Stella walked swiftly, her gaze already darting towards the giants who had started to attack, fueled by an unending rage within her. When her legs could no longer control the speed, she dazzled with a bright light, transforming into her fairy form and taking to the air. While Faragonda and Griselda dealt with the witch trio in one body, Stella, not feeling the need to remove her ring, released the rays she could no longer hold in her palms, as if trying to rid herself of the accumulated stress of recent times. As monsters and creatures burned with screams, giving off the scent of charred meat, Stella continued her relentless attacks, not feeling the slightest bit relieved.
Aisha, just behind her, reached all the water sources around the mountain, creating an almost suffocating pressure. Even though the humidity was unbearable, she knew no one would worry about sweating right now, so she continued. The creatures, surrounded by a vortex, were mostly caught and perished in it, while the rest, blinded by fear, trampled and killed each other in an attempt to escape. The witches also faced trouble; Aisha was the first to notice this because, unlike Stella, she was more aware of the situation. Stella was just busy venting her anger. The witches hadn't expected these two fairies to attack with such violence and determination, nor did they expect to find them there at all. They had prepared for an encounter with only Griselda and Faragonda. While Darkar took over the caves and dens inside the mountain, the witches were responsible for the mountains and the kingdom of giants. Unfortunately, the witches were unaware of Darkar's downfall, which made them overconfident.
As Stella almost decimated half the army by burning and drying out the creatures, the witches realized that being in one body was more of a disadvantage than an advantage. In their swiftest and most impulsive move, they threw Faragonda and Griselda away, preparing for the separation spell, waiting for Darcy to complete it. While Stella and Aisha's efforts were extraordinary, the giants were equally active, systematically defeating all creatures and delivering the cleanest blow in history. They were overpowering the enemy without any losses until the witches separated, with Darcy on one side and Stormy and Icy on the other. Darcy, flying over her creatures, caused them to multiply as they divided, while Stormy, with glee, took responsibility for throwing the headmistress and her assistant far away with a massive tornado she had created. "Faragonda is aging," thought Stormy triumphantly as she watched where she had flung them. "This was quite easy." As she flew up to join her friends, she encountered Stella face-to-face. Stella smiled at her with a feigned sweetness, which left Stormy momentarily confused, but before she could say or do anything, she was punched hard in the chest and thrown into the midst of Darcy's creatures. Ignoring her as if she were invisible, the creatures passed her by while she angrily punched the ground, disregarding her pain, and flew towards Stella in rage. Stella, waiting for Stormy with her scepter twirling in her hand, was also aware of Icy sneaking up from behind. Her goal was to catch the attention of all three witches; only then would her stress decrease, and her anger would slightly subside.
Aisha, realizing what her friend was doing, looked at her in fear. The thought of losing her again, after finding her covered in wounds and blood just the other day, was driving her crazy. Even though the wounds weren't visible in her fairy form, the small cuts and bruises on her face were too deep to hide. Stella had grown even angrier looking at them in the mirror. Anything might have been acceptable, but she couldn't tolerate damage to her face! Aisha had just taken off to help her friend when a hand grabbed her wrist, causing her to roar with anger, releasing enough water from her palms to fill countless empty pools, flooding the area and drowning or washing away the smaller monsters. As the grip on her wrist tightened, Aisha looked down furiously—Darcy.
"Ah, damn woman."
Darcy chuckled as she tugged Aisha again, but Aisha paused for a moment, then kicked Darcy's head with all her might. Expecting a magical counterattack, the witch, stunned and groaning in pain, released Aisha's wrist. Aisha, confident and very pleased, chuckled, mimicking Darcy, and sent a hydrokinetic blast that sent Darcy flying away. Feeling relieved at having at least one less burden on Stella, she turned to her friend and realized that the ones truly in a pitiful state were the witches. Both she and Stella were too overwhelmed, too angry, and too determined. They had been sent on a mission that was certain to end in death without knowing if their friends were alive. Some were the sole heirs to their kingdoms, like Stella and Sky. This situation didn't come with a contract, of course. They would be sent on missions, but there were names that shouldn't be sent on such a suicidal mission with a certain death outcome!
Stella's shout distracted Aisha from the vortex she was creating, and she turned to her friend in fear, but Stella was merely demonstrating her power to show who they were dealing with. As the power of the moon and the sun combined to transform her into that dazzling form, Aisha once again admired her friend's patience and strength. While hunger alone would leave Aisha too weak to lift a finger, Stella, with her endless attacks, had literally sent two witches flying to join Darcy. As Stella's gaze shifted to where Faragonda and Griselda had been thrown, Aisha smiled and called out to reassure her.
"They're fine. There's not much left anyway. Come, let's finish these and check on them."
