[Well she's awesome], Voxea commented about Albinas's actions as my friends and I stared daggers at Diamonda and her cronies. Currently, neither my side or Diamonda's were rushing in to start another fight. It would go without saying that the one to rush into the other would get ganged up on real fast.
[Looks we got ourselves a proper showdown at high noon!], Voxea commented in a weird accent again. I'd need to ask her more about the world beyond the Empire at some point.
"So everyone know who their dance partners are?", Albina asked as she looked at us, which she followed up with, "I'll keep the Sombra busy".
"I'll out brute the Sludgephant", Bori said with a snort.
"Triton will lock weapons with the Cragmatik", Savina added.
"And I'll make sure the satyr is mutton", I said with determination.
All four of our majimonsters took battle ready stances and began to stare down their respective opponents. A palatable tension was in the air, like a hunter and its prey, waiting for someone to flinch first and get the first strike in.
"But first, I think all of us should get ready first? Indigo"?
The Djinncense let out a breezy laugh before dancing once more. As she danced, I felt the air get heavier and electrify as it seemed to surround her and our monsters. My Dragon's Eye recognized this as the effect of [Storm Aura], a technique that made it harder to hurt our monsters with ranged techniques.
[Oh yeah. Buff techniques].
Following Albinas' lead, Bori and Savina had their monsters use buff techniques as well. Bori's Ulvor seemed to light itself on fire, which then formed into a cloak of pure flames, while Savina's Triton slashed the ground with its Trident before water made of aether coated it.
[Well then...Azalea. Brute Strength].
As the command was given Azalea's body began to glow with an orange light. Visible strand of aether began to gather and merge with her wooden form. As the aether was absorbed, the wooden armor began to grow visibly thicker and muscles made of aether began to form underneath the armor. As additional flair, Azalea's wooden mask went from plain looking to downright sinister with the horns growing larger and more diabolic.
[Huh. So that's what that does], Voxea commented.
[Why do you sound so shocked]?
[Because you have never used that technique up until].
[She just learned it recently], I defended.
[To be fair, I've never seen you use a buff technique until now], Voxea retorted.
[Hard to do that given how intense battles get].
[Fair enough. Now kick their butts]!
Evidently, we weren't the only ones thinking of buffing up before engaging. Over on Diamonda's side, I could see that the Sludgephant, Cragmatik and Jewel Satyr use Earth techniques to coat themselves in armors made of mud, stone and gems. Meanwhile, the Sombra had also use [Storm Aura] to protect their team. This meant if we wanted to hurt each other, we had to go full melee.
My friends and I continued to stare each other down after our monsters had prepped...for all of five seconds. In the span of a second, both of our respective team of monsters let out battlecries before charging straight for each other.
[Azalea, Seething Strike]!
Azalea's whole body began to glow with orange aether and alongside her; Ulvor, Triton and Indigo began to glow with the power of their respective techniques.
"Let's see if we can push them over the edge a bit more", I said before channeling my own aether into my bond with Azalea and strengthening her technique, a visible aura of power forming around me before moving into Azalea. My friends nodded in agreement before doing the same thing.
Once more, Diamonda and her gang did what we did and began to charge up their monster's technique as well. In essence, the moment our monsters' technique made contact, it would all come down to-
[Wait. Something's coming...!!! Call off the attack now!], Voxea suddenly shouted in my head.
[Wait, what?! It's too late for-]
"Ara...what a loud ruckus for opening day. Who's causing such noise"?
I don't know who that voice belonged to, but something about it made the hair on the back of neck stand up in terror.