Albert looked back and forth from Aefia to her lady. The only thing he managed to see properly, was the thing Aefia was holding. "You don't have the ice element, then how were you able to do that?" Albert asked completely confused as he rapidly scratched his head without thinking about how he was slowly ripping out his hair.
In between his fingers, there were green hair strands tightly clasped and it was explainable how he was actually turning insane as her lady had said. "We can work this out, can't we? I clearly didn't mean what I had said earlier. My mouth can't control itself when I start speaking, it starts throwing nonsense so I didn't really mean it." He brutally pleaded.
"You still have power left in you, so you might as well use it until it last." Aefia pointed her dagger at him. It wasn't just an ordinary one anymore, it had extended into a sharper blade because she had added sharpened ice at the front. It wasn't exactly a sword, but it was almost three quarter the size of one. Plus, it was much lighter than metal.
Her lady had her spear held in one hand and pointed at Albert as her clothing slowly turned into an armor. It seemed like one fully made form silver and it showed just like a mirror. If this were in a fantasy movie, and were a merch everyone could buy, it would be sold out worldwide within the next day on Earth.
A helmet covered her lady's face and her hair tied itself into a bow. She was the complete representation of a young female knight who were a commander in a war army. Looking at her, Aefia felt like she was truly standing in front of a royalty, and not someone who had stayed out of the royal picture for ages.
Meanwhile, Aefia had only slightly changed based on appearances, but her bleeding wounds were still visible in the water surface. She had her strings still wrapped around her fingers and clinging to one end was the green dagger while she was holding it in a way that she could launch it.
The most unimaginable difference that Aefia had gotten, was now she had wings. Wings that appeared from the back of her head and was waving around with the silent wind. They were glossy black like raven feathers and looked the exact representation of the custom accessory that she had received for the Banquet that was at the end of the month.
The edges had gold lining and the sharper bone part was spiking out. As it twitched, constellations fell from them, but since she wasn't officially some sort of king or queen, those constellations just represented normal and not meaningful ones.
"Well, what is the meaning of all these preparations? The moons are about to align and if you don't know just yet, I am about to use this ice stone to destroy all sorts of ice users in this known universe! And then I will do that to other elements, because all magic users must die!" The manic started ripping out the skin around his eyes.
"Then we will have to split up and go for two different things." Aefia explained. "I can choose to take care of you, while her lady will handle the stick, what are your opinions, Queen Brooke?"
"I believe I should obey as you say." Her lady replied. "Its not a a big of a deal trying to get back the thing I had created with my own hands and I most definitely don't want a person with a crazy wish to handle such a powerful artifact. My wish has already been fulfilled anyways."
"But it's already too late! You had promised me all control over this stone when you had given it to me! Taking it back will only break the trust further, and you know that you couldn't extinguish of all the spell!" Albert shouted while smiling with a sinister face.
"Yes, you are most definitely right about that. But are you aware that the trust would only had been created and the rules we had set for each of the things done, would only come into effect after both the wishes had been accomplished." Her lady spoke with confidence as she held her spear upright with her right hand.
"Thats betrayal! And the three moon sisters won't accept it! This shield will now finish you, how do you like that!" The maniac laughed like he had won a huge prize and that was worth celebrating. He started levitating mid-air to continue the ritual, but be couldn't go much higher until he noticed red strings were tied around his feet and hands. He looked down at the source of the strings or its origin.
"I won't let anyone go unless my mission has been completed. Because I don't want to risk my first stone trying to catch two birds at once. I may also abort my current plan and let you become a beast and then capture your soul, but I would rather prefer seeing your demotion now than saving the best part for later." Aefia spoke with a poker face. "And I sincerely believe everyone should have an experience in having revenge. You had taken yours, but let her lady go through her first. As the saying goes, to go down, is to take revenge."
She instinctly tightened the strings a little bit more and slammed him hard on the ground with his face down. He suffocated his face underneath the water as bubbles appeared, but Aefia had no sympathy or whatsoever. She looked at her lady for once..."Aren't you going to kill him? He was the one who betrayed you first. And make sure the next time you don't try and go make a deal with an entity you don't know and take this as a lesson."
She might have said things to motivate her lady, but due to experiences in her life, she had other things planned in her mind. Just when her lady was nearing the almost dead body, Aefia released the strings and the maniac sprung up into the air with the staff held high up. It lined accurately with the time the eclipse was hitting totality.
All three moons merched together to block all rays of the sun and turn the entire surface of the planet into a nearly dark landscape. Due to the escaping sunlight, there was still visible light shooting through the sides and allowing for vision to co-operate. Aefia stayed looking at Albert who was now a fully transformed animalistic human.
He had sharp teeth like that of sharks, and ears like polar bears. The eyes were fully black with a little bit of browness at the surroundings. The ears were round and short like pandas, and the fur colour was absurdly fully white. The entire look was giving off the same kind of beasts that were summoned inside the dungeons like the wolf hybrids and the lion hybrids.
The only difference this time was the hybrid wasn't of any familiar kinds and was a rather irrational looking one where a pair of human legs were visible wearing office trousers and boots. He now had claws like animals and sharp senses, hinting that the transformation had now been completed and the finale was finally here.
