*Bang Bang Bang*

The clash between Kai and the mermaid was still going on. Even Tasha and Isabelle had no way to help him because she was utilizing his instinct to the fullest, combined with his unpredictable attack pattern that took advantage of his Sound Blast.

On the other hand, the mermaid was not a pushover. Her skinny figure actually contained so much power.

Kai couldn't get an advantage during this whole time.

Knowing that he would lose in terms of stamina, Kai decided to use Michelle's power as well. The moment he struck her staff, a shadow spiked, creating a sharp pointed blade from the back of his palm toward her right eye.

"!!!" The mermaid tilted her head, avoiding this blade, but Kai used another one from the other hand. It was a curved blade that was trying to cut her neck from behind.

"No, you won't!" The mermaid grabbed Kai's wrist and spun as if she was dancing. This was only meant to change Kai's center of gravity as she struck him on the right thigh.

The hand hit the exoskeleton instead, pushing the leg to the ground. He felt a bit numb in that area, but it wasn't enough to injure him. Seeing that her hand was still clinging to him, he grabbed it as well and waved his sword to cut that.

The mermaid stopped Kai's sword again with her staff.

Kai indeed failed to hit her, but he succeeded in stopping her.

Tasha and Isabelle finally had the chance to release their attack.

However, she created three walls instead of two this time.

"Tch." Kai clicked his tongue. She might have understood Sofia's trick even though she only saw it once.

That was why all of them got stopped by the water wall. Even so, Sofia still didn't let this chance go and froze the water walls.

Kai waved his sword to strike her neck but got stopped once again by her staff. Little did she know that Kai released the Shadow Slash through the wall he almost hit. It was in her blind spot, so she shouldn't be able to see it.

The Shadow Slash went around and sparked when it reached its destination.

The mermaid noticed it at the last second and tweaked her head. Fortunately, the Shadow Slash still managed to reach her cheek instead of the original aim, her neck, grazing it.

Blood dripped out of that small graze.

"To think I will be the first one to get injured in this battle." The mermaid narrowed her eyes.

Kai didn't stop there. He let go of one of his swords, allowing his hand to slide past her defense. A magic circle appeared, surrounding his fist, as he punched the mermaid right on her face.

However, the princess also managed to land a hit on Kai's waist since there was no stopping between her after Kai let go of his sword.

*Bang!*

The conclusion came in a sudden. Kai was launched to the side but didn't forget to grab his sword with Michelle's shadow thread. If one observed the situation, there was a bulging black sphere on Kai's waist. That was Michelle using her shadow magic to give a soft pillow to lessen the damage.

Meanwhile, the mermaid had a few scratches on her other cheek because Michelle created a glove with some spikes on it.

The relentless attack had yet to stop. Now that Kai had escaped from the mermaid's grasp, Ayaka finally made her move, creating a magic circle beneath the mermaid's feet.

"Scarlet Explosion!"

*Boom!*

The explosion engulfed the princess, but it was soon dimmed down, revealing the mermaid using her water magic to suppress it.

"All of this just for these scratches?" The mermaid smirked as she stopped the bleeding with her water. "Still, you are more tired than I am. If I continue with this pace, you will be exhausted before you know it."

"At the very least, those two protectors will die before you can defeat me." Kai smirked.

"Do you think they are so easy to kill?"

"No way. But if they can beat ten thousand soldiers with a few people of his caliber, then I am assured that sooner or later they will go down." Kai pointed at Nathan.

"Haha… Do you think I am bringing a nobody? You are underestimating them." The mermaid chuckled.

'She is bluffing.' Kai thought but couldn't give away his thought from his expression.

'He is panicking. I can take advantage of this situation and send some help to them. It will break this stalemate as well.' The mermaid also had her own thought as they both searched for a way to win.

Not only were they engaging in a physical battle, but this psychological battle was also as intense as their battle.

What they told remained as truth before proven otherwise.

"Then, we will see who emerges victorious!" Kai ran toward her while going for another round. The others started helping him as well.

The next ten minutes became even more intense as the mermaid was using her full strength to stop the relentless attack from them while controlling the elemental.

As much as Michael wanted to help them, the elemental was stronger than he expected. To think that the mermaid was still this strong despite controlling this guy, Michael didn't know how he would fight her when she was in full power.

Kai took a glance at the situation on the other big battle. Ria Ross and Michael looked frustrated as if they had no way injuring the guy. In fact, the turtle was kind of playing with them. He simply utilized his magic here and there to block all their advances and attacks.

It was the first time they experienced what it meant to fight an absolute defense. They simply had no way to defeat him.

Ria wanted to use her God Arrow but realized she wasn't able to do so. Not only would the mermaid prevent them by moving in an unpredictable manner, but the turtle was strong enough to push Nathan away and charged at Ria Ross. Hence, there was no point in using that.

In the end, Kai abandoned the thought that one of them could help here and let them focus on the turtle instead.

At the same time, the battle had changed so much. The soldiers began picking their pace because the magical beasts had reduced to thirteen thousand after this long. This might also be because the soldiers were fighting a bit more forcefully, so the number went down pretty fast. However, this also meant that their side also took a considerable loss.

Even though there was no instruction coming from the higher up, they realized how hard for Kai's group to fight that princess alone. If they could eliminate all those magical beasts first, they would be able to surround the mermaid, allowing them to kill her.

Hence, the soldiers decided it themselves and fought without holding back.

"Haha!" The mermaid laughed as if she was insane. It was clear that she was at a disadvantage, but the way she acted…

"Be careful. She is still planning something." Kai warned them.

"You can take pride that you can push me like this, but do you think this is my full power? I am not that good in close quarter combat because I mainly use my magic to fight people."

"Hmph! There is no water in this area. Even if you draw everything from the air, you won't have enough like the one in the ocean!" Kai snorted.

"Really? I feel like I am surrounded by water though." The mermaid made a smug smile. "I ask you once more, come with me, and I can guarantee you that the protectors won't go to the surface for a few hundred years."

"That is impossible. Besides, you are just bluffing." Kai shook his head.

"Then, we will see whether I am bluffing. The one that has the Darkness Magic should have transformed it into Shadow, right?"

Kai fell silent before he realized what she meant by surrounded by water. "Not good!"

"You won't be able to escape." She smiled and raised her hand. "Just like her, I can indeed control water, but it also has transformed. I can control blood! And where do you think we are now?"

The answer was obvious. It was on the battlefield. Many lives had been taken, and blood had been spilled, dyeing the ground with even a redder color. At the same time, the magical beasts also had more blood than humans.

With a single hand, she controlled the blood that had been spilled as it formed a giant elemental the same size as the one she made back in Cuba's war.

"No, you won't!" Michael gritted his teeth and leaped to the air, facing the elemental right on its stomach. He threw his fist with all of his strength, trying to make a giant hole in the stomach, but an arm was coming toward him.

He had no other choice than to use his fist to stop that.

*Bang!*

The wind pressure broke the elemental's fist again like how it was earlier. Other than a bigger size, the elemental seemed to have no other special characteristic, Michael thought.

When she saw his expression, the mermaid smirked as she lifted up her finger, recovering the hand and letting it hit Michael.

*Bam!*

Michael crashed on the ground, startling everyone.

"Seeing you have pushed me to this state, I will tell you my name. Ilareca. That is my name." The mermaid finally introduced herself as she smirked.

The elemental raised both hands and looked to the sky as if it roared to the sky.

"Now, bow down to me!"