Retreating as much as possible, Valdir moved in the opposite direction from where he had been before. Using his comet affinity, a stellar white aura enveloped his body, increasing his speed. Using his curse affinity on himself, his skin turned a deeper red and the amount of mana he possessed increased by twenty percent, enhancing all his capabilities.
"Ascending Black Fire."
Raising both hands, flames began to burn the very atmosphere itself. Lyrielle was not bothered by this and used her water magic to cover her body, creating a protective barrier over her entire form. Using her lightning affinity, she vanished from the air and delivered a slash to Valdir's shoulder. He made a small expression of pain before retaliating by summoning a magic circle.
"Curse Magic: Cursed Claws."
Claws emerged from the circles, trying to strike Lyrielle with their talons. Raising her sword, she coated it with fire and made an ascending slash that split the claw in half. Immediately after, she replaced the fire magic on the blade with wind magic and performed a descending slash toward Valdir.
"Comet Core."
A compressed sphere appeared in front of him. When her slash struck it, an explosion erupted, covering the skies. Not wanting to lose sight of her enemy, she activated an ability of the sword that had been given to her by the one who freed her.
"Mana Sword Lúmen'Thyr."
This sword had been forged jointly by Enrico and Malunes. When they discovered she had five affinities, they created a blade capable of absorbing those affinities to amplify their potential. That meant when she infused a different mana type, the power of that specific affinity could multiply up to three times.
"Wind Affinity."
The next slash she launched split the explosion and the sky in half, clearing her vision. Without blinking, she suddenly saw herself surrounded by many of those comet cores. She was not surprised. Instead, she used her earth magic to cover her body in a layer of stone. She did it because she felt something coming—and she was right. One second after she covered herself, all those cores—at least a thousand of them—exploded.
Seeing the scale of his attack, Valdir smiled slightly, expecting her to emerge severely wounded. She did come out—but not in the way he wanted. A bolt of lightning moved toward him—Lyrielle herself using it to propel her body. The stone shell crumbled away, revealing her injured, but Valdir had expected her to lose at least an arm. Those wounds healed as she slashed his chest again, water magic already restoring the damage she had taken.
"Gahh! Stellar Comet!"
Lyrielle launched another attack, forcing Valdir to use his comet magic differently than before. An aura distorted the next strike of Lyrielle's blade, reducing the impact as it touched his skin. Instead of receiving a deep cut, Valdir was merely pushed backward. He immediately prepared to move, his body covered in a white aura of comet magic.
"Comet Trail."
With a rapid burst of speed, he left behind a cutting trail of energy and crashed his shoulder into Lyrielle's stomach along the way. She spat blood and was thrown kilometers away before crashing into an island. The impact of her fall caused that island, filled with blue trees, to begin sinking.
"Huff…"
Lyrielle breathed heavily, trying to steady herself. That impact had been strong. The white trail left by the comet magic still cut across the sky like a luminous scar. The island continued slowly sinking because of the brutal force of her fall. Struggling to stand, she spat blood onto the shattered ground while her water magic restored her internal injuries. Even so, several ribs were still broken and her left arm trembled with pain.
Valdir landed several meters ahead. His comet aura still surrounded his body like a white stellar flame, but his condition was far from good. The deep cut across his chest from Lyrielle's sword continued to bleed slowly, and his right arm was partially useless due to the earlier impact. Even so, he smiled.
"It's good to see that face of pain."
Without responding, Lyrielle simply raised her sword again. Lightning began to run along the blade while wind swirled around her body. In a single instant, both disappeared.
The clash happened in the air above the island, creating an explosion of pressure that split the blue trees in half. They separated for a moment, and Lyrielle's eyes glowed electric blue.
"Lightning Slash."
Lyrielle appeared before him and unleashed a horizontal slash wrapped in lightning. Valdir raised his arm coated in curse magic to block, but the sword cut through the defense and opened a deep wound in his forearm. Grinding his teeth, he responded in the same instant, covering his body with comet energy and charging forward with his shoulder.
"Falling Star Impact."
The blow struck the side of Lyrielle's body directly. The sound of bones cracking echoed as she was launched into the ground of an island covered with red trees, creating a massive crater. Without giving her time to react, Valdir raised his remaining hand and several magic circles appeared around him.
"Comet Core Rain."
Hundreds of small spheres of stellar energy appeared in the sky and began falling like meteors. Explosions tore apart the island as chunks of land were thrown into the sea. Inside the crater, Lyrielle slowly raised her head, blood running down her forehead. Her left arm was dislocated and several burns covered her body, but she still planted her sword into the ground, showing only a faint trace of pain on her face.
"Earth Magic… Pillars."
The island's ground trembled violently as massive pillars of rock rose around her, intercepting many of the falling comet cores. Even so, several still struck the terrain, and a gigantic explosion covered the entire area. As the smoke began to dissipate, Lyrielle launched several fire slashes toward Valdir, catching him off guard with the speed of the attack and causing an explosion that illuminated islands far beyond the distance they had traveled from the continent.
"Even after all that, you still haven't died."
Hearing Valdir's words after receiving the blow, Lyrielle looked down at herself. Even though she had managed to defend herself, half of the earth armor covering her body had been destroyed and several parts of her skin were burning even more intensely.
Valdir was not in better condition either. One of the explosions had struck his right side, tearing his shoulder completely and leaving his arm nearly useless. Both breathed heavily while the sea around the island began to boil due to the absurd amount of mana released in that place. Since he was talking so much, she decided to respond to the words that seemed to underestimate her endurance.
"And even after all that you're still standing? As I thought… you're a cockroach."
"Bitch."
Valdir spat blood to the side, feeling that cursed sense of inferiority he once had toward those two beginning to return with force after so many years. Seeing how easily her opponent had become irritated, she felt good—very good, in fact—at destroying the fragile ego of someone she hated.