Panic spread throughout the docks of Astera. Soldiers were gathering from the commotion and were joining the ongoing battle which made it all the more difficult for Kaeli to finish off what she had started.

‘These rifles can’t kill me as long as I have this water shield…’ She had covered herself in a thick sphere of liquid that served to soak the bullets being shot at her while she planned her next move. ‘The biggest threat was her.’ Her eyes glanced at Leona who was still with one knee on the ground trying to recover her mana. However the more time she took, more soldiers would join the fray. ‘But at this rate I won’t even have a chance to attack her. I see no other way around it, I’ll just have to incapacitate everyone else.’

She closed her eyes and a sudden surge of mana began to gather around her body as she started to emit a low light blue glow around herself.

Despite not knowing much about magic, Charlotte felt a terrible chill once the sphere started to quiver.

“ALL UNITS! FIRE AT WILL!”

She shouted from atop of her lungs which made all soldiers that could hear her start unloading all their bullets into the water sphere, but even with the increased firepower it was almost impossible to pierce through the water shield completely.

Leona was helpless as she physically felt a tingling sensation throughout her body from the surge of magical power that gathered around the enemy mage.

‘How is this possible?! Just how much mana does she possess?!’

To her, as someone who could visually see mana, the mere sight of Kaeli was enough for her body to freeze in fear. The air seemed to distort around the water sphere like a heat haze that continued to gradually grow. Leona could scarcely think of what her opponent was planning by gathering so much mana but she instinctively shouted.

“You have to stop her Krieg!”

He nodded to her once before standing up and running to one of the stone spears that was free of ice.

“Hngh!” He stood in between two spears and clenched them between his arm and forearm before breaking them at the base. “Eat this!”

He grabbed one by the thinner part and raised it above his head before lobbing it at full strength towards Kaeli. Who in response, was forced to release her spell prematurely.

“Mana Burst!”

A violent shockwave broke the water shield and shot everything it held within itself in all directions.

“Sir Krieg!” A familiar male voice came from behind them but he didn’t wait for him to turn around and simply yelled. “Duck!”

Without questioning, the knight threw his own weight back as a dark energy covered them. Most of the bullets and debris shot by Kaeli’s spell was absorbed and rendered harmless by this shadow veil that covered both of them, however that didn’t mean they were completely safe as one of the bullets actually managed to ricochet off the ground before nicking Leona in the left thigh.

“Ack!”

She felt like something had hit her leg but her body pumped full of adrenaline made her shrug it off and instead focus on what she could to help. Looking over her shoulder she noticed who attempted to protect them was Murakano, he held a sword similar to what Elizabeth, the assassin from Londria, used. A slightly curved single edged blade that was currently enveloped in a dark miasma.

“Are you unharmed?” The swordsman asked. “That mage is not someone you can take down by throwing random things at, sir Krieg.”

“I know.” He replied before standing up and yanking the longsword off the mage’s stomach he had killed previously. “But what other option do I have?”

“Stand back, I’ll try to keep her busy. I’m sure Lady Leona can come up with a plan in the meantime.”

Despite the burst of mana sending debris and projectiles at deadly speeds a safe area formed around the high elf that was bound against the wooden floor.

“This damn ice!” Phoebe was unharmed by it. Kaeli somehow managed to avoid hitting her sister even when using a powerful area of effect spell. “If only I could… nngh, get my dagger…!”

She was too engrossed in trying to free herself that she only noticed the silver haired young woman approach when she was literally standing beside her. Without any explanation the woman knelt beside her and tried to break her free with a hammer by smashing the ice on her right wrist.

“Hah!”

“Huh? Wait, who are you?!”

“My name doesn’t matter!” It was Lucina, the waitress that had just served Leona a few minutes ago. She was stubbornly hitting the ice with the tool but it was surprisingly harder than it looked. “You work for Lady Leona do you not?! She won’t survive another one of those!”

