Elesch pressed forward, each step echoing with the hum of the Void. The ground beneath her cracked faintly with each movement, threads of shadow spreading like roots.
The Kuwaiti girl screamed, summoning a barrage of ice lances, thousands of crystalline projectiles descending from above. Elesch raised her rapier.
The lances froze midair, their descent halted by a wall of invisible pressure. Then, they shattered, dissolving into black mist that swirled harmlessly around Elesch.
The transformation had gone beyond strength; it was will made manifest. Pain no longer registered; her exhaustion had been rewritten into power. She wasn't fighting anymore. She was commanding.
The Kuwaiti girl tried one last desperate strike, a blade of solid ice infused with her remaining mana, but Elesch caught it effortlessly. The ice hissed against her void aura before crumbling into vapor.
