"..."

Apathetically, Sylvia looked down at Lily who erupted from the water by summoning another creature from there.

"Sylvia... It’s me! Lily! Don’t you recognize me?!" Lily said desperately.

But she did not react.

Again, ice pillars from below shot up, trying to skewer Lily.

"My voice isn’t reaching her...!" Lily lamented frustratedly.

She gathered flames in her hand.

"You leave me no choice..."

On her signal, her creatures attacked Sylvia with fire breaths and by charging at her physically.

"!"

However, none of their flames could even come close to her as they all turned into black ice.

Then, in the brink of a second, Sylvia managed to fly over to the biggest group of creatures.

"So fast...!"

With just a swing of her arm, Sylvia froze roughly 60 creatures and made them drop down to the sea.

"Then, what about this...?"

Tensely, Lily summoned a further 100 creatures.

She ordered them and the other creatures to concentrate their fire on one spot instead of attacking from different angles.

"..."

And this time, Sylvia opted for dodging rather than facing the attack again.

At the same moment, Lily sneaked up on her from behind while riding her bird.

Lily amassed flames in her hand and fired off a great blaze that could have engulfed an entire ship galleon.

"Ack...!"

However, a thin black icicle pierced through her flames and stabbed her right below her chest.

The flames dispersed and revealed the unfazed and unharmed Sylvia who charged straightforwardly at Lily.

"Hngh!"

Lily evaded her barely and created some distance from her.

She used that moment to take a deep breath.

Following that, she sacrificed 30 creatures and turned them back to her magic. And with that mass of magic, she created a bow out of fire.

There, a fire arrow appeared as Lily retracted her right arm gracefully.

Lily took multiple breaths.

And soon, the fire turned blue.

"Sorry."

Lily shot off her arrow which hit Sylvia in an instant.

Like a pillar, the blue flames rose to the sky as they engulfed Sylvia.

"..."

Lily shut her eyes and averted her face from the sight of her friend screaming from the pain she caused.

But soon the light of the flames disappeared.

Slowly, Lily opened her eyes and saw Sylvia covering her burnt spots with a layer of ice.

"!"

Her body flinched once more when Sylvia’s cold gaze met hers.

"Ack...?!"

Dozens of icicles and ice pillars emerged from the water and hit Lily before she could even perceive those attacks.

She was not stabbed directly but the attacks still hurt her.

"Who are you...?"

"?!"

Sylvia’s voice sounded painful and bitter.

"Sylvia..."

Stunnedly, Lily looked at Sylvia even though she was clenching her fist whose knuckles were covered in black ice.

Aside from a loud bang, nothing was heard as Lily was punched in the cheek and sent to the mainland.

She crashed into multiple buildings and flipped like a stone on the water until she could not see the sea anymore from her new location.

"Good gracious!"

"Let’s help her!"

"Young lady, are okay? Do you hear me?"

Her eyes were staring widely at the sky above her and she could perceive the presence and voices of strangers perfectly.

"...way..."

Lily tried to gather the strength to talk.

But neither her body nor her mouth could move as she wanted.

"...get away..." she repeated weakly.

She did not know where exactly she was but it would not take long until Sylvia would come for her again.

Lily was sure of that.

"Hey-"

The people were concerned about her and tried to help but Lily spaced out.

Her fingernails dug into the dirty soil.

Her body was for the most part numb. She could only feel blood leaving her body.

"Ack!"

She coughed painfully, letting even more blood out.

"..."

This was not what she imagined.

She knew about Sylvia and therefore, she wanted to be the one to face her.

If Mika had known about her, then he would instantly rush out to her.

Unfortunately, Lily had to accept that Sylvia was a dangerous individual who had to be stopped based on the Grat incident.

Currently, Mika was not mentally stable even though he tried to appear fine.

He already lost too much.

Knowing about the guilt he felt for abandoning Sylvia and the others for his village, she could not expect him to kill her now.

Rather, she did not want him to.

Now, it was her time to take a part of his burden.

