Tasha versus Nicholas
This might be the most unbalanced fight in this battle. Not only the hills around gave a huge advantage to Tasha, but she could also move from one hill to another by single magic. This would lead to an endless chase, exhausting Nicholas before killing him.
However, the battle turned into something unexpected, Tasha did not move to another hill, making a distance. Nicholas had prepared for this and was planning to create a huge stone bridge, connecting from one hill to another.
That was why when he carefully climbed the hill while dodging Tasha's lightning arrow, he was confused. There were only a hundred meters between them and she should use her magic around this time. Instead, Tasha released another arrow that was blocked by his shield.
He gulped down, planning to charge at her. With this gap, he should have reached her before she could activate her magic. After gathering his resolve, he charged at her with his fastest speed.
"!!!" Tasha looked surprised and made a pink magic circle below her feet.
Unfortunately, the moment she activated the magic, Nicholas arrived in front of her, shouting, "You won't get away!"
He aimed his sword at her neck, forcing her to leap back. He thought he managed to stop her from using her Space Magic. As long as he could keep his distance with her, he should be able to stop her from teleporting.
"She can't use her Teleportation anymore as long as I stay close… is what you thought right now, I think." Tasha smiled as she clapped her hands. "Unfortunately, that magic circle is not for me, but you."
"!!!" Upon hearing that, he realized her plan. He tried to exit the magic circle, but it was too late.
Tasha waved her hand and said with a smile. "Good luck to try again."
"You-" He did not finish his words and disappeared. In a split second, he was back on the foot of the hill, needing to climb again to stop her.
Tasha could smile, but he could not. As for the spectators, they opened their mouths in amazement. Out of all possibilities inside their heads, Tasha did not use any of them and blew their minds away.
"This… I should not call Isabelle unfair. After seeing this, I should say it is a creative way to use the technique. Although she can't penetrate Nicholas's shield or Earth body, she can't keep teleporting him again and again to exhaust him." Diego shouted. Every word was full of energy as he was excited to see what would happen next.
Yuki could not help but comment, "No. There is actually one more thing to consider. She might use this to anger Nicholas. If Nicholas makes a rushed decision, Tasha would surely use it to either kill him or teleport to her teammate and help them."
"In any case, we can only see what would happen next."
In the battlefield,
Tasha kept teleporting him back to the foot of the hill, keeping him far from her. This certainly infuriated Nicholas before he suddenly heard a crack on his shield.
"!!!"
This was Tasha's original plan. She would keep teleporting him while striking his shield at the same spot continuously until it broke. And when both of them saw this, Tasha was excited while Nicholas sweatdropped.
Unexpectedly, before they could make another move,
"Boom!" A huge explosion destroyed a part of the forest. Tasha turned around and asked, "Teacher Sanae, is that Ayaka?"
"Tasha, Ayaka is coming to you!"
"So, she kills her opponent faster than me…" Tasha made a weird face.
"Yes. That lass…" Sanae could only shake her head, recalling what happened earlier. She even asked her to go to Tasha instead of Kai as this battle was easier.
A few minutes ago,
Ayaka was keeping Tommy at bay, albeit barely. His Ice magic extinguished all her flame techniques while her spear was at the same level as him.
As the battle progressed, she slowly lost her advantage and was forced to retreat deeper into the woods.
"Dragon Crane!" She struck her spear continuously, aiming at all his vital spots.
On the other hand, Tommy took his time in defeating her, carefully observing his observation to see whether there was a trap or not. She looked at the injuries he had inflicted on her hands, body, or feet.
Ayaka's defeat would only be a matter of time. He blocked not only all these thrusts but also added a few more injuries to her body. Although the wounds were superficial, they still hurt. Yet, despite all of that, Ayaka did not scream and become even more focused.
After fighting her for a few minutes, he suddenly realized that Ayaka's movement got better and better. It was like she used this fight to improve her battle style.
"!!!" She was using him as her training partner, which could not be allowed. He shifted his stance, changing his defensive style to the offensive. He stabbed the ground with his sword.
