Meera and Kalrina were on their knees as the daughters closed in around them. They didn't run or dash. They simply walked. Some laughed and chatted amongst themselves about how they would kill Meera, whether to burn her skin slowly or use her own chakrams to hack off limbs.

Meera had to use the only thing left to her, and for that, she needed the daughters to come to her, but maybe not. As the first daughter reached for her, she swayed from her hand, activated Druvis Might, and crushed her skull between her hands.

This gave everyone pause. Even Kalrina looked on, slack-jawed and wide-eyed.

Meera tossed the dead daughter aside. "Oh, you thought just because I couldn't use my Mana, I was defenseless. Then watch this."

She pulled off a level 2 chakram and launched it at the nearest daughter. Thanks to Druvis Might, it flew like a missile. All anyone saw was a streak zipping through the snow as it severed the head of the daughter, who was trying to dodge but was too slow.

The daughters were angry now, and they closed in, and Meera used her chakram's ability to recall it. Her chakram came flying back, cutting the heads off two more sorceresses. Meera caught the bloody chakram and twirled it around her finger.

"Who wants more?" She snarled. "Huh?"

Kalrina had taken the distraction Meera had caused to quickly drink a Health potion, and the color had returned to her skin. Meera checked her own Health and the way it stood; she could only use two more magical skills before her Health dropped to double digits.

"How many Health potions do you have remaining?" Meera asked.

She riffled through her bag and looked up with a furrowed brow. "Two…"

The daughters laughed at their plight. "What are you going to do now, oh mighty Slayer?"

Meera helped the witch to her feet and whispered in her ear. "We've got to run. I'll create an opening, and we'll run for it."

Kalrina glanced at Aksha. "But what about her?"

"As long as she lives, her skill is going to wreak havoc every time we use a magical skill. Maybe if we put enough distance between us, the skill might wither away."

"No amount of scheming will save you from your doom," said a daughter.

Aksha stepped forward. "Enough waiting around. Attack."

Meera hurled her chakram with as much force as Druvis Might allowed. It cut through a pair of Daughters. She grabbed Kalrina, who weighed as light as a feather and ran. She jumped over the daughters' heads and landed behind them. Then, she ran with all she had towards the woods.

Her Druvis-powered legs carried her faster than she would've run normally, but she was losing Stamina faster, too. Druvis's Might gave her great power, but, in exchange, took a great amount of Stamina. Meera put Kalrina down.

"Run and don't look back," Meera said.

Kalrina frowned. "What are you—"

"Just go!"

There was no time to debate anything. The daughters were coming. Meera needed to do something to give them some breathing room and much-needed time to strategize. There were still some mirror shards that glinted on the snowy ground. The snow hadn't buried them all yet.

With a deep breath, she prepared herself for more pain and used Mirror's Wrath.

Corrupting Hex immediately drove her to her knees. She flinched so badly that she slipped on the snow and fell to the ground, clutching her chest. It was like she was having a heart attack. The witch was on her, asking if she was okay, but Meera couldn't even reply. The pain was so intense, but her enemy's predicament was far worse.

Mirror's Wrath was something else. All the mirrors that were above the snow exploded. Small but sharp mirror pellets and blazing white light burst forth from each shard. It was like each shard was a Mirror Blast in itself. The best part was that the daughters were running through a field of the blasts. They ripped them apart. Limbs flew everywhere as the daughters screamed in agony. It almost made Meera's pain worth it. Once the blasts stopped, only a handful of daughters remained.

"Oh, I wish I could kiss you, dearie," Kalrina exclaimed.

"Please don't." Meera stood with difficulty. The pain hadn't fully subsided. She was down a thousand Health points and couldn't activate Greater Vitalize without losing another thousand. She decided to live with the pain for now, as it was subsiding little by little.

The witch put Meera's arm over her shoulder. "Let's go, dearie."

"Thanks." Together, they hobbled towards the treeline but never made it.

A poison wave came hurtling towards them, launched by the real Aksha. Since she didn't have Mirrorbound Sight activated, she didn't even notice it until it was too late. But the witch did.