Even if it meant killing her best friend.

"...?"

It turned silent around her.

And cold.

"Already...?"

Sylvia arrived at Lily’s place and already froze their surroundings.

"It hurts...!"

While Lily tried to get up, Sylvia was pulling on her hair.

"Who are you...? Who am I...?"

More and more ice gathered around them.

"Sylvia..." Lily said barely audible while spilling blood out of her mouth.

"AAAAHHH!!!"

Sylvia screamed suddenly.

"!"

And before she knew it, Lily’s vision was blocked as Sylvia grabbed her face with one hand.

"Get out of my head!"

Sylvia swung her arm and threw Lily with all her might.

"Argh..."

Midair, Lily tried to summon a creature to catch her but Sylvia was faster.

She flew right after Lily and launched a kick that sent her down.

"Bluergh!" Lily groaned as more blood flooded out of her mouth.

Her vision was blurred and slowly turned black.

The image of Sylvia descending was the last thing she perceived.

[Let me give you some power.]

"...?"

The voice she heard back then when Loogam was invaded years ago echoed in her mind.

[I will grant you the strength to defeat her.]

"...strength..."

[Yes, that’s right. I will give you the strength you need, however...]

The voice was eerie and dubious.

[You have to offer something in return.]

"...what..."

[All I want is freedom. That’s why I will be satisfied with sharing that body of yours.]

Lily did not respond.

She did not quite understand what the voice meant by sharing a body.

However, she did understand that the situation was dire.

If she would not make a move now, she would die.

"..."

Sylvia stretched her fingers and pressed them together before freezing them into a spearhead-like shape.

She wanted to finish Lily off and thus, flew quickly down to her.

"...?"

But her eyes were suddenly blinded.

Following that light, an explosion occurred, making Sylvia back off.

"..."

The dust dispersed soon, exposing Lily who was now also flying with two black wings like Sylvia. Her hair remained blonde but her eyes turned black and apathetic.

The flames in her hands looked darker than before and dark particles were swarming around her now.

"!"

Lily appeared before Sylvia and threw a punch.

Sylvia was taken by surprise but still blocked the punch, albeit being pushed away.

She grumbled and summoned small icicles in the air and shot them at Lily who, in turn, summoned dozens of flames and countered those icicles.

Furthermore, Lily summoned even more creatures and made them attack Sylvia from afar.

The two exchanged blows, be it with magic or with their bodies while Sylvia had to dodge the attacks of the creatures, too.

Without them knowing, the two moved further and further away from Hafor.

They punched and kicked each other and even pulled on their hair before throwing the other one somewhere randomly.

"More power... I need more...!" Lily muttered with ragged breathing.

Her body was already exhausted a long time ago. It was a wonder that she could still move.

"More...!"

A faint dark fog surrounded her as her mind and eyes started to get clouded.

In the meantime, Syliva, too, was reaching her limits and wanted to end this.

"Argh...!"

But instead of physical pain, she was more hurt mentally as her head was constantly flooded with vague images of her and other people whom she had no recollection of now.

"Make it disappear...! Let me alone...!"

She grabbed her own head with her hands and dug her nails in there.

"AARGHH!!!"

Again, she let an agonizing scream out.

She retracted her arm and assembled cold and dark fog in it.

At the same time, Lily summoned her remaining 200 creatures.

"..."

She reached out her hand and created a mass of magic that absorbed not only her remaining magic but also the existence of her creatures.

And soon, the two masses they held in their hands turned into firm balls containing every single ounce of magic they had.

Sylvia charged at Lily with a black ball in her hand.

Lily did the same with her dark blue ball. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

The two were about to collide in order to end this battle which lasted two days and one night without them even realizing.

But the other thing they did not realize was that they were no longer near Hafor.

Instead, they were already above Loogam.

"AAHHHH!!!" the two shouted vigorously.

Lily, who was losing her mind, pushed her hand forward.

Sylvia, who was slowly regaining her mind, also kept pushing.

And then, there was no distance between them anymore.