The roar from the other side of the shield was so loud it caused the ice she’d added as a reinforcement to vibrate.

From behind the shield, she could just barely make out a figure she'd seen maybe twice before, yet burned into her memory. It was a Magma wyvern, specifically, Julia's polymorphed wyvern for.

The creature inhaled deeply before letting loose a lethal a breath attack. Screams filled the air, and the volley of spells hitting Iris’ shield came to a halt. As her adopted sister dropped her shield, Luna could see a Wyvern peeking its head outside of the newly made hole in the house, almost grinning as it looked over in their direction.

From what she knew Julia was a Magma mage who possessed a Wyvern spirit, so there was little doubt she was the one standing before them. Though seeing her in the form of a Wyvern made her shiver. Without a doubt, the girl had talent for Transmutation that betrayed her age, similar to Iris’ ability for simulcasting.

As the polymorphed Magma mage prepared another breath attack, an ice spike pierced right through the center of her form. Adjusting herself, she let loose another torrent of Magma before unexpectedly transforming back into her human form and stumbling to the side.

“Fuck,” she shouted. “They drugged me pretty good,” Julia stammered before looking down. “Woah-“

From below, an Ice Spike nearly hit Julia in the chest as she ducked to the side. Being pushed back halfway across the porch’s roof. After glancing into the house, she attempted to re-enter through the hole she created, only for the supporting structure to collapse in front of her, causing her to backpeddle.

“Julia where’s Zoey,” Iris called out as she adjusted her shield and prepared for the incoming assault from the recovering guards.

“I’ll go get her. Keep them busy,” the Magma transmuter shouted as she ran down to the next window.

“Catapult.”

A glob of Magma coated the wall and melted it in moments, letting the girl disappear back inside of the house once again. To the elf’s shock, the sound of the structure cracking filled her ears once again.

“Julia-,” Luna shouted as she watched the structure above the hole cave in.

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” Iris shouted as she tried to push forward but was immediately met with an Ice Spike that grazed the top of her shield.

The first time Luna saw the spell she had assumed it merely caught Julia off guard, but with this second round she was certain that was not the case. Someone well trained was intentionally targeting them.

Luna made her way past the side of the shield, which was now taking hits from spells once again, to determine where the source was. To her shock, Nathaniel himself had entered the fray and was now bearing down on them with killing intent.

“You come to my home, attack my employees and think you can leave? You’ll be lucky if I leave you alive to live with Stasis.”

Without a word, Luna felt her killing intent begin to rise, and she subconsciously threw an Icicle at the nearest mage who would interfere with the coming fight. Then she directly approached Nathaniel.

“Icicle.”

“Sleet Storm.”

Icy pellets slammed into her from above, causing her to do a double-take. With grace, Nathaniel avoided her attack.

“Cone of Cold,” he yelled next.

A burst of frigid air hit her with a temperature far below freezing. Though she was able to somewhat resist the cold air thanks to her affinity, she still felt as though she’d nearly been frostbitten.

“Ice Flex.”

As she was an Evoker, she had no natural defense. Picking up Abjuration to learn how to create a better shield wasn’t worth the effort, at least not at the moment given she was trying to climb the tiers of the school she’d awoken to.

Since she couldn’t go on the defense, she always made her offense her defense. Striking fear into Nathaniel may allow her to disable him. All she needed to do was nail him with her Ice Flex in a way that prevented him from retaliating. The best way to do this was to encase his hands in ice and let Iris help her subdue him the rest of the way.

The man had other plans though, and another Ice Spike came flying at her, giving her almost no time to react. Luna felt the spike hit her side and rip her flesh. She tried to back off while letting out a scream of pain but ended up tripping over a freshly made divot in the yard.

Nathaniel dashed toward her, and knowing she had few options, she opted to remain on the offense. Failure to stop him meant death or worse, Stasis, and she wasn’t keen on dying today.

“Ice Flex.”

As she cast the spell she made a quick sweeping motion with her hand, spreading out the gob of clear liquid ice the spell formed so that the man wouldn’t be able to dodge. He didn’t seem phased, as soon as it hit his mana shield he grunted, weathering the quickly freezing ice which collapsed harmlessly to the ground.

As he raised his hand, Luna prepared for the worst.

Unexpectedly, a geyser of water blew above her head, breaking right through Nathaniel’s shield and knocking him into the side of the house. Stunning him for a brief moment, but not enough to render him unconscious.

“You want to die first you little bitch? Fine, I’ll kill you and then your freak.”

A pitiful insult like that wouldn’t get underneath Luna’s skin so easily.

She lifted her arm and focused her mind on her target. If he thought he was going to win this he was sorely mistaken.

“Icicle.”

