Facing the projection, she threw her sword away and bared her clawed hands at it, as if to catch it bare-handed. In the next instant, her body shivered and bulged. A bulbous abdomen burst out from behind her, and four more legs arced out from her body. In the blink of an eye, a giant spider stood where Wisp had.

Ike instinctively flinched, but forced himself to keep looking. Wisp looked confident, but he didn’t understand why. Last time he’d checked, he was still stronger than her, and that attack felt like death to him. He prepared himself to jump out. Even if he had to take damage, he’d rather get hurt than allow Wisp to die due to overconfidence.

Not that she tends to be overconfident, but…

The giant spider that was Wisp bared its fangs. It reared up, then stomped down. A projection of a giant spider formed behind it. Before it even finished forming, it charged at the magpie. Black aether streamed from Wisp into the projection, strengthening it with every passing moment. She didn’t break her connection to it and send it flying off as the Magpie King had done, but kept pushing aether, empowering it with every passing second. It started out as strong as Wisp, clearly weaker than the bird, but as she continued to push aether into it, it strengthened.

The bird and the spider clashed. The bird bit at the spider, and it fell back. Wisp narrowed her eyes. She pushed more aether into it, and the spider reformed. Charging again, it bit down on the bird. The bird squirmed and screamed. The spider latched on, biting deeper. In anger, the bird lifted its claws and shredded the spider apart.

Wisp flinched. The magic connecting her to the spider projection vanished. Only the bird remained. Letting out a feral cry, it darted toward them.

“Wisp!” Ike grabbed her shoulder, starting to push her back.

She stood firm. Glancing over her shoulder, she smiled. “It’s already my victory.”

The bird dropped down on them, but as it fell, its eyes went dull. Its body stiffened. Black magic coursed through its body, tearing it apart from the inside. The black magic burst out, and the red bird projection shattered.

“Venom?” Ike asked.

Wisp grinned. “I’m a spider, after all. I might be small, but my venom can kill things much larger!”

The Magpie King shouted in frustration. He glared down at them, circling angrily overhead. “I’m not done yet!”

Ike eyed him. The Magpie King remained a strong Rank 3, but his aether was weaker than before. “He’s almost done, isn’t he?”

Wisp nodded. “But he knows it. I bet he’s going to put his all into this last attack.”

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“He tired way faster than we do. Is that because he was using attacks over his Rank?”

She shrugged. “Could be. Everyone has their own individual aether capacity. It’s not necessarily linked to their overall power…though the higher Rank you get, the less likely you are to encounter people who don’t have massive aether capacities.”

Overhead, the Magpie King concentrated. A mass of white light grew in front of him, continuously growing stronger with every passing moment. Ike squinted up at it, shielding his eyes.

Glancing at Wisp, he nodded. “Because it’s hard to Rank up without having both massive strength and immense aether capacity.”

“You get it.”

“Yeah.” He looked at Wisp. “Should we brace for his attack?”

“If I had to choose, I’d rather disrupt it, but…” Wisp gestured at the man, hovering out of both of their reach.

“Oh? In that case, I have an idea.”

From on high, the Magpie King watched the small figures scurry about. The two of them were running around with such vigor, but it was all useless in the end. After his next attack, they’d be dead, and all their gold would be his.

A small pang of cold struck his heart, just half an ounce of hesitation. He frowned. Why would he hesitate? There was so much gold right in front of him. He’d never hesitated before. It wasn’t like he was lonely. He had his birds, and his gold, and…

He scowled. Pushing it aside, he lifted his hand. The white light intensified, reshaping into a dragon. The dragon coiled and spun, preparing to launch out at the small figures. “This is your last chance. Give me your gold, and I’ll let you go!”

Down below, Ike leaned back. Wisp stood on the far side of him, braced up against the top of the throne. With evident effort, Ike took another step back, only to stagger as something unseen pulled him forward.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Whenever you are,” Wisp said.

The Magpie King scoffed. “Whatever you’re trying to do, it’s too late! I—”

Threads twanged. Ike flew into the air as the spider thread slingshot snapped off. He held a Tempest in his hand, pointing it behind him to help accelerate him upward. In the blink of an eye, he reached the Magpie King.

“Wanna bet?” he asked, and pushed the Tempest directly against the boy’s chest.

The Magpie King had just enough time to look shocked before the Tempest expanded. It blew him back, tossing him out of the air. He curled in on himself and wrapped his wings around him. They shone like steel again, and the debris bounced off of them.

Ike hung in midair for a moment before he dropped back down. The Tempest battered him, too, but instead of thrashing against him, it fed the storms that wrapped around his body. His Storm Clad grew stronger, and with it, his strength grew as well.

Ike raised his brows. Interesting. It seems I haven’t discovered the upper limits of Storm Clad yet.

As the Magpie King fell backward, he released the dragon. It blasted off, cutting through the storm like a hot knife through butter. It closed in on Ike, jaw agape, teeth bared.

Grinning, Ike took a deep breath. He called the Tempest to him, feeding its energy back into Storm Clad. Why don’t I test those limits?

Tempest’s vicious winds thrashed against him. The storms whirling around him sped up in kind. Rain swirled around him, and lightning crashed, the thunder turning into a continuous rumble. He drew his sword and leaned into the attack. The storm crawled over his sword. Clouds coated the blade. Unlike with Lightning Clad, purple lightning didn’t flicker directly over his blade. Instead, they snapped from cloud to cloud, emanating fierce energy.

The dragon lunged. Ike began to fall, but even as he did, he swung his sword. The stormy blade met the dragon, and the white light clashed against the dark-purple light of the storm.

Let’s see who’s stronger. This attack that pushes into Rank 4, or my Storm Clad!