Chapter 781 - 781: A fundamentally special kind of fight (part 3)

"For someone who really made a lot of "preparations" you truly didn't seem to expect this, that's what happens to those who aren't really good at strategy but think of themselves to be smarter than others", disdainfully said Aisha whose violet eyes had their pupils turn into slits with which she glared at the four Karlas.

That surprised expression on their faces wasn't feigned, they genuinely didn't know what was going on.

This is after all the third time they clash with Freya and so they more or less had already formed an idea of what her fighting style and powers focused in, on the other hand Karla had kept her mostly in the dark.

The first time Karla and Freya met, she had only shown the "good" mermaid side of her powers, they betrayed Freya and her host to ambush them, that's how they got away with killing Freya's host without suffering much damage.

Then it was Alicia's turn and by that point, Ereth had changed his aspect and so had Karla, they used the "evil" mermaid-siren part which is why neither Freya nor Alicia originally recognized them.

However, when they tried to pull the same trick on them, Alicia and Freya fought back, and while it is true that Alicia died, it wasn't at Ereth's hands unlike how it happened with her sister, she gave up her life to allow Freya to use her powers, so that they could both kill Ereth and sever his connection with his system, since they knew he was a hero type, at the same time Freya split Karla in two and one half was sealed in Kerrol alongside Freya.

At the same time, Alicia didn't want her friend to die alongside her, due to her revenge on Ereth for the death of her sister, so she asked Freya to also sever their life and death contract.

Unfortunately, just killing him wasn't enough to get rid of a pain in the ass like Ereth for the good, that being said whatever his plans were, they indeed went out in flames because when he returned for the third time, he was in a limbo state between a "normal" person and a system user.

Opportunity and potential wise he was basically at candidate level, Karla's other half which was the "good" modern mermaid part, returned with him, but neither of them had access to the system.

And that's why Ereth turned to a different source of power, the one of the northern sea stellar kingdom and more accurately the one of the megalodon general, he arranged a not face to face meeting, since he was unable to enter the actual blood prison realm, as the global raid event wasn't triggered, because Ereth after all didn't "win" the battle against all the other users which was his mission's condition.

Though he killed Alicia's sister, by stabbing her in the back, that girl was also fierce, you remember Eve talking about mission seeds being created by powerful being's last wills among other possibilities right, well, her strength might not have reached an incredibly high realm, but her will did.

And so, a mission seed was created, through which Freya instead of being randomly reassigned, paired with Alicia and they both set off in their mission of getting revenge on Ereth, ultimately causing him to fail his own mission since even if it wasn't a true dead end for him, they indeed killed him once, not to mention that he stopped being a system user at the same time.

Then you more or less know how the story goes, he double crossed the old megalodon with the lords, got caught red-handed and had an indirect fight with the megalodon who descended through a manifestation in that layer of the seal where the other halves of Byron and the lords were trapped, and those shark magic beasts in human form who revered the megalodon as their deity lived as well.

Even if it was just a manifestation controlled at long distance and while clashing with the real lords inside the blood prison realm, given that they used the chaos created by Ereth to try and escape while also sending their subordinates all over the place so that they could work from Neptune in a way to free them in case they failed, which they did as the megalodon was a tough nut to crack, as him beating both the lords back into their cells, and defeating Ereth in that battle while stripping the black armored shark he had granted him before, and choosing to seal him alongside Karla as he knew full well that he couldn't really kill him, suggested.

And why is all this being revealed now you wonder, well, that's the intel Aisha managed to extract from the blood in those three Karlas, the memories ended there and there was a lot of interference because Karla is after all an administrator, but ultimately the authority of the blood prison realm which backs up the conditions that rule the techniques and energies of the participants, still squeezed a maybe vague but understandable timeline of those two, starting from the part where they killed Freya's first user, because Aisha wanted to see where did the hatred that the valkyrie girl had in her heart, originated.

"Shut up, we originally only allowed Freya to know that we had water-related powers, even if she dealt with our former other half, nothing but water and darkness was revealed to her, so it's nothing surprising that she is trying to use fire element to kill us!", said the siren-mermaid one in other words the one with the black-red water mana that smelled like blood.

