Chapter 436: The Beginning Of The End [XCVIII]

Fwoop!

With no warning at all, the girls moved together.

Zeva burst forward first, twin swords flashing as she closed the distance in a blink.

Her feet barely touched the sand, body low, eyes locked on his throat. The left blade slashed high, the right swept in tight at his ribs, a clean killing cross.

At the same time, Yara rushed from the other side.

Her fist drove in fast and heavy, aimed straight for his jaw, her shoulder rolled in behind the punch, hips snapping to send all her weight through it.

Her second hand stayed tight, ready to grab, to lock, to break.

Aestrea smiled as if he had expected this, and twisted his body just enough.

Swish…!

Zeva’s left blade sliced past his face close enough to stir his hair.

He snapped two fingers around the flat of her right sword, stopping it cold inches from his side.

Clink!

The impact sent a sharp clang through the arena.

Thud!

At the same time, Yara’s punch landed right into his open palm.

The shock rippled through her arm. Sand burst under their feet as he slid back half a step, boots carving a shallow trench.

Yara snarled and followed through, her knee rising hard toward his gut.

Aestrea met it with his thigh and shoved.

Yara flew back, flipped once in the air, and landed in a low crouch, one hand pressed to the ground, her eyes burning with excitement.

Fwip!

Zeva ripped her blade free and spun, using the pull to launch into a wide arc slash meant to take his head clean off.

Aestrea ducked and stepped inside her guard.

Thump!

He slammed his elbow into her ribs.

“Urghk!” Zeva grunted but did not fall. Instead, she smiled wildly and drove her forehead into his face.

CRACK!

Aestrea slid back, holding his head for a moment.

“Agh… that stings a bit.”

Swoosh!

Suddenly, Yara appeared right before Aestrea, throwing two consecutive punches, one aimed at his knee and one at his throat

Thud!

Aestrea caught the low punch, twisted, and threw her over his shoulder.

Zeva appeared mid-throw.

Her blade plunged down where his neck had been a second earlier.

Aestrea released Yara, rolled sideways, and came up on one knee as the sword bit into the sand with a scream of metal.

Yara landed, spun, and kicked.

Thud!

Her heel struck his chest and drove him back several steps, making him dig his heels into the sand to stop the sliding.

Swish!

Zeva yanked her sword free and lunged again, both blades coming down in a brutal storm.

Clank!

Aestrea blocked barehanded, grabbing her wrists, and deflecting her swords with mana, sparks flashing where blade met ring and skin.

Yara closed from behind.

“Got you!” she smiled widely.

She wrapped an arm around his neck and pulled, her legs locking around his waist, trying to drag him down.

“Tsk,” Aestrea growled, twisted, and slammed backward.

They hit the ground hard, causing sand to burst upward. Yara rolled free at the last second while Zeva jumped back, gathering space away from Aestrea.

“Phew…”

Crack!

Zeva rolled her shoulders once, then twice. Her grin stretched wide as her eyes widened in complete madness.

“All right,” she said, her voice coming out sharp with joy.

“No more warm-up. I am done playing.”

She spread her arms.

Fwsssh.

Heat burst from her right blade.

The metal glowed red, flames coiling along the edge like living snakes.

At the same time, cold mist poured from her left blade, frost racing across the steel, droplets forming and falling into the sand with soft taps.

Fire and water, burning and freezing at once.

Steam hissed around her boots.

Yara also laughed.

“Good!”

“I was just getting bored!!!”

She cracked her knuckles.

Crack…!

Twisted space cracks appeared all around her.

The air around her hands folded inward, like glass under pressure.

The sand near her feet lifted and twisted, pulled into thin spirals, floating for a breath before snapping back down.

Her eyes went pitch black.

“Mhm…”

Aestrea hummed thoughtfully.

Then, he changed his stance slightly, still a bare-hands fighting stance, but a faint green light started coating his fingers.

The sand beneath him trembled.

Crack…

Thin roots burst from the ground, curling up around his boots, gripping stone and earth alike. Dark vines slid across the sand, pulsing as if alive.

Leaves sprouted in flashes, spinning in slow circles around his arms.

“Come to me, I’m waiting,” he calmly stated.

BOOOOOOOOM!

