After realizing her opponent had exhausted her mana, Elvira’s confidence spiked as she concluded her victory.
After all, she had already suppressed the rampaging Wood Spirit’s lingering will inside her body while her opponent was experiencing the effects of mana depletion.
Nevertheless, Aeliana’s lightheadedness and lack of strength were only temporary.
It was something all witches experienced during mana depletion due to the body requiring to adjust to the absence of mana. After all, the body is consistently nourished by mana.
Thus, the sudden disappearance of mana in the body generates a shock akin to a lack of oxygen supply, which the body requires to function.
But since the human body still had oxygen to function in the absence of mana, it was also like eating ordinary food after enjoying high-quality food for a long time.
Even though it’s still food, the body finds it unpalatable; the body had been used to high performance and found it hard to adapt to low performance suddenly.
“You did well lasting this long against me. But, alas, you failed to overcome the difference in our mana reserves. Too bad, huh? You were so close, Lord of Sunpeak Town,” Elvira made a snarky remark as she approached Aeliana gloatingly.
“Don’t bother burning your life force to keep fighting and just give up; it will make your death easier. The conversion of life force to mana is terrible, and the spells invoked under such conditions won’t be as strong. You’ve lost; accept it.”
“We don’t know that yet,” Aeliana said in a low tone.
Her head was lowered and didn’t meet Elvira’s gaze, but she had a stubborn and defiant look on her face. She was prepared to burn her life force to fight until the end.
After all, Elvira only had one arm, and her guard was down. It was easy to regenerate an entire arm so quickly, even with the Wood Spirit’s powers.
Thus, Aeliana waited for the crucial moment in Elvira’s attack to make her decisive move.
…
Meanwhile, the dragon lord sighed outside the battle ring with every other True Dragon pinning their hopes on Aeliana’s victory.
Her mana depletion had dashed their hopes.
“Alas, she still couldn’t overcome the fundamental difference in their magic attainment. Now is the time for you to step in. You can still save her, Vaan. This Lord can’t and won’t intervene in your human disputes, but you can,” Lord Narvim spoke.
However, Vaan shook his head calmly.
“She hasn’t lost yet,” Vaan stated.
No, but she’s about to die – was what the dragon lord wanted to say.
But seeing the calm and indifferent look in Vaan’s eyes that didn’t show the slightest concern, the dragon lord wondered if he was confident or simply heartless.
“Her death will be on you,” Lord Narvim solemnly stated without speaking further on the matter. It was unfitting of a dragon of his status to persuade the human further.
Nevertheless, Vaan had the utmost confidence in Aeliana’s victory.
“Her victory will be, Your Excellency,” Vaan smiled.
At the same time, Astoria and Hester looked like they were prepared to jump into the battle ring to save Aeliana.
They gave Vaan an eye signal, but he dissuaded them with a shake of his head.
“Did Sir Vahn give up on Lord Aeliana?”
“That shouldn’t be the case…”
Astoria responded with a frown after Hester asked her with surprise.
Nevertheless, they lost their chance after their brief moment of hesitation. It was too late for them to save Aeliana from Elvira’s finishing blow then, even if they wanted to.
…
“Goodbye, Lord of Sunpeak Town. Rest assured, knowing that after your death, your body will become a part of me to make my Dryad Power complete,” Elvira declared with her raised, producing a water lance in the air.
Even at that moment, she could not see Aeliana’s expression.
That said, she assumed she had given up despite her stubborn words, seeing how she remained in an unfavorable and despairing position of kneeling on the ground with one knee and head lowered.
However, Elvira was wrong.
In the matter of a short breath, Aeliana’s stubborn look underwent a few changes as her eyelashes fluttered with surprise, then eyes brightened with joy and blazing hope.
Her dried mana veins were suddenly filled with mana that came from seemingly nowhere.
However, Aeliana quickly realized where the mana came from.
“Die!” Elvira uttered her death sentence.
But in the same instant, Aeliana’s eyes glinted with sharpness as she made her move, slamming the ground with her palm.
At such proximity, Elvira had no time to react to the dozens of sword lights conjured out of thin and impaling her body at rapid speed.
“What!” Elvira cried, eyes widening with disbelief.
She didn’t die immediately as Aeliana’s sword lights only served to disable her movements. At the same time, her mana veins were damaged by said sword lights, barring her from her magic.
Furthermore, vines grew out of the ground and wrapped around her body, digging into her flesh and further restraining her movements.
Aeliana completely disabled Elvira, leaving no chance for her to make any comebacks.
Shortly after, she stood up and glanced at Elvira with a frosty look.
“I told you; you’re death won’t be an easy one,” Aeliana coldly reminded.
In that instance, Elvira knew she was fucked. However, she couldn’t understand where Aeliana gained her sudden power.
“How…? You used up your mana. You shouldn’t have been able to cast your spells this fast, nor this powerfully!” Elvira spouted with disbelief.
Having performed body transmutation on herself, she was also no stranger to pain. Even so, her face slowly paled from the vines draining her blood.
After wracking her brain for a short moment, she could only think of one possibility.
“A Servant Contract?! No, that doesn’t make sense. Witches only use Servant Contracts to supply their companions and familiars, not receive them… Unless… you entered a Servant Contract with another witch!” That must be right!” Elvira guessed before criticizing her, “You’ve cheated!”
“You can think whatever you want, but you won’t get any answers from me. That said, let me return these words to you; the method doesn’t matter, only the results,” Aeliana coolly stated before saying, “Now grit your teeth and taste a bit of my pain.”
“Arghhh—!”