Combat Maid Harem

"Hmph." Ember harrumphed disdainfully.

"Defensive Formation!"

A loud shout came from the crowd. No one knew who said it, but every Earth Mage watching extended their phoenix wings and created a flaming wall around Ember and Lucid.

This unintentionally covered Lawrend's view. It made him slightly irritated, and he stepped through the flaming wall they created with ease while holding Inferno's hand.

The Earth Mages near him noticed it and were shocked into a daze. The flaming wall they created wasn't just for show. It was a combined formation created by hundreds of Earth Mages.

There were more than a thousand Earth Mages in this city, and a great amount of them gathered in this area. The result should have been an impenetrable flaming wall that could stop anyone unless they were the clan elders, clan head, or their ancestors. Seeing Lawrend stepping through it made their minds spin off to various absurd conclusions.

Lawrend didn't care about what the other Earth Mages thought. He focused his attention on the battle in front of him. Inferno held his hand and did the same.

The powered-up Lucid gained a lot of confidence. He might not be able to defeat Ember fair and square, but he should be able to fight her to a standstill with his current strength. That was enough for him.

"Cinders of the Afterlife!" Lucid murmured.

The air all around Ember changed and turned into a wavy mess as it rapidly heated up. Ember focused and sensed the change in the fire mana around her. She was familiar with this spell since she had studied it before.

"Dance of a second lifetime!"

Ember twirled, and a powerful gust of wind blew around her. She danced in a hypnotizing manner that seemed to imitate the movements of a flame or a phoenix rebirthing from the ashes. She took a step forward, and the hearts of the onlookers started beating rapidly.

A dress made of fire started covering her maid's uniform and turned her into a phoenix goddess.

Above her, cinders of fire started forming like snow in a snow cloud. They dropped down gently and daintily from the sky.

But because of Ember's dance, they were pushed away from her by the strong winds she generated. They vanished once they touched the flame wall, making it unknown what kind of power they contained.

Lawrend caught one with his hand in his curiosity.

His hand started burning as the violent phoenix mana burned him from the insides. It was similar to his Fire Disintegration spell but much more practical.

"A flame has an infinite transformation..." Lawrend thought to himself.

"H-He–?!"

"I must be dreaming!"

"No way!"

Many more Earth Mages noticed Lawrend catching a fire cinder with his hand. As many of them had lived long lives, they were familiar with the effects of that spell. It would burn anyone touched by the cinders to ashes.

The only way to counter the spell would be to avoid getting touched by it.

"I'm not done yet!" Lucid shouted.

He felt humiliated that Ember knew what to use to counter his spell without even trying. She was much younger than him, after all. It was normal for an old Earth Mage to know how to counter the spell, but it was unbelievable for a young Earth Mage like her to do the same.

"The Ancestral Phoenix rising from the east!"

A phoenix appeared in the east direction in the circle formed by the flaming wall. It expanded its wings and grew in size as pure phoenix mana surged into it. It stared at Ember with cold and murderous eyes.

"Phoenix imitates the Dragon!" Ember countered.

A phoenix formed behind Ember and faced the direction of Lucid's phoenix spell.

*Fwoosh!*

Lucid's phoenix flapped its wings and extended its sharp talons forward as it attacked Ember. Meanwhile, Ember's phoenix opened its mouth, and balls of fire rapidly shot out of its mouth. Lucid's phoenix flipped and turned as it avoided the balls of fire.

When it got near, Ember's phoenix took a step forward and faced its back to the attacking phoenix.

*KAAAAHHH!!*

The phoenix let out a mournful cry and shattered together with Lucid's phoenix.

"My turn," Ember said and smirked. The phoenix dress on her hadn't disappeared yet, and it made her look stunning.

"The love of a Phoenix!"

Ember looked at Lawrend and nodded her head.

Lawrend smiled back and extended his hand forward. A thick amount of phoenix mana left his body and flowed into her. She turned her head back at Lucid and stared at him with wide eyes.

Ember's beautiful red eyes sparkled as they turned crimson, and an illusion of a phoenix rising from the ashes formed within her irises. She pointed her finger at Lucid and said, "Reverse Explosion!"

Lucid widened his eyes and realized something.

The air around the two of them was filled with pure phoenix mana. They had no owners as these manas resulted from their spells dissipating. There were about ten times more pure fire mana here than within the city.

And all of a sudden, these owner-less manas changed from random movements to unified ones as Ember controlled them. They collapsed onto Lucid and attacked him in a reverse explosion.

Lucid realized it too late. Ember had him dancing on her palms right from the start. She purposely countered his spells and filled the area with a denser amount of mana, and she used her powerful phoenix bloodline and her almost-Heaven Mage strength to forcefully take control of the mana.

Lucid didn't even have the chance to scream.

*BOOM!*

Lucid's body exploded as the massive amounts of fire mana that rushed to his body overfilled it like a balloon. And just like that, a powerful Elevated Earth Mage of the Ignis clan died.

"Your mother is too good. Haha!" Lawrend laughed.

"Yes!" Inferno cheered.

He was only watching Ember fight for entertainment until the very end caught him off-guard. His lack of experience made it so that he didn't realize what she was planning to do.