Her theory made sense, if it's strong enough, fire counters water element, and since fire produces light, it is also strong against darkness, and unlike her origin or mana which had the form of grey silver light since it was based in the reflection that a good polished metal weapon would have, the energy which was surrounding Freya as of current had a flame-like shape.

'At the end I too… am like them', thought Freya as she looked at the fierce flame-like energy which was burning around her, only for her to be returned to the real world as she heard the silver-haired girl floating close enough to be reached by said burning energy, speak.

"Earlier it was a "frog" but now it's a little fish in the bottom of a well, don't tell me that despite all the suffering you had caused to innocent people, it never crossed your mind that the "flames of war" will catch up to you", said Aisha which made a surprised light shine in Freya's eyes.

'She instantly realized the nature of this power, when even I am only starting to learn how to use it', thought the valkyrie administrator girl.

Unlike what her appearance and powers would suggest, the truth is that Freya is a rather calm girl, she is not a pacifist but for a war goddess like her, the fact that she is not a warmonger nor really shows interest in battle, it's indeed weird.

Not to mention that in case you have forgotten, her system's proof is not a weapon despite her powers clearly being related to sharpness, but armor, you know that ethereal silver armor Daimon has on him, even as we speak.

Her concept and powers might not really have fit the Brightstar princesses as the system arranged for that to be the case, but they failed at making her life miserable, because those two shared something that united them with Freya more than that, their light was gentle and while it didn't shy away from fighting, they only did so to protect, you can see their reflect in the current Jasmine because as it had been stated before, she is the one who inherited more of the Brightstar not only in terms of lineage but also in will.

And Freya had a similar personality, she only employed her strength for protection at least originally, after her first host died, that valkyrie felt remorse, had she not let her guard down, had she not considered Ereth their "ally" but maybe even if not an outright enemy, at least a competitor or a rival, things might have not ended as they did.

That's why during their second time meeting, even if Ereth and Karla looked and felt different, they didn't manage to take them by surprise anymore, unfortunately while she had sharpened her mind state, the power she could express while suppressed by the system which clearly wanted Ereth to "win", was not enough to help Alicia and she was instead saved by her friend.

That "destructive" nature which Freya didn't actually lack, but refused to let alone use but even show, is in what the energy she had received which was considered her weakness, was based in.

"What's with the gloomy face, you have seen heroes turning out to be pieces of trash right, so you should now that "good" and "evil" are not absolute as people think they are and even if that wasn't the case, who decided that something "evil" can't be used to do what's right, my darling is the proof of it", said Aisha to then add with a proud voice.

"A demon's light can brighten the life of those who deserve it and also burn the trash that deserves to die!".

Never once did she consider the fact that Daimon's affinity, which is demon light, had taken the form of flames as a mere coincidence, it was created by Daimon to fit him the best and while incomplete, or more accurately with infinite potential to grow, it's form perfectly represented what Daimon believed in.

Not being just light, which can only illuminate others and maybe reveal the real face of pieces of trash who hide in the darkness, but a fierce a flame that can produce the light to do the previous, and also burn said pieces of trash to death.

Amusingly enough, regardless of all the properties that demon light had, when the elements that conformed it were balanced, the form would always be that of flames.

"What nonsense have you two bitches been rumbling about since earlier, if she is using fire, we can just put it out with more water, Royal Black Fierce Sea Tsunami!", shouted the first Karla in other words the good mermaid one with the wavy dark blue hair as she radiated a huge amount of dark blue water mana which then turned into a giant wave that raised upwards to then descend with incredibly fierce momentum towards Aisha and Freya.

Unlike the seconds in command who only reached a "noble" state at their maximum output, like Karla had stated she is the "queen" of the black sea, so the previous is the default way for her to use spells.

It's also worth mentioning that in her case, the order was different, the seconds in command were given noble status by Ereth, but they weren't of such a high "standing" by innate, therefore they only placed the "king" word in case of the first and "regent" in case of the fifth after the black fierce sea part for their casting.

