The force knocked Mira back. She hit the dirt hard, her vision swimming.
Sera staggered, clutching her ribs.
The explosion had torn through part of her leather armor. Burns seared across her left side. She gasped, stumbling back.
The Frost Mancer took advantage of their weakened state. He thrust both arms forward—and a wave of ice surged across the field.
Sera barely dodged, but the edge of the frost caught her legs. She dropped to one knee, breath ragged.
Mira forced herself up, lightning buzzing at her fingertips.
"Enough," she growled.
She launched another bolt—but the Earth Mage raised his hands. A wall of rock erupted in front of the Frost Mancer, blocking the strike.
Then the Earth Mage slammed his palm into the ground. It vibrated intensely like the prelude to a magnitude 5.5 earthquake.
The force locked onto their position, and the earth cracked beneath Sera and Mira, knocking them off balance.
The Blood Mancer pulled himself from the splintered tree, eyes glowing again.
He smiled, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
"Well then," he rasped. "time for round two."
Sera tried to rise, but her leg gave out. The frost had seeped deeper than she thought. Pain bit with every breath she took.
Mira stood in front of her, lightning dancing wildly and uncontrolled around her. She was panting, one eye bruised, and cuts across her arms and back.
"We're not done," she hissed.
Dorian watched it all from the side with a placid disposition. He leaned forward slightly, his golden eyes locked on them.
Evelyne tilted her head. "Should we join them?"
"Not yet," Dorian murmured, looking at his four Knight Guards and the remaining three followers. "I'm a bit interested to see how that'll play out... Let's see how they handle the pressure."
Meanwhile, on the battlefield, Mira raised both hands—lightning coiling up her arms, around her shoulders, and over her chest.
The night sky responded. Using the humid atmosphere as a boost, clouds gathered fast above. A low rumble vibrated through the field.
The enemies paused. Even the Blood Mancer faltered.
Sera who was still on the ground, glanced up through her blurred vision.
"Back off... or burn." Mira's voice was low, but the plain threat laced in her words sent chills running down their spine.
~BOOM!~
The storm broke free from its shackles.
Lightning poured from the heavens. The sheer intensity was beyond Mira's Lvl 10 Half-Step Evolution Stage ability to control but she persisted. It struck the field in rapid pulses of blinding white and searing heat.
The Voidfire Mage raised a shield of fiery-dark energy but the lightning cracked through it like a thin pane of ice under a falling meteor.
The Frost Mancer screamed as lightning punched through his dome of ice, devouring him whole before his laughable defense finished destroying.
The Blood Mancer tried to redirect the power with a blood barrier, but he and his shield shattered like glass. Only the Earth Mage who shielded himself with stacks of rock, barely survived the blast.
When the storm faded, smoke filled the air. Mira dropped to her knees completely drained of her primal energy. Sera crawled forward, hand gripping her blade.
Only one enemy still stood in the aftermath—the Earth Mage, bruised and breathing heavily. He looked at them both—one kneeling, one bleeding—and took a slow step forward.
Meanwhile, at the edge of the clearing, Dorian's golden eyes flicked across the scorched field. Smoke curled in wisps from charred grass and shattered stones.
His once-casual smirk had faded and turned into something more thoughtful as his jaw clenched slightly while his brows furrowed.
He hadn't expected that sort of attack, especially not from a mere Level 10 Lightning Mage.
The lightning girl... Her final strike had carved a wound across the battlefield that even his seasoned followers hadn't been able to withstand.
That kind of raw and untamed potential, especially for one with a pure affinity towards such a destructive element—wasn't something easily found in a half-step evolution warrior and even First Rank Evolution Warriors.
Even the Blood Mancer, who was supposed to be void of pain, hadn't walked away from it.
Dorian folded his arms slowly, his fingers tapping once against the hilt of the long sword sheathed at his side.
"I'll admit," he murmured, voice quiet, "even I would've had to block that one with everything I had."
His gaze locked onto Mira's slumped figure in the field. She was breathing, but barely.
His head tilted slightly. "How fascinating."
Evelyne stood beside him, her violet eyes watching him more than the battlefield now. "You seem… intrigued."
"I am," he said. "Talent like that doesn't just appear. Not from random people without noble bloodlines or links to one."
He took a step forward, boots crunching against loose gravel. "I was going to kill them. A simple cleanup I would say. But now…"
He looked at Evelyne, a faint smile forming on his face. "I'm thinking of recruiting them."
Evelyne paused. She didn't smile back, instead, her eyes narrowed dangerously.
Dorian shifted his attention back to Mira, not catching the change in Evelyne's expression. "She'd make a fine addition to my Knight Guards. Both of them would. The archer's skill isn't bad either."
Evelyne stayed silent, but something cold flickered in her gaze. Jealousy? Maybe. And also something deeper—possession.
Her hand suddenly moved to her side in a subtle and practiced manner. She made a small gesture which was barely noticeable.
But the Earth Mage, who was still standing on the field and closest to Mira, caught it. He was the only one of the seven attackers who had survived Mira's storm.
Blood ran down the side of his face and dust covered his robes. But he saw the signal. And understood.
"Kill her," was what it meant but he didn't hesitate.
While Mira leaned over exhaustedly with one knee in the dirt and her breathing ragged, Sera kept struggling to pull herself upright—he raised one hand with the palm flat.
The earth trembled again. And then—
Crack!
A spear of sharpened earth burst from the ground.