Chapter 789 - 789: A fundamentally special kind of fight (part 11)

In a fraction of a second three hundred peak Arch rank "magic beasts" took form in front of Karla, interestingly enough unlike before when the good Karla had tried to ambush Freya, they weren't just sea-related magic beasts as those were sea snakes though they took water and wind battle mana to materialize, respectively.

No, this time there were proper sky related magic beasts present, they divided in exclusively two types though, birds of prey like eagles, hawks and similar or winged reptiles like flying snakes and flying chameleons, those composed exactly half of the "army", the one that flew high in the sky in front of Karla.

The other half were all sea magic beasts, half of which were shark races while the other half were crustaceans like crabs, lobsters and the like, they were floating within the sea of Karla's battle domain, in front of her.

That being said, rather than being surprised by this spell used by Karla, Aisha was more interested by the fact that her "army", was similar in existence to the blood specters of the blood prison realm.

"Now, that adds another question to the list, where did you happen to pick up this spell from, I wonder", casually said the silver-haired vampire mother.

Though the result and process were different, given that Karla used the spirits of magic beasts she controlled and killed herself, and then gave them a "physical" form through her battle mana, while the blood specters of the blood prison realm weren't under the control of neither the megalodon general nor the Lords, at least by innate until the Lords started messing up with the rules in this place.

Not to mention that the blood specters didn't need mana, or more accurately that they didn't need external energy, as far as Daimon's intel reached with the help of Lyn being a witness of what happened back then, the sealing spell, technique or whatever the megalodon general used, separated the targets from their actual bodies.

And the energies released from the lineages of all those that died or were sealed are what created the blood prison realm, which made it self-sustaining to a certain extent, because the imprisoned bodies would continue to generate said energies, until the seal degraded or was broken, which is what the Lords have been investing their time while the megalodon has been working to prevent it from happening.

In fact, probably that old shark's body was being used as the main pillar for this place, given that neither Ophelia nor Lyn being freed caused damage to the structure of the seal.

"Humph, this is an innate ability of mine, both sea and sky creatures must bow in front of a member of the mythical black storm sea", proudly said Karla to which Aisha giggled as she added.

"But you weren't one, at least not properly until now, right?"

"Experience it yourself then, the terror of fighting against my army in a place where there is water or wind!", shouted Karla as she pointed her right index finger at Aisha making half of her army charge at the silver-haired vampire mother.

Half as in half of the flying beast and half of the sea ones, while the other half remained in front of Karla as she was being directly glared by Freya.

Aisha returned the gesture at Karla and pointed her own right index finger frontwards, which made silver lightning energy gather on the spot.

"Booom!", without Aisha even starting to cast, and without the minimal delay that chantless technique casting would have, a ten kilometer wide lightning energy stream was shot by Aisha and directly impacted the flying magic beast army that was charging at her, engulfing them on the spot.

"Silver Empress Firmament, Silver Heavenly Javelin", only then did Aisha actually cast the technique and as a result the second instance of the javelin from the dual casting spot on her right hand, produced another ten kilometer wide lightning energy stream, which this time aimed for the sea magic beast army.

'So, her domain helps to speed up her casting, an annoying ability but mine has a better one', thought Karla, just in time for said ability to show up.

How so you wonder, the crustacean part of the sea magic beast army that was sent after Aisha suddenly had familiar looking rule symbols appear on their carapaces, it were the "power up" and "survivability" ones.

"Clang!", the second lightning stream was met with a dark blue battle mana shield which had rules in them appearing in front of the sea magic beast army, blocking it.

And while the clash between the shield was still ongoing, the sharks which had remained behind the crustaceans, also had rule symbols appear on their bodies, this time it were the "special weapon" and "power up" rule for them.

Their lateral and dorsal fins which were made out of battle mana like the rest of their bodies, then "solidified", not as in the way battle aura could do, but as in they had a layer of smooth and sharp ice appear on them.

Karla apparently used the most solid version of water which is ice alongside the "especial weapon" rule to turn the shark's fins into sharp blades, which then carried the "power up" rule to then charge at Aisha in an alternative route while the crabs and lobsters blocked the javelin.

