Flames continued to burn, scattered all over the area, burning away the vines, leaves, and trees to reveal the dark bricks of the ruins. Smoke hissed as the bricks became ash-white like coal, but they remained intact. Surrounded by the fires, scorched earth, and white-hot rocks, Oscar began to sweat all over, but the heat did not compare to the firepower of Maia's spells.

His bulwark deflected another large fireball, his hair blown back by the forceful winds that blew from the explosions, nearly burned by the residual flames that flew about. Oscar wanted to step closer, but small wisps of flames surrounded him and the others from all over, about to barrage down to explode.

As the wisps rushed in to attack the defenseless Susan and others, Oscar rushed back and extended out his buckler with its thread, twirling it around the air and swinging it wildly to destroy all the wisps from a distance before it could reach the others. As explosions surrounded him but not reaching, Oscar frowned as a large snake, thin like an ordinary snake but longer than twice his height, slithered its way through, flames coiling around it.

The snake hissed as it sprang up, going straight in the air to attack Oscar as he destroyed the wisps of flame. Oscar cursed inwardly and ordered his deer anima to rush ahead with double lances wrapped by its antlers.

'Duo Lance'

The flames coiling around the snake started to rotate faster as it started to spin like a top in the air. Oscar's deer anima charged ahead with its antlers and lances against the continuously spinning flames of the serpent anima.

Oscar felt a sharp pain in his core and spat out blood, but he got a 'Silver Star' in his hand and shot it toward where Maia was, spotting her through a gap in the explosions as retaliation. After the dust settled and the wisps were no more, Oscar let out a hot breath as the air distorted around him from the heat waves. His deer anima came next to him with a pained look; the antlers and lances had been melted down.

"Not even a single damage to the snake?" Oscar frowned at the unharmed snake anima that slithered around in the battlefield full of flames. The snake was too fast and coiled around the lances and antlers, melting them down with extreme heat that built up from its flames and continuous spinning. The antlers might not have melted off if his deer anima was a higher grade, but the difference in quality between the snake's flames and his deer's metal was clear. "I'll have to put in more Ein into your antlers to counteract."

Another wave of flame approached, and Oscar blocked it easily with his bulwark; his skin became reddish from the constant exposure to extreme heat. He stared at Maia, who had lost her smile, replacing it with a battle-hardened expression of a serious warrior. "If I think about it, the Left Flame probably told her about Reis as she's had contact with Master. Damnit, Master. Did you have to show off so much in the past?"

Across from him, Maia Claude showed a hint of irritation as he continued to defend against her blasts. She was burning through her Ein, literally, and could not keep it up forever, but even so, Oscar showed no signs of breaking or slowing down. His obsidian eyes continued to lock onto her, sending out more 'Basilisk Eyes' to prevent or slow down some of her spells.

However, despite Maia's overuse of Ein, Oscar suffered from injuries as he continued to be scalded by the flames. Maia's snake anima attacked with powerful flames, making him and his deer anima reel from their potency. Oscar could not foresee the movements of an anima, but he could tell the snake wanted to wrap itself around him or his deer anima to finish it in one move.

Within his predicament, Oscar glanced around to see that Austin and Erik were missing, having taken their respective battles away from him and Maia. While he believed in Austin's ruthlessness and discipline to carry him through, he could not find the same confidence in Erik. No matter what, he had to settle this before the worst-case scenario.

"Hiss!"

Oscar slammed his bulwark against the fearsome snake that swooped in from the flames. A sudden thought came to him, and he let out a wide smile to encourage himself.

As the snake tried to wrap itself around his bulwark to extend itself over to his arms, intent on burning him to a crisp, Oscar stepped forward and reached out for the snake itself.

'Ripple Shroud'

The force of Reis exploded from his body like a shockwave, diminishing the flames. In a hurry, Oscar hugged the large snake, holding it firmly in his arms, feeling a horrific burn. If not for the 'Ripple Shroud' momentarily lowering the output of the flames, his body might have burned instantly.

'Silver Sheen'

Before the snake could take advantage of Oscar's willingness to hold it, it could not move under Oscar's fearsome hold and could not burn his body to a crisp due to the silver metal encasing its prey. Though its flames returned to their usual output, it could not completely melt through Oscar's silver armor with a constant stream of Ein flowing into it.

It became a cycle of melting and hardening as the flames melted the outer layers of his silver armor, but his Ein formed a clean new layer.

