Akari immediately leaped back as the blast grazed her and I saw her tails appear in a burst of blue light.
Cassandra had already reached Akari and several of her clones tried to attack from multiple angles.
But Akari was quicker than that.
She came towards me and held her hands up.
"W-WAIT! I CAN EXPLAIN!" She shouted.
"Yeah...this should be good. Cassandra, hold for a moment," I said.
She stopped and I used telepathy.
"Prepare a trap. Make sure she doesn't escape."
"Yes!"
I saw Cassandra mouth something in silence and wave her dagger.
Several shadows spread out from her feet and the surrounding air began to shimmer.
I could tell she was conjuring several illusions.
I had no plans to spare Akari. Not again. I wanted to give Cassandra a chance to execute her.
"W-well...u-umm... I was...uh..."
"Go on," I said.
At the same time I was charging a spell. Several spears of fire to skewer her from below
"Oh! I wanted to make sure you were still alive! It's cold out here, so I had to...umm...check your pulse! Also, I was really cold too... I wanted to see if there was room to curl up next to that sexy warm body of yours...ehehe..." She said.
I could actually see a pink magical energy radiating off of her and creeping towards me as she spoke.
Oh...that's funny...
"Hm...haha..." I managed.
I wanted to smile. I wanted to laugh my ass off...but all I could manage was a short chuckle.
"Wait...did you just...laugh at me? You can laugh!?"
I raised both of my shotguns at her.
"Just a bit. Your lies are so hilarious that they almost make me want to ignore the curse so I can laugh at you. Anything else?" I said.
Akari gritted her teeth.
"This isn't worth degrading myself over... HAND OVER THE HEART STONE NOW, OR ELSE!" She shouted angrily.
"Is this the real you? Or another lie?" I asked.
"UGH!!! YOU'RE SO INSUFFERABLE!!! YOU'RE A JERK WITH NO MANNERS AND NO IDEA HOW TO TREAT A LADY! HOW IS IT THAT THOSE TWO SLUTS LOVE YOU SO MUCH!?!?" Akari screamed.
I simply waited for her to finish her rant.
"YOU'RE SO RUDE! AND SO DENSE!!! I HATE YOU SO MUCH, YOU ASSHOLE!!! If...if you don't give me the heart stone... The Mad Admiral will hear of your existence. When he does, you two will be his new favorite toys. He'll experiment on you until you beg him to kill you!" Akari said viciously.
"Hm. Sounds like my early adulthood. Alright. I think the deal is off then. Goodbye, Akari. It was a displeasure knowing you," I said.
The hairs on her tails stood on end and they glowed more brightly. They blazed with blue flames.
Her eyes began glowing brightly and her hands were enveloped in firey blue claws.
I released the spears I had been holding and she jumped upwards to narrowly avoid them just before they exploded.
Then she shot towards the ground in front of me and swung her claws at me.
At the same time, she started blasting me with a barrage of blue fireballs.
It was honestly kind of underwhelming.
She was definitely strong, but she wasn't near my level.
I dodged her attacks easily and shot her in the shoulder nearly at point-blank.
It phased through her and I instinctively dodged to the back as she appeared at my side and slashed at me.
Illusions. Great...
"Cassandra! Take her down!" I said.
But before I could finish the words, all of the versions of Akari dispersed and I saw her still standing in her original position.
"What...? My illusions!" Akari said.
"Those things? They're weak. Not even worthy of being called major illusions. Let me show you something nicer..." Cassandra's voice said.
At once, numerous black daggers rose from the ground and pointed themselves at Akari.
Then they lit up and magic sparked between them in a circle. Seconds later, a pillar of energy blasted the location where Akari was standing.
Unfortunately, Akari was a lot more nimble than expected. She flashed out of the explosive magic and appeared in front of me.
I dodged her claws and Cassandra appeared in her path.
"Ehehe...Mizik will finally see me fight for real!" Cassandra said happily.
Akari's eyes went wide as she seemed to finally realize that she might have placed herself in an unfavorable situation...
Cassandra moved her mouth quickly and silently.
Her dagger multiplied as she rapidly teleported around Akari while slashing wildly...covering her in deep wounds.
She took one of her daggers as the afterimages faded and swung it rapidly. Creating several streams of dark magic flooding out and slamming into Akari.
Akari was blown back and Cassandra disappeared only to reappear directly behind her, poised to strike.
Akari seemed to recover and caught the blade on one of her claws.
"Oh? Am I distracting you?" She said.
Akari jumped back as two more of Cassandra's clones appeared as attacked in unison.
Three additional clones appeared and all five of them prepared to fight.
I could see the original standing somewhat afar off. It seemed like Akari couldn't see her.
"C-clones!? How the hell!?" Akari said.
"We'll teach you a lesson for trying to harm our darling..." One of the clones said.
Excuse me? OUR darling!?
"For crying out loud..." I mumbled.
