighting like a rookie anymore; she was fighting like a genius. Danton held his ground for as long as he could, unable to stop the physical sensation of energy drain while the Star of Darkness affected his HP along with Entiene's HP. The numbers for both of them declined. The decline was very slow due to their ultra-high endurance compared to Jane's power level of the spell, but it was still a cause for concern. Yet Danton soon learned about the opening Jane presented him. While using Star of Darkness, Jane cannot evade or block out attacks.

Jane kept up the energy usage, nearly prepared to deliver the final blow of magic with the red Lightning Strike at the end of the sequence. That is when she noticed another item appearing in the action display center. Dragon Breath! Jane tensed when realizing how vulnerable she just made herself in this single instance. She noticed Entiene managing to open its mouth to continue breathing on her with a fiery magical aura. Jane released the rest of the magic, striking Danton with the red bolt of lightning instead of the dragon, but even after she could let go of her own spell, it was already too late. Jane's only defense was to place her arms in front of her face and brace herself.

After the blue mist and flames engulfed Jane in its heat, she couldn't help but let out several painful moans. It felt like someone was placing a lighter flame on her skin in virtually every spot imaginable, more so on her arms and legs than anywhere else. The heat became intense fast, and Jane wanted to scream from the burning sensation that took her by surprise, and this was just for one out of four seconds for the time the dragon's breath lasted.

Danton took notice of everyone's energy stats after finally scoring some high damage against Jane, an eye for an eye was the meaning of his last used strategy. Jane still had a substantial amount of HP remaining however, while her purple aura regenerating her MP passively remained intact as well. After being visible again, Jane looked as if she needed to address her burns quickly.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/VkxYv0Rq/S3-Entiene-N-009.png]image [https://i.postimg.cc/CLJBR7Bj/S3-Danton-N-003.png]image [https://i.postimg.cc/rpzMfCp2/S3-Jane-N-067.png]

Instead of addressing anything on her skin however, Jane simply pulled out her right dagger, shooting a blue beam of anti-gravimetrical energy in the spell of her Mako Speed reformation skill. After launching herself into the air and putting her dagger back inside of her dress sphere pocket, Jane screamed "Prism!" and created a colorful glyphring in front of her. While using minuscule amounts of her energy to remain floating in the air, Jane remained stationary while unleashing her powerful spell. Aside from what Danton may have thought and what Jane was used to, she decided to modify this particular spell to deal maximum damage to Entiene. Since Prism fires a total of fifteen elemental bolts all assigned by the user, all Jane had to do was concentrate on one specific element of magic. Instead of mixing fire, ice, and electrical energy, Jane began shooting one Spirit Bolt after the next, planning to make all fifteen bolts of spirit elemental damage to atone for Entiene's highest weakness. She did not forget how effective her first Spirit Bolt was the last time she used it against Entiene, though some math did need to be involved, but after a full force of fifteen Spirit Bolts slammed into Entiene with a barrage, the result was a spectacle for her.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/tgF9xRSL/S3-Entiene-N-010.png]

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Chapter Theme Shift: Heart of Chaos ~ FFXIII-2 OST

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Danton could feel the dragon below him reacting violently, trembling with pain as Jane's relentless combination of multiple Spirit Bolts rained hell on Entiene's health and natural resistances. The HP stats of his summon dropped dramatically with each hit, until Prism was over and Entiene was left at half its own capacity. Though the dragon remained calm after the assault was over, Danton struggled to stay dominant of the creature and clear-headed while watching Jane descend back to the floor unharmed. "Jane Venn! Where did you learn this style of fighting?"

"Didn't I tell you already? I'm going to defeat you and prove that the dark zone has nothing against the skills of the elite army. Or did you think I was joking around?"

Danton could sense Jane's tone becoming more aggressive, but he still disagreed with the stupid plan altogether. Jane very well may have what it takes to hold her own in the dark zone, but that doesn't mean a blind rush assault will get the job done, nor does it mean she can match the strength or power of Entiene. "Joke or not, I won't let someone with your vision for self-destruction control our rightful army. You've only done minor damage to my summon! And you won't be doing anymore!"

Jane felt all of her nerves rushing and her limbs tingling with all of the energy she brought with her, all of the fire, the passion, and her determination to make JDT win! "How many times do I need to say it?" she snapped. "JDT will - not - lose!"

Danton immediately picked up on how enraged Jane was becoming, though it seemed more inconsistent and cute than what Jane intended to feel. Jane was fighting to destroy the dark zone, but foolish was she to misunderstand the way things work in this world. "Get angry! You think that makes a difference in this tower?!" Danton was yelling too, but remained clear-headed and continued attacking Jane with the assistance of his summon.

