Leon split off part of his focus to control his ice clone, locked in a fierce exchange with an "evenly matched" opponent.
Magic poured out of the ice clone's hands wave after wave, the dread prince's fighting style making it look as if his magic cost him nothing at all. The moment this lavish suppressive-firepower tactic came out, it caught the Hazer, the Berserker, and the whole pack of Rudra Familia enemies completely off guard and left them in disarray, and combined with his trick of sliding at high speed across snow and ice, it forced them to parry while bellowing in frustration.
If the ice clone weren't structurally fragile as a magic node itself, unable to carry too massive a magic output without using the Circle Linking or Linked Chanting techniques... never mind the Lv. 4s, but the Lv. 3 officers and elites, and especially those Lv. 2 and Lv. 1 cannon fodder and small fry, would probably have been swept away long ago by a single wave of Leon's bombardment.
Name:Arcane Art: Ice Float
Origin: Leon Hart
Type: Arcane Art
Effect: Allows the user to glide steadily across snow or ice surfaces, drastically increasing movement speed and evasion
Description: A high-speed movement technique like ice skating
...
On the other side.
Jeanne's ceremonial sword clashed again and again with the assassin ninja's kunai, striking sharp, ringing notes off each other.
The clear, dignified golden-haired saint and the ninja with eyes dark as a pool formed a vivid, dangerous contrast amid the flashing of blades.
"Sister Jeanne, we're ready!"
At the reminder from her companions behind her, Jeanne's gaze sharpened. Her sword pressed in harder all at once, knocking the kunai aside in a single blow, then she lightly retreated, opening up the distance.
Margaret drew a deep breath, both hands held up before her chest, and her clear, solemn chant rose up:
"Heed my call, cross the threshold of heaven's fire...
"Burn away the crimson lotus of falsehood, coil about me, forge the shape of divine might!
"You who are the incarnation of hellfire, the dancing maiden of calamity;
"Awaken from the depths of the inferno, descend crowned with the diadem of purgatory!
"With my magic as the catalyst, with my will as the proof...
"Here I declare:
"Sweep away all that is impure, burn to ash all that is unjust!
"...Descend, Heavenly Maiden of Flaming Calamity!
"With your searing blades, pass judgment upon this world!
"...Karmic Flame Calamity All-Slaying Heavenly Maiden!"
The instant the chant finished...
A cluster of gold-red flame erupted from the ground at her side!
The flames rolled and surged, in the blink of an eye becoming a spinning vortex of blazing fire that kept expanding, like a door of flame slowly opening. The orange-red light within the door grew ever stronger, as though something living pulsed inside it.
The surface of the flame door rippled with searing heat, and then...
A humanoid magical lifeform standing over three meters tall, formed entirely of fire, slowly stepped out of it.
The blazing orange-red body of flame warped the air around it, the scorching heat making the whole scene waver faintly. Its eyes, a searing white shot through with blood-red, slowly swept across the battlefield, and wherever its gaze landed, the air itself seemed to tremble.
The Karmic Flame Calamity All-Slaying Heavenly Maiden!
Made its grand entrance!
...
Karmic Flame Calamity All-Slaying Heavenly Maiden
Summons a heavenly maiden formed of flame to fight
Fire Magic
Summoning Magic
...
Margaret's magic was complete, but this wasn't the end.
Irisviel swept the staff in her hand, and in that instant the mithril wire engraved along the staff's body flared to life, as if life had been poured into it, springing alive in a heartbeat!
The silver-white mithril threads, starting from the staff, raced and wove through the air as if possessed of their own will!
Then, in the briefest span of time, Iri completed the ultra-short incantation for her first spell...
"Bones, I grant you life!
"...Angel's Poem!"
With the sky as its canvas, the mithril wire sketched, coiled, and assembled in the space of a breath, like metal vines woven by an unseen hand. The strands crossed and drew tight, swiftly building the outline of fierce wings, a sharp hooked beak, and keen talons.
In the end, an exquisite magical construct modeled on a giant eagle, woven entirely from mithril wire, took shape at high speed.
A clear, sky-piercing eagle's cry tore through the heavens.
The mithril-wire eagle beat its two wings, the cold gleam of metal and the blazing shadow of flame reflecting off each other in that moment.
...
Angel's Poem
Grants life to materials to wage battle
Alchemy Magic
White Stork Knight form: can fire magic bullets to form a barrage
...
The two enormous magical constructs stood shoulder to shoulder before Margaret and Iri. Without any motion at all, just that wingspan and height of over three meters, along with the dangerous aura naturally radiating off the flame and the silver, already formed a suffocating pressure.
When Margaret and Iri finished this whole string of summons, every god watching the battle here sucked in a sharp breath!
"Demeter, Demeter, Demeter!!!!!!!"
Loki suddenly grabbed Demeter by the collar, eyes bloodshot, breathing heavy, her whole face twisting with jealousy:
"What in the world are your children?! One ridiculous Summoning Magic user wasn't enough, now two of them pop out at once?! Aaaaagh, I'm losing my mind!!!"
Demeter elegantly batted her hand away, knocked Loki's hand off, and smiled:
"Ara ara... our children really are rather outstanding. But you've got Finn, Riveria, Gareth and the rest over at your place, so there's no need to envy me this much. And besides... that child Ais..."
"Hm?"
Loki snapped to alert in an instant, eyes going wide like a hen guarding her chicks:
"Demeter, what are you planning?! I'm warning you! Big chest or not, I am not handing Ais over to you!"
"Ais is mine!"
"Ohh~~~~~~~~~"
The gods: "..."
Just as everyone assumed Margaret and Iri had finished their battle prep and were about to clash with the killers who outranked them by level...
A scene that shook the gods' pupils once again unfolded.
Iri actually raised her staff yet again and began a second chant!
"Hold on... this child is Lv. 1, right?"
Hermes's voice came out a little dry. He looked at Demeter and asked, with difficulty:
"Demeter, don't tell me... she awakened at least two magics all at once after receiving her Falna?
"She... she's human, isn't she?"
Demeter looked at him, smiling without a word.
But some gods noticed... in this loving goddess's eyes as she looked at Hermes, there wasn't a trace of a smile.
"Hermes, you'd best not get any unnecessary ideas about our children. Heh heh."
"How... how could I! Haha."
Demeter gave him a long, deep look and said softly:
"You'd better not."
Having said it softly, she turned her gaze back to the battlefield.
"Black Grail, sing!
"...Black Grail!"
...
...
[Read 40+ chapters ahead on Patreon: patreon.com/NiaXD]