Abner declared, "There's no use hiding, Dr. Kintovar's creations. I will find your location and eliminate you."

  But even when he spoke, flicker of doubt crossed his mind. ‘They’re not human. They have no life force to track, no pulse to sense... but they’re clever. ‘He gritted his teeth. ‘They’ve fooled me once. I won't let them do it again.’

  With that, his hand rose, and a wave of golden energy surged from him that slammed into the trees with violent force. The trees splintered and crashed to the earth.

  Roselle flinched from her position behind a nearby tree with her sisters. "We have to do something!" she hissed.

  Risebelle’s gaze was locked on Abner’s actions, but her focus was elsewhere. She quickly pressed the button on her battle dress and brought out the bag Kintovar had given her. "Come on, come on..." she muttered to herself, flipping through the small tools.

  Finally, her fingers brushed against something solid. She pulled it out and squinted at the familiar design.

  "Well, isn’t this ironic?" Risebelle muttered, holding up the pair of Kintovar’s black sunglasses. She slipped them on without hesitation. The world around her immediately took on a different tint. A faint smile curled on her lips. "Perfect."

  Roselle’s eyes widened with awe. "Risebelle, you look so cool!"

  Risebelle took a quick glance around before reaching into her bag again. She pulled out another pair and placed them gently over Roselle's eyes. Then, she did the same for Runebelle.

  Roselle adjusted the glasses. "Oh, I get it!" she began with excitement. "You're gonna—"

  Risebelle raised a hand and cut her off with a look that screamed ‘don't even start.’ "Before you say something idiotic, no. Kintovar seemed to design these shades to refract sunlight. It also has other features, but I don’t know all about them. What matters is that now, we can fight back."

  A smile curling on Roselle’s lips. “So, time for a counterattack?"

  Risebelle s nodded. "Time to give him a surprise out of this world."

  Roselle tightened her grip on her cannon. "Let's do this!"

  Abner's eyes locked onto the final tree in the clearing. With a flick of his wrist, his golden energy surged as a powerful beam racing towards it.

  The tree was torn apart upon impact. For a moment, the clearing went still in the aftermath of his attack.

  But then—

  Boom!

  The earth shook as Roselle’s massive shot collided with the air just a fraction of a second later, sending a surge of crackling lightning energy that pelted Abner with bursts of raw power.

  Abner grunted and stumbled back with his cloak billowing from the force of the impact. Risebelle’s cannon fired off a barrage of rounds that struck him in a deadly rhythm. And then, like a storm of rapid-fire destruction, Runebelle’s small but deadly cannon came to life. Her shots were tiny bursts of energy streaming from the barrel like a gatling gun. The concentrated fire was impossible to dodge.

  Abner's heart skipped a beat. "What?! How—?!"

  He quickly snapped his hand up, and a radiant shield of light expanded from his palm to form a barrier, deflecting the incoming fire.

  Abner rumbled. "You think you can overwhelm me with sheer force?!"

  His shield flickered as another blast from Roselle’s cannon hit.

  "Luminous Radiance!"

  Once Abner spoke the words, a blinding light emanated from his body that spilled out in all directions, creating an overwhelming glare that obscured vision and disoriented the sisters. It was challenging for them to see, even with their Sunglasses on.

  Their skin began to prickle from a burning sensation that spread through their limbs that came along with the Radiance.

  Runebelle, with her usual sad look shrank back slightly. She murmured, "I don't like this... It hurts…. It really hurts…"

  Risebelle rose up one arm and shouted, “Aqua Whirlwind!”

  Risebelle summoned powerful vortex of water around her. However, her aim was hindered by the disorienting light.

  Before she could even react, a blast of concentrated light energy collided with her that was so forceful that her breath was knocked out of her. She crashed into the ground with a sickening thud and the water from her attack dissipating.

  "Risebelle!" Roselle screamed while just barely hearing her sister’s thud. Her vision was no better than if she had been staring directly into the sun. ‘I… I can't see what happened!’ she thought to herself with panic creeping into her.

  ‘What can I do?!’ she thought in desperation. What was the next move? Should she go for the cannon again, or try to fight with magic?

  Runebelle closed her eyes tightly, retreating from the overwhelming brightness that pierced through her mind and body. The outside world, with all its noise and chaos felt too heavy.