Zeva and Yara moved as one, appearing tight beside Aestrea in an instant.

Zeva leapt forward, her swords crossing over her head as fire roared from her right sword, a wide arc of flame tearing through the air.

At the same time, her left blade cut low, water turning to ice mid-swing, forming a jagged wave that raced across the sand.

Fwooom.

Crshhh.

The arena floor cracked from the heat and froze from the cold in the same heartbeat.

At the same time, Yara had used her space magic.

She blinked out of sight and reappeared behind Aestrea, her fist already swinging, space collapsing around her knuckles to add crushing force.

“GOT YOU!” she snarled.

Aestrea instantly turned as roots shot from the ground.

THUMPPP!

The fire arc slammed into a wall of thick vines.

Flames spread, leaves burned, then snapped back as fresh growth surged forward. The ice wave crashed into rising roots and shattered in a storm of shards.

Clink, clink, clink!

Aestrea caught Yara’s punch with one hand.

The ground exploded under their feet.

BOOOOOOOOM!

Space pressure pushed inward. The roots around his arm bent, cracked, then wrapped tighter, reinforcing his grip.

Yara’s eyes went wide.

“Tch!”

She twisted, vanished again, reappearing high above Zeva, kicking her back, pushing her towards Aestrea at a fast pace.

Her swords glowed intensely as she slashed inward, both fire and ice colliding with each other in a spiral towards Aestrea!

FWSSSSSSSHHHHHHHH!

Aestrea raised both arms, and vines surged upward like spears.

Thud, thud, thud!

They took the blast head-on. Flames scorched them black, ice shattered them apart, yet more grew in their place, thicker, tougher.

Zeva landed, her feet crunching on scorched stone.

“That’s cheating! Those vines are WAY too overpowered!” she laughed breathlessly.

“Not my problem,” Aestrea replied, and suddenly, Yara appeared at his side again.

Thud!

Her leg swung, space bending around her kick, the air screaming as pressure collapsed inward.

Screeeechhh!!!

Aestrea slid back, his heels cutting lines through the sand, and then, he grabbed a vine and whipped it.

Snap.

The vine struck Yara mid-air and wrapped around her waist.

She grinned.

“That’s too slow!!!”

Space folded again, and the vine tore apart as she slipped free, reappearing low, hands slamming into the ground.

BAAAMM!

The space under Aestrea’s feet twisted, trying to fold him into the earth.

“That’s not enough, Yara…”

Swish!

More roots flared up, diving deeper into the space, anchoring him, while spreading outward in a wide circle, making some kind of territory.

The stone floor cracked in a perfect ring.

Swish!

Zeva dashed in.

Her blades spun, fire and water mixing into a roaring storm around her. Steam exploded outward, blinding, scalding.

“BURNN!!!”

Fwip, fwip, fwip!

Aestrea closed his eyes as more vines rose up!

Shhhk, shhhk, shhhk!

They blocked blade after blade, slicing the air with sharp snaps, exploding into pollen and sap on impact.

Until suddenly, a blade actually slipped through.

Splurt!

It cut his shoulder, causing blood to spray into the air.

Zeva’s eyes lit up.

“YES!!”

Aestrea’s vines lashed out.

Wham.

They slammed into her chest and hurled her back across the sand. She rolled, skidded, then slammed into a stone wall.

Crack!!!

“Ugh…!”

She pushed off it at once, laughing, blood on her teeth.

Yara appeared right before her, massaging her wrists lightly as she then looked at Zeva and spoke lightly.

“Left.”

At her words, Zeva wiped blood from her mouth with her thumb and laughed. Her boots dug into the wall behind her

“About time.”

She pushed off.

BOOOOOOOM!

The wall burst outward as Zeva launched herself back into the arena.

Her right blade flared bright, fire roaring to life in a twisting arc.

Her left blade dragged a ribbon of water behind it, the liquid snapping cold and hard as ice formed along the edge.

At the same moment, space twisted.

Yara stepped sideways and vanished.

The air snapped shut where she had stood, then tore open again behind Aestrea.

Her palms slammed together as she moved, compressing the pace between them.

The pressure shrieked, high and violent, and the sand beneath her feet lifted into the air in a tight spinning disk.

She thrust both hands forward.

The disk fired.

