TEAM ALPHA WAS ALMOST out of mana from fighting Kouper. With his thick and tough hide, Kouper was almost invulnerable from Mirana’s freezing ice and Riku’s prickly rose briars.
“Any ideas?” asked Mirana. Her fairy wings were already vanishing.
“I can make several attacks that will not work on that guy, or one all-out attack that would also not work on that guy,” Riku replied, her rose armor was already worn out. “Pick your poison.”
Kouper was breaking large chunks of ice as he walked toward Mirana and Riku.
“I hope you two now realize the difference of strength among us. People like us will always be superior to people like you.”
“You are getting way over your head, bud,” Riku replied as she stood up and prepared her rose spear.
“Magic users will always be inferior to us Karma users.”
“Pretty bold of you to assume that,” said Mirana.
“I'm only stating facts, mage. You two should have known that dealing with people like us with Transformation-type Karma will only need minimal mana consumption. A small price to pay for a drastic boost in strength and speed. Unlike you, magic users, always need to chant, always using a lot of mana. Pathetic!”
Kouper charged toward Riku and released a straight punch. Riku ducked, then extended her rose spear, hoping to impale him. However, it proved to be ineffective when the rose spear simply splintered upon contact.
Kouper grabbed and lifted Riku. He then tried to strike her with his abnormally large arms but Mirana slowed the arms by shooting a beam of ice.
Riku grabbed that opportunity to try and free herself. She grabbed Kouper by his horn and struck him with a kick until Kouper stopped grabbing her. She followed up with a kick to his chin that made him back off a little.
“Your resistance is futile. Once you are both out of mana, you won’t be able to do anything.”
“Let’s see then if that’s the case!” shouted Riku.
“Riku, what are you planning?” asked Mirana.
“Do you trust me?”
Mirana nodded. “Of course.”
“Then use everything you’ve got to encase him in ice. We're using that!”
Mirana scoffed. “One all-out attack that will not work, coming right up!”
Riku dropped to a knee and placed her hands on the ground.
Mirana focused all of her remaining mana on her staff Everfrost for one final spell.
Kouper charged toward them, trying not to give the two the chance to chant their spell. He then leaped into the air to perform a devastating diving punch.
“Germinio Phrenesia – Segunda!”
“Nixeve Ventaoi – Segunda!”
* * * * *
Segunda Magia is an improved version of some arcane spells. This was not usually taught to anyone unless they can control their mana with the utmost efficiency. If done correctly, a magic user may use this version for the same amount of mana as if they only used the regular version. Done poorly and it will backfire, consuming double the amount of mana for the basic version of the spell.
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Riku and Mirana knew that they have no other choice. They now only have a few remaining mana anyway so they decided to take the risk.
It’s been only a few days since Mirana taught Riku about Segunda Magia. It was not easy as they have more failed results than successful ones. Now that they were even more determined to defeat an enemy, Riku and Mirana were both as focused as they could get.
The Segunda Magia version of Germinio Phrenesia produced a raging thicket of prickly rose plants that immediately overwhelmed Kouper while still midair.
The thicket took Kouper down to the ground which continued to surround him as the thicket grew and crawled violently.
The Segunda Magia version of Nixeve Ventaoi was even more chilling than the normal one. It was as if a storm blanketed Kouper and the thicket, encasing them all inside a block of ice.
The block of ice was getting cracked as Kouper tried to break himself free, but the whirling icy winds were freezing the ice again. Even more, the thickets were growing even outside the dome of ice, wrapping around it.
It was a continuous layer of ice and briars.
As the two spells subsided, Kouper became encased in the middle of the dome of ice with a thicket of rose inside and out.
Mirana’s fairy wing completely disappeared and Riku’s rose armor withered.
Both were too exhausted to stand up and decided to just sit down on the ground leaning on each other’s back.
“How long do you think before he could escape?” asked Mirana.
“Not for long, I guess,” Riku honestly replied.
At that point, Riku's Rose Necklace started to glow.
* * * * *
Siegfried was stabbed in his abdomen. Luckily, Yakia's hair just pierced through not too far from his armor and he only sustained a minor injury.
In her refined hybrid form, Yakia gained longer hair that she could freely manipulate. They were also strong enough to pierce the ground and block Siegfried's swords.
Nonetheless, Siegfried continued to strike while Yakia used her hair to parry his attacks.
Unlike Kouper though, Yakia doesn’t have nigh-invulnerable skin. Siegfried, after all, managed to stab her once. Rather, she can spend her mana to make her hair grow and control them. Her hide may not be invulnerable but every strand of her hair was as strong as galvanized steel.
Yakia grew tired of Siegfried and used her hair as a whip to hit everything around her indiscriminately.
Siegfried got hit and Yakia used that chance to grab him. Yakia’s hair tightens around Siegfried’s abdomen, making him wince in pain.
“Finally caught you! You are one slippery mouse,” said Yakia as she reeled Siegfried closer. “No magic. No Karma. You are one lonely creature.”
“Is that what you think? That magic and Karma is everything?”
“And beauty.”
“Then you are worthless. Magic and Karma are not everything. It doesn’t make you better than anyone else.”
“And yet we have the advantage. We are the superior ones. You should know your place, mouse. Karma users will always reign supreme!”
* * * * *
Volg wasn’t having it any better. Gauro looked as if he doesn’t mind Volg’s flame and was just casually walking through it.
“Playtime’s over, kid. You’ve already caused a lot of damage in our field.”
Gauro commanded the cattle to trample Volg.
Volg tried to scare them with flame, but the cattle didn’t even bother and just ran over him. As soon as the cattle halted, Volg slowly stood up.
“Amazing. Not a single broken bone.”
Volg tried to catch his breath. “I’m not...done yet.”
Gauro commanded the cattle again. But as soon as the cattle were near Volg, the cattle went sideways, avoiding Volg.
The temperature significantly increased around Volg even without his flames. He slowly approached Gauro who noticed the heat radiating from him. Hays around Volg started to combust and the cattle ran away from him.
Orange flames started to appear near Volg and swirled around him upwards. He then created orange flames on each of his palms.
Gauro burst into laughter. “Amazing!! So this is the true nature of your power! That orange flame of yours is far better than your red one! Show me more, bastard of Luca!”
Irritated, the flame on his palms started to burn intensely and started spinning around his arms. “Stop calling me a bastard!!”
Orange flames shoot out from the sole of his feet that burned even his shoes, propelling him forward with the swirling flame with him. At the striking distance, Volg released a punch that Gauro blocked with his huge ax.
Upon contact, the spiraling flame on his arms violently shoots out towards Gauro like a flamethrower. The heat and force from the flamethrower were enough to destroy the ax Gauro was using and Gauro was forced to block with his arms.
Volg extended his left arm and released another flamethrower punch at Gauro. The two flamethrowers were pushing Volg back, so he used the swirling flame around him to propel himself forward to counter the flamethrowers' recoil.
A few seconds later, Gauro reached out and grabbed Volg’s fists, stopping the flamethrowers, and tossed him aside.
Volg stood up and as he looked at Gauro, he was already in his refined hybrid form.
In his refined hybrid form, Gauro’s lower limbs looked similar to his siblings, but he was more muscular. His body, arms, biceps, and shoulder were also muscular compared to his siblings. His neck became more prominent and his horns grew longer.
“To think that you could force me to use this form. And you are not even an executive,” Gauro's arms were smoking after sustaining a first-degree burn.
“G-Guess that's the best that I could do...” Volg struggled to stand up.
Gauro sighed, “You have my respect, Luca’s bastard. But this is the end of our playtime.”