Iris was still using Universal Law, so it was natural that she couldn't cause much damage to forces of this level, but it was necessary.
She was currently extremely unconfident about her true affinity, because she was in the midst of self-discovery related to it, so she couldn't use it properly.
Nevertheless, her choice was a mistake.
WHOOOOSH!
With a pulse of wind, the four Demigod Puppets broke free of the bombardment and shot forward, encircling her in an instant.
Iris gritted her teeth and raised her mana for defense.
This was the real start of the battle.
Jerome and Helen were the main damage dealers. From two sides, bolts of blood and lightning forced her to continue expending Divine Energy on thick defenses that could withstand penetration.
This gave Acian an opportunity to attack wantonly. Long-ranged blood magic consisted of several different abilities, but the one he specialized in before becoming a puppet was pure power.
He could summon massive storms of blood, letting his blood mana take on strange properties that had different effects.
But of all Blood Asura Demigods, the ones who focused on direct power were a different breed.
Blood magic was meant to be used more subtly. Its specialties were control and enhancement.
Since they took such an element to the extreme, it was only natural their power would be strange.
OOOOOOOOOOH!
The air roared as storms of blood consumed it. A crimson dome surrounded the group, blocking them off from the outside world and sealing the space Iris could move in.
Jerome and Helen never stopped barraging her, making her unable to use other abilities, and while Iris couldn't see her, Treya was waiting in the shadows for an opportunity to take her head.
This situation couldn't go on.
Iris wasn't someone who'd allow it to.
But, while she could usually use Universal Law to move the world itself to her advantage, she couldn't do so in the Ancient Battlefield.
It hindered her so much until now, and it was continuing to hinder her here as well.
Did the Marionette Lord know?
Were they aware of Iris' weakened state?
If they chose this opportunity to attack with that information, Iris really would be in a corner.
'Predicting my weakness…if so, they've completely understood the abilities of Universal Law.'
She could practically see the future. If she kept struggling like this, she'd lose pathetically. Perhaps the Insect Lord wouldn't need to get involved.
'Is this how I want to die?'
The answer was a massive, indomitable "NO!"
If she wanted to even properly fight with forces of this caliber, if she wanted to show her true power that should've been almost on par with an Emperor…
'...I can no longer hesitate.'
It didn't matter if she was scared or indecisive.
In the first place, that mindset was flawed.
Those blockages only existed because she allowed them to.
'To stop thinking and just do, huh…'
It was a mentality Damien used often. She saw its effects clearly, since he was confidently fighting three Demigods who he should've logically been slaughtered ruthlessly by in a single second.
'Can I do it too?'
The attacks kept coming.
Her surroundings were becoming more suffocating, and it looked like Treya would move at any moment.
The Insect Lord still hadn't gotten involved either. He must've thought he wasn't needed in this battle.
She couldn't just sit here and take it.
Not anymore.
'I was born with it. It's just as much a part of me as my soul. Why am I so afraid of it?'
Why was she so averse to using it?
The reason…
'...'
She finally remembered it.
"That day."
The day a young Eyrrisea Luminus was kidnapped and brutally tortured as those consumed by greed tried to extract her affinity.
She was only sixteen years old at that time. She had barely entered the world of magic and mana, and she was clueless about the true value of her affinity.
Because of it, she almost lost everything. She was crippled for almost a decade afterward, and despite the care of the highest physicians in Prismatic Sun Holy Land, she never truly healed from those injuries until almost a hundred years later.
And, if it wasn't for the timely arrival of her seniors, who took her out of that hell, she would've lost her innocence as well.
It was a horrifying memory even for the current Iris. It was a memory she'd repressed subconsciously and even stopped using her affinity altogether to avoid.
Because that wasn't the first or second time.
When she was nine, a similar situation happened. When she was just healing after the kidnapping when she was sixteen, it almost happened again.
And when she finally went out into the wider world on her own, she faced so many similar situations that she almost lost her mind.
It was too attractive to those people.
Not Eyrrisea Luminus, but the affinity she carried.
It was almost three hundred years into her long life when she decided to quit.
She threw away that affinity and found another path forward.
That was how the greed of people shifted from her affinity to her person.
But even then, she quit again. She refused ascension so she wouldn't have to see people stronger than her who could return her to that helpless state.
'Ah…'
That was the source of her fear.
She was far above those people in the lower universe. Even if new enemies came coveting it, she now had the power to protect herself.
But she was deathly afraid of her current relationships being tainted by its presence.
And she was deathly afraid of regressing.
She didn't want to return to that time, when the only reason she held worth was the affinity everybody wanted to plunder.
This sealed space, this cage of blood and violence where she had no choice but to wait until she was whittled away into nothingness…
This was what that affinity represented to her.
But, it could no longer be the source of her fear.
Because if she died here, she'd lose all the things she wanted to protect anyway.
'I am not weak anymore.'
She spoke to herself, unneeding of outside witnesses.
'I am not someone who must rely on others, nor do I need validation from others to be happy.'
She had to understand that it wasn't her fault.
This affinity was given to her at birth, not something she wished for. Why did she have to cower and hide it away because other people were bastards?
'It isn't my fault.'
It wasn't her fault.
So, instead of fearing them, fearing what they would become, she needed to rise above them, so they could never hold such thoughts about her.
And if the few people she truly cared about in this world decided to betray her…
Well, then that was their fault.
For getting consumed by greed and losing themselves.
'Even if everyone else changes…'
She gave herself a final piece of consolation, just as a cherry on top so she could make the final push to break free from her shackles.
'...I have absolute faith that at least one will remain by my side.'
She smiled.
Her worth, she understood it.
The worth of that affinity, she understood as well.
But that was still just a part of her worth. It was never something that should've consumed her.
Realizing that was the first step.
Perhaps her trauma and paranoia wouldn't leave her in a single day, but she'd made the first step towards improvement.
And that was the key.
The brown-haired Eyrrisea Luminus, the appearance she was born with.
This was the side of her she repressed. It remained in the appearance she had in her twenties, when she was still recovering from the aftereffects of that kidnapping.
She locked that side of her away where nobody could see, and as she grew and lived, her original appearance changed into what it was today, eccentric yet beyond beautiful.
It wasn't a facade, but a different side of her. This was the side of her that protected her weakness and disallowed the world from coming in contact with it.
But the need to hide away her weakness was fading.
And slowly, the line between her two selves was blurring.
Iris was on the path to becoming whole again.
And the power she received as if to congratulate her for such an achievement…
Well, it was quite monstrous!
