The sound of grunts and screams continued at the back as Akira fought and threw around more and more energy attacks left and right, her [Royal Knights] had surfaced and were guarding her from the attacks that came their way.
"[Almost there Mistress.]" And Beatrice kept hacking away at the chains that had tied her down.
She could hear the whispering of her [Royal Mages] casting magic at the back of her [Shadow Haven], as they worked hard to cut the connection to the [Skill] from Akira. But the chains made of [Corrupted Mana] stuck to her and tried to worm into her to feed themselves.
And as soon as they tried to leech from her mana they got obliterated, her [Mana] ripping apart the threads that tried to worm themselves into her as her mana reacted viciously against the invasion.
Beatrice was doing her best hacking away at the chains, it took effort, and she could feel the [Mana] within Beatrice dwindle with each strike, "I'm fine, that is enough!" Elizabeth would say.
But of course, Beatrice didn't listen, she just snorted at her and kept going about it. Even while her body seemed to be about to go into mana deficit.
"[Under my authority as the Inheritor I command you...RETURN!]" Elizabeth said as she focused on what little mana she could use, she had some available after Beatrice had broken the chains that kept her legs in place.
Not enough to escape, but just enough to let her work.
That would let her save Beatrice from attacks of Akira as soon as she-
"WHY AREN'T YOU RETURNING!" Elizabeth demanded as Beatrice kept her work, breaking the chains that kept her waist in place and then moving to her left arm.
"I'M YOUR M-" She was about to say when Beatrice turned her eyes towards her.
She hadn't noticed it before but Beatrice had heterochromia, one eye was pink while the other was blue. "[Do keep speaking Mistress, what are you to me?]" Beatrice said as she let the swords strike down into the chains in her arms.
Waaay too close to comfort to her flesh.
"I'm...amm...your..." She was having a hard time finishing those words, she of course had spoken to Rossie about Beatrice, referring to the little girl as their daughter.
But Beatrice before only referred to Rossie as Mother, she never ever spoke to her as one, always referring to her as Mistress. But what was the little girl to her?
A daughter? A servant? A [Minion]?
"[Mother was right, you try to act tough and mighty but really. You are too good for your own good Mistress.]" The little girl said as her left arm was released from the chains.
She could try and escape, or to try and stop her now, she was painfully aware of how little mana the little girl had.
"You lot!" She turned her attention towards the remaining [Royal Knight], the other 2 that had been there were nowhere to be seen, and instead her normal [Knights] stood with the last [Royal Knight], "Stop Beatrice, she is about to run out of [Mana]! If she starts dipping into her [Soul] to power those she will be in trouble!"
The normal [Knights] turned to the [Royal Knight], as if asking for orders, while the [Royal Knight] only shook his head and turned to her "[Mistress, we aren't normal Summons as you know. So while we will follow your orders...We will prioritize your safety above all, and even if we want to...High Valkyrie Beatrice Von Starbright has the right to command your Armada should you be out of combat or in a distress situation.]"
Her what?
"[Thank you for remembering your place Head Knight]" Beatrice said while turning towards the remaining chain that held her in place. "[But you are right Mistress I don't have enough Mana to break that one, should I attempt to do it now I would need to tap into my Soul and that would in turn break myself.]"
See! THEY NEEDED TO STOP HER!
"[But I will not use my Mana to break it so it's okay.]" Beatrice said as she sheathed her azure blade, the one that symbolized her.
"Wait what?" Asked Elizabeth confused. She wouldn't? Then what was her worry for?!?
"[Do you want me to?]" Beatrice asked with a knowing smirk.
"OF COURSE NOT!" Elizabeth quickly defended herself, really. This girl was too cheeky!
Who raised her! She was going to file a complaint!
"[Mistress Beatrice, here is the one you wanted.]" A normal-looking [Minion] rose from the shadows followed by another blob, she knew the one that sent the message through [Idea] was an Assassin from her [Minions]. "[Do you require something else?]"
The Minion wait for Beatrice answer, "[That will be all, thank you.]" Beatrice answered, the [Assassin] sank into the shadows after, not before acknowledging her and nodding to her. "[Now...Are you aware of what will be needed from you, and what will happen to you?]"
The blob of shadows seemed to be unaware of where it was, but after some prodding from Beatrice's Mana, the blob seemed to wake up, and then look at her and Beatrice. "[...]"
She...wasn't quite sure what it said, she knew there was [Idea] exchange between Beatrice and the blob, but wasn't quite sure of what it was. It seemed to be more [Advanced] than the pseudo shadow minions that Beatrice and the other [Minions] had summoned forward.
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"[We thank you for your sacrifice, and we will honor the promises made.]" Beatrice said bowing towards the blob, then without hesitation, Beatrice took the blob and slurped it in one go.
