It was only now that Beatrice truly understood what the strength of a Saint Knight should be like.
She was no longer the same as when they first met, blindly swinging her sword without any technique. Beatrice could clearly sense that the person before her could precisely control her own magic essence, gathering it all around herself.
Especially when those golden spears condensed around her, the dense magic power within them was so thick it seemed almost tangible.
Although her magic was the same golden color as Aurora’s, it was different. Aurora’s gold radiated a sense of purity and holiness, while the magic Beatrice released carried a terrifying pressure and unease. How could a Saint Knight possess such strange magic?
“You… what did you do to my sister…?” Lola Bell spoke slowly, her voice no longer calm as before, but now trembling like a crying child.
Her expression remained as calm as a still lake, yet tears slid continuously from the corners of her eyes.
“Heh. Of course, I took my time savoring your sister’s flavor…”
She hadn’t even finished her words when, in the very next instant, the figure before her appeared right in front of her eyes.
The sword swung at her was wreathed in a holy aura.
She had rarely fought with members of the clergy before, but she believed that after this battle, this terrifying holiness, so different from her preconceptions, would remain etched in her memory for a long time.
“Damn it!”
Beatrice summoned three barriers in front of herself. As the blade struck the barriers, she seized the moment to leap backward.
‘Whoosh.’
The sound of air being sliced came from behind. Tilting her head back slightly, she saw that two golden spears had somehow appeared behind her, aiming for her back.
With a tremor, the barrier before her shattered instantly, the blade thrusting straight toward her.
She was surrounded from front and back, and even above, a spear pointed down at her. She had nowhere left to retreat.
She swiftly activated the Magic Circle in her hand, its complex patterns instantly shining with an even more intense light.
Purple vines suddenly burst from the sand, wrapping Beatrice’s entire body within.
‘Swish.’
The vines were severed by Lola Bell’s sword in a single stroke, but Beatrice’s figure was nowhere to be seen inside.
“Kill you kill you kill you…”
Lola Bell murmured over and over at her lips, her gold and black eyes sweeping around the encircling vines, finally halting in one direction.
She gripped the holy sword tightly, white wings unfurling, and soared in that direction.
All around, the vines seemed to receive a command, rapidly spreading toward Lola Bell.
Countless thorns sprouted from the surface of the vines, dripping with corrosive venom.
Yet Lola Bell paid no heed to the vines, charging straight into them, letting them leave streaks of black across her face.
The bloodstained marks left by the venom lingered only briefly, for every time a mark appeared, her face would instantly heal, even the lingering purple poison being swiftly neutralized.
‘Swish.’
Reaching the vines ahead, her raised blade finally fell, slicing a gash in the wall-like mass of vines.
Outside the vines, Beatrice had already prepared several large-scale spells, Magic Circles of various patterns radiating potent magic all around her.
‘Boom!’
Several beams of purple light shot out at once, raising clouds of dust wherever they passed, with corrosive violet smoke rushing toward Lola Bell.
She stepped back, plunging the holy sword into the ground, summoning a golden shield-shaped barrier in front of her.
The beams, carrying a terrifying pressure, struck her shield. The golden shield continuously absorbed the dense magic from the beams, but after a moment, fine cracks like spiderwebs appeared, spreading until they covered the entire surface.
The immense energy swept through everything around, overflowing magic causing the space constructed by magic to gradually collapse. The sand beneath her feet shifted into the wooden floor of a classroom, and the endless sky flickered back and forth with the classroom’s ceiling. This space was on the verge of total collapse.
Golden fragments fell from the shield; it was nearing its limit.
As if unwilling to keep defending, Lola Bell drew her sword, and in the next moment, the barrier before her shattered completely.
The powerful beam struck her body head-on, the silver armor corroded bit by bit. Shielding her face, she forced herself to move forward step by step through the beam.
“What the hell is your body made of?”
Watching the flesh that was corroded and then instantly restored, advancing toward her, Beatrice’s eyes rarely showed a trace of fear. But the next moment, the fear vanished, replaced by even fiercer attacks against her opponent.
Driven back step by step by the stronger beams, Lola Bell summoned golden spears within the light, gripping one and hurling it at Beatrice.
The spear pierced through the beam, heading straight for Beatrice. At that moment, Beatrice, busy controlling her magic, couldn’t move and could only summon a dozen barriers before her to block the attack.
But before the holy light-imbued spear, the barriers were as fragile as paper, shattering layer after layer. Only when the spear was about to reach her did she finally stop casting and dodge to the side.
Finally seizing an opening, Lola Bell raised her sword before her eyes, her enormous white wings spreading wide. The golden light around her grew even more dazzling, and behind her, a gigantic golden figure, like a statue, slowly emerged, sword in hand. As Lola Bell’s blade fell, the giant sword came crashing down toward Beatrice.
Blinding golden light burst forth, the ground split by a bottomless chasm, golden magic still seeping from the fissure.
As the swirling sand settled, Beatrice appeared in the sky, covered in blood. Unlike the Saint Knight, she had no formidable defense. Her physical body had barely withstood the blow by hastily conjuring high-level Magic Barriers, but the immense shockwave still injured her.
She spat out a mouthful of black blood, wiped her lips, and still stared coldly at the red-haired girl before her.
“Kill you kill you kill you!”
She raised the holy sword again, the magic within it gathering in a matter of moments.
“Damn it…”
Beatrice summoned several different Magic Circles around herself again, preparing for the next round.
But suddenly, Lola Bell sheathed her fully-charged sword, her gloomy expression replaced once more by a gentle smile.
“That’s enough.”
“What?”
“If we keep fighting, the space will collapse. If we keep going, we’ll drag the other students in as well.”
Beatrice looked behind herself and finally realized that, at some point, she had returned to the classroom.
The surrounding students stared at them in fear, for both of them were covered in blood.
“When did this…”
She suddenly remembered Aurora, and glanced toward the front row, but her figure was nowhere to be seen.
Frantically searching below the stage, she still could not find her.
“Familiars’ Red Chain… has disappeared!”