Looking up, Phoebe saw Kaeli accumulate more mana and the people that could stop her were taken out by the area of effect spell she had released earlier. Krieg and Murakano were trying to stop her by attacking with whatever they could at range, like rocks and stone spears, but she simply kept deflecting the projectiles with pinpoint accurate wind spells.

“There is a flask in my satchel, a purple one, grab it and pour some of the liquid on the ice, it should melt through it.”

“What about your hand?!”

“Don’t worry about me! Just do it!”

A dozen flasks came rolling out of it the moment Lucina opened the satchel, most of them were empty aside from three, a red, a blue and a purple one. She swiftly grabbed the purple one and uncorked it before carefully pouring the rather viscous liquid on the ice, which as opposed to her expectations, was erasing the spell from existence instead of melting through as it left a trail of a faint blue light as it sizzled.

“What the…?”

“Quick, drip some on the dagger.”

She did as asked and the whole blade was coated in the sticky liquid. At first she didn’t understand until Phoebe gripped the handle tightly with mana wrapping around her wrist before raising her arm.

Up in the sky, Kaeli had a full view of the massacre she just committed, most soldiers were dead from the sheer amount of debris and bullets she released with the violent outburst of mana. The wooden pier and most of the shops around the upper areas were destroyed with bullet holes except for the small orphanage establishment that was spared thanks to Phoebe being in the way.

“Well, well… it must be truly dreadful to know the only person who could stop me was you huh? Princess Leona.” She flew closer to where she was. Despite Krieg and Murakano being in close proximity, it didn’t seem to intimidate her. “Any last words?”

“Like hell you will!” Krieg raised his longsword and attempted to get close to her only to be hit with a burst of mana that sent him flying a considerable distance before landing with his back on the concrete floor. “Argh!”

“Tch.”

Murakano swung his blade diagonally, releasing what could only be described as a slash of darkness through the air. However, Kaeli was surprisingly agile for a mage and simply stepped to the side to avoid the attack entirely as it cut through part of the wooden railing behind her before launching a quick chanted spell of her own.

"Crushing Wind!"

A violent burst of wind erupted from the palm of her left hand hitting Murakano square in the chest, also sending him backwards skidding his feet on the ground.

“This is why I hate prodigies.” He spitted out blood and sheathed his katana. “Sir Krieg, do you think you can distract her for a second?”

“You don’t have to tell me!”

He rushed forward, swinging his blade horizontally which was easily avoided by jumping backwards, however he saw it coming and took another step in while bringing the blade back in a downwards diagonal slash.

“Futile.” She stopped the blade with an ice spell that was a smaller yet quicker version of Ice Wall. The sword was caught between the ice spikes as she raised her right finger. “Perish.”

A bright light gathered on the tip of her finger which made a shadow thanks to Krieg’s blade being stuck in the ice.

“Surprise.”

Suddenly emerging from the shadow like it was a pool of murky liquid, Murakano unsheathed his blade in an upwards slash that was meant to dismember her right arm, but instead he was ambushed by her suddenly turning her finger charged with mana towards him.

“Megido.”

A bright flash followed by a close proximity explosion sent both Krieg and Murakano flying. The knight hit his back with full force against a wooden support beam, cracking it in half and falling unconscious while the swordmaster was a bit more fortunate and instead landed on his back a few meters behind Krieg.

“Argh!” He felt a burning sensation coming from his right leg before noticing his foot was slightly off angle, which only meant it was broken. Despite that he got up with the help of his scabbard and held the katana in front of him with both hands. “Who would’ve known I’d have to try this hard even in this far flung land. You are truly one troublesome foe, Miss.”

Kaeli was looking at him from the corner of her eyes, uninterested, until he sheathed the blade and lowered his stance.

‘A shadow master huh?’

She decided to take him a bit more seriously as she turned her head to face him directly.

“I thought your kind to be extinct.”

