"Y-You low-class human!" Having received my attack, Mavis grabbed her head, shouting furiously as numerous attacks erupted from her. Blood and shadow tendrils emerged from her vicinity, heading straight for us. "Hah, I got this!" Roaring, Yuki charged forward, meeting most of the tendrils head-on, while Lazuli and I dealt with the ones that managed to get past her.
Swinging Zartha, deflecting a shadowy tendril, I slashed downwards, bisecting it as I ran at Mavis; as I did so, some of her focus shifted to me, forcing me to use [Blink] to dodge occasionally. Appearing in the air, using [Air Step], I ran across the sky, blocking shadowy arrows as I neared Mavis, slashing Trina, and launching a [Void Slash].
Of course, my straightforward attack was blocked, but that didn't stop me as I continued to close the distance. 'Tsk, even when weakened, her attacks are still so strong!' I could handle attacks made from her blood, but her dark magic was rather troublesome, probably because it was night, so her dark mage was naturally strengthened.
"Behind you!" Seeing Vanye rushing at me from behind, I used Trina to deflect a shadowy whip; the impact still forced me backwards. Clicking my tongue, I extended Zartha behind me, allowing Vanye to leap onto the broadside of my sword. With a grunt, I flung her like a catapult toward Mavis.
While chasing behind Vanye, several bolts of fiery lightning rained down almost indiscriminately on Mavis in a large area. "Fu, I haven't seen that before." Briefly glancing at Lazuli, I leaped into the sky, jumping through the air as I thrust my sword forward, utilizing [Spatial Lock] at Mavis, briefly stopping her just as Vanye swung downwards.
As a wave of reddish-black mana erupted from her sword, it headed straight for Mavis, who had broken free from my skill; although she managed to block the attack, she was forced back a smidge. "Argh, you pathetic Elf!" Retaliating, she hit Vanye with a blood tendril, and while she managed to block with her sword, she was flung to me.
As she reoriented herself in mid-air, I caught her on the broadside of my sword before flinging her high into the air while I quickly used [Expand] on my sword, blocking several tendrils that had initially sought to pierce Vanye. "Ugh, blocking so many is difficult." Pushing against the several tendrils, I spat out a clump of my blood before pushing my sword to the side, diverting the tendrils while I dashed forward through the sky.
Striking my swords together, manifesting several [Fireblast]'s, they headed directly to Mavis, exploding violently as they briefly illuminated the area, weakening her darkness magic. Getting close to Mavis, I aggressively swung both of my swords from above, cutting through several tendrils before they eventually lost their momentum just a few feet from Mavis.
"Just come quietly with me!" Mavis glared at me, causing me to flash a faint smirk. "Say that when you're strong enough to do so." Sensing several attacks from behind, I used [Spatial Phase] on myself, her attacks phasing through me.
Pushing off her, I moved to the side, just in time for swords of fire and light to hit Mavis, forcing her to defend as her defense slowly got shredded, allowing Vanye, who came falling, to slash at her. Before Mavis could attack Vanye, Yuki, who had been mostly protecting Jasmine and Lazuli, lunged forth, protecting Vanye as the two retreated.
"My cut was too shallow." As Vanye frowned, not pleased at her attack, I shook my head. "You don't need a deep cut to do a lot of damage; besides, she's not an easy opponent, we're already doing well." As we regrouped, Jasmine cast recovery-enhancing spells on us, which would increase every form of recovery, including mana, which was all I needed.
"Yuki, Jasmine, Lazuli, you three okay?" Briefly glancing between them, scanning them for some sort of injury or ailment, they nodded. "Strong as ever!" "At 90% mana reserves." "Yuki and Lazuli are here to protect me, so I'm fine."
"Alright, just checking. I have a feeling this is going to be a long fight." Clutching my hilts, I glanced at Vanye, who nodded, prompting me to dash back into the fray with Lazuli offering covering fire, Jasmine buffing us, Vanye following closely, while Yuki trailed from a distance, staying between Vanye and me up front and Jasmine and Lazuli behind, ready to offer assistance to either one.
