Point-of-View: Azyl Roake

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This one doesn't seem like one of the weak Silvland troops...but then, who is he? He isn't fast enough to escape my ice, but he's strong enough to keep shattering it with that axe over and over without getting tired. Well, no matter, I'm just getting started here, after all...

"Tch, so annoying, knock it off already!" He snapped, as he swung his axe down at a wave of ice I sent towards him, shattering it with the shockwave upon impact.

His weapon is powerful alright, but his raw physical strength is the real problem, not to mention that his body is really tough too, every time I tried to freeze his feet, he broke free from my ice pretty easily...I can't let him get anywhere near me with that brute force, I should finish him off quickly. I'm already laying the groundwork for that...so to speak.

I formed several icicle projectiles all around me, before firing them at him, having them spread out and surround him before converging in on him simultaneously. He raised and swung his axe down, slamming it onto the ground and sending out a powerful shockwave, shattering the icicles and windows of the surrounding buildings, I braced myself with ice behind my feet to maintain my balance, as he suddenly shot towards me with his axe raised...big mistake, time for me to get serious now.

Icicle Forest Bloom!

As he began to close in, tall, towering ice spikes burst up all around me, spreading out further and further rapidly. He brought the flat side of his axe in front of himself defensively with a look of alarm, as an icicle burst up from under him and shot up, striking his axe and rapidly lifting him up into the air.

I then extended out branching spikes from all the massive icicles straight towards him, as leapt off the side of the one he was on, swinging his axe around rapidly to shatter the ice, though he couldn't avoid getting grazed and nicked several times by my attacks. I'm still not quite going all out, but still, even Kuro at full power has trouble against me at this level.

And this guy is keeping my attacks at bay with nothing but brute strength. But it's over for him now. As he landed on the ground, I swiftly froze his feet and rapidly extended the ice up, restraining his entire lower half in the blink of an eye, before slowly freezing his legs so that they'd reach the same temperature as the ice...in other words, if he tries to shatter the ice, he'll shatter his legs too. I win.

Oh, and I'm freezing them slower than usual, so that it'll be a lot more painful...and by his expression, looks like it's working. He began to try to struggle, before stiffening and stopping...he's realized that his upper half will just snap off if he moves around too much. Now, then, I'll slowly extend the ice up and freeze the rest of him bit by bit, before shattering him into pieces...

"Damn it, you bastard! Don't think I'm finished just yet!" He suddenly exclaimed, raising his axe, which expanded rapidly, "Take this, Labrys Devastation!"

I don't like the look of that...the moment he swung the axe down, I swiftly formed several walls of ice in front of me, as a massively powerful shockwave burst towards me, hitting my ice defense with a devastating impact and shattering the walls like they were made of glass. I gritted my teeth and focused, channeling my Mana as fast as possible to fortify my ice walls as much as possible, forming new ones almost instantly after his attack shattered the existing ones.

No way...I'm slowing his attack down, but I can't stop it...I'm down to one ice wall...damn it, hold for just a little longer...my last wall then cracked...and shattered. I hurriedly formed a sphere of water around Rion and I, manipulating the surface tension to make it springy, right at the shockwave burst through my last ice wall and struck my water sphere, sending it flying back and crashing onto a building, though it remaining intact.

Okay, lesson learned...don't rely too much on ice, sometimes water is more suited to certain situations. That was really close...

"I-I'm...I'm not done yet!" He yelled suddenly, raising his axe again.

Wrong, you're done, you just don't know it...I'll just freeze the rest of his body and kill him before he gets to fire that attack ag-...I wasn't able to finish that thought, as Rai suddenly appeared right in front of him, a blindingly bright and massive amount of lightning around the blade of his scythe, so much so that the metal wasn't even visible, it looked like a blade made of pure lightning...

"Lightning Reaper!" Exclaimed Rai, swinging the scythe towards his waist...in the next instant, a loud crackle echoed out like a clap of thunder, as the lightning expanded and sparked violently, streaks of lightning bursting out as Rai slashed him in half before he could react.

He must have used a Stealth barrier to charge up his scythe and sneak towards the enemy without being noticed, and then waited for an opening to get close and strike him. I could have finished him off myself, but this is fine too. I then felt a tap on my foot, before turning to see Rion struggling to breathe...oops, I almost forgot.

I can actually stay underwater for a really long time...probably an effect of my Anima. I broke the ball of water that was holding us, and he let out a gasp and inhaled deeply as I did, before wincing in pain, his body trembling and shivering. Is he cold or in pain? Probably both...

