The spring wind seemed to chill down to a low crawl as the night stagnated and silence reigned supreme. An azure light illuminated the area, Ashe's body continuously burning in darkish blue flames. It was impossible to tell if she was alive or in the midst of death. However, they had seen before the tenacity of the beast, and since it's flames still burned in fury, there was a higher likelihood that she still clinged to life.

Maria wanted to quickly turn towards that direction and try her hand in healing the girl--if she still breathed. However, this new encounter drew her attention to the fullest.

Surrounded at both sides by what she should assume to be her enemies, it seemed to her that this new opponent didn't put any thought to the matter. She stood there calmly, just in front of the limply laying assassin that had been killed with a single bolt of lightning raining from the sky. Though, retrospectively, by the time she did so, he had already been crumbled to his knees by the group.

"Alice," The personal guard's voice was laced with a small warmth that hid a frozen undertone.

Her eyes clear, Ais reminiscent slightly about this girl before her. As one of the people that had been trained alongside herself within the recruitment trail of Crow's Nest, and the only one that she had grown a bit of a bond with, Alice Aldridge was someone she was quite familiar with. Even still, they had known each other before then.

"Why are you here?" Ais asked her question.

"Oh?" Her opponent smiled and answered in return "how long has it been since the two of us last chanced upon the other?"

"Three years."

"Yes, indeed, three years since you ran and left me." Alice nodded calmly.

She remained silent, she lacked a response. No, Maria thought as she glanced at the quivering blade at her guard's hand, Ais had decided the best solution to deal with this friend of her's was to remain silent.

"What was it again that we promised the other?" Holding the weapon to her shoulders, the girl gave a charmingly calm smile as she watched her 'dear friend' narrow her eyes.

"To stand together till the end," Ais replied.

"Yes, within the orphanage, we only had each other. When you left, I followed your every footstep. Becoming an adventurer, I joined you. Recruited to join Crow's Nest, I abided."

'She was with her at that time?' Maria furrowed her brows, 'why had Ais failed to mention her?'

"However, Imagine my surprise when I heard my partner had lost the qualifications to become a member. Yet, if I had tried to follow her then and there, I would have been killed."

"Now tell me, Ais, isn't that a bit unfair?" She crooked her head slightly as her crimson eyes narrowed slightly.

"Did you want me to kill my father?" Ais William directed back.

"What father?" There was a momentary sneer, "That man that had once trained you as an adventurer? As a swordsman? So?"

At that moment, Maria fully realized why Ais hadn't once mentioned this friend of hers. This person was simply disregarding everything else for her own sake.

A hushed voice reached her ears as Ais drew her blade, "go, heal her, we will hold her in place."

Maria needn't think twice, with a small nod, she turned around and began in haste.

However, just the same, a voice trickled and beat against her ears, startling her, "and where might you be off to?"

She knew instinctively what was coming and had immediately sprung out with a yell, "!"

A loud echo of thunder erupted as a white bolt of lightning crashed down against her formed dome of light.

The barrier immediately collapsed into mere shards and the remaining energy transferred directly onto Maria.

A scream escaped her lips as the current ran within her body, she deeply convulsed for a moment and the sword within her grasp struggled to quake down. For a moment, her eyes blurred and the world around her struggled to stand still. Her mind blackened at instinct to shut down her motor functions.

However, Maria forcefully stamped her feet down with gritted teeth as her body came to a full stop.

Her heart pounded with crazed vigor and she could feel the blood within her body rushing about.

Regaining her thought process, she held no idea as to how she had managed to survive. However, she believed it to either be caused by the reduced damage thanks to her barrier before it shattered, the armor she wore, or her natural physical rank of A. Yet, even still, it was able to deal so damage that she nearly blacked out?

However, one thing was certain, she was not going anywhere until this person was defeated.

And thus, Maria was forced to spin right back around.

"Plan change, Ais" Maria readied her blade, " it would seem we have to defeat her first."

