In the narrow woods, the immense figure of Warden Hua was relentlessly chasing Kana and Lucy.
Hua's speed was completely incongruent with his size; every step he took exuded immense power, leaving small craters wherever his feet landed.
Their opponent's strength forced Kana and Lucy to retreat; they dared not take any hits.
Hua's robust hands contained tremendous power. Despite his simple attacks, just pushing with his palms, the magic concentrated there amplified their force.
However, Kana and Lucy doubted he only possessed that much strength; after all, he was one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory, so he likely had more formidable magic.
Earlier, Hua had managed to withstand a combined attack using unknown magic. Faced with this uncertainty, Kana and Lucy refrained from random attacks to avoid wasting their magic.
Yet, continuously evading left them unable to see an opportunity for victory. They were physically outmatched, being relatively weak individuals, incapable of a direct confrontation with Hua.
Hua leaped high again, descending from above, forcefully pushing his palms toward the two. Seeing this, Kana and Lucy dodged to the sides, barely evading the attack.
Despite avoiding direct impact, the force of the palm strike created a storm-like shockwave, sending Kana and Lucy flying a distance away. Sand and debris scattered like raindrops, hitting both women.
After rolling on the ground a few times, they managed to stabilize themselves but bore minor injuries, looking quite disheveled.
Gritting her teeth, Kana fiercely flung three cards simultaneously, each releasing magic - flames, hurricanes, and frost.
Frost reached first, upon contact with Hua, expanding and turning into a massive ice pillar covering him. It cleverly exposed a gap around his chest and abdomen, not for attacking but for restraint.
Next, the flames and wind blades merged, the wind fueling the fire. However, the basketball-sized fireball instantly shrank to the size of a basin. Although smaller, its heat intensified, carrying a destructive aura as it aimed towards Hua.
Facing Kana's resentful strike, Hua remained indifferent, arrogantly declaring, "Useless! Puppet material, 'steel'!"
As Hua spoke, something seemed to change in his body, and despite Kana's deliberately left ice cavity, the fireball hit him.
The next moment, the fireball erupted explosively, a fiery blast spreading with a strong wind, raising a lot of debris and earth.
As the aftermath of the explosion settled and the dust gradually cleared, Hua emerged from it.
The ice imprisoning him had disappeared, and though his chest and abdomen were scorched, Hua's expression remained calm. With a sweep of his hand, the scorched area seemed to wipe away like dust, revealing undamaged skin underneath. Kana's attack had been in vain.
"Impossible! Is there no way at all?" Lucy couldn't help but shiver. She knew she couldn't produce such a powerful move herself, and yet, even that had no effect on him. How could they continue this fight?
Suddenly, Lucy's gaze brightened as if she had discovered something.
Gasping for breath, having exhausted all her moves, Kana couldn't help but feel pessimistic, thinking, "If it were Mira or Erza, they would surely defeat him easily!"
But this thought flashed only momentarily. Immediately, Kana shook her head vigorously, as if trying to dispel these thoughts.
"Mira and Erza must be fighting hard too. How can I give up here? I refuse to believe that Lucy and I can't find a way against this guy!"
With Kana's determination rising, she swiftly grabbed another card, ready to launch another attack.
Though she anticipated her moves might be futile, at present, it seemed like the only option. If they ceased attacking, Hua's colossal palms would continue their unending assaults.
Just as she was about to release the card, Lucy's loud shout suddenly rang out.
"Kana! I've found it!"
Hearing Lucy's call, Kana immediately stopped her actions, her eyes shining brightly as she looked towards Lucy.
Though Lucy hadn't specified what she found, Kana was certain it was a turning point.
Without hesitation, Kana swiftly pulled out another card and aimed it at Hua.
"Tarot's Temperance!"
Before the card reached Hua, a thick, hazy smoke billowed out, ready to envelop both Hua and the vicinity.
Seeing this, Hua was startled. While he might not fear other attacks, this smoke that could be absorbed into his body was something he didn't dare to casually touch.
Only hearing him lightly shout, "The puppet morphs, material from steel, changes to cotton!"
Immediately, Warden Hua's body underwent another change. The prior hardness and heaviness transformed instantly into a light, floaty sensation, as if even the wind could sway him.
With a forceful push from his feet, this time Hua jumped higher than ever before. As the momentum from the ground vanished, he was already out of the range of the smoke.
Yet, he didn't descend immediately. Instead, he floated with the wind, leisurely observing the commotion below.
At this moment, Kana had seized the opportunity and joined Lucy, hiding beneath a dense tree, seemingly discussing something.
Their expressions differed: Kana wore a faint sense of doubt, while Lucy seemed almost bursting with excitement.
"You mean, that guy's weakness is the doll on him?" Kana looked deeply at the sky where Hua floated, indeed noticing a peculiar doll hovering beside him.
"Absolutely, I saw it clearly. Initially, that doll wasn't there. After your attack, which clearly injured that fat man, he became impervious once that doll appeared, no attack affected him!" Lucy exclaimed excitedly, exuding confidence.
Pausing briefly to organize her thoughts, Lucy continued, "The only explanation is that he used some unknown magic to swap identities with the doll. His real body is hidden within it."
Seeing Lucy so sure, Kana found it plausible, although Lucy's speculation was quite imaginative.
With this realization, Kana's gaze became serious, and she earnestly said to Lucy, "Once the smoke clears, I'll divert his attention, and you attack the doll!"
Lucy nodded in agreement, already planning her moves. She was determined that Sagittarius should shoot that fat guy down later.
Floating in the air, Hua drifted beyond the smoky area. Before he could stabilize, a wind blade swiftly sliced toward him.
It was Kana's feigned attack.
Hua remained calm, instantly transforming the doll's material along with his body.
The wind blade hit Hua directly, leaving only a faint white mark on him.
However, this attack exposed Kana's hiding spot, and Hua's gaze naturally shifted toward it.
The next moment, several arrows shot out from the nearby woods, incredibly fast. Before Hua could react, they accurately hit the doll floating beside him.
In the woods, Lucy looked triumphant, a satisfied smirk on her face. Beside her stood the celestial spirit, Sagittarius, whose composed face couldn't help but crack a smile upon seeing his arrows hit the mark.
As the doll was struck, both Kana and Lucy couldn't contain their excitement. But in the next instant, they were left bewildered.
Because after the arrows hit the doll, aside from a couple of "ding ding" sounds, nothing else happened. Hua looked puzzled as he glanced toward their hiding spot.
Then, as if he understood something, he leaped angrily toward Lucy, pushing down with his palm.
"Wowowowowowow!! What's happening? Was my assumption wrong?"
Witnessing this, Lucy could only scream in terror while trying to flee.