"Oh no…" She pushed Meera out of the way and activated three layers of a big mirror shield.

The wave crashed against the shields and shattered two, but the third held. The poison wave bounced back a little on the final shield. Maybe the shields had a reflecting feature. The shields somehow held the poison back and saved Kalrina's life, but Corrupting Hex almost killed her.

Kalrina convulsed on the ground, screaming in pain and trembling all over. Meera jumped to her and took her head in her lap.

"You idiotic witch. What the hell did you do that for?"

But Kalrina was in no position to reply. Her eyes had rolled up in her head. Meera frantically searched the witch's Belt for a Health potion. She finally found one, held the witch's head tightly, and poured it into her mouth. Some of it spilled from the sides of her mouth, but most went in. The potion did its thing, and a few seconds later, the witch was huffing and smiling her annoying smile.

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"Thank you."

Meera helped her sit up. "How many Health points do you have left?"

"1245," she replied in a hushed tone. "The Hex counted each of the mirror shields as a separate use of the skill."

Kalrina still had one shield remaining, but it shattered the moment a barrage of poison pellets burst through it. They both dropped to the ground, but not before a couple of the pellets hit Meera's forehead, making her cry out. The pellets stung, but compared to the pain of the Hex, it was manageable.

But the pain was not the only thing that the pellets caused. They poisoned Meera as well. She saw her Health start to slowly trickle down as her head throbbed like a persistent Headache that wouldn't go away.

The daughters began to split and multiply again, making their situation dire. Meera quickly checked her Health stat.

[Health: 2657/4300]

Then she lost a few points before her eyes as her head throbbed. This was not good as it meant she could pull off two more attacks, and Kalrina could do one more. They still had the one remaining Health potion, which left them with a total of four attacks.

Four attacks, and they'd be dead.

She just wished she had more time to formulate an attack, but their enemy was coming, and she had nothing that could save them. But then she remembered one of the very first skill she had stolen.

If there's anything that can save us, it's Ambush Tactics.

She didn't know if it was powered by Mana or not, but at this point, she had no choice. She activated Ambush Tactics and waited for the pain, but it never came. But a solution to their problem did. It was like someone had plucked the answer out of thin air and planted it into her head. She didn't know how this skill worked, but it definitely did not use Mana or even Stamina.

"I know how to defeat her."

"Oh, do share."

Kalrina tried to sit up, but Meera stopped her and shook her head. It was best that Aksha thought she had hit them hard.

"No time," Meera replied. "Just do as I say, and under any circumstances, do not get hit because we'll very literally be down to our last few Health points. Oh, and get that ready."

Kalrina squinted for a moment, but understanding washed over her. She placed a hand in her Belt but did not draw the level 3 chakram.

"Also, I need the last Health potion," Meera snapped. "Quickly, she's coming."

Aksha stalked toward them slowly but surely, like a hunter toward their prey. She was coming to check if they were down for the count.

Not yet, you bitch.

Kalrina quickly handed Meera the last Health potion; she held it tightly in her left hand, and with her right, she threw a punch and activated Quaking Fist. The very air seemed to crack as tremors erupted from Meera's fist. The ground beneath their feet shook violently as the tremors hit the ground. Anything not rooted to the ground was thrown back from Meera. The daughters flew back, and the trees swayed violently as if from the force of a hurricane; some were even uprooted entirely.

Meera stared at her fist. Just how strong is this skill?

Only the true sorceress of rebirth stood her ground. She stood leaning forward against the tremors.

Then, the pain struck.

Meera gasped as the poison raged through her insides, and pain erupted inside her whole body. She instantly lost another thousand Health points.

This time, she fought the urge to cringe or fall to the ground and cry in a fetal position, and with massive difficulty, she won. She took a few deep breaths, trying to get used to the pain.

Aksha was damaged, but nothing too massive. One of her arms was broken, her skin had been torn in several places, and her clothes were slightly ripped, but for the most part, she was fine…and absolutely livid.

"How…" she growled in a low, menacing tone. "How do you have Mother's skill?"

