Chapter 1706: Third Stage [4]
In Gianna's opinion, this was her time to shine. She could use this group of geniuses to stand out from the rest, since the spotlight had been hogged by a select few for the entire duration of the heir wars thus far.
The only real problem was Iridia, but they were at the same level at least. Gianna was confident in winning a battle of speed, and since she was prioritizing escape, the rest didn't matter.
However, everyone else saw it differently.
Iridia saw it as a time for August to prove himself and his claims that she could learn something here.
And for the rest of the group, this was the moment where they could show the world their strength.
Juno and the rest weren't from here. Everything from the technology to the culture to the people was completely new to them.
There wasn't any time to adapt before the third stage began, so they were still perplexed, but there was one fact that rang true no matter what world they were in.
Only the strong had the right to experience happiness and freedom.
They were nothing in the eyes of this world's people. That much was obvious from the way Raphael and Iridia referred to them.
In order to prove themselves, in order to not stain August's image, they had to thoroughly dominate the genius in front of them. No matter what.
Juno moved first, just as he always did. Their battle formations had been ironed out through several wars and excursions they'd participated in together, so the five of them, including August, had impeccable teamwork.
August wasn't participating in this battle as actively since he was still trying to hide his strength, but Gianna was a step worse than Eris, and all of her opponents were also 4th class soldiers.
At the end of the day, no matter how talented a Holy Clan genius was, they were still under the age of one hundred. They were still 4th class practitioners who hadn't entered the nine revolutions left.
That meant that they were nothing but prey to these geniuses from Bastille.
BOOOOOOOOM!
Lava exploded outward, erupting from the ground everywhere and coalescing into a massive wave.
Juno stomped powerfully and pushed his arms forward, controlling the wave to attack Gianna.
"Hmph."
She snorted at the relatively simple attack.
Did they really think that something so basic could ever hope to corner her?
A wall of darkness erected itself in front of her, solidifying as the lava came closer.
BOOOOOOM!
Giana's expression changed the instant it made contact. She frowned as she was forced to throw away her casual control. She pushed mana into her barrier as its outermost layers melted away.
August and Juno were rivals. They were still rivals despite so much time passing. Juno was less talented than August if one looked at bloodline alone, but he always found a way to keep himself equal to his closest friend, even if he had to die to ensure it.
The concepts of fire contained within that wave of lava were complexly woven and strong enough to impress even Iridia Ignis.
As she watched on, she couldn't believe that a random dragon she'd never heard of was able to release such an insane amount of power. In but a single attack, Juno made her understand why August persistently insisted that she needed to understand them before trying to control them.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Juno didn't end at just a single wave of lava. He summoned more and more, controlling an entire sea that rose into a tsunami as it approached the wall of darkness. Wave upon wave crashed against it. The darkness itself was forced to burn, but Gianna's defense never fell.
She created an even larger wall and curved it to manipulate the flow of the lava around her. Under her command, it crashed into the barrier walls and bombarded them with mana, weakening the system that kept her trapped.
It was a solid plan, but it required her to focus on maneuvering her enemy's mana.
Frankly, in a battle where she faced multiple enemies at once, it only left her open.
Shing!
Gianna's eyes widened. She suddenly dropped her body, just narrowly avoiding a blade aimed at her throat.
Bang!
She turned around just in time to feel the impact of a kick that squarely struck her ribs.
Gianna flew back into her own darkness wall and used it to support herself as she regained balance.
VOOM!
Her mana raged, making it impossible for anyone to get close. In a single second afterward, countless blades of darkness were created and sent flying in every direction.
It was a rapid and random attack from someone who couldn't confirm her enemy's location, but it gave her more than enough time to try and find them.
Gianna's eyes scanned the small area that existed on this side of her barrier.
She caught sight of Yuna immediately, since she didn't make any efforts to hide herself.
Instead, she smiled and waved.
RUMBLE!
A huge earthen wall shot up from the ground and separated them.
When Gianna spread her awareness, she quickly found that it was just one of many.
The entire structure inside the barrier had been altered, boxing her in and limiting her range of movement. The maze-like structure of the walls also made it harder for her to predict where her enemies would come from and where she herself could move.
It was none other than Mikaela's power.
She was more skilled in concealment than the rest of them, but she wasn't an assassin. Like Yuna and Raul, she had a unique speciality that couldn't be easily found in this world.
Rather than having an affinity for a single element, Mikaela's affinity was the environment itself. She was incredibly skilled in controlling the surroundings, and when it came to group battles, she took a crowd control role.
The stage had been properly set up. Juno's lava tsunami was gone for now, and Yuna had disappeared, but they had Gianna thoroughly trapped in their web.
Slowly and systematically, they bombarded her.
Lava crashed through the corridors whenever they needed to force her on the defensive, At times when Gianna got more confident and tried to attack, Yuna appeared from the depths of nothingness and barraged her with close-ranged attacks aimed to take off her head in a single strike.
Dragons had an unbelievable amount of mana. Even for young dragons like these geniuses, it would take several hours of constant and unruly usage to truly run dry.
However, that changed when they were forced to pump more and more mana out every second.
That changed when their mental state was corroded by their circumstances.
Gianna was still aiming to escape. She wanted to find the barrier wall and direct all attacks into it until it broke.
The problem was that she could no longer see that wall.
At some point, she'd become stranded in the maze with no idea which direction was what.
In a situation like this, no matter what her status was, no matter how powerful she was...
...she had truly become nothing more than a pig on the chopping block.