As Yuna and Wu held each other back down in the South side of the island, Matty with his massive Manifest carrying Lily was making a straight line dash towards the home-base of Wu's squad, followed closely by Fatera leaping from branch to branch in her Killa mode, followed by Shin and Braka who had just overcome Augen's delaying tactics.
"There she comes." Matty said, turning around briefly as Fatera's strong influence on the Wave around her started to press into his own Wave-sensing abilities. Lily nodded, leaping off the eagle Manifest as her body became coated in flames before she charged towards Fatera, more swirling flames pouring out from within her body and binding around it, tightening like cloth as the intensity of the heat became condensed further.
"Dive-bombing Fire: Condensed!" Lily said, bringing forth a far more concentrated version of her normal attack before she clashed head on against Fatera as a ring of fire exploded outwards, sweeping through the forest and leaving a dark circle of charred sand on the ground.
Fatera's body was thrown back, and Shin and Braka leapt up, surrounding her before they unleashed their storms of attacks as she rotated in midair, trying to regain her senses.
"Go!" Shin said, "We got her!"
"Just buy us enough time!" Lily shouted, blasting jets of fire under her foot as she flew back towards Matty who had the eagle manifest flap its gigantic wings as it charged down towards Ver and Lera.
"Void Domain!" Lera shouted, her hands throwing up as creepy dark lines rapidly rose up from the Cast Array laid out around the camp. Matty sensed the dangerous traps which could have easily disabled his eagle Manifest and left him free-falling onto the ground, deciding to pull himself up as his body were thrown to the back of the massive eagle due to the rapid centripetal acceleration.
"Fire Mecha...surround me." Lily murmured, extending out her limbs as the entire island's atmosphere seemed to become heated by her mere existence before the two massive columns of fire that acted like the legs of the fire mecha spiralled down onto the ground like tornados. Reaching out to the side with the arms of the fire mecha also materializing, Lily then picked up rows of trees and threw them towards Lera like javelin spears.
A dark whirlpool formed under Lera's feet, catching her and taking her away from the line of attack before their reserve of coconuts were destroyed, even if the points were counted already.
Ver emerged just to the North of Lily, her own Kraken coming out from the large-scale Whirlpool black as it roared and shot out a massive jet of water that tore straight through one of the arms of the Fire Mecha. Lily turned around as steam filled the forest.
"Talk about a fun matchup." Lily smiled, marching towards Ver when she clapped her hands together, sending forward a massive Wall of Flames that tore through the entirety of the island's forests and clashed into the body of the Kraken. However, a semi-transparent dome formed right over its body, shielding Ver and the Kraken.
The intensity of the fire melted through layers after layers of shielding, and after one layer is tore through, another formed in its place immediately. Then, massive Wave orbs formed over Lily's head before they dropped and exploded over the head of the Fire Mecha.
"So you are doing well with one Fire Mecha..." Matty smiled, slamming his fist into his chest and getting fired up as his unstable manifest poured out from within his body. Then, with the snap of a finger, he set himself on fire and created yet another Fire Mecha that matched the size of Lily's.
Then, he reached an arm forward, channeling one of Lily's own moves, "Flame Rocket!"
The column of spiraling fire struck the shields and finally broke through before Lera was able to create another one, and before it slammed the Kraken right in the face, Ver's Sky Splitting sword emerged from within as its body grew in size and width, parrying in front and deflecting the flames.
"Matty! Now!" Lily shouted, as the pair of Fire Mechas both leapt towards Ver's towering Kraken and slammed their firearms down, “Duo Dive Bombing Fire!”
"Get...off me!" Fatera said, tearing through the tight cables created by Braka's blood as he used everything in his power to hold her back as Shin continued knocking her body down with a bombardment of his tools, keeping her disoriented in the fog created when Ver's water clashed with Lily's fire. Then, he reached over, slashing Fatera's body up with the Meat Maker Axe even as Fatera struggled in her Killa mode.
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"No...more...holding back!" Fatera roared, driving her feet into the ground and creating a shockwave that separated herself and Shin. She could feel the titanic battle between Lily and Ver, and she wanted to get there as soon as possible. However, the two pests in front of her are making things far more difficult than it has to be.