As the blob entered into her mouth she could hear the crunch of something within the little girl's mouth, and as if that wasn't enough, she could feel the [Mana] within the little girl refilling.
"You...you....you..." Elizabeth couldn't believe what she had seen, she...she...
"[This is how a normal person should go about risk management.]" Beatrice said as she raised her pink sword and used it to break the remaining chains that still held it in place. "[Of course in this case we searched a volunteer first and made a deal with him. And we will answer his request and honor his wish.]"
Elizabeth started to stand up still unsure of what she had seen, and equally unsure of what she was seeing, Beatrice's mana seemed to be draining away faster than it should. Considering that she had restored most of her mana and now it was leaking away. As if she couldn't keep it in place.
Of course, the remaining mana that she had wasn't leaving, only the new one she had earned.
"FINALLY!" But she didn't have time to deal with what she was feeling, as a wave of energy hit Beatrice after she turned her attention back and tried to block it with her pink sword.
"[We are sorry Mistress, we couldn't give you more time.]" The last royal knight and the remaining knights turned into shadows as they got unsummoned.
"We will speak about this," Elizabeth said as she forcefully sent Beatrice back into the Shadow Haven.
"[Of course Mistress.]" Beatrice said as she sank into the shadows, unlike most of her [Minions] who turned into liquid and then dissipated, Beatrice was closer to sinking into the floor as if she was entering a portal.
"Huh? Where are the annoying brat?" Akira asked as he finished defeating the last remaining shadow minions. "And how are you free?"
He was more concerned about that? "Don't know how you managed to sneak in that brat, but you can't deceive my [Identify] she wasn't a student of this school, not with that level." Akira seemed smug about something, even if he seemed to be speaking nonsense.
"I have no idea what you are on about, but if you think you will be able to get me again..." Elizabeth said as she hit the floor hard with her armored boots and the floor was covered in dark shadows. "...Then you are way dumber than you look."
Akira didn't even turn his attention downward and the Shadows didn't come closer to his feet only leaving a small area unaffected, "Not like it matters, doing sneaky things like that aren't my thing. I'm a [Hero] you see, my thing are..."
Akira disappeared from her vision and then she felt her [Instincts] scream alarm in her mind as her [Puppeteer] skill tried to move her and at the same time her [Shadows] seemed to want to create a shield in front of her.
Her [Shift] still drained from [Mana] attempting to take mana from her reserves but not being fast enough, all of it happening in fractions of a second as she was sent flying against one of the farther arena walls as the shadow dome tried to bleed the kinetic energy to try and cushion her from the most serious amount of damages.
She still felt awful and if it wasn't for her sensory input from her shadows, then she wouldn't be able to even stand up right now...Granted most of it was from her [Puppeteer] skill...
"Oooh, you are quite sturdy aren’t you? My [Identify] put you in the low 30-40 for defense... Is this part of your [Cheat]?" Akira said as he looked at his fist, the same one he probably used to sucker punch her. The reports of damage all over her armor and body said that she was probably hit in the abdomen.
And since most of her [Shift] currently was only [Mana Fabric] and the armor plates were still being regenerated...Her defenses were at an all-time low.
"Again with the stupid [Identify], you can't trust that thing you know. [The World] is the one that decides what information you get from it." Elizabeth said as she focused some mana on her remaining [Mage] class minions alive within the [Shadow Haven].
Most of her minions [Assassin], [Knights], [Scouts] had either been killed or used already in the last effort Beatrice did. And most of the [Royal Mages] were mana-deprived or about to be.
She still had some [Mage] and the few [Healers] within, so she used those to try and heal the worst of the damage that Akira did to her with that single punch...The first attack that actually hit her and she hadn't been able to dodge or even follow it...
"And? That would be a problem if I wasn't a [True Hero], but the [System] was made for people like me. It was made to [Raise] a [Hero] to greatness, and I'm a [Hero]...And there are plenty of [Great] things about me." Akira said as he sheathed his sword to his belt and looked at her. "And I'm getting bored. This isn't fun without a public."
What?
"[In my name I command you...BREAK!]" Akira said as he snaped his fingers and from his back two wings made of swords manifested but for a second, before they all shot towards different parts of her Shadow Dome.
"GAH!" She felt the rebound from her mana as the shadow dome broke and then the shadow dome broke open letting her see the spectators once more.
"AND THERE WE HAVE IT FELLAS THE FIGHT...." The announcer started speaking...Wait what? She could hear the announcer. " AND IT SEEMS THE FIGHT IS STILL GOING EVEN IF MISS [Stardust Weaver] IS MISSING PART OF HER ARMOR BUT THE WARDEN OF JUSTICE SEEMS TO BE OKAY AND IS EVEN WAVING AT THE PUBLIC!"
"See, isn't it better with the public, it is just enough to make a [Man] feel invigorated," Akira said as to her [Dragon Eyes] it seemed as if Akira was absorbing [Mana] from the eyes of those seeing him. "Not like you would understand..."