Another small spear of ice launched forth from the front of her hand toward the man, quickly traveling through the air toward the house. Though it missed, the sound it made as it broke through the wooden beam behind him was enough to twist anyone’s heart. Getting hit with one of those was likely to kill a person, at least with the force delivered upon impact.

Behind her, Iris fired off a pillar of water toward another mage, sending them into a wall and promptly knocking them out.

At the same time, she’d redirected her shield so that she could shield Eriza, who was rushing toward someone she couldn’t quite make out from the distance between them. All she knew is that their Lightning Evoker had gone to pursue someone other than Nathaniel, leaving them to deal with the man on their own.

She had to end this quickly, as there was no way of prediciting how things would turn out should the fight draw out. His mana pool was far deeper than her own, and she had a fear of potion injectors, much like her adoptive sister. It was something about the needles that bothered her severely.

Luna jumped back up onto her feet and darted at Nathaniel, planning on going with her original strategy. Since Iris had just broken his shield, he shouldn’t have had the time to recover fully. She could take advantage of that and use it to attack him directly without having to worry about her spells being blocked.

“Ice Flex.”

This time she got close and aimed for one of his feet. The blob of liquid burst through the air toward his foot and made contact, quickly freezing it into place and preventing him from dodging her next attack. Or so she thought.

As she prepared a more powerful spell, she found herself suddenly taking a hit to the chest. Doubting Nathaniel’s visible strength was a huge mistake. She was sent tumbling to the ground, gasping for air. When she finally stopped rolling, she tried to get back up only to be kicked again and feel as though something within her had cracked.

Fuck.

The elf wheezed as she tried to pump air back into her lungs, most of it having been expelled thanks to the kick she took straight to her torso.

“LUNA,” Iris screamed.

A third kick sent her reeling to the ground again, and when she coughed up air, specks of blood also followed. Her insides felt like a mess right now, and it dawned upon her that she’d horribly overextended herself. Her plan of catching him off-guard might now get her killed, all because she got a little too desperate to finish him off quickly.

What was it that Iris had told her a few days ago? To take her time and just let things come naturally? So much for taking that advice to heart. It was a hard lesson that if she survived this she’d undoubtedly remember in the future, as it was much better than the pain she was currently experiencing.

“Control Water.”

“Iceball.”

The sound of water clashing with ice several meters away filled her ears. Iris had saved her life just now by distracting him. Gathering her fauculties, she decided the most pressing matter was disabling him so he could no longer cast spells. If she used something like Iceball, she’d probably kill him. At the same time, it wouldn’t do much given they shared the same element, so he’d resist any elemental damage she dealt.

Despite the fact that the odds were stacked against them, she didn’t feel her determination faltering. Rather, it was like a fire lit within her, one that was quickly picking up and becoming more potent by the moment. Standing up, Luna felt the breeze carried by a chunk of rock that zipped centimeters away from her head.

Despite stopping Nathaniel without killing him being an important goal, she had to remember that there were other mages present on the battlefield. If she didn’t stop them, then they were going to end up hurting herself and Iris. Her adoptive sister was a hybrid Abjurer-Transmuter, so she could hold her own against the man while she cleaned up the stragglers.

Turning in the direction of where the projectile had come from, Luna lifted her hand up and quickly incanted her next spell. Currently two other mages were still standing. Julia had killed at least half of them with her breath attack, and Eriza a couple more.

“Icicle.”

A spear of ice flew off her hand towards the offender that nearly clocked her with a chunk of rock and tore through their mana shield, impaling them through their stomach. They didn’t even let out a scream, instead looked at her with pleading eyes.

“I don’t like killing anything unless I have to. You made your choice now see it through,” Luna said in a motherly tone. “Ice Bolt.”

With a single mote of icy mana, the mage she’d hit tumbled over, a pool of blood beginning to form below her. Not far away, the other standing mage, a scrawny man by his appearance, was turning to run away. Luna raised her hand in preparation to kill him, but couldn’t bring herself to do it. At least not until she realized he was running in Eriza’s direction and readying a spell. Though the Lightning Sorceress wasn’t visible, she wasn’t going to risk her getting caught off guard.

Raising her hand up once again, she aimed her spell a little higher than where she wanted to hit to account for the arc and let it loose.

“Icicle.”

The ice swiftly flew the air like a dart, soaring toward its target and piercing them through and through. The man screamed in pain and collapsed to the ground, twisting and turning to try and yank the ice out of his body. A few moments later he stopped moving altogether.

Luna grimaced upon thinking about what she’d done. There was little doubt she’d punctured a lung, which made for a slow death given he choked on his own blood. Turning her mind away from the grisly sight, she looked to see Nathaniel now had Iris on the backfoot, the latter with clear bloodlust in her eyes.