Even Kalrina stared wide-eyed. Meera figured she must've figured out her class ability by now, but she didn't have time to worry about that.

She breathed a few deep breaths and got ready to use her next skill.

"She gave it to me," Meera lied. "Told me I can only entrust you with it. It was part of her abilities as an Ascendant."

Aksha's eyes blazed. The daughters seemed to pick up on her anger as they forgot their pains and ran for Meera. They were some distance away, so she had time to enrage Aksha some more.

"She didn't tell you?" Meera said. "She must not have trusted you a whole lot."

Aksha drew heavy breaths, and the daughters screamed curses at Meera. She cared for none of them. She had to make the next move before Aksha exploded.

Meera jumped to her feet and pulled the witch up as well. "Quick, shoot a Mirror Shard Barrage or the equivalent skill you have towards the daughters, and do not fall from the pain."

Kalrina nodded and, with her left hand, shot a skill that was much faster than even Mirror Shard Fury. The witch didn't just shoot it toward the daughters, but even Aksha, who had to jump aside to dodge it. By the time she finished, quite a bit of the area was covered with mirror shards that glinted above the snowy ground.

Kalrina suppressed a scream as she trembled from the pain. Meera could do nothing for her. She quickly activated her next skill while the daughters were still getting back on their feet.

Through Spectral Dominion, she called forth five shadow warriors, which cost her nearly a fifth of her Mana, but low Mana was the least of her concerns. She commanded them to defend her and Kalrina. Pain struck once again like a gong, and she nearly doubled over. She popped the cork off the Health potion and drank it all in one gulp.

[Health: 1521/4300]

The pain subsided somewhat, but didn't go away entirely. She was just about ready to unleash her penultimate skill when Aksha launched a volley of poisonous orbs. Meera was about to activate Mirror Tower Shield when her shadow warriors formed a line in front of her, batting the poison away.

"These lads are handy in a tight spot," Kalrina comments.

Meera nodded. "This is it."

The witch nodded.

Please be as strong as your notification made it sound.

Meera activated The Slayer's Dance.

A mirror shard broke in the distance, followed by another. Then two more, then several more. Whichever shard her vision passed over broke into pieces. The daughters ducked, thinking it was another Mirror's Wrath, but no, it was far worse.

Meera screamed, and a shadowy arm burst forth from each shard, wrapping around a daughter. A shadow tendril thicker than the rest raced towards Meera and joined with her shadow on the snow. Then, the real effect of her skill started.

It was like Meera was a gravity well sucking every living being to her. The daughters were yanked off their feet and thrown towards Meera. Aksha tried to dodge the shadows, and it was a testament to her skill that she dodged the first three tendrils that came for her, but she was soon overwhelmed.

Meera felt a surge of power flow through her. Even the pain that was raging in her body was being displaced by this new feeling. The feeling was similar to when she first acquired the Druvis Might skill, but somehow stronger, if that was possible. Maybe it was all the shadows surrounding her, but she was sure she was shimmering. She pulled off two level 2 chakrams and readied herself.

She commanded the shadow warrior to step aside, let Aksha through, and kill the rest of the daughters. Two shadow warriors stepped aside, and Aksha flew in while they went to work on the daughters, who flew in circles around Meera. With each swipe of the sword, they cut a daughter in half. Soon, screams filled the clearing, and blood colored the snow red.

Aksha flew right in the middle of Meera and Kalrina, who screamed like a banshee as she pulled out the glowing level 3 chakram and hacked off Aksha's right arm at the elbow. Aksha screamed, and Meera went to work.

With one swipe of her chakram, she sliced open her back and was sure she must've hit her backbone. She hadn't even tried so hard. Her skill had strengthened her so much that even a half-hearted swipe was a deadly blow. She controlled herself to let Kalrina have her revenge despite the pain in her body that screamed at Meera to return the favor to the sorceress.

The witch, on the other hand, slashed while holding nothing back. While Meera only left cuts, Kalrina slashed her to bits.

Aksha fell to the ground, bloody and limbless.

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