However, Alice gave a small chuckle, "defeat me?"

Her weapon glowed once more.

This time, two roars of thunder erupted through the sky as two streaks of lightning bolts fell down and glimmered a white light amidst the night sky.

"I would very much like to see you try." She smiled.

However, a moment later, her smile disappeared and replaced with a face devoid of emotions she looked up to a burning structure.

"!"

A wall of flames appeared overhead and burned in luster to form into the shape of a gigantic shield.

The two streaks of lightning fell onto the defense of flames. The entire structure shuddered, quaked, and rumbled overhead as an orange hue glimmered with the already azure hue that coveted the sky and a slew of flames came from the area the bolts had struck towards. Cracks appeared on its surface like glass breaking, however, a moment later, those cracks melded back and blazed in flames.

Arthur continued to supply mana towards the shield overhead as he kept his hand held up, a trail of red light connected the two.

"Hurry up!" He yelled towards the group and was in time to see Rain already rushing towards his newly claimed opponent.

"My mana won't last forever!"

Alice held her pole to the base of her neck in time to block the flash of a blackened blade that almost lopped off her head.

Her body then narrowingly dodged sideways and a breeze of wind passed by her shoulder with a glimmer of a blade.

She smiled lightly when she saw the cold golden eyes of her friend shot towards her as the blade within her grasp streak through the air.

"You all simply underestimate me."

The ground began to rumble and quake as a low brown glow covered the weapon in her hand.

Maria held a disastrous feeling about this.

"Do you believe I merely control lightning?"

The ground beneath Alice's feet rushed into the air as her body ascended.

Two slabs of earth propelled from Maria's side as they came in a direct bid to crush her figure.

She immediately held her hands sideways as the force crashed into her figure.

Her arms quaked and she heard the creaking of her bones. She could feel the force of the crushing attack increasing against her.

Ais and Rain immediately turned towards her as they each tried to reach to cut the boulders down. However, they didn't reach far before the ground beneath their feet quaked just the same.

A huge chunk raised into the air as their body propelled upwards with it, then, just the same, it flipped over and they found themselves crashed against the floor.

The mass of earth dropped back down.

The scream of a young boy echoed into the sky as he found his body crushed under the weight of what seemed like a hundred grown men. He could hear the shattering of some of the bones within his body as blood splurged from his lips and drenched the floor at his front.

Ais was in the same boat as she felt herself pressed against the earth, she pushed against the earth with her hands but she couldn't move a single inch.

Maria looked up to find her body ascending by a floating land of earth beneath her feet.

The figure of Alice at her front stepped out into the air and with every step taken towards her, a new mass of earth appeared beneath her feet, rising from the ground below, as the old one fell back down.

"Princess Maria Springfield, born with an S- overall rank. Yet, so weak."

"Sadly, the barrier of flames above is blocking me from summoning rain, as it would simply turn it to steam, or I would have drowned you all."

Finally, she appeared at her front as the two found themselves face to face. Alice's unarmed hand placed itself at her face, gently caressing it as her crimson eyes stared into Maria's own.

"Do you know what I love seeing the most?" Her weapon glowed a white light that was hazardly tinted in a hazy layer of brown.

At this close proximity, Maria noticed circular white runes carved along the full shell of the weapon and her eyes glowed a golden light.

[Name: Alice Albridge

Strength: A

Speed: A

Mana: F

Skills: Elemental Angus (U), Light Manipulation (A)

Overall: ]

[Elemental Angus: With this weapon in hand, you control the four natural elements. You can call lightning from the sky, break the earth and control it, make the winds listen to your command, drown an area into an ocean, and turn an ecosystem into ash. Every use of this power expands at least 1 rune, and 1 rune is produced every 5 minutes while awake. Adding an extra rune to your summon increases power of attack by 1 minor rank plus the normal strength rank. However, attack power cannot exceed more than 1 major rank above your strength rank.

