278 Choose your weapon

"Claire..." Ellie whispered as she stood in the middle of an open grassy field by herself while her curly-haired friend aimed at her with her magical staff, "Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be!!" the girl stated.

"Detra, you sure about this?" Evlin asked while she and the rest of her group watched from a safe distance the events that were about to unfold.

"Don't worry..." the former goddess secured, "The young miss has learned how to absorb energy a long time ago, she will be fine!"

"You better be sure..." Evlin threatened.

"Ok! Here I go!!!" Claire declared.

The girl took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and began to speak.

"The time has come to unleash my power...

Upon this land, my forces will shower..."

"Is that..." Evlin whispered.

"A chanting..." Detra replied, "The strongest method to pull out every single drop of power into the spells of a magician... Great for finishing your enemies in one blow..."

"Let my flames burn the world to grey...

Let my lightning send the darkness away...

Let my ice freeze every living soul..."

"Uuhhh..." Evlin muttered, "I'm not sure how I feel about this choice of words..."

"Quiet!" Detra whispered.

Claire continued, "Show the world a strength that is beyond anyone's control!!!"

Once the chanting was done, an immense ball of energy appeared in front of Claire's staff and continued to grow further and further. It was a sphere of magic energy that surrounded itself with lightning magic, fire magic, and ice magic.

Claire aimed the ball at Ellie and launched it like a cannon, creating an enormous storm of energy, very similar to the magic howl Mia used during the war.

Ellie saw the blast coming and began to cast her own chanting as well.

"Everything is mine to devour...

In this one world, none can match my power...

Release upon me your very best shot...

And cower in fear when I take away everything you got!!"

Ellie then extended her hands and a pair of mouths made of energy appeared on her palms and began to fuse into one giant mouth bigger than her entire body, her ability that she mirrored from Mia, spell breaker.

The energy mouth began to transform until it turned into the head of a lion made of energy that took Claire's gigantic spell head-on and completely devoured it.

"Young miss!! Now!!" Detra yelled.

Ellie then converted the power she just devoured into energy for herself and activated her terminal fire, which made her eyes began to glow with three different colors of red, green, and silver.

The lights of Ellie's powers were so strong that forced Evlin's group to turn away for a moment, and once everything was over, Ellie and Claire were collapsed on the ground with an enormous pile of metal scattered all over the grass.

"They did it!!" Detra claimed while clenching her fist.

"What? What happened?" Lilith asked, feeling like she just missed something amazing happening.

Evlin came closer and picked up one of the pieces Ellie created, a small metal gauntlet, bathed in terminal fire.

"Ellie just created terminal weapons..." Evlin stated, "Lots of them..."

Everyone present was at a loss for words.

"How is this possible...??" Daren wondered.

"The same way Marceus could make blessed weapons from his own body, the young miss can create terminal weapons from her body!" Detra explained, "She probably could create around five or six pieces... But thanks to little explosion girl over here, she had more than enough juice to make one for everyone!"

The team started to head over the weapons and pieces of armor while searching for items that matched their combat style the better.

"So... All of us can have access to terminal power now?" Daren wondered while grabbing a pair of metal claws.

"In theory, yes..." Detra claimed as she picked up a metal ring, "But young miss' terminal power is still not completely under control, she's still just a kid after all... But this should work to allow our attacks to damage a dragon's skin now..."

Leona picked up a metal staff and began to feel her power rising, "This is incredible... This is just how I felt when I faced the dragon in that cave..."

Auren however noticed that something was still missing for some of the mages in this group, "Wait! What about your staffs? Doesn't matter that your attacks can harm the dragons if you can't unleash any attacks!"

"Don't worry... There are a ton of channeling trees on this island... The north gods from ancient times were huge fans of magic..." Leona commented.

"Oh... I see..."

Leona at that moment looked at Evlin while she continued to pick up pieces of armor that resembled things she was familiar with such as bracelets and greaves, and decided to make her a question.

"Ah... Miss Evlin...?"

"Huh? Oh, hey Leona, what's up?" the mage replied.

"W- Would you by any chance be interested in learning wind magic...?"

Evlin tilted her head and blinked rapidly for a couple of seconds, "That... Is such an oddly specific question..."

"Sorry, it's just... I just assumed it would help in the following battle if you fought using your natural element..."

