"Hey! Are you sure that's where Eileen is?!"
"That's definitely Eileen's magic! Just follow me!"
After seeing the giant formation of ice falling from the night sky, Lira hurriedly leads Sieghart and the others at the far eastern side outside the capital.
"To think that she'd really go this far... Just how much does she want to kill demons...?"
"Sometimes, some people can't just forgive themselves for what they did in the past. Regardless, those two will be in trouble if more people get involved. We need to hurry and stop them!"
...
Meanwhile at the devastated plains where Eileen and Christa were fighting. Their battle seemed to have reached its conclusion as Christa gave her a last punch and a message.
"I want to fight with you again. Not a fight driven by grief or anger, but a fight to learn and become stronger."
Christa turns away shortly after and walks away.
Selene and Itsuo who's flying straight to the girl with the crimson eyes calls her name.
"Christa! You did it!"
"Come, Christa, I'll heal you!"
The girl stopped as she heard their voices. She waves at them.
"Hey, you two!"
Until Eileen who's lying on the dirt speaks in a stammering tone behind her.
"Yo..you turned your back against m..me... Is it because I'm weak...? Why am I always.. being s..spared...? Am I... only worth being pitied over...? Am I not worth even killing...?"
"You..."
Christa can see a light in her eyes as Eileen glares at her. But what Eileen sees is a repeating scene of the demon who turned away after killing her party member and also a friend while giving an obnoxious grin as it goes away.
The image statics as the demon's figure turned into Christa who's doing the same thing what Eileen always sees in her nightmares - Christa turns back while mischievously looking and grinning at her as she goes away, as if she's saying Eileen is not even worth putting all her strength or even killing her. It's a waste of time and energy.
Eileen's hand rake's the ground.
"How dare you... How dare you turn your back against me...!"
The atmosphere suddenly changed as a surge of strong wind pressure was sending outward from Eileen. It was strong and cold that it's pushing Selene and Itsuo away.
"I-It's too cold!"
"We're being dragged away...!"
Eileen grinds her teeth against each other.
"How dare you show pity against me... It's unforgivable! I won't let any more of you get away with it! You demons... I will kill all of you!!"
At the same time Eileen let out a raging scream comes the storm of wind that is ever growing in strength. Selene and Itsuo were sent back to the houses, screaming. While Christa's feet can be seen as it's slowly being pushed back.
"She's getting even stronger? Huh...?"
Christa sensed something appeared above Eileen and her. And was shocked to see it.
...
Sieghart and the others were close to the area where Christa and Eileen are. And as they continue to move forward, the storm also reached them and stopped them for a bit.
"Huh? Waaah!"
Lira who's leading the way was sent back by the wind. Thankfully Sieghart was there to catch her as she was flying straight to him.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah."
"This wind pressure..." David followed.
"Hey, look up!"
Everyone follows Jinrah's pointing finger and sees a giant black cloud forming right in front of them.
"That cloud... don't tell me...!"
"We have to stop her! Hurry!"
With the Wind Wall created by Lira, Sieghart and the others siege through the strong storm in front of them to get to Eileen. Every distance they make, the wind gets stronger.
"The wind is getting stronger..."
"It means that we are getting closer to Eileen, let's keep going!"
The group goes on as they charge through the wind. Soon after continuously moving forward against the blinding surge, the person that is the cause of the storm is visible in the far distance as she stands up from the ground.
"That's..."
"Eileen!!"
Sieghart screamed the girl's name, but the howling of the wind is keeping his voice from reaching Eileen.
...
"It looks like I triggered something unpleasant."
Christa keeps on observing Eileen as she stood up, glaring back at Christa. The wind endlessly gains strength as it tears up grasses, branches off trees that are standing on the far right of Christa. And on her left, she noticed something flickered and is flying towards her.
She catches it with a single hand and opens it to see a pebble shaped ice in her palm.
"Ice?"
"Raaaaaaa!!"
"What?"
