Fire came out of every finger of Enrico's hand, reaching even the fingers that were broken. He remained still, waiting for one of the two Nartheis in front of him to make a move.
The first to advance was the four-armed Nartheis. It moved quickly, throwing four punches covered in magic. Rocks surrounded its hands, turning its fists into even heavier weapons.
Enrico raised his hands, with his fingers covered in fire, and dodged all four attacks.
Then, he assumed that stance again and launched another blow, opening a hole in the creature's stomach. Since it had not hit the core, the Nartheis remained standing and immediately launched four more attacks.
Enrico used four Zero Impacts, destroying the rocks covering the creature's hands and pushing it away. Right afterward, he advanced and delivered another blow, opening a new hole, this time in the middle of its chest. However, once again, he had not hit the core.
The liquid Nartheis emerged from inside the ground and attempted to restrain Enrico with its arms, but he used Charged Impulse and jumped upward. Creating three arrows in his bow, he fired them all at the same time, forming a triangle of fire that surrounded the two enemies and closed off their possible escape routes.
Enrico's dull eyes began to catch fire, activating Crimson Eyes. At that moment, he felt something grab his legs. Looking down, he realized that it was a small amount of the liquid that had been left behind.
The liquid stretched and began to spin, causing Enrico to spin through the air. Then, it threw the boy with force against the triangle of fire, destroying the formation. Before he could regain his balance, Enrico was met by a rock hammer that sent him upward. However, before he could go any farther, hands made of liquid grabbed his arms and pulled him back.
Another blow from the hammer struck his face.
Enrico took advantage of the impact to spin through the air. With his head close to the ground, he used Charged Impulse to increase his speed even further and delivered a kick that knocked the hammer out of the four-armed Nartheis's hands.
More liquid appeared around him. Enrico raised both hands and launched several fireballs that split apart in the air. Immediately afterward, he used Charged Impulse again and, during the movement, assumed that same stance.
The liquid stretched and formed a shield, hardening its surface to block the attack. Enrico clenched his fist and made a movement that caused strong pressure in the air, completely shattering the shield.
Right afterward, another blow struck the four-armed Nartheis, opening a new hole in its body. This time, however, Enrico hit the core exactly, which was located slightly above the left rib.
Several small drops of liquid began surrounding Enrico before gathering back together with the original Nartheis, causing its body to become even larger. The creature grabbed Enrico with one of its hands and threw him against several Failures.
The corrupted Elves immediately advanced, spitting different elements from their mouths.
An explosion occurred.
Enrico emerged from inside the smoke completely injured, but he was still holding his fire bow. Pointing at a small glow on the leg of the liquid Nartheis, he had realized that the core had been exposed because of the explosion that had just occurred behind him.
He released the arrow.
The projectile quickly pierced the glowing core, defeating the Nartheis. Without even stopping to observe the result, Enrico immediately ran toward the Failures to continue the fight.
In the distance, three fire tornadoes sent several Failures flying away. Valença emerged from inside the smoke left behind by the destruction of the tornadoes, closely followed by the hawk-like Nartheis, which flew surrounded by currents of wind.
'He is much faster.'
Valença pointed her staff backward and launched a large fireball at the worm-like Nartheis. The attack struck the creature and sent it flying away. At four meters tall, it would be difficult not to notice the shadow of that creature approaching from behind.
Upon noticing that the worm had entered the ground, Valença placed her staff against the ground and began preparing Incandescent Ray. When the magic was released, it completely destroyed everything beneath her, creating a large crater from which the worm emerged, severely injured.
From behind, Valença was struck by a mini tornado that slightly pierced her skin. She turned her body to the side, allowing the attack to pass, and the hawk-like Nartheis appeared right behind her.
'Time to test my improvement.'
A fireball appeared in Valença's hand. She concentrated an enormous amount of mana into the sphere, causing the air around her to tremble and acquire reddish tones.
The sphere grew until it reached the size of a barrel and began spinning rapidly in her hand, with flaming cracks appearing across its surface.
