Chapter 223: Against the Goddess of War pt 2.
Arkadia shook, the grounds trembled, the mountains groaned, and the skies vibrated with mana particles scurrying to and fro as a pillar of light emerged from a singular point and cleaved a trench across half the visible planet before escaping off into the void.
"This fight might break Arkadia again, I never imagined I would see this kind of power from anyone aside from you, Master Vestic." Renia mused in shock seeing Arla recover from her [Pulsar] and watching Dina stumble forward after her attack had blown Dr'ul away and out of sight.
"Haah~" Dina hissed mana and cleared her throat casting [minor heal] on her lips after [Cosmic Scream] had left them dry and cracked. "Not enough." She commented looking at Arla who held a worried expression glancing back at her.
"Far from it, I can only grow when I've exhausted all other options, and I am far from optionless and exhaustion!" She exclaimed sucking in another breath and held it in anticipation while Arla leapt away from her and stood still with her right hand above her left and a small blue orb of mana hovering between her palms.
"I think I have a feeling of where I need to keep this fight now." Dr'ul came walking through the giant trench of fire, holding up her hand and revealing a burn mark on the forearm of her armour.
"Something of this level easily surpassed the abilities of a mere mortal, to put it bluntly, not even Sol at this stage in his evolution was that strong, Dina Levina, you are a prodigy gifted with both luck and incredible skill." She clenched her fist and then looked at Arla not leaving her out since she knew the elf had a rather annoying and hard-to-deal-with arsenal of attacks at her disposal as well.
"Now the real fight can start." The goddess slowed down to a looming hunch and then sped off towards Arla, and as she suspected just a moment before she could lay a hand on the elf she vanished from before her appearing several hundred feet away where a mana circle was planted on the ground and then upon trying again her sense of balance was thrown off and she was sent tunnelling through the ground on her heels.
"One has the ability to instantaneously send anything away as long as she makes contact once, and the other has the power to change the kinetic force of anything in whatever direction she wills it, the only option left for me without destroying the entire planet to get to them is-" Find adventures at m v lem|p-yr
Dr'ul stopped crashing and vanished again causing Dina and Arla to snap in shock when she appeared behind Dina and caught the edge of her cape, spinning with her and slamming her into the ground.
Dina guarded her head with her hands keeping her teeth grit as her brain was shaken when the force of Dr'ul's barbaric tactic travelled through her body and back.
"I have to move faster than they can cast their magic!" Dr'ul released Dina, spinning again and kicking at her, but as expected she vanished in a flash of light via Arla's teleportation magic, except when Arla's eyes tracked where the goddess was supposed to reappear she was missing instead there was a violent explosion of mana and Dr'ul emerged from where she originally was with Dina continuing her kick before the mage could recover from the first attack.
"How!?" Arla broke her stance cancelling the mana circle beneath her feet and reached out with small mana circles appearing around each wrist, like a net had been cast Dina hit an invisible barrier that slowed her cascade across the terrain before she disappeared and appeared at Arla's side once more.
"What a pestilential technique." Dr'ul frowned seeing the dynamic the two had set up; by themselves, they could hold their own respectively, but as they worked together it was clear that without fully immobilising one of them they could always rely on the other to pull some rabbit out of a hat and disorient the enemy long enough to recreate their dup formation.
"I figured you two would work well together as you are teacher and student, but this level of single-mindedness is fascinating, it almost feels like..." Dr'ul's eyes widened as she was struck with a wave of realisation.
"She figured it out." Sol commented, watching Dr'ul's cheeks redden and her hair start flowing with flames again.
"I see, how intriguing, how interesting!" She cackled and summoned a golden staff in her hand.
"Those brightly shining marks on your bodies which resemble Ikaris's must also mean you are completely connected with Sol, which means you can communicate privately, you have been coordinating with each other this entire time, as long as it is within reason you would be some level ahead of me!" Dr'ul began laughing as she spun the staff creating powerful gusts that began tearing away at the terrain around them.
"Amazing, forget allowing you the time to cast, I cannot even allow you the time to think, I must surpass the speed at which your trained and perceptive minds can fire off ideas!" She continued laughing and then suddenly vanished, catching Arla by her head and then extending her staff to Dina but instead of aiming directly for her she aimed the staff to the side making a feint as she swung away from Dina, and with Arla's mind occupied with breaking from her grip and dina focused on the attack the mage made her first mistake and used [inversion] in the wrong direction resulting in the staff coming back and slamming into her side.
While she did realise her mistake and reacted fast enough to block the weapon with her hand the force alone caused the bone in her arm to fracture leaving her screaming in pain and casting [Heal] on herself as she was blown away by the residual force of the staff.
