No Time Remaining

--Belle's Perspective--

Boo and I sat by each other with Mitra as we watched Alexia surrender herself, going to switch to Alexia's side... or so she wanted Illya to think.

"Boo, calm down. Alexia's going to attack Illya. She's the most level-headed out of all of us, she definitely has a plan for this." I assured Boo. It took a while of convincing, but Boo eventually listened.

"She has to be going for a big attack. Illya just revealed some pretty important information to us... Shike is still alive, apparently? We need to hit Illya with something too powerful for her to react." Mitra explained.

"We can't keep doing this. We don't have infinite stamina, not like her. It feels hopeless to fight her... but it still must be done. I can only imagine it's what Sky would want us to do... as well as Shike." I told Boo and Mitra.

"We'll have to use our SIM Abilities. Belle, what do you have available?" Boo asked me.

"I can use more ice, I assume. It's just our abilities without limits, right?" I asked Boo... but she shook her head.

"It's much more than that. SIM is accessing the power by artificially powering it with strands, right? Anything you can put your ability into can be created. It's not just creating new limits, however, it's expanding upon the old ones. You should be able to use more ice, which is more powerful, without hurting yourself for a period of time." Boo suggested to me.

It made sense, but I couldn't depend on a suggestion, rather than what was guaranteed. I wish there was a way I could look.

[System: Ice Lotus]

In my left eye, weird words appeared, which covered the battlefield.

"I see it... Ice Lotus..." I muttered next to Boo.

"Ice... Lotus...? Mine says 'Phoenix of Light', what about you, Mitra?" Boo asked him.

"Guys..." He pointed ahead of us toward Alexia and we saw something... out of place.

Alexia's hair was shorter and orange, and there were triangles on her face, one above both of her eyes, and two below them both pointing in the opposite direction from each other.

She stood with a frown facing Illya... and Illya's arms were missing.

"I should've known, somebody with your intelligence wouldn't know a good deal if it slapped you in the face," Illya said. She healed her arms and swung at Alexia again, but when Alexia rose her hand, Illya's arms exploded again and Alexia kicked her in the face.

"What, like that?" Alexia said with a smile that didn't belong to her.

This is it... we can't hesitate anymore!

I turned to Boo and we both nodded.

Mitra even jumped in as well, using his ability to create illusions of everybody.

"I might not be able to do much with my ability, but let me do this!" Mitra shouted out. Doubles of everybody's body came out of the ground beneath us and we were all sent toward Illya at Mitra's discretion.

"What would injure Illya enough to buy us time? Or... to kill her?" I asked Boo, but she shook her head.

"Whatever it takes." She said, speeding over to Illya to join the fight.

Boo went in for a swing and Alexia instantly enlarged her katana-saber to overwhelm Illya, leaving her confused about the amount of power behind the strike. Afterward, Alexia rose her hand to Illya's arms, blowing them up like balloons, which exploded with flesh and blood everywhere. After the hit, Boo's weapon slammed into Illya and dug a four-foot hole into the ground, causing Illya to bounce back.

I wouldn't let her go anywhere.

I summoned the spikes of ice along her bouncing platform, which slowed down her body and eventually brought her to a stop as they impaled her.

That was when Boo came in again, jumping in the air, and using her ability to speed down and plant her saber into Illya's neck... or so we thought.

Something terrifying happened in the atmosphere.

That wind I felt earlier... I'm sure everybody else felt it as well, but right now, it was heavy.

Illya caught the saber with her off-hand, cracking it, and throwing it to the side as something weird shot out of her shoulder.

It was... like a spike. Like heavy armor that some guards wore at MTG, yet, it was also implanted into her body.

Her arms started to corrode in blackness like a shadow that was claiming her body, and a third arm shot out of her back.

Her teeth extended by three inches out of her mouth to replicate fangs, and her eyes turned a weird golden and purple color. Her hair was more silver than white now, and her sabers were packed with even more power than before.

"You think you can kill me?" She asked with distortion in her voice... was she corrupting her system now?

Oh shit... we pushed Illya to a more powerful state! Was that a good thing? Or a bad thing...?

I was frozen in place as the third arm grabbed Boo's throat, slammed her into the ground, and then split her in half.

Boo's top half was flying through the air, in complete contrast with her bottom half.

Thanks to Eo's teachings, she was able to heal it all back before she even hit the ground... but splitting Boo in half with no effort at all?! She really was more powerful...

She was walking toward me.

Belle... use it...

I was stuck in place, trying to move my body, but her solidified gaze wasn't moving off of me, and I was frozen in place.

Help me... she's scary... she's too scary to move... I'm trembling...

As I felt that fear set into my body, I saw Mitra jumping onto Illya's back and covering her eyes.

"DO IT, BELLE! HER EYES ARE MAKING US TREMBLE! USE YOUR SIM!" Mitra shouted out to me.

And with that, I put my hands together and focused my eyes.

[System: SIM ACTIVATED!]

[5:00 Remaining...]