Chapter 226: Grand Order Versus Grand Order

Elsa trapped Dura by surrounding her with high ice walls. But it did not take long until they would shatter into pieces.

Having a blank expression on her face, Dura flooded the area once more. After it reached a certain water level, Dura manipulated the water and created things akin to ropes beneath Elsa.

Those ropes wrapped themselves around Elsa’s arms and legs. But they froze up soon and also shattered.

In that time, Dura summoned a wave behind her, which she again sliced up into many thin slices. They then formed into spears before they were aimed at Elsa.

And as they were aimed at Elsa, those spears each parted once more into multiple spears.

"..."

Lousily, Elsa stretched her hand as she created an ice wall in front of her.

At first, it seemed like a perfect wall, however, the number of spears hitting the wall did not decrease and soon started to create holes in the wall. Some spears penetrated through the wall and scratched Elsa.

When the barrage suddenly stopped, Elsa shifted her gaze back to Dura, who prepared a large wave, whose top was formed into a spear.

That attack easily broke the wall and was about to hit Elsa, however, it stopped right in front of her nose because it turned to ice.

"You won’t back down, huh?" Elsa said with a grieving smile.

"I’m sorry."

Elsa took some steps towards Dura.

"Normally, I’d have let you go, however, I can’t do it this time. I’m just too confused... Why would you side with the North, who’s collaborating with demons...?" Elsa genuinely asked conflicted.

Dura averted her gaze from Elsa.

"It’s to protect someone dear to me..." she answered weakly.

"Then, even more the reason to turn to me! Am I that unreliable to you?"

"I’m truly sorry, my child... It’s just the enemy... That woman is just too strong..."

"?"

Elsa did not know whom Dura referred to.

"But I’m here! If we combine our forces we can fight against that enemy! Furthermore, there’s that kid, who apparently fought alongside Olivia against the number two among A-rank demons! We-"

"Elsa, that’s enough." Dura cut her off with a gentle smile.

"G-Grandma...?"

"I don’t know about that boy but the enemy is someone whom I can’t imagine to beat even if Olivia were to join us."

Elsa’s eyes widened as she formulated a theory inside her head.

If the enemy was an S-rank demon, then the whole world should have known about it, however, Zaran was the second strongest A-rank demon. That meant that the enemy could only be the number one A-rank demon.

However, she wondered how vast the difference was between Zaran and Vira.

"My mission is to clean Youra’s eastern district from any obstacles." Dura stated as she prepared another wave.

Elsa chuckled.

"Hm?"

"The North’s tradition still exists, right? I’m talking about choosing their chief based on strength." Elsa asked with a now confident smirk.

"Yes. Why do you ask?"

As she walked further towards Dura, Elsa loosened up her body even more.

"All the time, I thought that it would be a nuisance to return to them and get titled as their chief but I’m starting to think that the position of the chief may be enticing."

She turned back to her usual demeanor.

"What are you plotting, Elsa?"

Dura sharpened her eyes.

"I will take over as the chief and use them to defeat that enemy you’re so afraid of." Elsa declared.

"!"

Vira took the North under her wing because she needed their strength, which implied that she acknowledged the North. In other words, Elsa could use the North against Vira by either threatening or attacking her.

As the chief of the North, she could command the North as she liked and they had to follow.

"That’s absurd!" Dura raised her voice.

"Then, try to stop me." Elsa huffed.

Unlike a few moments ago, Elsa was now determined to win against her grandmother in order to help her.

And said determination was sensed by Dura.

"Sorry, I will make this up to you someday!" Elsa stated as she jumped at her grandmother with her arm retracted.

Large waves were behind Dura but neither they nor Dura showed any signs of moving.

She closed her eyes as Elsa softly touched her head, freezing her entire body and the waves behind her.

"I will come back later to unfreeze you. Or maybe you can free yourself until then...?"

A smiling Elsa turned her back to her grandmother and began to head to the academy.

"..."

Shortly after Elsa left, the ice layer on Dura shattered, making Dura move again.

She sighed.

The moment she sensed Elsa’s determination, it was clear to her that she would lose.

She may have never lost against her before during sparring sessions but that was solely because Elsa was never determined to beat her.

Now, Dura was an old woman who was about to retire. As strong as her magic was, she knew that she could not keep up anymore with the rest of the Grand Order. So winning against Elsa, the number two, was impossible if she would take it seriously.

Sparing herself and Elsa to waste any energy and engaging in a senseless battle, Dura decided to give up.

"I will definitely retire after this." she stated with a smile as she looked up to the sky.

Meanwhile, Asak was fighting against Jila, a northern woman who was confident in her martial arts.

Ignoring the explosions and attacks caused by the Loogam students, Asak focused on his opponent.

"You’re as skilled as they say..." Jila, who was covered in many bruises, admitted exhaustedly with a smile.

"..."

Asak, who did not really break a sweat yet, remained silent.

The two were in the midst of other people fighting.

"As a warrior, I’m ashamed to do this but there’s a lot of pressure on us..." Jila apologized.

"?"

Because he only focused on her, Asak neglected his surroundings, failing to notice other northern soldiers ambushing him.

"!"

His body tensed up and his eyes enlarged when a sword stabbed him from the back.

"Tch!"

It was unlike him but he used his wind magic to get the soldiers off him.

Now, he was surrounded by three enemies.

If he would not have been taken by surprise, he could have handled them.

"Well then, let- Ack!"

Jila was about to charge at Asak, however, someone else struck her from behind with a sword which was engulfed in wind magic.

"Are you alright?" the person asked calmly.

"Y-yeah..." Asak replied, trying to figure out who that person was.

It was a boy his age wearing Youra’s uniform, however, he did not see him before. The student had curly black hair and grape-light green eyes.

"Who are y-"

"We have no time for this. Focus on your foes."

Cutting Asak off, the student rushed ahead and dealt with the enemy who previously ambushed Asak.

Asak gritted his teeth and helped the student by taking on the other one.

Using kicks, Asak dismantled his foe from his weapon and knocked him out with a blow to the temple.

The other student also finished as he blew the enemy away with wind magic.

"Thanks for helping me..." Asak said in pain.

"..."

The student looked at Asak’s wound.

"I will fly you to the camp. Get your wound treated there."

"?"

Before Asak could say anything, a gentle wind engulfed and levitated him.

"H-hey...!"

Then, the student walked away as Asak was carried by the wind away.

Unbeknownst to Asak yet, the student also came from Loogam. It was a student, who earnestly participated in lessons and trained every day to get stronger. And despite him coming from another nation, the students around him quickly accepted and respected him, earning him a good reputation.

"..."

That student looked over to Mika who was fighting against a group of northern soldiers. And even though he helped Asak, he decided to leave Mika alone, after all, he knew that he would be in Mika’s way if he were to join his side now.

Therefore, he stayed behind and took care of the enemies there.

From there, he was also able to watch how his other former comrades, the Loogam students, fared against the North.

The group around Mika and the other white-class students were involved in big fights and some of them emerged as winners which motivated that student even more to perform well.

He smirked for a moment.

It was just like he promised to Mika back then. Abandoning his foolish pride, he dedicated himself fully to his studies and training. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

He could not compare himself to the person he was chasing but he noticed changes inside and outside of him.

That student was none other than the student, who was constantly at odds with Mika back then, caused multiple expulsions across the entire first-years and even pitted the students against each other. His name was Cail Maystra, a former red-class student.