The first thing that Elizabeth thought was ‘This is dangerous, Rossie is hugging me.’

  Followed by her first attempt to move her shadows in an attempt to defend herself, of course it was a meaningless attempt, as the Taint made it impossible for her shadows to move. It was almost as if any Shadow she tried to move would wrestle against the Taint first and then attempt to follow any order she made.

  Theempted to seize trol of the shadows within the [Shadow Puppeteer] ring, and she received a faint signal back. So Elizabeth was happy, she could at least save Rossi-

  ….Right…

  What would Rossie think if she trolled her body to move her away?

  Elizabeth thought about how, in this pseudo-frozen world, the little girl's sword was moving ever so slowly toward her. At the back, [The Shadow Tide] gri her as he exteendrils of inky-tar-like shadows.

  And to her left?

  Rossie, her cute, adorable (And sometimes extremely hot) psychotic girlfriend was hugging her sending [Healing Mana] into her.

  Helping her curve the worst effects of this Taint.

  What would her girlfriend think if Elizabeth forced her to leave…To protect herself instead of proteg both of them?

  ….She would hate it.

  Elizabeth was sure, she herself would hate it if Rossie ever did something like that, so it was obvious that Rossie would hate it too. No, Elizabeth wao do that, but she couldn’t.

  Then what?

  “I gotta e then huh…” That was the only option, Elizabeth would o ehe attad ter attack, she o know why Beatrice could and these girls.

  Why did they aowledge Beatrice as [Master], and why did they ignore Elizabeth?

  So steeling her resolve, Elizabeth focused what little mana she had (That wasn’t Tainted) and prepared to weather the attack, at least it was a simple sword…Perhaps it wouldn’t be able to pierce the Tainted spear?

  It would be so funny if she mao use the attack of [The Shadow Tide] to defend herself…

  So she let her senses return to normal and prepared to withstand the attack as best possible.

  “[Elemental Shift - Fire]” Wait what?

  The sword of the little Valkyrie suddenly bzed in golden-pink fire and Elizabeth did her best to not scream as it seared throught her chest.

  “!” The feeling was almost as if the fire was somehow extending into her mana circuits and searing everything on the way.

  Elizabeth wao scream, but while the sword was still stuto her chest, the little girl’s other hand shot and cmped Elizabeth’s mouth shut.

  “Report, sedary target’s [Taint] is being purged, primary target seems to be linking her mana with sedary target. Unless a quirurgical strike is avaible, I deem the VIP risk too big.” The Valkyrie spoke as her eyes shone blue for a sed, and Elizabeth felt a mana wave course her body.

  As the mana wave traversed her body she noticed a data stream go into her spire, on it a graph with her body status was shown and the pces where the Taint had tried to breach.

  “Aowledge, sedary target is able to sustain and limit the [Taint]. No termination is needed.” The Valkyrie said as the little girl removed the sword from Elizabeth’s chest without sideration for her.

  *Hissssss*

  Elizabeth’s body was sturdy, way more sturdy than it should, thanks to multiple of her skills and basiature. So her wound closed fast enough and her Shift meself.

  “Who are you?” Elizabeth asked as she fought to stay standing, even at this moment Rossie’s tration was fully focused on keeping Elizabeth’s health stable.

  “I am Sigrun, Captain of the Valkyrie squadron. Loyal to our Master and her Mother.” The girl answered.

  “And that is how you treat your master?” Elizabeth gred back, she didn’t like this one, what had her [Dragon Self] thought when making them?

  “What do you speak about?” The girl asked back looking at Rossie then to Beatrice. “We deemed you a risk to our Master’s Mother so we acted, you should be grateful that our Master’s Mother would be sad if something more extreme happeo you.”

  …what?

  Wasn’t she…What?

  “Who….who is your Master?” Elizabeth asked fused.

  [The Shadow Tide] was at the back fighting against the valkyries as they prevehe attack against Elizabeth…no. Not against Elizabeth. They fought to prevent the attack against Rossie.

  “Beatrice Di Starbright, and our Master’s Mother is of course Rossaliarbright.” The little girl, Sigrun, said. Then turning to Elizabeth she scoffed, “And you Elizabeth Starbright…are only alive for the grace of being somewhat important to our Master’s Mother. So be grateful for your luck.”

  ….Excuse me what?

