My Servant System

The heat that permeated my head wasn't of the lustful, horny nature that I was so accustomed to but instead it was a heat that was the result of such a jarring, damaging blow, so when I flushed my head with a healthy dose of Water Mana to boost my regeneration...

Well, it made me hiss as everything went numb and then cold for a split second, though now was the time to go through this flip flopping of internal temperatures now that the Dog Goddess was slowly powering herself up into her second phase.

Something I wasn't very happy about but something that I had to accept as reality as she stood there in front of me, her left arm now made of ruby flames while the rest of her glimmered and bristled with the same fire.

Naturally one would think that being a mage who could wield Water Mana would place me at an advantage in this fight since clearly water beats fire, but after many, many practice fights against Leone when we only used mana I knew that that was truly just a joke of a theory.

Yes, technically water beats fire, but when the fire is so damn hot it simply evaporates the water, meaning I need to utilize a lot of water to counteract that heat; then there's the added side of me having Wind Mana as well, which is legitimately fuel for those flames.

And then when it is combined into Ice Mana it doesn't really give me much of an advantage at all, so my 'elemental superiority' was negligent against this very pissed off dog headed giant who was wielding an angelic spear that was meant to smite us for our transgressions.

Honestly Leone was the one with the better chance of dealing magic damage to the Dog Goddess since fire against fire was surprisingly effective, but in order for her to do that I needed to give her an opening since our opponent was undoubtedly faster now.

She was already way to damn fast, so before she could truly settle into her new form I decided to take this time and begin layering spell after spell all around us, blanketing our surroundings in frost and erecting spires of ice that acted as pylons for me to draw power from.

The instant that the frost began to spread across the red sands and those spires erupted onto the battlefield I forced a potion down my throat, replenishing my mana and setting the stage for the next round.

Leone did the same behind me, though she paired a typical health potion with it too since she was using her own blood; our opponent wasn't going to let us set up peacefully, of course, so with a single enraged swing the Dog Goddess shattered one of my spires and started marching forwards.

Her feet melted the frost and left behind puddles - not of water but instead of liquid glass as she melted the sand she walked on - while her spear began to turn red, the concentrated mana spilling from her hands and into the golden material it was made from, converting it into something far more dangerous.

Even though it looked like she was just walking she was picking up speed, so before she could close the gap completely and show us just how hot that spear was and answer that wonderful scientific question of 'what does a thousand degree blade do to flesh' I pulled a lot of my replenished mana out of my Core and turned it into a spell.

Runes formed in the air in front of me as I rapidly traced them out, while a hurried murmur spilled from my lips as I began to just... chant something from the top of my head, creating an Incantation to match the spell I wanted to cast.

My memorization of all those random spells I had created out of anticipation back when I had been a 'child' came in handy right about now as most of my somewhat injured brain focused on formulating the right words to give this some extra oomph.

It couldn't be too long and it needed to be finished before she arrived, so I was just saying what came to mind as the runes continued to interlock and formulate a Ritual Circle, though thankfully Leone was buying me precious seconds as she slung various spells of her own at the Dog Goddess, hindering her ever so slightly.

[With the breath of Chione and the touch of Despoina flowing through me-]

As each word spilled from my lips a random rune in front of me began to glow, that glacial blue thread of magic shining brightly and overflowing with power as I pushed forwards, hoping that I was doing this right...

[-and the harshness of winter as my goal, I desire nothing more than to halt all before me-]

If it failed that would undoubtedly be the end of this fight since the amount of magic in front of me was probably more than enough to demonstrate the destructive capabilities of a frag grenade, and I was currently holding it in my hand, unpinned and primed.

[-with the power of a season made manifest! Winter's Anchors!]

All of the runes were shining just as bright as the flames on the Dog Goddess' body, while the power seemed to match it as they all flared into being, searing themselves into my eyes and blinding me temporarily before the entire area around us just... froze.

The air became heavy with frost, the ground crunched slightly as ice spread out rapidly, the previous spires I had summoned cracked and a gale whipped up around us, blowing all of the now frozen air straight at the monster in front of us.

A vortex of pure cold was formed around us, and as my vision returned I saw that each spire had grown rapidly, snaking for the Dog Goddess and grasping at her skin as each of them acted as an anchoring point, grabbing her and halting her completely.

The moment they touched her skin they began to wrap around her and blanket her in frost, trying to freeze over her flames and fighting against her as they tried to stop her; most of them melted away only to be frozen again thanks to the temperature, and now a cloak of vapors was writhing around the Dog Goddess as she swung her spear at random.

A large amount of my mana was sapped from my Core though, so although we were now standing in the middle of an almost pure white vortex of snow, ice, wind and vapor I was sweating and convulsing a little as my body 'politely' told me off.

Who knew strong magic had a price, right..?