Mino was lifted into the air and was being choked painfully with a hand made out of water. His face was blue, it was clear he would die of hypoxia soon.
"Leave him alone! Not only you would use him for your motives but also you would kill him once the job is done?!" Malay's twisted smile changed into one of confusion. "I am confident enough to crush you with my own strength. Why the fuck would I use these cockroaches and how the hell would they be useful to me?"
Yaleena was sweating profusely, her sweat mingling with the raindrops.
[Shit! He's gonna die... I am really that powerless that I can't do anything... They will be coming here anytime soon. Won't I be able to buy time till then...?]
"[Water Conjuration]
Taking advantage of the torrential downpour, she used Hail Hurler, an ice spell, a derivative of water conjuration. Instantly, the all the raindrops over a wide radius started freezing into pyramidal ice crystals and bombarded Malay's barrier from all sides.
*Clang* *thunk* *Ting*
As the countless hailstones pelted the barrier mercilessly, loud sharp sounds were heard, like bullets being shot into metal plates. Not being to withstand such torture continuously, the barrier started cracking. Malay smiled at that sight.
"I see. You were not lying, you have gotten stronger. And so have I. [Astra Conjuration]
Taking her shout as a cue, the barrier which was already in tatters, let out a bright glow before exploding with a deafening noise, resembling a large pane of glass shattering into a thousand pieces.
The hailstones near the glass broke into pieces while the ones behind were pushed back.
Malay waved her hands like a bus conductor and attempted to reform the barrier. Right when it started forming, a splitting pain struck both her and Yaleena, they felt their heads were being torn apart.
"[Dark Conjuration]
"Wa-arrghh!"
A stream of countless blades, each one as dark as the night sky, but giving off a beautiful glimmer was launched at Malay. Her nascent barrier couldn't handle an attack of that magnitude.
A few blades managed to slip and gashed her wrist, legs and shoulder. One of them lodged itself into her thighs.
As soon as her concentration broke,
"Iyaah!! Ugh! Haaaahhhh....huuuuuu...."
The liquid hand choking Mino dematerialised into a splash of water. He greedily sucked in huge mouthfuls of air and was forced into a coughing fit as some water entered his windpipe.
"Thank God..." sighing in relief, Yaleena turned her eyes in the direction the attack came from. The sight she beheld almost made her rub her eyes.. she was too confused and thought that she was imagining it due to the pain in her forehead.
Josh was standing, anger clearly writ on his face. He was neither cool nor emotionless.
Yaleena had to cover her ears as she heard a booming voice, "LEAVE HIM ALONE, YOU BITCH! YOU PROMISED YOU WON'T HURT CIVILIANS!"
Josh was screaming his lungs out. He disappeared, only to reappear in front of Mino and helped him up.
"Quick! Leave this place! Go underground, this entire city is gonna get destroyed!"
Hearing that sudden disturbing announcement, Mino was compelled to raise a stupid voice.
"Eh? J-Josh wh-what are you s-saying... "
"FUCKING RUN!!!"
As Josh's voice filled with urgency entered his ears, his body no longer obeyed him. Mino's legs started carrying him away as far as they could.
Josh turned his head back and saw the situation. Malay was looking at him with a hateful glare, disbelief etched into her expression.
[I never believed Josh would be willing to go that far... he cares too much for lowlifes... that scum is gonna die eventually though...]
However, there was another thing of concern. Josh and Malay had visitors.
Yaleena was clutching her forehead due to the throbbing pain after getting hit with Josh's spell breaker (it was aimed at both of them, so that Yaleena wouldn't be able to take advantage of the situation too).
Beside her, there were a five more people. Matrix, Barn, Reinard, Marcun and Sephir.
Jeryl and Barnie had set off towards the sky to neutralise Gruffold before he could fire his spell.
Malay was fully healed, she had consumed a high grade healing elixir. In her hands there was a small vial filled with a orange-red liquid. It was bubbling.
Reinard was the first one to notice that. In an almost inaudible voice, he exclaimed incredulously,
"No way... absolutely... No. Fucking. Way."
All of them hear him despite the loud sound of the rain.
Yaleena focused for a bit and finally understood what Malay was actually holding. She felt it was familiar, and now she understood the reason for it. Opening her eyes wide, Yaleena turned to look at Malay, hate evident in her eyes.
Her shoulders were shaking wildly. Wet, inky blue hair was slathered over her visage as the glow in her eyes became brighter.
Malay, who was specifically hoping for that reaction, felt the corners of her lips tugging upwards. Her bright teeth were exposed for a moment before the words came out of her mouth in a questioning voice while dancing in the air, "Yes, who was that, from whose corpse I recovered this potion?"
She brought the vial close to her face, holding it by the cork.
All of the remaining members of Allocyst subconsciously clenched their fist, their rage building.
"Mira, was it? She was too weak, too easy to cull. Hope you people can put up more of a fight than her. I zapped her until her insides got cooked and were steaming deliciously."
Licking her lips devilishly, Malay finished her words with an eerie smile.
Without giving anyone a single chance to react, the slender index and thumb fingers pulled the cork out, making a popping sound.
Yaleena was the only one to detect such a fast and sneaky movement.
[Fuck!]
Cursing inwardly, she screamed, "Matrix QUICK!!"
Malay gave Yaleena a sly grin and tipped the vial into her mouth, draining the contents.
"[Mana Conjuration]
"
Matrix created a barrier instantly, while Reinard used his own spell to counter Josh's
"Aaaaahh..."
Letting out a satisfied sound, the leader of The Hunters opened her eyes. The regal golden glow in her eyes turned darker.
Looking from afar, one could observe a pair of burning embers. That was not the end of her change.
The aura leaking out from her increased manifold and spread out radially with Maina as the centre, the shockwave from the aura explosion pushed away the fat raindrops and made deep cracks in the ground.
Yaleena and the others gritted their teeth, the orange aura was so dense that when it struck them, their mana reserves started to be
pushed out from their body. Even Josh wasn't exempt from that. He had to use
Malay started walking forward with slow, pronounced steps. The ground cracked and shattered as her foot stepped on it.
With an euphoric expression on her face, she muttered, "Now, afraid to fight the final boss? Let her demonstrate a bit of her powers..."