290 277: A Plague of Phantoms: Dueling Competence VII

"Switching tactics! Scorched earth!" I ordered.

"Understood!" Bone-lasher growled happily then ran towards the edge of the platform.

I fired a ice bullet at Hapi and just barely missed as he jumped back to dodge. The bullet struck the ground where he stood and exploded on impact, a ten foot glacier of ice sprung up from the impact and nearly swallowed up both Hapi and Viola. Viola stomped her foot and wall of flames erupted from the impact and melted all the ice half the glacier.

This gave Bone-lasher enough time to reach the edge of the platform and dive into the water, swimming swiftly underneath the platform. The term scorched earth was misdirection which typically meant to drown a area in fire or spells, my plan wasn't to bombard the platform but deal with Hapi's greatest advantage, which technically was also Bone-lasher's greatest advantage but he was more experienced in fighting at a disadvantage.

I channeled float attribute mana throughout my body and jumped backwards, flying several feet up towards the ridge, just below the lowest tier of seats. The water in the lagoon suddenly begins to glow a pale blue and ices over. The ice covering the entire lagoon and even creeping up the walls halfway. The ice that made it onto the platform was melted effortlessly by Viola and ket her and Hapi from being frozen over.

"Interesting! You denied both Hapi and Bone-lasher their advantage and buried your evo under ice? Why?" Viola called out to me.

I smirked and pointed Dia Caos at a section of the frozen lake then fired a fire bullet at it. The bullet exploded on impact and shattered some of the ice. Bone-lasher quickly swam up and jumped climbed out of the water before the effect of the spell he used froze it over again.

"Who said I was buried?" Bone-lasher asked.

"Don't get too cocky!" Hapi growled then charged at Bone-lasher the moment his paws touched the ice however they slipped and Hapi fell sideways and slid across the ice towards a waiting Bone-lasher who grabbed Hapi by the head with both hands and spun on his heel throwing him across the lagoon to a section where there was nothing but ice.

"THAT GOES DOUBLE FOR YOU! NEWBLOOD!" Bone-lasher roared. I about fired a full volley of fire bullets at Hapi when I saw Viola snap her fingers and multiple swords made of ice formed in the air around her and flew at Bone-lasher.

"Bone! Behind you!" I yelled.

Bone-lasher turned in time to throw his arms up and the swords clank helplessly against his crystal armor, either shattering or bouncing off it entirely. Ice began to form where the blades hit Bone-lasher's armor, he scraped his claws over the affected spots to try and stop the freezing but no matter how much he scraped off more ice formed to replace it. In a matter of moments he became a liger shark ice sculpture.

I started to aim my gun at Bone-lasher to shoot a fire bullet to melt all the ice off at once; it's not like he wouldn't heal from any burns; when I saw movement out the corner of my eye. Out of instinct I jerked backwards, flipping in mid-air air and barely dodging one of Viola's ice swords that would have skewered me in the face. My vision was suddenly replaced by Bone-lasher's and I saw that a flurry of ice blades were flying towards me.

I stopped channeling float attribute mana and dropped like a stone towards the ground barely dodging the lowest of the swords flying at me then immediately switched to gravity attribute mana and flew directly at Bone-lasher. I fired a full volley of fire bullets at Bone-lasher, all three bullets struck his frozen body and exploded in a column of flames that melted a bit of the frozen lagoon surface around where he stood.

[BONE! YOU GOOD?] I demanded through our mental connection.

[Hot! But good!] Bone-lasher replied.

Quickly spinning left to dodge the flames I stayed low to the ice to make it harder for Viola to fire her swords at me then channeled mana into my right ring finger and started casting a axiom spell sigil.

"Split and break loose! Divide the untrue!" I chanted as the axiom spell sigil formed around Dia Caos' barrel. As I finished my chant a spell sigil formed in front of my eye. I aimed my mana-revolver at the queen and nearly pulled the trigger. Viola suddenly vanished and my head was filled with Bone-lasher's screaming.

[WAT…!]

That was all I heard as I crashed into something, my body stretching out like a starfish vertically. I heard a crack porcelain shattering, felt my vision wane as spots danced across my eyes, and wondered if Bone-lasher or Jiggles hit me based on how much my body screamed and ached in pain.

My mind became aware of something wrong, I had been flying inches off the ground and yet for some reason there was enough room for me to be fully vertical. Most of my upper and lower body was between a layer of ice. Not only that but I was sliding down too.

[BOSS! It's a trick!] Bone-lasher exclaimed. I blinked and the world began to look hazy before shattering all together. I found myself splayed against the glass protector for the third tier of the stands looking directly at Jane, Iris, and the others staring back at me with concern on their faces.

"The mana-nana manipulation tattoo spell prevents you from falling under the effects of utility and enchantment spells but it has a fatal flaw. That effect only works if a enchantment or utility spell is cast on you, if someone uses axiom spells or can cast spell like effects it's useless!" Viola called out. I groaned and pushed off the glass and spun around in mid-air to face Viola.

I was surprised to find that the lagoon wasn't frozen. There wasn't any damage to the platform or surrounding area at all in fact. Bone-lasher was floating in the lagoon below me while Viola and Hapi stood in the middle of the platform like nothing had happened. I hadn't even drawn Dia Caos.

'I was under the effect of a spell? No…a spell-like effecf.' I realized. 'She can copy any spell she sees and cast similar effects using just her mana…she had me under the effects of a illusion and flying around the whole arena…'

"It was pretty entertaining watching you fight the little illusion I created, like my own little puppet show. Just to be safe I made sure to put the entire area under that effect, so everyone in the stands were under the effect as well." Viola said with a chuckle.