"Ice Wave!"
Ice started sparking from the ground, spreading toward her like a wave. Ayaka did not jump, making her vulnerable on the air. Instead, she made a magic circle, blasting all these ices to smithereens.
"Scarlet Explosion!"
"Boom!"
The explosion also stopped the ice from spreading forward, giving her a chance to counter-attack.
"Flares!"
She shot out a few fire small tornadoes toward him. Tommy only snorted, seeing this unworthy technique.
"Ice Creates Phoenix!"
His blue magic circle froze the air around before creating a huge ice phoenix. It flew toward Ayaka, extinguishing all the fire tornadoes in the way.
Ayaka clapped her hands, creating a huge net to catch the phoenix.
"Fire Net!"
This net could roast a Rank A magical beast alive with its intense heat, let alone an ice phoenix.
The phoenix slowly melted before evaporating. Little did she know that there was another attack coming from behind the phoenix.
It might be able to catch that big phoenix, but it could not stop smaller objects. Tommy took advantage of that and shot a few ice arrows toward her.
"!!!" Ayaka's hand was covered with flame as she created a shield of fire, blocking these ice arrows.
"Kh…" She bit her lips, enduring the pain as one of the arrows managed to pierce through the shield and stabbed her left hand.
"I can't let him down… I will win." With that determination, she kept enduring the pain as she lured him deeper and deeper.
And when they arrived at a particular place, she finally smiled.
"!!!" He finally noticed he went too deep. Because she had too many injuries, it tempted him to advance as to finish her. However, it would seem it was her plan all along.
He turned around, trying to escape, but Ayaka did not let him. She activated all the magic circles around the area.
Around twenty magic circles appeared simultaneously, circling around their position with Ayaka in the center.
Those magic circles exploded at the same time, forcing him to move closer to Ayaka.
"Kh!"
She did not stop there. Ayaka activated the second round, which made a smaller circle, forcing Tommy to get closer to her position again.
After two more rounds of explosions, she was finally close enough to him. She slashed her spear downwards but was still blocked by Tommy's sword.
"No matter what trick you throw at me, I will defeat you!" Tommy shouted as he pushed her back.
Ayaka was still smiling as fire started covering her body from top to bottom like a knight in full armor. "Then, how about this?"
The same magic circle appeared right under their feet, albeit the size was three times the previous magic circles.
"As long as you are dead, I have completed my mission." Ayaka smiled, looking at him with full determination. "Magic Bomb Activated!"
"You… Why… you go to such an extent?" Tommy could not comprehend her action. This was similar to a suicide bombing.
To answer this question, Ayaka made a bigger smile and said, "It's a foolish thing, the human heart. Sometimes we fail to operate logically and act on emotions. I should have realized this sooner. For me, he could do something like this. If I can't do the same, what qualification would I have to stand by his side?"
"You-" Before he could finish his word, the magic was activated, creating a huge explosion that even alarmed Tasha. On the other hand, Ayaka closed her eyes, recalling the scene where Kai used a supersonic attack to butcher the magical beasts with his life at stake.
"Boom!"
Tommy was reduced to ashes while Ayaka was blown away. If not because of the fire armor that covered all her body, she would certainly have the same fate as him.
She was rolling on the ground before a tree stopped her. Her body was covered with blood as well as burn marks. In fact, half of her body had burn marks, making her look scary.
Even so, she still raised her hands, looking at the horizon, "I still need to help him…"
Unfortunately, because of her wounds, she could not help him. That was why she asked for a helper in this battle.
…
At the deepest part of the forest, a young man could not help but shake his head helplessly and started running. "Human Heart, huh… It's certainly a foolish thing, but not laughable."
He remembered when Ayaka suddenly stopped him before entering the simulation tube, asking him for a favor.
Not long after,
Even with her fuzzy consciousness, she managed to stay awake as she was enveloped by warm water. It was ticklish, but the pain started to disappear. After another minute, she was able to move her hand and looked around.
"Evan, thank you."
"You still need to wait for another minute if you still want to go."
"Yes."