Although they had prepared for the upcoming battle, they did not have time to cover everything possible, and they also had no way of knowing what extraordinary encounters Forus and Ocelia had met.
After the initial ambush had exhausted its advantage, Glacies and his team slowly fell into the disadvantage side and continued to get suppressed. However, Forus also got hit by several strikes that would have been fatal if not for Ocelia's protection. As a result, he also suffered.
Gripping at his arm, Glacies channelled his sorcery energy to expel the Death Aura inside of him. Since he entered the Fleeting Emotions Ruin, he had encountered many weird and exotic abilities. To his surprise, none could hold a candle to Forus' Death Aura. It was persisting, destructive, and fast-reacting.
The lotus-like treasure had lost more than half of its petals. Although it could generate more, Glacies lacked time the most. Despite that, he still needed to use them to save him and his allies. The freezing spikes from the cane were not enough to combat both Forus and Ocelia.
"Avidas, I've decided. We'll use it." Feeling desperate, Glacies transmitted his thought to his allies. Although he did not prepare everything, he was smart enough not to act arrogant and create a safety net when all would fail.
Hearing his young master's command, Avidas' turned pale and stood in his track. Despite his unwillingness, he did not dare to disobey his young master and comply in the end.
Using a ritual dagger, Avidas sliced his palm and let his blood dripped onto the ground before chanting an unknown language. While he transferred his sorcery energy into the blade, it absorbed life force from his blood and turned it black.
After he filled the ground beneath him with blood, Avidas gritted his teeth as he stabbed the dagger into the centre of the blood pool. Using his already injured hand, he drew circles upon circles with his blood.
As time passed, the chant echoed louder and louder, gaining the attention of Forus and Ocelia. Although the two did not know what Avidas was doing, they also did not want to witness the completion of such an array. If anything unexpected happened, they might lose their advantage.
Glacies knew this thought process, and he would not allow his enemies to succeed. Although he was reluctant, he willed his mind and let the lotus-like treasure separated all of its petals, creating a tempest of freezing petals that covered both him and Avidas.
As Ocelia saw his action, she became sure that this would be one of the trump cards she would be facing. She channelled her sorcery energy and twisted the space above Avidas, opening an empty area for the Leaning Tower of Flame to manifest.
The surface of the Tower had many cracks and rifts on it. Although the impact with the dome of darkness and the arrow did not break it, it had sustained some damage from them.
At that moment, the icy spikes emerged from the frozen ground and shot towards the Tower. Glacies' gripped onto his cane with all his might, madly injecting his sorcery energy into it. The staff shook as a tiny crack began to form on the handle, spreading little by little as too much usage would lead to power overload.
Forus did not idle and sent his black weapons to intercept the glaciers, breaking some of them apart with the cost of their destruction. Forus also tried to approach the tempest, but he could not get too close before the frozen petals would slice his body.
Instead of trying to break apart the tempest, Forus retreated to Ocelia and guarded her against the ambushes from Abicel. Although the chaotic winds made the trajectory prediction almost impossible, Forus could do it when he focused his concentration at detecting it.
Knowing that her husband was doing all he got for her, Ocelia's power rose as the fit of excitement and passion washed over her body, filling her with endless energy to accomplish her goals. With a flick of her hand, she tossed her copper coin towards the tempest, letting it expanded and fell onto the storm.
Abicel saw the scene and frowned before she stopped firing her arrows in vain. She placed her magical bow onto the ground as she pulled a flute. Although the surface was wooden in material, the glowing green light that emitted from the engravements betrayed its general appearance.
Using her pinkish lip, she blew her soft breaths into the flute and began her musical performance. The mysterious yet soothing sounds echoed the forest as the engravements on it shone ever so brightly. The tone and pace were relaxing and joyful, filling the atmosphere of life and death with the tranquil of the afterlife.
The joyous soundtrack stirred the surrounding trees, swaying them with the melody of nature, controlling their movement. With one thought, Abicel commanded them to uproot themselves from the ground and extend their branches and leaves to obstruct the couple.
The toughness of the wood could never contend with the magical property of the black weapons, and so Forus sliced them apart as if it was just a jelly. However, after having their body ripped in half, the trees did not care and continued to assault Ocelia. In only a moment, the branches had already filled the gap and restored its body to the peak condition.
With the extraordinary regeneration, the trees threw themselves into the pathway of the copper coin, delaying its arrival as well as weakening its momentum by getting suppressed and using its power.
Forus could only stop his assault and focusing on restoring his lost sorcery energy. Instead of producing more weapons from Death Aura, he took a deep breath and channelled his sorcery energy, collecting the Elements in the surrounding. Because of the chaotic formation, the circulation of Elements had turned unstable, making it harder to direct their current.
Recalling the exotic experience, Forus performed a feminine gesture, covering his aura with a hint of elegance. His hair fluttered as his long robe swayed with the wind, exposing the air of noble pride. Little by little, Fire Element began to gather in his palm, forming a sphere of flame.
