Dura Waret was walking over to Harik and Rachel.

The district they were in was completely covered in rubble as the houses and other buildings were victims of the invasion.

"?"

Rachel looked beneath her feet.

Like Harik, she was balancing herself on rubble as there was no space on the actual ground to set foot on.

"H-Harik, look...!"

"!"

He raised his eyebrows when he saw that water was flooding the place. And it seemed like the water level kept on rising up.

The two stared intensely at the water.

"Watch out!"

Harik suddenly pushed Rachel aside.

"Ack!" he groaned.

From below, the water rose up and pierced Harik from the back and because he stretched his arm out to save Rachel his forearm got pierced, too.

"Harik!" Rachel shouted concernedly.

The water was manipulated smoothly, enabling it to stab a person as if it was a spear.

"Ugh!"

Harik puked blood out when the water spears pulled back.

"These were remarkable reflexes, young man." Dura commented impressed.

"..."

Showing her anger, Rachel decided not to hold back. Her opponent may be an old woman but she was still a Grand Order member.

From everywhere, roots emerged. Furthermore, vines with thorns were wrapped around Rachel’s hand.

"Tch..." Rachel clicked her tongue due to the pain in her bleeding hand.

The vines formed a blade with thorns poking from everywhere.

But Dura was unfazed by that.

Then, more and more roots appeared.

Rachel kicked herself off the rubble and charged at Dura with the roots coming after her as well.

"..."

Dura just simply raised her hand.

Behind her, water rose up and formed a large wave but that wave split itself up in multiple slices.

Those mini waves were charged at Rachel.

"Haaa!" Rachel shouted as she came closer.

Her roots took the lead but those roots were sliced up by the waves.

Still, Rachel did not stop and closed in on her. With her thorny plant sword, she swung wildly at Dura, who avoided each strike of hers.

Rachel knew that her swordsmanship was lacking as she only started recently with sword training, however, she knew that she could not always rely on ranged combat.

While Dura dodged, she manipulated water simultaneously.

Like back then, she intended to stab Rachel from her blind spots but Rachel noticed her plan and tried to evade the incoming water attacks.

At first, she actually managed to dodge them but the waves of attacks did not stop. Soon, scratches were visible on Rachel’s body.

"Argh!" she groaned.

Her right thigh was pierced.

"Forgive me."

Dura attempted to finish her off.

"?"

But a water fountain was summoned beneath her.

She dodged that spot and was now in the air.

"Got you now..."

However, Harik was waiting for her there and retracted his arm.

Her eyes narrowed and she raised her arms.

The punch connected and Dura was sent flying back to the ground.

"I knew it... It feels wrong to hit an old lady..." Harik muttered with a ragged breathing.

And yet, Dura was almost unscratched as she used her forearms to block the punch.

Harik and Rachel joined up again.

"Now you’ve made me angry..." Dura said sharply.

The water beneath them began to get unruly.

"W-what’s going on now?!" Rachel said hurriedly.

Slowly, the water flowed to Dura and levitated, forming a gigantic water ball above her.

"You’re kidding me..." Harik muttered stunned.

Even if he were to use up all of his magic, he could not create such a large water ball which had the size of an entire district.

Dura stretched her hand towards the two and the water ball fell in their direction.

"..."

In panic, Rachel summoned roots and tried to shield the two of them even though she knew that it was pointless.

Both of them closed their eyes when the water ball came closer.

However, nothing happened.

Instead, they felt the temperature dropping tremendously.

It was cold.

"Even I wouldn’t go so far and mess with people quarter my age, Ms. Waret." 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Harik and Rachel slowly opened their eyes.

"!"

A woman was standing in front of them.

But before they wondered, who that was, they looked up to the water ball which was completely frozen.

"I have many questions for you but I guess I should start with restraining you first, huh?"

The frozen water ball started to crack until it eventually shattered into tiny pieces, sparkling in the air.

"Elsa..." Dura muttered grimly.

The person, who saved Harik and Rachel, was Elsa, a fellow Grand Order member.

"Get away from here, you two. I will handle this from here on out." Elsa stated with an excited smirk.

Knowing that the two would only be in the way, they nodded and quickly got away from there.

"T-thank you!" but they made sure not to forget showing their gratitude for saving them.

"..."

Elsa waited until the two left the field before she erected an ice wall.

"Well then... Mind to tell me why you’re doing all this?" Elsa asked.

However, based on her relaxed expression, it did not seem like Elsa was really interested in Dura’s reasons.

"..."

But Dura did not reply.

"Answer."

Elsa created icicles from the ground and launched them at Dura. But those icicles stopped before touching her neck.

"Is this how you treat your grandmother?" Dura asked with a smile.

"If you would answer me and surrender, then I wouldn’t mind treating you better." Elsa responded with a sharp gaze.

Just like Elsa, Dura was also from the North.

Even though it was rare, the North could also produce water mages among them. And Dura was one of them. She grew up in the village and started a family once she got older.

After traveling the world, she was recognized for her strength and eventually joined the Grand Order, leaving her husband and two daughters behind in the North.

And because she was busy with doing quests, the number of times she would visit her village decreased. Dura even missed her daughters’ weddings and only learned later about it once she met her first granddaughter, who turned out to be Elsa.

However, Elsa’s mother died soon due to an illness and her father lost his life during a monster hunt. And because her other daughter was away at that time, Dura decided to take Elsa with her and train her outside of Grat.

The next time she would have visited the village was roughly half a year ago after she made a trip to Youra. But she came to an inconvenient time.

Her village, or rather, the entire North was taken over by Tija and her accomplice.

Obviously, Dura tried to fight back but she was quickly tamed and controlled when she learned about her other daughter who was treated as a hostage.

Only if their goal was reached, then her daughter would be set free again. Therefore, Dura supported them as she wanted to rescue her daughter as soon as possible.

"Why don’t you join us, Elsa? With you on our side, this whole thing could end quickly." Dura asked sternly.

Dura hid the fact that her aunt was a hostage as she was worried that Elsa could lose her temper and make the situation even more complicated.

"Heh." Elsa chuckled.

"I’ve already made up my mind. I will side with the South." Elsa declared.

"Oh, is that so...? What led you to that decision?"

"Nothing much honestly. It’s just that the South isn’t collaborating with demons." she elaborated with a provoking smirk.

"So you knew about that, too?"

"I just found out about it recently after gathering information." Elsa stated, shrugging her shoulders.

"That’s why I’m even more confused why you would take their side."

Her expression changed again and turned serious.

"I have my reasons."

"Then, why don’t you tell me those reasons of yours?"

"I apologize but I can’t. Even if you’re my dear granddaughter." Dura answered with a gentle smile as she shattered the ice in front of her with her magic

"Tch."

Both of them launched magic attacks but they negated each other’s attacks.

"It’s been a long time since we fought against each other." Elsa stated.

"Yes. I remember that you were still a child back then."

"I wasn’t a child. I was already 17!" Elsa corrected her tiredly.

"Oh, really? Then, I’m even more excited to see how much you’ve grown since then."

"And I’m excited to see how long you can hold out against me!"

Back then, Elsa did not manage to win a single time against Dura. Realizing that, Elsa refused to fight against her until she grew strong enough to beat her.

And that time was today, several years later.

Words did not mean much now so they decided to settle things like always. With their fists.

Setting their family ties aside, it was a match between two Grand Order members.

It was a match between Dura, who spent decades as a member of the Grand Order, and Elsa, the second strongest.