Flame Beam! Jane saw the spell forming high from the ceiling above her, several dozens of powerful Fire Bolts spawned from Entiene's magical invocation of the spell placed in the ADC. The Fire Bolts were numerous, yielding about thirty units total, all rushing down at a critical speed towards the ground, towards Jane! Jane figured out the pattern of this spell quickly after noticing how many of the Fire Bolts falling began to spin and spiral around each other. It's designed to resemble a concentrated beam of fire any second now, though Jane reacted first by putting up another power shield. Just after creating another aura of protection, Jane watched above her as the thirty separate Fire Bolts all turned into a narrow yellow whirlwind that slammed down on the shield with high power and intensity. Hexagons formed everywhere while Jane was left to keep her focus on the shield up and defensive. The barrage of Fire Bolts lasted for several long seconds. Jane had minor trouble keeping her shield going, but dropped its power upon realizing that Entiene's spell finished in sequence faster than expected.

Concentrating on where Danton was standing and how damaged Entiene was at this point, it didn't take very long to formulate an easy area attack that would hit both of them without fail. Putting all of her determination and rage into the familiar spell, Jane chanted the ability's name with as much heart as she could while invoking the high cost spell. "Meteor Strike!" After lifting and waving down her arm, Jane summoned a meteor swarm high in the air, all falling downwards towards the head of Entiene where Danton was also stationed.

Since it happened quickly and came from above, Danton was much too late to react. The spell spawned the rocks danger close to him and his dragon just to start. Once the red flaming meteorites began to pillage through Entiene's astral body, Danton had no choice but to try and brace himself for some of the impacts as well, since the rocks were well aimed and targeted towards him in the same instance. He attempted to use a Farshield spell to try and negate some of the rocks, but they ended up busting the shield wall instantly as if Danton's effort was entirely futile. With that, two large red magical rocks slammed into his body, drilling through his skin and entering Entiene's head for additional damage.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/KzFxrXC4/S3-Entiene-N-011.png]image [https://i.postimg.cc/vZB1fnfC/S3-Danton-N-004.png]

Score! Jane could feel the fire in her body, the overreaction of her entire nervous system fueled by her adrenaline and excitement for the battle. At the same time, it was clear that the fight was far from over. Danton has so much health and energy remaining, while Entiene remained almost as healthy. Jane read any change in the ADC carefully, picking up on something as soon as she spotted Danton standing back up and recovering from the blast to his chest. Ultra-Beam!

With a power level of ten, Ultra-Beam yields the highest caliber of pure magical damage. Danton trained with his friend long enough to know it was more of a last resort ability to bust through any tough armor or defenses, but now was the best time to use it. As he stood patiently for Entiene to make its move, Danton made certain to watch the target with careful and trained eyes. Entiene charged its energy using the horns on its head, forming a very wide range beam of pure blue colored Leray energy that closely resembled the same spell as Quantum Beam. Only this one carried much more energy, evident to drain most of Entiene's MP capacity. Just as the beast fired its concentrated form of energy, Jane reacted in the same moment.

"Farshield!" Using her hands aimed towards the source of the beam, Jane released enough energy to form a shielded wall of pure magic, positioned high in the air much closer to the source of the attack than to herself. As the blue beam of blinding light fired, the energy concentration smashed through Jane's Farshield as if it were a fragile window, putting up no resistance at all. Jane could feel that her shield had just failed, giving her less than one second of time to brace herself for the impact of unbeatable energy.

"Raaahg!" Soaring high into the air from a last moment leap assisted by magic for maximum height and gravitational resistance, Jane narrowly flew up and out of the path of the oncoming beam of powerful energy just in time to evade the damage of the spell. Though she paid the impact site little attention, the sound and shockwave from the blast told Jane enough about the amazing power of Entiene's Ultra-Beam. The blast left the solid floor cracked in several places with a circular indentation, the ground permanently damaged by Leray magic alone. Jane just jumped over such a high-powered beam, and now it was time to counterattack before landing back onto the ground. "Return Fire!" she yelled. The conditional magical spell quickly allowed Jane to create a grey glyphring in front of her, expending a ton of her magical potential to generate a magical malevolence just as powerful as the one she evaded. Using Return Fire, Jane ended up recreating the conditions for her own Ultra-Beam, firing the concentrated magical energy straight into Entiene's chest. As Jane was falling down, the glyphring she left in the air remained as long as the beam continued to fire its energy into Danton's summon, reducing the HP of the beast more than enough to make it bellow with its painful cry. The sound of Entiene was enough to distort the visual space around it momentarily, and Jane gave herself time to recover from expending that much MP energy in one go.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/Y93kdnwR/S3-Entiene-N-012.png]

"Photon Blast!" Deciding to rely on his own energy expenditure and magical potential, Danton stood on top of the head of his summon while aiming his spell down below towards Jane, who still had not taken any damage in an acceptable amount of time. Danton quickly invoked his spell due to his practices, and the barrage of visible photonic projectiles swarmed in the air following and tracing the path towards Jane.

