Even after noticing the hundreds of flames slowly forming in front of her, Ren only stood still. Staring at Kalgar.
Her hands were shaking. Thousands of thoughts raced on her confused mind, from the time when she and Glut were young to when she saw the last pieces of him flying away in the air.
'I shouldn't have let him alone' Was her only thought while she stood in the air, shivering with only her loud heartbeats the only thing she hears.
After a few moments, the hundreds of fireballs started to fly towards the frozen Ren.
Seeing that, she quickly flew away, but the fireballs chased. She flew upwards, raised her totem and casted two elven spells one after the another, [Fretsze] [Severem] [Fretsze]
As she casted while flying upwards, the spell [Fretsze] froze the humidity in the air and [Severem] shattered them to pieces. After a few moments, she is very high in the sky that she is barely visible and thousands of crystals are now floating above the forest.
The chasing fireballs would eventually clash with a crystal and with at least 3 crystals, the fireball would dissipate. In the end there were only 4 fireballs following Ren which she smashed with her totem.
Kalgar no longer saw Ren, but he saw the skies of the forest littered with floating crystals. Out of precaution, he started retreating away from the forest as fast as he can.
Up in the clouds, Ren looked at the ground and saw Kalgar who now looks no more than a small ant, running away for its life. She raised her totem then sorrowfully whispered, [Imperitus]. With her skin slowly becoming more pale and her eyes getting deeper moments after she casted the spell. And eventually, she started falling from the sky like a wingless bird.
Right after Ren casted the spell, the thousands if not hundreds of thousands of crystals rushed towards Kalgar, each of them going faster than sound.
"Sh-She's draining her vitality!" Kalgar mumbled to himself as he looked back and saw the fast approaching crystals
"Only a spell like Imperitus could move this many objects at once without being near them" He thought. While flying away at high speed.
Above, one could see Ren falling from the sky only to be caught by Maxim as she was nearing the ground.
When Maxim noticed that Ren is barely clinging on to her life, he ran his hands through Ren's hair, and whispered to her, "You've done well, Ren." Before creating a cocoon twice the size of her body that engulfed her and shone with a bright green hue.
Hundreds of crystals with varying sizes pierced through Kalgar's body as he was fleeing.
He casted one barrier spell after the another, conjuring a wall of bones, a wall of Earth but all of them were destroyed and demolished as soon as he created them, leaving him defenseless and with a body covered with gaping holes that seeped with blood.
Sensing that he would die if this keeps up, he reached his hand, he opened one of his storage rings then grabbed a scroll. And without any waiting, he conjured a flame which then burned the scroll. Then after a few moments, the scroll turned to ashes and Kalgar lit up with a bright light then disappeared into thin air.
After Kalgar disappeared, the chasing crystals all immediately changed directions, as if having a mind of their own.
As soon as Maxim placed Ren in a cocoon, he returned to the still asleep soul of Abies (Satoshi) and asked himself, "What kind of magic is able to give birth to an already dead forest heart?"
Maxim kneeled and picked up a leaf that emitted a bright green aura, "This tree should long have been out of magic." He dropped the leaf then stared at his unconscious Lord. "Why is it now teeming with mana and life?"
Because as far as he knows, the tree that sustained the forest is still alive but the heart that provided magic to that tree is dead, causing it to not grow any bigger.
Meanwhile, at Demon Lord Graslis's manor. Graslis was sitting cross-legged on a velvet couch, sipping his wine and playing with the flames on the fireplace in front of him when suddenly, a bloodied person crashed with a loud bang in front of him.
With a raised eyebrow, he asked, "So you failed?"
"Ren cas–casted a curse, My Lord." Kalgar replied, panting and coughing up blood.
"You should have expected that." Graslis stood up, "If I were in a state of life and death, wouldn't you drain your vitality for me?" He questioned the bloody Kalgar.
"I–I would, My Lord" Kalgar stuttered as his blood deeply stained the floor below him.
"And so would Ren, she is deeply loyal to my brother… How about the others?"
"I killed Glut, Maxim and the twins were not there." Kalgar replied while casting healing magic on himself.
Hearing that, a gloom went over Graslis's face. "Who killed Glut?" He asked
"Me, My Lord" Kalgar answered.
"I see, I am happy for him then. He won't see this world and everything he adores fall into damnation." Graslis groaned while he sipped his wine.
"Any major losses?" Graslis added
To which, Kalglar slowly stood up and replied, "Except the lich, there were no major losses. The other armies are also returning"
"I see, I could just make another lich don't worry about that" Graslis poured wine on his glass then asked, "Extra details?"
"My Lord, your brother released a very strong pulse of magic earlier."
Graslis suddenly looked at Kalgar,"But didn't you cast Wither on him?"
"Yes I did, My Lord. It's bothering me how he was able to release such strong magic"
Consequently, Graslis walked out to his balcony with his left hand scrubbing his sharp chin. "An act of the Gods? – No, those hateful Gods have never favored us." Graslis pondered to himself.
"Oh this is getting more troublesome, the otherworlders might find us sooner or later at this rate." Graslis grumbled, crushing the glass in his hand and watched it bleed as he took his time and slowly took out the embedded glass on his beautiful hand.
After some time, Graslis was still on his balcony, thinking and pondering with screams of humans filling his ear. Then he noticed a strong fluctuation of mana, "It's still chasing Kalgar huh" Graslis mumbled to himself as he stared straight at where the fluctuation is happening.
Then, if one would look at the sunrise, they would see something shiny, then notice that these shiny things are approaching at high speed.
The shards of ice that Ren casted were still chasing Kalgar, flying through the sky and glistened under the morning sun.
Seeing this, Graslis placed his glass on the balcony walls "This is pretty bothersome" He whispered, afterwards, He jumped and disappeared. Only to appear at the balcony gate with a long black stick on his hand.
He pointed the black stick forward, facing the flashing crystals then chanted, [Gashag, Devour] Then a mouth, probably 30 times his size came out from the pointed end of the stick then chomped at the incoming crystals. Going back to the stick with a loud, BURP. As if the crystals never existed.
"Oh heavens that's a lot of mana" Graslis exclaimed as he slowly flew back to his balcony, "Gashag will probably need a few weeks to digest that". He sighed while taking his wine and calmly watched