The fight that ensued was akin to a raid boss from my past life; not only did it last well over an hour, but Mavis was strong, so we had to slowly whittle her down with small attacks. It's not like we didn't intend to give her more serious wounds, but our attacks never landed as intended; even when facing all five of us, she was always able to prevent a serious injury.
Lunging forward, I slashed down at Mavis, cutting into her shoulder, though before I could go deeper, I covered my torso with my other sword, blocking a powerful attack that flung me through the air. Skidding across the destroyed ground, I pushed myself off and landed on my feet, stopping myself.
"Alex, you okay!?" Glancing at Jasmine, I nodded while waving off her support. "Yeah. Focus on the others!" With me having been thrown out of the picture, Vanye and Yuki were starting to be overwhelmed; blinking beside Yuki, I swung my sword above me, pouring my mana into it as I gathered a large amount of flames before releasing them forward.
It was a new skill I'd created mid-battle, [Flame Slash]. It was a simple spell, so it was easy to do; the only reason I'd never created it before was that there was never a situation where it would be more useful. 'When this is over, I need to try creating something like lightning slash, that would be much better.'
"Yuki, you okay?" Lowering my sword, I glanced at Yuki, who, despite having the highest pure physical stats among us, was exhausted and bleeding; having blocked attacks from Mavis for an hour plus had clearly put a heavy strain on her body. She nodded, her chest rising and falling rapidly. "Y-Yeah, I-I'm good. B-But, I-I'm reaching my limit. I-I don't think I'll be able to block her soon."
Nodding, I felt the ground tremble, only for Vanye to be sent tumbling directly at me, forcing me several feet back as I caught her while she coughed blood, having suffered a deep wound on her back. "Tch, you okay, Vanye?" While Yuki blocked the incoming attacks, I helped Vanye stand. "I-I can s-still fight, i-if that's what y-you're asking."
'We've got to end this soon.' Yuki and Vanye were basically at their limits; Jasmine and Lazuli were better physically, but their mana was low. Hell, even my mana was getting dangerously low; I already felt like I had heartburn.
"C'mon, Vanye, we'll end this quick." Running past Yuki, Vanye followed behind while I gazed at Mavis, who was arguably in a worse situation than we were; her body was covered in wounds and blood, and her mana still seemed to be going strong, but her attacks weren't nearly as precise as before. 'I suppose Vampires can also suffer from a lack of blood in their system.'
Blocking and deflecting attacks heading our way, I swung my blade upwards, launching a void-slash. "Lazuli, force her back!" Shouting at Lazuli, who quickly followed my orders, bombarding her with numerous magic spells, forcing Mavis to focus more on defending, we took advantage and closed the distance. 'Got to make this count. Lazuli will have no mana left afterwards.'
As we got close, the heavy bombardment of spells began to wane, signifying Lazuli's lack of mana, prompting me to dash directly at Mavis, who focused heavily on me. Clicking my tongue, I dodged, blocked, and evaded all I could, though I still received several wounds.
Slashing my swords downward, an attack she blocked, I pushed off and dashed past her, prompting Vanye to follow up, yet just as she got close, Vanye dodged to the left, revealing Yuki, who had been charging directly at Mavis. "Arghhh!" With a powerful leap, Yuki aimed for Mavis, who attacked, yet, as she had prepared to face Vanye and not Yuki, her attacks weren't enough to stop her.
Slamming her shields into Mavis, who had barely managed to defend in time, she was flung back, tumbling across the ground while I dashed at her. As I neared her, intending to end her life, she attacked me, prompting me to smirk as I quickly shifted to defense just as Vanye approached, her blade coated in her destruction mana.
"Hehe, did you think I'd fall for the same trick so many times!?" Grinning, Mavis shot her hand at Vanye, who suddenly stopped moving, frozen in place as her eyes turned bloodshot. Yet, rather than despairing at our failed plan, I smirked; Vanye had been the one causing the most damage to Mavis throughout the battle, so this whole plan, Vanye had been the bait.
Utilizing [Heroes Gaze], I combined it with blink and swapped places with Vanye, who slithered her way through the attacks I had been blocking before slashing at Mavis, cleaving a deep gash across her.