I took the opportunity to change my shotguns into twin submachine guns.
If Cassandra fought up close, I would fight from afar.
I launched several flaming lances at Akari as I opened fire on her.
She tried to lead my shots into hitting Cassandra's clones but once they impacted, they dealt no damage.
Vengeance wouldn't allow me to hurt my wife or an ally and was useless against people I truly cared about.
Akari was surprised that Cassandra's clones were unharmed and tried as hard as she could to dodge the rapid assault of attacks.
The original Cassandra multiplied her daggers and threw them in all directions. Then she mouthed several words and black lightning bolts shot out from Deception.
The clones raised their weapons as the bolts impacted all of the daggers in the area. The one's not being held pointed at Akari.
The floating daggers and the Cassandra clones fired a barrage of black lightning bolts that exploded into even more lightning.
Akari was hit with several bolts as a few of my gunshots actually landed and pierced her arms and tails.
"AHHHHHH!!!" Akari screamed.
Then Akari shot straight into the air and raised her hands. Her tails flashed and she was enveloped in light.
"Its been a while since I used my divine fox form...but I guess you've earned it!" She shouted.
"Hmm...not impressed..." Cassandra said as she raised her dagger and mouthed something else.
Then Akari fell straight to the ground clutching her head in pain.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! MY HEAD!!!!! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!?!? IT HURTS!!!!" She screamed.
I vaguely recalled that Cassandra's dagger possessed a skill called mind break. Perhaps this was it.
I readied myself just as Cassandra approached her.
Suddenly, her clones disappeared.
A few feet away, Cassandra started clutching her chest in pain.
"Gah...ugh... What's happening...to me...?" She said.
She dropped to the ground and was enveloped by a blinding light.
I could tell by the type of energy that this was it.
Cassandra was about to awaken her Ultra Aspects.
What terrible timing!
I teleported in front of Cassandra and protected her as Akari used the chance to try and attack after recovering somewhat.
I raised a wall of ice to block her first attack and changed Vengeance into its base forms.
Twin scimitars.
"FLAMES OF RAGE! WRATH!!!" I said as my blades were cloaked in emerald flames and I felt myself become greatly empowered.
I slashed furiously at Akari and she tried to dodge. Luckily, she wasn't fast enough and I slashed her several times all over her body.
I also left several burns.
Then I grabbed her using psychokinesis and slammed her into the ground.
"VENGEANCE DEATH CURSE!!!"
I shot a cloud of dark energy at Akari and it slammed into her.
"Wh-what is this!? It hurts!!!" She said helplessly.
Then I leveled my swords at her and readied myself.
"EXTERMINATUS!!!" I shouted.
My swords blazed even brighter as they extended and I slashed rapidly at Akari.
At the same time, I dropped a barrage of explosive lightning bolts, fireballs, and icicle spears onto her position.
I kept slashing until the attack finished and saw Akari had just barely managed to dodge.
However...
She was covered in burns and horrible deep wounds...
She was also missing one of her ears and three of her tails.
I changed Vengeance into shotguns and pointed them at her.
"How...are you so powerful...!? Ugh...I can't use my divine form... I can't even think! What did that bitch do to me!?"
"Just shut up already," I said bluntly.
I pulled both triggers and the shots phased through her body.
The illusion disappeared and I heard her speaking from somewhere.
"You'll regret this. I'll make you pay with everything you love! THE MAD ADMIRAL WILL HAVE YOU!!!" Akari said angrily.
Then...she was gone.
I sighed.
Damn it all... This is going to bite me, isn't it...? I should have just shot her while she was sleeping...
"DAMMIT!!!" I screamed in anger.
"M...Mizik...darling... Please...help me... I feel like I'm dying... Ah...it hurts..." Cassandra said weakly.
I immediately turned to her and knelt down.
I placed my hand over her chest and touched the area where her heart was.
From what I could tell, she wasn't actually dying. The Aspects were preparing to fully manifest and it was causing her immense pain.
"It's okay, Cassandra. You'll be fine."
"Ah...I feel...better already..." She said with a weak smile.
This was a perfect storm.
Everything that could have gone wrong went horribly wrong...and Akari had escaped on top of that.
It seemed like we would eventually be dealing with The Mad Admiral...
Regardless, we still needed to see the dragon first.
I used my own Aspect's divine power to calm the raging current within her.
Luckly, my light element being sealed only affected my ability to use the blessing power and light magic. My Aspects didn't function based on a working light element.
Otherwise, they wouldn't work at all...and that would be the worst-case scenario.
I carried Cassandra back to the sleeping bag and laid her down in it. Once I made sure she was stable, I began surveying the general area.
I kept a close watch on Cassandra and ensured that she remained warm in the sleeping bag.
Hours later, the sun rose and she was sleeping soundly.
"What a mess... Akari is going to cause us more headaches than we need..." I mumbled.
I silently began preparing myself for the day ahead...