This battle… it's pretty much screwed.
How should I put it? Irelia—no, Gerda has been buffed to such an insane level of power that they can't do anything to her.
A prime example is Baron, currently considered the strongest among them since Aura is down and just muttering something incoherently.
He couldn't land a single hit on Gerda. Not one single hit.
"Gr!!" Baron created floating spheres of lightning everywhere, then pulled them all toward Gerda.
Vakoth and Abaric both charged at Gerda from opposite sides, gripping their weapons tightly.
Gerda looked up, then stomped hard on the ground. An ice membrane instantly wrapped around her like an extremely sturdy shield.
BOOM!
The barrage of lightning orbs exploded the moment they touched Gerda, electricity scattering outward.
Vakoth and Abaric appeared from both flanks, swinging their weapons at her.
Not surprisingly, Gerda was completely fine, and her ice shield remained intact.
Reito immediately created a black hole right there. Instantly, a circular hole big enough to stab through appeared in Gerda's shield.
The electricity from Baron's earlier attack flowed along the ground and transferred into Vakoth's and Abaric's weapons.
Vakoth thrust his spear straight forward while Abaric hurled his dagger right at her.
Clang!
"?!"
Both of them froze in shock. Gerda had caught Vakoth's spear in one hand… and was biting down on the dagger with her teeth.
Electricity coursed through her entire body, yet she still looked perfectly fine.
In an instant, the spear froze solid and the ice spread up to Vakoth's hand. Then she spat the dagger straight into Vakoth's forehead.
Pfft!
Vakoth staggered backward as the blade lodged into his forehead, reaching his brain and severely disrupting his consciousness and thoughts.
She then summoned a very strangely designed long weapon, spun it around, and slashed straight at Vakoth's arm.
The arm holding the spear was severed clean off. She reversed the swing, slashing upward across his chest and piercing straight through his heart.
Vakoth's entire body froze solid. With one powerful kick, she shattered him into pieces.
"…" Everyone stared in stunned silence as Vakoth was killed right in front of them, momentarily losing focus.
"HE'S NOT DEAD YET!" Abaric roared, snapping everyone back to reality and refocusing.
'Good thing he activated his skill during that fight with the tentacle monster earlier… so he still has an extra life. Otherwise he'd be truly dead…'
"This is tense… I feel like we're on the losing side…" Lily said anxiously while hiding behind a large rock.
"Agreed…" Kanna was hiding beside her, hands clasped in prayer.
"…Why are you here? Aren't you supposed to go fight?"
"I don't know how to fight."
"What about your rune magic? Can't you use it to support them?"
"Oh right?! How did I forget about that?!"
"Dumbass."
So Kanna drew a sword… from between her massive breasts (how?), and began inscribing runes.
Whoosh!!!
Vakoth's spear suddenly flew right past Kanna, embedding nearby. Both Kanna and Lily turned to see Gerda glaring furiously at them.
Gerda pointed at the two of them, then slowly dragged her finger across her own throat.
"…"
Kanna immediately set her sword aside and hugged Lily tightly, trembling.
Well… at least Kanna still has her life, so that's something.
"Ughh… huhh… huhh…" Baron was drenched in sweat, gradually reaching his limit from mana exhaustion.
He'd been fighting nonstop and this was his breaking point.
Abaric was dodging Gerda's attacks. Every strike she swung carried terrifying power.
It felt like just one solid hit would turn him into paste—no joke!
Sharp shark-like scales grew over both of Abaric's hands. He dashed past her with a slashing strike.
Yet she took no damage. Meanwhile, blood flowed from his own shoulder—and it instantly froze over.
"Hahh… hahh… Guess combat experience doesn't mean much when you're up against an enemy way out of your league, huh?"
"Done talking yet?" Gerda walked forward slowly. With every step, the ground beneath her froze.
"Hehe… Not yet…" Abaric grinned through his sweat.
Immediately, two massive black holes appeared on either side of her.
Reito's black holes were incredibly powerful, but they had one unfortunate nerf:
They couldn't be created directly inside a living creature. So he could only open them as close as possible to pull the target in.
…Though sometimes, when the enemy was much weaker than him, he could manage to form one inside.
"I'LL HOLD HER IN PLACE! FIND SOMETHING—ANYTHING—TO DO!"
Abaric unleashed a swirling sandstorm around himself.
A shark tail sprouted from his lower back, shark fins grew along his spine, his teeth sharpened into fangs, and his eyes turned feral.
"TRANSFORMATION! 50% SAND SHARK!!"
