Nesha took a deep breath after the other, activating Circulation. Soon, a series of black circles of various sizes formed on her skin, many crossing freely over one another while others appeared perfectly isolated. At the same time, a jagged set of brown lines branched out of her abdomen, glowing all over her body like a bunch of cracks.

It sucked she couldn’t tap into Synchronization like this, but she’d still take a Green core over a slightly stronger boosting art any day of the week. Glancing at her companions, she noticed they were done with their preparations too.

‘Are you ready?’ Percy’s clone asked.

It was weird to hear his voice ringing through her soul again, after so many years. She didn’t miss the worry in his tone either. In some ways, she had the easiest job, since she was the only one who wouldn’t have to fight against a Blue – hopefully. Then again, everyone understood this was her first real battle – the first time she had to fight a human mage without help. If that wasn’t enough, she might have to face the most opponents – a whopping seven of them at once in the worst-case scenario!

This was over twice as many Greens as Elaine had fought outside Goldenfield town!

Granted, Nesha was a lot stronger right now than Elaine had been before the start of their training. Not only due to her second core, but also due to the nature of her primary affinity and the countless traps she had prepared. She wasn’t the inexperienced girl she’d once been, having pitted herself against hundreds of powerful monsters over the years.

All of them had.

Still, there was a huge gap between a beast and a person. If not in raw power, then certainly in intelligence. Keeping so many enemies from interfering with the others was bound to be tricky. Well, if she got lucky, Elaine might take one or two out before the start of the battle, but this wasn’t something she could count on.

She sighed.

‘About as ready as I’ll ever be.’

Following Micky’s instructions, Percy led the group towards their opponents. All these years, they had kept their distance, hiding like rats from the Holy Child’s entourage. They still weren’t sure whether their enemies had somehow missed all the clues that they weren’t alone inside the Decree, or if they simply didn’t care. Whether it was ignorance or arrogance, they were going to pay a steep price for it today.

At some point, the trio stopped. According to their estimates, they were already a couple hundred metres away from the enemy camp. This was about as close as they could get without alerting the Blues.

Elaine looked at Percy, and then at her, getting two nods back. Turning her gaze towards her opponents, she remained motionless for a few seconds, probably trying to discern their exact positions through the dense cloud of drifting globules.

Then, she raised her hand, pointing toward one of the sleeping men with her index finger, gathering a colossal amount of water mana. Compressing it into a single point, Elaine held it in place as a bright azure glow illuminated her surroundings.

Nesha and Percy held their breaths, watching without blinking as the only Blue in their team prepared her opening strike. Elaine had already poured more mana into the attack than she’d ever used while sparring with them, and she wasn’t even done yet.

Some images suddenly flashed through Nesha’s mind, as Percy’s clone relayed the information Micky had just sent to his main body. It was the layout of the enemy camp. Without Elaine’s higher grade or Percy’s mutation, Nesha was having the most trouble examining them by herself.

Eight of their twelve opponents were currently asleep. This was probably about the best they could have hoped for. Two of the Greens were keeping watch, as a third sat in a meditative position, an empty vial next to him. A Blue was also up, currently working on a spell of his.

Elaine was currently aiming at one of the sleeping Blues. If they could cut their numbers down before the start of the battle, it would make everything a hundred times easier. Ideally, they would have loved to eliminate Acton first. Not only was he among the strongest in the group, he was also the one who held Micky hostage.

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With him out of the picture, the crow would be able to join them, helping Nesha take out the Greens, before the two of them aided Percy and then Elaine.

Sadly, the Holy Child had been at Blue the longest out of anyone here – for a couple of decades already. He wouldn’t be easy to hit from this distance, even while asleep. That was why they had decided to target the guard who had advanced most recently. And Elaine had expertly positioned herself such that one of the Greens was standing between her and her mark, aiming to take both out if possible.

A deafening boom broke Nesha out of her thoughts as Elaine finally unleashed her spell.

