After learning the projectiles were volatile, Ikuye changed to dodging and avoiding the crystal missiles. They continued to explode into deadly shrapnel, even when they impacted the ground, but Ikuye had begun to use the massive sword as a shield.
In the aftermath numerous shards of crystal covered her blade, as if fused to the metal.
I heaved a sigh of relief, having a moment to catch my breath while she was forced to dance around to avoid my CHAOS BOLT for quite some time.
An alarming laughter disturbed me—the source being none other than my opponent.
I'd hoped the whole ordeal would've been enough and we'd be able to call the duel here, but it seemed I was too wishful.
"Brilliant! Yes. That's more like it! Come on, sister. Show me what you're truly made of!"
Ikuye had regained her posture, and was back in her ready position. With a gauntleted hand, she smacked the face of her weapon and the crystal shards fell to the ground.
She readied her weapon forward, brandishing it in a wide arc as if to show off that the chaotic crystals couldn't blemish her weapon so easily.
Ikuye closed the distance between us in a heartbeat, and her enormous sword bore down on me.
I barely caught it with Dáinsleif's slender blade.
"Nice! 'Kay, lesson one. Send small bursts of magick all throughout your body. Spread that magicka evenly across your circuits and imagine it reinforcing your muscles."
The weight of her sword had me struggling to keep my knees from buckling.
What is she going on about? Reinforcing my muscles?
"Hurry up!" she goaded. Her stance changed in a slight way, and the weight of the sword felt as if it had doubled.
"Hnng!"
I tried to do as she said. I built up small amounts of magicka within my body and spread them out as evenly as I could.
What would it mean to reinforce my muscles? Like, weaving the magicka through them—
Heat began to build within my arms and legs. I felt a burst of strength, and pushed Ikuye's blade away, causing her to stumble back a few steps.
She bore a sinister grin at me, a twisted smile of satisfaction and a dark hunger.
"Lesson two. I'll show you a glimpse of true power. A taste of our birthright. Someday you'll wield it as well as any of our sisters."
All at once my vision blurred, my stomach churned, my knees buckled, and a wave of anxiety and nausea hit me with a crushing pressure.
I strained to keep consciousness and focus on Ikuye.
A flash of light erupted from the small girl, and a double halo of pure golden light manifested above her head.
As if they were always there, six wings framed her back and she lifted up into the sky.
The extreme pressure began to fade, and I struggled to my feet.
» AURA OF ANNIHILATION ATTACKS YOUR MIND [SANITY CHECK]
» YOU HAVE RESISTED AURA OF ANNIHILATION
Ikuye hovered high in the air, positioning herself so that the blazing morning sun was behind her. Feathers fluttered down to the ground, dissipating into golden light upon touching the earth.
The few people around us collapsed, clutching at their heads and bodies.
Celestials above… Is this truly the power of the Gods—or do the Alaetüs fall short of even them? I am truly blessed to have the backings of the Goddesses.
I offered a feeble prayer to Virgo and Capricorn for their support and guidance as I gaped upwards at the angelic warrior.
She shifted her blade and called down at me, "I'm coming at you stronger than before. Show me something new, sister."
In the fraction of a moment, instinct kicked in and I raised my sword to deflect the incoming strike and immediately countered with a quick-cast CHAOS BOLT. It barely managed to repel her attack and I was back on the defensive.
I need something better than operation-class magick if I'm going to make it through this assault.
Think, Airis! Think!
There was no possibility I could've reformed one of my existing spells or attempt to create something new on the fly. Ikuye's offense battered at me like a raging storm, and if I hesitated for even a moment I'd be in the hands of the Goddesses.
Even if I had access to tactical-class magick, I'd probably risk blowing half this block away in the aftermath.
What I really needed was something to tune my existing magick up. If I could boost either of my two buff spells—Gah!
I was knocked back a few yards.
Gotta do something, and fast.
BRILLIANCE could be a good option, since it already affected all magick, but it was only a minor spell and the base sigils left little to play with. One of the many reasons it remained untouched.
That left me with AURA OF LIGHT. While it was a powerful boost to holy healing spells, it didn't affect any other school. The main sigils were simple and modification didn't prove a major challenge—the spell just became extremely unstable when trying to add new base sigils, or replace out holy for another school.
I don't even have the time to worry about figuring the specifics out while deflecting blow after blow. Ahhh, if only the spells could react to my desires.
Another blow inches away from my face disturbed the air as I strained myself to bend backwards to avoid it.
Damnable magick acts on its own accord to translate elvish in real time to cause all sorts of drama in my personal life, but it can't change one little spell when my life is on the line?
I shook my head clear.
It would be too easy to have spells change themselves to be more efficient on their own. Years of scholarly endeavors would be invalidated…
Yet I still felt a little selfish. And quite a bit upset.
Ikuye continued to strike at me relentlessly, a wide grin plastered on her face and her eyes lit up with joy.
This battle-junkie was going to be the end of me if I couldn't come up with something to give her pause.
So I reached into my body, in the metaphysical sense, and untapped the font of chaotic power Capricorn. I didn't focus the power into a specific spell, instead I let the abundant magicka flow into every nook and cranny.
In every imaginable scenario that played in my head, I'd likely end up dead. Either by the blade, courtesy of my new combat-crazed angelic sister, or through some spontaneous explosion of magicka caused by my fiddling with chaos magick.
On a suspicion that by letting the Goddess' font of magick permeate my being it would boost my power, I opened the flood gates with the expectation I'd be met with either what I hoped for—or be blasted mentally to kingdom come by magicka feedback.
