I knew I'd lose in a battle of Water versus Water, so I shifted my alignment to Fire as I figured it was the directly opposed element. I hesitantly ordered a [Flammable] cast; my concern was that she could pull a Trixie and eat my debuffs. Simultaneously, I prepared two [Fireball] spells that promptly promoted to the superior blue flame.

The lake quivered, erupting with multiple water geysers, a testament to her power. However, unlike the [Torrent] spell, these lacked velocity, and despite their superior numbers, I deftly maneuvered through them. The combination of [Enchanted Wings] and [Aerial Finesse] proved to be a game-changer, enabling me to dodge and weave with precision.

'Finally, I can use the pegasi tactics for my benefit!'

With my two spells ready and no sign of my debuff being countered, I launched them in opposite trajectory arcs, anticipating a collision and explosion if the undine dodged. To my surprise, she raised her hand and conjured a large water barrier instead of evading, a likely modification of the [Bubble] spell.

'I suppose I can't assume that she only slept and passively leveled. That would be far too convenient.'

When my spells collided with the barrier, the fiery blue explosion was massive, completely obscuring our vision of each other. I hastily cast another two spells, this time from above and well outside her aura range, then fired them downward, hoping for a good [Sneak Attack].

The duo of explosions boomed through the surroundings, flame erupting again. I mentally grouped my [Sub-Cores] into two groups while keeping Alpha as my dedicated helper. I ordered one group to cycle through all my debuffs while the other group's task was to repeatedly form and hold a [Fireball] at the ready. At the same time, I borrowed [Inferno Sac], formed three organs in myself, and began channeling mana into them while I performed an aerial charge.

My mind raced. It had been a long time since I had tried so many simultaneous actions at once, even with delegating to my helpers. Whether by instinct or dumb luck, I sensed the large buildup of mana just in time to dodge to the side as a tiny beam of water jetted out and parted the smoke cloud. It was aimed at my center of mass, but thanks to my dodge, it struck against one of my arms, eviscerating it nearly entirely.

'Since when could water do something like this?'

The parted smoke revealed a very angry and upset undine, her facial features contorted into a nasty snarl. Her body was simmering, with vast amounts of steam leaking. Before I reached her, I witnessed her spell this time, the tiniest ball of water forming at the tip of her finger before firing another tiny beam of water aimed directly at my head. [Tranquil Flow] triggered, and my head retracted inside of myself, allowing the dangerous spell to pass by me.

The shock on her face was priceless, and that was when I reached her. I erupted with flame and also, point-blank, fired the prepared spell. Her water platform rapidly shifted with unparalleled speed, covering her entirely with almost a second layer of skin and making me think of slime.

Trying to seal the deal, I tried to cut into them as tendrils burst from my form, each armed with a different weapon or claw, and I tried to slice into her. Unfortunately, my tentacle armaments passed straight through the undine, her body taking on a watery constitution similar to my slime as she plummeted toward the lake.

I knew she was still alive; there was no notification yet, and I tried to blast her with as many fire spells as I could, even swapping over to [Fire Arrow] for speed and precision. Countless blue flame arrows struck against her form, each taking out a chunk of her visible mana, but not enough to seal the deal before she fell into the lake.

"Shit. So close," Trixie cursed.

The lake trembled again, the level diminishing rapidly and the water losing some of its crystal clarity. Then, a large sphere of water began to emerge from the lake, with Aquillia in the center. I wasted no time blasting it with a few [Fireballs], causing massive clouds of steam to burst from it, but it replenished itself directly from the lake faster than I could boil it.

"I must say I'm almost impressed. Who knew you were actually a Fire spirit in disguise? You would have easily defeated me if I wasn't in my domain." Aquillia said in a taunting manner via telepathy. Any wounds or burns she had previously seemed entirely gone.

Trixie looked like she wanted to say something but seemed forced into silence.

"Your mana levels are certainly something else, but Water is supreme in a battle of attrition. Even the mightiest mountain can be carved away with the power of Water!" Aquillia continued her mocking ramble. "Poor Trixie, if only you could have found a Lightning spirit instead, maybe you'd have a chance; now you'll just have to watch as I make your champion submit."

She was building up a vast quantity of mana, and I recognized the spell as [Rain Cloud]. I lobbed a few more [Fireball] spells at her sphere, but it seemed the Dewi method wasn't enough. Her spell went off, and the sky darkened as the floating island became blanketed in dark rain clouds. After a pregnant pause, the heavens broke, and rain began to pour down.

It was certainly impressive, truly showing her pinnacle of [Water Magic], but I couldn't puzzle together why she did it. I knew she could likely use it as another Water source to save on mana, pulling it directly rather than apparating it, but she had an entire lake at her disposal. When I tossed my next [Fireball] at it and saw its result looked slightly weakened, I was giving a possible answer. I flicked through to [Mana Conception] and saw the entire area was now rich in Water mana.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Well. I guess I shouldn't use Fire anymore..." I chuckled.

"Quite. I thought it would be prudent to snuff your flame of hope. I offer you a chance of surrender if you renounce your support of Trixie." Aquillia said with the utmost confidence.

I chuckled and triggered [Decay] on her. She had every debuff I had available except for [Permeable]. Just like the salamander, I was shocked that I could, in fact, apply her own elemental debuff to her, but it vanished almost instantly. It seemed similar to Trixie; Aquillia could also eat mana but was limited to Water. She visibly staggered as the spell went off, a look of abject hatred and horror for a mere moment before she seemed to promptly regain herself.