I took out a healing spell and used it on him, while converting all the frost and puddles in the surrounding area into steam, warming up the air.

"Thanks, man...I thought I was a goner before you showed up," Said Rion with a weak smile.

"No...I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner," I replied with a shake of my head.

I had been just about to leave from home when suddenly, dozens of Silvland troops were right outside. I made sure to hold them back and let the civilians, including my and Key's parents, evacuate with the help of the Volunteers, before killing all the enemies over there and using a teleportation spell to get over here.

We had only registered about a third of the Mana signatures of the Rustlands' population with the protective spell that we were working on, so we hadn't yet put up that barrier around the nation, though we had managed to implement the one for the castle, so the king and everyone else who's important when it comes to the political side of things should be safe. But the rest of the Rustlands is still very much in danger...

"Let's go...that guy was really strong, if there are more like him, then there's a good chance that more people need help," I remarked as we walked over to Rai.

"Yeah, good point...and besides, I'm more than a little pissed off right now, let's go destroy these fuckers," Replied Rion, an icy rage burning in his eyes.

"Hey, guys...Az, can I borrow your healing spell?" Asked Rai, walking towards me with a slight wince.

"Sure, here you go," I handed it to him, as Rion walked towards the corpse of the enemy we'd killed.

"If this guy has any friends, they'll probably realize what happened to him if they see me carrying his weapon, right? I'll cut down anyone who reacts to it, they can join this bastard in hell," He remarked, reaching down and picking up the axe.

Suddenly, a shockwave burst out from it, causing Rai and I to stumble back, while Rion had an alarmed and confused look on his face. He looked like he was trying to let go of it, but to no avail. And then, just as suddenly as it started, the shockwave stopped, and Rion's eyes widened, as he put the axe down and stared at his hands.

"Dude, you okay?" Asked Rai with a look of concern.

"Yeah, I...I feel several, several times stronger all of a sudden. Like...I can't even describe it," He replied, struggling to put into words as he opened and closed his fists a couple of times with a look of disbelief, "And 'Labrys, Axe of Hephaestus' popped into my head when it touched it...I think that's what it's called, maybe."

"Hephaestus, huh? Maybe that axe, like, gives the user super strength or something?" Suggested Rai with furrowed brows, reaching for the axe.

But the moment he touched the handle, his hand suddenly got repelled away, a look of surprise appearing on his face.

"Huh? What just-?"

"Only one person can own that weapon at a time...but from the looks of it, being brought to this world has nullified the test requirement or whatever that they mentioned," Suddenly interrupted a familiar voice, "Heh, didn't expect one of them to die so soon...nice work, he was my least favorite."

Had he been watching this whole time? Tch, I should have spread out my Water Mapping further...

"Shiro," Remarked Rai with a frown, his scythe starting to glow and crackle with lightning.

"Cool your jets, I know better than to take on a fight I can't win...you're now strong enough to go toe-to-toe with Belia," He replied, giving me a smirk before turning to Rion, "And I have no idea exactly how much of a boost you got from the Axe of Hephaestus, so I'm not taking any chances. For once, a few nice, easy one-sided fights in my favor sounds preferable to a challenging fight...I've had enough of those for a while, so...later!"

"I don't think so!" I snapped, reacting as fast as I could.

As he held up a Spell Card, presumably a teleportation spell, I swiftly reached for my pouch and activated the anti-General Magic barrier that I'd used on Belia last time, just in time.

"What the-...huh? Is this thing broken?" He muttered with a frown.

Now's my chance! I sent out a massive barrage of rapidly branching and extending ice pillars and spikes towards him while spreading out my Water Mapping as far and as fast as possible, as he zipped away in alarm. I closed my eyes to better focus on my Water Mapping, following his movements and chasing after him with my ice as fast as possible.

Given his speed, he's using Vampire Mode...I was grazing and cutting him several times, but it was getting harder and harder to strike accurately the farther he got away...and then, right as one of my ice spike branches gashed his left side, he disappeared. He didn't use the Teleport Cross, because he was still well within the bounds of my Water Mapping, so if he'd used that, I'd still be able to feel his presence.

No, he must have gotten out of the Boundary of the anti-General Magic barrier and used the Spell Card he had...he must have been trying to activate it over and over while flying away...

"Shit...he got away," I sighed with a frown, before adding as I turned around to face the other two, "Let's go...there's no sense in hanging around here any longer..."

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