Or at least that was the idea until a third javelin appeared as soon as the sharks moved out of formation, impacting them the next second.

But then, the angered expression would expect to see in Karla's face didn't appear, instead of that she disdainfully smiled as she snapped her fingers.

"I expected you to have a trick up your sleeve considering that lightning energy dome, so I also prepared something just for enemies like you", said the mermaid-siren, then the winged chameleons that were engulfed by the still ongoing first lightning stream came out of it… completely unscathed.

"They regenerated, no, they weren't hit by my technique from the very beginning", said Aisha as she saw the "mind altering" and "survivability" rules on the bodies of the winged chameleons.

They had entered an "ethereal" state when Aisha's attack reached them, basically, the chameleon spirit's let go of the battle mana that conformed their bodies and then reinforced their spirits with the mind and defense increasing rules, given that they were unable to dodge Aisha's attack.

This way, they remained basically unaffected by the attack, but it was only as long as they didn't move, which is why they rushed out of Aisha's lightning stream which still caused them some minor damage, but now that the third lightning stream was used on the sharks Karla could use them to attack Aisha.

"Boooom!", is what the mermaid-siren thought, until a fourth lightning stream appeared into the battlefield this time properly landing on the chameleons which made their bodies explode.

What happened is that when the heavenly silver firmament domain was out, Aisha's lightning energy powered techniques could be double casted from the same casting spot, in other words, all her casting spots now had two casting chances, and the dual one on her right hand… had four of them.

Aisha had simply timed the javelins as she pleased, to test how Karla would use her army and it worked, by the time the javelins had flown into the distance, with the exception of the crustaceans whose shield was now cracked here and there after blocking a single of Aisha's javelins, the other magic beasts were gone.

'Fucking bitch, she still had another trick up her sleeves, no matter, I'm the same!', inwardly exclaimed Karla as she snapped her fingers.

Then under Aisha's pretty frowned expression, the spirits of the magic beasts she just destroyed with her javelins, returned all at the same time, as if time was rewound.

'Some of her battle mana was consumed but it was nowhere near close to what it would have been needed to regenerate those guys even with her old recovery capacities, not to mention that, there are a few "slippery" ones that reappeared at a different position than before', thought Aisha.

"Hissssss!", the winged snakes which were destroyed by the first javelin unlike the chameleons, also regenerated, but they appeared above Aisha instead of where they "died" unlike the other magic beasts.

And there is a proper reason for that, they also had the "mind altering" and "power up" rules on their bodies, as a result their spirits were stronger than that of the other magic beasts, and so, when they regenerated, they could do it from tinier remnants of said spirits.

Some of which must have spread over the battlefield, so when Karla brought them back, they appeared close to Aisha instead of where they died, it was slightly similar to Laila's technique which allowed her to form an illusion of herself where remnants of her energy remained.

The difference being that, in this case they were remnants of the magic beast's spirits, which weren't as easy to get rid of, as that's mysterious and mind related stuff.

Still, as "surprising" as it was, the flying snakes didn't get to really approach Aisha, because a certain valkyrie girl slashed the giant grey silver energy sword on her battle avatar's right hand releasing a slashing light which cut the snakes into barely noticeable cubes.

"Boooom!", that was followed by their bodies exploding in grey silver flames, in other words in Freya's energy, at the same time, the valkyrie girl thrusted the spear on the left hand of her battle avatar right at Karla's head, releasing a piercing stream of energy.

"Crack!", the piercing lightning stream pierced through the barrier projected by the crustacean magic beasts and a few of them too, making them explode in grey silver flames, to then almost instantly reach Karla, but that had given the latter, time to leisurely raise up her defenses.

"Mythical Black Storm Sea, Tempest Torrent Shield", said the mermaid-siren, as she had a spiraling water and wind battle mana shield with the survivability and special weapon rules appear in front of her.