The recoil sent her sliding a few metres back, her feet carving two deep grooves in the dry soil. A bright flash blinded the trio momentarily as the horrifying blast tore a path through the drifting globules, crossing the vast distance in an instant.

Not wasting a moment, Elaine was already running behind it, the others a couple steps after her. At the same time, Nesha took advantage of the clear path now connecting them to their opponents, trying to wrap her mind around the aftermath of the attack.

A corpse lay face-first in the mud, a crimson pool rapidly spreading from the massive hole in its chest. Right behind the dead mage, a Blue stood next to a wide crater, having barely woken up in time to evade the attack. Not entirely though. He held the bleeding stump of his right arm tightly, his face pale as he gritted his teeth in pain.

The impact had alerted the rest too, jolting everyone to their feet. By the time Elaine reached them, they had all turned to face her. That said, Percy’s cousin didn’t seem deterred in the slightest. She was by far the most powerful being in the entire Valley, and she clearly knew it.

She must’ve unleashed her domain, judging from the enemy Greens shuddering under the invisible pressure. And that was merely the beginning. Drawing a frightening amount of mana from both her cores, Elaine manifested several enormous tentacles, each of them descending on her opponents with enough force to pulverize a house.

Four of the surviving Greens jumped out of the way clumsily, though it looked like the last two were about to get crushed!

Unfortunately, the Blues intervened at the last second to protect them. A pair of giant hands made of mud rose before Acton and one of the Greens, blocking the whips aimed at them. At the same time, two curtains of steam shielded another Blue – the second Holy Child – and one of his subordinates. The other three Blues also defended themselves with all sorts of glowing barriers – a cyan bubble of pure mana, a spinning wheel made of dozens of rotating wind blades and a flash of lightning that pierced through the descending whip, evaporating it in mid-air.

Five powerful domains slammed onto Elaine’s, pushing hers back with ease. Some of the pressure even found its way to Percy and Nesha, almost causing them to stumble.

That said, there was no way Nesha would let go of the chance to take another opponent out.

She turned towards the Green closest to her – a blonde woman who appeared disoriented, still clearly shaken by the suddenness of the ambush. Nesha compressed the space separating them, crossing half the distance in a single step as her body stretched into a weird shape.

Before the woman even realized what was going on, her torso exploded in shards of bone and bits of flesh, a flock of butterflies emerging victoriously from within.

Nesha wanted to keep going – to take another enemy out. But three spells were already descending upon her – one of them having even come from a Blue. Gritting her teeth, she took a step back through the still-compressed patch of space behind her, barely avoiding getting ground to dust by the attacks.

Elaine must’ve noticed, manifesting more whips and putting more strength behind her domain to stop four of the Blues from harassing her and Percy. The only one she didn’t attack was a tall young man in elegant clothes. His unassuming features had twisted into a condescending smirk upon noticing their grades, his long, brown hair fluttering wildly behind him as will and mana clashed.

The man was naturally Acton – who had all grown up by now.

Yet, the smile froze on his lips the following instant, his head jerking up in surprise. Nesha saw nothing there, but she guessed the storm of invisible scythes Percy had brewed had already entered the sadistic bastard’s domain.

Leaping back to avoid them, Acton was forced to put some distance from Elaine, as Percy chased after him, aggressively pushing him back.

On the other side of the battlefield, Nesha noticed a giant crow flying, four sets of glowing lines decorating his plumage with all sorts of intricate patterns as he took advantage of the chaos to slip away.

‘Good… he made it out in time…’ Percy’s clone said, a wave of relief rippling through both of their souls.

Nesha didn’t get to dwell on her companions for much longer though, as the five surviving Greens had already grouped up, flinging their spells at her. Having correctly estimated that she would take them out one by one if they let her, they had clearly decided to gang up on her before assisting their leaders.

Nesha took another step back to avoid the attacks, splitting her focus between preparing a new flock of butterflies, and keeping her escape route open.

Recalling the crow’s bloodied feathers as he shielded her from Grian’s attacks with his own body all those years ago, her lips curled upwards.

‘Time to pay you back for that.’