With haste and ease of invoking the spell due to her own practices, Jane cast another power shield around herself. The shield formed just as the first photon slammed into the force field, allowing Jane temporary invulnerability so long as she could keep it up, but each photon had a lot of power and energy for the shield to absorb, leaving behind very tiny hexagons that Jane soon worried about. After about twenty-five more of them hit her shield, Jane had no choice but to cut the power and jump back, allowing the last three photons to miss her feet and bounce into the ground instead. Barely avoiding the powerful spell dealt by the champion, Jane returned her visual attention upwards, and began charging more energy for the next spell.

"Blaze Storm!" After surging her charged energy towards the ceiling, it wasn't long before the temperature of the massive space around them began to climb rapidly. Blaze Storm is typically designed to deal HP damage to weaker targets, but Jane knew that both of them would simply be fighting in a lot of heat. After learning how to handle herself against Brock, she was confident in her decision, but was Danton used to it as well?

Danton watched as air near the top of his ceiling turned orange in coloration like a thick haze, while the temperature became highly uncomfortable. His robe provided thermal protection against the cold, but worked against him in the heat. In all of this time, this girl is evading everything, and causing mayhem with every action. Who let this demonic creature into the building? Who taught this girl how to fight so unrefined? Still, the rising temperature was a pitiful attempt to change the table against him, Danton knew as much from his previous battles and training. Instead of retaliating using Entiene, he charged and released the energy from his own two hands, keeping Jane on her toes. "Splice!" Using a saber from the hidden hilt in the back of his coat, Danton only flashed his legendary blade for a moment to create the spell known to everyone as Splice. It would surely destroy Jane's concentration if it manages to hit her.

Noticing a visible Splice spell falling down from above, Jane quickly pulled out her right dagger from her suit, and released energy from the tip of her blade like before, aiming at the ground. "Mako Speed!" Lifting high into the air to once again avoid a directional spell, Jane only jumped over the splice without using any other skills in midair, waiting to land back on the ground first. Since she was ready and prepared to use her next ability, Danton still didn't have enough time to throw in another attack before Jane. As she touched the ground again, Jane released her charged energy once more. "Thunder Flare!" With her eyes now glowing red as well as her hands and the spell of the Thunder Flare sphere itself, Jane knew that the power of her spell was improved beyond her original capacity. It was unexplainable to her, a sensation that left her entire body tingling all over, but her Thunder Flare created a large red sphere that still remained about half the size of Entiene's head, though formed just around the monster's neck while releasing the electrical energy into the summon to deal heavy damage. The shock-hold lasted for five long seconds, leaving Entiene roaring out more than it did last time. The monster however didn't seem to retaliate, Jane's fading spell successful to drain much of its own energy.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/qqvrSsJT/S3-Entiene-N-013.png]

"Just go down already! Laser Storm!" Using more of his limitless MP energy, Danton summoned a red glyphring high above Jane, forming the spell known as Laser Storm. Laser Storm is an upgraded spell from Laser Rain, a Leray ability that shoots a barrage of energy lasers at the target to deal piercing magical damage in a non-physical form at a higher power level for additional damage. Laser Storm creates five barrages of the same spell instead of one, like a temporary storm of lasers rushing down on the target from above.

"Light Strike!" Using nearly all of her MP energy, Jane tried her most powerful spell known as Light Strike, which was legendary in the scriptures she learned from Claudia. After forming a solid white colored magical aura of protection around her body, Jane slowly began to levitate upwards off the ground while the lasers from above were absorbed with no resistance by the shield. Jane's aura seemed entirely invulnerable to the lasers striking it from above, as Jane continued to ascend off the ground at a low speed, taking her aura with her. Jane had her eyes shut to fully concentrate on her spell, since it was still new to her and difficult to use or to invoke. After Danton's Laser Storm ended and Jane had lifted off the ground further, she finally opened her eyes and shot all of her remaining energy towards Entiene. With the design of the second part of her spell, Jane sent twenty bright photons of light energy towards the summon, yielding a power level of ten for each homing projectile. The spell itself was amazing to watch, and elegant in its radiance of blinding white light, and since it deals light elemental damage instead of non-elemental magical damage, Entiene would be most vulnerable to such a spell as well.

