In one moment, I was appraising mom. In the next, she was right in front me thrusting a spear of ice straight at my face! I immediately dodged to the right and only barely made it far enough that the spear cut a thin line on my cheek. Before mom could pull her spear back, her shin slammed directly onto my face, sending me flying with a powerful roundhouse kick.
The world spun as I slammed into the grass like a skipping rock, where I barely managed to slow myself down to a halt by using [Destined Collision] on myself and the ground. Just as I stood up, dozens of ice spears like the one that impaled the Frost Eagle already flew halfway across the meadow to me.
I flew high into the sky and transformed into my base humanoid form – I was in my pajamas and my scales and wings would bring me some much-needed defensive value. Just as I flew over the spears, mom appeared overhead and slammed me down with a powerful punch to the snout.
“What’s wrong, Kiara? Why aren’t you attacking me? Are you some kind of masochist?” she taunted as she summoned another wave of spears and launched them my way.
“I don’t want to hurt you!” I yelled out, my voice filled with trepidation.
I zig-zagged in my flight path in an effort to dodge the spears coming my way. Mom laughed out loud, but there was no mirth in her voice.
“You think you can hurt me? You’re not in a position to worry about your opponent!”
In an instant, the spears that were hurtling my way began moving about erratically, their pathways no longer predictable. In mere moments, I was surrounded on all sides by the weapons, and they would make dragon skewers out of me if I didn’t do something.
Just before the first spear reached me, I activated [Almighty Push]. An invisible sphere of force emerged around me, effortlessly pushing away the spears and the dirt beneath my feet alike. The spears were crushed by the impact between my invincible shield and their own terrifying momentum.
In a flash, before my skill had even reached the halfway mark, mom was already hurtling towards me with a raised fist. She crashed into the sphere with a powerful punch and broke through it.
“Wha-?!” I yelled in shock, though I was interrupted by mom contorting her stance into a powerful kick that sent me flying once again.
My health had already dropped to a single health point, forcing me to rely on my mana pool instead – and that was being consumed by mom’s attacks even faster than my own skills!
“You’re not going to last long if you don’t fight back! Is this all you’ve got?!”
Fine, mother. If you want a fight so badly, I’ll give you one!
Mom wasn’t waiting for me to land and was already flying my way to follow up on her own strike. I summoned an [Orb of Devouring] and threw it her way.
The space between us turned blue, as if everything in it except mom was only permitted to freeze in place. When she reached the orb, she backhanded it contemptuously, destroying it with ease as she continued to rapidly close the distance between us.
How the abyss was she dismantling my skills like they were nothing but cheap parlor tricks, and what was I supposed to do about it?!
I activated [Force Lord] at -20 times the force of gravity on mom, sending her flying rapidly over my head and buying me some time. At least she can’t just punch her way out of this on-
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I didn’t even finish the thought before I felt my skill being forcibly deactivated and removed from mom, who was already flying my way once again. I flew away as I tried to think about a way out of this.
Why is she not casting more spells and choosing to engage me in melee range? She can just bury me in ranged spells from a comfortable distance.
My mind raced as I cast some basic fireball spells towards mom in an effort to buy time. She didn’t even bother to dodge them as they dissipated harmlessly against her skin.
My MP was already down to the 50,000 mark, and at this rate it was going to r-
“That’s it! I am a mana elemental and you’re not!” I blurted out loud.
Mom showed the barest hint of a smile.
“Good, you’re finally starting to think of your advantages against me. But if you think that’s enough to put you on equal footing with me, you’re sorely mistaken!” she yelled, her speed rapidly multiplying as she whistled through the air and reached me in no time.
“[Almigh-” I was immediately sent flying before I could finish casting my skill.
Still, I ignored the damage and rapidly began manually casting all the attack spells I knew. I even began summoning a number of orbs of devouring and tossed them mom’s way.
Surrounded on all sides by hostile spells, it was mom’s turn to be forced to do something about it. Instantly, she summoned an armor of frost over herself, with only a tiny slit in her icy helmet showing any hint of her body. All of my spells broke against her armor, with mom only dodging the orbs I threw haphazardly her way.
I activated [Destined Collision] on her and the closest orb she’d just dodged, but mom was already one step ahead of me and crushed the spell the moment I placed it on her. A furious armored warrior was upon me with a fist drawn back, but that was exactly where I wanted her.
Just before her fist crashed into my face, I activated [Ensnaring Domain Field]. The world groaned and space began to warp.
“Not so fast!” mom yelled, and I felt her will smashing straight into mine.
My head jerked back in surprise, and my skill was overwhelmed before it could be cast. Mom slammed her arm straight into my neck, sending me flipping a dozen times away before I crashed into the ground. I got up and flew away just in time to avoid mom crashing at my landing spot, creating a massive crater in the process.
This wasn’t good. She wasn’t using mana quickly enough, and mine was already back to a normal person’s level. I had to even the playing field somehow, and fortunately, I had just the right skill for the job.
As the icy, armored knight rushed at me with a raised gauntlet, I cast [Mana Commandeering] to reduce mom’s mana and replenish my own at the same time.
“Hah, you think you can wrestle my own mana away from me?! Naïve!”
Mom’s mana wrapped tightly around her, refusing to budge so much as an inch out of her core. I didn’t even have time to gape before mom put her hands together and slammed them down on my head, sending me crashing down.
I coughed and tried to get up, only for mom to slam into my stomach.
[Abyssal Cockroach] activated!
Mom held a spear of frost to my throat as I laid in the crater my body formed.
“This fight is over.” She said, though it was more of a statement than a threat.
I laid down and relaxed, though thankfully, [Pain Immunity] had shielded me from any hurt throughout the fight. The torn-up meadow faded as the domain field was released, returning us to the front lawn of our home.
My pajamas were torn up to shreds, and mom’s armor faded. She stood up and tossed a robe over me, giving me a chance to wear something else.
“I knew you were much stronger than I was, but I didn’t think I would be completely helpless. Did I even deal a single point of damage against you?” I asked tiredly.
“…Well, you did stall me for quite a while longer than anyone would expect you to. Most at your level could only dream of being crushed in seconds.” She answered.
I sighed and laid back down on the grass.
“That’s only because I was a mana elemental, and you had to go through nearly a hundred thousand HP, with powerful regeneration to boot. Still, I didn’t expect all of my new class skills to be overpowered so easily. What’s the point in reaching a high rarity evolution and class if they can be ignored like a gust of wind?”
“There, there. Don’t sell yourself short, you did well. Now get up so we can review what went wrong, as well as how and why I got around each of your abilities. We’ve still got a long day.”
I froze.
“Wait, what do you mean?” I asked, though I was afraid I already knew the answer to that.
A smirk found its way to mom’s face.
“What, did you think that was the only fight we were going to have today? Oh, my sweet summer child, bless your heart.”
I groaned. Today was going to be one long, long day.