It was still night, though the storm had passed and the full moon was setting, there was still enough light to see in the night. If Leona had never stared death in the eyes, that moment she certainly did. Once the monstrous scientist stepped out of the cave, not only was he missing his entire left arm, but also part of his face, leaving his exposed skull in full view. Seeing flesh and bone knit in such a grotesque manner certainly did no good for her stomach, but in the face of such a terrifying foe she managed to pick herself together and focus on the battle that was about to happen.
"You…" Jakob uttered as he pointed his right index finger towards Leona. "I will have your limbs torn out as I experiment with your body and soul!"
He dashed straight at her with his claws ready to gore her. While able to keep her head straight, Leona focused on her left ankle and quickly casted without chanting.
"Frost Rampart!"
A burst of ice arced from the very tip of her left foot around the knight and exploded against the scientist's ribs causing him to momentarily stop. That split second he stayed in place was enough for Krieg to land a big overhead swing with his greatsword.
"Hmph!"
A thick cloud of snow shot up from the ground due the knight's immense force. Even seeing how strong the impact was she yelled to him.
"Fall back Krieg!" Upon hearing her command, the knight jumped out of the way as she charged two azure fireballs one on each hand. "Crushing Flames!"
Once she released the spells, both fell in an arc before touching the ground upon which released so much heat it evaporated the snow in the immediate vicinity with its fiery explosion. Seeing the blazing inferno in front of him made Krieg wonder if those flames weren't on par with Adele's spells. However his thoughts were cut short by the slight movement he noticed amidst the flames as he readied his weapon with both hands pointing at the threat.
'Did he manage to survive that?!'
Noticing the knight's reaction made Leona have second thoughts as she stepped back a few times before charging another spell on her right hand, this time an ice one as she was about to prepare a second one on the other hand she began to feel faint.
She stumbled, almost losing her footing before falling on her knees which made the spell fizzle out.
'Not now!'
What she felt was mana shock, once a spell caster's mana dropped below a certain level in their bodies it would cause a mild dizziness, which in consequence would dampen their abilities to cast spells and should they even succeed, the consequences of pushing beyond one's limit could be fatal. However, there is a way for one to overcome their limits, one was extensive training, not that the tactician would've known and the other was increasing her body's capability to absorb mana from the ambient.
She took out the syringe and almost at the same time, injected the liquid through her thigh while also chugging down the last warm drink she had.
"Do not think this is over!" Jakob's disfigured voice echoed throughout the white covered plains like a roar of a mad beast. "I am Jakob Arc! The sole man to stand atop the pinnacle of creation! You will NOT defy me!"
Amidst the blazing inferno, Krieg saw the grotesque abomination stand up, but to his shock, the mad scientist had all his limbs intact as if nothing had happened. The elf however didn't seem like he was interested in the knight and instead was slowly walking towards Leona who was still kneeling on the snow a few meters ahead.
Krieg dashed in front of him and raised his blade parallel to his body with a firm grip.
"You'll go no further." The knight proclaimed as his red eyes seemed to emit an eerie glow. "For her sake, I will not fail!"
"Get out of my way!"
Jakob lunged with a wide overhead swing of his left claw, Krieg stepped to the right and avoided it completely, which the scientist responded by trying to swipe at him with the other hand. The knight swung down the greatsword and parried the incoming attack then followed up with a horizontal slash of his own that was meant to decapitate the beast however even after connecting, the blade merely scratched the surface of his throat turning the fatal blow into a mere flesh wound.
"You won't make it past me!"
Seeing how ineffective it was, he decided to use even more strength and used the momentum of the blade to carry his body in a spin which led the sword to once again hit his target dead center on the chest, sending him back a few meters back. But much like when he struck his foe's throat, it left nothing more but a mere surface wound.
"Your power alone is impressive, given you are no dragon but only a demi-human." Jakob felt his throat with his hand as its skin was closing. "But enough of games, you'll die here knowing that I will bear no mercy to your precious little princess."
He clenched his teeth and raised his sword once again.
"I won't allow it!"