SCREEEEEEE!!!

Aestrea shifted his stance, left foot sliding back an inch. Roots thick as arms burst up in front of him, weaving together in a tight wall.

The space disk hit.

BOOOOOOOOM!

The roots bent inward, crushed under invisible force, bark splitting, sap spraying into the air.

More roots surged from below, locking, bracing, forcing the pressure outward until the disk tore apart in a loud snap.

Zeva struck at the same second; her fire sword came first.

Fwshhh.

Heat rolled across the arena.

Aestrea spun.

Vines uncoiled from his arms and lashed out.

They wrapped the fire blade, bark charring, leaves burning to ash. The heat raced along them, but the vines thickened, layers growing in a blink.

Zeva twisted her wrist, and then, the ice sword came.

The second blade cut low, dragging frost across the ground. The sand froze into jagged spikes that rushed toward Aestrea’s legs.

He jumped, using his root to propel himself.

They pulled him higher, launching him into the air as the ice shattered below. Zeva grinned up at him, eyes bright, and leapt as well, blades crossing above her head.

“Now!”

Yara reappeared above them both.

Upside down.

Her knee drove downward, space folding tight around the strike. The air screamed as pressure collapsed.

Aestrea raised one arm, and more leaves exploded outward, spinning in a tight shield.

The knee hit.

BOOOOOM!

The leaves shredded, torn apart mid-spin, but the impact slowed. Aestrea grabbed Yara’s leg with his free hand, causing the roots to wrap around his arm and hers together.

“You caught me~” Yara laughed lightly.

She vanished, her leg slipped from his grasp as space split, and in that split, Zeva’s twin swords came down at full strength.

BOOOOM!

Aestrea was directly slammed into the ground.

The arena shook, and sand blasted outward in a wide ring. Stone cracked under his back as steam hissed, heat meeting frost.

For a split second, he stayed down.

Zeva landed on the ground, and then, Yara appeared beside her, rolling her shoulders.

“Was that enough?!”

A green glow flared.

The ground under Zeva’s feet moved.

Roots erupted and wrapped her ankles, yanking her legs out from under her. She fell hard onto her back, laughing as she went.

“Not yet!”

Vines burst from the ground around Yara, snapping shut in a tight cage.

She struck them, fists hammering, space bending around each blow. The vines splintered, bent, yet more grew behind them.

Aestrea rose. Dust and leaves slid off his shoulders as blood ran from a cut at his brow. His eyes stayed calm.

Fwoosh!

He spread his hands.

The cracked sand floor split wide.

Massive roots surged up from deep below, thicker than tree trunks. They twisted together, forming pillars, arches, a living maze that cut sight lines and movement.

Zeva rolled to her feet and sliced.

Fire roared.

A root burned black and fell, smashing into the sand. Another grew in its place at once, thicker, wet with sap that hissed under flame.

Yara jumped between roots, warping short distances, avoiding traps by a breath. She struck the ground again, space folding outward in a wide pulse.

BOOOM!

Roots bent away, forced back.

Aestrea stepped forward and slammed his foot down.

Every root changed.

Thorns grew along their length, getting thicker and strangely sharper.

Vines shot from the pillars and wrapped Zeva’s wrists mid-swing. She snarled and burned them away, but more wrapped her arms, then her waist.

“Cheeky bastard!”

Yara warped behind him and drove both fists into his back.

BOOOM!

The blow landed clean as the space pressure hit deep.

Aestrea staggered one step.

Only one.

Roots surged up behind Yara and closed around her arms and shoulders in a crushing grip. Space bent, cracked, but the roots held, reinforced again and again.

『 Twin Frost Icicles! (✯ 10th-level Spell ✯) 』

Suddenly, Aestrea raised his hands, emanating a chilling mist…

“Oh, shit…”

“Fuck…”

Both of the women cursed as they looked at the sky and saw two massive icicles made out of ice, falling down in their direction.

“I GIVE UP!”

“I GIVE UP TOO!”

They forfeited in a damn instant.

Seeing this, Aestrea snapped his fingers, and the two massive icicles turned into snow, slowly dripping into the ground.

“I win.”

Rustle…

The vines unwrapped themselves from their bodies, showing their deeply annoyed expressions.

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