  Yet, when she withdrew further into herself, a strange sensation crept over her. Despite the intense blinding light and the overwhelming sensation of helplessness, she could still feel Abner—his presence, his movements, even through the disorienting blur. Her systems now hummed with a pulse of data, pinpointing him precisely.

  A sudden shift of instinct surged through Runebelle. Her fingers twitched in response. The ground rumbled, and she gathered energy to a single point.

  "FIRE!"

  A giant pillar of blazing heat rose from the ground which she directed Abner. Her eyes were still shut, but she could feel the target locked in her senses.

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  Abner spun around at the last moment. His eyes widened in surprise, and instinctively, he raised his hands to invoke a shield of light to block the incoming attack.

  But the barrier faltered.

  Runebelle’s pillar of fire pressed through the barrier with overwhelming magical energy. The light shield dissipated in a burst of intensity and the flames slammed directly into Abner’s chest, pushing him backward. His feet skidded across the ground and he struggled to maintain his footing against the force of the attack.

  "Gah!" he growled in disbelief. His eyes blazed with anger. Smoke curled around his robes.

  The intense brightness of his earlier spell began to die down, leaving only a dim glow in its wake. Roselle blinked rapidly, trying to adjust her vision to the changing light. She could see her surroundings, the battleground, and—more importantly—her sisters.

  "Finally..." Roselle muttered under her breath.

  Risebelle slowly pushed herself up from the dirt. She shook her head to clear the disorientation caused by Abner's overwhelming attack.

  "What... the hell just happened?" Risebelle growled while assesing the situation. Her gaze landed on Runebelle, whose eyes were still closed, and then to Roselle. "Did she—?"

  Roselle’s eyes flickered to the spot where Abner had been thrown back.

  "She did," Roselle said with surprise. "Runebelle... just saved us."

  Runebelle blinked. Her hands slowly fell to her sides, and she looked around. She gasped. “I… did it?” Her gaze flickered toward Abner who was still reeling from the impact of her attack, and then to her sisters. “I actually did something to him…?”

  Roselle’s face broke into a grin. "Runebelle, you’re amazing!" she said with pride.

  Risebelle, though still regaining her composure looked at Runebelle with respect. “Yeah... not bad.”

  But just when the sisters began to feel a moment of victory, Abner's cut through the air like a knife.

  “Amazing indeed,” he muttered, dusting off his robes while rising to his feet. His eyes blazed with fury. “Seeing through my Luminance Radiance is no small feat.”

  With a snap of his fingers, several glowing spheres of concentrated light materialized around the Elite Mage, swirling ominously. Without a word, he thrust his hands forward and the spheres shot off, homing in on the sisters.

  Runebelle's eyes widened. Instinctively, she tried to summon her ice, earth, and fire pillars. They shot up from the ground, ready to intercept the spheres.

  But Abner’s spheres surrounded them in a fluid motion, squeezing in from every angle to force them apart. One sphere smashed through the ice pillar with an explosive force, causing the shard of ice to shatter into smaller pieces. The earth pillar cracked like dry clay under pressure, and the fire pillar flickered out.

  One spheres broke through the shattered defense and slammed into Runebelle’s chest with an incredible burst of light. She gasped in pain. Her body lifted off the ground and she was thrown back by the force of the sphere pushing her. The rest of the spheres shot off in different directions.

  Abner’s hands moved with deliberate effort, and the sphere that was pushing her began to shift. The energy inside it pulsed, intensifying with every second. With a twisted smile, Abner hurled the sphere diagonally. The ball of pure light sent her along with it to the ground and it exploded on impact, creating a massive explosion of light.

  “Runebelle!” Roselle screamed. She rushed toward her sister, but the blinding energy kept her at bay.

  Risebelle gritted her teeth. The ground where Runebelle had fallen was now a crater of scorched earth. Her body trembled, but she slowly pushed herself off the ground, wincing in pain. Her eyes were blurry, but she managed to focus long enough to raise her cannon and aimed it at herself. "Healing shot," she whispered under her breath.

  A faint glow pulsed from the cannon. She fired several rounds directly into her chest. Each shot landed with a soft thump, and a soothing warmth began to spread through her body, knitting together the burns and injuries from the explosion.