Danton held on tight to Entiene's head as it struggled to keep itself sane through all of the damage it has taken, but the powerful spell Jane just invoked had Danton second-guessing his own ability to hold up this summon to Jane's amazing powers. Despite the fact that her MP levels were dropping closer towards a single digit number, he felt Jane to remain unpredictable even in this situation. She was fighting back with spells even he's never seen before in person. All Danton could do is count Entiene's chipping HP as Jane blissfully and elegantly descended back to the ground with grace, her radiating light fading in the process.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/VvZw8Jvb/S3-Entiene-N-014.png]

As Jane's spell came to an end, she felt an immediate power drain to her entire body. Her MP reserves were close to the same level as Danton's pet, and the low reserves caused her much more fatigue than she was comfortable with. With her breathing rate picking up fast enough to disrupt much of her focus and hold her standing slightly hunched over in an attempt to recover, Jane could feel the tingling sensation intensify. It's the same sensation she felt familiar with once her secret symbol is about to activate. With much hope, Jane tried to resist the urge to let that tattoo come online in front of the whole world. With cameras reporting live, her secret would be exposed before the battle comes to its own close, and in these chambers, there is no ten-minute delay to cut it out.

Danton saw Jane standing less tall than she was before, finally slowing down from her struggling MP reserves. "Ice Bolts!" aiming his arm towards the grounded target below him, Danton created an ice glyphring to cause damage to his challenger while she felt tired. Exploiting every opportunity he had, Danton was still certain of victory soon. As he shot five entire bolts of ice elemental magic in the form of homing projectiles, the magic descended at such a high speed towards the ground in a spiral travel formation.

With her eyes wide open, Jane caught the stare of the Ice Bolts heading right for her face at unimaginable speed, immediately knocking her backwards and off the balance of her legs. The first Ice Bolt knocked her back, as the second one pushed her off of her feet, while the next three dealt further damage to her body while chilling her skin down to a colder temperature.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/HLKHRcJc/S3-Jane-N-068.png]

Danton must have failed to realize that with Blaze Storm currently active, the cold sensations helped Jane more than it did to harm her, but Jane was already having her own problems keeping up with the battle. It didn't take her long to push herself back up. Jane could feel the edge of her moment right here and now, her body desperate for a rest, soon to collapse or suffer a heart attack if this keeps up. Continuing to attack the summon before targeting Danton, Jane focused more of her MP energy into another familiar long-range spell. "Telepower!" Despite its properties, Jane once again ended up turning the coloration of her own Telepower spell to red instead of its normal blue. Her hands and feet were surrounded by a red colored aura, and she immediately initiated her attack by punching and kicking the air in front of her, simultaneously transferring the magical damage and force of each attack towards the dragon to cause magical damage to the beast. Despite its resistance to non-elemental magic, Jane's powerful spell consisted of more potential than what she was used to working with, much more than the proportion of energy she placed into the spell. Only considering the possibility that Jane was accidentally using dark magic subconsciously, her theory was shot down quickly by the fact that the room has automatic dark magic detectors in the area, and nothing was sending out alarms just yet. As Jane continuously punched and kicked in front of her with a good combination of physical attacks, her telekinetic force brought the properties of each hit straight to Entiene for additional damage. By the time her attack cycle was over, Jane ignored her body's need to relax and charged on foot towards the monstrous creature.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/bYmpbBgN/S3-Entiene-N-015.png]

"It's time for Blitz!" Jane chanted. With her magic still resonating inside of her, Jane put all of her efforts into a long combination spell that started with another Bullet Blitz attack with two sub machine guns. Jane then continued her rushing advance with another Magical Blitz spell, only this time her spheres were red in color instead of the normal blue.

Danton watched as Jane put all of her energy into one final Blitz sequence, though the coloration of her recent spells had him second-guessing the automatic dark magic detection system. If Jane was using dark magic right now, then the system should be alerting. Then again, Entiene's energy scope would turn red too as a secondary primitive warning. At the same time, Jane's spells were more powerful in this form, and having an unusual red coloration to the auras usually indicates that the magic signature has changed. So if it isn't dark magic, how is she amplifying her powers like that? Why would she change the coloration of magical build up to something that looks like it could be dark magic?

