She was simply hunting the strongest circle five users to try to use them as a stepping stone and evolve. At first, things were going well as she defeated some strong ones, until she found someone at a good level — but then those two just appeared out of nowhere, trying to kill her and protect that circle five.
'Shit'
Ducking down in desperation, Victoria saw the fire attack pass close to her head, a bead of sweat running down her face as she created a spatial barrier to divert a cannonball.
'Damn it, this feels more like a one-on-three fight'
The cannonball she had diverted had been created by the circle five from the start of the fight, and to be honest, she was hating that arrogant-smiling girl.
'That damn girl is smiling even though she's literally doing nothing, how annoying'
A shadow appeared above her head — the second circle six trying to kill her. She was sure she couldn't dodge, but a double kick struck his back, sending him flying and crashing into the ground before getting up. Two figures placed their feet on the ground as a third approached.
"Who are these three?"
'I can't believe I'm going to be saved by them'
The three girls were Yumeha, Aoi, and Rina, all looking at the symbol on the shoulder of the irritating girl behind the two circle sixes. The man in front glanced at the woman and then at the one he was protecting.
"It seems these three want Miss Lyria's head. Sister Durnstag, we need to be careful."
"We just have to protect the young lady, so don't worry about these pests, Morther."
Lirya Venhart was the cult's daughter, so they had to protect her even though she wasn't that important to the Venhart family. What made things worse was that she was a hybrid with another race, something most of the cult thought was a mistake made by their leader.
'Well, that doesn't matter. I only have to keep her alive until the day of the goddess's sacrifice.'
Placing his hands forward, Morther summoned several dark blades glowing red. Pointing his finger toward them, the blades shot forward at high speed, distorting the air as they spun.
"Yuki-Onna"
A ghostly woman of snow and ice appeared behind the gloomy-looking, short-haired girl. The fast attack began to lose speed, giving the four girls enough time to dodge.
"Good job, Yumeha."
Rina praised her sister as she raised her katana. Spinning her blade, a hole was created in Lirya's shoulder behind her two protectors.
"Aaahh"
Grabbing her shoulder, Lirya backed away a little, letting the two take a defensive stance in front of her. Durnstag moved her palm forward, summoning a fire hurricane around the four.
Victoria immediately moved her fingers as if they were blades, cutting the hurricane in half, revealing that the three opponents were about to attack from different positions. Behind Aoi, a five-tailed fox of blue fire opened its mouth and released a blast around them, managing to push back only Lirya while the other two advanced.
'They really are circle six'
Victoria prepared a spell in her palm but was caught by a dark chain and pulled into a dark place. On the battlefield, the three noticed that not only Victoria had disappeared — Morther had also vanished without a trace.
"Where did Victoria go?"
"Don't worry about her, Aoi. After all, that girl is the only one who can reach the master's level."
"Yumeha is right. Let's focus on our enemy."
As the three agreed, they moved around Durnstag, ready to show the teamwork they had developed in the two years away from Enrico. While the three fought Durnstag, Victoria, inside that damned darkness, began to be struck by several blades sinking into her body. The difference between circle six and five was far too big to overcome with just her absurd amount of mana.
'If this continues, I'm going to die'
Exhaling deeply, Victoria calmed herself completely and focused all her magic into forming a new one. Instead of attacking, she would defend.
'Spatial Defense'
The first black blade to touch Victoria's skin shattered into pieces, shocking Morther, who was far away in the dark just watching.
'What the hell is this? How did a circle five defend my attack? This makes no sense.'
None of his blades could pierce that entirely new spell Victoria had created. Gritting his teeth, Morther continued launching the flying blades while creating a different blade in his hand.
'Calm down. Even with this absurd spell, I can still follow two paths.'
The first path was to keep attacking until her mana ran out, since from the fully defensive stance she had taken, it was possible she had entered a state where she could only defend.
'The only problem is that, incredibly, this girl has almost the same amount of mana as a circle six.'
He realized this because of his unique ability to see people's mana without needing objects. Of course, this wasn't an ability only he had — there were actually a good number of mages with this ability.
'Even if I try that plan, this girl is using the bare minimum amount of mana even though this spell is powerful.'
To give a numerical example: while Victoria would use only three points of her mana to defend against his attack, he would use seven. So instead of draining her mana, he would be the one exhausted, since — to his own disgust — he had been born with what was considered one of the worst mana capacities for a circle six.
'This girl is a monster.'
Morther had also considered another possibility: not attacking and letting her use that shield, launching attacks occasionally. But he immediately noticed after a few attempts that this wouldn't work.
'What kind of monster is this?'
Victoria was doing something absurd again — her eyes were able to follow all his attacks even in that darkness, possibly because of some spell she put on her eyes. But that didn't change the fact that those eyes tracked his attack speed, and she simply activated her shield whenever she was certain she would be hit.
'Besides having magic almost identical to mine, she spends less mana in an insane way.'
Clutching the dagger in his hand, he felt an emotion he thought he had forgotten in all the years he served the cult.
'I have to kill this damn prodigy.'
Fear and envy — those were the two feelings weighing on his heart. The only thing he could do in that situation was follow the second path to win that battle.
'I have to attack with everything. She's too dangerous. If I let her evolve even more, the cult will be in danger — I will be in danger.'
Even if that spell was powerful, it was still at the level of a circle five, so a strong attack from a circle six would destroy that shield.
'And luckily, I have three powerful attacks.'
Regaining a bit of confidence, Morther crouched down, gripping the dagger tightly. Tensing every muscle in his body, he made his next move.