Valdir pointed his left hand upward and summoned a rain of comets toward her while retreating to concentrate on a new attack. Seeing the attack coming, she covered her body with lightning. Lyrielle focused on a point of the sword located in the middle, then she added a second affinity, mixing the two into one.
"Fire and Wind Magic: Infernal Storm."
A gigantic release burst from Lyrielle's body, destroying all the comets coming toward her. A storm of fire with several tornadoes made the air heat up. Activating the power of the Lúmen'Thyr sword, the power of that storm increased threefold. Its attack radius reached Valdir, forcing him to stop the attack he had been building so he wouldn't be struck.
'With her combining magic, it will be difficult for me to defeat her… damn it.'
Valdir's mind was becoming chaotic from the amount of power that brat possessed. Using two combined spells as well, he merged his black fire affinity with the comet one. A blazing core filled his left chest. This ability was dangerous for him because it reduced the amount of time he could remain alive in exchange for increasing his power according to the life he was burning.
'I have no other choice. If it's to kill her, I'll do it—and I'll still have time to see Sairao descend into the world.'
Maybe Sairao would increase the amount of time he could have, so without worrying he flew toward Lyrielle with his fist wrapped in flames. Her sword redirected his punch to the side while Lyrielle combined lightning and wind magic in her body. Her speed increased even more, and she vanished from Valdir's sight in just zero point one milliseconds. One hundred cuts appeared across his body, blood spraying everywhere. If it weren't for the core he had created, he would have suffered much worse damage.
"Fire and Lightning Magic: Plasma Slash."
The sword turned blue-violet as mana overflowed from it. With a clean slash she tore off Valdir's right arm. Enduring the pain, he placed his left hand on her face and released his magic—a comet shot from his hand and struck Lyrielle's chest. His breathing slightly irregular, he began forming another attack in his hand while watching the remaining islands and creatures disintegrate in an explosion that covered more than twenty thousand kilometers.
'The next spell has to kill her, or I won't be able to endure much longer.'
When the explosion cleared, that part of the sea had been split open, revealing even the ocean floor. The magic in his hand began to condense into a single point. He had combined his three affinities into one to try to end her as quickly as possible.
"It seems I'm not the only one thinking that."
From that enormous crater, an immense amount of mana surged upward, preventing the sea from closing. In the center, covered in wounds, Lyrielle stood with part of her rib missing, though it was healing rapidly. She must have been on the brink of death because it took slightly longer than a Circle Eight with healing magic normally would.
"Fire Magic, Water, Earth…"
She was releasing a pure brown mana from her sword. Her shadow seemed to grow while her eyes shone yellow from her lightning. Gripping her sword tighter, she added another affinity.
"Lightning to the—"
Both began preparing their attacks, pointing at each other. They were certain of one thing: even if they survived, permanent marks might remain on their bodies afterward. Valdir pointed downward and his attack was the first to be released since it was faster. If she didn't finish her attack in time, she would undoubtedly die.
"Wind."
The color of her attack turned a grayish purple. She waited until his attack reached just a few centimeters from her face, which confused Valdir before his eyes widened in disbelief as Lyrielle appeared directly in front of him. A trail of lightning remained where she had stood, swallowed by an explosion even larger than the one he had previously created.
"I never really planned to face that attack head-on."
She had not used her lightning magic to increase the attack's power. First, because she didn't want to risk leaving the battlefield with injuries in the middle of a war she could still help in, and second, she refused to give Valdir the satisfaction of injuring her in a possibly permanent way. That was why she used the maximum power of thunder in her legs, breaking through the speed she had shown until now.
"Natural Creation."
The sword seemed to become nature itself in blade form as the other four elements combined within it, with their power multiplied by three. One slash was enough to cut Valdir in half and make his body quickly disintegrate, his only thought being why he had to lose to Yriel's favorite and Vaelith's sister. And only now did he realize that this sword fighting style belonged to the strongest elf—second only to Yriel.
'Damn it.'
'I didn't train only my affinities in that place… I also tried countless times to reproduce the style of the brother whose face I don't even know.'
She remembered clearly that there had been an elf who always trained in front of her, though not his face. She remembered her mother teaching her about affinities, but it was the same with her brother. She also remembered a statue telling her to think carefully during a battle. That was why she waited until the last second to catch Valdir by surprise.
'Now only Sairao remains… did he succeed?'
Lyrielle looked at the slash that continued traveling forward even after her opponent had been defeated, disappearing beyond the planet and vanishing into the void. The sea beneath her began closing again as water returned to the enormous crater. Her revenge was almost complete—only the evil god remained.
"I'd better return as quickly as possible."
On the way back, when she reached the continent, she saw some corrupted elves defeating the elves. It seemed the war had begun spreading throughout the elves' dimension. Since she was on the princess's side and was the one who allowed Enrico and Malunes to create that sword, it was better to lend a hand.
'If it weren't for that, it would have been difficult to find a sword capable of withstanding five affinities.'
And there was still that item that improved the abilities of the dark elves when they were freed from the seal. They had received a lot of help, so it was her duty to repay it.