As far as she knew, Zoey’s father wasn’t terribly talented, but he did have a penchant for having something up his sleeve he could use to get the upper hand, much like how Arthur always seemed to have a backup plan until that night when Magus Burke backed him into a corner.

As she was near being OoM and the battle could rage on for who knows how long, she decided the best course of action would be to use a mana potion, even though the thought of it made her squeamish.

Attempting to summon one from her ring proved futile though. Despite her belief that she had a mana potion stored in her ring, she must have used it sometime between last May and the present moment. Just what she needed.

Getting up, she noticed an abnormally bright orange hue being cast from behind her, evident by her shadow. The fire had become so intense that it was now casting off light into the yard even though it was only twilight. Great, this couldn’t get any better. With the house fully ablaze, Julia was likely trapped now.

Wait a moment, Julia and Zoey are still inside.

There was no time left to deal with Nathaniel. She needed to stop him now and redirect her adoptive sister towards the blazing fire behind her so the girl could start putting it out and Julia could bring Zoey back out.

Though her chest hurt was still throbbing from the kicks she took earlier, she staggered to her feet. The pain was exquisite. She hadn’t had this much fun since she was last out in an orange zone with her party.

Steeling her mind and resolve, she quietly invoked Ice Flex and coated her fist with ice before charging at Nathaniel. The man was thoroughly distracted by Iris, who was currently trying to entrap him within a Water Coffin. As soon as she was in range, she pulled her arm back and slammed it right into the man’s skull, causing him to crumple to the ground like a rag doll.

“Thanks,” Iris said.

“We’ve got bigger issues,” the elf said, pointing to the front of the house. “You think you can put that out so Julia can get out with Zoey in one piece?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me. How did the fire spread so quickly?”

“I don’t know but we don’t have time to figure out. Can you do it?”

“I can try,” Iris said. “Create Water.”

A large mass of water suddenly formed in front of the two, and Iris grunted as she channeled it into her shield.

“Fuck, I’m almost OoM. I guess this gonna have to work,” she said, spreading her shield a story above herself, and forcing it outward towards the house. When it collided with the flames, a loud hiss filled the air, followed by a small burst of steam. When it cleared, all that remained was charred wood and paneling.

Unfortunately for the pair, the sound of cracking wood immediately followed. And as if the levy of a dam had broken, the entire front section of the upstairs collapsed, blocking off Julia’s path of escape.

“No,” Iris screamed at the top of her lungs.

Vincent Wynter was the cruelest person in Sydney in the eyes of Eriza. Why did he stand at the top of her shitlist when other men who were worse and more powerful existed? Vincent made her life a living hell.

It wasn’t an exaggeration or a lie either. The man made her suffer for over six months, while also making those around her join in that suffering. His reason? She walloped his son, Luke, so severely that it made him look like he was one of the mages who went to the public schools.

She’d nearly been expelled because him, lost her chance to go on two field trips, one to a green zone and another to an orange, and he’d made her out to be an enemy to the upper crust of Sydney’s elites. What’s worse was that to this day he still spread lies about her to make sure opportunities which would help further her progression as a mage wouldn’t become a reality. His ability to manipulate others made her almost question whether or not he was a mind mage, but she knew that wasn’t possible because his main school was transmutation.

Whilst trying to pick off the remaining mages that Julia hadn’t killed so they could focus on Nathaniel, she found herself suddenly slapped and knocked to her feet with a burst of water. Upon getting up, she saw her nemesis staring her down smugly. Why was he here though? Had that jackass plotted this with his brother?

“Isn’t this a surprise. And here I thought my men would be able to dispose of you heathens. I suppose I’ll have to snub you out myself.”

While she’d love to help contain the other Mages, she knew that she had to focus her full attention on Vincent. Out of all the mages they were facing, Vincent was the one who was the most dangerous because he was known for pinning and drowning his enemies, leaving none alive.

Fortunately, she had the type advantage, and she’d been preparing for this moment for a long time. Lightning traveled far faster than water, but even better, she could fly faster than him if he tried to flee that way. But best of all, she could afford to be lethal.

Eriza charged in his direction, preparing to fire off a Lightning Bolt at him. Just as the words were about to leave her tongue, he suddenly blinked away. Searching around, she discovered that he was standing on the neighbor’s roof. The nerve he had to try and involve people who had nothing to do with what was going on.

“Flight.”

Despite Sydney being a no-fly zone, Eriza couldn’t warrant not using it. She was at best a Tier 1 Transmuter, so Blinking was out of the question for her.

As soon as she was almost close enough for maximum impact, the man once again blinked, but this time onto the beach. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that Magus Stone’s team had their hands full with a dozen bodies lying around them and another seven or eight trying to bring them down. Just how many people did they bring here?

