Enrico immediately noticed the change in Aoi and kicked Merta away, preventing any idea of her interfering in the fight behind them. Merta was genuinely worried about her brother.
"Impact..."
"Hand of the Plague..."
Their combat intensified, flames colliding with corrupted flesh, cracking the ground around them. The speed of both increased abruptly, even while they were still paying attention to their companions.
"Blue Fire Concentration"
Aoi crossed the distance between herself and Sacri in an instant. The strike came straight on, loaded with all the accumulated power of the six-tailed fox behind her and the partial transformation. The impact pierced the defenses, burning Sacri's body from the inside out, breaking the concentration of the disease left in the air and throwing him against the wall at the back of the hall.
"Aaahh"
His body fell, motionless for a few seconds. The blue flame slowly dissipated, and Aoi held her stance, breathing heavily. Sacri was still moving slightly, with his corrupted core floating in the air in front of him, resisting complete destruction.
"What is that?"
"Damn it, my sister had to interfere."
Meria, far away, had her arm raised in his direction. That magic was both defense and healing for her brothers. On the other side, Merta snarled in frustration while Enrico remained firm in front of her, flames still active around his fists.
'I wanted to have fun, but my brother needs help.'
She had to find a way to get closer to the fight between the two in order to give a greater buff to Secre's unique ability. She couldn't waste time, so she would have to drag Enrico along with her. While he was delayed, Aoi began to surpass Secre's level, even though she still had some difficulty.
"Fox Fireball"
After landing a blue fireball on the ribs, Aoi received an explosion of disease mana on her shoulder from Secre's claws, making her grimace in pain.
'Well, he's worse off.'
Her opponent was in a worse state than she was. Increasing her level in the middle of the battle had surprised him, which ended up giving her an advantage.
'My dear will definitely be able to defeat that other one, the only problem is her…'
Behind them, Sisaka was having greater difficulty but seemed to have taken less damage, mainly because she had summoned ten spiritual samurai with her magic and formed armor like theirs on her body, managing to divide Meria's attention into several parts.
"What an annoying magic, human."
"You're annoying too, Nartheis."
Even though she didn't have many wounds, Sisaka felt the weight of that fight more than everyone else there, slowly accumulating over her body. The spiritual armor she had built around herself already showed visible cracks, unstable lines of energy that needed to be constantly reinforced.
'This is very problematic, my mana is dropping fast.'
Each adjustment required concentration, imagination, and mana, and the consumption was far from small. The ten spiritual samurai moved in a coordinated way, attacking Meria from various angles, but none of them could cause real damage. They only served to delay, divide attention, create space.
"Even with this annoying magic, your destiny is to die."
Meria advanced among them with firm steps, blows covered by the cursed blessing smashing through spiritual constructs as if they were made of reinforced glass. Every time a samurai was destroyed, Sisaka felt the pressure increase in her chest, as if part of her own mental structure were being torn away along with it.
'Spiritual samurai.'
She immediately rebuilt another, but each new creation required more effort than the previous one. Her breathing became a little irregular, but she tried to calm herself using the advice Enrico had given Aoi.
'Why doesn't he give me advice too? Am I still not worthy of receiving the same as Kaela?'
She was full of doubts but immediately focused on the fight again. This was a fight to the death; having thoughts like that was asking to die.
'If he doesn't think I'm worthy, then I just have to prove that I am.'
The problem in that fight wasn't only Meria. The entire environment was unfavorable. The disease spread by Sacri still contaminated the air and the ground, interfering with the stability of the spiritual constructs. Some blades deformed mid-attack, shields she created lost density without warning, and Sisaka had to improvise constantly to prevent a mistake from becoming fatal.
'From what I know, in this kind of situation, the best thing is to try to adapt, just like Kaela said the professor does… and—'
She retreated, her feet sliding over the cracked ground, while new spiritual plates rose in front of her. Meria attacked from above, fists descending with enough force to sink the ground. Sisaka blocked, but was pushed several meters back, feeling her arms tremble even while protected by the armor.
'Just like my magic does as well.'
She tried to adapt the magic again, imagining a more flexible structure, capable of better absorbing repeated impacts. The construct appeared more resistant, but too heavy, reducing her mobility.
'Damn it, it's incomplete.'
"What is this? Are you handing me a complete victory?"
Meria noticed the change quickly and advanced, exploiting the momentary slowness. A blow hit Sisaka's shoulder, partially piercing the spiritual armor and throwing her against a side wall.
'She's stronger, faster, tougher… how am I going to—'
She rolled across the ground as she began to lose her confidence. With an idea, she ended up dissolving two samurai in the process to recover enough mana to stand up. Her breathing was heavy, and her vision began to fail for a few moments.
'Even so, I won't stop. I have to prove myself.'
The remaining samurai advanced again, forcing Meria to step back one pace. Sisaka took the opportunity to raise a new spiritual blade, larger, trying to compensate for the difference in strength. The attack hit Meria's torso, tearing away dark fragments of the cursed blessing that had defended her since the fight between the two began, but it wasn't enough to stop Meria's advance.
Meanwhile, Enrico and Merta exchanged brutal blows. Enrico kept only the fire active, his fists and feet leaving incandescent marks on the Nartheis' body. Merta responded with pure strength and condensed disease, trying to drag the fight closer to her brothers. Enrico noticed the movement and decided to act.
'Fire Lines.'
With a quick gesture, lines of fire rose from the ground around Merta, climbing like incandescent bars. They crossed in the air, forming a temporary prison, compressing the space and limiting her movements. Merta struck the lines with force, making them vibrate, but couldn't break them immediately.
'It's only for a few moments, but—'
That moment was enough. Enrico disappeared from Merta's field of vision and reappeared behind Sisaka, landing beside her while the heat of the fire still rippled through the air.
"Professor?"
Sisaka tried to straighten up, but her legs failed for a second. The spiritual armor remained only in fragments, and the remaining samurai slowly dissipated. As she fell backward, Enrico calmly held her shoulders.
"It's not over yet, Sisaka. It's time for you to evolve to circle six as well."
'System, the percentage pact.'
[Alright, how many?]