"And you-" Dr'ul spun the staff with one hand and started descending with it at Arla's abdomen, but again she was whisked away.
For a moment the elf thought she had avoided the attack, but as Dr'ul was sent a distance away her peripheral caught sight of a gold and her head slowly turned while her fingers swerved after she failed to block the staff which Dr'ul had left behind after pretending to swing but had a really thrown it leaving no contact between herself and the object when she was eventually teleported away.
"Fu-CK!!" Arla cursed when the blunt staff slammed into her ribcage and planted her firmly into the ground sending massive hills' worth of rock and debris high in the air muffling her screams as the staff caught aflame and exploded much like Dina's [Mana Spear] would.
"I am impressed." Dr'ul appeared above another magic circle daintily and landed on her toes watching Dina's cascade end in the side of an uprooted tree root the size of a hill, and Arla's crash ended with a blast of crimson fire like a tower in the air. "Hm... more?" Dr'ul stared at both ends curiously when she felt their mana signatures weaken and then simultaneously begin rising.
"You two, hold on this is supposed to be a test and educational-" Dr'ul stopped talking and zipped to the side as fast as lightning when from Arla and Dina's ends two [Pulsars] shredded everything in their path and almost hit her.
"Are you listening to me?" Dr'ul summoned her staff again and started swaying away what felt like an endless wave of [Mana Spears] and [Origin Explosions] coming from Dina's side while she felt Arla's mana continue rising until the crimson fire her explosion had caused was entirely blown away revealing Arla racing towards her at full speed.
"They are too invested to stop just yet." Sol smiled with Ikaris nodding in agreement.
"Indeed, Cosmic scream which I believe is more than even Sorath could handle safely was supposed to be her limit but she has pushed past that blockade and entered a state of heightened combat awareness, it would be a shame to see her stop right on the cusp of breaking her limiters once more," Ikaris commented.
"And Arla has seemingly endless potential as well, she only needed the power to support her crazy, inventive and ever-expanding arsenal of skills."
"A direct approach?" Dr'ul watched Arla closely as she made a direct line towards her, through debris, thrust dust and flames, the elf blew everything away in her approach, and then when she was only a few metres away she vanished using [godspeed] blindsiding Dr'ul who had not expected such a bold attack from a mage who specialised in supportive skills and healing magic and swinging with a kick directed at her leg.
"Not fast enough."
Dr'ul barely turned and began dropping her staff in an attempt to block the kick which to her was both weak and slow, but when her eyes settled on what was supposed to be Arla she found a floating rock in her place.
She never expected to be at a disadvantage, but for some reason after being constantly surprised and blindsided by the pair the goddess; whilst still many times superior in all fields, felt hesitation and intimidation as she couldn't get a grasp of what kind of tactic they came up with while they were in the middle of an ongoing battle.
"What the...!" Dr'ul spun again finding Arla right before her with her palm struck out and inches away from touching her, but once again the attack in her eyes from a support mage was sloppy and slow.
Dr'ul spun out of Arla's way and grabbed at her, but missed on account of the mage vanishing and returning on the opposite side again.
There was no trigger, there were no tells or gestures, the elf was casting the technique without words or circles and it made her hard to predict as it quickly became a game of "tag" with Dr'ul becoming restless and impatient when she realised that Arla's combined technique with godspeed made her almost impossible to touch while she used them in tandem, and then on het last grab after Arla vanished and Dr'ul spun to try catching her again she was met with Dina's image holding on to Arla's hand.
There was something strange about the mage though, all the available mana she could sense from her had gathered in her right hand and just like Arla, she was making a direct assault.
[Inversion]
Ikaris cast her skill against Dr'ul throwing her off balance as she was suddenly flipped upside down, but she had expected such a move and immediately countered with a downward kick towards Dina's head, though her vision blurred when she was hit with [Inversion] multiple times in one place causing her to flip and teleport without moving an inch throwing her senses off completely before Dina's hand pressed on her exposed stomach and heat she had never expected began pushing against her flesh.
[Divinity has been passively activated, you have achieved a new stage of evolition]
[Dina Levina: Demigod (active)]
"Haaaahh...!" Dina flashed her head wildly from side to side as her hair became pink from the roots to the tips with a bright glow while she put the full remainder of her vast quantities of mana into this one attack and Arla disappeared once more.
Dr'ul's eyes refocused in shock when she sensed the abnormal scale of what was about to happen, and from her seat on D'ol observing Ikaris stared shocked as well when she sensed the familiar buildup and expulsion of arcane flames.
"INCINERATION-MAXIMUM!!"