She dashed forward, her speed even faster than before and finally overcoming Shin's own reaction before his body was thrown through rows of trees with a single punch. Then, she turned towards Braka who clawed his stomach open as lines of seemingly solid blood danced around him.
"Move." Fatera said, pointing her finger forward before she charged forward with her blinding speed once more. However, much to her surprise, Braka cracked a bloody smile before following her movements exactly, pinning her in place with his hands and shoving her back.
"So long as I am on the Brink, I will not fall." Braka said, showing his newest move which kept him on the verge of death in exchange for nearly unlimited levels of power. At this rate, unless Fatera enters Dominance mode and forcibly overcomes the Wave within Braka's body, she couldn't really do anything to him even in her Killa mode.
However, there is also a time-limit on the Brink for Braka, but if all he has to do to secure victory is to buy enough time, then it's just enough time.
Come on...give me dominance mode...Fatera grunted, gripping her hands tightly and trying to return to the mind space she went to back in the Winter Wars...but there was nothing. She tried drawing her power, pushing her influence onto the environment, but like trying to force a pee, she ended up exhausted with absolutely nothing else going on.
She felt...empty...The dominance mode had been so inherently tied to her memories, and now...she doesn't seem to be able to access it again… God damn it! She had come so close, at and the very least, she was able to perform at her peak physical level just beneath the dominance level after a few days of training, but...still, it wasn’t enough.
"Go." Augen's voice came from behind him, "Forbidden Summer: Rupturing Intensity!"
Fatera turend her head, and she saw massive lining cracks forming over his body as the Wave around her started to vibrate at an ever-increasing frequency. Augen smiled while focusing forward as more and more parts of body started cracking up with tiny semi-transparent tears forming out of thin air in between him and Braka. Then, as those tiny tears spread to Braka, parts of his body started opening up before he cursed and leapt back.
That was all the opening Fatera needed, and she charged forward as Braka looked down at his trembling body when the command for his own Scar Casting became unresponsive and it felt as if someone had repeatedly damaged the very essence of the Wave locally...
A Cast of this power could only be from a forbidden Cast, especially when Braka saw the level of damage sustained by Augen as he casted it. With a growing sense of sympathy towards Augen, knowing the pain he must be enduring right now, Braka charged forward through the scattering of tears in space when his body bounced right off from it. A sharp pain exploding over his shoulder as he looked down to see a chunk of flesh being taken out from it.
"You are not going anywhere." Augen said as blood streamed down his face, "The very fabric of Wave and space is attacked by this Cast."
"Including your body." Braka said, "You can't hold out for much longer."
"Neither could you." Augen said, drawing out the card with the Spring Flowers on it and pressing it against his back as he started healing.
"If it's a battle of attrition, I will not lose." Braka said, drawing a long blood blade and cutting it down.
That was when a massive explosion rocked the entire island, and the body of the Kraken fell backward into the Whirlpool as Matty and Lily finally overpowered Lera and Ver. Their unconscious bodies are now tossed onto the beach as Fatera's voice cut through the air.
Then, Matty's own Manifest dissipated as he dropped to the ground when Lily turned around and knocked Fatera out with a single kick from the Fire Mecha, much to her own surprise. Without her dominance mode, Fatera couldn't have competed against her Perfect Synchrony at all.
With that, Lily's squad had successfully take out three out of five fighters on Wu's squad. Knowing that a win is inevitable, Lily then went ahead and brought home all of the coconuts needed with Matty dragging his feet behind her.
When the requisite number of coconuts is reached, a gentle chime ranged all over the battlefield as a single flare went off from Lily's main camp, signifying the end of the Mid-week battle. Hearing that, Braka and Augen both collasped into the sand, the Brink and Forbidden Summer: Rupturing Intensity both dropped as they both chuckled before passing out.
"Shit!" Wu cursed as he was slammed back by Yuna. With her around, he could neither take her down nor return to provide aid for his team, and he caught a brief glimpse of the two Fire Mechas ganging up against Ver before the sound of his defeat came through shortly after.
"Hah, we win." Yuna said, leaping back and retracting the white outlines of the Tiger back into her body. Then, she reached a fist forward towards Wu, "Maybe next time you will get me~"
With a total of fifty to twenty-four coconuts, Lily's squad wins the mid-week battle for the chores. Wu's squad then found themselves faced with chores once more after a far closer competition compared to a battle at the start of their training camp.