Before me, no one may call themselves a Mage of the natural elements!

Current Runes: 231

Auxiliary: Call a pillar of pure white lightning by using half your total runes. This attack enshrouds an area of your bidding and descends to directly crush your opponents to smithereens. Attack power is always proportional to 1 major rank greater than your overall rank.]

[Blend: Can blend into the surrounding area.]

"Realization dawning into the eyes of a person just before death." She released her hand as the land beneath her feet floated backwards.

'! ! ! !......' Maria crazily began to revolve her mana as a golden light glimmered into her area as a shin of barriers began to take form. She only did the bare minimal, protecting just the outer coating of her skin, anything beyond that, and she would be expanding both mana and time.

At the same time, she called upon her golden blades to form a makeshift shield atop her figure.

At that moment, countless roars of thunder echoed through the air as streaks of white fell down from the swirling mass of black clouds above head.

As each struck against the flame shield above and failed to get through, a new one would come down to take its place, giving Arthur no time to heal the wounds of the . Every single one thundered upon the flame shield that illustrated the air above and struck the space just above Maria's figure.

Alice hadn't summoned a rain of lightning, no, she summoned a single strike with each instance of a broken one and watched on as they each came crashing down.

Countless cracks began to spread across the surface of the defense, evidently, it wasn't possible for it to hold on any longer.

And naturally, the entirety of the shield of flames shattered down into shards as the embrace of lightning streaked down towards Maria's figure.

"Maria!" There was the scream of her brother, Ais, and Rain intertwined into one.

Maria looked up, her eyes widening to see the shards of gold falling from the shattered golden blades.

She forcefully tore her eyes away from the blinding streaks of light as she looked down towards the floating ground.

Next, a torrent of bombardment of lightning struck her body.

With every crackle of lightning, a light barrier encroached on her skin shatter into shards.

Countless strikes were stopped by the barriers on her skin, and just the same, countless strikes passed through. With every crackle of lightning that broke apart, a new one was summoned to take its place.

"!" She bellowed out with gritted teeth with every current of pain she felt.

"!" She bellowed out even as she felt her eyes grow dizzy.

"!" She yelled with force even as her mind grew foggy.

"!" Even with her heart pounding in intensity, she held on.

At the same time, she was being crushed on both sides of her body.

Her mana was running dry. Her arms were quaking to just let go as her silver gauntlets scrunched ageist the wall of earth, yet the boulders of earth could crush her into a paste if she did for a moment. She struggled to stay awake, much less speak, yet she must unless she wanted to face deaIn the end, he arms dropped down as the two walls of earth instantly forced her in between.

There was a hazardous scream.

"Sorry Maria, this will hurt a bit" Arthur spoke as he ran with multiple spears of flames at his front.

Then he commanded them towards her direction as it waltzed through the night air and burned a low reddish glow.

However.

A crackle of thunder broke down from the sky as a streak of lightning descended down onto the flying spear of flame. Each flame spear was hit with each crackle that blinded the sky and exploded them into mere shards of flames.

A small sea of flames highlighted the air as Arthur opened his lips for a moment in disbelief.

Yet, this show wasn't without merit as it gave Maria breathing room when the rain of lightning stopped for a moment. She used it.

Evidently, Alice was not able to summon and control many streaks of lightning directly at once

Using the bit of awareness left in her, Maria summoned her golden blades back as they glimmered into existence. Forming two makeshift drills as they pierced the chunks of earth at her side into dust before finally piercing the one below her feet.

Her body dropped down from the air in a wagered outlook and her blade clinked against the ground. The armor on her body began in a disappearance and revealed her scorched clothing.

Suddenly, she felt a body embrace her in warmth as she briefly looked up to see the red eyes of her brother.

"Got you," He gave a small smile as his legs quaked a bit.

He looked up to see the calm smile of Alice Aldridge staring down towards him.

