On the original battlefield, Michelle was focused on her fight against the octopus.
Her swords and scythes kept getting repelled by the octopus. None of them managed to injure each other yet.
"Shadow Slash." She waved her right sword and released a black-colored Sword Wave, running through the ground.
The octopus simply leaped back into the water to escape this attack before returning to the ground. After that, he countered the attack by slamming two tentacles to Michelle.
The latter avoided it like the octopus, but the octopus raised the tentacles, cracking the ground and dragging it off with him.
This huge boulder was a real threat to the other soldiers.
Hence, Michelle reached the boulder with her scythes, cutting it into pieces before the octopus could even throw it to the others.
Seeing it had been sliced, the octopus harrumphed and threw away the rubbles. He then slammed the ground with his tentacles again.
Michelle obviously wouldn't allow him to do the same thing. She quickly merged her Shadow Swords and created a longer and bigger one.
She swung her new 5 meters sword to stop the tentacle.
Bam.
The Shadow Sword hit the water bubble that acted as a cover. The water was hard as if it was frozen.
"…" Michelle clicked her tongue as her shadow suddenly disappeared. "Marionette."
Feeling the octopus had a slight advantage in terms of strength, Michelle froze her own shadow. This was new magic she developed from the concept of a shadow that would continuously follow the person's action.
Hence, she froze the shadow and created a reverse effect where the real body couldn't move, giving an illusion she received an extra strength to withstand one's attack.
The octopus didn't know she couldn't move right now, so he kept trying to push her back as if he wanted to overpower her.
The moment the octopus knew it was futile, Michelle retracted her shadow and leaped toward the octopus.
"Shadow…" The black fire around her sword grew stronger as she struck the tentacle with it. "Slash."
The Shadow Slash ran through the skin, trying to rip the tentacle apart. Unfortunately for her, the octopus managed to react to her attack by splashing the water from his skin, blowing away the Shadow Slash.
"…" Michelle squinted her eyes, not pleased to know she failed to cut a tentacle.
Still, a red mark on the tentacle showed that she was close to cutting his skin. If he didn't react that quickly, he would have lost his tentacle.
Not liking the fact Michelle could cut his tentacle, the octopus started getting angry. "You're the one who forces me…"
The octopus turned red before raising two tentacles.
The water behind him rose and formed a small wave. However, Michelle could see the piping hot atmosphere along with some heat released from the water.
"Boiling Water?" Michelle frowned and glanced back, seeing the soldiers who fought together with her. "I won't let you."
She waved her sword horizontally, releasing a black Sword Wave that flew to the bottom of the waves. Sadly, she was one step too late as the water had enough energy to move past her.
"…" Michelle wanted to protect them, so she expanded her shadow and created a short but sturdy wall of shadow that received the wave with their body.
The wave hit the wall and splashed around. Michelle, on the other hand, took a deep breath after feeling the impact.
"It's quite powerful." Michelle shook her head helplessly and started fighting back by expanding her scythe.
On the contrary, the octopus grabbed the scythe with two tentacles while saying, "It's no use. Your king won't be able to fight against our king. He is too young to even be considered an opponent."
"That's something you believe…" Michelle smiled. "I still believe Kai has enough strength to defeat your king. This is a fact that I will believe no matter how hard you try to convince me. I am sad that I can't help him in this situation because I don't have the strength to even stand beside him. That's why right now, I want to ease his burden as much as possible. And the first thing I need to do is to kill you."
The octopus frowned and raised all his tentacles. "Then, let's see whether you have the capability to do it or not."
Michelle struck the tentacle with her small sword and somehow contained the giant tentacle. At the same time, her scythes tried to stop all other tentacles that were going to hit her.
This was their basic fight until Michelle stepped up her game.
A huge black spike suddenly emerged from the ground, hitting two tentacles on the side and cutting it a little bit until the blood started to flow out of the wounds.
"!!!" The octopus opened his eyes in shock and saw one of Michelle's scythes turned out to be underground.
Knowing that the spike was actually the scythe, the octopus grasped the spike, refusing to let go.
Michelle tried to retract her scythe or basically her shadow, but the octopus somehow stopped it, preventing her from moving.
"I got you!" The octopus smirked and sent all his tentacles to hit Michelle.
Michelle clicked her tongue and struck several tentacles, repelling them away. However, she was immobilized. It was hard for her to turn around, forcing the scythes to deal with the tentacles on her back.
She didn't have a clear vision of them, resulting in a hit on her back.
Bam.
"Kh!" Michelle gritted her teeth because the tentacle hit her on the back. Although she had covered her body with shadow, it still hurt. She even took a step forward just to support her body.
Gritting her teeth, Michelle came to a decision.
"I think I really need you," said Michelle with a serious expression.
Suddenly, her shadow expanded and rose as if it had a will of its own. The shadow then turned into a beautiful woman that looked like her. After that, there were several spikes that emerged from the ground and almost hit the tentacles.
If not because of the octopus' fast reaction, his tentacles would have been cut.
"I have been waiting for this." Dark Michelle licked her lips while staring at the octopus. "We should have Takoyaki after this war."
"Suit yourself." Michelle shook her head helplessly.
"What do you mean to suit myself? I am you, you are me. I am just the desire you have to suppress." Dark Michelle chuckled while forming a pair of swords along with the scythes on her back.
"Shut up. We better kill this guy first. I don't like having an enemy watching our conversation." Michelle harrumphed.
"Roger. After that, we can split up to help the others." Dark Michelle winked as if the job had finished.
Hearing this statement infuriated the octopus as the latter said, "You… Do you think you can stop me? I am going to kill both of you before killing the others. I will let you see that my power is beyond your imagination."
"Yeah, yeah. I know you're going to say something like that." Dark Michelle rolled her eyes and waved her hand as if she didn't care about his statement.
Michelle, on the other hand, glanced at Dark Michelle with a smile. "I guess we need to prove it to him."
"Yeah. Let's get serious."
Both of them suddenly had black marks on their body as her strength drastically increased.
"Shadow Possession."