Chapter 20: Sisterly Love Runs Deep
"Alice is getting hot-headed again; this is not looking good."
From her seat in the spectator stands, Dorothy watched the battle unfold, covering her face in dismay at her little sister's volatile temper.
The reason why battle arenas have environmental settings is because the environment can significantly influence a witch's combat effectiveness.
For instance, witches adept at water-based magic naturally gain a great advantage near lakes or at sea, while places like volcanic deserts would make things quite difficult for them, even casting spells becomes much harder.
Of course, for Peak Witches, these environmental factors would be limited, as such powerhouses could move mountains, or even destroy worlds with ease. They don't need to adapt to the environment; instead, it is the environment that needs to adapt to them. Their very presence could permanently alter their surroundings.
But clearly, both Alice and Isabella, who haven't even completed compulsory education, are still far from reaching such a realm. The influence of the battle environment on their fight is still substantial.
Just as Alice nicknamed Isabella "Fat Salty Fish," there's a saying that nicknames are never wrongly bestowed. Nicknames often reflect certain characteristics of the person.
The "fat" in Fat Salty Fish referred to Isabella's figure, which, though she was the same age as Alice, had already developed into a beautifully contoured physique, while "salty fish" was a nod to Isabella's Evolution Template.
Isabella's mother, the Sea Moon Witch, was a witch exceedingly skilled in naval combat and water-shaping magic. To enhance her abilities in this domain, she chose an Evolution Template from the dominant species of the seas, and after much deliberation, the Sea Moon Witch settled on the merfolk.
Mermaids, also known as sea maidens or daughters of the sea, are a supernatural race with the upper body of a beautiful woman and the tail of a fish. They can manipulate tides, summon storms, command sea creatures, and of course, there's the infamous Mermaid's Song. Sailors who hear a mermaid's song on the sea are charmed by them, later dragged into the water to propagate before being consumed as nutrients.
Overall, they are a very powerful race.
Over the years, witches have ranked the exotic races they've encountered from weakest to strongest: Black Iron, Bronze, Silver, and Gold.
The merfolk are categorized as a Silver Species, a formidable race second only to the Golden Rank Calamity Race, which includes Angels, Demons, and Dragons.
As the daughter of the Sea Moon Witch, Isabella inherited part of her mother's mermaid talent from birth, possessing an extraordinary gift for water-shaping magic.
Miss Blue Hair had previously used wide-area scouting magic to survey the terrain. Typically, an arena with a jungle map would have some lakes besides the forests, and these lakes are her strongholds.
However, Isabella was quite unlucky this time, as the lakes spawned closer to Alice. This is why earlier Isabella didn't immediately create distance to bombard her opponent with her proficient long-range artillery magic but instead flew directly towards the middle of the arena to tangle with Alice. She wanted to get as close to the lakes as possible to benefit from the environmental advantage.
Her plan had undoubtedly succeeded now, and the groundwork for victory was laid.
In contrast, her short-tempered foolish little sister Alice seemed truly blinded by rage, with only thoughts of beating up her opponent, thus failing to realize her old rival's plan in time—an error she would not have made had she been thinking clearly.
Of course, this doesn't mean that Alice is destined to lose. Although she had fallen into a trap, the distance between the two had indeed been closed significantly. If Alice could seize the opportunity for a close-quarters surprise attack, there was still a chance for victory.
.....
The calm lake surface, stirred by Isabella's magic power, erupted into massive waves, into which an out-of-control Alice crashed head-on. As the waves calmed, a water spout transformed into a Water Prison, trapping Alice inside.
Water is formless; the little witch trapped inside flailed in an attempt to escape, but even with innate Divine Power, she found no footing against the flowing water and seemed unable to break free in the short term.
On the other side, Isabella, who had seized the opportunity, wouldn't waste her chance while her opponent was restrained. She raised her hand, rapidly incanting a complex spell.
Miss Blue Hair clearly employed High-Speed Divine Words, even Multiple Incantations, those advanced spellcasting techniques. Her voice, as enchanting as a mermaid's, overlapped into something rather shrill and piercing.
The exceedingly long spell that would normally take at least three minutes to chant at a normal pace was condensed into a mere six seconds using such advanced techniques. Subsequently, a vast surge of magic power erupted, once again stirring up the waters in the lake below. A vast vortex appeared on the lake that had just calmed down, and within that vortex, something dangerous seemed to be stirring.
"Roar..."
Accompanied by a deep and majestic dragon roar, a serpentine and enormous shadow burst forth from the vortex, piercing the sky. The figure, composed entirely of flowing water, had clear scale armor; its short, robust limbs gleamed with sharp claws. The fierce dragon head with its enormous eyes stared intently at the target within the Water Prison.
Six-Ring Water-Shaping Magic, Sea Dragon Cannon.
In the Witch World, spells are divided into thirteen rings based on difficulty and power. Of these, the zero ring spells are tricks used for Apprentice Magic enlightenment. Subsequently, the twelve rings are divided into four orders with every three rings forming one order, which means the 1-3 rings are Low Rank, 4-6 rings are Middle Rank, 7-9 rings are High Rank, and 10-12 rings are known as Forbidden Curses.
Generally speaking, High Rank magic could destroy cities, while Forbidden Curses were said to possess terrible power capable of destroying a world. Even in a Witch Society wherein the average spellcaster was of High Rank, witches capable of mastering High Rank magic and above were usually mid-aged elites who had ventured and trained for hundreds of years.
Yet Isabella, a mere thirteen-year-old underage little witch, could already cast the strongest Middle-Rank magic, the Sixth Order, so effortlessly. She truly deserved the name of a prodigy.
"These are real sisters, aren't they? Going all out like this, wanting to deliver a quick kill."
In the stands, Dorothy twitched her mouth as she watched the hundreds of meters long, enormous Sea Dragon below, which had nearly drained the entire lake to condense its form.
Artillery Witches are always like that; they always like to give it their all. As a result, there are often situations akin to using a cannon to swat a mosquito. Clearly, there is only Alice to target now, and using a single-target high-damage spell would have sufficed. But as a qualified Artillery Witch, Isabella still chose to fire a map-wide blast.
"Go and end this battle, shatter everything, Sea Dragon."
The blue-haired Miss, confident of her victory, flicked her curled ponytail with her hand. Then, pointing her trident wand towards Alice, who was still struggling within the Water Prison, revealed a winner's smile.
Obeying her will, the gigantic Sea Dragon beside her took flight, its huge dragon body slamming into the Water Prison with a force that threatened to drown everything. It continued its relentless charge towards the jungle behind, mercilessly destroying everything that stood in its wake.
"Hoho... Alice, what do you think of my bombardment, how exhilarating is it?"
A slightly short of breath Isabella, who had consumed a lot of magic power, was panting with a look of fatigue. However, in high spirits, her face was full of vigorous energy as she covered her mouth with one hand while mockingly laughing with a voice that feigned elegance but was actually loud and wild.
"Mm-hmm, indeed big and powerful. Now, how about you taste my bullets?"
While Miss Blue Hair was basking in her triumph, her face suddenly stiffened. Behind her back, something small but hard pressed against her, followed by that malice-rich voice in her ears.
Bang, bang...
With two crisp gunshots, Isabella stared blankly at her chest exploding open—this area, which had always been a source of pride, now contained two massive holes.
Subsequently, bright red blood spurted out like a fountain. The girl's consciousness became blurred, and in the very last moment, as she fell, she saw the crimson full moon that had unknowingly hung itself in the sky.
The duel ended, Alice 999 HP vs Isabella 0 HP, Alice is the victor.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone