"Aren't you…" Jack gulped. "Going to help him?"
His entire plan hinged on her going to help Odeus.
Yet she stood smiling while pillars of ice, each weighing hundreds of kilograms, smashed into him relentlessly.
The ruthlessness of it made the "Demon" idea more real in Jack's mind. Though he felt that the Ice Maniac was just as much of a Demon.
"Does it look to you like he needs help?" Saphyra asked with an amused expression.
"...?" Jack frowned and turned back towards the battlefield.
Lucien was breathing heavily with both arms extended in Odeus' direction.
'What the hell is happening?' The Ice Maniac asked himself. 'Each of my attacks should have landed… Is it blocking them with physical strength? There's no way. Somehow… It's almost like my ice breaks down the moment it comes into contact with him!'
With no other way of learning more, Lucien cast another attack.
"Aren't you tired of this?" Odeus tapped the ground with his foot, and all of the dust and rubble covering him dissipated. "This isn't getting you anywhere." He whispered, watching the approaching pillars with bored eyes.
Asmodeus extended his arms towards those approaching pillars and, the moment they were about to come into contact with him, a dark purplish aura emanated from his hands.
The ice immediately cracked and fell to the ground before reaching him.
"Wha… What was that…?" Jack whispered without meaning to.
"Hm? Oh," Saphyra turned towards him, then back to the fight. "It's-"
"Demonic Ether?!" Lucien shouted before Saphyra could finish her sentence. "But how?"
"Oh, you realized." Odeus nodded, genuinely surprised. "Guess you must have fought a pretty strong Demon in the past. Most assume that it's a normal purple-colored Ether."
"So it's true…" Jack clenched his teeth. "You are Demons."
"I mean…" Saphyra momentarily looked at him with a confused face. "I did tell you."
A bluish light emanated from Lucien's eyes as he immediately understood just how much danger his sister was truly in.
It only took a second for the entirety of the arena's floor to be frozen solid.
'Now that he knows, there won't be any more talking, huh?' Odeus sighed while scratching his head.
He raised an eyebrow, noticing something in the layer of ice covering the ground.
"Cool trick." Odeus raised a foot and slammed it against the ground with all his strength, breaking the layer of ice and causing debris to rise into the air. "Moving your Ether through already formed ice to control it." He quickly turned around and extended an arm just in time to stop the spear aimed at his back.
Lucien was already running closer when Odeus got eyes on him again. The pieces of ice debris were floating in the air, just like those that made up the decimated spear.
"Uhhgh!" Lucien grunted as he punched the ground at the centre of the arena with all his strength, causing multiple fissures to run through the ice in every direction.
"Oof, that doesn't look good." Saphyra whispered as all the ice previously formed rose into the air.
"Yes! He uses his hands to negate your attacks!" Jack cheered. "An attack coming from every direction is the way! He won't be able to block everything with his hands!"
"Look at you! Finally earning your spot on the stands!" Saphyra chuckled.
Lucien focused his Ether, and dozens of ice formations rose into the air.
In all shapes, sizes, and varying degrees of sharpness.
It wasn't long before clouds of ice surrounded Odeus from every direction. To the left, right, behind him, from above… The ice would come crashing down with Ether-enhanced momentum and force.
"Crush him to death!" Jack shouted, and the glow in Lucien's eyes grew brighter.
The Ice Maniac clenched his extended hand, and everything came at once as if Odeus had turned into a black hole, sucking everything in its vicinity into itself.
CRASH! CRASH! BOOM!
The impact was enough to make Jack shudder despite being so far away.
The dust and rubble once again hid the result of the attack.
There was only one way to know for sure.
'...' Jack quietly and slowly turned to peek at Saphyra. '...!'
His heart immediately started beating faster as he saw her wide-eyed, staring at the dust-covered area with a hand over her mouth.
'Yes!' He celebrated internally. 'Yes! Yes! Yes! Y-'
"Hey." Saphyra called out, immediately causing Jack to freeze.
Odeus might have been defeated, but she was still there. More importantly, she was close enough that Lucien couldn't protect him even if he wanted to-
"Am I…" She gulped, the hand on her blushing face moving a bit further. "Am I… Getting a nosebleed?"
"Huh?" Jack frowned in confusion and turned back towards the area where Odeus' corpse should lie.
As the dust settled down,
"Tsk." Odeus clicked his tongue, having been forced to exude Demonic Ether from his entire upper body and not just his hands like earlier. "Looks like..." He muttered, standing bare-chested, surrounded by rubble, and completely unscathed. "We both need new uniforms now."