"Krriiii!!"
The little spirit cried in horror as she rushed towards Vaan. Seeing her acting like that, Vaan frowned in confusion.
The only time he had seen such an expression on Flamey's face was in the previous Vaan's memories when Vaan was trying to torture her, ever since then, Flamey had always been a cheerful girl who only had a big smile on her face whenever she interacted with him.
Honestly, seeing the girl with such an expression on her face pained Vaan's heart, at the same time, it also made him wonder what could possibly happen for her to react in such a manner.
After all, Flamey was a formless being, other than him, no other being could interact with her. What could possibly scare a being like her?
Or…
Could it be that there was another being who could interact with Flamey like him?
Thinking about the possibility, Vaan narrowed his eyes.
"Krri! Krrii Kriiiii!!"
Flamey shouted, the shapes she was creating using her fire looked like a mess as well. Vaan, however, was still able to make out what the girl was talking about.
"The attackers are scary?"
"Krriii!!"
The little spirit nodded.
Seeing their elder sister act like that, both Splashy and Breazy had nervous looks on their faces, Vaan wanted to consol the Spirits, however,
*BOOOM*
Another large-scale spell was launched.
This time, however, the Party Leader was prepared and was able to completely block the attack.
The Shield she formed faded away after blocking the attack, then, with a solemn look on her face, she turned to the direction the attack came from and suddenly, the Mana around her moved and in an instant, 7 Magic Circles formed around her.
Vaan's expression changed.
Just as he expected, the woman was a 7th Circle Mage.
A being that should be considered a powerhouse, even when they were in the Past Era, however, the attackers weren't weak either.
Suddenly, a man with his face covered rushed towards the Party Leader.
There was a Sword in his hand so it was clear that he was a Swordsman. In an instant, the woman reacted and summoned countless Earth Spikes and shot them towards the swordsman running towards her.
The Swordsman gathered his Aura and slashed his sword, the Earth Spikes coming towards him were annihilated in an instant, the woman however, was already prepared with her next spell.
The speed at which everything happened, the swordsman rushing towards the woman, and the woman reacting instantly and casting spells in return was something that Vaan couldn't even react to.
If it was him, he would only be standing there in a daze, wondering what happened and thinking about how he was killed without even being able to resist.
The usual 3 seconds he needs before he could even get into a fight is a sort of luxury he couldn't even hope to enjoy here.
'Is this how the Advance beings battle?'
Vaan couldn't help but laugh at all the battles he fought in the past…
Just thinking about how he felt proud being able to 'run' while casting spells, or having the so-called 'advanced circles' in his arsenal. Just thinking about what the actual powerhouses must be feeling while witnessing his battle made him want to kill himself.
It was a humbling experience, honestly, Vaan wanted to get close to get a better look at the fight, however, there was still something he was worried about.
The 'scary being' that Flamey mentioned…
He wasn't the Swordsman who was clashing against the Party Leader…
That being was still hiding in the dark… and from the looks of it, the party leader had no clue about it.
*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*
The Mage and the Swordsman continued to clash, more and more spells were rained on the Swordsman, he however, continued to avoid them masterfully, one thing to note, however, was that even after avoiding and blocking all these spells, the Swordsman hadn't moved even a step ahead ever since the party leader had noticed him.
Not only that, the party leader was also defending the people around her from the rest of the assaulters.
In the clash between the Swordsman and the Mage, the Mage had a clear upper hand at least that was the case until,
"Krriii!!"
Flamey explained as she pointed at a man.
Surprisingly, the man she pointed at was standing behind the Party Leader, he was one of the original 7 members of the party, and seeing Flamey pointing at him, Vaan couldn't help but frown in confusion.
"What? Is he the enemy?"
Vaan questioned.
"Krrii!"
Flamey shook her head and desperately continued to point toward the man, this time, even Vaan couldn't figure out what she was trying to say.
Just as he was about to ask Flamey to calm down and explain again, he noticed the man moving towards the Party Leader.