He was a humanoid polar bear...at least that was what Puppet was saying. "A humanoid, a very rare, exotic and powerful creature. The ritual was made with multiple errors and therefore, the moon shield had been protecting your teammates all along." A small squeaky voice appeared from the corner which made her lady look towards Aefia multiple times.
Aefia looked around and spotted the confused Queen Brooke. "Don't worry, it's just my elemental animal talking back to me. It was saying that the moon shield has been protecting your son and the others while the main ritual caster had all the negative effects taken out on himself." Aefia explained. "I know I have a lot of things to tell you and the others, but I don't think telling each one of you separately would count for effieciency in time."
"I know for short that whatever you do, it's for the good of your own team." Her lady let out a sign, a stressed one. "But you better make sure we know all the reasons that you have behind why you had us go through the tough times." She spoke with a concern that highlighted she was currently worried about handling the humanoid polar bear.
Aefia diverted her face away from her lady and pat Puppet on its head. "Go to sleep for now, and keep an eye for my surroundings." She told it. "You are concerned too. Your emotions are all my emotions too." Puppet asked with the same look on its face that was reflected on the water that Aefia looked down at.
"Yes, I am a bit worried." Aefia clenched her dagger a little bit too tightly. The heat started melting a little bit of the ice from the extended piece of the dagger and she consecutively looked up at the wild beast that was now roaring.
The three full moon and the sun caused a gradient sunset, and Aefia knew for short that before the totality ended, she and her lady would need to find a way or two to have the beast killed. Before she could think about anything else, she remembered a fact that she had remembered once hearing from Puppet.
"Hey Puppet." Aefia called out and a screen popped up. It was written in it, 'What is it?'. Upon reading the text, she instantly asked the question that was lingering in her mind nonstop. "You once said that you could convert some of the magic energy into anything that you think of or want to create right? Like that time you had created an entirely new world?"
"Wow, you noticed! And you remembered," Puppet popped back out. "Yes, I can. Is there anything in specific that you want from me made?" It asked with excitement. "For that you will have to feed me a little bit of your magic energy. I have exhausted the ones I had injested from before."
Aefia seemed stressed out hearing those words. "Do I have enough? What if I absorb a little bit of the water?"
"Does it have magic?"
"Nevermind, I will feed you a little bit for two bullets. One for misfire and the other for the real fire." Aefia exhaled all her breathe as she spoke. In the far distance, she could see her lady already fighting and blocking the attacks that she was receiving from the beast. The totality would end in another two minutes, and she couldn't waste the opportunity.
"You better hurry unless you want both of us killed, I am going in. And make sure to have them loaded into the pistol so that I can instantly pick it out and pull the trigger at the right time." Aefia said as she ran directly towards the main fighting area.
She held out her blade and had the flames of eternity activated as bright red flame like sodium burning in open air, appeared. The ice was melting rapidly, but Aefia was freezing it back simultaneously. Her lady stared with disbelieve at Aefia as if she was carrying out the most dumbest move known to mankind.
She noticed arrows approach and jumped onto each one in of them to propel herself forward while levelling herself off the ground and towards the beast's height. She used her Wolf's strength skill to do one last step until she was higher than the beast himself.
The beast stared with aw at the trail she had left behind, but he was a little too invested into it to notice the sharp ice edge that was inches away from his face. He formed a fake moon shield, but it broke upon impact due to the blade and Aefia sprung back by stepping on the falling piece of glass.
She forcefully made herself fall, as she took out her pistol and aimed it at the beast's head. While pulling the trigger twice, instantly after the first one, Aefia let go of the gun and watched the beast's eyes go all the way back and instantly turned into a bright light.
The staff fell and her lady caught it in time, removed the twisted branches and sticks while immediately taking out the ice stone. The beast fell to the ground with a splash as the magic orb followed a slight moment later, resting on top of its owner. Although Aefia had fallen first, her movements allowed her to move away from the water body and fall towards solid land.
She fell on a rocky surface just like the first time she had been to Hellas and her head pinged very hard against the ground. She had exhausted all of her magic energy and depleted a little bit too much of her physical health too. Puppet worriedly called out against her ears, "Are you alright? Are you dying?"
"Nah, I am still alive." Aefia replied while looking blankly at the sky above. It was a very beautiful thing to look at after a long and exhausting day, and it was exactly what she needed after a particularly long fight. Her hands were shivering due to pain, and moving it felt like they were fractured.
"You might think about getting some help." Puppet came out in its full wolf form and sat beside her. "You are pretty badly hurt."
"At least it isn't as bad as before. It is nothing compared to when I first fell in Hellas." She spoke as she quietly fell asleep while her lady walked towards her to ensure she was alright. Noticing how Aefia was drifting off, she sat beside her and her snuggling wolf and mendled with the stick for sometime while watching the triple eclipse.
***
Everyone stood in the air like they were turned live statues for a split second, when they all looked up, they noticed how the place and the settings changed and three people were missing. They noticed one person laying dead in the water while two other people were seen in the distant land.
Helio walked over to ensure the others weren't thrown into some kinds of new danger. "What happened-" Helio spoke but was cut off by her lady.