A few days passed in a flash, Gracier and Saeko joined Alice and Kuina in a city next to the capital, Sera and the others have arrived as well, but only a few of them were missing, Artemia, Luna, Sakuya and Maria hadn't arrived yet. They are on a mission.
Today, the sun in the sky was shining brighter than usual, in an underground training ground somewhere, two people were facing each other.
The empress was facing Alice in another rematch, their seventh match already but Alice haven't won even once.
However, today would be different as they are fighting using all, using their familiars, like she, the empress did possess familiars, and she would be using one of them in this fight. In a fight between familiars, Alice has the feeling that she wouldn't lose.
All the eyes were focused on the two when suddenly,
The empress's eyes turned deep red as her canines started lengthening more than usual.
A dark red aura rose from her, this aura rose with the flick of her fingers, it was a sign that she was about to unleash his familiar.
Crackle crackle
Dark Golden lightning expanded as the air around them got turned into plasma. A blinding light swept the area up. Then, a tremendous impact struck along with a sonic boom.
The lightning of destruction materialized in a storm of golden lightning. Waves of lightning wrecked the area. Meanwhile, the empress was already engulfed by her lightning, nobody could see her figure beyond that thick thundercloud.
It was like a dark golden lightning storm appeared out of nowhere.
The entire area shook as if it could collapse at any moment.
The golden lion floated like a majestic airship, its heat, and impact could be felt from a distance.
The air reverberated.
Roooarrrr
It scattered lightning once more, disintegrating and dispersing anything in its path, the ground also started giving away with terrifying cracking sounds.
It's creating an earthquake!
This is the power of the familiars a the empress could summon.
"Golden Lion King!''
The empress declared.
Because of this, the lion can manifest in the real world.
The Golden Lion King used its host magic power to fully materialize.
Alice calmly watched as the Golden Lion King commanded lightning like a sovereign of thunder. Her eyes flashed with consternation.
That familiar destructive ability is already a peak Saint's attack.
In other words, getting hit by that thing is equivalent to getting hit by a peak Saint realm expert full-power attack. However, since it's raw power, without proper technique, a newly-minted Demigod could still skirt around it.
If the attack couldn't land, it's useless.
This also means Alice needs to watch out. She would be disintegrated by that thing if she got hit.
She wasn't afraid though, in fact, the white-haired beauty was excited.
"As expected of the familiar of the empress!"
Alice licked her lips with a battle-junky look.
"Today will be the day I beat you!" She declared proudly.
Alice inhaled deeply and stepped toward the intimidating lion.
"Sister Alice!"
Gracier cried out.
"Don't go there, it's dangerous, let me..."
"Relax!"
Alice's confident tone stopped Gracier who was about to join the fray, her word echoed in her ears.
"It's just a witless familiar, it has shocking destructive powers for sure but it cannot hurt me!"
"Eh????''
Gracier was shocked and speechless, she couldn't believe the corky words coming from Alice's mouth. She was not the only one, though, the others were shocked as well
Roarrr
The golden lion king probably heard Alice dissing it. It started charging toward her in a blur of golden lightning.
"Crap!"
Gracier and the others cursed with a pale look.
If that thing was allowed to go on a rampage here, put aside the barrier's structural integrity for now, it would still render this underground training hall half-broken at the very least.
Alice could feel lightning violently caressing her skin. She watched as the lion came straight for her, her expression still as cool as she was at the start of this. She had the eyes of a stone-cold fighter.
"If you are fully-materialize, that means I can only summon my vassal beasts too..."
Alice ignored the others who were petrified by her words.
"For a familiar beast like you....''
Then, it happened.
Fwooosh!
White flames started shooting out from Alice, the white flames weren't hot to the touch. Instead, space distorted under its anomalous powers, and a strong surge of magic power also took control of this area. The wind started raging too!
Alice raised her hand, then, the white flames started flowing there as they gathered into a flaming orb.
"This much..."
Alice grinned when she looked at the Golden Lion King.
"Is enough..."
Then Alice swiped and the flaming orb turned into a flaming laser that shot into an otherwise disproportionately bigger familiar's beast. The two extensions of power smashed together.
BOOM!
Time and space got distorted where ever the flames went, like a tiny but long needle, it shot straight into Golden Lion King's glabella.
Then, something astonishing happened...
Roaarrr!
The white flaming needle started unleashing condensed white flames that immediately engulfed the golden lion in a giant ball of white flames.
With the lightning all but gone, the golden lion's color got swapped with the pure white flames. It groaned in agony, like a caged lion, the magic creature could do naught but struggle uselessly against the white flames, getting negated bit by bit.
In white embers, the golden lion finally got erased despite the valiant fight it put up.
The area returned to its previous peace, and the golden lion's roar continued reverberating, reminding everyone what just happened.
"Haa... Haa..."
The empress stored her remnant mana away, then, she collapsed to the ground while breathing like she just ran a marathon.
When the Golden Lion King disappeared, the other familiars started piping down like they saw a ghost.
Even when the Golden Lion King fully materialized, it still got done in, the other vassal beasts took this as a sign to chill for now.
"Finally... they are calming down..."
The empress turned towards Alice with a thankful but surprised look.
"In one hit, my familiar, she just..."
"Those flames..."
Gracier and the others started shivering, especially Gracier who is the master of hundred flames, she understood how dreadful that white flame was, but she couldn't control the chills running through her body.
"How dreadful..."
They looked at the white-haired beauty who stood with her back against the sun, they were shaken to the core.
Alice.
Just how the hell did she become this strong? Today's match ended in Alice's victory, the first victory in seven matches. After the fight, they left the underground training hall.
A few hours later in their new house given to them by the empress.
From the outside, this house looks snug and comfortable. It has been built with brown bricks and has sandstone decorations. Tall, wide windows add to the overall look of the house and have been added to the house in a mostly asymmetric way.
The house is equipped with an old-fashioned kitchen and one small bathroom, it also has a large living room, three bedrooms, a snug dining area, a library, and a roomy basement.
The building is fairly rounded in shape. The house is half surrounded by cloth sunscreens.
The second floor is bigger than the first, which creates a stylish overhang around half the house. This floor has roughly the same style as the floor below.
The roof is high and pyramid shaped and is covered with rounded roof tiles. Two small chimneys sit at the side of the house. Two roof terraces let in plenty of light to the rooms below the roof.
The house itself is surrounded by a modest garden, covered mostly in grass, a few flower patches, and a small pond.
On the dining table, someone prepared a feast of pastries and high tea. It's both aesthetically pleasing and an absolute delight to the taste buds. The fragrance and steam wafting off the food and drinks here were a testament to the cook's skill. Anyone would be tempted to grab a bite.
There was a short moment of silence where everyone was looking at Alice with surprise, not only because of her prowess in the previous fight but because she was the one that prepared this feast, somehow, this expressionless lady has changed, so much that it became shocking.
''Let's eat before it cools down,'' Alice said before starting eating and the others could only nod and follow.
''!''
The first bite they took left them speechless, it was truly delicious. Soon, they finished everything on the table, and in the end, some enjoyed the high tea while some enjoyed wine or stronger alcohol.
After dinner, the girls sat in the main room and started chatting, sharing their experiences with each other, it has been a long time since they reunited like this so they have a lot of things to share with each.
They talked about the dungeons they raided and what they did, and soon they showed each other their status to see how much they have progressed, and compared to the last time it's true that they have progressed a lot.
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