Natsumi summoned her sword and hit the barrier as hard as she could, but it was as Yuki said.
"Aww, but I just told you…"
"What is this!? You shouldn't be able to create such a strong barrier, not yet anyway! There is no way your powers already returned to full strength! So what is going on here, tell me now!"
"Ooh, I've never seen you this frustrated before! I suppose, since it will be your time that is lost through it, I will grace you two with an explanation… The Cage of Envy is a special ability I recently received, and it turned out to be a rather useful one.
It works as follows, ahem… The user can select up to 5 objects or organisms in their proximity, and create a barrier around them. The barrier is impenetrable to all things but the user, and can only be activated when all selected targets are able to be fit inside its domain. As target, it is impossible to leave or even attempt to leave, the latter will result in excruciating pain that lessens once the target moves towards the center of the barrier."
"That's… That's unfair! What kind of nonsense is that!?"
"Haha, so you see, it doesn't even matter that I told you. There's nothing you can do. Because the targets. Are. You~"
She made them a cheerful heart with her hands, at which Hana just dashed forward and kicked her in the face. Or at least trying to, as it was blocked by Yuki with ease. Grabbing her by the leg and throwing her against the border of the barrier.
"Oh yeah, I turned the pain when trying to leave part off… But just for fun, lets see what it would be like, hm?"
As Hana was about to fly back towards Yuki, she suddenly curled up and screamed in agony, hundreds of tiny black needles all over her skin and penetrating it without any physical damage being dealt.
"Ooh, that's actually the first time I'm seeing this, so thanks a lot for being my test subjects!"
"Stop that, Yuki!"
"What makes you believe you could direct orders at me… Not even a thanks that I turned it off at the beginning. That over there could be you right now, y'know? Just imagine how much worse you hitting your head would have felt!"
"You… I'm not saying thank you for that! This is torture! Stop at once or—!"
"—or what? Come make me."
Yuki's eyes narrowed as she held eye contact with Nastumi, who seemed to have trouble doing the same. Natsumi looked away, over to the wincing Hana. Though they were not exactly friends, seeing her like this still hurt her soul. Seeing anyone be hurt like this hurt her soul. Even more so when it was her sister inflicting the pain. She had to make a decision now, especially since there was not much time left before Yuki's Final Countdown would be completed too.
"…You disappoint me, Yuki… I can't fight for you like this…"
Natsumi shot Hana with enough force that she would bounce off the barrier back towards the center, catching her there and making sure she was okay. The needles disappeared as soon as she moved away from the barrier, though apparently the pain was so intense that she was unable to move away on her own. So if she had been alone it would have been over already.
"Breath, Hana, everything is going to be okay…"
"Screw you… I'm fine… You said you weren't going to help, so just get lost…"
"…I was wrong."
"Oh~?"
Yuki perked up at that, though she was more inclined to just listen and enjoy her superiority a bit more.
"If that's true, then you stop that spell that's on our hands again, like you did earlier…"
"That was… I can't."
"Oh no, the tragedy… But no pressure! You have but four minutes left! Look, I even refrained from using a sacrifice this time, to give you a chance!"
"Shut the hell up, Yuki! Natsumi, what do you mean you can't?"
"She used two spells last time… One was the sacrifice, which she used to speed up the casting of the other one… The one I smcan stop is the sacrifice, and because the other spell was linked to the sacrifice, both got stopped… But because she's not trying to speed up the process now, I can't do anything…"
"You lying bitch, so you're not even doing us a favor for not using the sacrifice spell!"
"What~? Three minutes, by the way~"
Hana was finally able to move again, and she wasted no time and attacked together with Natsumi. Both flying at Yuki from different directions, and going into close range combat.
"Oh no, I'm scared~ Hahaha~"
As Natsumi's punch aimed for Yuki's head, and Hana's for her legs with too much momentum to stop, she bend her body horizontally and had them fly past her, sticking her tongue out at Hana whose face flew right above hers. It was obvious she enjoyed this way too much, but who would be left to scold her for that afterwards?
"Oh, I do wish you could see me now, Master~ Your love is all I can think of at this moment, how I crave it and feel it missing in this very moment…"
"Urgh, of course you'd think of him now of all times! Have you no sense of prioritization!?"
"Oh, sister, I expected you to know by know that I have been thinking about him the entire time! That's why you're such a bad sister, y'know?"
While dodging Hana, Yuki and Natsumi clashed together with their superior speeds, with Yuki mostly defending and letting their remaining last two minutes run out.
"You take that back!"
"Nuh uh!"
"Take it back now!"
Natsumi yelled so loud, Yuki was briefly disoriented. She had not expected Natsumi to react so strongly about that comment in particular, considering all the things Yuki said before had gone on deaf ears. As she was about to shrug it off and keep going, she found herself hit by Hana in the face, and straight towards the ground below, even though she should already have been collided with the barrier by now. With a confused, almost silly but and even more disoriented look, she stared blankly at Hana pressing her through the air, only able to let out a single sound.
". . . . . . . Eh?"
