Chapter 63 - Chapter 63: Serpent and the Dragon

While Nova was covered in ice, Kairi, Nicole, Jade, and Testarossa continued to fight the Nether soldiers. Kairi used the Sin of Sloth to cut off their magic supply, and Nicole followed up and killed hundreds of them at the speed of light. Jade dashed in and jumped into a massive group of soldiers. A massive electrical burst blasted all the soldiers into the air. Jade swiftly used her emerald dagger to kill the soldiers. While in the air, Jade saw a group of nether soldiers calling in reinforcements. Jade shouted, "TESTA, KILL THEM." Testarossa dashed towards the soldiers, burning everything in her path to ashes. She jumped into the air and covered her body in flames, then she crashed down onto the soldiers, killing the whole group of them. Testarossa looked back at Jade and said, "We have killed thousands of them. There can't be much left, right?" Kairi looked at Testarossa, shaking her head, then saying, "The Nether army has millions of soldiers, and they are all split between the 3 pillars. If you want to stop them from regrouping, we must take out Maria and end this war." Nicole spoke in a worrying tone: "Easier said than done; she possesses incredible strength and power." All of them were in deep thought trying to come up with a plan to stop her. Jade crouched down and used her dagger to draw in the dirt. She started drawing an outline of Maria in the dirt. She said, "Only if we had an analysis on Maria would I be able to find an opening of some sort." Nicole stood behind Jade and said, "I can get an analysis on Maria, but I need someone to protect me while I do it." Jade, Testarossa and Kairi all looked confused. Testarossa said, "How can you get an analysis on her?" Nicole responded, "I have a spell that allows me to transport my consciousness back in time. I can send it back to my fight with Maria. I will be able to analyse her combat style, but in the meantime someone needs to protect my physical body." They all agreed to protect Nicole while she analyses Maria. Soldiers started closing in on them again. Nicole sat on the ground and covered herself with light magic. She used a spell called "light of the past". She started floating in the air as her consciousness was sent back in time. Testarossa told Agera and Vritra to enlarge themselves and use their bodies to cover Nicole. Jade dashed in and used her thunder to increase her movements; she started swiftly killing all the soldiers in front of her. Testarossa stood in front of her Serpents and used Tsuno's first technique, Thousand-Bladed Shield, to protect them from incoming fire. Kairi enlarged her wrist blades and jumped into the air. Her blades started glowing red. Kairi used a grand destruction spell called "Crimson Slashes of Ruin". Two giant slashes came crashing down, killing thousands of soldiers. Meanwhile, Nicole travelled back in time to her battle in the ruined city. She realised that Maria mainly used her prosthetic arm for attacking and her other arm for casting spells. She realised every time Maria used her greatsword, her prosthetic arm would shake rapidly. Nicole said, "That prosthetic arm must be fragile; if we can make her use her greatsword and cut off her mana, we should be able to overpower her and defeat Maria." Nicole's consciousness returned to her body. Agera and Vritra felt that Nicole had returned. They both slithered to Testarossa's side as Nicole walked up to the others. Nicole gave Jade her analysis. Everyone gathered around as Jade spoke: "So here's the plan: Kairi will use her sin of sloth to shut off Maria's mana. During that time, I, Nicole, and Testarossa will battle Maria. We must focus on that prosthetic arm; we should be able to destroy it if we apply a lot of pressure to it." They all agreed with Jade's plan. Suddenly a gigantic amount of mana was coming from behind them. From the distance they heard a familiar voice: "I'm impressed. Being able to take out many soldiers and still being able to fight you guys is impressive, but your luck has run out." They all turned around and saw Maria walking towards them with her greatsword in hand. Everyone got into their fighting stance as Kairi said, "I won't be able to shut off her mana for long, you." Kairi started releasing a green-like aura into the air that directly came crashing down towards Maria; she reached her hand out and destroyed the blast. Maria smirked a little as Jade appeared behind her and kicked her in the head, which stunned Maria. Testarossa infused her hands in flames and started using a spell called "Flaming Nine". Multiple flaming punches hit Maria's chest, but she used her greatsword to block most of the incoming punches. Maria tried to use her magic, but then she realised that her mana had been completely cut off. Nicole used her gravity magic to apply pressure to Maria, making her unable to move. Jade shouted, "TESTAROSSA NOW!" A gigantic flaming orb was floating in front of Testarossa's arm. She grabbed the orb and blasted towards Maria. Testarossa used a grand spell called "Flame of the Endless Sun". Smoke covered the surrounding area. Nicole said, "Did we do it?" But then. They started hearing a hysterical laugh from within the smoke. Maria started to sound demonic as she said, "Not bad, not bad at all, but it isn't enough. You all are indeed worthy opponents." A gigantic shadow became visible within the smoke as a ferocious roar cleared all smoke. Everyone was shocked by what they saw: Maria transformed into a gigantic dragon. Nicole tried to use her gravity magic to stop Maria in place, but Maria used her tail to slam her into the ground. Kairi shouted to everyone, "Run, we can't fight this thing." Testarossa stood there and started gathering a massive amount of mana. She said, "I will draw Maria's attention. "You guys get clear." Agera and Vritra slithered to Testarossa as they both turned into flames and flew into Testarossa's snake scales, which started covering Testarossa's body. Maria used her claw to pin Jade down as she looked down at Jade and started charging up a blast. Jade couldn't move. She said, "Is this the end?" Suddenly something tackled Maria into the nearby mountain. As Jade looked up, she saw a gigantic red snake covered in spikes. Jade said, "Testa, is that you?" Jade didn't waste time; she swiftly picked up Nicole and got clear of the battlefield. Maria stood back up as she flew towards Testarossa, but right before she could make impact, Testarossa slithered around her body and started wrapping around it, making Maria unable to move. Flames started coming from Testarossa's body, slowly burning Maria every time Maria tried to move. The flames would burn hotter, then Maria noticed that there were gaps between Testarossa's serpent scales. Maria didn't hesitate. She used her dragon claws imbued with chaos to slash Testarossa's neck as her grip started to loosen. Maria broke free and blasted a gigantic chaos blast onto Testarossa's neck as her scales started to fade. Testarossa started to transform back to her original form. Testarossa was completely out of mana; she couldn't move. Maria pointed her greatsword at her neck. Maria had a cold expression on her face as she said, "If you would have mastered that transformation, you might have stood a chance, but this will be your end." Maria lifted her greatsword into the air, but before she could bring it down, she felt a massive amount of mana coming from the ice crystal. Maria said, "That could be troublesome." She started heading towards the ice crystal at full speed.