Krieg began to unleash attacks one after another with enough strength that would cleave any man in half, however this time Jakob seemed to be matching each and every swing that would connect by simply parrying at the flat surface of the weapon.
"You were merely a stepping stone-"
Jakob swatted the weapon back which made Krieg's body lean backwards but from there the knight knew what he could do.
"Hah!"
By using the small space the scientist had just created, the knight stepped forward and used all his strength added to the weight of his body into one powerful overhead swing. Krieg felt clearly through the handle of his weapon that he had indeed cleaved into bone, but just to his surprise the ungodly abomination had blocked the attack with his left forearm.
He tried to pull the sword out but it felt like Jakob's flesh was holding the blade in place between each part of his torn muscle.
"-this is the end for you."
The scientist grabbed Krieg by the throat with his right hand which made him try to pry open the beast giant hands, but his fingers barely moved despite the knight using his full force.
"Argh!"
He raised his left arm and tossed out the stuck greatsword as if his arm spitted out between the flesh and bones before preparing to pierce the knight.
"Die knowing your princess will witness your pathetic death!"
Meters ahead, Leona was just managing to recover from the mana shock symptoms and as she raised her head she saw a scene of pure terror. Much like when her father was decapitated right in front of her, seeing Krieg about to be mercilessly pierced by a monster made all of her senses go haywire in an attempt to save him.
"KRIEG!" She yelled, but no matter how hard she tried to concentrate in order to cast a spell it would simply fizzle out, Jakob noticed her terror as a grim of enjoyment began to appear on his face. As he was about to kill the knight, Leona yelled from the top of her lungs. "NOOOOO!"
A deafening explosion echoed somewhere behind the tactician as the only thing she saw next was part of Jakob's right arm being torn off down to the bone.
"ARGH!"
He released the knight that fell on his back on the snow as the scientist stumbled backwards from the impact.
"Hey Leona!" She felt someone touch her shoulder and upon looking up she noticed it was Elizabeth. "Thank the goddess, the kid managed to hit the shot but we need to put an end to this!"
Looking further back, the pod was stationary on top of the white hill with the back hatch open; from there, Arthur held the anti-death angel rifle prone on the pod's floor. She then turned to the assassin with a sudden surge of determination.
"I have a plan to kill him for good, but I need your help!"
Elizabeth had a smirk on her face.
"My blade is yours."
Leona took her hand and stood up before charging headfirst towards the scientist.
"Argh!" Jakob grunted. "What manner of weapon can do this to me?!"
"Frost Rampart!"
He heard the same quick chant and noticed Leona quickly approaching him whilst creating a wall of ice parallel to her as she ran.
"Foolish princess! Came here to die first in your knight's place?!"
"I don't intend to die here!"
She suddenly stopped and made the ice wall curve in front of him, covering both her and Krieg.
"A mere spell won't be able to stop me!"
He smashed through the ice as if it was made of snow and expected to be able to claw the tactician but to his surprise, Elizabeth was standing right in front of the wall with her sheathed sword primed with mana.
"Have a taste of this!"
The assassin drew her blade and in one motion there was a flash of light blue light that was meant to decapitate him, however he was able to just barely sacrifice his right forearm in order to block the incoming strike, which sent the cut limb flying behind him.
"Elizabeth!"
Jakob roared as he was about to counter her with his left claw before Leona shouted.
"Now Krieg!"
The knight suddenly appeared from the other side of the broken wall and parried his attack with one of his own.
"Argh! You insects!"
The tactician ducked and dashed in between Elizabeth and Krieg, upon extending her hands out she was barely touching Jakob's waist as she quickly casted six spells in succession.
"Cutting Wave! Piercing Ice! Cutting Wave! Piercing Ice! Cutting Wave!!
She was barely keeping herself conscious with each consecutive spell she casted, the high pressure from Water Blade in conjunction with the low temperature of Ice Spear would cause flesh and sinew to be unable to regenerate whilst frozen while also at the same time making short work of both through sheer firepower.
"DAMN YOU!"
He was about to use his mouth to bite Leona's head off however Arthur managed to hit him square in the chest which would've knocked him back if it wasn't for the last spell the tactician had used.
