Ely felt the shift in Greshina's presence before she even saw the movement. Her instincts surged violently, forcing her body to twist out of position mid-step. She abandoned stability entirely just to avoid what she knew was coming.
Greshina appeared behind her and the moment her fan swung, a thick wave of purple fog burst with the strike, carried by a compressed shockwave that tore a deep, violent trench across the street behind Ely, slicing through asphalt, steel, and concrete like it was all paper. The buildings caught in the path split apart in clean halves before crumbling. Anything living that was even slightly too slow to escape the edge of that arc was erased.
Ely landed roughly on a broken slab of concrete as she processed how close that had been, then immediately drew her bow again. She realized the obvious truth that had been hanging over the entire fight from the start. Greshina was fighting them seriously until now.
Phaenora didn't hesitate either. She was already moving but Greshina met her halfway. This time, the edge of the fan grazed Phaenora's arm for a split second, there was silence between them.
Then Phaenora's body glitched.
Hee outline distorted before she vanished from that exact position and reappeared behind Greshina in the same instant. Her earlier playful irritation replaced by a serious look.
"Alright, my turn."
Her fist connected.
Greshina was slammed down with a force that shattered the ground beneath her, creating a deep depression in the street that sent cracks in every direction like a spider web. The shockwave flattened everything nearby while debris was blasted into the air.
Greshina groaned softly as she pushed herself up from the crater, brushing dust from her shoulder like she had just been inconvenienced rather than hit with enough force to destroy a city block. But the moment she looked up, sapphire constructs had already formed around her and before she could even move to break them, Ely released flame and lightning arrows. The bombardment didn't stop for even a second,
The barrage finally ceased. However, Greshina stepped forward through the destruction, completely intact, though this time there was a noticeable difference in her expression.
"Alright, I'll admit it. I underestimated you. You're used to fighting above your rank. I can see that now."
The purple fog around her thickened.
It spread outward in dense waves, crawling along the ground and rising into the air. It filled the city area with a toxic haze. Civilians who had been trying to escape found themselves caught in it and the moment the fog reached them, their bodies began to break down in the most horrifying way possible. Skin softened, melted and sagged like wax under heat. Their screams didn't last long.
Visibility dropped sharply. Even Phaenora clicked her tongue slightly, stepping back just enough to adjust her position.
"That's disgusting."
Ely didn't waste time complaining. She lifted her hand, summoning the wind. She created a powerful current that pushed the fog back and carved a temporary clearing around them. The moment she had space, she placed her hand against the ground. Chunks of concrete and broken roadway rose into the air. In the next instant, they shot forward toward Greshina at near sonic speed. At the same time, Ely drew multiple arrows as she released them in a continuous stream.
As a Fifth Enlightenment Divine, every action she took was more lethal than expected. She was a lot stronger than when she was a Fourth Enlightenment.
Greshina's fans snapped open wide as she drew the purple fog back toward herself, compressing it into dense, spikes that formed in front of her. With a single wave of her fan, the spikes tore through the incoming debris, shattering it mid-flight into fragments that scattered harmlessly to the sides. At the same time, her fans moved in tight, precise motions, deflecting Ely's arrows one after another.
But this time, it wasn't easy.
Her movements were still precise but there was effort. Ely's arrows couldn't simply be ignored or brushed aside. They curved and tracked her, forcing Greshina to actively engage with every single one.
Being a Grandmaster in Weapon Mastery was absolute dominance and Elyonari had reached that level.
Greshina clicked her tongue softly as she deflected another arrow that curved back toward her even after being redirected, forcing her to twist her body and slice it apart mid-flight. Phaenora took advantage of that moment instantly, striking from an angle that forced Greshina to divide her attention further.
Even with her abilities and experience, fighting two opponents at that level simultaneously wasn't something she could treat casually anymore. Still, she wasn't going all out. None of them were.
That was the most terrifying part.
They were pushing each other with maximum base output all while the city around them collapsed under the strain of their "warm-up."
Greshina stepped back slightly, her fans lowering as she exhaled slowly, then said, almost casually;
"You're both pretty good. But I think that's enough testing."
Her fans vanished completely. In their place, a black Mystic Circle formed.
It appeared above the city. It had ten concentric circles on top of each other with each one inscribed with complex symbols. The moment it fully manifested, the atmosphere itself changed. Phae's expression changed immediately. Ely's grip tightened on her bow.
She was a Tenth Star Circlecraft Mage.
Circlecraft Mages were already the peak of mystical systems and she stood at the very top of it.
When the Mystic Circle activated, it didn't release energy in a burst. Above them, massive, solid spikes formed—constructed entirely from condensed, lethal poison—and then they began to fall.
Each spike was large enough to obliterate entire buildings and when the first one hit, the impact erased everything within its radius instantly. The second and third followed, then dozens more, each one detonating into waves of toxic presences so lethal that entire sections of the city simply ceased to exist.
The air became unbreathable, even for them.
Phaenora reacted instantly, slamming the base of her glaive into the ground. She formed a sapphire cocoon around her and Ely. Ely reinforced it immediately with earth to thicken the outer shell and flames along its surface, neutralizing some of the incoming poison as best as possible. Each impact hammered against the cocoon. The force of it pushed them deeper into the ground as the surrounding area was annihilated piece by piece.
Five percent of the metropolis was reduced to a wasteland of shattered remains and lingering poison.
Inside the cocoon, the pressure finally eased just enough for Ely to glance toward Phae.
"Alright, she's serious now."
Phaenora exhaled slowly, tightening her grip on her glaive as she smirked slightly.
"Good. I was starting to get bored."
Outside, Greshina stood at the center of the devastation completely unharmed.
"Are you done with your tantrums?"