With both Espada and his teammate dazed by my sudden release of lightning, instead of dashing toward them, I turned my body and lunged toward Lucy; she may not have been fighting, but I knew just how much a threat a Mage was, and I wasn't going to wait until she started to get involved within the battle.
"YUKI!" Yelled Alexander loudly, causing Yuki to snap her head at him while blocking two attacks from her sides, leaving her front open to her third opponent, but her impressively sturdy armor held its ground.
"Make it quick!" Remarked Yuki with an understanding nod as she ignored her three opponents before slamming her shields together and charging right for Alexander's two enemies, forcing them to come to a halt
Seeing Yuki stall the enemies I was previously fighting, I forced on Lucy and speedily dashed toward her, yet she quickly caught onto what I was doing, sporting a haughty and wicked expression; she pointed the tip of her staff at me.
"Heh, so you've decided to enter an early grave? I'll gladly turn your body into ashes!" Stated Lucy with a murderous look as she poured her mana into her staff, causing a large flaming ball to manifest.
Eying the flamming ball using [Heroes Gaze], I tried searching for weak or imperfect spots in her spell, something Master taught me, but such things proved useless when sparring against a mage with more than two thousand years of experience. However, against Lucy, who looked to only be in her early thirties, I spotted numerous weak points in her spell.
'Hmm, wait a second, that's too many weak points.' Thought Alexander with a frown as he slowed down slightly while intently eyeing Lucy's large flaming ball, only for him to suddenly widen his eyes.
"Shit."
"Firey assault!" Said Lucy with a wicked smile as she eyed Alexander, causing the large flaming ball to rapidly shoot out a cone of tiny fireballs at him.
Covering my face with my swords while coating them in fire, I used [Wind Armor] to help divert the tiny fireballs, which helped tremendously, though the force of the tiny fireballs that hit my sword slowed me down.
'So this is the might of a mage that's trying to kill me?' Mused Alexander with a deep frown as he used his omni-vision to look behind him, checking up on Yuki, who was facing five people by herself.
Despite it being five on-one, Yuki was a freaking monster and was able to still hold her ground, though, unlike those other fools, Espada had found the weak spots in her armor, and now the others were beginning to solely focus their attacks on her joints, causing me to frown.
'Yuki will last, she's a freaking monster; though I still need to try and beat Lucy as quickly as I can.' Thought Alexander with a hardened gaze as he eyed Lucy through his swords and the heavy rain of fire, forcefully checking upon her status.
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Name: Lucy Monrue
Species: Human
Age: 33 years
Tier: 2
Level: 187
Experience: [54%]
Class: Fire-Mage(Rare)
Sub-Class:
Title(s): Leader of the Firemania(Uncommon)+, Journeyman Mage (Uncommon)
Lifeforce: 100%
Mana: 44,012/44,475
Vigor: 60
Endurance: 56
Agility: 232
Dexterity: 76
Intelligence: 4,475
Perception: 422
Traits: Fire Intuition(Rare)
Skills: Fiery Explosion–lvl1(**Epic), Mana Regen–lvl9(*Rare), Mana Manipulation–lvl9(*Rare), Fire Blast–lvl5(*Rare), Fire Breath–lvl2(*Rare), Fire Ball–lvl5(**Rare), Fire Shot–lvl2(**Rare), Meditation–lvl4(*Rare), Fire Assault–lvl6(*Rare), Fire Dominion–lvl6(*Rare), Fire dome–lvl9(*Rare)
Condition: N/A
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Clicking my tongue at Lucy's stats, she was quite stacked, and despite her haughty and arrogant attitude, she was pretty damn strong, especially regarding her mana, which was nearly double my own; however, her physical attributes were like a child's compared to mine. All I needed was to get my hands on her, and she'd be finished; the only problem was that I needed to get close to her, and her seemingly infinite rain of tiny fireballs was making it difficult; I was approaching her too slowly.
"I'm not going to be able to save some of my mana when facing her. Dammit." Muttered Alexander with an unsightly expression as he stopped running forward and dashed to his side, escaping Lucy's constant fire rain.
Despite Lucy's attack being quite powerful, it seemed it lacked mobility since she couldn't turn it, most likely without risking completely destabilizing the spell. Coating my swords in the wind, I sliced them down at Lucy while running right behind the two [Wind Blades] I had launched at her, and while she managed to dodge, it was okay since I was slowly closing the distance between us. Seeing her preparing another spell from the way how the fire mana moved around her, I launched a lightning bolt at her faster than she could finish her spell, and while she managed to tilt her body at the last second, I scorched her left side.
