Chapter 97: Not even their final forms!

A large toothy grin formed upon Eel’s face as she fearlessly raised her sword - jumping towards the gigantic puppet.

Although she released a powerful downward slash, accompanied by the sound of thunder, the cloaked menace easily handled the blow. As casually as a lifeless husk could manage; it lifted its left greatsword above to catch the young kit’s own curved sword. Following that it swung the mighty right greatsword to cleave her in half.

The grin never faltered from the girl's face even at possible bifurcation. If anything her smile only became more savage as her left hand rose up to punch down on the sword - lowering it’s path while forcibly tucking her legs in so it passed just under her. Without hesitation she shot her feet out once again to collide with the puppets chest.

“Hah~ you are not as agile as I remember, bucket head~!” <Eel>

She taunted arrogantly however the giant didn’t budge at her counterattack to it’s very own counter attack causing her to kind of just fall backward. Before she hit the ground the puppets' own leg came flying upwards sending her flying through the air; a complete reversal  from earlier when it was her sending Icky through the air. Even that didn’t cause her frown to falter which only made the dark magician/summoner frown slightly.

<What is she up to… No matter what, I'm about ready to summon an artificial {God Hunter} which will truly mark the end no matter what she tries to do. After all there is no way for her to resist the power of a {God Hunter} - she simply hasn’t got the skill. Although I won’t claim my imitations reach the heights of the original yet they will be enough to handle this.>

While such thoughts rushed through Promicarus’ mind the hunter flipped through the air. Even after landing on her feet she skidded back a few feet with a confident grin upon her face as she stretched out her left hand. Right when her momentum was coming to an end she felt her hand connect with a familiar sensation which she trusted in even more than the sword she got a couple days ago.

Pulling her spear out from the ground she lowered her position while spreading her legs as far as they could go; heels pointed into the air as if she was ready to charge once more.

Crimson sparks left her body while pieces of flesh began to dissipate into violet embers - wisps of the violent flames began to leave her flesh. Unlike previously her regeneration wasn’t able to keep up with the flames even when used in such a small amount. Her skin hence burning up at a visible pace.

“Kekeke I see thou cannot control thine arcane attribute either? Just using thine powerful yet newly acquired magic must be tearing thou apart from the inside out - yet despite that thou still fatuously endeavours to use the power of [Violet Flames of Destruction]! What a truly inept decision however I suppose you otherwise would stand no chance muhahaha!” <Promicarus>

Despite the taunting Eel didn’t stand down but instead pointed her sword forward once more towards the sky with the sun at her back. For a moment Promicarus found herself taking in the ambiance of the beautiful scene - that was also the moment Elizabeth charged. Sword aura practically exploding from her blade she slashed towards the puppet.

Just like previously it raised its left sword up to catch the sword yet also took a stance to better prepare to receive the blow. The power behind the sword wasn’t something Icky was about to look down upon; a wise choice which unfortunately failed her. As the giant puppet moved it’s left leg back to support its sword the ground behind it crumbled into a hole while causing the stance of the monster to falter.

“T-that's impossible!” <Promicarus>

The demon lord in training practically had her jaw fall to her feet while her eyes widened at the sight of her puppet falling into a pitfall. She was absolutely sure that there wasn’t a hole there formerly yet it was impossible to deny it was there now. Eel’s sword came crashing down though the puppet still managed to protect itself with its sword nevertheless it couldn’t completely resist.

Falling backwards the giant puppet landed on its back from the powerful attack yet Eel didn’t end her attack there. Instead she leapt over the collapsed giant to charge towards its puppeteer who no longer had weapons of her own - spear pointed towards the plastic princess' chest. She didn’t panic at this.

Although she was focusing on her high level summoning, something that may take days for a lesser magician, she wasn’t so limited.

“[Solus].” <Promicarus>

Stretching her left hand out a set of black embers appeared from her palm until exploding out in hope of erasing her foe. Biting her lip as a plume of pure black indeed seemed to completely engulf the girl leaving nothing left; making her close her eyes and let out a long sigh. A bitter smile formed upon her face as she gazed towards the sunset once more.

“I suppose it was that easy…” <Promicarus>

It was at that moment when she suddenly felt the earth below her rumble slightly. If it was against someone else she would never worry about it however this wasn’t just anyone she was fighting but the most troublesome hunter alive. Letting down her guard would be the same as placing her head upon the executioner's block thus jumping backwards into the air just in time for the familiar girl to come bursting out with her spear held high.

“Tsk~!” <Eel>

“Y-you tried to shove your spear up my ass!” <Promicarus>

Fire in her eyes, Promicarus moved her hand towards Eel who stepped out from the ground which seemed to act more like water than it did earth to the dragon hatchling. As impressive as her achievements with the earthen attributes may be, it did not scare Promicarus who gazed towards Elizabeth who stood proudly. Not even showing a single worry about Icky’s raised hand which only made the demon lord more eager to give her something to worry about.

“[Acuar]!” <Promicarus>

The air around her hand began to crystalize however the effect didn’t continue in the direction she would desire it to. Before she could ‘freeze’ Eel where she stood, Promicarus abruptly felt a pair of hands erupt from the floor below, grabbing her shins then yanking the abyssal slime girl into the ground. Promicarus lost her balance immediately causing her to throw her arms around to catch herself only to then create a hail of ‘ice’ fall from the sky due to her missed attack.

