“—–[Ignis Charge]!”

Camy released a charging attack. But the lance of flames was still unable to pierce through Lily’s Oracle Shield.

“—–[Ice Charge]!”

After her, Cathy attacked Lily with an ice type martial art skill.

The strength of the skill was average, but on using fire and ice type skills on the same target consecutively, it could even smash through an iron door due to thermal expansion.

But, Lily’s Oracle shield kept on shining the same as usual as if ignoring the laws of physics.

“Aghn, I’ve had enough!”

“Nothing’s working at aalll!!”

The complaint made by two came to Estel’s ears through the transmission.

“Tch, so it’s the same as before.”

This should be a battle where the enemy can’t retreat either. So she thought that maybe Lily was acting strong and her power might have fallen but it seems she was wrong.

Even though they had used up quite a lot of energy and stamina, the enemy was still full of magical energy.

“No, hasn’t she gotten even stronger than before.”

She remembered that previously, such charging attacks had at least created some slight cracks on the shield.

She had no way of knowing whether this was because they had gotten tired, or the enemy had gotten stronger, or was it due to both.

“No other choice. Remember what I had said some time ago?”

Estel would stop her Lily’s movements by directly going close and Cathy and Camy would use that chance to deal the finishing blow.

It was extremely dangerous but she could not think of any other way, and neither did they have the time to think up a plan leisurely either.

“—-ufufu, it’s useless.”

Estel clearly heard that voice inside her head.

The source was the same transmission method, but this wasn’t the voice of a comrade. This voice was,

“Yo, You bitch!!”

“Such a shabby telepathy technique. I was easily able to cut into it.”

It was certainly the voice of Lily who was in front of them.

From Estel’s pov, she could still see Lily dodging the attacks of Flan’s squad and Maty’s squad even now.

But, the voice that came over from the transmission was elegant and relaxed, as if she was talking over a cup of tea.

“This fucking son of a bitch!! Underestimating us!! I’ll kill you with my lance right now!!”

“Weren’t those stupid sisters supposed to deal the finishing blow to me? To forget the plan you made yourself, is your mind turning hazy already? Oh my, humans really do grow old too quickly.”

Estel realized,

(“This is bad, she had been completely monitoring our transmissions!!?”)

Even if it was a simple plan, if the enemy knew about it, it’ll make a huge difference.

“Sh, shit......”

Estel broke into cold sweat.

Whether Lily knew that or not, she kept on talking in the same way.

“fufu, you have a bad mouth but to sacrifice yourself for your comrades, you have a pretty cute side as well.”

“Stop messing around! Don’t speak like you know everything!!”

No magical energy was flowing inside the transmission device. Her voice shouldn’t have been transmitted nor received, but, the voice from the speaker still didn’t stop.

“But don’t you have some lingering regrets remaining before sacrificing yourself? I know it, I know it very well. You even have someone you love hidden deep inside your heart.”

“St, stop.”

She realized that her own voice had started shivering.

(“Calm down. It must be a bluff. Seeing that I’m a woman, she’s just saying things randomly!”)

“Um, the name of your loved one is—-“

“Stooppp!!!”

The name Lily took was the same as the person that appeared inside Estel’s mind.

(“Wh, wh, why? Why does she know?.......”)

Without minding the dumbfounded Estel, Lily continued speaking.

“My oh my! He really is a cute guy with brown hair and big round eyes. He’s like a cute little pup, makes you want to tease him.”(lily)

(“I see, she can look inside a person’s head and thoughts even at such a distance and so accurately......What the hell? She didn’t intercept our transmissions, she has been reading our thoughts from the very start!”)

As Lily accurately described Estel’s loved one, Estel finally realized the precision of Lily’s telepathic abilities.

At the same time, having her thoughts and heart completely broken into left Estel extremely discomforted.

“That’s not good. You haven’t even confessed to him and you want to die here?”

“Shut up!! Be silent!!!”

“He’s a medic, so he should be nearby right? You can quickly go and confess to him right now.”

“Shut up!!”

