The ground began to crumble, the space in the courtyard growing smaller with time.
"Is it getting even larger?"
Akari couldn't believe her eyes.
She and Evvls had been repeatedly attacking the spirit after she shot off the lightning strike, but they weren't making too much progress. While Akari could simply shoot off another beam of lightning, she wasn't sure about the aftereffects of doing something like that again.
It was all because she couldn't feel any of it.
If she could feel the pain of the attack, she'd be able to know her limits. It's precisely this reason as to why Akari hasn't shot it off again.
Her insides could be shutting down due to the lingering effects of the lightning, and she wouldn't know.
"It is…"
Evvls had backed up to her side, the two staring at the spirit with widened eyes.
The snake, letting out a deafening roar, was growing in size. If it could swallow a human whole beforehand, now it could devour any room in the prison with ease.
"Were you two dealing with this the whole time?"
The two averted their gaze to the voice. It was Akatsuke, who had ran over to the two as the snake roared.
Evvls shook his head. "Basically… but it wasn't this large before."
Evvls continued, his mind working overdrive, "Hey, Akari… you think you can shoot that lightning out again?"
"I could… but I'm not sure about what'll happen to me."
Evvls tilted his head, "What do you mean?"
"Basically, I was shocking myself to contain it… like how the warden stores it inside the gun mold."
"So you need a catalyst to use it safely is what you're saying, right?" Evvls had summoned Conqueror's Strength as he spoke, his hand rummaging through its storage. He frowned after a moment of searching before looking upwards towards Xtsy, his soul weapon.
Xtsy, noticing his gaze, descended towards the three. Her divinity stopped flowing towards the children momentarily, her full attention diverted towards her master.
"What is it, Keharu?"
A sigh escaped his lips, his voice coming out smoothly, "Xtsy, are you capable of conducting lightning?"
"...Yes."
"Perfect… you may return to the skies now."
Xtsy stared at the boy for a moment. Though her eyes were covered, he could feel her piercing gaze on his skin.
"It'll… be only once. I promise."
With these words, the angel ascended to the skies once more, her divinity spreading to the children who battled the guards.
Wounds sealed themselves, and their fear of death was removed once more.
Another sigh escaped his lips as he raised the hilt of his soul towards Akari.
"Are you sure this is fine?"
"Yeah, just do it."
Akari nodded, her finger wrapping around the sword. She then held it to her gut and pointed the tip towards Vesper, who had now begun to rush forward.
Akatsuke immediately moved in front of the two, planting his feet in the ground. His calves bulged as he prepared to halt the snake's advance on his own.
"Probably gonna need some backup here!"
Evvls quickly got behind Akatsuke, supporting his backside.
*CCCCRRRACK!!*
Akatsuke's legs bent backwards, even with Evvls pushing him forward with all his might.
While Vesper was stopped in his tracks, Akatsuke's body was mangled. His ribs were caved in, organs punctured by bones, and his muscles were ripped.
But even with all this, a bright white light immediately began to pour from his wounds, and he stiffened and slumped downward, his wounds healing.
Soft cracking noises came out of his body, the broken bones mending themselves, causing the holes in his organs to fill and muscles to reattach.
Evvls grunted out, "Akari, is it ready?!"
"Yes, please move!"
Akari had been pumping Xtsy with pure lightning for the past few moments. Doing it this way, she no longer needed to destroy her body, but pushing her mana into a foreign object proved to be a bit difficult.
But she could do it.
The blade of Xtsy began to vibrate, light blue lightning streaked along the blade, and with a flash, it was released.
The beam of lightning struck Vesper's chest, the impact spreading out.
Light illuminated the courtyard, momentarily silencing the battlefield.
Akari fell over from the force of the blast, which also knocked Evvls and Akatsuke back.
Once the light dimmed and the lightning faded from existence, only Vesper was left upright. The scales covering its torso were scorched, yet intact.
"It's… stronger as well?!"
Beforehand, the only thing in the kids' arsenal that could pierce the snake's scales was the lightning magic Akari had copied from Ken. However, with its increased size, it seemed as if the snake's defensive capabilities grew as well.
"No… the attack simply spread out too much," Evvls slowly rose, his arms shaking as each word struggled out of his lips. "Now that each of its scales grew, you probably struck a scale and caused the attack to spread out."
Akari looked to her side to see a… burned Evvls?
Many questions ran through her head, but she simply decided to ask just one.
"What happened to you?"
"You ran electricity through my soul… did you honestly think I wouldn't be affected at all?!"
Evvls was annoyed. While he could admit that Akari was a kind… and strong person, there were times when she seemed to lack common sense.
While everyone had their quirks, Evvls found Akari… stranger than the average person.
"Right… sorry about that."
"It's fine, Akatsuke, you good to go?"
Though Evvls didn't know how he did it, it seemed as if Akatsuke found some way to heal any injury he received.
'A Soul Weapon perhaps?'
Through Xtsy, the angel, rather than the actual blade, he was able to see everything happening on the battlefield. He saw how he was able to regenerate from multiple fatal wounds. This was why he was so willing to push Akatsuke into danger.
While he wanted to ask, he decided it'd be the wrong time to do so.
So instead, he questioned if he was ready to rejoin the battle.
"Yeah… just give me a second."
Akatsuke was clutching his arms, his teeth gritted.
Though he was now immortal, his immortality did not protect him from the pain of his bones shattering, his organs ripping, or even his skin sliding against the ground.