...She would like to say he was acting like an Asshole, but she had used that word so much to describe Alexanders that she didn't want to link the two together.
"Now, shall we finish this then? I do need to go and deal with [Rena] again...Or with you I guess? No wait, wouldn't [Dealing] with you be [Dealing] with Rena? And having you means that I get [Lina] too right?" Akira smiled at her as he unsheathed once more [Gram] and pointed it towards her. "Now prepare your weapon or magic...It will look bad if I just pound you into the ground...Not that I don't want to [Pound you into the ground]..."
Elizabeth however wasn't amused by this development at all, granted she had done everything she wanted to do on the sly already, so it didn't matter to her much if they saw them or not.
She did, however, take this chance to sneak a glance towards Rossie...And found nothing, then frowning and turning her awareness one step further she followed the mana thread that joined them and found her sitting near one of the benches at the far end of the Arena. With Rena sleeping at her side.
Rossie had moved Rena and herself to one of the farthest end of the arena and was currently using Rena as a stool...Even if she was injecting Healing Mana into the girl...
She was healing Rena all right!
...She would need to speak to Rossie about good Healing Manners...
But not now!
Right now she was going to go all out!
"Fine, you want me to go all out, then let's go all out," Elizabeth said as she sank deep into her own [Heart], forcing it to go into overdrive as it started pouring as much mana as her [Vessel] could hold.
She felt the rumble within the [Shadow Haven] as more and more mana flooded the streets of her ruined city, parts of it turning on once more as the city got the energy to work.
She of course didn't have the means to investigate what those parts did at the moment, nor did she have enough minions to investigate, what she did notice was that part of her mana was being diverted into multiple directions.
One was going towards the base of the building in the middle of the city, straight towards Nyx, the small(debatable) cute thing seemed to be about to wake up.
Another was going towards the [Lock] that joined her with Rossie, it seemed to empower it and make it more solid. Again, she didn't have problems with that one.
The last one...She wasn't quite sure what to think about, it was going towards the [Sword] that symbolized Rena, it [Healed] the broken sword, and following that connection, she could see the [Soulscape] of the girl slowly mend itself.
She knew that it was happening since the [Apartment] that the little red girl lived in was slowly mending itself, from a trashed-out place with broken furniture and missing windows it was turning slowly into a normal place.
"You have mana if nothing else," Akira said mockingly as he eyed her with his creepy [Identify], really. How could the use of a skill be so different, she knew that when she had it it wasn't like that... Hell, not even Rossie gave her this feeling of someone licking her with his eyes when using the skill!
Even if she would really like it if Rossie's use felt like that!
...."[Heed my call....]" She started her chants as usual, only to stop midway, she was about to continue and go on with what felt right. But somehow calling the part [Dwellers of the Dark] didn't feel right at this moment.
Going on like that would probably summon more minions and more shadow dragons...More [Souls] to do her bidding, but...would they even work? She knew that Akira was stronger than her, and really. Would a [Minion] summon using her [Mana] and her [Skills] serve something more than a distraction?
....No.
She needed something else, she needed [More]. She needed...
"What? You lost inspiration mid-chant? Try [Praying to me]." Akira said from the back as he waved at some girls on the stands, she could smell the reek of his mana worming into the girl's [Heart].
Yeah, she knew what she needed to do now.
"[Heed my call guardian that stands at the end of the twilight..]" She started her chant anew, as the words left her mouth she felt [The World] turn stagnant, the mana around them, she felt Akira stumble as he stared at his own hand.
As if the sword wanted to disappear and he was struggling to keep it existing.
Even the teachers around seemed to be surprised, she even felt as if the mana around her wanted to take away what was within her, but found no purchase.
"[...Wake up from your slumber, and descend upon the world. Show your might, show your fury, show your Ṗ̸̨̪̳̻̤̲̣̠͈̳̪̕Õ̶̡͔͓̞̬͍̗̖̘̯̹̘W̷̫̣̤̍̑̃͂̓́̑̃̓͝E̶̩͎̣̰̻͙̿́͠Ř̶͉̗̳͉͎̖̈̓̊̐͑͐̌̒̌̚͝ ."] And a roar resounded on the arena as if the very existence of [The World] acknowledged the call from the void.
Then from the sky, the sound of breaking [Glass] sounded as a humongous claw ripped open the very fabric of creation, it was a claw that she had never seen in her life, and yet...
It was the claw of an entity she recognized.
"You really should not have broken my [Shadow Dome]," Elizabeth said to Akira who seemed dumbfounded as he stared at the claw in the sky, as another one emerged from the crack and started to rip open it more and more. "[Heed my call and descend upon the mortal world, Nyxfyre.]"
It was time for Nyx to awaken, it was time for her most loyal minion to come upon this world.