Valença launched the sphere toward the Nartheis.
It left a trail of embers in the air before colliding with the ground between the worm, which was getting back up, and the hawk, which was rapidly approaching. The explosion created an enormous wave of fire that struck both of them at the same time.
The worm was killed, while the hawk managed to escape into the distance, fleeing completely injured.
"I'll call it Cataclysm Flame..."
Valença raised her staff and aimed at the hawk. Then, she fired an Incandescent Ray that pierced the creature and burned half of its body, defeating it.
She had to admit that she had imagined it would be more difficult. On the other hand, she had spent almost half of her mana with those attacks and expected to defeat them by putting in even more effort.
'I have to think of a combined name for the technique Enrico and I created.'
She began thinking about the technique she had created when she fought as a pair with her rival, wanting to find a name as good as that of her first technique.
Several Failures approached around her, but they were pushed away by fireballs that fell from the sky.
Enrico had finished defeating all the enemies on his side.
The two were injured, but they remained calm.
"Well, let's go after Sir Val'Drakar."
Valença took a step forward and pointed her staff at the remaining Failures, preparing a magic spell to finish them off. However, suddenly, she was pulled down by Enrico, who remained over her for a second.
"Sorry, but it's not time for that yet, Enri..."
Valença's face remained calm, but inside, she was completely flushed and embarrassed.
Enrico stood up, and Valença noticed a cut in the tree behind them.
"So that's it... Thank you."
Enrico stared at the place where the battle was taking place, while Valença stood up with a certain disappointment on her face and also began watching the fight.
"He said not to interrupt."
Since Enrico was going to get involved in that battle, Valença grabbed his arm. She knew that he was not listening to anything, but, as Val'Drakar had asked, she would not interrupt him.
She pointed at the approaching Failures.
Enrico immediately jumped toward them to continue fighting.
"He looks like a cute child obeying me... I like this..."
A lizard the size of a house rose before Val'Drakar. Its body was made of earth, and it spat a sphere of water that, as it advanced, turned into mud and took the shape of a shark.
"You absorbed Tarcen's core well, companion."
Using the thinner sword, Val'Drakar made a slash that split the attack in two. That level of attack would not be capable of causing any significant damage to him. After recovering a little more of his power the previous day, he had reached the level of a Faizes Level 3.
"He must have given you a lot of power for you to absorb that core so well."
Val'Drakar was only taking so long in that confrontation because, at certain moments, he ended up remembering the past he had shared with his former companion.
He closed his eyes for a second and raised both swords, bringing them against each other.
"Double Fire Slash."
It was time to end this.
As he swung both swords, Val'Drakar launched slashes that completely passed through the lizard, dividing its body into four parts.
However, Laflez emerged from inside the creature and immediately summoned several earth lizards. There were ten creatures the same size as the previous one.
They all closed their mouths at the same time.
Ten gigantic mouths appeared around Val'Drakar, as if they were about to bite him. However, at the last second, the mouths opened and released an enormous amount of magic.
"That won't work."
Val'Drakar held both swords and accumulated power while assuming a defensive stance.
Then, several slashes appeared.
They not only cut the mouths and the earth lizards, but also passed through Laflez himself, whose body was divided into several pieces to ensure that he was completely destroyed.
"That can't be all he did."
Laflez's body began to disappear, but Val'Drakar did not lower his guard.
There were no Failures around.
Everything was clear.
In the distance, he managed to see Valença approaching accompanied by Enrico.
Valença tried to warn him about something, but at that moment, Val'Drakar felt something pierce through his chest.
Looking down, he saw what appeared to be a stake of earth piercing through his body.
He was certain that he had felt Laflez die and his core disappear.
"You bastards really forced me to use part of my magic to take over this body."
Laflez's shattered body began to gather again. The pieces transformed into a kind of dark core, which began forming a more human figure, although it still maintained the appearance of a lizard.
Val'Drakar immediately recognized that magic.
He had known it for a very long time.
Because of this, he knew exactly who was standing before him.
"Sairao."