"Reis users are stubborn, like Master said." Maia clicked her tongue and fed her snake more Ein to increase the power of its flames. Out of all her flames, the one her snake anima had was her best. She watched as the flames encased the silver-clad Oscar, heating the metal to the point it became red-hot.

However, she soon looked confused and stared at the space behind Oscar. The people she had used as a mental trap for Oscar to stay in one place were gone. Her red eyes locked on a blue deer in the distance that rushed back toward Oscar.

'Ripple Shroud'

Oscar blew apart his silver skin and unleashed another shockwave of Reis to deter the snake anima. He slipped through the gaps and safely retreated away before the twisting beast could coil around him. However, horrible burns covered parts of his exposed chest and arms, and his skin had boils in some areas.

"Are you insane?" Maia asked with a shocked expression.

Oscar held his arms up in a fighting pose, and his deer anima stomped its hooves. A satisfied smile plastered across his face as if in mockery of Maia's question. "Maybe I am, but now they're safe. You can't control them to do anything else other than stare mindlessly and follow simple orders. Otherwise, they would have attacked me; how weak."

"Hah?" Maia raised an eyebrow at Oscar's blatant provocation, her red eyes bursting with hostility and a desire to tear this person apart. Oscar's words had poked into the truth that her seduction spell did not have the impact to have those affected attack under her orders. The higher-grade seduction spells had a much more powerful imprinting to allow that; some even believed the greatest seduction spell would be permanent and the person would forever be under their thrall.

Feeling angered, Maia retorted, "Though they are free, they are in no shape to move. After all, they used up quite a lot of Ein in their previous battle, and the heat of the flames still affected them despite your best attempts to protect them. Don't think you'll receive much help."

Oscar felt blood in his mouth and spat it to the side. Silence befell the scorched fields of flame, stone, and ash as they both recovered their breathing. Not a single breeze or wind blew around them, choked by the waves of heat.

As his hands clenched his bulwark, Oscar saw Maia pull out a red whip. Since he had gotten the others out of the way and the battlefield was open again, she had prepared for the moment he would come within her range. 'She's surprisingly cautious when the situation calls for it. I have to settle this now and kill her before her mindset shifts. She's younger than me and full of pride, and I took advantage of those easily, but she's becoming increasingly more grounded.'

His instincts screamed at him to kill Maia before she could become a larger threat later.

'Silver Burst'

Oscar ran with his deer anima, expending more Ein into its hooves so it could keep up. The flames wooshed and whistled from the winds of Oscar's steps as he circled Maia, shooting out 'Silver Star' in succession. However, her snake anima returned to coil around her and melted down the silver stars.

"That snake…." Oscar muttered as he dodged and deflected more of Maia's flames. The two enemies moved in tandem as Oscar gave chase, and Maia moved to maintain her distance, leaving behind trails of upturned dirt and fire.

His bulwark flew through the air, only to be stopped by her red whip. Sparks and sharp noises rang through the battlefield as they continued this exchange, swinging and lashing out their bulwark and whip. Oscar frowned because the silver of his 'Silver Star' continued to melt from her fiery defense while he and his deer anima suffered some burns from the residual flames.

He was at least thankful that the burns did not bleed, but they still stung and continued to weaken his body. However, he noticed Maia had gotten a bit pale and her breathing uneven. 'She's getting tired as well. If I think about it, we're about even. With 'Ein Awaken', I save a bit more, but her attacks are fierce, and I wasted a lot to get everyone out of there. At this rate, we'll both run on empty.'

Fearing that Maia would try to escape before they reached the breaking point, Oscar thought hard about a solution to break this stalemate. In his desperation, Oscar manifested a 'Silver Star' with a wild thought.

'Shattering Wave'

Oscar concentrated the power of 'Shattering Wave' into the 'Silver Star' to try to make it faster and more powerful to burst past the snake's flames. However, he knew this was an unreasonable action as 'Shattering Wave' was a technique that burst out from his body. It worked with 'Silver Lance' because it was attached to his arm.

Containing it within an object and throwing it seemed idiotic and would certainly implode in his face. But Oscar didn't care. Right now, he needed to do something drastic to turn the tides.

With the silver star at the edge of his fingertip, Oscar aimed and flooded it with his 'Shattering Wave'

'Please don't explode in front of me.'