And powerful it was!
A little too powerful, if I was to be completely honest with myself.
Every part of my body seemed to shriek in pain. I struggled to avoid blacking out. In the turmoil I recalled something Rias had told me about her experiments with magick.
Throughout the bodies of most all living creature were pathways for magicka to travel, called mana circuits. These pathways were fundamental in a spellcaster's ability to control the power level of their spells, and a trained sorcerer could overboost a low tiered spell if they had control over those circuits.
I, however, as the Goddess had put it so bluntly earlier this morning, was a third-rate paladin. One who definitely did not have control over her mana circuits—not to mention I'd just learned this enhancement spell just now.
In essence I was using lightning to flash cook a meal that should have been slow roasted over a warm fire.
Nonetheless, overwhelming power surged through my body. I dealt with the pain as best I could, through gritted teeth and with clenched fists, I charged at Ikuye.
What once were weak blows to be shrugged off leisurely with her greatsword, now had a driving force behind them and staggered my would-be attacker.
Her wicked smile was unnerving, "Oh, that is quite something. But it's not anything I haven't seen. Enhancing your body to this level is the baseline to taking a fight seriously. Judging by that grimace on your face it's not something you're used to though, so I applaud your strength—though it is not enough!"
A parried blow sent me flying backwards, crashing into the ground in a cloud of dust.
I felt a burning itch crawling under my skin, I assumed to be where my mana circuits were.
I charged back into the fray with a new vigor.
Thrusting my blade forward with reckless abandon, I activated a WILD STRIKE aimed to take the girl's head.
With my sword arm extended, I incanted a simple CHAOS BOLT. I grasped the jagged crystal firmly in my free hand, and focused on a technique Rias had been working with me on. More of the Goddess' magicka flowed, and channeling the wavelength of the chaotic shard I dyed the magicka in my body heavily in chaotic energy.
I pushed the power into my blade and the dark crimson-red flames flared in the unnerving blood-orange that I knew to be the embodiment of Chaos.
At the same time, the faint golden glow around my body had swelled and was now stained the same sickly color.
My attack met Ikuye's blade, the weight of it bore down upon her sword, giving way to reveal her undefended face. Dáinsleif's flame flickered hungrily.
"ᛋᚻᛁᛖᛚᛞ!" She called out something in a panic, and a golden wall of light appeared to deflect the strike. A small cut ran down Ikuye's cheek, a streak of silver-colored blood dripped down her skin.
I sent the rough crystal in my hand flying at the barrier. It impacted with an explosion of orange light and deadly fragmentation, forcing the two of us apart once more.
Ikuye took flight into the air, keeping herself out of my reach, and wiped the silvery stain from her face.
"Hoooh! I yield, I yield. Reforging an active spell through vacuity? How interesting you are, sister. So much more interesting than I had hoped!"
The massive sword that had threatened my life disappeared in a blip through a portal and she held both hands out in surrender, "I see why mama chose you. I'm in. Whatever this is," she spread her arms wide and motioned around, "I want to be included. Whaddya say sister?"
I heaved a sigh of relief and dropped to my knees in exhaustion. Flicking the internal switch to stop the flood of Celestial magick, my body writhed in renewed agony.
With the last remaining strength I sheathed my blade and fell flat on the ground, my heart threatening to beat its way out of my chest.
"Give me a minute to rest, will ya?"
"Hah! Sure, sure."
I heard the soft crunch of dirt under foot as she landed and came to sit down next to me.
"What's that flickering light on your arm for?"
I turned my head to look down at my wrist, and sure enough there was the trademark notification light blinking—stained orange, as expected whenever I managed to do something wildly unusual with magick.
» YOU HAVE GAINED IN POWER, YOU HAVE LEARNED A NEW ABILITY:
» NEW ACTION CLASS SKILL, PHYSICAL ENHANCEMENT
» AURA OF LIGHT HAS BEEN MODIFIED, AND HAS BEEN REPLACED WITH AN AFFINITY POWER, CHAOTIC AURA.
- - - - - - - - - - - - {INSPECTION} - - - - - - - - - - - -
[AURA OF LIGHT]: [School: Holy][Class: Combat]
Increases the effectiveness of healing magicks.
Affinity: CHAOTIC AURA
- - -
[CHAOTIC AURA]: AURA OF LIGHT now increases the effectiveness of all spells and attacks by a percentage equal to your WILLPOWER.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Just the world confirming I've gone and done something inconceivable again."
Ikuye tilted her head in confusion at the misty interface that was now obscuring my face.
"Airis!?"
A cry of concern called out from somewhere nearby.
I turned to find a mass of onlookers that had been gathered nearby. Some people were still out cold on the ground, but medics were already on scene handling them with care.
Off center from the main group, a disturbance was happening. The huddled soldiers were parting to reveal the owner of the voice—Hailey, in full officer's regalia including her treasured staff, storming her way towards me.
Her warpath faltered as she passed through the crowd. She gawked at the sight of Ikuye with her wings outstretched, but composed herself and raced forwards.
When she came within a few yards, Hailey hesitated again. Though, this time it seemed she was gawking at me.
"Uh, good morning, Hails. I feel awkward for causing a scene, but Capricorn didn't really give me any time to warn anyone. Things just got out of hand quickly."
Hailey's face twitched.
Waaauhhhhhhhhh! I have no idea how to explain all this in a way that doesn't cause more stress. Come on, Hails, please cut me some slack. This isn't my fault!