  Roselle, moving cautiously over to her sister shot a quick glance at Risebelle. "Is she okay?" she asked with concern.

  "She’ll be fine," Risebelle muttered while watching for any sign of movement from Abner. The fierce glare of his light magic was slowly fading, but she wasn’t taking any chances.

  Before any of them could speak further, Abner spoke coldly. "Now, do you understand?” He lifted his hand to gesture around them. "You may have caught me off guard before with your abilities, but now I understand you well enough." He narrowed his eyes and looked at each of them in turn. "You're lightning, water, earth, fire, and ice. All elements I’ve seen before."

  The sisters’ faces darkened.

  "But none of you can directly counter my light magic," Abner continued with more confidence on each word. "None of you are powerful enough to stop me." He smiled. It was a twisted, almost amused smile. "Not even combined."

  Risebelle clenched her fists. She was already itching to respond with force, but she took a steadying breath. “Don’t tempt me, because I can show you ‘Power’,” she growled.

  Runebelle’s frown deepened. Risebelle, noticing her sister’s look softened her stance slightly. “Don’t worry. I don’t plan on doing ‘that’ again."

  Runebelle, still frowning, nodded faintly.

  Risebelle’s eyes sharpened. She leaned close to Roselle and Runebelle, lowering her voice so only they could hear. "Listen carefully, we’re not going to win with brute force. He’s right—we can’t outmatch his light magic directly, but we don’t need to. We just need one opening. I have a plan, but it’s going to take our heavy attacks to pull it off. Are you ready?"

  Roselle glanced at Runebelle, who nodded quietly. "Ready," Roselle confirmed.

  "Good," Risebelle whispered. Her eyes flickered toward Abner. "Then let’s make him regret ever underestimating us."

  Abner turned the page of his book and scanned the text with a focused intensity.

  “Thunderclap, Surge!”

  Roselle Summoned a burst of crackling lightning that formed into a rapidly spinning fan of electricity. The fan homed in on its target with pinpoint accuracy, seeking out Abner.

  Abner attempted to raise a barrier of light energy to protect himself; however, the Thunderclap was too quick and the tendrils of lightning struck with incredible precision, delivering powerful jolts of electricity upon impact.

  Abner staggered back under the force of the attack. Smoke rose from his body. Runebelle quickly fired rapid shots from her cannon, forcing Abner to evade and maneuver to avoid getting hit.

  As Abner attempted to evade Runebelle's shots, he inadvertently stepped onto a slippery energy trap that Risebelle had set on the ground. His footing gave way, causing him to lose balance and stumble.

  Seizing the opportunity, Risebelle immediately summoned her Aqua Whirlwind, creating a powerful whirlwind of water and magic that enveloped Abner. He was trapped within the swirling vortex, unable to escape.

  Roselle, seeing that Abner was now within the Whirlwind charged up her cannon with yellow lightning. She unleashed a devastating lightning cannon shot. The electricity surged through the water, following the path of least resistance—Abner's body. He convulsed with pain.

  Risebelle grinned and said, "Water is a conductor of electricity. When mixed with the right magic, it becomes a deadly combination. Electricity flows through water, seeking the path of least resistance. That's why this attack was so effective."

  Abner's body spasmed as the lightning surged through him, the water amplifying the electric current which made each jolt feel like a thousand volts of agony.

  "Wait a minute..." he gasped. He staggered, barely managing to maintain his footing.

  "How did you—?" Abner trailed off as his gaze flickered between Roselle, Risebelle, and Runebelle.

  Risebelle held a satisfied grin on her face. "You assumed Roselle’s lightning would be slower than your ability to raise a shield, didn’t you? She hadn’t used that attack yet so you didn’t know about it," she teased with confidence. "The moment her attack hit you... well, you slipped up. Literally."

  Abner's eyes narrowed in realization. His face turned a shade darker.His normally composed demeanor was replaced by a look of agony. He struggled to get up. Blood oozed from several wounds where the sisters' attacks had struck him, staining his white robes crimson.

  Every attempt to rise was met with pain.

  Risebelle summoned her cannon to her hands and remarked to the battered Abner, "You know, you might want to diffuse with the Mana Extractor in your condition, although I don’t care either way. You die now, you filthy human."

  Abner glared at Risebelle, until a smirk appeared on his face.

  Project Mage