Inside the flame barrier created by Platina, the two girls exchanged spells, unable to land a single hit. Both were being overly cautious, testing the opponent's abilities, until with their next move, they decided to start fighting seriously.
"Multiple Fire Tornadoes."
"Concentrated Fire Tornado."
From Platina's hands, ten tornadoes came out, surrounding the girl, while a concentrated tornado struck her chest, slamming Platina against the barrier. The girl emerged from the smoke left behind by Platina's tornadoes, injured.
"What's your name? My name is Penelope."
"I don't need to tell my name to a dead woman."
"So confident…"
Penelope pointed her finger at Platina, who quickly moved aside. From Penelope's fingertip, a small concentrated tornado pierced Platina's shoulder, leaving a hole.
"Let's see if you can survive this now."
Unable to move her arm, Platina circled around Penelope at high speed, creating a fiery whirlwind that inflicted constant damage. Jumping out from the middle, Penelope raised her fingers downward, summoning ten fireballs that fell where Platina stood.
"Flame Flower."
On Penelope's skin, where the whirlwind had struck her, a flower began to bloom, burning her flesh. A second later, seven flowers exploded all at once.
"Aaahh!"
Emerging injured, Penelope created a large fireball and hurled it at Platina, who came from behind, trying to push her away.
Platina crossed her arms, forcing her wounded body to resist despite the pain. Holding out with great effort, she focused and created a massive fireball that, upon being launched, split into several, engulfing Penelope in constant attacks.
"Aaahhh!"
Struck by so many hits, Penelope screamed in pain, her eyes and face twisting with fury. She released fire mana from her body, making the rest of the attacks vanish.
"Wind Magic: Multiple Shots."
Revealing her second magic, Penelope unleashed a rain of wind attacks, which transformed into fire as well, combining the two magics and catching Platina off guard.
"Gahh!"
Receiving the shower of attacks, her body grew more and more battered, especially on the right side of her abdomen, where she was hit most. Platina realized that the wind magic was of circle 1, but whenever a mage developed a second magic to use in battle, they usually combined it with their original element to raise its level.
'Even so, her magics complement each other well. It must have been easier than for others… well, she's not the only one.'
Penelope appeared on her injured side. Even though she couldn't move properly, Platina could still use her magic. Spinning one hand, she caused an explosion of fire that pushed Penelope away.
"Fire Prison."
Stomping the ground, flames burst upward, covering Penelope with multiple bars of fire. When she tried to cast a spell, fiery chains restrained her.
"This spell—I thought I'd train it later this year. But seeing my little brother grow strong so quickly, I couldn't stand still."
With wide eyes, Penelope saw liquid metal forming a large spear coated in fire. Desperate, she tried to use her fire explosion to break the chains, but it was already too late. The spear pierced her chest at great speed, killing her instantly.
"It was a good fight, but I am from the Solcren Ferreira family, so of course I would win."
Coldly watching the corpse fall, she dispelled the flame barrier and sat down to rest a little.
"Fighting someone at your own level is always tough…"
Covering her shoulder, where the small hole burned painfully, she knew she'd have to ask a healer for aid soon, since it hurt even after the battle ended.
"Excuse me… huff… huff… have you seen my family? You seem hurt, I can heal you if you'd like."
A fragile, somewhat gloomy girl with dark hair and worn clothes approached, stopping seven meters away. She raised an eyebrow, looking nervous about getting closer.
"Who are your family members?"
"My mother is a fragile woman, just like me—"
"Then you're the daughter of the woman my brother saved? You two look quite alike."
"So she's safe?"
"Yes, my brother took her to a safe shop."
The girl looked relieved, then raised her hand and began healing Platina's shoulder from a distance, as if unwilling to come closer for some reason.
'Well, I don't mind.'
From afar, Platina saw destruction and her older brother battling two opponents in the sky at the city center. His flaming wings shed burning feathers that pierced both enemies.
"They both looked like circle fours… will my little brother and sister start admiring him even more? I hope they didn't see this."
Valerio looked down, where an item lay that maintained the barrier. His last opponent had fled, which was dangerous, but he needed to disable the barrier quickly before pursuing.
"Maximum Fire Magic: Explosive Cannon."
From his hand, a powerful blast erupted, shattering the item. Controlling the explosion so it didn't destroy that part of the city, he limited it to the item's area.
"Good, now to chase the one who fled."
Turning toward the place where he had seen the hooded figure escape, he noticed a purple light appear and vanish quickly in the distance.
'That's the spot where I saw my brother go while I was fighting in the sky…'
Flying there immediately, he found only a child, who looked starved, trembling behind a wall.
"Hey, boy, what happened here?"
"S-some people came to help me, then another bad guy appeared with a device and made them disappear."
The boy looked scared, but Valerio didn't care about that. If the hooded one had taken Enrico, it was a huge problem, because he had noticed that person was about to become a circle four.
"I need to find out where they went."