BXBX NOVEL Chapter 314: A Very Generous Dog.
Ikaris fired a fourth time and Lars\'s eyes opened wide in shock when the attack blitzed and nearly crashed into his face despite him clearly being ready for and anticipating it, the force it hit his palm with caused the back of his hand to slam into his nose throwing him off his feet and into a slight cascade on his heels while the residual force of the fourth perfect cast dug a trench across the entire planet ripping through the void and decimating a moon that got caught in its path.
"That was her fourth, Alpha, what happens if the next cast fails?" Arla asked the little maid.
"I would Imagine the same cast failing would reset the effective buff of an unknown tier cast, but I do not have enough data to give you a proper and definite answer, I apologise." Alpha responded to the Elf while she was pouring a glass of wine for Sol.
"Um..."
"Out with it," Sol responded to Keele who wore a worried expression while she too watched the slow start of what she was still expecting to be a close and brutal fight between Ikaris and the eighth General of her forner employers.
"I expected you to be more engaged in the current state that the fught is in, but you barely seem to care at all, even if she is strong, her opponent is Lars; the Eighth," She stared at the back of Sol\'s head with a slightly disturbed facade.
She was right, even Cecelia was glancing at him to see how he would react but Sol had yet to make any kind of gesture that hinted at him being worried for his wife\'s safety, instead he seemed more calm and relaxed than he usually did for some reason. "I hope your answer isn\'t that the only one you consider a threat is Umbra, because-"
"You were not there, Keele, you did not sense what Ikaris and I sensed within him, why do you think she volunteered to fight the Emporium in my stead?" Sol interrupted her rant in a serious tone, leaning forward and sighing.
"You have no Idea the kind of monster he is; the Generals of the Emporium might be wicked from the heart, but he is pure evil from the soul, as long as Ikaris is not in danger I will keep finding ways to destroy him, Ikaris, Talia, Arla, Dina, Sara...
they are my first priorities, not you or anyoe else, even if the war against the Emporium fails, Umbra still comes above everything else," He declared with a huff and leaned in his seat once more. "And just so you know," He stopped and looked at her. "There is nobody here worried about her well-being as much as I am."
"You say all that but-"
"Get some perspective, Keele," Jenifer stared at her with a disappointed sigh. "Sir has proven his power time and time again, as has Ikaris, where is your faith in them?" She asked.
"We fight against the Emporium, and Master deals with what we cannot even fathom, it has always been like this," Dina spoke as well. "We fight the demons, he fought the demon-god," She made gestures with her left and right hands as a show of balance.
"We fought against the prince of demons and he fought the demon king and all their hosts, and even the God of demon-gods; Master has always gone above and beyond whenever his sword was needed, he has always done what nobody else can do... that is without even mentioning what he had to do before we ended up on Arkadia, him alone; one mortal against an entire planet of demons, ten years of endless...
ceaseless fighting..." Dina turned to Keele and walked up to her. "His fight has always been the paramount of everything current, do not question his actions in my presence-"
"You-"
"Don\'t speak another word," Dina grabbed Keele\'s blouse and balled her fist in it pulling the slightly taller woman down to eye-level. "Your opinion is ignorance from a lack of respect and knowledge, I won\'t have it!"
"Dina!" Arla held on to her hand and tried prying her and Keele apart but found the strength Dina had manifested too strong to even budge let alone contend. "Dina, calm down, there is no reason to get this flustered over his affairs when master himself does not care about how others percieve him," Arla calmly placed her hand atop Dina\'s and shook her head. "Let it go."
"Ugh..." Dina closed her eyes and slowly released Keele who had been too shocked to react, not because of anything Dina had said, but rather because the amount of mana the woman had manifested in that split moment was so high and densely concentrated that she felt dizzy by just being near her.
"Think before you say stupid shit next time," She unapologetically huffed and turned again, while the others all stared at her and then diverted their attention to Sol who had not even budged with what was going on behind him and had instead kept slowly drinking with Talia in his lap while he watched Ikaris and Lars.
"What was that feeling?" Keele srtared at Dina\'s back, confused. "Aren\'t I supposed to be stronger than her?" She mused, thinking of what she had just witnessed with her freshly acquired mana sensing abilities. "When did Dina become this powerful? Even if I had attempted to, I would have failed if I had challenged that monstrous power, I couldn\'t even breathe!"
"Oh...?" Lars looked to the side after sensing Dina\'s mana, though he had no idea what it was that he was sensing. "So there are other lesser Celestials like yourself corrupted with this strange power?" He asked, but Ikaris huffed and raised her hand a fifth time aiming her entire palm at him instead of one finger.
"If she uses that attack again, her power will increase even more, even if I am not worried about a meager increase in power I am not stupid enough to allow my enemy to keep getting stronger right before my eyes... I will end this the moment she tries releasing that -"
[Unknown Tier Infernal Technique; INCINERATION-MAXIMUM]
Lars was blinded when the flash of light which was supposed to signify the release of Ikaris\'s attack suddenly turned into a tsunami of flames which enveloped everything in a circular explosion around her body and began spreading.
"The power I sensed earlier is many times stronger than any of these weak attacks, there must be someone else who leads the Vatui princess, she is merely acting on their behalf," Lars appeared above the attack watching it encircle the entire planet in a matter of seconds and fold on itself, turning the desert sphere into a roasting ball of white flames.
"I should deal with the one who attacked my ship first and then capture this one later, his Majesty would like her as a present-" He made to move but paused with his breath hitched when he caught sight of Ikaris in his peripheral in a relaxed manner staring down at the burning planet.
"Are you planning on going after my subordinate?" She asked, raising her hand and casually snapping her fingers causing the flames to all disappear as the planet was once again reset to its original state with ease, except this time the [Undo] was instanteneous. "Your fight is with me, Lars of the Emporium."
The man stood there silently staring at her, also in a relaxed state after hearing what she said.
Power was absolute, no matter the era, time or place, that one fact stood true above all else; power ruled everything and there was no way someone as strong as Dina who he could easily sense along with Cecelia and a few other entities would follow a princess that had abandoned them and then returned after that much time had passed, after they had suffered as much as they had under his and his Empire\'s rule, which meant she had the power to control and command them...
His translation:
"Have you been... testing me?" Lars asked after a minute had elapsed with them staring at each other passively.
"Of course I have," Ikaris answered with a smirk when she saw the vein in his forehead start pulsing as he ground his teeth in visible irritation. "You were even obedient enough to stay still and allow me to hit you a few times, you are a very generous dog."
"The fight is about to begin," Sol announced staring intently along with the others when Ikaris began laughing.