Below her Natsumi had already thrown her sword, ready to pierce through Yuki once she hit the ground. What just happened, she thought. Had Natsumi somehow turned off the barrier, even though it was quite literally described as being the absolute entrapment? More importantly, the sudden destruction of the barrier somehow drained her mana by a lot, as if it had been trying to withstand the force of Natsumi by using Yuki's mana directly as energy supply, only to give in anyway. It was then when she realized, she might die right here. She grabbed onto Hana's neck, but as all her physical attacks before, this had no effect on Hana at all. She then tried to flap her away with her wing, but Natsumi actually pierced through both of Yuki's wings with another sword, pinning them together and preventing Yuki from using them for manual flight as well. Only a few more seconds were left for Final Countdown to be complete, but it would not be in time. She could tell. The vertically placed sword below her would pierce through her before she could repeat what she had done to Petrisha. So in the last second, she dissolved the spell to regain some mana, and instead cast a barrier behind her, stopping the sword from piercing her just in time. Though she was still ramming onto it and the impact damaged the barrier already.
"Haha… Did you think that would be enough? You better give up now before I—"
But Hana did not stop. She grabbed onto Yuki's throat and pushed her further down, cracks forming in the barrier. It was then when Yuki actually started to panic a little.
"L-let go of me! Let go of me now! I said now, you dumb bitch! And you whore of a sister too! What do you think you are doi—"
Hana punshed her in the face, trying to shut her up, but Yuki just kept going. She scratched all over Hana's throat and eyes, but nothing even phased her.
"Who do you think you are!? There is nothing pure about you, neither of you! I'm pure! Me!My love is pure! PERFECT! I will not end here! Help me, you worthless sister!"
But Natsumi just looked at Yuki with a pitiful gaze, Yuki could tell she would not help her. Not this time.
"N-no… Not without him…"
"How did this happen… Why am I in this situation…? I don't deserve this… I'm innocent… I'm protecting my love… What are you all doing!? You come here, for your own selfish reasons, trying to rob me of my happiness! Mine! My whore of my sister, talking about saving me when all she's doing is watching me die! And this irrational creature, unphazed by any attack, a true monster, only here because of some inferior emperor ordering her too! And this look of pity, how dare she… Look down on me… Me!?"
The barrier cracked further as Hana kept pushing down on her, amd Yuki's mana was nearing its end. A tear rolled down her cheek, followed by more as she her thoughts raced towards the only thing that mattered to her right now.
"Boo… What am I supposed to do? Please tell me… I don't want to go… I can't leave you by yourself in this world… They don't know how to treat you right… They are jealous and evil, all of them… Even my sister is only out to hurt you, take you away from me… And now… She's trying to take me away from you…! I'm… Afraid…"
Yuki started outright crying, her voice filling the battlefield which had died down into complete silence otherwise. All the soldiers must have ended up killing each other. It would be only fitting for Yuki to end among them, Hana thought. However Natsumi thought different.
"Maybe this was too much… I just wanted to scare her a little, but not to cry… I hope now she finally gets that Yamato is not good for her, and once I get Hana off her, I will take her back with me to heaven. Don't worry, Yuki. I will be the one to—"
Besides Yuki's sobbing, another noise filled the air. Slow, calm steps. And then, the sound of metal hitting the ground. The sword below Yuki was thrown away by something hitting it from far away. Yuki quickly turned her barrier off and fell to the ground, Hana landing in confusion next to her as Yuki rolled over to look at what was happening, only for her to find the brightest light in her despair. Yamato's gaze drifted between Hana, Natsumi and Yuki.
"Are you okay, Yuki?"
"No… Why are you here… I can't protect you right now… You would have been save in the cube…"
"Shhh… Just close your eyes and rest… I will carry you in my arms like a princess once I'm done. You'd like that, right?"
"I'd… Love that… Very… Much…"
The moment Yuki passed out, Yamato's smiled vanished. Alongside any compassion in his eyes.
"You must be Nakahara Hana… and, Natsumi, we two know each other, don't we?"
"Yamato, it's over. I'm taking Yuki, and for that, you have to go."
"Yes, I assumed your plan was something along those lines. I also assumed you would try to distract Yuki somehow to get to me. Which is why I ordered her to create a barrier and trap you with her the moment she sees you. Though, I was surprised to find you actually beating her. I suppose I owe that to Hana, who I seem to have underestimated. I thought you'd play less of a role in their fight."
"Is that supposed to be a compliment…?"
"Call it an apology, or whatever you may want. But you have to admit, you are way out of your league here, right? I mean, witch of purity is good and all, but against angels? What did you expect?"
"…You arrogant bastard… And what can you do?"
"I'm obviously far above you, no question about it. So I have no reason to take part in these silly fights."
"You, don't look down on me!"
Hana dashed forward, however, Yamato just stood there with his hands in his pockets, looking at Hana's furious face with no expression at all.
"Hana, wait!", Natsumi quickly yelled out, but was too slow.
"…Sole Supremacy."
Hana drastically slowed down in the air, nowhere near the speed she had been fighting with against Yuki, and was grabbed by the neck by Yamato who threw her to the ground. She was about to cast a high tier attack spell, but it would not activate.
"W-what the—"
Yamato pulled out a dagger, and crouched down next to her. At which she did not react to at all and seemed almost relaxed, watching him try to do whatever he had planned.
"Good luck with that. Only the pure may touch me. And only I hold the title of pure. That's purity for you."
"I see… Good for you."
Yamato put the knife's tip right above where Hana's heart was, and pushed it into her chest.