Jane threw three Magical Blitz spheres, disregarding the color and stopping her physical advance on the target without thinking to check for damage on Entiene. Jane immediately brought most of her remaining magic down into one more area attack spell, chanting the name while pulling down her arm in a similar motion of Meteor Strike. "Photon Burst!" As the photons from Photon Blast intensified by energy density spawned from above instead of from a glyphring, Jane's next spell dealt the most amount of immediate damage to Entiene's spiritual essence while Jane switched from one spell to the next. "Flying Guillotine!" Throwing both of her daggers infused with a red aura of magical energy, Jane's next spell created a red circular arc of magical slashing damage that drilled through the monster twice, making Entiene panic from the pressure placed on him.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/9FzVBYgP/S3-Entiene-N-016.png]image [https://i.postimg.cc/zBg5rzWd/S3-Jane-N-069.png]

Danton checked to make sure Jane's energy scope was finally empty of her remaining MP energy, and finally did he have the comfort he was waiting for, but Jane wasn't finished moving yet. She still continued to charge danger close to the right side of Entiene, dashing as though her stamina was untouched. "What?!" Danton reacted to the situation and the sudden action being taken by Entiene without his command or permission. Iron Tail! Entiene's entire tail began to solidify from an astral state to a physical essence, becoming more solid and metal. The skill was much like any ordinary tail attack, and despite being out of range before, Jane was just now placing herself in range of the attack. Danton could feel that Entiene was making a hasty mistake, one that was too reckless to track. All he could do was watch Jane while trying to pinpoint her next move to try and stop this madness.

Noticing the incoming sling of Entiene's physical tail, Jane leaped into the air to jump over the body part of Entiene, but without the magical assistance guiding her lift into the air, Jane barely had just enough height to clear the sweeping blunt force of the metal limb. Instead, Jane accidentally caught her hand in a grasp to a small face-up fin attached to Entiene's tail, and was taken for a ride in the opposite direction. Despite Jane taking no damage and avoiding a direct collision, the tail she was momentarily stuck to - forced her back at such a high speed she wasn't ready for. Once the tail lifted into the air only to swing back, the force involved was more than enough to turn Jane's flailing body into a speeding projectile towards the back wall, her hands naturally slipping off.

Jane noticed the approach of her unexpected flight. In less than a second, she would slam against the solid wall with immense force, only to fall down hopelessly to the edge of the field. Thinking fast, Jane pulled out her left dagger, shooting a beam of energy from her Mako Speed spell towards the solid object. Aiming at the wall, Jane's beam managed to provide a strong Push Wave force, but it still wasn't enough to slow her down to a stop. With a sudden painful impact that sent her nerves into a shock of tingling sensations everywhere, Jane was suddenly left disabled as she began to fall towards the ground at the speed gravity would allow her to. With no magic to save her twice, Jane covered her face with her arms and took the heavy fall damage from the impact it left her, all from a 70-meter drop.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/MHJwZCmz/S3-Jane-N-070.png]

Danton relaxed for a moment, realizing that Jane was the one being just as reckless as his summon was, and now she was paying for her own mistake. Obvious to his eyes, Jane just took a lot of damage at a high pain intensity from the force of that fall. The impact of her body to the hard ground created enough of a shockwave to puff up a visible cloud of dust from the surrounding area. The room itself is kept too clean for dust to form frequently, but the battle changed the state of the room since the start of it all. If Jane had not been protected by the Leray veil, her body would have certainly be reduced to a less solid state; Danton was sure of it. After trying to win so hard only to fail at this level, Jane wouldn't be able to battle for much longer, let alone defeat him and his force of Entiene. Still, Jane was struggling in the far distance to stand back up, hunched over and holding her shoulders and stomach in what appeared to be very intense physical pain from the fall. Did Jane really expect herself to keep fighting on after this?

With her vision blurring for every loud heartbeat in her head, Jane knew that her efforts were not good enough to keep battling, but the loss of her entire stamina had her fighting with every ounce of strength to hold herself up. Jane felt so angry and full of rage just to beat Danton, but now it was all gone. The battle was hopeless without any method of channeling. The tingling sensation came on her again, concentrating at the top of her right hand. Jane fought back at the automatic process that was about to deny her control, but she also struggled just to breathe in the air around her. Jane was dizzy and lightheaded; the sensation of passing out early overcame her quickly. The fatigue of the last four battles and the current battle damage was already too much. Jane descended down on her knees gently, while she struggled just to stay conscious, but outside of her control, the top of her right hand was beginning to light up with a very powerful surge of brightness and magical energy.

With a slight bark from Entiene, Danton made his grasp of his head more firm while he collected his thoughts. "Not yet Entiene. I think she is already done." After another second, Danton noticed a bright light coming from the top of Jane's right hand, somehow invoking magic without more than one percent of her MP energy reserves. It was curiously not an attack spell, but Jane was defiantly affected by the same light.

