The fight was undoubtedly reaching its end, and Velia began to move with a clear advantage, appearing and disappearing among the shadows, striking from invisible angles with her spear. Velka suffered several cuts to her shoulders, legs, and back, struck by fast and precise attacks.
'Her speed increased a lot, but—'
Even so, her body kept advancing, even though every movement was accompanied by growing pain that honestly did not compare to what she had endured in prison.
'I feel her behind me.'
When Velia appeared silently behind her, Velka's hand was already on her face, catching her by surprise. With a leap backward, she retreated to avoid being grabbed. Snapping her fingers, Velka looked at her own scarred hands.
'I feel my body getting stronger and stronger.'
The transfer of bodily experience performed by Enrico began to manifest more clearly. Velka was not only enduring; she was learning in real time, adjusting posture, reaction timing, and developing a strong danger instinct. Hidden in the shadows, Velia increased the magic within her body.
'Shadow attack.'
She appeared behind Velka, still materializing within the umbra, her spear aimed at the heart from behind her back, but Velka managed to anticipate the movement and, instead of retreating, advanced directly into the shadow, ignoring the fear magic that tried to enter her body, even as she resisted it.
"Charged punch."
Her fist struck empty air, but the impact generated such violent compression that it tore the surrounding shadow apart, forcing Velia to partially materialize. Velka's body undoubtedly stepped up to the sixth circle.
"Second charged punch."
The following blow hit the guardian's abdomen, sending her crashing into the ground with enough force to open a crater in the umbra-covered floor. Bleeding on the ground, she began to feel that she was being left behind in the battle.
"Why is this shit happening? And my merits? I… I WILL NOT GIVE UP."
Velia answered with inner fury, creating something she would only be able to achieve at the sixth circle. Umbra accumulated around her body, forming a kind of irregular armor made of living plates of darkness. Everyone watching understood that she had broken through the fifth circle and become a sixth-circle mage.
"Damn it, Princess, should we interrupt?"
"I don't think Velka would want that now that she's discovered this level within herself."
She was right. Even with her opponent evolving, she still believed she could win. With an explosion of magic coming from the front, Velia advanced with continuous attacks, mixing spear strikes reinforced by shadow and concentrated blasts that exploded on contact.
Her blows tore part of Velka's clothes and pushed her back repeatedly; each hit made her bones vibrate under the impact of the spear, with several punctures opening in her skin.
[This fight is bloodier than I thought it would be.]
'And whose fault is that?'
[Don't put me in the same package as the constellations.]
Enrico was already preparing to intervene in case something truly bad happened; he only didn't because Velka seemed determined to continue. For a moment, he understood what the girls felt when he acted recklessly—only for them it must be worse, since they liked him.
'I'll be more careful in the future.'
[So now you finally understand? Better late than never.]
Velka did not fall, and now her body, at a sixth-circle level in physical capacity, continued functioning beyond what it should. Every breath was heavy, every muscle burned, but there was something different in her gaze—she was now in absolute focus to survive and win that fight.
'I will win. I have to win.'
As the two looked at each other, they were certain of one thing: the battle would end in the next attack. Clenching her fists, some muscles became visible on her body, which impressed everyone and immediately made them look at Enrico, already realizing he had done something—after all, she had been imprisoned for two years.
'It's impossible for her to have achieved this body in the state she was in.'
Enrico simply turned his face to the side, unwilling to comment. The final confrontation between the two occurred with an explosion at their location, and they disappeared. Both Siena and Enrico stepped in front of Narisse and Elowyn respectively. While standing in front of the princess, he noticed from Velka's movements that she had combined the two techniques.
'Great.'
"Charged impact."
"Black spear."
A punch charged with pure physical force met a blade of umbra reinforced by the concept of night. The impact created a silent explosion, a distortion in the umbra itself where brute force and shadow collided brutally. The ground around them was pulverized, and the shockwave swept across the entire zone, destroying it entirely, just as Enrico had said about zones with a fixed level.
"Is she okay?"
When the dust and shadows dissipated, both were kneeling, breathing with extreme difficulty. Velka was bleeding from multiple points, her body trembling under continuous strain, and Velia showed fissures in her own umbra, her magic unstable, requiring total concentration just to remain conscious.
[Neither of them managed to advance again, so it's a draw… incredibly, it ended just as you said.]
'I would have been wrong if you hadn't interfered.'
[I already told you, it was the constellations.]
As he jumped to where Velka was, he thought he would have preferred to be wrong, as he had never imagined that she wanted to win that fight so badly.
'Now it's possible that she's sad… this will be difficult—'
"I really didn't think you were this strong… even so, it was a draw, so I still gained merit, Velka…"
Enrico saw Velia disappear, quite dissatisfied yet at the same time relieved for not having lost. Even though they were merely illusions of the ancients, it was incredible how real they were.
"Velka."
"Thank you, Lord Enrico…"
When he crouched down to help Velka, he did not see a sad face for having lost. Of course, it was clear she wanted to win, but her face held a sincere smile for still being able to be strong.
"Thank you very much, my savior."