"Don't talk too much in a fight." Ellen harrumphed and rained them down with four glowing star-shaped blue lights. "Ice Star."
The four Ice Stars flew forward and targeted Alea.
Even Alea didn't want to be surrounded by this attack, so she proceeded to move to the side. However, Theo and his clone had been waiting for her. "Magic Bullet."
"Fortitude." Twenty Magic Bullets rained her down, stopping her movement. Phyrill was also ready to strike her if Theo's Magic Bullets were not enough, but it went according to their plan.
The blue lights were supposed to hit Alea, but they suddenly dropped vertically and hit the ground, creating four huge spikes that made it look like she was inside a boxing ring.
In front of her, Ellen was smiling while waiting for her to make a mistake so she could strike her down.
Theo occupied the left and right sides since he would be the main attackers while trying to create an opportunity for Phyrill to strike from behind.
Theo and his clone made the first move, summoning the Magic Bullet. Obviously, Alea focused on the clone first since Theo's body must be feeling it and his clone didn't have any sort of feeling according to Theo. If she took down the clone, she could kill Theo right after.
"Magic—"
Before he finished, Theo failed his Magic Bullet as it dispersed, only leaving his clone to summon one successfully.
Due to her facing Clone Theo, she only took a glimpse to know that Theo just failed to summon his Magic Bullet before regaining her focus on Clone Theo. A smile appeared on her face as she received Theo's Magic Bullet with the translucent shield.
"Fortitude."
As soon as all the Magic Bullets disappeared, Alea turned around and jumped forward, heading straight to Theo to eliminate him.
Theo clenched his teeth and summoned Magic Bullet again. "Magic Bullet."
His expression was distorted as if he was enduring massive pain in his head and barely released the Magic Bullet that ended up going in a different direction.
"You have worked yourself too hard, Theo. You need to rest." Alea smiled and raised her sword before slashing downwards, trying to split Theo into two.
"Frost Nova." Ellen launched a small ball that contained so much ice energy to hit Alea's sword.
Alea clenched her sword tightly and tried to stop that swing since her sword would be blown away if it got hit by that particular skill. She felt her stomach just drop an inch from its original position, but she managed to stop her swing.
As soon as she avoided the attack, she continued her swing.
Due to the instant stop, Theo managed to get away by leaning to the right side and let Alea cut his left hand instead.
At the same time, he thrust his spear to her head while falling down.
Alea took a step back to avoid the thrust, but Phyrill just entered her Awareness, coming from the opposite direction of Ellen. His blade struck forth to her neck.
Alea shouldn't have enough time to raise her sword to block this attack, especially with her current internal condition. Hence, Phyrill had a huge chance of delivering the killing blow.
Yet, Alea went one step further. Her sword remained down, but she sneakily waved her sword to Theo's spear before pushing it to Phyrill. And with Theo's tightening the grip, the tangential force made the spear go to Phyrill.
'What? Did he use Theo's spear and his tight grip to her own advantage? Sh*t. You freaking last boss.' Phyrill gulped down and looked at the incoming spear blade and had his head slashed.
Theo dropped his spear and pointed his hand toward Alea, summoning his Magic Bullet.
"!!!" Alea widened her eyes and summoned her Fortitude Shield instinctively. 'He still has it? Or is he faking it? Wait—!'
Before she finished thinking, she saw a crack in Theo's Magic Bullet. In that instant, she realized Theo was faking it.
With the Fortitude Shield disappeared, she continued her swing.
However, Theo didn't let go of this Magic Bullet. He used it to the last second, blasted the ground with the imperfect Magic Bullet, and kicked up the dust that turned into a smokescreen.
"Hmm? Last struggle? As long as I know you are there, I will cut you." Alea smiled and continued her swing without hesitation before her mind was shocked by the pain in her stomach.
Without her realizing it, she was blown away to the air.
'What did he just do? Did he kick me knowing I couldn't block it? No, was that the reason he faked the Magic Bullet first? He wanted me to use my shield first?' Alea was stunned and tried to find another alternative, but Ellen already made her move.
"Ice Storm."
The same ice cloud appeared, forcing Alea to send her flame again to destroy it.
"Flamming Ge-Sword."
Boom.
The explosion dispersed the cloud, but Ellen had prepared the second skill.
"Freezing Shot."
Alea narrowed her eyes and waved her sword, hitting all the Freezing Shot in succession, preventing them from hitting her.
However, it wasn't the end.
Clone Theo appeared above her head before a spear flew to the air.
"What?!" Alea was surprised at first and decided to twist her body to the side so that the spear didn't pierce her stomach. However, it deformed her stance and she might crash to the ground with one strike from Clone Theo.
Ellen was also ready to attack her the moment she fell to the ground.
"Even so, I won't give up!" Alea clenched her teeth and waved her sword. Unfortunately for her, before she could even do anything, ten Magic Bullets pierced her body from below.
"Wha—!" Alea widened her eyes and looked at Theo, who still managed to use his Magic Bullet like normal. She then realized every time Theo failed, there was a distraction coming from his clone or other people, making her unable to catch a glimpse of his expression, so she couldn't ascertain whether he was faking it or not. Even in the last fake, Theo purposely blocked her vision of his face with his hand and Magic Bullet.
In other words, Theo had been faking it this whole time and everything was for this one attack that would have the highest probability of killing her.
Clone Theo smiled at her while saying, "Do you think I will let you read me?"
"You know me well." Alea chuckled as she closed her eyes and disappeared.