“C’mon if you don’t do so quickly, he might die first, you know?”

“Shut the fuck up!!!”

“It took you so much time to finally get along with him, so you can’t die until you make him yours.”

“I said shut up already!!!”

Estel shouted as Lily sneered and ridiculed her.

“ahahahaha, you really are cute, to get so shaken just by talking about the man you like—–“

This woman on the other side of the transmission was clearly speaking words meant to shake her. And Estel was aware that she really was completely shaken and disturbed right now.

Estel steadied herself and made herself ready to face the next scary words that woman might speak to her.

“Evade it, Estel!!!”

She couldn’t recognise whose voice it was in that instant. All she knew was that a white beam was approaching her from the front.

And the source of this white beam was the finger of the being that flew inverted in mid air inside the oracle shield.

Just how long had she been targeted. To have not sensed an attack filled with so much killing intent, this would have never happened if it was the usual Estel.

It was really simple. She had been simply shaken and mislead by Lily’s words and was caught off guard.

(“Damn, I must avoid—-“)

Pegasus’s white wings fluttered in mid air.

“Gaaaaaaahhhh!!!”

Estel screamed due to the pain and heat. An unbelievable level of pain ran through her whole body.

Her mind had been ravaged by intense pain, but she still barely had enough capacity to think calmly.

(“—–I am still alive. I feel like I died but I’m not dead yet!!”)

The moment she realized that she hadn’t died, she also realized that her Pegasus had started falling.

The white wings that had been burned and destroyed largely came in her view. It was not just her, but even her Pegasus had taken damage. That too at the wings.

But it wasn’t a fatal blow.

“Show some spirit dammit!! A pegasus can’t fall like this, c’mon!!!”

Spreading its wings once more, the Pegasus somehow maintained its balance in mid air once again.

Before she realized, she was inside the triangle formation made by Flan and her two subordinates.

It took some time before she realized that they were here to protect Estel from Lily’s attacks.

“”???? ???????—Laser Heal.””

Two healing magics flew towards her. But the pain only became a slight lesser. It wasn’t enough to heal her wounds.

“.....My bad, I was caught off guard.”

Just saying that, Estel drank the potion prepared by her in advance.

It was a high grade article, but not even half of her wounds had healed.

She brought out one more and sprinkled it over the damaged wings of the Pegasus.

This one also had the same effective strength as the one used by Estel but the wounds weren’t shallow enough to be healed by just this.

“Estel, let’s retreat.”

Estel was unable to answer to Flan’s proposal instantly. She once again looked towards her wounds.

(“Shit! I shouldn’t have looked.”)

Her left hand had the deepest wounds. She might have reflexively used her hand to protect her body from Lily’s attacks.

The plate armour with defensive magic had been completely burned away and the attack had deeply wounded her.

The wound started from her left hand and reached towards her shoulder, stopping just barely before it reached her neck.

If it had reached a few centimetres more, her head would have been separated from her body, no doubt.

It seems, Lily’s beam attack had mowed down the Pegasus’s left wing along with Estel from the left side.

(“It’s not that I can’t fight, but, I won’t be able to stop that bitch’s movement properly, but still......”)

“Don’t joke. I can still fight.”(estel)

“That’s not it. Look Estel, the ground forces have started retreating.”

“What!?!”

As she looked downwards, she saw the soldiers moving in the exact opposite direction as before.

But, considering the mistakes made by them, she wasn’t in a position to abuse the soldiers either.

“.......Let’s retreat.”

“”Roger.””

After hearing the response, Estel looked towards Lily who was still not moving and floated in mid-air.

It wasn’t a distance where she could have seen the expression on Lily’s face, but she knew that Lily was laughing right now.

“Bye. After you return, have your beloved one to heal your body and heart Estel.”

Lily, who spoke that through the transmission, flew back towards Alsace without pursuing the Pegasus Knights.

“Goddamnit, making fun of me till the very end.........”

As Estel cursed her, only Lily’s smiling face appeared inside her head. She wondered whether that was also due to Lily.