Abaric decided to use a combo he had trained extremely hard for.
Immediately, sand appeared out of nowhere and formed two identical clones of himself.
All three spun in a kick, creating three small barrier domains.
"!" Gerda raised an eyebrow, looking at Abaric.
"It's an incomplete semi-domain barrier, so of course it's much weaker than a full domain barrier."
"But it's very useful and consumes way less mana. I suffered a ton just to master using it properly."
Then Abaric clasped his hands and chanted.
Instantly, numerous sand clones appeared inside the barriers.
A total of 20 sand clones were created, each possessing roughly 50% of Abaric's strength.
Right after that, the two black holes vanished. Reito collapsed, completely out of mana.
"SLICING APPLE!"
All 20 clones plus Abaric himself struck the same upright pose… then vanished.
"!!"
Gerda's shield began taking continuous hits and gradually started cracking.
This speed…
Even though she couldn't see them, she knew the clones were slashing and dashing past her nonstop.
The moment her shield finally shattered, the real Abaric and the clones that hadn't attacked yet all rushed straight toward the opening.
WHOOSH!!
Abaric appeared behind Gerda. All the clones had already dispersed back into sand.
"How about that…" Abaric panted heavily, looking at Gerda.
Gerda stood still for a moment, then slowly turned toward him.
"…Are you kidding me?"
A single scratch on her cheek. Just one tiny scratch.
"That attack actually did something. It made me lose some moisture."
"…If that's your way of comforting me, I'd rather not hear it."
"Oh? My bad then."
Her weapon stabbed straight into Abaric's stomach, then pulled out.
Followed by a powerful kick to the gut, sending him crashing into the wall.
His body slowly began to freeze over. Gerda stared at him for a moment before turning her gaze to the others.
Vakoth was reviving. Baron and Reito were both out of mana. Abaric was gravely wounded. Kanna and Lily were useless.
And now… Aura Clint.
She walked over to where Aura Clint still lay.
"Aura Clint, I actually quite admire you, you know?"
"Thank you."
"Wow, you actually replied? How sweet."
"Because my father never taught me that betraying people is a good thing."
"…Hahh. Even if I told you about my past, it probably wouldn't mean anything. I doubt you—or even your whole family—could ever understand."
"The past isn't an excuse to justify what you're doing now."
"Then what good is justice when they always target your body? Especially when you're a beautiful girl?"
"Thank you."
"Stop thanking me."
Gerda grabbed Aura by the collar. Their eyes locked.
"Tell me— is there really anything worth protecting in this damned kingdom?"
Aura remained calm even though death was imminent.
"People."
"…Why?"
And then Aura smiled.
"Because it makes me feel like someone needs me."
Gerda fell silent for a long moment before letting out a sigh.
"I misjudged you again. You're not brainwashed by the kingdom. You're just a kind-hearted idiot."
"Thank you."
"That wasn't a compliment."
Her weapon pressed against Aura's stomach.
"Consider this a mercy. I don't hate you. But if you won't do anything for this place, then I will. Your sacrifice is necessary to fuel my power."
"Goodbye, Aura Clint. I hope in the next life we won't be enemies."
Her weapon began piercing through Aura's skin. Blood slowly trickled down.
This was the end of Aura Clint.
"Hey."
Or… maybe not.
Gerda froze at the sound of a familiar voice. She turned toward the source.
That monster's chest—it was shaking violently.
Then the lid burst open. Blood and bones spilled out in a gush.
A young man's hand reached out, slowly revealing himself.
Gerda released Aura and stared at the blood-soaked boy.
"To be honest, I still don't really get what's going on… but killing people is bad, you know."
"You're not my dad."
"Didn't your mom ever tell you?"
Her eyes narrowed as she stared at the smiling young man.
Then, from his shoulder, a light-purple octopus-like creature popped its head out. Four thick tentacles clung tightly to his body.
"Pipi!"
"Just tamed a new Pokémon. Her name's Pandora. Cute, right?"
"No."
"So rude. Don't be sad, Pandora. Let me slap that girl for being disrespectful to her stepdad."
Baron, Lily, and Kanna—all the ones still conscious—widened their eyes and shouted in unison.
"KAI?!"
Kai raised his hand. Pandora opened her mouth and pushed out a sword for him to take.
"Kinda looks like Toji, huh? Hope I don't get copyright striked or have JJK fans come after me."
Kai swung his Gear, Grudge Accumulation Blade toward Gerda and flashed a confident grin.
"Come at me, Irelia. This big bro's gonna spank your ass 100 times for being such a naughty girl."