"How sweet, a brother dying for his sister." With those words of hers, a wallow of flames began to wallow out in front of her as the weapon against her shoulder grew a tinted red.

Slowly, it manifested into a glimmering spear of flames that crossed the night sky.

"Since you entertained me with the same spell, I will return the favor," Alice spoke as the tip of the spear pointed towards the two's figure.

"Any ideas?" Maria managed to utter through rough breaths as she looked at the solidifying flame spear.

Arthur chuckled lightly as he began to stand up, "Run!"

He immediately turned around and began to run away.

"Seriously?" Maria questioned.

"Seriously," Arthur answered back.

Alice shook her head lightly and smacked her hand down.

She wasn't a fire mage and her attack didn't have to be linear, watching the boy that swerved left and right, she thought him to be quite funny indeed.

The gigantic spear of flame instantly chased after the two's figures and caught up to them in no time.

Arthur turned his head to see the fiery flame tip headed for them.

"Well, this has been a pretty fun journey at least." He made a hollow laugh to which Maria grimaced towards.

Suddenly, a voice brought him back from the brink of despair, "Indeed, you must all have had plenty of fun."

A man ran before the spear of flame with a devilishly bluish sword in hand as he immediately slashed out.

A blue sword beam shot from his weapon and narrowed through the intense heat of the attack.

Boom

The blue beam instantly passed through the direct center of the spear as it directly bisected it into mere flame shards.

"Here I was, within my carriage ready to return home with my dear wife. Then I see sparks of continuous lightning crossing the night sky and thunder ringing in my ears, naturally, I came to check it out but instead came upon the screaming voice of my son yelling 'Maria'." The man spoke loudly as he shook the flame from his weapon and looked at the girl that floated a distance from him.

"Now tell me, little girl, why do you want to kill the princess?"

Maria mustered the bit of energy left within her as her eyes shined a golden luster.

[Name: Lambert Clover

Strength: A

Speed: A

Mana: F

Skills: Swordsmanship (S),

Overall: S]

[Awakened Blade: ; Like the falling rain, your attack washes away all defenses and erodes attacks. With every slash you make, you send forth a beam of blue light. With every slash you make, those blue lights strike against their opponent in speed equal to your overall rank. With every strike you make, those blue beams of light continually rise in power by a minor rank starting from rank F. Combo ends after reaching the maximum of 2 major ranks above your own overall rank and must be started over.

Subtlety in presence, strength in numbers.

*Every strike must be made within 0.75 seconds of the previous for the known effect or else the stacking of power will reset.]

'Rain's Father?'

This time, she saw something she hadn't seen the first time she had looked at his Sacred Text when she first arrived at the city of Kent; the Awakened form of his blade.

Looking at the glimmering blue blade at his hand; Maria thought it must be because, this time, he actually had his weapon equipped this time.

Alice raised a brow before shifting into an expression devoid of emotion. Shaking her head slightly, she decided it was time to end this little game once and for all.

"I don't know who you are, and I don't care," She raised the pole in her hand as the sound of crackling thunder began to explode into the air and sparks of lightning illuminated the sky above.

"Oh?" Lambert scrunched his black eyebrows.

"However, if you want to die too..." She smiled.

"." The simple words left her mouth.

At that moment, a boom echoed into the sky as a pillar of white light pierced through the dark clouds above.

"My god..." Arthur muttered as he looked at the overshrouding presence above their heads.

This couldn't even be considered mere lightning anymore, this was a damned tower of white light if he had ever seen one.

As it continued to descend, Lambert smiled and grasped the hilt of his blade tighter. He looked towards his son that was currently sitting under a boulder that continuously pressed against his body.

"Rain!" He shouted as he looked back at the descending pillar of light.

The boy forced his head upwards to see his father in a readied stance, grinning.

