Maintaining Hela's dominion was incredibly taxing. Lisa's large mana reserves and her spiritual compatibility with Giselle allowed the duo to, to some extent, fuse skills and exchange energies. This allowed for the support type Giselle to use an offensive spell like Niflheim Burst. [1]
"We need to defeat her now while Francis is away, otherwise, if we lose while she is by herself, that would be no different from implying that the two of us are inferior to her alone!" Lisa hardened her resolve and she prepared her next attack. Lisa was quite prideful and believed herself to be an unmatched cultivator. Her self-esteem was tied directly to her ability to battle. The more she believed in herself, the stronger she became and Giselle used this trait to the fullest.
"Francis may not be around, but she still has worthy partners. A couple in particular are annoying." Said Giselle after a brief glance to her side.
Lisa nodded, "Alison may not be able to defeat Gianluigi, but her Space attribute is perfect for restraining momentum-type fighters like him. She should be able to hold him off for a while longer. These Spectralians are mainly for support. The Twin Crescent moons are fatigued so we don't need to worry about them as much."
Giselle shook her head and said, "They are not the ones that worry me."
Lisa turned her attention to Giselle for a moment and looked at her line of sight. Giselle was looking at the distant chanting Lyra. Since the beginning of the battle, Lyra had been chanting nonstop and focusing his mana on a large spell that the duo could not yet identify.
The fact that he was being allowed to chat for so long without being disturbed made all four maidens very uncomfortable, but their plates were already full because of the trio attacking them.
"Natasha wouldn't allow a useless variable to act freely in such an important battle. You know that the longer the chant, the more complex the spell. Not to mention…" Giselle shifted her line of sight to the nearby Will who remained in a clash with Sophia.
Lisa also frowned as she looked at Lyra and Will. Giselle continued on, "The water blade that swordsman unleashed upon us, the one he keeps calling back and attaching to his sword. I am sure you have already noticed how every time he calls it back, it becomes stronger. Not only that but it is filled with complex concepts that make our attacks seem ordinary."
Waterblade was a simple skill by nature, hence it was easy to apply concepts to it. Will's water blade did not dissipate and came back stronger each time. This meant that it was a conceptual attack that was becoming stronger with time! This made up for the weakness all level 99 users had; which was applying concepts to high-level skills. Thus Will's ability to apply concepts to a weak skill and gradually increase that skill's level with time was an alternative path to achieving a high-level skill with concepts.
Lisa tilted her head as she pondered this. Giselle continued her explanation after seeing her partner's reaction, "If it's like this then why has he not used it since his battle with Sophia has reached its peak? Sophia is stalling for time so her use of low-level skills is understandable. So why isn't that Swordsman attacking with his strongest skill?"
The conclusion Lisa reached caused her to feel a chill, "Then it means he is either stalling for time or waiting for an opportunity to use this skill?"
Giselle closed her eyes in contemplation and sighed, "I'm afraid that's the case. That man's long chant and this swordsman's water blade. They are making me very uncomfortable."
Lisa was about to reply when Giselle spoke up, "Wait, something is wrong!'
Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
Lisa looked back in confusion, prompting Giselle to explain herself. Giselle didn't immediately reply. Instead, she gazed at the area where their blizzard had gone.
"Natasha should have retaliated faster. We have had too much time to talk."
Lisa immediately turned her attention back to Natasha's location. This was indeed the case. Natasha de Ligt was known for her strength and mana reserves.
'There is no way an ordinary Niflheim Burst from a level 99 user could cause her damage. Even if it did, it should not have been affected so easily.' Lisa surmised. Lisa was battle crazy and straightforward in nature, but she was no fool and had a rather sharp instinct.
The duo narrowed their eyes as they tried to understand what was happening around them. Giselle used her Hela's Dominion to collect all the information she could about the area around Natasha but she came up with nothing.
"We have a problem. I can't sense the area around Natasha." Giselle's distressed tone caused Lisa no small amount of discomfort, what's wrong?
"I have made an error. Hela's Dominion is a spell from the Niflheim Series. But Niflheim Burst is also a spell from the Niflheim Series. By casting Niflheim Burst inside Hela's Dominion, I've created darkness within darkness.
It took a moment for Lisa to understand Natasha's words, but after a moment she started to understand what she meant. All Frozen Asgard Arts fell under three categories. The Asgard Series was inspired by Divine Energy, the Jotunheim Series was inspired by Frost/Negative Energy, and the Niflheim Series was inspired by Darkness/Space type energy.
Darkness within darkness was an error often made by cultivators that had the space and darkness attribute. If one's mana control was pure, then they could be affected by their own spell. Hela's Dominion was a darkness-type domain with suppressive abilities. Niflheim Burst was also of the Darkness attribute despite its large show of frost and snow.
The darkness element within the Niflheim Burst she cast was interfering with the darkness element within her Hela's Dominion. This was the so-called Darkness within darkness. Lisa could not help but shudder at the thought of what this implied.
'It's unusual for Giselle to make such an error. Her control over mana is usually superb. What's causing this? Is it her state of mind?'
The area surrounding Natasha should have become a frozen wasteland, but instead, it was a ball of ice and snow constantly revolving around a certain radius like a whirlpool from the frozen depths of Hel.
"Attacking me with a spell from the Niflheim Series even though you know Francis is my partner. I don't know if I should call you brave or naïve."
Natasha's calm voice entered the ears of the two maidens. They could not help but look in shock as the ball that surrounded Natasha started to expand in size. The Darkness attribute energy within pulsated as the ball grew to become dozens of meters wide within seconds. The ball of ice and snow floated above the ground, revealing Natasha's small form.
"I have to thank you for giving me time to set this up. If you had not prattled on for so long it would not have been as easy to set this up."
Giselle figured out what was happening as she saw the large sphere being held up by a slender arm that seemed so fragile it was hard to believe it could hold a brick. Natasha held the large ball of ice and snow above her head and smirked.
"Francis always tries to use these spells on me, so I've already come up with counters."
Giselle clicked her tongue in frustration as she realized what happened. Francis van der Merwe wasn't just a Valkyrie Candidate, she was also known for having a high affinity for the Niflheim Series. Niflheim Burst was one of her favourite spells. As Francis and Natasha were partners, they were no doubt familiar with each other's skills.
Lisa swallowed saliva and said, "Natasha hijacked your Niflheim Burst and has turned it into a Niflheim Collapse!" [2]
Niflheim Collapse was one of the strongest darkness-type spells a Frozen Asgard Practitioner could use. It could be seen as a large ball of concentrated Negative energy boosted by the darkness element.
"This isn't possible! Your affinity for the darkness element shouldn't be strong enough for you to create a Niflheim Collapse." Shouted Lisa in despair.
"Ask your partner, she seems like she understands." Lisa did not need to look behind to know that Giselle had indeed figured out what had happened. "Natasha cannot start the spell, but she can hijack it and modify it. Her Darkness element talent is weak, but conversely, her negative energy and frost energy talents are savant level. She just needs to modify the yin and frost energies within Niflheim Burst. To create a Niflheim Collapse."
"Using one element to manipulate another…Elemental Conversion!" [3]