"No," Jane croaked at the sight. The light was bright in Jane's eyes, but she stared at the top of her hand anyway, checking the light for any particular resemblance to what could be called a symbol or signet. Despite the brightness and intensity of the light, Jane couldn't make out anything resembling a symbol. It's just a bright mass at the top of her hand, glowing with radiance, but not enough to project through the white fingerless glove. With that realization, her eyes lit up from the idea. Jane's symbol was capable of showing itself holographically through her own suit and dress sphere, but that didn't happen every time. The intensity of the symbol could vary sometimes, giving her the same effects without showing itself through clothing material. In this case, her glove managed to block out just enough of the holographic light that would have immediately given up her secret. Even now, this was probably highly suspicious for Danton and his security detail, but it wasn't evidence. Nobody knows anything about this unknown symbol or its effects.

Fine! If a symbol invocation is needed to get the upper hand in battle, so be it! This isn't a battle to become the champion or a battle for glory. Jane knew what she had to do, with or without the guidance of her moral principles. As she allowed the hidden symbol (only visible now by its brightness of light) to infuse its unknown source energy into her body, Jane could feel an immediate change inside and around her. It felt similar to someone using a healing orb on her after a long fought battle, but more intense with how quickly it perked up her energy stats. The energy scope visually shifted and changed radically, switching on and off with the visual effect of some sort of glitch, while its entire color shifted just as well for only a few seconds. In just a few more seconds, Jane was capable of standing straight up again, the previous physical pain nothing but an ignorable nuisance. Jane felt energized again, more importantly capable of finishing this fight. She could tell from the distance by guessing that Danton had to be dumbfounded at this point, though it wasn't about to stop either one of them from continuing the fight to the end.

-̭̻̟͚̺̯̯̿̈́̈͡ͅ☵☵-̨̥͉͕̿ͬ̓ͯ-͚̩ͪ̐́-͈̫͕̪̩̙̠͋̉̈͢-̴̩̖͓̪͋-̭̻̟͚̺̯̯̿̈́̈͡ͅ-͈̩̟̞̲̋͢-̨̣̬͓͈̱͚̬ͨͧ͗̂ͅ☵☵☵☵☵-̨̥͉͕̿ͬ̓ͯ-͚̩ͪ̐́-͈̫͕̪̩̙̠͋̉̈͢-̴̩̖͓̪͋-̭̻̟͚̺̯̯̿̈́̈͡ͅ-͈̩̟̞̲̋͢-̨̣̬͓͈̱͚̬ͨͧ͗̂ͅ-̨̥͉͕̿ͬ̓ͯ-͚̩ͪ̐́-͈̫͕̪̩̙̠͋̉̈͢-̴̩̖͓̪͋-̭̻̟͚̺̯̯̿̈́̈͡ͅ-͈̩̟̞̲̋͢-̨̣̬͓͈̱͚̬ͨͧ͗̂ͅ━━☵☵☵☵☵-̨̥͉͕̿ͬ̓ͯ-͚̩ͪ̐́-͈̫͕̪̩̙̠͋̉̈͢-̴̩̖͓̪͋-̭̻̟͚̺̯̯̿̈́̈͡ͅ-͈̩̟̞̲̋͢-̨̣̬͓͈̱͚̬ͨͧ͗̂ͅ☵☵☵☵☵☵━☵-̭̻̟͚̺̯̯̿̈́̈͡ͅ☵

HP: ̛̙͙̞8̰̰͈̗̝͎͈͚0̴̲%̴̪̩̫͙̮̗̒ J̛ḁ͙̳̇̊n̶̜e̛͚̼̥̥ V̷̱̠͐͆e͓̜͍̻̻͎̹̦͆ͪͮ̆͜n͇̻͔ͥͦ͟n͉̩̠͍̰̍ͦ̊͞ MP: 46%̏ͯ̈̿͏̤̯̦͈̱̤

☵☵-̭̻̟͚̺̯̯̿̈́̈͡ͅ☵☵☵☵━-̭̻̟͚̺̯̯̿̈́̈͡ͅ━☵☵☵☵☵☵☵☵☵-̨̥͉͕̿ͬ̓ͯ-͚̩ͪ̐́-͈̫͕̪̩̙̠͋̉̈͢-̴̩̖͓̪͋-̭̻̟͚̺̯̯̿̈́̈͡ͅ-͈̩̟̞̲̋͢-̨̣̬͓͈̱͚̬ͨͧ͗̂ͅ-̨̥͉͕̿ͬ̓ͯ-͚̩ͪ̐́-͈̫͕̪̩̙̠͋̉̈͢-̴̩̖͓̪͋-̭̻̟͚̺̯̯̿̈́̈͡ͅ-͈̩̟̞̲̋͢-̨̣̬͓͈̱͚̬ͨͧ͗̂ͅ☵☵☵☵☵☵☵☵-̨̥͉͕̿ͬ̓ͯ-͚̩ͪ̐́-͈̫͕̪̩̙̠͋̉̈͢-̴̩̖͓̪͋-̭̻̟͚̺̯̯̿̈́̈͡ͅ-͈̩̟̞̲̋͢-̨̣̬͓͈̱͚̬ͨͧ͗̂ͅ