"Clang!", as surprising as it was to see the snakes slipping past their previous position and getting closer to Aisha, Karla's spell actually blocked the "piercing" rule as Karla had called it, coming from the spear and while the shield suffered some damage due to the grey silver flames that lit up on it upon contact, it didn't crumble apart.

What's more, the winged snakes which had been cut to pieces and then burned until there was "nothing" left of them, regenerated this time back to where they were when Aisha's javelin impacted them earlier, and unlike before, Freya's energy only left a few marks on some of their scales even when they were basically burned down completely by said energy before.

"I normally wouldn't care what happens to these slaves, but as someone from the mythical black storm sea, I can't go around with an "ugly" army, right", mockingly said Karla, whose magic beasts were basically exactly as fine as they were when they first appeared after taking attacks from both Aisha and Freya.

"Mmm, as I thought, your so called "innate ability" is limited to apply your recovery capacity and rules on those magic beasts so long as they are within your battle domain, however you don't have the capacity to create them", said Aisha which made Karla's smile stiffen, even more so as the silver-haired vampire mother added.

"Otherwise, a piece of trash like you who doesn't care about their subordinates, would have just created new ones instead of bringing them back, since it's not a lineage related ability, then I can put away tearing down the blood prison realm since your half-baked spell couldn't have helped with their creation~", said Aisha.

At this point is clear that there was someone else involved in the whole event that resulted in Neptune's tragedy from back then, Aisha knew it because Daimon's black sea emblem though looked as if it was directly connected with the megalodon, it really wasn't.

Otherwise, that old shark would have either tried to contact or kill Daimon already considering the bad experience he had with Ereth, because even if he didn't know that Daimon was a "chosen one" like Ereth was, if he was able to see the things that little thing that has been with Daimon from the very beginning of this mission, he would have known he was "dangerous" in all the meaning of the world.

So, either the megalodon general would have made contact or tried to get rid of Daimon, and the possibility that he simply couldn't due to the seal's interference was out of the table ever since the black sea emblem revealed the influence it could exert in the blood prison realm.

With the kind of power the rune shark has shown to have, by devouring the very energy of which this place was made of, merely allowing the old shark to have a word with Daimon would have been extremely easy to do.

So, knowing that, and seeing the slight resemblance between Karla's magic beasts and the blood specters, if Aisha concluded that one of the hidden "players" came from Karla's side, she would have proceeded to start to tear down the blood prison realm right after this fight, of course not to the point where it would crumble since that could put Daimon's mission in trouble, but enough to weaken it way more so that there wouldn't be "surprises" coming from it anymore.

But she judged that to not be the case, because Karla didn't create those magic beasts with a lineage ability as she had stated, she reinforced them her way with it, but the creation part which was inferior to the method used for the blood specters from Aisha's perspective, was done through a technique, whether it was a battle spell, a magic art, a ritual or a curse it was unknown, but at least Aisha confirmed that it wasn't a lineage ability, which kept that hidden "player" in a neutral to positive stance towards her darling from Aisha's perspective.

The previous was a serious doubt, because unlike Freya who was basically trapped in a similar place for "problematic children" as Lezabel by the system, for who knows how many years, during the time Karla remained unassigned, she had some freedom, but Aisha only knew that, the interference in the memories she obtained through blood reading skyrocketed after she learned that last piece of intel, probably because it had something to do with much more secretive things related to the system.

After all, Aisha more or less knew about the selecting process thanks to Eve, not to mention that she was targeted to become a candidate not too long ago, so intel related to how Karla was selected which is the part of her backstory that Aisha got to see relatively "easily", wouldn't have that much interference as she already had knowledge related to it.

"My army is inferior to those savage things running wild in this stupid place you say, how strange I don't remember any of them being able to use rules, not to mention that they are easy to be taken over, just try and do the same with my army you damn…", before Karla could finish her sentence, Aisha's next words made her stop in cold.

"Soul degradation, you think I wouldn't notice how little energy you used to bring back those guys, unlike the blood specters which not only can actually grow stronger but even if destroyed return using the constantly produced lineage energy, your stitched dolls burn their spirits to produce the energy needed to be brought back, so that you only need a bit of battle mana to make them regenerate, a method befitting a piece of trash like you", said Aisha whose eyes were shining in white silver flames, to which Freya snorted with disdain.