"By the blessings of my creator, I order it to halt, time and space, Diamond Frost!"
A unique spell devised by Leona herself, though accidentally, it was so powerful it could freeze most if not all substances known to her, which included blood and flesh.
"Wh- WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME?!"
"No you won't!"
Krieg shouted as he used the flat part of his blade to block Jakob's left claw in a last attempt to stop Leona from freezing his body whole.
"Ngh!" The tactician flinched from the pain she was feeling throughout her fingers, the biting cold that could freeze the monster in place was also hurting her in the process, she could only do so much to keep him in place. "Lady Elizabeth!"
"I'm on it!" She dashed and jumped over Jakob's left arm that was stuck in place thanks to Krieg and raised the curved blade above her head. "Thunderclap!"
Aiming straight for his head, she swung the blade down with all her might as lightning struck the blade as it fell which surely would have killed him, if he didn't block it with a half regenerated right arm.
"Fool!" The scientist shouted in anger as he knocked Krieg back with his left arm and grabbed the assassin from behind with the same hand as she lost her balance on top of his shoulder. "Die!"
He slammed Elizabeth on the ground beside him and despite having the snow to absorb most of the impact, she felt all air escape from her lungs as she hit the earth.
"Gah!"
"Elizabeth!" Krieg used the space created by the knockback and pivoted his entire waist while stepping in with his right foot making use of his entire body as he swung the sword horizontally against Jakob. "Haaaargh!"
"ARGH!" The knight's blade embedded about halfway through his waist as it was previously hurt by the tactician's continuous barrage of spells. "DAMN YOU!"
He hit Krieg with a backhand strike which sent him flying backwards against the ground.
"Ngh!" The knight grunted as he fell with his back against the snow and when he was about halfway to stand up he saw the scientist ready to bite Leona's head off. "NO!"
His mind was telling him to rush the scientist down but his instincts were strangely at peace, only when he noticed Leona grabbing the handle of the embedded blade he saw she was already midway through casting a spell.
"-bring upon my foes the fires of justice, Great Flame Sword!"
From inside out, Jakob's flesh burst into blue flames making his body flinch backwards from the spell's recoil.
"AAAARGH!"
"Feel the pain you inflicted on countless others by a thousand fold!" Leona shouted as she increased the spell's output. "The flames of justice consume you!"
She gripped the blade even tighter which made her transfer even more mana which fueled the spell even more, which eventually made fire waves start to burst out through his eyeballs, nose and mouth. But still, his inhuman regeneration was keeping up despite the intense fire.
"I- won't-! Die here!" He was preparing to pummel Leona into bits by raising both his ruined right arm and the left above her, however just as he was about to bring all his might down Arthur's last shot removed part of his throat. "Hurk!"
"Die already!"
Elizabeth jumped from behind and slashed at his neck and with a brief flash of mana, she decapitated him. Seconds after beheading him, the rest of his body began to wither as the blue flames consumed his flesh, transforming the monstrous creation into ashes. His head rolled on the snow as he witnessed his inhuman body slowly being consumed by magic.
"No… no…! No! NO! I am the pinnacle of creation! Maggots like you shouldn't be capable of killing me!"
As he shouted the part of which his neck was cut began to knit itself, overlapping fibers of muscle in an attempt to regenerate the rest of his body, though fast by human standards, it was nowhere close to being a threat anytime soon.
"Even if you stand at the top, you are but one individual, the human heart prevails even against the most indomitable foe no matter how strong they are." Leona spoke as she limped her way towards the decapitated head while charging a spell on her right hand. "The pinnacle you boast of was achieved thanks to none other than the countless lives you took. Many of which were much brighter than your own."
"Self righteous brats like yours belong in a grave!"
He attempted to lunge himself with the rest of his strength against Leona, before Elizabeth ultimately cut him down with a single stroke of her blade. The purple blood soaked metal was cleaned with a piece of dirty cloth before being tossed away.
"There is no place in this world for an abomination like you." The assassin pressed the back side of her blade against the scabbard she held and after running it along the entire length of the weapon, she sheathed the blade. "Your bloody legacy dies with you."