A puzzled expression crossed his face. Danton had never seen this sort of behavior in either person or magical aura and essence in his entire career of battling people. Was Jane Venn even who she claimed to be? No ordinary teenage woman could have possibly learned a spell to recover stats in such short of time, let alone stand back up from so much physical damage. Even her energy scope was acting out of alignment, despite how quickly it returned to seem normal, and the glowing aura on top of Jane's hand did not die down at all. Jane's rapid MP regeneration eventually came to a much slower level, so this had to be some unknown or hidden spell, one Jane did not announce verbally to keep it secret. Nothing about this seemed normal anymore, but Jane was still walking towards Entiene with a vile expression of vengeance.

Dragon Rage! Once again, Danton felt his summon taking action without his ability to control the aggressions coming from Entiene. He was upset about being made to take all of that damage by one small girl. Danton didn't fight it however, as it snapped him back into focus that the battle was still going on. He had to hold on tight to his summon once again, since Entiene was now using all four of its legs to charge towards Jane in an attempt to stomp on her with all his might.

Jane noticed the running dragon approaching her quickly, and used this moment to make her next move. With a lot of her energy returned, she knew what to do against Danton's oversized weapon. It defied a lot of rules and boundaries that most were used to, but this was a spell Jane learned on her own, fair and square without any influence from the symbol under her glove. "Zero Zone!"

Immediately creating an out-bursting field of energy that drained away all color and most of the light around her, Jane created another aura that stopped time in the entire universe. Despite the spell being known to a few high-class warriors, Danton failed to make use of it, giving Jane the perfect opportunity to get out of the way of a charge attack normally unavoidable by size. After one long inhalation of a deep breath, Jane gave the next set of her skills as much focus as she could possibly attain, partially assisted in speed and energy regeneration by the still active symbol on her hand. "Dark Strike!" After pulling out both of her daggers, Jane teleported into the multi-dimensional space that allowed her to travel at such a high speed during matter transference of her whole body. After becoming the speed of a beam of light, Jane reappeared high into the air, matching the exact altitude of where Danton currently stood frozen in time. As Jane approached him like a speeding bullet, she used her dagger blades to slash at his skin the moment she was passing by at an untraceable speed.

Jane reappeared at the same altitude for the next two hits of dimensional teleportation based strikes of her daggers, keeping Danton as the current target for the process. For the last moment of her Dark Strike sequence, Jane appeared falling down straight on top of Danton, drilling the force of her daggers to scrape through the coat of his body and straight into his chest. Jane then teleported back down to the ground, immediately switching her magic from one form to the next. "Stalagmite!" With her right hand, Jane summoned stalagmites falling from the ceiling, unaffected by the time warp Jane created since it was connected to her energy signature. Just a second after invoking that spell, Jane used her left hand for another spell. "Laser Rain!" Targeting Danton's position for Laser Rain, and Entiene for her falling stalagmites, Jane was dealing a high amount of damage to Danton and his summon, both incapable of taking such damage or feeling it until the Zero Zone field wears off. "Spirit Bolt!" Using a pink glyphring of a large size to target Entiene with its weakness, Jane launched three entire Spirit Bolts towards the dragon, dealing heavy damage despite being stuck in the time distortion field.

"Stalagmite!" Jane created another wave of stalagmites just as the field began to change and shift again. Color returned to the entire world around her, and despite the first wave of stalagmites drilling through the essence of Entiene, the second wave had a long time to fall before affecting the spirit dragon again.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/023vXKhT/S3-Entiene-N-017.png]image [https://i.postimg.cc/T34K9Pc1/S3-Danton-N-005.png]

Sensing an immediate issue, Jane used more MP magic to teleport high into the air, landing on top of one of the falling pillars for a better position. Despite just coming out of a time warp, Danton was very quick to assess and react to the situation in front of him. A swarm of falling stalagmites was coming down from above, only out in front from a short distance. He disregarded the swelling pain in his chest, believing Jane to have performed a time warp on him. Less importantly, the Blaze Storm from before has miraculously subsided, not that it had a harmful effect from before. As Danton took aim at all of the frozen pillars above him, he invoked his spell and fired a barrage of photon spheres to destroy them all. "Disruption Wave!" Much similar to Photon Blast, Danton created a barrage in the air that drilled through the large chunks of damaging ice and crushed them into tiny fragmented pieces, which also immediately exposed Jane's current position as she was falling from the same general area. "I've got you now," he hissed. Giving the next command to Entiene to aim towards Jane and shoot, Danton watched as Jane's helpless position became compromised with the next oncoming spell.