“We are not so frail as to croak up by the hands of our enemies.” The shadow beneath his feet began to writhe as it took shape of multiple blackened appendages that coiled around his legs coalescing into a coat on his back before it spread throughout his arms. “Now, I’d suggest you don’t blink.”

In a literal blink of an eye, he dashed forward preparing to unleash a horizontal slash but instead what met with Kaeli charging yet another one deadly spell.

“Megido.”

A blast of concentrated mana seemed to rip the man’s existence apart. However the blast of light in front of her created a shadow behind her to which Murakano appeared, unleashing his blade coated in shadows.

“The brigh-”

“‘The brightest of lights, creates the darkest of shadows.’” Kaeli turned around, unsurprised with a spell already charged as if knowing ahead about his attempted ambush. “It’s over, shadow master. Crushing Wind.”

The shockwave sent him flying against the wooden railing as it broke with his weight, knocking him out.

“Murakano!”

Leona called out to him but he was imobile and unresponsive.

“Shadow masters, all of them have the same strategies it seems.” She walked forward and kneeled right in front of Leona. “Truly, you are one of a kind magician aren’t you? To learn many elemental spells with the limited knowledge we have in this continent. A marvelous specimen.”

“What do you-” She grabbed her chin with the right hand and raised her head. “Ugh.”

“I wonder what things we could achieve together if we weren’t enemies. Perhaps usher a new age of magic in this god’s forsaken land, or discover the reason why we have such powers in the first place. Ah… if I could choose a future where I could have the best of both worlds I would without a second thought, but alas.” She let go of Leona and stood up, pointing her right open hand towards her head. “Between this and my sister, the answer is obvious. Farewell, Princess Leona.”

‘Is this truly the end?’ She could feel the surge of mana from Kaeli’s spell. At that distance, there was little she could do against a mage with such vast mana reserves. ‘I’ve come this far… and yet…’

She looked up and all it took was a split second, through the very corner of her vision, she noticed a blur coming in their direction.

“Argh!” Kaeli flinched and the blur that Leona saw turned out to be in fact a dagger that embedded itself deep in the high elf’s right shoulder. “What the-?!”

She didn’t know what just happened, but the next thing she heard was Phoebe’s voice coming from somewhere below the deck she was standing on.

“NOW LEONA! SHE CAN’T USE MAGIC!”

That came out as a shock at first, but her body knew instinctively what to do and without relying much on thinking, mana quickly gathered around both of her wrists as wind and fire aspected magic started to form.

“Preposterous! Me? Not able to use magic? Ha!” She yanked the dagger out of her shoulder with a hiss of pain between her teeth and pointed her right finger at Leona’s face. “Megido!”

However, contrary to her belief, the mana that would usually coil around her arm in order to shoot out in a concentrated spell was nowhere to be found, as if the mana circuits from her shoulder were cut off from the rest of her body.

‘What?! My mana!’

“Roaring flames and violent gales! Surge as one!”

Kaeli attempted to negate the damage with a spell in her left hand but she was just too slow as a bright light engulfed her body before a violent explosion sent the magician into the ocean. Leona however wasn’t spared from the spell’s backlash as she was also sent flying in the opposite direction, hitting the soldier who was still busy chopping the enemy mage with his handaxes in the back.

“Gah!”

The man fell face first into the pool of mangled flesh and blood while Leona bounced off his back, rolling a few more times before coming to a stop as her legs fell flat on the ground. The sky was clear and blue with the morning sun warming her face.

“My back…”

She mustered just enough strength to look where she released the spell and noticed her opponent was nowhere to be seen.

For a few seconds there was silence; a dreadful sensation lingered as doubt of her own strength as she asked herself: ‘What if she managed to defend from that?’.

“Hey Leona!” Phoebe’s voice reached her with a rather cheerful tone. “I didn’t know you could make mages fly!”

A wave of relief hit her as her eyelids closed with her letting out an exasperated sigh.

“We… we did it… didn’t we?”