Troubled Heart

[Water Creation Magic: Sea Dragon's Roar]

*SWOOOSH!!*

Equipping her [Valkyrie Armor] and rushing her, Noelle fired off a long ranged offensive spell hoping to create an opening for her and Loropechka to take advantage of while Mimosa kept the Dark Disciple busy.

"TAKE THISSS!!" She screamed at the top of her lungs putting her all into the attack.

"Hmph."

Looking at the incoming attack without a ripple of emotion appearing on her face, Vanica stood with her hands in her pockets and let her grimoire float up to her.

Pathetic

[Blood Magic: Red Beast]

*RAAAWRRR!!*

Exploding out of her and letting out a monsterous roar in the process, the top half of a gigantic eyeless creature made entirely out of blood burst out from the top of her body and crushed the sea dragon in its jaws.

*POP!!*

Applying a bit of pressure to its mouth, the body of the dragon burst and turned into a sprinkle.

Ignoring the pitter patter of the dead dragon raining down on her, Vanica looked at the bewildered Noelle and in a mocking tone she asked. "What was that supposed to be? An attack? *Grins* LET ME SHOW YOU WHAT A REAL ATTACK LOOKS LIKE!!"

*SLASH!!*

Gliding its claws along the ground and swiping upwards, the [Red Beast] let loose a flurry of flying blood slashes towards the water mages.

"UNDINE!!" Loropechka yelled.

Heeding her call, the spirit of water spread her hands out and raised a protective barrier of water.

"I WON'T LET YOU HARM HER!"

*CRASH!!*

*CRASH!!*

*CRASH!!*

'Damn it!' Loropechka grit her teeth watching as the blood slashes cut through their defence and dissipated inside the water barrier.

I wanted to rely on Grim's power to help deal with her, but without him here we'll have to resort to plan B.

*FWOOSH!!*

"LOROPECHKA-CHAN!!"

Bursting through the water barrier with a huge smile spread across her face and riding on top her [Red Beast]. Vanica let her tongue hang out of her mouth as the [Red Beast]'s fist slammed down towards the unprotected queen.

""LOROPECHKA!!!"" Noelle and Undine screamed in union as Noelle pushed her speed to its limits and grabbed Loropechka moments before the blood fist could crush her.

*BAANG!!!*

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!" Vanica burst into maniacal laughter thoroughly enjoying herself. "C'mon Loropechka! SHOW ME WHAT YOU CAN REALLY DO!!!"

"FORGET WORLD TREE MAGIC AND DARK MAGIC! THIS IS WHERE THE REAL FUN'S AT!!"

*SLASH!!* *SLASH!!* *SLASH!!*

Narrowly dodging the slashes while also carrying Loropechka in her arms, Noelle's mind raced.

'World tree magic? Dark Magic? Don't those belong to Captain Yami and Captain Vangence?'

"What are you planning Vanica!" She yelled. "What are you and the Dark Triad trying to do!"

"Urgh." Vanica rolled her eyes and made an irritated face upon hearing her voice. "Why would I tell a nobody like you?"

Safe in Noelle's arms, Loropechka closed her eyes and searched the Heart Kingdom's records of what the dark triad could do if they aquired both World Tree Magic and Dark Magic.

World tree magic... Dark magic... World tree magic... Dark magic...!!

'Oh no.' Her eyes suddenly snapped open as sweat drenched her face.

"Noelle!" She suddenly cried out.

"Huh?"

'What happened?! Why's she so pale?!'

"The dark triad... WE HAVE TO STOP THEM!!"

"Eh? I know. That's what we were planning to d-

"No! You don't understand! This is about more than just my life now! If we let the Dark Triad have their way, devils will pour into our world and 90% of the people on this continent will die! It'll spell the end of the world as we know it!"

"WHAT!!" Dodging another attack, her head snapped in Vanica's direction.

"You goddamn psychopath! What the hell is wrong with you!! Why the hell would you do such a dreadful thing?!!"

"Urgh, you're still talking." Losing her smile, Vanica upped the ferocity of her attacks. "So what if all those weaklings die *Slash* *Slash* I just want to have fun with all the strong guys who manage to survive in a place like that! If you have a problem with that then do your best to survive!"

'This woman, SHE'S INSANE!!'

Looking at Vanica's grinning face, Noelle was deeply disturbed by how carefree she was about the extinction of humanity.

"Plan B?" She looked at Loropechka.

*Nods*

"Plan B."

Having no other choice, Loropechka moved to plan B.

'For the sake of this kingdom and the world, we'll beat you right here, right now!'

[Mana Zone + Mana Method]

[Water Spirit Magic: Ludic Sanctuary]

*SPLOOSH!!* *SPLOOSH!!* *SPLOOSH!!*

Summoning out multiple pillars of swirling water by pulling in water her surroundings, Loropechka watched as they rose into the air. One of them even swallowed Vanica and her blood beast forcing them into the sky where all the pillars combined together to form a massive body of water with three mana arays/ magic circles placed around its top, middle and bottom.

"GO NOELLE!!" She yelled as the Clover Royal jumped into one of the rising pillars and shot towards the massive mass of water above.

"I've done everything I can, I leave the rest to you."

Shooting through the pillar, Noelle steeled her resolve and prepared herself for the battle ahead.

The water makes it harder to congeal blood cutting her power in half while boosting my ow-

*BOOOM!!*

Before she could finish what she was thinking, the sound of a high pitched whistle pierced through the air as something dropped from the sky and crashed straight into the centre of the mass of water at such a speed and with enough impact that it shot through the top layer and exited through the bottom somehow managing to break the mana arays in the process and causing the towering body of water to faulter and explode.

"NOOOOO!!" Loropechka screamed falling to her knees in despair as she watched the spell she had meticulously practiced break.

---

'Wh-What happened?'

Facing upwards and watching as the clouds grew further from her eyes, wind rushed past Noelle's ears as she fell through the air and felt the previous boost of power she was receiveing from Loropechka's spell leave her body.

---

On the ground...

*Whistles*

"Damn. I was just coming for a rematch with Gaja before heading to the Spade Kingdom. But who would have guessed that I'd see something so interesting on my way."

Sensing the multiple dark mana signatures spread out all over the Heart Kingdom, a small but disappointed smile crept up onto his face.

'All stage zero huh... To bad I'm far above that now.'

"G-Grim?" A weak voice sounded out from behind him.

"Eh?" He turned around and caught sight of his caller. "Oh its you... Loli Pikachu?"

"Loropechka!"

"Right right." He nodded not taking her seriously but noticing her pale face.

'Wow, she looks like shit.'

"It's your fault." She groaned as if reading his mind. "Why do you keep breaking the spells of the Heart Kingdom?!"

'Forming Mana Arays aren't easy!!'

Sighing to herself, the backlash from having a spell that was connected to her obliterated left her feeling extremely weak and drained. And knowing from Noelle and Mimosa's stories that arguing with Grim could potentially put her life at risk, she wrung her sleeves dry and pushed herself up to her feet as Undine cruised down from the sky with Noelle in her arms.

'I destroyed a spell?' Grim thought back for a moment.

"Oh!" He suddenly figured it out.

"You mean that non aesthetically pleasing eyesore floating in the sky? It was bother."

'Ha ha... He called the only plan we had that didn't involve him a bother... I'm tired.'

"Besides." He shrugged. "I felt a powerful mana signature coming from inside."

"A powerful mana signature?"

*Eyes Widen*

"You MEAN-

"YOOHOOOO." A cheery voice suddenly echoed out from the distance causing everyone to freeze.

"Aww Loro-chan." Vanica grinned. "You never told me you made such an interesting friend."