109 Divine Providence (2/2)
Anticipating the move, Jezebel brought her spear into Eleonora's trajectory, betting on the weapon's unrivaled resilience to sap the strength in Eleonora's move.
”Break.” The same word left Eleonora's lips, and for an instant, Jezebel felt her body lose all energy. Eleonora's sword became a tyrannical typhoon that smashed into Jezebel's spear handle with its full berserk might. Unable to shoulder the impact, Jezebel flew toward a cavern wall and encased herself within.
”The...Hierarch Break,” Jezebel muttered as her body dropped on the ground. As the sovereign masters of dra, Hierarch-level magi possessed many unique abilities, one of them being the Break. With the Hierarch Break, magi could turn their dra into invisible needles to prick through spells, barriers and arcane abilities. If aimed at the opponent, the Hierarch Break would ruin their defenses, rob their strength, and leave them vulnerable to the Hierarch's abuse.
Unless they possessed Hierarch-level dra control, no one could resist the Break, and as gifted as she might be, Jezebel was still far from that level.
”Correct,” Eleonora rested the flat of her sword against her shoulder, and casually replied. Although with her current condition she couldn't freely use the Break, to handle someone below the Astral Master rank, this was more than enough.
As she already suspected her opponent to be a Hierarch-tier magus in hiding, Jezebel wasn't much surprised. Sword in hand, Eleonora closed on Jezebel, cleaving at her neck. While her current Dra Reserves couldn't compare with Jezebel's, through her incomparably higher Dra Control, Eleonora could put the tiniest bit of dra particle in her body to superb use--enabling her to display terrifying physical abilities.
However, as the blade neared her neck, Jezebel's lips flashed a psychotic grin.
”Sixth Circle Spell: Truth Alteration.”
”Sixth Circle Spell: Elemental Inferno.”
Jezebel's body and spear split into dozens of light filaments, rematerializing into sixty identical versions each aiming a spear at Eleonora. Six lilac-colored circles flared beside the Nargozi Queen, the ground quaked and the air shrieked as hurricanes, firestorms, tidal waves, earthen spikes and thunderbolts of an unprecedented magnitude barreled into Eleonora from all sides. At their back, the 60 Jezebels stod ready to ram their spears into Eleonora.
The Hierarch Break had two obvious weaknesses. First, it could only target one point in space. Second, there was at least a one second lapse between each successive use. Even if Eleonora could open an escape path east, the tsunami of destructive arcane might north, south and west would reduce her to ashes.
And if by any miracle she could survive it, the sixty spear wouldn't miss their target. But as flames, thunderbolts, wind blades and more readied to obliterate her, Eleonora's gaze hardened. Her snake hair became serpents of golden flames while her scarlet eyes too burned in a blinding golden hue.
”Divine Providence,” Eleonora said, and the last thing Jezebel saw was a magnificent flash of golden light that instantly erased her spells, offenses and defenses, sealing her in a cage of powerlessness.
With that one move, Jezebel realized who she faced, and before the Solar Prominence enveloped her, whispered:
”Fuck, it's Hel...” Jezebel's eyes vaporized first, but as her body prepared to follow them into nothingness, Eleonora's face twisted into a frown--and she shut her eyes--forcefully stopping Jezebel's extinction.
Though spared from an irreversible death, Jezebel didn't have any strength left to hold her spear and fell face-first.