Eileen's roar transformed the surge of wind into a winter storm with a powerful hail of pebbles being thrown around and bombarding Christa.
Selene noticed it just in time to create another shield to protect the houses. She could tell how powerful the impact of the hail as it hammers down the shield.
"This hail... It's more powerful than it looks. I don't know how long I can keep up with this!"
"Tch! So this is the full power of a diamond rank adventurer... It's terrifying."
Meanwhile, Christa created a cage of fire around her, keeping her safe from the incoming hail.
"Eileen!!"
"That voice...!"
It was a faint scream, but Christa was able to hear Sieghart behind Eileen. Of course, the ice magic caster heard it as well. She turns around to see Lira's Wind Wall struggling to keep everyone around her unharmed.
Sieghart speaks to Eileen in a shouting voice.
"Stop, Eileen! If you hate me for stopping you back then, then you can hate me all you want! Just don't take your grudge against others who aren't involved in all this!"
"Eileen! Please, stop it already! If you use such a dangerous magic, not even you will survive! Did you really think you're friend would want to see you like this?! Did you really think dying is the only way for you to atone your mistakes, your sadness, your pain?!" Lira followed.
"Killing yourself doesn't end the pain, it passes on to someone! We are friends! Have you ever thought how we'd feel if you die right in front of us?!"
The wind howls as Eileen looks at Lira, Jinrah, David and Sieghart with a dumbfounded face. But despite what Sieghart and Lira told her, Eileen clenched her ice coated fist.
"Friend? You're all nothing but a party of adventurers with me." Eileen glowered at them.
"All of you are just a tool to find that demon and have my revenge. Don't even think for a second that I acknowledged you all being my friend."
"What?!" Lira was taken aback by Eileen's horrendous words.
Eileen glared at Sieghart.
"And you."
"...!"
Eileen closes her eyes as she speaks.
"I never asked for your help, but you still interfered onto exacting my revenge. For that, I hate you. Yes, I hate you and that will not change even if I die. This time, I won't let you get in my way again."
The winter storm cuts Eileen and the party from each other as it began circling faster and stronger around her and Christa. The both of them are caged in by Eileen's magic.
"Stop, Eileen! I won't let you die!!"
"Sieghart!"
The three screamed at sieghart as he attempt to go through the wall of winter storm and hail. But even sieghart cannot go past the wall with the pebble ice hitting him like bullets.
Sieghart tries to extend his hand inside, but he eventually was sent back as his body was covered with marks of the hail hitting all over him.
"Sieghart!"
Jinrah and David catches him before falling. David asks if Sieghart is all right. The party leader answered with a resounding yes.
"Yes. It's just some bruises." Blood came channeling down his face from his head while giving a calm look to everyone.
"No! You got hit in the head!" Lira angrily replied.
Jinrah insisted on pushing through the thick wall of the storm as Lira wordlessly nodded and so did David. But Sieghart stopped them as entering that storm would mean death.
"You all know that the only way to get out once you get inside that storm is through defeating Eileen before she casts her spell! I'm the one that caused all this, it's only obvious that I should be the one who ends it. Listen, if you create a wind wall for a split second, I'll be able to go through that wall. Lira, heal my wounds."
"Do you really think we'll let you go through that alone?! We know how much you cared for Eileen, do you think you have the guts to hurt her?"
"Wha?! Dumbass! This is no time for that... Huh?"
From the corner of his eyes, Sieghart noticed a faint reddish light inside the circling hail. It was too hard to notice at first glance, but all of them manage to see it. The moment they did, they realized what it meant. Christa is still alive inside the storm.
...
Inside the storm, the surging wind are ever so stronger than outside, the size of the hail is more bigger than the others. But more than that, it keeps gaining strength. As if it has endless limits.
"With this, there will be no way for you to escape. And soon your fire will weaken and will no longer be able to protect you."
"Aren't you in the same boat?"
