It was logical that they would activate a barrier like this in case of intrusion. It had taken her half a minute, from breaking the window to reaching the wall, so it was only natural that, with enough communication, they would manage to set it off.

But she didn't think too much about it; nothing had yet come out of her expectations. Some (like Elena) might call her a paranoid person, but Seraphina wanted to believe that being well prepared was critical, and she had already anticipated that something like this would happen.

She only had a few seconds before they caught up with her, so she acted fast.

He quickly went down to Kiel. He looked dizzy and didn't even understand what was happening; the good thing was that the protection of the artifact given by that, woman? was very strong and nothing had happened to him.

Seraphina, on the other hand, quickly, and with her gloves imbued with energy, activated another technique of her art:

Art of Lust, Second Stance: Ardent Pulse of Desire

With a downward stroke of her hand, in the shape of a spear, she cut the barrier, leaving a vertical opening. However, it was not wide enough for anyone to get through.

"Qetesh"

Without hesitation, he thrust both hands into the narrow opening and, with all his strength, began to pry it open. Something like this was normally impossible without the right method.

But her gloves now imbued with her legacy weapon, she could make contact with anything she wished, with Qetesh's help. She was interfering with the barrier structure, however roughly and unorthodoxly.

"Open up, damned barrier"

It was a far, far stronger barrier than Seraphina had thought, and she was using her full strength at the moment.

CRACK!!!

Finally, the barrier gave way, and for an instant, Seraphina managed to breach that mighty defense, though she barely had time to celebrate.

Whack!

"Fuck, you're persistent,"

The same nine-star subject she had hit earlier reached her position, almost catching her off guard, and barely dodged that dangerous and heavy axe.

Earlier, when performing maneuvers, Seraphina noticed that he had immediately joined his pursuers.

But he didn't seem particularly fast; neither he nor the wind mage were, and, despite his reach, he was falling behind... or so she thought.

Suddenly, though, he was there. She supposed he had an art that allowed him to cover that weakness, or an ability that made him faster.

But, quickly, she saw that he was surrounded by what appeared to be gusts of wind that increased his speed.

And he knew it was a joint collaboration between his two biggest obstacles.

He looked over to where Kiel was and noticed that he was now out of reach, as he had dodged to the other side and the warrior was standing between them. There was nothing left for her to do but face him.

"Surrender, girl, and obediently let yourself be caught"

"..."

Seraphina didn't respond; this was no time to talk or have useless chatter, she was focused on quickly figuring out how to get out of this situation.

Looking closely at her opponent, she noticed that she had a bad complexion.

After all, although her previous attack was not lethal, the Fifth Stance had managed to pierce her skin enough to allow the destructive storm to seep into her body.

Were it not for his decent defense, his organs would have been liquefied and his existence erased. Still, the damage had to be considerable.

Besides, Seraphina's gloves had a poisonous factor, which simple recovery spells could not easily fix.

And, despite everything, the guy got up and joined the chase tenaciously. He was someone who would see his job through to the end.

But, unfortunately for him, Seraphina didn't have time to consider him a worthy adversary to take her time with and have a fair fight.

"Art of Radiance, First Stance: Dawning Strike"

The warrior, who had been affected by that technique before, stood firmly and covered his eyes instinctively upon hearing it, but because of that he did not notice that the blinding light he expected did not come.

Bang!!!

"Uugggh...?!!!"

What was activated was not the Art of Radiance; although uttering it aloud helped him to potentiate it, it was not an absolute activator.

Although his voice pronounced it was a posture of the Art of Radiance, what Seraphian actually performed was the Third Posture of the Art of Lust.

It was a dirty trick, but to start a life and death battle, honor and respect do not exist.

A powerful blow impacted squarely on his stomach. It was his weak point, and he wasn't going to waste the opportunity.

While not as destructive as the Fifth Stance, the Third was more penetrating and strong enough to open a path through his already weakened body, allowing him to lodge his hand inside.

But Seraphina did not stop there; before the warrior could react, she exclaimed,

"Noxaris Floreat"

Bringing her affinity for darkness to full play, along with her affinity for runes, in an instant she cast a powerful spell that sent spikes of shadow sprouting from her own fist.

The dark magic began to devour the warrior's insides. Several thorns emerged in all directions, piercing his flesh and shredding his organs. The warrior died quickly, unable to say anything more.

After checking that he was, indeed, no longer dead, Seraphina pulled her hand out and quickly ran to Kiel , who was barely recovering from his intense dizziness.

"Don't give up, boy. We're halfway there..., and don't throw up on me,"

Although he still looked dazed, he was intact. He picked him up and hoisted him back onto his shoulders, securing him with one hand.

Just before the hole in the barrier closed again, because of the self-repair function, Seraphina, along with Kiel, went through it.

Bang!, bommm!, clank!.

A hail of attacks rained down on her... but the self-repaired barrier itself protected them.

"Art of Radiance, Fourth Stance: Refraction Nodes."

Wasting no time, she began to create platforms to maneuver in the air. His lair was only a minute away at his current speed. Just one more minute and he would be out.

But just when she thought the barrier would cover her for a few seconds until her enemies deactivated it, a shiver ran down the back of her neck.

If there was one thing he had specifically dedicated himself to developing during the times he fled with Elena to train in the forest, it was survival instinct.