Karla on the other hand, by innate was the "queen" of the black fierce sea, so the "royal" word of the spell came before the black fierce sea part, also the strength of her spell was on a completely different level when compared to the ones of the seconds in command, simply put, base Karla was stronger than the first at maximum output.

Freya and Karla had only been clashing with mana condensations and slashes earlier, in fact Karla originally looked down upon the idea of using a spell against Aisha, thinking that her mana condensations or simply having the four of them attack at once was more than enough to kill a mere mortal, but she was proven wrong.

And what's worse is that Freya suddenly had a complete 180° change in the way she fought, so as proudful as Karla was, she didn't dare to just use mana condensations anymore, in fact she didn't dare to try and fight 1v1 anymore.

"As for the light produced by her fire, we can just drown it in darkness, Royal Black Blood Sea Tsunami!", said the siren-mermaid Karla, as she exploded in black-red mana which then formed a second huge wave, this one didn't raise into the sky to then aim to break at the spot where Aisha and Freya were floating though, but instead descended towards the deep abyss below the battlefield, before rising upwards again.

As you see, unlike the seconds in command whose powers depended on what Ereth gave them basically, Karla was different, she had developed the way she liked and had access to different affinities thanks to that, so she wasn't only the queen of the "black fierce sea lineage" which was created by Ereth, but also of other three ones if we take the siren ones into account.

Anyway, the two attacks were aiming at the same spot but in opposite directions, so if their charge succeeded, they would meet and drown Aisha and Freya in a mix of dark blue and black-red mana.

Unfortunately, Karla was misunderstanding something, whom her attacks were "allowed" to be aimed at, wasn't up to her.

"I can also play with "black and "blue" energies, Violet Empress Firmament, Erasing Nova".

The sky within the demonite field turned violet colored, projecting a pretty violet light which drowned the one produced by the dark blue and black-red tsunamis, but the provocation of having the "authority" of her spells shadowed by the enemy was the least of Karla's worries right now.

"Boooooom!", a blackish blue energy explosion expanded with Aisha as the center, engulfing both tsunamis, not only destroying the spells, but even dispelling the mana out of which they were formed.

"What!", exclaimed both the mermaid and the siren-mermaid Karlas in unison, even if their spells failed, a part of their advantage over their wind selves, is that their mana being water-related, would splash all over the place, with time they were planning to saturate this isolated space with it, and then drown the enemy, but not only were their spells destroyed but the mana they had gathered for them was dispersed just like that.

'What the hell, leaving the lightning and blood elements, her energy clearly can take different metal properties and I felt the aura of devil sea ore coming from that white metallic barrier, but I only used mana so what the hell, don't tell me… she has been to one of those damn places, but she is a mortal!', inwardly screamed the first Karla as she retreated alongside the siren-mermaid one to reunite with the siren ones.

Or at least that was the plan, until a sensation of danger invaded the minds of the two mermaids, the origin was Freya who was pointing her right hand at them, as a result, two grey silver banners with the words "sea" and "sky" engraved on them, appeared above those two Karlas, this time only one burned though, the one with the word "sea" in it.

"Crack!", the sea banner exploded and turned into a mass of grey silver flames that then rained upon the mermaid Karlas, but then as those two proposed themselves to pour down the flames, they changed into nets that trapped them like fishes to then have weights appear on their borders.

"Booooom!", the weights instantly dragged the two trapped Karlas downwards, heavily smacking them against a piece of floating ground which crumbled apart due to the impact.

"Looks like your "sea" lost twice against her "sky", how pathetic", casually said the valkyrie-like administrator girl at the two trapped Karlas, which made the free ones fly at high speed to their side.

"Royal Black Fierce Wind Slashing Claws!", the third Karla, in other words the one with dark green hair which had tried to ambush Aisha earlier, slashed her nails at the net releasing five dark green sharp wind streams at it.

"Clang!", the sharp wind streams landed on the grey silver flame net, which at this point Karla had understood it wasn't actual fire which made her feel stupid, given that she said she'll put out Freya's fire with her water, just for the spell to bounce away from the net leaving only noticeable scratches on it but without destroying it as it was intended.

