Ascension of the Sylvan Cosmos.

However, while Flor was startled, she didn't back down. On the contrary, she became even more aggressive and rushed at Cinderielle. Her speed was ridiculously fast, making the transformed Cinderielle have trouble following her.

However, the transformed Sylvan was a force of nature and didn't need to see exactly where she was going. With no words spoken, Cinderielle lifted her staff, which now looked like a wand, and waved it.

WHOOSH!

A torrent of flames rushed forward, creating a wall of fire in front of Flor. Flor's eyes sharpened as she quickly maneuvered upward, dodging the attack, only to be met by a large fireball shooting straight at her.

Without missing a single beat, Flor shot a wind sphere.

Both attacks collided in a large, fiery explosion. The hot air shockwave hit everyone like a wall of heat, making them frown as they observed the quick-paced battlefield.

Flor moved around quickly, sending several wind blades Cinderielle's way.

Meanwhile, Cinderielle didn't move from her standing place as she sent one attack after another. The number of attacks Cinderielle was throwing was far above Flor's, which made Flor sneer. 'Using abilities so recklessly will be your bane.'

To make sure, she decided to check on Cinderielle's Aether Mana consumption, only for her sneer to disappear. 'What's this regeneration?'

She could actually see the numbers go up when Cinderielle didn't shoot. Cinderielle recovered around six shards for each of her ternary essences each second that passed.

If transformed into shards per hour, that kind of regeneration would become 21,600 shards per hour. To put it into perspective, Liu Shu had yet to reach 200 in any of her ternary essences.

'Ridiculous! How long can she even maintain this form!? We've been fighting for 2 minutes already!'

Flor looked at her own Aether Mana and bit her lips. 'What's worse is that the few attacks I managed to land chipped all around 600 Phoer Body Shards. That's nothing!'

Flor's face became murderous as her hidden, bloodthirsty nature started resurfacing. The current Flor couldn't even be compared with the usual easygoing and lazy Rose Fairy Queen. It was to the point that Liu Shu's <World Tree Eye> focused on Flor instead of the creature that had caught her attention so much since she arrived.

'If I can't chip your Phoer away, I'll steal it with one strike.'

Phoer Body Shards were a representation of a creature's vitality. If someone managed to behead another person, even if they had all their Phoer Body Shards, they would die without a chance to retaliate.

Meanwhile, Cinderielle had been fighting with everything she had. While it looked like she had it easy because she wasn't moving, her heart was beating extremely fast as surprise and fear slowly overtook them. 'I can't weaken her!? Is a Level 12 that strong!? No... It's not because she is a Level 12.'

Cinderielle looked at the change in the atmosphere around Flor and became seriously nervous. 'I only have 2 minutes and 10 seconds left of this transformation. I'll be done if I can't weaken her enough before that!'

Flor's attacks had been ruthless and all aimed at lethal spots. This forced Cinderielle to protect those places, and because of the onslaught, she had become so cautious that attacks that didn't aim for lethal spots were not stopped anymore.

After all, her defenses were ridiculously high with her currently transformed body.

Of course, she had no way of knowing that that had been Flor's initial aim at first. With creatures that had enormous pools of vitality, you needed to slowly chip their life away by using feints and other methods or land one lethal strike.

So, Flor initially tried to use several lethal strikes as faints while gradually reducing her Phoer Body Shards with normal attacks.

But that had changed.

With no indications that the transformation was going to end soon, Flor couldn't afford enough luxury to take her time. Moreover, they were fighting extremely close to Liu Shu, and Flor didn't like it.

No words were exchanged as the battle became more frantic. The number of lethal attacks suddenly diminished by a lot, giving Cinderielle breathing room to move toward the quickly flying Flor.

She was surprisingly agile for her size, almost closing the gap between them. 'I need to weaken her even if I get injured!'

However, she didn't realize the cold glint reflected in Flor's eyes. Cinderielle used her staff again, and two walls of fire spread in a line, blocking the Rose Fairy Queen's lateral escapes. 'Now, she should fly backward or upwards; if I bombard her with enough projectiles, some will land, and Flor will get weakened.'

But Cinderielle miscalculated. 'Huh?'

Flor didn't go up or back; she rushed forward at incredible speed. Cinderielle panicked and quickly reacted, sending another wall of fire forward.

BAM!

[-1487]

The large strike that sliced almost half of Flor's Phoer Body Shards was heavy enough that the spectators thought that Flor had gone crazy.

Yet, when they saw Cinderielle trying to take a step back with her face changed to one filled with panic and fear, they knew that the attack didn't go as planned.

Flor rushed through the wall of flames head first, receiving heavy injuries and burning a large part of her face. However, taking advantage of the surprise, she managed to close the distance between them to less than two meters.

Her body's Aether Mana and Anima Energy surged with incomparable might as she used <Wind Slash> toward Cinderielle's neck with ruthless accuracy.

With a venomous and cold tone, Flor spat. "Die."

SLASH!

The wind crescent ruthlessly landed on Cinderielle's neck, creating a massive gash.

[-4596]!

Flor clicked her tongue. 'Not enough.'