As Stella nodded and descended beside Aisha, a lightning bolt splitting the sky stopped them instantly. The sky darkened suddenly, and a wave of intense energy surrounded them. The auras of Darcy, Stormy, and Icy appeared within the darkness, their eyes burning with rage and vengeance. This return was nothing ordinary. The witches had reunited and maximized their powers. Stormy's eyes locked onto Stella. She raised her arms to the sky, controlling the clouds and starting a massive storm. The winds blew fiercely, and lightning struck all around. Aisha and Stella struggled to stand. With each step, the ground not covered by Aisha's water shook, and the electricity in the air limited their movements. If only, thought Aisha, if only Tecna was here to absorb all this electricity.
Icy suddenly dropped the temperature of the environment. With every breath, the air grew colder, and the surrounding water sources began to freeze one by one. She created massive spears of ice and hurled them toward Stella and Aisha. Stella maneuvered swiftly in the air to avoid the spears, while Aisha tried to break the ice using water manipulation. However, the ice spears were so powerful that every broken piece turned into a new spear. Darcy cast spells with dark energy. Shadows appearing in the air lunged at Stella and Aisha, attempting to ensnare them. As Stella used her rays to disperse these shadows, Darcy's dark power intensified with each passing moment. Her eyes gleamed with a devilish light, and a wicked smile appeared on her lips. The witches had devised a strategy. While Icy cooled the environment and restricted their movement, Stormy thwarted their attacks with a storm, and Darcy planned to finish them off with dark magic. This horrifying coordination was putting immense pressure on Aisha and Stella. Aisha attempted to sweep the witches away by creating a vortex, but Icy's ice magic stopped her. The vortex instantly froze and shattered.
Stella gathered all her strength to resist the witches' coordinated assault. Yet, she felt more challenged than ever against their combined power. If she could at least regain her strength for one more day, she could defeat all three of them without even needing the energy she had expended on Darkar. Every ray attack was being swallowed by Darcy's darkness, and every maneuver was lost in Stormy's storm. Aisha's strength was also waning. The water sources had frozen, and the humidity had drastically decreased. She was trapped between Darcy's darkness, Icy's cold, and Stormy's storm. They hadn't expected such a powerful comeback from the witches, and they were genuinely struggling.
"No," Stella spoke through clenched teeth as Aisha turned to her in surprise. "What?"
Without looking at her friend, Stella mumbled again, her hair frozen and her already pale skin growing even more so. Surrounded by all those bad feelings and dreadful thoughts that had accumulated within her before setting out, she had been able to overcome each one of them. Brandon's excessive help might have been useful, but in the end, those obstacles were now a thing of the past. And these three witches were too small and insignificant to be considered obstacles. They had drawn Stella into this fight—new but the same fight, and Stella had promised to give them a war. A new and different war. This time, neither the headmistress nor the Omega Kingdom would decide their fate; Stella herself would do that.
If the witches' relentless and unending attacks did not stop, Stella would respond in their own language. "No easy victory dance this time." Although her wings had begun to freeze, Stella easily freed herself from the ice with a series of swift flaps. As the light emanating from her eyes took on a frightening and far-from-beautiful quality, Aisha struggled to hold her ground and not retreat. Even in this situation, Icy maintained her cold composure and continued her relentless attacks, while Stella grinned at her. As she took to the air, just as she had anticipated, the three witches followed her, launching themselves after her. Stella led them towards the forest, while Aisha looked at her friend in fear, but as she turned her head, she witnessed the giants burning and groaning in agony. While dealing with the witches alone, they had forgotten the people. Despite the fear and even horror within her, she was compelled to protect the people, and the sky roared once more. Aisha didn't feel the need to turn around; Stormy must have been summoning lightning to scare them.
As Aisha shattered the vortex that Icy had blocked with ice; she unleashed her rage upon the monsters, and that seemed to draw their attention. Suddenly, they abandoned the giants and the people and began to attack her furiously. Aisha, oddly relieved to see that she did at least some help the people, prepared to counterattack the creatures charging at her, but as she did, a creature grabbed both her arms and, with a giant's grip, staggered her backward and she collapsed into the water she had created. Although breathing underwater wasn't a problem for her, she felt she would be bewildered even with oxygen in such a rapidly developing situation. As a hand gripped her wrist and pulled her back to the surface, Aisha found herself face-to-face with the person pulling her, still breathless and struggling with the bewilderment.
"I've got you this time."
Her eyes widened with love and surprise, Aisha murmured, uncertain even if she had spoken, "Nabu?" Nabu smiled at her, and as Aisha's eyes, now wide open, shifted to the fairy creating a protective shield behind Nabu, she saw Tecna. "Tecna!" Tears rushed to her eyes without a moment's pause, and she felt overwhelmed with joy at seeing her friend safe and sound. "Tecna!" She shouted again with joy, Nabu and Tecna smiled and nodded simultaneously.
"Hey Ash, I heard you the first time."