"ARGHH! F-Fucking bastard! I-I'll kill you!" Yelled Lucy in anger as she held her burnt side while slamming her staff on the ground, causing a thin, fiery layer to surround her like a dome.
'C'mon, just a little bit closer; just a few more meters!' Thought Alexander as he looked at Lucy, who channeled a substantial amount of mana into her staff, causing a sizeable ball of highly dense flames to manifest before the blue gem on her staff.
Seeing the attack, I gritted my teeth and prepared to tank the blow if I didn't get close enough in time, but to my horror and disbelief, she suddenly switched her target and pointed to Yuki's before launching it toward her; she intended to kill her own teammates with that attack.
"YUKI!!" Yelled Alexander in fear as lightning coiled around his body, surrounding him in a soft blue glow along with a vortex of wind entirely on his lower legs before he dashed towards Yuki at the fastest speed he could muster.
'Dammit! I'm too slow! I won't make it in time!' Thought Alexander anxiously as he watched the sizeable ball of incredibly dense flames fly through the air while heading toward Yuki.
At her name being called, Yuki looked behind her, instantly noticing the incoming attack, and with a mighty yell, she ignored her enemies, who had also just noticed the attack, before turning her shields into a wall she hid behind. The instant the fiery ball collided against Yuki's shield, a massive explosion engulfed Yuki, Lucy's comrades, and me as I was just slightly out of range to use [Blink], flinging me far away. The strength in that spell was no joke as it managed to scorch my skin, a painful sensation, but my body healed quickly; I was more concerned with Yuki's well-being rather than my own.
Rolling against the ground, I stabbed Zartha into the ground before quickly running toward the center of the explosion while the floor surrounding it was completely burned in a ten-meter radius, and I could even see two burnt corpses. Ignoring those two corpses, I neared Yuki, who had managed to somehow hold firm despite being at the center of the explosion, showing just how truly robust and powerful she was.
"Yuki! Yuki, please tell me you're okay!?" Exclaimed Alexander as he holstered his sword on his back before forcefully removing Yuki's Hemet.
"I-I'm pretty sure I've broken something." Said Yuki softly in a painful voice as she looked at Alexander while blood trailed down the side of her lip, causing him to sigh in relief while faintly smiling.
"Haa, so long as you're alive; here, do you need help standing up?" Replied Alexander as he patted Yuki's shoulder before squatting underneath her underarms and attempting to stand up.
"A-Argh, y-yeah; I-I don't know if I'll be able to walk on my own after taking that." Muttered Yuki with a nod as she leaned against Alexander, who gladly helped her stand up.
Just as I was helping Yuki stand, I saw another sizeable fireball coming straight for us, and out of pure reflex, I used all of my strength to toss Yuki far away before quickly turning around, using my swords to tank the attack while using [Lightning Cloak] to help offset the damage.
"ALEX!!" Yuki yelled as she collided against the wall and looked at Alexander, only for him to suddenly be enveloped in an enormous fiery explosion, causing the entire floor to shake with an unnatural might.
___
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Seeing Alex's figure vanish within the violent explosion, I instantly thought the worst, that my only friend had just sacrificed his life for mine; even with my shields taking most of the explosive might, I was still greatly injured, not to mention that my endurance and vigor were without a doubt higher than his. Grunting, I powered through the pain and slowly stood up, shuffling towards Alex after the flames vanished; however, when I arrived, I nearly cried out in sadness and anger at his burnt and scorched body, only for my eyes to slightly widen when I saw him open his eyes.
"S-Shh, p-pretend I'm dead, Yuki." Said Alexander with a whisper as he looked at Yuki, golden blood leaking out his mouth while his terrible burnt wounds healed, causing his disfigured face to regain its previous handsomeness.
'Haa, t-thank you; y-you're alive.' Thought Yuki in utter joy as she cried tears of happiness while she collapsed onto her knees before Alexander, only to take him into her arms and tightly embrace him.
'Damn, I didn't know Yuki could act; maybe I should get her into one of those plays I've heard about in the city.' Thought Alexander with a raised eyebrow as he slightly opened his eyes and looked at Yuki, only for his face to be tightly pressed into her neck.