Out from Alise stretched an attack of impossibility, flames burning hot enough to melt the stone around the field of battle. It launched from the tip of her sword, and cut right through Ottar's attack, incinerating it as it moved closer to him…
Ottar's eyes widened, as sweat boiled off from his body, he raised his sword to block, and instantly felt that his body was accelerating backwards, his blade rapidly turning white with heat. He was sent flying backwards so far so fast, that when he finally wrangled free from the attack his whole body was suffering from third burns, some were so bad, that third degree seemed tame by comparison.
However, it wasn't over yet, he was still falling, upon impact with the ground, he slid so far it looked as if a meteorite had made the trail. And at the end of this trail, was a barely alive Ottar… only thing saved his life, but he wouldn't find out about it anytime soon, he fell, unconscious, burned, and broken.
Alise, released her magic, and took a deep breath, relaxing for a moment, and then she raised her weapon in a triumphant pose.
All over the city, people's jaws hung agape at the sight they just witnessed. The sheer power on display was nothing to joke about. It was beyond their imagination. It was several moments before anyone showed any signs of recovering… the first being the announcer.
"ALRIGHT! In an epic display of magical might, the Astraea familia's captain Alise, the Scarlet Harnel, has defeated Freya familia's Ottar!" The announcer cheered into his microphone, creating a powerful stir among the people watching the match.
"That was amazing! Such a powerful spell!"
"It was all sorts of pretty colors too!"
"Is Ottar even alive after something like that?"
"Don't worry folks, this war game has finished. With both of their generals down for the count, the alliance of Freya, and Loki familias, has lost this game. Everyone still alive after this battle will be healed, courtesy of our city's hero, Champion over Calamity, the Origin Wolf, MOON PUP!"
All around the battlefield, everyone that had participated in the war game was enveloped in a serene, and radiant glow like no other. Their wounds, and exhaustion were healed instantly, as if they hadn't fought at all.
"That's the best healing magic in the world! It's so powerful!"
"It can even regrow limbs, truly magic only a hero could possess."
The mirrors disappeared from the view of all who watched… and on the battlefield, the defeated started to wake up, some not even realizing what happened.
"Huh? What happened?" Finn asked, looking around. "All of my injuries, the only thing remaining of them are the cuts in my clothing…"
"Idiot. You, and your entire side have lost this battle." Kaguya clicked her tongue.
"I see, I guess that means Origin Wolf healed all of our injuries."
"Don't get a big head about it, murderer! You don't deserve his magic!" Legi scolded, readying herself to kill Finn.
"I- I know…"
Alise hopped down from what remained of the castle, now just a bunch of melted stone… it was as if lava, or the sun itself had been nearby.
"Well that was fun. I controlled it a bit better this time. I hope he's proud of me for it." Alise proudly smiled.
"Oh stop, you know good and well he's probably going to say you still have a ways to go." Maryuu laughed, holding her sides.
"Well, that's just brother's way of helping us to get stronger. I'm not worried about it. Now, let's go home, brother promised me he was going to wash my hair if we won the war game, so you know what that means."
"Just like when we were younger!"
"That's right, though there is something different this time, we're all going to enjoy a nice relaxing bath."
The Loki and Freya familias watched and listened with odd looks on their faces. Finn looked at his familia, and attempted to hold his head up high, but it was obvious that he was anything but fine, this loss really hit him, and his pride hard.
"Riveria, I'm sorry, but it looks like we've lost this war game… and so much more as a result."
"Do you know how much work we put into Ais?" Riveria asked, slightly ticked.
"I do, and I also know that it wasn't enough… That was made painfully obvious just recently. What were we doing over the 8 years? Waiting around, doing nothing? I thought we were actively growing stronger, but I was wrong. We were remaining normal, yet we thought we were growing."
"But we were growing." Gareth said, mostly in protest.
"That's right, we weren't entirely static." Dain added in protest.
"No…" Finn shook his head. "We didn't grow hardly at all in those 8 years. It was Origin Wolf's beating that leveled me up to level 5. And it was the fight against Evilus a couple months ago that leveled me up to 6. It took way too long."
"But that's normal though, right? It takes time to properly build up one's status."
"That's my point, we were normal the entire time, yet we thought we were different somehow. And yet, Astraea familia, managed to level up far faster, in the same amount of time. They didn't just close the gap between us, they closed it, and then opened a new gap in the opposite direction… We've failed in so many ways…"
Finn collapsed to his butt, barely managing to keep his head up. He knew the familia he had been trying to build up in strength, would forever be changed now. All that work he'd put into it, effectively just went up in smoke.
The Freya familia was a bit more worried now as well. All except for one of them, that is, Hedin was wondering to himself about what just happened. He hadn't seen what defeated Ottar, but he did have an idea of just how terrible it had been. Stone doesn't just melt like that after all…
"I wonder, is this his way of getting… I have to ask him about it in private, how do I do that?" Hedin was so lost in thought he didn't even bother to notice the fact Hogni had been approaching him.