She knew from memories, whether it was Seraphina's body or her soul or a combination of both, she knew they possessed great instincts.

And that was something that helped her alternate self to get out alive on many occasions.

He himself understood when he practiced in the forest, how tangible and real these 'instincts' were, which also helped him a lot.

Now, his instincts warned him that, if he didn't do something, he would be seconds away from death.

He stopped dead in his tracks, slowing all his momentum, and instead of bouncing off the platform, he used it as a firm support. These structures worked at his will.

In an instant, he readied his stance for whatever was to come; he knew it was too late to dodge and he had to give it his all.

"ART OF LUST, FOURTH STANCE: ERUPTING EMBRACE"

For the first time since she started, she shouted loudly his art of lust and put the maximum amount of mana she could into circulation.

All his instincts told her that she had to meet the next attack with all his power.

Thud!

Just before the impact, he managed to catch the source of the danger: it was a metal arrow, and when it entered the flow of his art....

"Ughhh!!!..."

It was difficult to handle, as it had a momentum and inertia that made it complicated to absorb, even with her art working at its maximum.

For the first time, Seraphina felt that her powerful Art was not up to the task of performing a counterattack.

"gghhh!!!"

Still, she did not give up. She gritted her teeth and resisted, feeling that she was absorbing more of the impact, though it wasn't enough.

He had absorbed some of the attack, but the power was so vast that he couldn't contain it completely. The arrow kept advancing, almost pushing her backwards, defying her control.

Even with some of the impact being absorbed, it threatened to break his firm stance. The Art of Lust, so far infallible, did not seem to be enough to absorb and redirect the magnitude of that attack.

He decided to change his tactics; he had to accept that he could not handle that attack, but his will was stronger than ever.

He tried to use every part of his body to its fullest potential, while circulating his art and pushing it beyond its limit.

'If I can't absorb it completely, I can at least redirect it...'

With a quick maneuver, he positioned himself in such a way that he stepped to the side of the arrow's path; without releasing it, he put all his strength along with the newly absorbed one that was up to the edge, into turning the arrow's direction.

In an arcing motion, she concentrated all the force to get the arrow to turn around.

It spun on itself, harnessing the full power of the arrow. With a precise and brutal movement, the channeled energy released the projectile in the direction it wanted to go.

The arrow was returned with the same momentum with which it had arrived, and even with greater force.

The projectile flew straight towards the pursuing group.

For a moment, Seraphina thought that the barrier had been deactivated. However, when she saw it, it was still active. She wondered how the attack had managed to get through it without breaking it.

But then, she saw the arrow go through it as if it didn't exist and impact directly against the Group, coincidence or not the Arrow was aimed at the wind mage who was the most powerful of the Group.

With the momentum he was carrying, the arrow should have killed him instantly. However, something inexplicable happened.

The arrow went through him as if he was just an illusion and continued on its way until it disappeared from sight.

"...."

Seraphina was at a loss, for a moment, to understand what had just happened. The arrow was real when she held it in her hands; it could not have been more tangible and lethal.

Seraphina understood that this world held too many mysteries. Even her alternate self could not comprehend them all.

But, in this case, the experience she had gained from inherited memories allowed her to understand it instantly. It was a skill or a blessing and she knew whose it could be.

"Oculus Fines"

Seraphina enhanced her vision senses and used the Eyes of Lust to read the situation in greater detail. Then, at the other end of the residence, she saw him.

It was Eryk.

Seraphina had initiated a siege just to get rid of him, and yet, there he was, as she had suspected: her doppelgänger. him target when saw him leave the wall, it was her.

The siege battle was still ongoing and explosions could still be heard, as the city barriers shook, from time to time number one, looked through, the empty dooppelganger he left, the situation and the fight was booming, but they still sent one of their, best resources to follow it.

It wasn't that he didn't understand the situation. After all, Kiel was someone important. But he had thought that the invasion would take priority for the lord.

Without giving her time to think Eryk aimed at her with a bow almost as big as he was. And fired.

From his position to where Seraphina was, the arrow took barely half a second to reach. She barely had time to react. The projectile went through the barrier as if it didn't exist.

Seraphina instantly understood the possibility that it was a blessing from the God of the Hunt. An ability that only hurt its target.

This time, she was prepared. And she dodged. Luckily, this time the arrow didn't seem as powerful as the first.

Seraphina's escape had become complicated. She was still close to the wall of the residence, and turning her back to the enemy would be dangerous.

Eryk did not seem capable of continuous attacks, but at least every two seconds a powerful arrow was heading towards her.

fwooosh!!

Quickly, she dodged the third and watched as the city's shield finally came apart.

Now, with the barrier down, she became an even more exposed target for the fifty-plus guards surrounding her, including a nine metamophosis mage.

Not only that. Although they were trying to remain hidden, Seraphina could see through her enhanced eyes several silhouettes approaching at high speed from Eryk's direction.

Their speed was among the best in the seventh metamorphosis, and some were even reaching eighth and ninth. The situation was even worse than she imagined, and she was slowly being surrounded.

To make matters worse, she only had one hand free because she was holding Kiel, so she decided to get rid of him.

She grabbed it and, as if it were a spear.

"Hey, wait! What are you going to do? You promised me that-!"

"Art of Radiance, Third Stance: Sanctified Piercer"

And without any hesitation, and even using u art she threw it like a projectile

"AAAAAAAHHH!!!....!"

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