Chapter 133 - Nicole Vs Kian III

Nicole saw that a hastily made defensive magic was not going to be useful so she decided to use the ether technique she had prepared.

"Ether Spirit Technique: Spirit's Lair."

She crouched and placed both of her hands on the ground.

A dome of water composed of multiple whirlpools manifested around her and covered her surroundings. She reduced its size while concentrating the water density to make it more resilient.

The lesser water sprits that usually hung around her happily lent her their power and strengthened the dome of water. 

They then went on to enhance the whirlpools, making them capable of blocking multiple piercing forces from any direction without breaking.

The moment the dome manifested around her, Kian's attack landed right on it causing ripples in the water dome and spreading shockwaves around.

"Burst."

With that one word, the prana gathered in his blade burst out resulting in a water explosion as the enhanced water dome began cracking.

The lesser spirits, enraged at the fact that their enhanced dome was being destroyed, poured in more ether into it and strengthened it even more.

However, Kian had another card up his sleeve.

"Cavalier Art: Prana Reversal."

The prana he originally released form his sword, gathered around the blade once more as he jumped backwards to regain his footing.

The moment he landed on the ground, he dashed towards Nicole again with enough force to shatter the already fragile ground beneath his feet.

"Prana Shaker: Beta"

The prana-filled sword crashed down towards the dome of water that surrounded Nicole again and was met with the whirlpools that moved to block his strike and prevent it from breaking the dome.

He stopped pouring prana into the blade and tapped his foot on the ground, attempting to cast an earth magic spell to attack Nicole from the ground inside the dome.

However, there was no way that a spirit technique would be so easy to counter.

The magic power he sent into the ground dissipated the moment it came into the range of the dome.

He raised an eyebrow in surprise but could not stay surprised for long as Nicole began to retaliate.

Pressurized streams of water burst out front the dome and charged towards him causing him to back away once again.

This time however, he could not catch his breath as the streams of water followed him regardless of how many times he evaded them.

"Tsk... homing spells."

He waved his free hands and created flaming orbs that clashed with the pressurized streams of water resulting in small steam explosions.

"Earth Magic: Heavy Armored Guard."

A warrior like earth golem burst out from the ground, it wielded a pair of knives with half-moon blades. As a spell that boasted maximum offensive and defensive strength, it was capable of easily decimating multiple targets with a single attack while withstanding multiple attacks made towards it at the same time.

The golem's eye sockets flashed as it swung its blades towards the water dome that Nicole had created.

[That's gonna crack it.]

The moment she heard Undine's voice, Nicole disabled the dome, letting the water fall back to the ground. She then manipulated that water to spiral around her feet and propel her up into the air.

**SWOOSH!!

One of the golem's blades passed right under her feet and she used it as a foothold, kicking off the blade and dashing towards Kian.

"Oh? She's finally moving towards him."

"I was wondering if she'd remain on the receiving end throughout."

Some of the spectators remarked as this was the first time that Nicole moved towards Kian on her own accord.

"Battle Dress."

Large amounts of water wrapped around her body and created a suit of armor around her body, In her right hand was a short lance made of spiraling water.

Kian saw that she was charging forward at a fast speed and decided to meet her charge head on.

He coated his blade in darkness and shaped the darkness into a longer blade, extending its reach. He then kicked off the ground into the air to meet Nicole's charge.

Nicole rose her short lance and Kian rose his sword.

The two clashed in the air and released shockwaves that spread towards the stands, only being blocked by the barriers that protected the spectators.

"Oh my, Nicole's skills have improved."

Layla remarked as she saw Nicole actually keep up with Kian who was supposed to be more skilled at utilizing close combat weapons than she was.

"Hmm... that's good."

Arthur replied absent mindedly as he picked up a pair of sunshades and put them on before looking at the battle once more.

'There's something there...'

Layla ignored his strange behavior and continued watching the battle as Kian had begun having trouble keeping up ever since Nicole went on the offensive.

He had used up a lot of his energy during his earlier attacks while Nicole who had more energy than he did, only used hers to counter attack or defend.

Even the dome of water she used earlier was mostly powered by the spirits and not Nicole herself, as such she had plenty of energy to spare while he had to begin minimalizing his usage.

"Water wyrm."

Nicole backed away and rose her free hand, creating a large serpentine dragon out of water and, with a gesture, directed the creature towards Kian.

"Cavalier Art: Prana Storm."

Kian met this attack with a blade filled with prana causing a water explosion with great shockwaves that cracked the earth and destabilized his footing.

Taking advantage of this, Nicole, rose her short lance as streams of water gathered around it, enhancing its strength.

She then launched the lance towards the unstable Kian with her full strength after using body strengthening magic on herself.

"Bullet Lance."

The bullet Lance sped towards Kian faster than he could react and hit him square in the chest.

"Guh!!"

**CRACKKK!!

His groan of pain was followed by the sound of something cracking, stunning all the spectators.

That sound meant one thing; his sacrificial artifact had activated.

His sacrificial artifact activating, meant another thing;

Nicole's simple looking attack possessed enough strength to end his life.

The drenched Kian crashed down on the ground, his face contorting in rage as he realized he would be dead without the sacrificial artifact.

He squeezed his body for any remaining magic power and was about to retaliate with a lightning spell before realizing something.

He had fallen into a crater that was filled with water.

Using a lightning spell would have been detrimental to him, however that was the least of his problems.

The moment he fell into that crater of water, his fate was sealed.

[Go get him girl.]

Nicole nodded at Undine's words and used one of the spells that Undine taught her recently.

She waved her hand and manipulated her magic power faster than she ever had, the next moment a giant mass of water appeared with her as the center. 

**ZUZUZUZU

The mass of water swayed as it changed shape and increased in size seemingly endlessly. The water increased in size until it looked like it could swallow the entire field in the arena.

The water in the crater around Kian also floated up to join the giant mass, carrying Kian alongside it.

Breaking out of his stupor, Kian jumped down before taking distance and pulling out multiple artifacts.

One was an aura augmenter.

The other was a magic accumulator.

Both of them had the same function, they both stored energy and allowed the wielder to use the stored energy.

Kian equipped the two artifacts instantly and pulled out one more, a limit break artifact that multiplied his base strength by three times.

"You will regret making me do this!"

Kian spat out a line that sounded like it was taken from a 'villain/side character lines.txt' file and channeled his magic power.

"Lightning magic: Thunderbolt." 

A three-ringed magic circle appeared around his feet and a thunderbolt descended from the sky and crashed onto the mass of water.

However, it showed no visible effects and the mass of water kept on increasing even more.

"Thunder Sword."

He filled his sword with aura and dashed towards the mass of water that had Nicole at the center. Coating the sword with even more aura and then shaping it, he extended the reach of the blade and slashed down towards the mass of water.

**SWOOOSSHH!!!!

There was a swooshing sound as the aura blade parted half of the water in between him and Nicole. He filled his sword with more aura causing it to shine a golden light and slashed at the mass of water again.

He used lightning with the intent of electrocuting Nicole who was currently at the center of the mass of water.

In the event that he was unable to do so, the attack was strong enough to part the water and provide a clear path to the center: Nicole.

He kicked off the ground and dashed towards Nicole at a speed faster than before the mass of water could regenerate itself.