"A vulgar woman like you has the nerve to be angry because you weren't granted the title of "royalty", when you never understood the most important aspect of it, "noblesse oblige", those of higher standing are not there to toy and trample upon those that follow them, they are there to protect and guide them", said the valkyrie girl.

Freya's vibe changed for a second there, it was short-lived but while her "war goddess" aura didn't weaken in the slightest, she radiated a regal and respect-inspiring aura as well, the kind that would make people kneel and swear loyalty to her, if they had seen it.

Which is not strange, because in case you have forgotten about it, when Freya used the conceptual banner technique to make the "standing" engraved banners appear above Karla and herself, Karla's one exploded as soon as it was formed.

So, at some point, we can deduce that the valkyrie girl, despite her young appearance, was in a much higher position in life than Karla who was a princess by marriage.

One could almost listen to a loud "slapping" sound from those words coming from Freya, which hit Karla across her face, and made Aisha softly laugh.

"Looks like you being paired against Freya so that you could vent up your petty anger over your crushed dreams didn't work out as "you" expected, right, jealous little mermaid?", said the silver-haired vampire mother, which made Karla's eyes get bloodshot as she got salt rubbed on her wound basically.

That "you" was in plural by the way, since Aisha was referring to both Karla and the system, Freya truly englobed everything Karla had hatred for, she was a strong girl who raised through her own achievements, she lived her life decently to the best of her capacities and was also a magic knight, if the one who killed Karla continued the way she was back then, at some point she maybe could have reached the same heights as the valkyrie girl.

"Well, very well, looks like you fucking bitches really enjoy making fun of me huh, I honestly wanted to capture you and give you the most horrible deaths possible, but I'm tired of even seeing you, so go to hell already!", said Karla as she extended her hands to the right and left.

"Subjects of my realm, show these two lowly invaders the might of the Mythical Black Storm Sea!", she added as battle mana which was full of the "mind altering" rule was radiated from Karla's body.

"Mythical Black Storm Sea, Four Direction Protectors!", said the mermaid-siren as she injected that battle aura into one selected member of each of the four races mentioned before, in other words, one bird of prey magic beast and one reptile, namely an eagle and a snake, as well as one shark and one crustacean, namely a great white shark and a coconut crab.

"Crack!", the rules on those four selected targets shone and in response the bodies of all the other magic beasts cracked and then exploded, as their spirits and the battle mana out of which they were made was absorbed by the selected four.

"Boooom!", four different pressures expanded through the battlefield as the "four protectors" all became Stellar magic beasts, it's worth mentioning that Karla's realm didn't increase with her change, she was an early stage stellar just like those magic beasts, but her battle prowess was on a different level, she was able to clash head on with Aisha and Freya now after all.

Though, if the two joined hands she wouldn't have it easy, which is why she changed her large army which was more meant to stall while she looked for opportunities to attack those two, for the four protectors that could fight at her same level if they joined hands.

This is something she prepared knowing that when she fused with her other self, she would lose the quantity advantage, in the process she just further confirmed Freya's words though, because she just… killed 296 of the magic beasts to empower four of them.

Killed for real, because they had burned their spirits completely to create the energy needed for the protectors to cross the limit of the Arch rank and to also resist against the suppression of the blood prison realm.

Karla unlike Arlion didn't depend on "luck", so she didn't take into account having the enemy's domain take on the pressure on her stead after all.

"You four go kill that silver haired bitch, while I take care of the high and mighty loser that couldn't protect two hosts in a row", viciously said Karla, which made Aisha's smile disappear, not out of the insults aimed at her, but at what the mermaid-siren had said to Freya.

"I doubt you'll ever experience that kind of pain, but I can make you go through something worse from your perspective, for example you could clash head on with my domain, but how about a second one?", said Aisha with a smile that wasn't a smile as she had violet energy explode out of her body.