章節 41: The Final Battle At The Adriatic Sea
The horde of undead ran towards Oriana. However, she had something in stored for them. She bit a piece of flashcard and threw it on the floor. Immediately, the ice pillar beside her shot towards the ceiling and broke into numerous smaller pieces.
A thousand, million, billion sharp fragments blanketed the entire width and height of the lobby hurling straight towards the horde. Seeing the amount of ice cubes being shot at her, Ester quickly hid inside the prismatic room, waiting for the 'grenade' that she threw to wear off. The only way she could tell that it ended was if the shrapnel pieces stopped entering the room.
During the whole duration of it, Oriana showed her respect by saying this.
"My name is Basis104 - The one who carries the foundation. Now that I've announced myself, I'm going to win. I believe I should give you my magic name as well, seeing as how you've revealed yours to me already."
Ester looked down at the floor to see what else she could do to kill Oriana but she only had her undead and her support spells. And then a plan came to mind.
The moment the barrage of ice blocks stopped, Ester peeked her head to find Oriana and she did in an instant but not at the position where she'd thought she'd be.
While she was still standing at the same spot, this time from a circle surrounding here, there were veins that branched out like a tree as the veins had glowing effect on them, similar to the floor lighting as she had many straw ropes wrapped around her hand.
The ropes looped and coiled around one another, covering her arm in the pattern of a
crude cargo net and she waved her netted right arm.
Air flowed out of all the holes in the net —each one of the air currents was a blade of explosive
fire that could punch a hole in the side of a hill.
Ester could only run as Oriana continuously shot the air currents at here, which prompted Ester to act quick. If it was explosive, all she had to do was get close to her. But with the tree-like spell around her, she could not risk approaching Oriana, especially when she had not caught a proper break yet.
So she commanded her army.
A pair of skeletal arms broke through the floor and grabbed Oriana's feet from within the circle, which shook Oriana as she fell back into her own trap. When she came into contact with one of the veins, an air current hit her back, causing her to bounce even further away from the circle, which immediately deactivated it. The skeletal arms were persistent however, as it followed her out of the circle as well.
And when she landed, a skeleton face was right in front of her, ready to bite her head off. She slammed her elbow into the side of it's head and it shattered immediately thanks to the lack of bone structure in it's head.
When it was disassembled, it still had not let go, so she had to forcefully tear apart it's fingers one by one.
Ester did not waste the opportunity to dash towards her, preparing a talisman in hand. She swiped the talisman on her left arm to give it more power, and while she was at it, more skeletal arms emerged from the ground to grab hold of Oriana's body, forcing her to be pinned down. This situation was the worst for Oriana. The undead was relentless with their hold as they pressed her down so hard that if she didn't squirm around just a bit, they would have dug their sharp, bony fingers into her abdomen.
"Damn it!!" Oriana pulled a flashcard with the symbol of soil in the color of red and she threw it at the floor. Immediately, the floor was set on fire, and the boney hands started to slowly burn away as she used every ounce of strength in her body to pull herself up.
The moment she got up, Ester was just about 10 more steps from reaching her. What made it worse was a block of ice fell from the ceiling and it covered her vision on Ester. But thankfully, she knew what was about to happen. The ice block was about 8 meters in length and width and she jumped on top of it and Ester barely managed to escape the burning ground by jumping on the ice block as well.
But Oriana knew she had to jump so she bit off a flashcard and threw at the precise landing spot. The moment Ester touched the block, a pillar of fire with a 3 meter diameter burned around her which prompted her to rush at Oriana. Ester had predicted that Oriana would use this opportunity to attack her so she ran out with her shoulder in front, and true enough, Oriana tried to throw a right uppercut, but Ester's shoulder was too heavy for her as she shoved Oriana back to the edge of the block.
Ester, still clenching her left fist, pulled it back and tried to hit Oriana with it, but Oriana was quick enough to react in time and she quickly moved to the side to avoid getting her brains smashed in. Ester hit the ground, and the impact sent Oriana flying back again. As she was in the air, she bit a piece of flashcard that had the wind symbol in yellow writing. Immediately, a blade of dozen meters long shot out of her Shorthand stack and it pierced Ester through the back and into the ship below.
