Everyone looked at Rina and Ayumi's body in panic, thinking that they would die in just a few moments. If that were to happen, this battle would surely be lost.
Fortunately, they didn't die immediately or in a short time at all. Their strength and ranks are on another level compared to the poison dart frogs' previous victims. His poison, while certainly being able to kill them if given enough time, won't be able to fulfill its purpose for a while. They still have time to win.
Their death was almost certain nonetheless. Without Hana being able to heal them, there was nothing they could do but to pray that their bodies could handle the poison on their own with enough time.
The Enlightened lost and regained their hope in mere seconds as they realized all of this. Only Hana remained shaken and fearful. She believed that their death was imminent, and this battle had already been decided.
"Foolishhhhhh. All this waterrrrr, it's still connected to you twoooo. Poisoned water means poisoned youuuuu!"
It all made sense after his explanation. If the poison dart frog touched the primary element of an Enlightened, he could poison their essence, poisoning them and killing them by doing so.
The wall they had created was immediately destroyed by the twins upon hearing this.
Neither the primary element, nor the body of a person could touch the poison dart frog's hands. If they could cut his hands off or simply managed not to touch them, victory would be theirs.
Knowing that time wasn't on their side, everyone on the side of the first stronghold attacked fiercely, aside from Hana, of course.
It was no longer in the poison dart frog's interest to attack. He could simply wait until the twins had died. Everyone else was easy prey.
All the primary elements of the Enlightened, fire, earth, lightning, water, air, and ice, all came crashing onto the poison dart frog in rapid, but inaccurate attacks. These were not meant to hit or kill the poison dart frog at all. They were a mere distraction to give Rina and Ayumi enough time to perform devastating attacks.
The poison dart frog dodged the onslaught of attacks with practiced ease, not even struggling for a moment.
Rina and Ayumi, instead of fighting in perfect harmony like they usually would, fought in dissonance. Rina directed her attacks to strike from the left, and Ayumi directed hers to strike from the right.
As time continued to pass, the poison dart frog started to struggle. His stamina diminished, yet none of the Enlightened were exhausted. At the same time, the poison continued to work its magic on Rina and Ayumi's bodies. Small parts of their arms, where the poison had started to spread from, had already begun to crumble and fall off.
However, this progress was laughable. It would take far too long to kill them this way. If the poison dart frog kept simply evading without striking once, he would die before they could succumb to the poison.
It was impossible for him to poison them by touching their primary element. Since the time he had revealed that even just touching a primary element could end up killing the Enlightened, they became far too careful, and simply faded their attacks out of existence before he could reach and poison them.
He became desperate as the realization hit him, and he lunged forward quickly, trying to kill more of the Enlightened with a mere touch.
Before his hands could touch them, Rina and Ayumi had already tackled them out of the way, and received the extra doses of poison instead.
"Your desperation is almost adorable. We'll die either way. There's no way we'd allow you scum to touch anyone else here!"
They both smiled with cruel joy as they saw the desperation in the poison dart frog's eyes.
"Get awayyyyyyy! You freaksssss!"
The fear in his voice was music in Rina and Ayumi's ears. He knew very well how much danger he was faced with at that moment.
He jumped backwards quickly, attempting to get out of point-blank range in time before they could injure, or worse, kill him.
He was unable to accomplish this, and received a deep wound in his leg, hindering him from dashing around as quickly as he used to.
By shooting out the water quickly enough and with enough force, the twins could easily slice through mortals and Enlightened alike.
The wound gushed out fresh blood. The pain caused the poison dart frog to shake heavily and almost drop to his knees.
"This is our chance! Strike before he can recover!"
The Enlightened obeyed without hesitation, and used as much essence as they could to attack the poison dart frog alongside the twins.
This time, due to his injury, it became impossible for him to dodge the onslaught of attacks. He received plenty of smaller wounds and cuts, but the worst thing for him, and the best for Rina and Ayumi, was that his stamina and essence was running lower and lower until he finally had no more left.
All the attacks were able to connect now, and he was unable to do anything, but attempt to crawl away and beg pathetically and at naught as he collapsed.
"P-pleaseeeeee! D-don't do thisssssssss! We can talk about all of thisssssss! I'll save you twoooooooo!"
To shut him up, Rina stepped on his throat, crushing his spinal cord and windpipe. Ayumi finished him with a malicious stream of water that pierced through his chest and destroyed his heart.
The poison dart frog had been slaughtered.
But even though the enemy was dead, and everyone could celebrate for a moment, they soon realized that the true tragedy had yet to happen.
Rina and Ayumi's bodies kept on decaying, and they had finally come close to succumbing fully to the poison.
The Enlightened, knowing there was nothing they could do, shot respectful and sorrowful gazes at them. They killed some Enlightened just moments ago, yet Rina and Ayumi had also saved some of the alive Enlightened.
Respect was the least these Enlightened could offer.
In these final few moments, all they wanted to do was to be with their master. They walked over to her, and flashed a weak smile as they hugged her.
Seeing her two beloved disciples in such a tragic state finally allowed Hana to return to reality, and out of her immovable state. She embraced them tightly with a sorrowful and helpless expression as tears began to flow uncontrollably.
"It's okay, master. Don't cry. We've lived a good life, and we've killed one last enemy too. We have no regrets, you shouldn't either. You were always a great master, and a great friend too. Thank you."
As these words left their lips, they closed their eyes a final time. Their breathing hadn't stopped yet, but it was impossible for them to move anymore or even just keep their eyes open. They had grown too weak for it.
Hana collapsed onto her knees, crying loudly with the twins held tightly in her arms. She cradled their bodies in her lap as she spoke to them desperately.
"No! Please don't leave me! Rina! Ayumi! Don't close your eyes! S-stay awake, I'm begging you! H-hey, c-can't you hear me?! Answer me!! P-please…"
"This is all my fault… I'm begging you two…don't die…"
Her tears fell onto the poor girls' faces as she gently caressed their hair, trying to give them some comfort in their last moments. The Enlightened stayed silent, and watched this happen from afar, feeling disheartened and moved to tears by this sight.