Flare Blitz! Jane noticed another command in the action display line to the holographic text box near Danton, and prepared herself. It wouldn't be possible to Power Shield or Farshield while falling from such a high place, but if this attack was anything like what Jane was expecting coming from Entiene, there was still one way to fight back!

Entiene opened its mouth, releasing all of its remaining MP energy and blasting a blinding ball of fire the size of its entire jaw towards Jane. Jane knew this would be impossible to shield against. The power and size of this single sphere of fiery elemental magic was going to be hard to control. Entiene's aim was accurate as well, made easy by the glowing symbol giving off additional light around her. Jane collected the Leray energy she needed for this, and aimed both hands directly at the yellow sun-like energy sphere. "Return!" It took a little extra time for Jane to capture the kinetic essence of Entiene's Flare Blitz spell, but after successfully using her ability, Jane noticed a thin blue aura around the same sphere, indicating her telekinetic control over the massive projectile. Despite falling down towards the ground, Jane remained aerodynamic enough to swirl her entire body around with her arms stretched all the way out, enabling her to redirect the course of the Flare Blitz sphere to follow her movements and rush past her instead of crashing into her. Completing the full spin, Jane released the kinetic directional control of the sphere just as she redirected the aim down towards Danton and Entiene's head. The sphere of powerful magic was now sent back at double the force towards the summon, and right on top of Danton's position, while Jane left the rest of her remaining time to prepare a Push Wave spell to soften up her landing.

Danton watched in disbelief while Jane took full control of the Flare Blitz spell and returned it back to his summon, aimed right for his current position. There wasn't any more time to think of a way to protect Entiene. Feeling that his battle alongside his partner was now over, Danton used magic and leaped high into the air, narrowly avoiding the incredible blast and shockwave from Entiene's powerful spell. The dragon wailed with intense discomfort while the stats of its remaining essence of energy faded away complete to zero.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/Cxqg3Lgz/S3-Entiene-N-018.png]

With Entiene's health depleted, the entire body of its spiritual essence became more transparent, until a blast of light filled the entire field for several seconds, leaving behind nothing to replace the previous existence of the summon. Danton knew that Entiene was still safe and okay, just unable to battle with its energy all used up. Spawning Entiene can only be done once every two hours regardless of any potential Leray rules, (and a full eight hours to bring Entiene back with full health), so now it just left himself and Jane on the battlefield as they both fell towards the ground.

Jane smiled on her way down after noticing that Entiene was finally out of the fight and faded away from view. She enabled her Push Wave and sent air flying everywhere, making her landing as soft as it would have been falling from twelve inches high. As Jane recovered herself, she soon saw Danton descending much more slowly than she just did, using some sort of temporary aura to change the properties of gravity on his body. Danton was touching down to the ground only twenty meters away, standing calmly without an immediate intention to attack. Jane felt her breathing and pulse as high as it always was at the most climatic part of battles, but she had never pulled anything like this off before. The sensation of near victory was amazing and exciting to her, she couldn't help but feel more confident about her own capabilities. Danton on the other hand wasn't looking too pleased. "Sorry about your pet," Jane teased. "But I prefer one on one battles only."

"What is that light illuminating from your hand?" he curiously demanded.

Jane responded with the cautious intention of making the battle end before giving up such a secret. "Part of my training is what that is. It's everything I've learned about self-control, and the reason I fight as hard as I do. In just a few more minutes, I'll be leading the army to a victorious operation using all the power I contain to assist in the battlefield, and I won't allow for any soldiers to die in the process."

Danton's face became craggy and disturbed immediately by the insolence. He pulled out his primary weapon during his response. "You have the power that can hold your own in a fight against Entiene, but I am no animal. You face a man worthy of protecting Sprawn Valley through careful consideration. You fight as though the torch belongs to you, but today will be a dawn only known to the rightful defenders of Eldora Tower; the dawn of us all, and I as their sage. I am Brash Danton!" Announcing his first and last name, Danton revealed his Mega-Staff, the legendary staff said to grant the most powerful mages their power, power that may even go beyond Leray restrictive capabilities, power that only works for their chosen wielder. With a red crystal top to the magical rod, Danton held it up high over his cloak, preparing to finish Jane off in the most humiliating defeat she's probably ever faced before. "You will not surpass such authority!"