Eileen smirked. "Yes. Every second the storm grows stronger, the mana it consumes become larger. Soon, the storm itself will consume me until I die. But that's nothing to worry about. Before I die, this place will be deep frozen that even Sieghart or your fire will not be able to thaw it!"
Eileen opens her arms side by side as she makes the storm even more stronger around her and Christa.
"I see. So that's your last ditch move."
...
Outside the spherical shaped storm created by Eileen, in the neighborhood. Selene keeps on protecting the houses with her strong light shield. Everytime the pebble of ice keeps on bombarding her shield, it leaves her with cracks all over it, forcing her to reinforce it at every moment.
"I can't... The hail isn't stopping and it keeps getting stronger every hit!"
"You can do it, Selene!" Itsuo tries to cheer her up.
"Can't you help at least a little?!"
"Sorry, I can fight monsters and all, but I'm useless when it comes to shielding..."
Selene sighed. "If only we could perform a mana transfer at this situation..."
Itsuo was shockingly flustered to hear Selene's words.
"Eh?! Mana transfer...? You mean that mana transfer...?"
Selene looks back on Itsuo. She blushed as she realized what Itsuo meant.
"I-Idiot! I'm not talking about that kind of mana transfer!!"
"Sorry!!"
Itsuo quickly bends over his knees out of fear.
"We can't see her because of the storm, try to see if Christa is still in there!"
"Right!"
Itsuo obediently takes Selene's request as he tries to pick up Christa's energy. But due to the surge of strong wind, it makes it harder for him to do so.
"I can't find her! It's like the storm is keeping them inside like an enclosed space!"
"Keep trying!"
"Right!"
Itsuo tries his best to detect Christa. Eventually she sensed a faint glimpse of a familiar energy inside the storm.
"Ah! There she is! Go finish it, Christa!!"
...
"Why...? Why is her flames not dying out?"
Back inside the sphere-like storm where two people are caged in, one of them is a girl who casts the powerful surge. Her appearance are beginning to change drastically over time.
The ice clad in one of her hands has started to crawl up to her arm where last time it was only on her wrist to her hands. While one of his legs appears to be the same as her arm. Her pinkish smooth skin transformed into pale-white. And her eyes that is now both crystal-clear blue unlike before.
Her magic is starting to show it's physical effect on her body as she keeps on going. But even after all that, the other girl remained standing on the ground, with her flames keeping her from harm.
"Why am I still standing, you ask? I'll let you answer it yourself."
The fire protecting Christa from the hail channels through her arm and turned into a fiery aura around her.
"Haaaa..."
Christa turns her hands into fist as she powers up. The fire around her began melting every single one of the giant hail at such a fast scale that it didn't even touch her or her aura.
From the looks of it, the heat is spreading through a vast space around Christa, vaporizing the hail and keeping the surge of the storm from her.
Eileen was irked up to see Christa who can keep up with her blizzard storm.
"Tch! I'll make sure that this will be your grave!"
Eileen was about to cast another spell as she aimed her right hand on Christa. Until the girl with the flames spoke.
"Time consuming magic is such a hassle. Especially if you're fighting against someone in a one-on-one battle."
"...!"
Christa did the same posture like Eileen. Her open hand is aimed at the ice magic caster, with a ball of fire the same size as her hand takes form.
"That's why I never bothered using one."
The fireball flings from Christa towards Eileen.
"This is nothing!"
Eileen fires an ice lance to intercept the fireball. But the ball of fire that seemed like it was so small, it could even be blown away by a whistle have melted the lance. And in that very instant, the small ball of fire grows in size.
"What?!"
It expanded so much that the storm circling around Eileen and Christa was engulfed by it. The flame dances together with the wind before blasting off upward into the sky.
...
Flying right above the outer wall of the city of Reilaea, King Ordeus and Edle who the king carries had witnessed how the storm of spherical wind transformed into a fire vortex before blasting off upward and erasing the dark cloud around them.
"What in the world is going on...?"