191 Let it snow (1/2)

On her side, she had Ellie using the ability she mirrored from Marcus to become a living crossbow and the duo of Marcus and Lilith, who were in their fused form, giving Lilith both her ability to see using Marcus' eyes and long strings of silver hair above her head.

The ring of fear had been merged with the ring of memories thanks to Evlin's earth magic, but now it was also snowing and dissipating the red fog, courtesy of Detra's recently remembred ice magic.

”So which one do you want?” Lilith asked while forming a silver sword in her hand.

Detra thought about her options, taking on a young version of Evlin or Mia wielding Marceus.

”The ponytail brat can absorb my magic... And I haven't fought in a long time, so the young and less experienced version of the crossbow girl would probably fit me more... But... Well...”

”But I already tried fighting with Mia before, and got my ass kicked...” Lilith finished.

”... You said it, not me...” Detra reminded her.

Lilith glared at Detra for a bit, ”I'll hold off Mia for a while... You finish Evlin and come help me as soon as you can!”

[Really??] Ellie shouted, showing frustration [I'm fighting my aunt again?? Why can't I just try to go after Mia at least once?]

”... Young miss, please behave... You will get your chance...” Detra promised.

[Ugh... Fine...]

Mia assumed her battle stance, and before anyone could react, completely vanished into thin air. Lilith used her future vision to predict her move, and using Marcus to boost her speed, dashed towards Detra and blocked a powerful attempt at cutting the woman's neck from the twelve-year old-old.

Detra barely reacted while feeling her hair waving from the wind pressure created by the impact of the two swords colliding.

She then released a smile, which raised Lilith's confusion.

”What!?” Lilith asked while still trying to hold off Mia.

”Nothing... It's just... I never thought I would see the day where you would protect me... The world must really be about to end...” Detra explained.

”Oh, shut up...”

Lilith pushed Mia away from Detra and for a split-second, she thought she heard something. It was very soft, but she could swear she heard Detra whispering the words ”thank you...”

”Marcus! Ready to fight your dad and your old partner?” Lilith asked, feeling her competitive spirit rising.

[As ready as I'll ever be, I guess... Let's do it!!]

Lilith and Mia clashed one more time, unleashing several waves of wind pressure throughout the area and making the falling snow move around as if it was running away from their ferocity.

Meanwhile, Detra continued to stare at the image of a young Evlin.

”Anytime...” the forest replied. She then aimed her crossbow at Detra and released a huge blast of raw energy.

Detra aimed her crossbow as well and released a huge blast of ice magic boosted by the power of Ellie's silver metal.

The two energies collided and an explosion was created forcing both women to be pushed back by the force of their own spells.

[Whoa...] Ellie whispered inside Detra's mind.

”Do remember that I can hear everything you say or think... If you have nothing important to add, then try to keep it to yourself, and don't distract me!!” Detra announced.

[... ... ... I just said 'whoa'...]

”Didn't ask, don't care, now shut up!” Detra declared while noticing Evlin's memory coming at her with a pair of wooden gauntlets from the smoke of the explosion.

Detra tried to take aim once more, but Evlin punched the ground and used her earth magic to create a small earthquake that made Detra lose her balance.

The woman was about to fall, but Ellie turned herself into a magic staff, which Detra noticed and used to impale the ground and keep herself standing.

She then took a closer look at the staff, ”this... this is...”

[It's the first thing that popped into my head... not sure why... something wrong?] Ellie explained.

It was her old magic staff, or rather, her mother's magic staff that she inherited, the same one that Detra used in battles during her time as an ice magician. Detra assumed that Ellie must have taken this appearance by accident from having their minds connected.

”It's nothing... Let's just hurry up and kill your aunt...”

[... Uuuuhh... Could you please rephrase that?]

”No, I refuse...”

Detra noticed Evlin approaching and before the girl could fuse her fist with Detra's face, the woman created a barrier made of ice to protect herself. However, Evlin didn't stop and just smacked her defense with a full blow of her wooden gauntlet.

Detra managed to dodge at the last moment thanks to Ellie boosting her agility and used this chance to freeze Evlin's feet.

Before the crossbow mage could free herself, Detra turned Ellie into a metal gauntlet, followed by covering her with ice magic and smacking the memory of Evlin with everything she had.

”Ugh!!!” Evlin whispered while being launched backwards.

Detra began to breathe heavily while enjoying her action, ”goddamn, that was so therapeutic!!! I really needed that...”