Once he could get over the memory, he'd be able to help once more.
Until then, it was back to Akari and Evvls.
"I'm going in." Akari quickly spat out as she ran forward, Xtsy still in her hands.
"Hey! When did I say you could fight with my sword?!"
Evvls rushed in behind her. The two ran towards Vesper, who glared at the two with venomous hatred.
Akari slashed to the right, but the scales of Vesper did not budge. So, she let go of the blade. She was no swordsman after all.
The sword was left in the space right in front of Vesper, so Evvls grabbed the blade as if it were natural, continuing the strike that Akari abandoned.
Sparks flew, yet no blood was shed.
Vesper flicked its tail towards Evvls, prompting Akari to guard him with her body.
Akari pushed mana out of her body, creating a sort of shockwave that slowed the tail's advance, softening the blow.
Evvls thrusted the blade under the scale he had just struck with Xtsy. Due to Vesper's larger size, the space between scales grew, and Evvls was banking on this.
Vesper hissed in pain, blood spurting out from under the scale.
Akari was pushed away, leaving Evvls to defend himself.
"Evvls, lookout!" Akari cried out as she quickly got back on her feet.
Evvls quickly jumped away before Vesper could swipe its tail at him, but that wasn't the end of its assault. A barrage of wind slashes emerged from the tail's path, aimed directly at Evvls.
"Shit!"
Evvls guarded, his mana creating a thin shield around himself, but it was futile. The winds shattered the shield, leaving him defenseless.
Cuts, shallow and deep, appeared all over his body, covering him in blood.
Akari caught him, laying him down as he covered them both in her mana. While she didn't know how to make an actual functional shield, seeing Evvls make a shield was enough for her to mimic it to a greater extent.
A dense sphere covered the two as she placed her hand on his chest, trying to heal his body.
Wind constantly bombarded the barrier, leaving no room for escape.
Akari's fingers began to twitch, focusing on maintaining the barrier around them and healing Evvls taking a toll on her mind.
Blood trickled from her nose as she also began to heal herself, not knowing if she was hurting herself by multitasking.
"Stop it." Evvls coughed out as he slowly sat up. His wounds hadn't closed, but he had stopped bleeding.
"You're still wounded though."
Akari stared at Evvls, her gaze unwavering.
Evvls waved her off and stood up, confidently saying, "I can use holy magic when holding Xtsy, so don't worry."
Akari's gaze lingered a moment longer before she stood as well, focusing fully on managing the barrier.
With Xtsy in his hand, Evvls' wounds began to glow, a warm light enveloping him.
Slowly, his wounds began to close, as if Xtsy's divinity were wrapping around him.
"How can we get out of this?" Akari, seeing that he was telling the truth, spoke up.
"We wait."
Akari looked dumbfounded for a moment before nodding, deciding to trust his judgement.
Till now, he hasn't truly been wrong after all.
The wind's bombardment showed no signs of ending, but Akari's barrier was unmoving. With an infinite amount of mana constantly flowing into it, the barriers defenses were being refreshed before true damage could take place.
It was truly an impregnable defense.
Evvls' eyes weren't on Vesper, the spirit releasing the constant wind blades towards them. They were on the only one outside of the barrier, Akatsuke.
The boy who was recuperating himself had finally risen, charging towards Vesper from behind.
Evvls' eyes narrowed as he drew back Xtsy, a white light enveloping the blade.
"Holy magic… light slash!"
A blinding slash advanced out of the barrier, cleaving through the wind and striking Vesper where Evvls had stabbed it earlier.
The impact staggered Vesper, with Akatsuke punching the snake in the spot Akari had used the first lightning beam.
The spirit's body fell to the ground, ending the assault of wind blades.
Akari immediately dispelled the barrier and created a bow made of blood.
"Akatsuke, move it!!"
Akari drew back a supercharged arrow.
She remembered that these arrows exploded on contact, having an extremely unstable structure.
Akatsuke nodded and backed away from Vesper, the snake being bombarded with explosive blood arrows.
"Keep that up Akari."
Xtsy began to glow in Evvls' hands once more, preparing for one final blow.
Blood began to flood the ground, dozens of arrows raining on Vesper.
"Alright, now!"
Akari's bombardment stopped, with her and Akatsuke rushing in beside each other.
Evvls' advance began slightly later than the two, letting them take the lead.
Vesper rose, the scales on its body loosely hanging onto its skin. The scales on the right side of its face were fully destroyed and its chest had most of the scales being either damaged or destroyed.
Vesper opened its jaws and chomped towards Akari and Akatsuke, scrapping both of them.
Venom coursed through the two's veins, Akatsuke feeling an intense pain that wouldn't fade. While Akari couldn't feel it, she could see the ground getting closer to her face.
The two collapsed, but that didn't matter, for they weren't the ones attacking.
It was Evvls.
"Light thrust!"
Evvls released the attack towards Vesper's chest, piercing through its bare skin.
Light enveloped the spirit, Evvls gritting his teeth as he took the spell a step further, calling out, "Divine flames!"
White flames began to fill Vesper, burning the snake's very existence.
"Haaaaaaa!"
The flames intensified, cracks appearing on Vesper, with the blade of Xtsy being the center of it all.
With one final push, Vesper dispersed, causing Evvls to fall on the ground as well, Xtsy being dismissed at the same time.
"I'm… gonna call it quits here."
Evvls mumbled as his consciousness faded, his mana and stamina depleted.