As she was landing, the blade followed her and it made a very deep cut into Ester's body.
And as if Ester had not lost a lot of blood already, she vomited even more out. But she couldn't stop there, she ducked further than Oriana's arm, and crawled away from the blade. Oriana simply moved her arm to the side to try and slash her again with the dozen meter long blade, but Ester used whatever strength she had left to jump over it, and Oriana followed it up with a diagonal slash to try and catch her in the air, but Ester simply tilted her body to the other side as she used her arm strength to land on the ground. In the process, she lost the enhancement on her left arm.
Although shaky, she gracefully pushed herself towards Oriana using her arms as a boost, and she tried to kick Oriana using her leg strength. But Oriana was quick to react although she was shocked that Ester could still move like an animal.
She stopped the spell as she engaged Ester in hand-to-hand combat. Ester landed on both of her feet as Oriana swung down, she ducked and delivered an uppercut to Oriana's chin. The hit connected and Ester mind started to run as she thought of the next action she should do to follow up.
Oriana flew through the air and Ester ran at her, throwing her right hand down her stomach. Oriana let out a groan as her back hit the floor and she was bounced back. Ester could not continue the combo as she was almost running out of stamina.
"Haaa...haaaa...haaaa...."
Ester was having difficulties breathing already as the smoke from the fire filled the air, and even if there was a bit of water coming in, there was still no oxygen.
Oriana, on the other hand, still had quite a bit of energy as she had conserved it specifically for this fight.
But even if she was energized, she was still sweating just as much.
Then, without letting up, she was on the offensive this time. With her finger locked in with the ring of the Shorthand, she threw a punch at Ester's face, but she was still alert to dodge it easily. However, Oriana only threw a jab, so when Ester tried to counterattack, she still had her arms ready to go. Ester tried to punch her in the liver, but she blocked it with her left hand, and threw a punch with her right hand, which had the Shorthand around it.
Ester successfully blocked the punch, but it seemed like it was futile as a loud explosion occurred on her hand. The scariest thing was that it did not even affect Oriana in the least bit as she stood her ground and smashed the top of her head against Ester's nose.
Ester still had not let her grip go and Oriana took advantage of it as she threw Ester forward, slamming her back on the ground followed by a stomp on her face.
And another one as the ice ship began to fall apart and the water was slowly flowing into the ship.
Ester with her bloodied nose, hands and body laid on the floor as Oriana finally let go, breathing hard as she sat down on the ice block behind Ester.
"Is it...finally over?" Oriana asked as she looked at the broken ceiling.
But a voice beneath her was heard, and it seemed like Ester still had not accepted her defeat as she laid down on her sides.
"It's...not yet...over..."
Ester tried to get up but she couldn't. Her body was too strained from all the fighting in the last few hours. She could barely even move a muscle at this point.
"It's useless. Don't bother trying to get up. You've lost, Ester."
But she couldn't take it.
She didn't want to lose to her like that.
Not while Accelerator was still alive and waiting for her to come back.
"I won't lose...!!!"
But her body wouldn't listen. She lost a lot of blood already as her blood continued to leak out onto the ice block.
"...I'm sorry. But you've lost, Ester. Admit it and take it on the chin."
"Never!! If I were to go now, all the girls around him will take him away from me! I really love him...but...he doesn't even look my way."
"..."
"You can call my actions righteous or jealousy, but I see it as both...!"
"..."
"I made it an effort to protect him but he doesn't even want me around..."
"..."
"You...because of you, we were separated. When he was looking for you, he pushed me away just to hunt you down and I couldn't even do anything!! That's why I'll pay you back for what you did to me."
"What I did back then was for the good of the world. While you were in search of his heart, I was in search of peace."
Oriana got up from the ground as she looked down at her.
"He wouldn't want you to kill anyone that's why he went out of the way for you."
"But he's done that too many times!! I couldn't even pay back what I owe him!"
"Then, won't you make it an effort to continue looking for him? Killing people won't bring you closer to him, but it'll push him away instead. He doesn't want to see you this way."
"..."
Ester had stopped to think about her actions as well. But the problem was if he didn't know, there would be no problems. If she let Oriana live, she could always blackmail her with it. But Oriana threw her hand out for Ester.