I felt a deep anger resonating within me. For once I wasn't just feeling the anger of my evos through my connection to them. A good deal of it was my own. I'd never been under the effect of a illusion before but I could now say that I did not like it. Having my perceptions altered and fiddled with at someone else's whim. Without realizing it I had become vulnerable, helpless, weak.

"Viola…" I said in a low but guttural tone. My farm crystal began to glow with a bright red light, Bone-lasher's crystal armor glowed with the same red light. I felt a surge of energy, mana from every splicer nearby flowing into me. Viola's farm crystal glowed red and she winced in pain, dropping to one knee. "…I'm not your daughter…SO DON'T FUCK WITH MY HEAD!"

I channeled all the new mana into my fingertips. The mana became so dense it radiated off them in waves of iridescent crimson, actually visible to the naked eye. With a snap of my fingers I fired off a wave of pure mana as wide a carriage at Viola and Hapi.

Hapi jumped in front of Viola and channeled shock attribute mana, leaping up to meat the wave. It exploded on impact with Hapi. He was sent flying towards across the lagoon and crashing into the rock face.

"HAPI!" Viola yelled after her evo.

However I wasn't going to allow her the luxury of worrying for her evo. I channeled the remaining mana that I had stolen from the splicers around me and turned it into shock attribute mana. Enormous bolts of black lightning sparked off my body and struck the metal structure of the stands before harmlessly dissipating into the lagoon waters below me. I held a hand up towards the sky and willed the lightning to collect in a orb that grew with each passing second.

"Abyssal lightning cage…" I said softly as I threw the lightning ball in the air towards the center of the lagoon where Viola Viola. It slowed to a stop just above her and immediately black lightning started raining down on the platform in randomized and devastating patterns.

Instead of trying to dodge or block the strikes Viola chose to redirect them. She frantically waved her hands in choreographed movements before my Lightning cage ball got into position above her, the metal of the platform warped bended around her forming lightning rods and cage that surrounded her completely. When the lightning struck the platform it was random for the first few strikes but then started striking the lighting rods and the cage. Harmlessly sending the lightning into the lagoon and keeping any dangerous electricity from her. The abyssal lightning cage orb fizzled after a few dozen lightning strikes and disappeared from the sky.

"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah…" I sighed in a low and guttural tone, feeling all the anger and frustration leave my body at once.

I glanced down at Bone-lasher and saw his armor was still glowing red with mana. He would have suffered a mana overload if his armor didn't act like manacite and store the extra inside it. Reaching out to him through our connection I siphoned the excess mana before it became too much for even his armor to handle. I had been at fifty percent capacity when I stole all that extra mana from the splicers around me but immediately used what I gained so I was back at fifty percent. With what I got from Bone-lasher I was now at full mana capacity again.

"Mana draining…that was unexpected." Viola said suddenly. I glanced back over to the platform and saw that she had stepped out of her cage and looking up at me floating in mid-air.

"So was your little mind games." I said in a deadpan voice. Viola chuckled nervously then shook her head.

"I know better now. Once you realize the truth it only makes you angrier and stronger." Viola said. There was a loud splash bear the platform's edge as Hapi jumped out of the Lagoon and onto the platform.

Hapi's body was badly damaged, he had large chunks of flesh and tentacles that were missing. His front right shoulder blade had no muscle or skin covering it so the bone was completely exposed. Even still Hapi limped over to his mistress, who nearly screamed bloody murder the moment she saw him in that state and rushed to him.

[That weird mana is affecting him. Making it harder for him to heal from it.] Bone-lasher said through our mental connection. [Your bad emotions warped it all a bit.]

[You okay? You had a lot of mana flowing through your armor?] I asked. Bone-lasher's insulted huff echoed in my head.

[I'm your first named! I'm no weakling!] Bone-lasher replied with pride.

I snorted then bit my thumb and started drawing runes on my arm in blood. I channeled mana into my arm and started casting a axiom spell sigil. A second spell sigil formed under Hapi's feet and before Viola or Hapi could react, golden light flowed from the sigil and enveloped Hapi. The light purified all the excess mana from his wounds and then quickly healed them. When the light vanished Hapi looked confused.

"You healed him?" Viola remarked.

"Those wounds would have taken forever to heal and he could have died. Killing a evo you just bought from me seems a little evil even for me." I said then floated down to the water's edge just beside Bone-lasher who was floating cautiously.

"Oh, how nice of you. Though I doubt you're going to continue to be nice." Viola replied. I smirked and pulled my manacite dagger from my holster and pointed it at Viola.

"No, I seriously don't like having my mind played with. My parents did that enough. Time to take this seriously." I said then started channeling mana into the dagger. Bone-lasher noticed the shift in my mana or recognized the dagger from my memories and perked up.

"Are we doing that Boss?!" Bone-lasher asked nearly jumping out of the water.

"Yeah! Let's go Bone!" I exclaimed and started a axiom spell sigil in front of my right hand while my farm crystal glowed. A star shaped crystal formed in front of my hand and I smirked when I grabbed it. "CRYSTAL GENESIS ACTIVE!"

I shattered the crystal in my hand and a wave of mana rushed from it hitting Bone-lasher and sending another wave back towards me. Bone-lasher was lifted into the air on that wave of mana as purple crystal started covering his body.

"BONE-LASHER CRYSTAL MERGE TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"