"My natural element...? What are you talking about...?"

"You don't know about natural elements...?"

"Is that like magic affinity or something...?"

"Ah, no... Natural elements and magic affinity are like the two halves needed to allow a mage to reach master-class..." Detra explained as she placed herself in the conversation.

"Master-class?" Evlin gasped, showing that she was now intrigued.

"Yes! For a mage to reach master-class, its necessary for the magic affinity and the natural element to match each other..." Detra continued.

"Oh... I- I did not know that..." Leona admitted.

Detra gave Leona a pat on the back, "You're still young, there are many things you still don't know about magic... But you should probably be able to reach master class in no time at your pace! In fact! I think I can teach you how to get there!"

"Really!!?" Leona gasped with sparkles in her eyes, "Y- You can teach me how to use magic without a staff??"

"Of course! And miss crossbow as well! You will finally be able to stand on the same level as the young miss!"

"Wait, wait, wait... Hold on..." Evlin begged, "First of all... What's all this stuff about natural element??"

"Natural element is the magical element that naturally works better for each individual as designated by its eye-color..." Leona explained, "Brown means earth, blue means water, green means wind, amber means fire, grey means darkness and hazel means light."

"So..." Evlin whispered while touching her face, "This whole time I was supposed to be a wind mage...??"

"Indeed..." Detra admitted, "If you had done so, you could have been a master mage just like your friends..."

"What...?" Evlins murmured.

"Your friends..." Detra repeated, "They are master mages..."

"What...??? Who???"

"The girl that can open portals, the bald man that can reverse time, and your friend that could read minds... They all are mages that reached master class and could use their spells without a staff... All because their affinities matched their elements..."

"Wait a second!!" Ria shouted while moving closer, "I am a mage??? We are mages???"

Detra just looked at her surprised that this was such a shock, "You didn't know?? What, you just assumed you had super-powers for no reason or something??"

Evlin began to think for a moment and realized that Gustav's ability to talk with his mind always seemed very similar to Xadi's tracking spell, and she did hear that Daren managed to open a portal with his magic just like Ria, and she always talked with Auren about how his time-reversal ability looked a lot like her healing magic.

"That... That does make sense..." she blurted, "So... If I learn wind magic, I can become a master mage??"

"But there is a catch though..." Detra warned while raising her finger, "Master mages can only perform one form of magic..."

"Only one?"

"Only one! It has to be the form of magic that occurs when your affinity and your element match perfectly! That's why I think miss Leona should be very close to unleashing her true power! All she needs is to properly polish her affinity!"

Evlin raised an eyebrow, "That doesn't sound too hard... Why aren't there a bunch of master-class mages walking around then...?"

"Did you not hear me?? Master mages can only use one magic! Forever!!"

Evlin's eyes began to widen up.

"If you were to reach this class, you would never be able to use earth, healing, or any of your usual spells again... Ever!! Only wind!"

"Whaaaaa!!?? But I love my healing spell!! You know how many times I avoided certain death just by fixing my wounds after I took a serious blow??" Evin cried.

"Wait, isn't Ellie a master class? She can use a ton of spells..." Daren wondered.

"Acttually, she only has one spell..." Detra corrected, "One spell that allows her to use a myriad of different abilities..."

"While I am just a confusing mess of a mage that just uses whatever the hell I happen to pick up..." Evlin assumed is what Detra was thinking from the way she looked at her.

"I'm not judging... Out loud, at least... But, yeah... I do feel your life as a mage would be better if you just picked something and properly developed it. It would be a tad difficult to have your transformation affinity to match with wind magic, I'll admit... "

"It's fine, Detra... I don't think trying to learn something completely different from what I already know this late in the game would be of much help anyway... If I had more time, maybe... But right now... I'll just stick with what I know..." Evlin responded while gazing at her friends finishing up gathering the equipment they wanted.

Detra sighed, but deep inside, she was not surprised, "Suit yourself then... Let's just hope everything works out in the end..."

Evlin then clenched her fist and began to think about whether or not she would even be able to use any magic considering how mad her inner voices were at her, but she then assumed that they would probably help out in the end if it was a matter of life and death for her.

She gazed at her friends one more time, all equipped with Ellie's terminal armor and ready to fight for their survival.

"I'm counting on you guys..." she whispered.