"We'll call it a truce from here. I won't mention anything about this to him. In return, you have to stop killing people. Sounds fair?"
"..."
It was a huge risk and not a very nice way to go but seeing as how the ship was about to break apart as the water started to sink in, she gave in and shook Oriana's hand as she was lifted up.
"Alright, you win Oriana. I admit defeat."
As skilled as Ester was, the difference between their magical prowess was too huge. Ester could only control the dead and only had support talismans rather than offensive ones, while Oriana had a mini grimoire in her hands. Who knows what other tricks she could be able to pull off.
Then Ester asked a very important question.
"As nice as it is for the both of us to make up, how do we even get out of here now?"
"Hm? You didn't have a plan to get out?"
"No, but do you?"
"I do actually. I told Agnese-chan and all the other Sisters from her group to prepare a boat for us, so they're waiting for us right now. Problem is, this whole ship is going to collapse on us and I don't know how to get out of here."
"I got just the thing."
As Oriana placed Ester's arm around her shoulder to support her, the undead rose up from the water and even though it scared Oriana just a little looking at their faces, she trusted Ester.
"I'll have my undead break a path for us. From there, I'll have them guide us all the way up."
"Nice, I guess..."
"Why? Feeling a little uncomfortable?"
"Haha, just a bit."
Ester hugged Oriana closer to her as they looked in front.
"Don't worry. I'll make sure we get back alive."
As Oriana and Ester both dipped into the water, the undead army broke a hole for Oriana and Ester to dive right into the water. From there, five to six of them pushed and pulled Oriana and Ester from their backs and legs as they dragged them out of the water. Although it was a shaky ride, Oriana persevered and eventually made it out with just enough air left to keep her and Ester floating.
"Anyway, I needed someone to help me get out of the water. If the undead senses weakness in me, they'll turn on me. That's the disadvantage of my magic power."
Ester said with a sarcastic smile but she was really happy to have Oriana helping her. When Agnese found the both of them while riding a ferry to fetch them, she had Lucia and Angelene alongside the rest of her Sisters to pull them out of the water.
The moment Ester and Oriana got onto the ferry, the flagship along with the other ships sank into the ocean. And that was the mission completed.
"I guess this means we're going back to Academy City." Ester lamented.
However, Oriana had a different outtake on the situation they were in.
"Who says we're going back to Academy City? We have a week left to spend here. Let's just take some time off all this magic war and enjoy ourselves. Besides, we can't go back without a proper shower~"
Oriana said as she dug her fingers into Ester's breasts that were quite big for her petite size.
"And we also need to patch you up." This time she caressed her skin.
"You know...I'm regretting my decision to spare you..."
Ester said as she tried to push Oriana's hand away. The other sisters looked on in disgust at the type of woman Oriana is.
"Oh, don't be embarrassed, Ester-chan~!"
"AHEM...!!"
Agnese broke the tension between the two as she cleared her throat and then she looked at Oriana.
"So, everything has been settled. What now? I doubt the Roman Catholic Church will turn a blind eye to this. We're going to be targeted by assassins around Italy right now."
"It's okay. We'll fend them off if they try anything. Just tell your squad to keep a lookout for anyone who they don't recognize or someone who they think seems suspicious. In our current state, Ester and I can't really move much."
"Then, once you guys have healed up and go back to Academy City, what do we do from here?"
"You'll follow us into Academy City and help out a certain boy there."
"..."
It took Agnese approximately 3 seconds to think about what she had just said. And she had only one response...
"Are you out of your mind?! N-No way will I serve that fiend!!"
"But there's no other place for you to go now, is there?"
"Gh?! Fine! Fine! But if he demands anything that exceeds my limit, I'll stop right there and leave. Understood?!"
Agnese said as she flapped her arms around like a bird as she complained.
Oriana and Ester only giggled as the ferry sailed back to the canal, ending the battle of the Adriatic Sea, and fulfilling the Chairman's request.
創作者的想法 
dontouchme
dontouchme And so, a bit of a rushed chapter I guess you can say? Since it wasn't very long winded. But now that this arc is over, it's time we catch ourselves some ghost, dont you guys think? But thanks to everyone who supported this fanfic. I hope you guys will stay till the end when I start doing crossovers.