"Well. Shit. That didn't work." I muttered.

Trixie gave me a questioning look, and Aquillia just laughed.

"Good try. I assume that was your final trump card?" Aquillia said as if expecting me to give up now.

"I wouldn't say final..." I responded and triggered [Elemental Shift] to Ice and sneakily recasting [Frigid]. My other debuffs seemed redundant, and I would fully embrace Ice now, even activating [Cryo Slime].

Aquillia's laughter stopped, and she stared at me in absolute shock. Trixie was now smiling but still remaining uncharacteristically silent.

"What the hell are you?" She demanded. "First Water, then Fire, now Ice?"

Instead of responding with words, I responded with magic. Abruptly forming five of my newly minted [Icicle] spells and firing them at her. They struck against her giant sphere in detached locations, and the water began freezing.

There was a brief flash of unease across her face before, with a wave of her hand, her sphere violently ejected the foreign magic. She glared with a new burning hatred in her eyes.

"You dare contaminate my water with your filth? I retract my offer. You'll die here and now." She snarled.

There was an intense, sudden fluctuation of mana when three of those tiny beams of water burst from the sphere, targeting different portions of my body. I managed to dodge two, but the final beam bisected my lower torso almost entirely and sent it plummeting below. I hastily withdrew slime, regenerated the lost portion, and cast [Ice Armor], hoping for another layer of defense.

I kept trading blows with her by firing [Icicle] spells, but she would eject it as soon as it began freezing over. Returning to [Tranquil Flow], I hoped to aid my dodging of her deadly water lasers, but the speed and quantity she was outputting quickly became too much even for me. I kept losing limbs, watching them plummet below, and an extremely unlucky beam struck Gamma, tore through its [Arcane Armor], and shattered it in a near instant.

<[Sub-Core Gamma] has been destroyed. Rest to recover.>

I had a brief flash of anger but managed to narrowly suppress it. Instead of trying to dodge with my body, I put extra emphasis on my cores dodging out of the way, as my slime was far more expendable than a core.

I spread out my six tendrils from my back like spider limbs. I ordered a consistent barrage of [Slime Shot], in addition to my [Icicle] spells, hoping to overwhelm her ability to eject the frozen projectiles. My plan was working! Suddenly, Aquillia stopped firing her deadly beams and focused on defending herself. As if to dissuade me from celebrating early, her sphere began violently churning like a whirlpool. Suddenly, my attempts to freeze her sphere seemed greatly diminished, and any ice chunks became ground up into a slurry.

"Ha! Nice try, but as long as I do this, I'm safe from your freezing." She taunted with her regained momentum.

I glanced at Trixie, who seemed to be gazing downward instead of looking at us. I curiously followed her gaze and saw large chunks of ice in the lake below me. It took no time for me to puzzle out the answer; anytime my slime body was obliterated, it fell below and was still made up of [Cryo Slime]. I immediately knew what I needed to do.

I ordered all my cores to extract, pulling from my vast stockpile of slime, starting with my segmented reserve of [Cryo Slime]. My body began to swell rapidly, losing shape and form, and even forming multiple copies of wings was not enough to keep me airborne.

"What? What are you doing!?" Aquillia shouted. What she witnessed greatly disturbed her, and it seeped through the telepathic conversation.

Trying my best not to plummet into the lake, I began sectioning off segments of slime, dropping the payload below. With varying built-up pressure, I also triggered [Slime Burst] to scatter my slime both near and far.

Aquillia began to laugh nervously, "Trixie, I think your champion is self-destructing. It's truly a pathetic last resort."

Trixie said nothing, still staring below, and instead gave a rather sadistic smirk; Aquillia instantly became unsettled and then also followed the pixie's gaze.

Aquillia screeched, almost on par with a harpy. "Stop! Stop defiling my lake! You vile monstrosity!"

I expected her to start attacking me, but instead, she began trying to churn the entire lake she did her sphere. However, I could see she was losing the battle this time as my slime seemed to swirl amongst the water without easily losing its cold temperature. The cost was great, but I was determined to win this battle.

With her distracted, I stopped vomiting copious amounts of slime and instead cast [Glacial Aura] from all my cores and charged at her. I swelled more in size and thrust all my tendrils into her sphere. She finally noticed me and screamed.

The water lasers were rapidly fired, and she even attempted another new spell I had never seen before; she sliced as if wielding a blade with a continuous beam that cut through me like butter, but as long as it didn't hit a core, it would just be distributing more of my frosty slime.

Through the combined effort of my [Glacial Aura] and [Cryo Slime], with the occasional [Frost Grasp], her sphere finally began icing over. She was shrieking in hysterical rage as the frost crept toward her like an unstoppable assassin.

She started begging and pleading, but I ignored her. I presumably couldn't stop the assault now, even if I wanted to. When the ice reached her, I saw in real time as her mana began to deplete at a rapid pace. [Life Sight] showed nothing, but I expected as much for a spirit as a being of mana. When her mana reached a dangerously low level, the pure water mana began to be corrupted with ice, as if it no longer held the strength to prevent the taint from spreading.

With a last dying gasp, she froze entirely and abruptly burst into a sparkle of impossibly bright mana.

<14 Skill Points are now available.>