“Wow~ your aim really sucks Icky~!” <Eel>

“Y-you-!” <Promicarus>

Light built inside of Eel’s spear as she merely offered the same arrogant yet regal smirk only to thrust forward causing the spear to expand out into a stake through Promicarus heart. Not one to take things lying down; Promicarus pointed her index finger towards Eel to create a beam of abyssal energy to challenge the beam of light. An explosion occurred yet the huntress knew not to take chances so dove to the side just as a greatsword from the giant purple came sailing down to cleave her in half.

She tried to charge towards her rival, who was pulling herself out of the earth with little actual difficulty in order to finish her off and claim victory. That proved to be more difficult than she would have desired as the puppet leapt in her way while swinging its second greatsword with a hope of removing the little hero's head. All she could do in return to that power was lift her sword and jump in the air.

In return she was sent hurtling through the air once more though having revealed two of Promicarus’ hidden cards made her feel quite great about herself.

<I cannot sustain the Arcane element for much longer since it requires massive amounts of demonic energy - something I can’t freely use in the {Mortal Realm}. In fact I do not know how to convert mana into demonic energy so I only have a limited amount to begin with. That being considered I probably shouldn’t use it all up since that may lead to me dying even before I can even finish the fight…>

Those concerns didn’t let her smirk fall from her face.

Then again neither did Promicarus let her roadblocks halt her progress as she only needed another minute to finish her summoning. That in mind she didn’t need to wait for Eel to approach her and she knew that; an arrogant grin on her face growing. Her puppet lifted its bladess above its head as a green sword aura began to be infused into them then slammed both greatswords onto the ground causing the earth around it to be annihilated.

“Let’s see what thou tricks can do now muahaha!” <Promicarus>

Eel’s only reaction to this was to increase her grin as nature energy began to be sucked into the kit as fur began to grow all across her body. Even the mana in the surroundings swirled around the dragoness like a hurricane with her as the eye - all the while she grew to appear more and more like a bipedal purple fox. The summoner furrowing her brow at the unexpected scene as she soon clicked her fingers as well as her tongue.

“Tsk I suppose I’ll just have to summon what I currently have… [Abyssal Summoning Arts: Legion Edition {Faux God-Hunter}]!” <Promicarus>

Quickly she cut her losses and created a rift encased in the centre of an abyssal black magic circle which formed from her; a black knight with a skull-like helm slowly rose from the rift. An ominous aura of death whispered off the warrior, making Eel open her own eyes in surprise as she never expected the girl to have an even stronger summon. Knowing that she stood no chance against that creature Eel charged forward once more yet this time her spear was pointed straight towards the puppets waist.

The arrogance within Promicarus’ smile was positively unbeaten as her puppet once more lifted a greatsword to the heavens before swinging it down to cleave the incoming fox. It was at that moment Eel finally revealed her final ace; two single tailed Eels’ left to challenge a greatsword each to prevent any attacks it could make. Three more clones erupted from the earth to charge with the [Feral Form] kit - slammed all four of their spear tips into the giant's unguarded chest to send it flying towards Promicarus.

“W-wha- h-how-” <Promicarus>

Everything made sense now that she realised the clones were hiding underground making holes under her as well as her puppet yet she didn’t understand where they came from. It was at that moment her mind turned back towards those hidden fox tails - additional Eel had only ever attacked her with three tails. From there it only took mere seconds for Promicarus to figure out the rules regarding her new doppelganger skill.

<So for the cost of a tail she is able to create a clone - that must be something which that vixen had taught her! Wait she has 9 tails and has used six of them yet I can only see 5 clones attacking my puppet. In that case where is the last->

Just as she was about to jump away from the puppet hurtling towards her she felt two hands wrap around her ankles once more. Looking down she saw the confident smirk of the demon prince who was looking between her legs - a cold sweat forming on Promicarus’ back despite the lack of sweat glands.

“Huh~ so you don’t have any hair down here~!” <Eel>

“Eh?” <Promicarus>

That was all Promicarus could get out before her own giant puppet slammed into her body removing the rest of her body from the feet the clone gripped. The pair flew for quite awhile until the pair slammed into a bolder in the distance causing it to explode - sending out shattered shards of rock into the battalion of fox girls. At the head of the group was the beastified Eel who put her clawed hand above her eyes while whistling.

“Phew~ I would say she is not getting up from that one but-” <Eel>

“She has already jinxed herself enough~!” <Eel 2>

One of the clones shrugged her shoulders while shaking her head with a smug smirk.

“Huh~ maybe she will give up due to being infuriated fufufu~...” <Eel 3>

Another clone looked hungrily at the boulder with a smug smirk.

“Really~? Knowing her I feel the opposite is more likely to be true… That is if she can lift that puppet off herself which I’m inclined to say ‘no’~!” <Eel 4>

Yet another clone stroked her chin with a smug smirk.

“Does seem very unlikely with her weak noodle arms - can’t plastic can’t muscles~!” <Eel 5>

Additionally another clone tensed her muscles with a smug smirk.

“Erm… You guys know the summoning magic hasn’t cancelled which means we have not actually accomplished anything~?” <Eel 6>

The last clone (except the underground lurker) finally reminded her companions, making them all turn towards the summoning circle.

“This isn’t even my final form!” <Promicarus>

A terrifying aura erupted from the boulder.