  “Eli-Eli? Are you okay?” Rossie said while opening her eyes, “I felt something…wrong. It was slimy, sickly, it felt like…death.”

  “Now you see why you are a risk to Master’s Mother?” Sigru Elizabeth, “Be grateful, and stop being a nuisance.”

  …EXCUSE ME WHAT?!?!?!?

  “Stop Eli-Eli!” Rossie pulled at her, stopping her from moving forward. “Look.”

  Rossie poi the Valkyries, but Elizabeth didn’t uand what was happening.

  “What?” So she said angrily, “They are rude! I mean, okay. They protected you, but did they o be so mean to me?!?! What did I even do?!?!?”

  Even so, since Rossie had asked her, Elizabeth allowed herself and Rossie to desd into a clearing. She made sure to put that group of Valkryies and [Shadow Tide].

  “Look, they are not using Shadow…” Rossie pointed and…sure enough. Not a single one of those valkyries was using shadows.

  Fire? Yes

  Wind? Yes

  Lightning? Yes

  Holy? Yes

  Water? Yes

  Shadows? No

  “What kind of Minions are these?” Elizabeth asked fused.

  Not a single one of her Minions had ever used anything else that wasn’t Shadoution. They all eled her powers, and she was…Mostly Shadoution…

  No wait…She wasn’t only Shadows was she?

  “Right…I also have…these…” Elizabeth said opening and closing her hands, each time a new element would ma atop her hands. Fire, Water, Wind, Lightning.

  It was only that Elizabeth rarely used them, she usually could get away with only using Shadows, hell. Most of her problems she could bulldoze them thanks to her undisputed mastery over shadows. And when that wasn’t enough? Well, she had other things that could deal with it too.

  She could use what Mother referred to as [Deus Ex Maa]...

  Okay no, that had only worked ond it he sacrifice of Chloe, she…did not have a spare chloe at the moment, hell, the st one had almost died doing just that. Elizabeth would not risk Alice, or Rossie…She may be willing to risk Chloe V2(Elzbeth)...

  Okay no, not even her.

  “Okay, fihis was a wake-up call.” Elizabeth said sighing, “They are right…I am….over my head here.”

  Elizabeth hated this feeling, she wasn’t supposed to be this weak. She was strong enough to be an [S-Tier]! She had the power to prove it!

  The [Skills] to show!

  The [Race] to parade!

  ….A…

  “Eli-Eli?” No shadow would listen to her and. No, they would, but as soon as she tried tle them into a way to fight.

  “Useless.” [The Shadow Tide] would i her shadows with a new drop of liquid tar-like shadow.

  It wasn’t raining, not in the normal sense of the word, but as soon as Elizabeth tried to extend her domain of shadows, a drop would fall, and she would o discard those shadows…

  She o keep them away from her, for the Valkyries stood in vigil, they made sure she wasn’t Tainted, not for her sake no…

  Elizabeth k, they would attack her again, she didn’t want Rossie to allehese new… allies. They were promising, way more effit and powerful than even her normal Royal series Minions.

  And…they had said that Rossie .

  Not her, not Beatrice. Rossie.

  Elizabeth…couldn’t be mad at them, finding a group of…not minions that would prioritize Rossie? It was a dream e true.

  Elizabeth k herself, if she and Rossie was to be in danger, her minions would always go to Elizabeth first, then to Rossie. Very few Minions she could trust to prioritize Rossie.

  Maybe Beatrice? She wasn’t that sure if the little girl could even make that true, not really. She may like Rossie more, but at the end of the day, Elizabeth was her summoner, her…Progenitor.

  “Okay, I get it…I am not the best at this.” Elizabeth surrendered in the end, she knew when she wa defeated. She was not the best shadow user in this fight.

  “Elizabeth? Are you okay?” Rossie asked worriedly.

  At the back Elizabeth could hear the fight going on, the Valkyries fighting against the hordes. And at the very back Rena’s effort to e their way.

  The red-haired girl had been on the front too, but Elizabeth had desded on this side si some point their fight had funneled Rena to the back, she was stopping the Shadow-Ghoul horde from breag their defenses and going into their base.

  The pce that Elizabeth had designated as a safe haven and where the Minions would retreat to purify and heal if he pce they would return first before running away, and the ter of this trap they had set up for [The Shadow Tide].