"You, I mean, you all... What?" Nabu helped her up while signaling for her to look behind. "Everyone is fine; we came as soon as we got your signal. But we didn't know we would be facing something like this." While Aisha could not stop the tears of happiness streaming down her face, she was too overwhelmed to care about their current predicament; she was incredibly happy!
Although they had immediately arrived at the scene following the signal from Aisha, the dark clouds they encountered and the absence of the sun in the middle of the day had already filled them with suspicion and unease. When Tecna had used the bug she had sent ahead to transmit information to her computer, the sight of the ongoing battle had triggered an alarm. Darkar was dead, yes, but the witches must have been unaware of this, as they had embarked on such a venture without secure backing. Throughout the entire process, Brandon had withdrawn to his room, remaining uninvolved in even the smallest matters, but upon hearing about the battle, he had taken an interest, albeit reluctantly. His goal was not to save Aisha or a kingdom on the brink of collapse, unlike the others. His aim was to vomit, scream, and expel his pain, anger, and resentment. He wanted to rid himself of the agony that had not dried from his eyes since Stella's death, making anyone who crossed his path pay the price. His intention was to damn this cursed fate that had turned what he could not hold, protect, and transform the first kisses into the last ones like in the same nightmare. The only thing that mattered to him was the target of his sword. And if he was lucky, Faragonda would be among those targets.
"Not everyone, but we're fine, Ash." As Aisha frowned at Tecna, Nabu gave a disapproving look to the fairy with purple hair, signaling her to be quiet. Tecna, ignoring him, turned her eyes to her friend, who had just stopped crying. Despite her joy at seeing her, the grief still weighed heavily. "Who?" Aisha couldn't stop her voice from trembling, and Tecna, without dropping the barrier she held, averted her eyes from her friend and reflected a shock wave at a creature trying to reach them with unending attacks, sending it flying away. "Stella."
Aisha felt her breath catch, unable to help but wonder how much had changed in just a minute. "I," she said, her voice barely coming out, as the number of surrounding creatures increased. She knew Stella was left alone with those disgusting so called humans but she wasn't just someone to be beaten that easily especially by those witches! "How long have I been in the water?"
Nabu furrowed his brow as he focused on where Aisha's attention was fixed, while Tecna also tried to make sense of the situation with a similar reaction. "What?"
"She had just left. I—I was going to help her..." Tecna and Nabu looked at Aisha with concern, their minds in a state of confusion. Suddenly, Aisha climbed onto her wings, trying to get out from behind the shield. Nabu, gripping her arm and looking at her in horror, struggled to contain her. "Aisha! Where are you going?!" As Aisha tried to free her arm while looking at Tecna for help, she pleaded, "Maybe I can still catch up! Let me go, Nabu! Tecna, close the shield; I need to get out!"
Tecna shook her head and sent another shock wave, but this time she had increased the voltage, causing both the surrounding creatures and the giants trying to stop them to be pushed back. "You don't know what you're talking about." Aisha responded angrily to Tecna's words, using her power to push Nabu away and tearing through Tecna's shield as she took to the air. "You're the ones who don't know! Stella isn't dead! Don't tell me those absurd witches murdered the girl who killed Darkar all by herself! Stop stalling me now!"
As Nabu grasped Aisha's arm again, his expression prevented Aisha from reacting with the usual intensity. Taking a deep breath, he looked at the man he loved with patience. Nabu swallowed, as if trying to moisten his dry throat, and then gazed at Aisha. He was trying to connect the dots even though there was a war going on around them, he didn't have to be told that urgency is the key of the situation at the hand but his brain was really battling on its own. "Are you trying to say, that you saw Stella after she killed Darkar?"
For a moment Aisha felt anger, after that shock and pity followed. How long has it been since they last saw each other? Two days, yes, and Nabu was the same ever since. Stupid, thought Aisha.
"Of course I saw her! She was a bit battered but very much alive!"
As Nabu couldn't stop laughing, Tecna joined him, laughing through her tears. The time lost to their grief didn't even bother her; Stella was alive! "While you idiots are stalling me, she's still in danger!" This was enough to bring them back to their senses. Nabu glanced briefly at the spacecraft still hovering above. Brandon was preparing for battle without haste. Nabu knew well that Brandon wasn't fighting to save; he was fighting out of anger. When Brandon will learn that Stella was alive, even almost right beneath him, Nabu knew how his friend would return to life, especially since he had felt the same way just minutes hours ago.
When Aisha pulled him again, Nabu came back to himself he heard Aisha murmur, "Stella can take care of herself I guess. We need to handle this place." He turned his head and realized that the curse he muttered had actually escaped his lips but he didn't care. The creatures were starting to merge into one, gaining new appendages with every blow. "Damn it." He murmured as his brain responded to his past thought about his friend; Brandon better hurry, or you might lose Stella again before you could even reach her.