"You said we shouldn't hold back, but you've been the one holding back this whole time, huh sister?"
She playfully scratched her head, her expression changing as if she realized she needed to take things more seriously. "Hahah, that was a good one, brother! And that ability? Wow! I never thought my Gale Shroud would be overpowered like that. And Morad, you're pretty fast!
"And brother, I was taking it seriously, but what I didn't do was be on the offensive. My turn," she said, and the mood shifted, becoming a tone more serious.
Hmmm, I wonder what tricks she has in her mind right now.
"Brother, what's our next move now?" Morad asked.
I replied to him, "She'll no longer use that Gale Shroud spell, as she said she's going on the offensive, so it's unknown territory for us. She has gotten a sense of how our attacks typically work, and we literally have no defensive abilities! Sigh."
Then Morad asked, curious, "Brother, are you not going to use your mana?"
I immediately replied, "No, it's a battle between you two and you. only You know about my quad core and I want to keep it that way for now."
"I see. Why don't we just use Water Volley? At least I can use that to test her out. Piercing Shot took a lot of my mana, as I had to use mana as well to reduce its critical hits."
"huh..So wait, Morad, you're telling me that wasn't full power?"
He replied with a firm, "Yes." He explained that when a spell or mana manipulation is cast, it usually operates at a set damage hit, but if the caster actively reduces the amount of damage the spell can inflict, they use additional mana to make that possible. This causes more draining on the mana pool compared to the actual initial cost.
Hmmm, really? So basically, he's at a disadvantage? Wait, maybe both of us are, as Astraya might be doing the same as well.
If we used game logic here, what I could understand from Morad was: if a spell, let's say an attack spell, would make a damage of 50 on the opponent, if the caster reduces the damage to 25 on impact, he needs more mana to control that level of damage.
"Okay, if that's the case, Morad, let's end this quickly! Since Water Volley involves a succession of shots, we just need four hits on her. We'll spam that speed advantage."
"O.K, I'm ready, brother!" Morad said.
"Alright, Astraya, what's your move now?" I thought inwardly.
She stood still, but her eyes glowed white. This was different; she didn't cast any spell.
Three orbs formed behind her, roughly the size of yoga balls, which then doubled in size as they fully materialized.
Whatever she was planning, it didn't look good. I had to close the distance fast.
"Morad, now!"
Whoosh! He went with bird-like speed again. We had a simple plan: use water bullets to get the job done.
Astraya's hand flicked upward, and the orbs also let out tennis-ball-sized shots of air, shooting at Morad fast—almost as fast as Morad could move.
What? She's making those orbs shoot simultaneously? Wait, only two are shooting. The orb at the center hasn't shot; it's most likely a defensive orb. I see, she wants to end this fast as well.
More spirals of air shot forward, scattering dust into the field. But Morad and I had a synchronized sense that made dodging more effective.
Morad dove directly into her line of vision. We needed to get closer to improve the Water Volley's accuracy, as the water bullets acted more like a shotgun than anything.
"Morad, dodged one… two… three!"
He was cruising. "It's over, Astraya! Water Volley!"
"Fire now, Morad!"
BANG.
Water exploded from Morad's mouth, scattering into smaller water bullets aimed at Astraya. With a sharp twist, his body—glowing with a faint blue aura—had sliced through the air balls like a heat-seeking missile. It was game, set, and match.
"Got you!" Morad shouted, as we watched the impact move towards Astraya.
It was in that very moment I realized that the center orb wasn't for defense like I had deduced.
Astraya smirked. The two offensive orbs had stopped firing the moment Morad had made the shot.
"What? What is all this?" The small, scattered water bullets were all trapped in tiny, floating orbs, like a field of air mines. About twenty of them formed a wall, surrounding Astraya and stationed about six feet away from her. They were invisible to the naked eye all this time but were now clearly visible to us.
It turned out the central orb had been making these smaller orbs that acted as a trapping air minefield. So, even if we hadn't fired and had simply moved in any closer, Morad would have been trapped in these balls, as they were nearly invisible compared to the other offensive orbs she had been firing.
She had learned this much from Mother?
Morad turned to me as he yelled, "What do we do now?" But before we could communicate,
Astraya replied, "How about dodge?"
The orbs then pushed out the water fragments trapped inside them, firing them back with the same speed as an air gun, one after the other, like an AK-47, or at least in batches of three and four, each with a slight delay.
Morad began dodging. His reaction was incredible; I wasn't even in control at that moment.
"I'm not going to get hit that easily!" he continued to wiggle his way out.
I could barely keep my eyes on them. Morad darted and spun, weaving through the air with wild speed as my bond sense tugged faintly at my thumb, urging me to guide him. But Astraya… Astraya was different today. The air around her didn't just form they obeyed. Her steps were light, her body flowing with the gusts as though she'd been born in the sky.
Wow, I stuttered! It pained me to admit it, but she was way ahead of me. I need to get a proper tutor and stay on her tail. I wasn't, in damnation's name, going to be the weaker twin.