'Are you kidding me!', that was a new source of humiliation for Karla and in case you wonder why would that be the case, it's not that she was being too proudful, her spell was, unlike the technique used by Freya which falls within the category of wide area considering that the net resulting from the sea banner exploding, was around five hundred meters large, a focused one.

The five sharp wind slashes she released covered a small area to focus their power in it and yet, they couldn't break through the net, which in other words meant that, a single of Karla's spells was no match for a single technique of Freya, not even when the spell she used was supposed to have the advantage.

"Royal Black Hell Wind Slashing Claws!", so the old siren Karla joined in with her own version of the spell".

"Crack!", this time after a moment of collision in which sparks were produced by the clash, the second spell taking advantage of the damage produced by the first one, managed to break the net, releasing the two "fishes" it had caught in it.

Also, in case you can make no sense out of Freya's techniques, given that she isn't calling them out but has only created those banners with words on it, and the result was completely different in both cases, let the inner thoughts of a certain spell alchemist (in training) shine some light upon you.

'She used the same technique as earlier, but the effect was completely different because of the "ingredients", how cool', thought Aisha, and as if feeling the silver-haired vampire girl's praising, Freya actually called out the name of her technique now that she was using it for a third time.

"Conceptual Banner", this casting, produced banners, but this time there were four of them, each with a single different word engraved in them, namely, "water", "wind", "good" and lastly "evil".

"Conflict", added Freya as she snapped her fingers, and no, Aisha didn't get it wrong, this is a single technique, it just has a two-staged activation sequence, the first part which manifests the banners and then the command which puts them to fight, as to why it is designed that way, you'll have to wait a bit more to discover it.

But for now, enjoy the different result of yet again the same technique which Freya has been using, not because she is stubborn or anything of the like, but because that's the sole technique that has appeared in her mind so far, don't forget that she just started her challenge, which also means that she… is at her weakest state right now, just right when she has started to turn her weaknesses into potential to grow.

Out of the four manifested banners, the "water" one suddenly burned and as a result, the grey silver flames turned into large giant hammers which were then swung at the mermaid Karlas.

"Damn it", those two both were wary after having been trapped by the flaming net not too long ago, so they actually managed to dodge the attacks by using their respective movement spells.

"Royal Black Fierce Sea Current Step!", the first Karla's one was similar in name and effect at the one used by the seconds in command, as in it made water mana explode around her legs as she flashed away but with the extra benefit of keeping nice maneuverability thanks to water's fluidity, it was a balanced explosive high speed movement spell, which the seconds in command couldn't properly exploit.

"Royal Black Blood Sea Corrosive Charge!", the second Karla on the other hand, was much more vicious with her spells, probably because she is the one who embodies the man-eating siren-mermaid aspect, so in her case, her whole body exploded in black-red mana as she turned into a stream of the same color, which aimed to rain down, that blood scent water mana upon Aisha and Freya.

But then, another one of the now three remaining banners burned, it was the one with the word "evil" engraved on it, as a result the grey silver flames released by the banner turned into harpoons which then shot themselves towards the siren-mermaid Karla, forcing her to change her direction.

Due to the previous, her charge stopped before it could reach Aisha and Freya, but then the grey silver harpoons which had been avoided by the man-eating siren-mermaid Karla suddenly made abnormal changes in their trajectory, their new aim being the "evil" siren Karla.

"Damn it, Black Hell Wind Whirlwind Step!", the fourth Karla surrounded herself in black-green wind mana and then turned into a whirlwind which shot itself into the distance, but she was a step too late and while the vast majority of the harpoons were deviated by the whirlwind which was meant to protect her as she flew away, one managed to pass right through a breach in the wind's defense, which was left by the other harpoons all hitting in the same spot.

"Ack!", as a result, the "evil" siren Karla in other words the one with black-green hair, had one of her arms pierced by a harpoon which ripped it apart as it followed its travel into the distance after destroying the whirlwind in the process.