Noticing the scene, Ocelia trembled in excitement as she watched her husband performing his gestures. She thought about their first experience, recalling the very moment she found her purpose.
Because this was the first time Forus had tried to manipulate Fire Element to replicate the black weapons, the rate of production was only half of what he could do. However, as time passed, he began to familiarize himself with the process, gaining experience while increasing his proficiency.
The blazing spear pieced onto the chest of a walking tree, slicing it apart while leaving specks of flame that continued to devour its wood content. No matter how it tried to regenerate, it could only delay its inevitable demise.
The same scene happened to other trees, making Forus smiled as he poured more sorcery energy into making the flaming spears. Although their quality was inferior to both Fire Spirits and the black weapons, they could turn the tide with their quantity.
Given enough time, the couple would be able to destroy all the trees and broke the tempest-like formation. Although there were many trees in the wildness, to avoid causing a commotion, Abicel could not use the trees outside the isolation barrier.
As the last tree screamed in pain and burned into ashes, Forus also ceased his action and stopped manipulating the Fire Element. He had expended most of his remaining sorcery energy to create the flaming spears. If not for the experience left from the swapping with Ocelia, he would never be able to use Fire Element this efficient.
While his body was trembling, he forced himself to stand while waiting for the counter-attack from Glacies and Abicel. However, despite preparing to take all the strikes, there were none in his way.
Although the elegant robe could conceal her curve, it could not hide the aftereffect of overusing the flute. Abicel's skin turned greenish as leaves and flowers blossomed all over her body. Vines emerged from her bones and made their way into the outside world, covering her smooth figure with its nature-tender.
By borrowing the power of nature, Abicel touched upon the essence of it, accumulating its power within her to increase her affection with it. However, by having too much of it, her body unintentionally changed to be more compatible with it, causing the tree-like conversion.
On her head, a giant transparent flower afloat, missing one of its petals. If Abicel dared to use the flute once more, she would cause said flower to fully blossom, and that would be the completion of her alteration. From that moment onwards, she would change from a human sorcerer into a nature fairy.
As she struggled to retreat, Abicel held an orb-like stone in her hand and crushed it, causing the liquid inside to leak out. It glowed in colourful light as the content seeped into her body, healing her injury while slowly revert her change.
The Leaning Tower of Flame pressed onto the tempest, creating a loud echo every time they clashed. Although the Leaning Tower did not sustain any damage from the clash, it had lost parts of its momentum. However, in combination with the Underworld Copper Coin, it had exerted a large amount of pressure onto Glacies.
Blood trickling down from his mouth, Glacies gritted his teeth as he forced himself to stay focused, gripping onto his icy cane harder than ever. Although his mind was in disarray, he did not vent his anger and frustration at Avidas. Instead, he chose to let his servant work without any disturbance and tried his best to hold it out.
In the end, the deciding factor of this battle lied in whether Ocelia would succeed in her contest or Avidas would complete his formation. As long as there was hope in defeating Ocelia and Forus as well as snatching their rewards from the Fleeting Emotions Ruin, Glacies and Avidas would never let go of their struggle.
Watching the lotus-like treasure lost all of its petals and slowly withered, Glacies felt a sharp pain stabbing into his heart. If he had known that Forus and Ocelia would gain this much in their trail, he would never agree to fight them.
As he felt a hind of regret in his heart, the tempest trembled as a loud crack echoed the wildness. Little by little, the storm lost its drive and slowly dissipated into the surrounding, turning from the chaotic whirlwind into a cool breeze.
"I, the successor of the Ninguis Family, shall never fall under the hand of you!" Shouting in desperation, Glacies knocked his cane onto the ground once more, shattering it into pieces.
Although he had already spent all of his sorcery energy, Glacies managed to force the destruction of the cane, using his will to live as the trigger. With his unwillingness, he exerted himself to the utmost as he displayed his unyielding stance fitted with his status.
The broken cane disassembled into various icy shapes, forming a formation that rotated around Glacies and Avidas, protecting them from Ocelia's assault. They also occasionally glowed in blue light, causing the snow-filled ground to shake, forming many snowy monsters.
If Ocelia wanted the rewards from Avidas and Glacies, she would have to stop her Leaning Tower from squashing the two into death and let the Fire Spirits did their work. However, seeing that Forus had already exhausted himself, she could only feel the urge to drop everything else and hug him tightly.
So, she mercilessly let the Tower clashed onto the shield, which created a clamorous impact that brought upon the strong winds. Although the icy shapes were smaller than the tempest, its power was a lot more condensed and harder to destroy.
Before Ocelia could force another clash, a sudden earthquake hit the ground, causing everyone to lose their balance and snapped out from their focused state.
The blood stance on the ground shone in crimson light as Avidas stood motionlessly at the centre of the sinister formation. In contrast to his timid personality, his face expressed a wide grin that echoed unease into even his young master.