A massive damage number appeared in Flor's eyes, but her face did not make a pleased face. Flor managed to close the distance while Cinderielle clutched her neck in pain and landed on her shoulder, lifting her hand and creating a torrent of winds.

Cinderielle's heart was filled with terror as the bloodthirsty eyes of the burnt Rose Fairy Queen looked at her with incomparable coldness. "Get away!" Then, using a large part of her Aether Mana, her body burst into an explosion of flames that hit Flor again.

The Rose Fairy Queen had to switch from offensive to defensive, or else the wounds would be too great. Her gathered Wind Aether Mana enveloped her body, and right after, she was hit by a powerful explosion of flames.

BAM!

The explosion sent the Rose Fairy Queen flying backward, burning 489 more of her Phoer Body Shards. However, the Rose Fairy Queen flipped mid-air and used her legs to land against a tree trunk, ready to rush into battle again.

Yet, the second she was about to launch herself forward, several branches from the tree she landed on latched onto her. Flor lost in her bloodthirst, almost retaliated against the creature that interrupted her. However, a burst of aura with the meaning of "STOP!" hit her brain strong enough to make her eyesight blur.

This snapped her out of her murderous state, but even then, her gaze went straight onto the Sylvan that was slowly transforming back. She patted the branch coiled around her waist gently and spoke firmly. "Liu Shu, I know you are worried, but now that she has transformed back, I can kill her easily. Let me go."

However, the branch around her waist tightened instead of loosening as a big "NO!" smacked her brain one more time. Flor thought that her brain would explode or something, so she coughed and answered. "C-Can you answer more lightly? You are making my head ring! Also, what do you mean by no!?"

A softer but equally persistent "No!" reached Flor, making her speechless. Flor sighed and gave up, moving her gaze to look at the Sylvan, who was retreating slowly and fearfully while looking between the tree and herself.

Flor spoke with an authoritative tone while seeing the blood rush between the Sylvan's fingers. "Leave. You are lucky that your transformation has healed enough of the wound to make it non-lethal, but if you stay here, I'm going to kill you the second Liu Shu lets go of me."

Another big "NO!" hit her head, and Flor finally understood between seeing the world blur. 'Can she not do it so strongly… wait. She stopped me because she doesn't want me to kill the sylvan?'

Flor observed the red-haired Sylvan, who was stubbornly looking at them even when her eyes were filled with fear. While the gaze had clear fear in it, Flor realized that there was something else. 'The way she is looking at me… Somewhere else… I've seen that somewhere else…'

Flor frowned, and suddenly, the image of Verdantia looking at her when she showed the World Tree branch flashed in her mind. Her lips twitched, making her hiss in pain because of the burns while she lamented in her head. 'Is it another crazy woman? What's wrong with Liu Shu? Do all Sylvans react the same way to her?'

Of course, she knew that it was not true since before finding Verdantia, Flor roamed the forest a bit and spoke with a few other Sylvans, even showing them the branch while avoiding telling its origins.

'For now… Only Verdantia and this Sylvan called Cinderielle reacted that way…'

Flor felt a headache coming. 'I hope that the reason Liu Shu is stopping me is because the contrary is also true…'

With a tentative face and not bothering the Rose Fairies attending her, she asked. "Say, Liu Shu… Do you not want me to kill her because you like her?"

This time, a "no" with hesitation came her way.

'Hesitating? Hm…'

Flor put into practice her interpreter skills and asked. "Do you feel that she is interesting?"

This time, a hesitant "yes" arrived.

'Hm. Still unsure.'

The Rose Fairy Queen leaned back and asked with a doubtful look. "Do you feel that she doesn't mean harm?"

A clear "yes" arrived this time. Flor rolled her eyes and looked upward toward the tree's canopy. "Are you freaking kidding me? Why did I have to work so hard for then!?"

Liu Shu looked at the Rose Fairy Queen between her branches with an awkward feel. 'I wanted to stop you since the beginning, but you started fighting without asking anything! I-It's not my fault, hmph!'

Thankfully, Flor couldn't understand her words at all, or else she might have a stroke and lose her remaining Phoer Body Shards and die.

Cinderielle shouted, her voice trembling as she coughed. "I-I told you. I-I don't want to fight! I really d-don't have bad intentions."

Flor looked at her for a few seconds and then sighed. "Whatever, let's talk."

Inside her head, she was complaining. 'It's not that I can kill you either way with Liu Shu holding onto me like this… speaking of which, does she not trust me!? Why is she still holding onto me!?'

The Rose Fairy Queen was about to become depressed when another branch with red fruits appeared in front of her. The Rose Fairy Queen blinked and opened her mouth, taking one into her body.

[You've consumed <Enchanted Basic Phoer Berry> and regained 100 Phoer Body Shards. There are four consumptions remaining.]

'Enchanted?'

She quickly analyzed Liu Shu, and her heart softened when she saw 400 extra Phoer Body Shards missing from Liu Shu's pool. 'She used her own vitality to enhance these fruits?'

Flor sighed with a smile and munched on another delicious berry. 'It seems that she just wants to take care of me. Hehe, cute child~.'