  "I just found the limits of using only one element." Elizabeth sighed, the Valkyries had the right of it, using alternated elements and fusing it with sedary elements that could purify the Taint.

  Then what was she supposed to do?

  She...had never actually practiced with other elements, she had the Talent, of course, her skills made sure of that, she had all the Talent that the inal Chloe Ashcroft had with Lightning, the same of the Talent that Alexanders had left for her.

  She knew she had the Talent, but did she have the skills?

  [The Shadow Tide] had shown her how important it was to know how to apply and use power correctly. She should be able to overwhelm him using shadows. A, he mao overwhelm her instead. If not for the type of life that Elizabeth had, she would have succumbed to the Taint and been corrupted.

  She would have bee a weakness and a threat to Rossie's safety, and that could not be allowed. Elizabeth would never be the reason why Rossie or Rena suffered.

  "Should we retreat? Beatrid those Valkyries seem to be doing a good job." Rossie said from her side, she too was looking at the Valkyries fighting and stopping the Shadow Zombies from ing their way.

  No, from ing to Rossie, Elizabeth was only protected by association, that was a weird feeling to deal with. But what was she supposed to do then?

  "I want to help them. No, that is a lie." Elizabeth said shaking her head as soon as she said those words, "I want to prove to them that I am not a liability. That they shouldn't look down on me. Is this my [Pride] speaking again?"

  Rossie shook her head at Elizabeth, "No, at least I don't think so. You have that message you want to give him, right?" Right, this was the whole reason they were here to begin with.

  So what was she supposed to do then? Use only Magic? Her Magic was...ckluster. Elizabeth may cim to be a Magical Girl (sometimes), but unlike Rossie, who focused her efforts on mastering her craft. Elizabeth always was more freestyle in her Magic.

  She did cast spells, and she used plenty of magical circles, mandas, and sometimes even runes and entments. But all of them were miseous and focused more on enhang what she wao do, either through Ritual ting or by using it to focus her goals.

  "Yes... but how?" Elizabeth didn't think just shooting thunder here and there would work, most of her mana manipution exercises and habits focused in helping her spread her shadows.

  Most of what she was used to do revolved around that part of her identity.

  "'t you just...Shift your way of fighting?" Rossie said from the side with a small giggle.

  What?

  "You wao just shift the way I move my mana? How I use it, el and execute my attacks?" Elizabeth asked, fbbergasted.

  It wasn't that easy of a thing to achieve, she may be a genius, but even so she also had her limits!

  She was close to perfect, geous, good-looking, well-endowed, and bloh blue eyes, but even so, Elizabeth was a(mostly) ordinary Human girl!

  "No Eli-Eli, my adorable dumb girl." Rossie shook her head once again with a wry smile, "I want you to Shift from Shadows to Anything else that is effective."

  ...Oh...

  "Oooooh...." Elizabeth said as she uood what Rossie was saying. Right. That tion...

  But first...She would o check what she was dealing with.

  "Okay, yeah, we try that...but first, I o make sure of what we are dealing with." Elizabeth turo look in [The Shadow Tide]'s dire and raised both her arms. She made a small triah her hands as if to focus her attention and took a deep breath. In the middle of that triangle was [The Shadow Tide], who once had been her idol.

  The [Hero] she looked up to.

  The man she wouldn't have minded having as a... lover. Her childhood crush, the man who had made her want to live in another pce, was why she even po run away from home to fly to the city where he worked.

  And now? The reason Alid Chloe had suffered so much, a raving madman who wao destroy the world... And someone who had ma back the Taint, someohat should be put down.

  "Identify." So Elizabeth sharpened her eyes and focused her mana, and she cast her most reliable skill.

  StatusNameMaximilian WindsorHealth:100%TitleThe Shadow TideMana:100%Passive TitleShadow PactStamina:100%Disgraced Hero FugitiveLevel86Job:Strength100The Shadow Inatestitution60Job Skills:10Agility200General Skills:10Dexterity200Title Skills1Intelligence500 Wisdom500Charisma20....That must be wrong. He shouldn't be able to overwhelm her if their stats were this close to each other. Akira had been so much higher than her, and he hadn't mao overwhelm her this badly.

  Then was something on his skill?

  "Identify - Skills." Elizabeth focused her skills on going deeper.