"Look on, this is what I hope you can aspire towards. The pinnacle of weapon arts, Awakening the bonds between yourself and your weapon!" Facing the gigantic bolt of lightning that was falling from the sky, Lambert Clover raised the gleaming dark blue blade in his hand.

"!" His voice bellowed into the world as he swung his weapon upwards with a single hand.

A dark azure blue blade-light shot upwards with the forceful slash.

However, he wasn't done as his hand began in a hazy dance of slashes.

The continuous beams of blue light directly bombarded against the circular bottom of the radiating tower, each beam growing in both size and strength. The air rippled as if being broken through forcefully and continuous booms echoed out into the world.

Even as the pillar of pure lightning descended in an impossible speed, the blue beams continuously grew in both size and power as they forcefully crashed against the base of the pillar and numerous cracks began to spread and crack into being.

Lambert bellowed out a single loud scream as he made one last swing of his blade as a gigantic wave of blue sword light immediately propelled forwards.

It busted high with the final strength of SS- and the speed of S and crashed against the pillar.

The air rippled and a loud cracking echoed out as the energy propelled through and bisected against the white pillar.

The sky rumbled and quaked as the two sliced sides began to fall.

The ground shook and a great force pounded onto the two sides of the group; sending dust into the high air. The trees in the area were immediately crushed into smithereens and a deep concave was left within the land before the split pillar began to dissipate into mere shards of crackling lightning.

As Maria watched all this she wondered was this the truest form of strength of an S ranked? Slicing through magic even when not having a specific skill in the category of mana cleaving? Had she failed to tap into her own power?

"Rank suppression," Arthur muttered as he began to release Maria from his grasps.

"Rank suppression?" She asked, standing with effort.

"Yes. No matter the rank of strength an attack or defense possess, by defending against it with a defense or attacking back with an attack of 2 ranks higher, It will break. If it's less than 2 ranks higher, it will weaken it, if it's 2 ranks higher; it will break it. That is a general rule." He nodded.

"?" Mara tilted her head slightly, "Why could the lightning pierce through my light barrier then? Afterall, I have an overall rank of S-, do I not?"

At that moment, she heard a small chuckle as Lambert shook his sword.

"An Overall rank is merely the totaling of all your stats, skills and experiences in order to average your strength. However, just as its name implies, it is a sum of it all so it cannot claim to account the truest level of your strength. Although you have an overall rank of S-, your strength, and defensive rank in turn, is still amongst the A rank. However, even still, an overall rank does bring benefits. Some of which involves the evolution of your body or the awakenment of one or multiple skills."

"Yet she is so strong while being an A ranker?" Maria turned to see the girl floating atop the slit of land within the air. Her expression was overly calm and there didn't seem to be a single quake in her even after watching her attack fail. Maria could even glean a small smile.

"An A ranker huh?" Lambert frowned with his eyes piercingly looking at Alice. He seemed to not be all too surprised at Maria knowing the rank of the girl, after all, numerous abilities exist in the world. It could even be claimed that there were more different skills than stars in the sky.

"Then she must possess a skill similar to mine, which allows her to bypass one or a multitude of ranks in an area." He finally proclaimed.

"Or, her power might have a suppression effect that can suppress and negate a part of an opponent's power." Arthur jumped in.

Well, one of them was right, and naturally, Maria knew which one but she didn't want to dash the 'geniusness' of her brother and didn't say.

Currently, Alice Aldridge's face was devoid of any emotion as the spring nightly wind caressed against her youthful features.

The segment of ground beneath her feet began to lower itself and soon inserted from where it was first removed from, fitting perfectly within.

Illuminated from the azure heat of the still burning Ashe, she glanced once towards the boy held under the mass of earth and then glanced at her years passed friend.

"Well then, Ais, I wish you luck." She stated plainly before turning her back towards her.

"Is she running away?" Arthur asked as he watched the figure of the girl beginning to grown more obscure with every step before finally disappearing even though she should have still remained visible.

Maria activated her ability