That didn’t matter anymore she supposed. What mattered right now was taking out Vincent before he had a chance to kill someone.

“Do you really think you stand a chance against a Magus?”

Eriza didn’t give him the satisfaction of an answer. Instead, she’d let her own actions speak far louder than her words. She knew he intended to kill her, and so she would reciprocate his intentions without giving him the satisfaction he craved. She was better than that, and she would prove it here and now.

“Lightning Bolt.”

“Control Water.”

“Lightning Bolt.”

Two Lightning Bolts flew over the beach in quick succession. The first hit his mana shield but failed to break it, but the second was blocked by his Control Water spell, which he was feeding water into by making use of the ocean.

At a disadvantage because of the Control Water spell with an unlimited pool of water to draw from, Eriza considered her options. She could flit about using Flight until he was OoM or she could continue to hope that she could break through his pseudo-shield of water. Either plan wasn’t optimal. She had to get close enough to zap him. Then the real fight could start.

Opting for the former because it was more mana efficient, she darted up and attempted to fly over the water, but found herself nearly grabbed as soon as she got close. It was a foolish idea, but she had to try it anyway.

“Lightning Bolt.”

Firing off another Lightning Bolt, which surprisingly made it through the Control Water spell, she watched as the man gritted his teeth and tried to hold the spell back with his mana shield, which gave her an idea: if she could keep moving about then it would be harder for him to strike her, allowing her to create a small opening where she could break his shield down the rest of the way and attack him directly.

Quickly darting about, she watched as slowly but surely enough the man spread himself too thin and made a perfectly fatal opening for her to exploit. With a well aimed Lightning Bolt his mana shield broke, momentarily stunning him.

This was her opening, likely the only one she would get as he wasn’t stupid enough to fall for that again. Rushing in, she scored a swift kick to his chest then landed on the ground a few meters away, turning to face him with her palms raised in a defensive manner.

“You want a fight? I’ll give you a fight. Or are you too scared to hit a girl?”

Her challenge was definitely received, as Vincent slowly began walking toward her and raised his hands, forming them into fists. Swirling water covered them.

Eriza supposed that if he wanted to play that way, she’d have to play the same way and began making her way toward him. When they reached each other, she made the first swipe, and took the first blow. A solid punch to the chest that forced the air out of her lungs and pushed her back.

She wasn’t so easily deterred though, as she quickly recovered and closed the gap between them. This time when he swung, she carefully dodged and made the somatic gestures and incantations Tokiwa had taught her.

“Lightning Strike.”

As she swung towards Vincent, her right hand came alive with electricity, causing her opponent to grunt when the blow connected.

The two began to dodge and swing at one another. Eriza found herself on the backfoot after getting knocked down a couple of times, and the two were slowly making their way toward the ocean.

However, she wasn’t taking hit after hit. For every punch and kick the man landed on her, she landed two on him, and it was evident it was beginning to take its toll on him. Wading into the water to the point it was ankle-deep, the two continued to punch and kick one another until Eriza had enough and empowered her fist again, hitting him underneath the chin with an uppercut that also shocked him and sent him splashing back into the water.

The Lightning Sorceress immediately dropped to her knees and tightly wrapped her hands around this throat, choking him. Despite his best attempts to struggle, that last hit appeared to have affected his nervous system, as even though he grabbed at her and tried to push her away it felt like he had no strength behind his muscles.

She was finally going to be rid of the man who’d cause her and her friends so much pain.

Eriza, is revenge ever the right path? If we give into revenge, then what example are we going to set for those who’ll be teens when we’re our mother’s age.

Her sister’s words rang through her mind like a bell. A reminder not to give into hatred, as hatred came in a continuous cycle. One that only could be broken by preventing it from being started or by being brave.

While it was unsatisfying to let the man live, it was the right thing to do. Below her, Vincent had almost passed out from being choked, with waves washing over his face every few seconds. He was in no shape to fight back, she’d seen to that by beating the crap out of him.

Dripping with blood from her wounds, she grabbed his shirt collar and threw him toward the shore, slowly slogging her way through the water.

Unfortunately for her, there was no time to relax. Once she’d dragged Vincent’s sorry ass back to the shore, she realized Nathaniel’s entire house was ablaze, and quickly began to panic.

Were Zoey and Julia alright?

Just her luck, she’d been so preoccupied with Vincent that she hadn’t even noticed the looming distaster, and now all she could do was hope the two were out of the building by now. Stone was nowhere in sight either. Her best guess was the woman was either inside the house or trying to find another way to put it out.

Turning to Vincent, who was now recovering, she dealt one swift punch to his face to knock him out so he wouldn’t escape, and then quickly made her way toward the burning building.