  Skills

  Jeneral

  Titles

  Shadoution: 999Shadow Corruption: 999Shadow Domain: 999Shadow Materialization: 999Shadow Mana: 999Shadow Body: 999Shadow Minion: 999Shadow : 999Shadow Possession: 999Shadow Ination: 999

  Shadow Body: XShadow Soul: XShadow Mind: XShadow Blood: XShadow Heart: XShadow E: XShadow el: XShadow Track: XShadow Perception: XShadow Expansion: XProliferate"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT DOING THERE?!?!?" Elizabeth screamed almost instantly as she saw her...older skill there. "AND WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON WITH THESE NUMBERS?!?!?"

  Followed by the scream of her soul at the numbers, she didn't think someone could get to level 999. Some of her skills had stopped dispying levels as soon as she got above a certain threshold and stopped using them as a guide.

  Most of them ged to X, and they still grew, but since she wasn't using them as guides and more as support, they stopped showg their growth.

  And now one of the skills that almost killed her showed there? That thing was dangerous... actually what did it even do?

  She never got an ao that did she? She khat Ethan had wao use it for...something.

  And now [The Shadow Tide] robably using it? If not why would he even have it...Was...was that the reason why his skills had skewed this much?

  This was as good as any moment then, she had fiden her skill giving her some data finally. So since she was already in position, she might as well "Identify - Proliferation." So Elizabeth intoned ahe data flow into her head, the true identity of this goddamhing.

  Proliferation:Spread your wings, extend your domain, and encroach everything. All will be united uhe shadows and ected to the world. We will all do our purpose, for that is what we were created to do.

  Eae ected will bee a shadow node, and each shadow node will spread its tendrils and ect to new ones. Should they be shadow he strength will increase. Should they be something else, they will be remade into a shadow node.

  Eaode will increase the strength of the whole. Eaode will bear its ow so the work doesn't colpse from its size.

  Eaode increases the range, eaode increases the strenght, eaode increases the might. Eaode will increase the might of the shadows.

  Eaew node will make the work easier, soon the world will bear wito the might of shadows. All will bow to [The World]'s wisdom.

  Well that was bullshit.

  What the heck was that even supposed to be? It sounded like the propaganda for a cult! Not a skill, it didn't had any funs did it?

  No wait, shadow nodes?

  Elizabeth had noticed how each Shadow Zombie was ected to each other...

  "Oh....oh no...nonononono." If each Shadow Zombie was increasing the strength of the whole... "How...Hoeople have been kidnapped by [The Shadow Tide]?"

  Elizabeth asked to no one.

  "Thousands." [The Shadow Tide] answered from behind the valkyries, she could almost see the smile on his face.

  ...Eae increasing the power of the whole, eae adding to the might of everyone... Then that meant that Elizabeth wasn't fighting against one Shadow User, but against thousands. Each of them helping the whole...

  Eae...bringing their own [Skills] and Skills to the whole...Each drop that made the [Shadow Tide] helped the whole...

  Elizabeth would never be able to pete against that, not alone.

  "...well Fuck." Elizabeth cursed as her arms dropped to the side yeah. She was good, she was very good. But fighting against thousands using the same on?

  Yeah, no. She would never win...

  But as Rossie said, she didn't o. She would do it differently, she would ge, she would...Shift.

  So, spping herself, Elizabeth turo look at Rossie. "You are the best girlfriend any girl could hope for." And she kissed the pink-haired girl. Now, stand back. I am not sure how this might turn, so be ready."

  Elizabeth focused on what she o do and what she wao achieve.

  It was quite simple, she had do before, but she hadn't tried something like this yet, she had thought of doing it ter, mostly to mess around. Not to actively fight.

  " of Sin." The first step, Elizabeth extended her hand forward and the heavy aterialized, she put it on with trepidation. She...feared this thing to some degree, it was the evidence of her own weakness...And the proof that she was doier.

  But she wasn't fihis by itself wasn't enough. So using the same hand that had put the atop her head, she plucked one of the gems on the . The yellow one.

  "Shift - Stardust Weaver into..." Elizabeth crushed the gem ahe mana burst forth, it wasn't the usual shadow mana.

  No...This one was golden, but not Divine or Holy golden, no...

  This was Lightning, this was Thuhis was..."...The Thunder Queen."

  Katsurandom