"What is he trying to do?" Vaan questioned with a frown.
Elara, who was standing next to him seemed quite confused as well.
"Krriiii!!!"
Flamey shouted again.
With how she was panicking, Vaan knew something bad was going to happen.
His first guess was that the man was a traitor, however…
The man who had approached the Party Leader suddenly called out,
"L-Lady Veronica…"
The Party Leader frowned.
She momentarily turned around and noticed that the man's face was pale in fear.
"H-Help me…"
The man spoke but before the Party Leader, or Veronica could make sense out of the situation,
*BOOOOOM*
The Man's body exploded.
Caught off guard, Veronica took the full impact of the explosion, her body flew towards the Swordsman, who, as if already knowing that something like this was going to happen, seemed prepared and got into the position,
"Got you."
He spoke with utter delight printed on his face, slashing his sword with a Powerful Aura covering it, the attack could tear through almost any shield in the world.
*Slash*
The attack came through, the Swordsman, however, wasn't satisfied.
After all, his target was still alive.
Though he doubted that the woman was in a condition to fight anymore,
"You think you can fight with just one arm?" The swordsman questioned with a big smile on his face.
He glanced at Veronica and the once beautiful auburn-haired woman now had blistering skin that had taken full impact from the explosion, since she avoided the swordsman's attack at the last moment, she lost an entire arm, half of her clothes were torn off, her body was covered in blood and despite all that, there was not a trace of fear or agony on her face.
The only expression that could be seen on her face was her disgust.
"A Demon…"
She spoke in a hoarse voice.
Hearing those words, a big smile appeared on the Swordsman's face, "Took you long enough to realize that."
"A Human with a decent skillset like you is working together with a demon, I could not be more disgusted.
"
Veronica spoke with a disgusted look on her face.
The man, however, didn't care about what she said, he only smiled, "Is it not more disgusting that you are about to lose against a man working together with a Demon?"
"Who said I that I lost?"
The woman tilted her head in confusion.
Then suddenly,
"O Divine Light, so pure and bright,
Fill our hearts with love and light.
Grant us peace and kindness too,
So we may spread kindness anew.
"
One of the Team members started praying, Vaan could see the Faith Energy gathering over his head. What surprised him was the sheer amount of energy that was gathered over his head, it was around 10 times more than the Faith Energy gathered what Alaric was able to gather when he fought against Elara.
And… the Chant still hadn't ended,
"Bless us with your healing power,
Every soul, in every hour.
Grant us strength to heal and mend,
With your love, may all wounds transcend.
"
The chant continued and suddenly,
*Screeechh*
An ear-piercing screech was heard.
Hearing that, Veronica smirked,
"I guess your guest isn't exactly having a good time."
She chuckled.
The Swordsman gritted his teeth,
"What the hell are you doing!? Attack that bastard!!" He shouted as he pointed at the man who was praying to the Light God.
Veronica, however, wasn't going to let anything happen and cast spells of her own.
The man, unfettered by everything around him continued his prayers as more and more Faith Energy continued to gather,
"Illuminate our hearts each day,
So we may walk the righteous way.
In your name, we humbly pray,
O God of Light, show us the way."
As the chant ended, the man entered his hands towards Veronica, the endless Faith Energy he gathered rushed towards Veronica, and in front of his very eyes, Vaan saw the fastest regeneration in the world as within 2 seconds, Veronica had regenerated to the point where one couldn't even tell that she just had a near-death experience, even her torn clothes were fixed.
The woman then glared at the Swordsman and,
"Don't think you or that thing is getting out of here alive."
The Swordsman gritted his teeth,
"Right back at you.
"
The two parties clashed again.
…
At the same time, while the two parties clashed, two beautiful beings with transparent wings on their back observed the entire situation, their focus, however, didn't seem to be on the battle… but instead…
"That is…"
"Yes…"
"The three of them are definitely Spirits like us and that boy can see them.
"
"But that-"
"This matter is too grave for us to act on, we need to report it to the Queen."
