I regressed and became the Sword Ice King

A second.

That was the total time it took for Kira to snap back together before she raised her arm at the Crimson Lord.

"11th tier Spell! Crucible of Protection!"

Mana whipped out of her body in a torrent of waves, blasting through the air and slamming the man away.

He was blasted away from their presence, as a large, blue vibrant dome quaked to life.

It surged through the air in a silent decree as it enveloped the world around Kira.

There was no time for dilly-dallying.

Kira sighed greatly as her gaze darted to the floating woman in an armour of gold.

Her eyes narrowed at the sight while the latter turned towards her as she dropped her sword.

Their gazes locked onto each other, and silence suffused the air.

Until it didn't.

"Have you gone mad?"

Kira's tone was etched with the disgust that eluded her gaze.

The sharpness in her tone increased with every single word.

'Saved by a Jun…'

She ground her teeth at the very concept.

'...How repulsive.'

It disgusted her.

"You would have died."

Rebecca's reply came with just as sharp a tone as Kira's, if not more.

Her divine features shimmered within the dome and pulsed with life.

Kira's expression hardened.

Her eyes turned into a deadly glare as they continued their stare-off.

But just as it came, it left.

Kira turned away with a sigh.

Instead she tapped her ring once more and let a vial appear in her grasp.

In silence, she stared at it and let her thoughts reel in with precision.

'I can't use any more Booster potions.'

Boosters were hardly common, but when they were, their effects had been proven to be worth it.

It came with a swift boost of energy levels thus, causing a peak in strength and casting speed.

Not that most of its effects applied to Kira.

For her, these were merely Mana boosters.

An engineering of Alchemy and magic used to increase her mana pool by twice the original amount.

'Usually, I would use this to flatten a Kingdom…' She scoffed at the thought as she glanced at Rebecca.

"Where are the others?"

Rebecca raised a brow in contemplation.

Taken aback by her question, but then, she turned downwards, slowly.

"Over there."

Kira turned as well, and the scene before her, made her to smirk.

'Perhaps there could be a way, after all.'

The fight had proven one thing.

It had to be ended quickly.

If prolonged, she wouldn't just be risking her life, but the title and name of being a Merlin.

It was a fate not worth touching, so fleeing was the best option.

'Only that running away was an impossible task in the presence of that brute…'

Until now…

Below, a pillar of ice and snow stacked onto each other, with three people standing atop it.

Raph, Thalia and Phestus.

With Raph's use of Aura, he had access to at least half of it, and his use of his trait despite the mana reflux was evident to that.

Soon, the ice pillars had reached an extent.

Just above the underside of the large dome. Enough so that they were protected against any enemy attacks…for now.

"You all are here." Kira said with amusement as her gaze drifted between the Jun siblings, and lastly, on Phestus.

They all glanced at her with arched brows and confused expressions.

"Yes, we are." Thalia replied. Her tone dragged in suspicion.

The Merlin household and the Jun household were never allies.

Their long years of conflict had proven so.

But as of lately…including now, they needed to set that history aside.

It was a fact that they were aware of.

But it wasn't one that pleased them.

Kira, especially.

'How nice would it be if all three died right here and now.'

She let the thought simmer before she coughed out lightly.

"Nevermind what I said."

She turned to Gloria.

"You parried his attack." She stated with a matter-of-fact tone, laced with surprise.

They had all witnessed it.

The sudden block that shocked even the Crimson Lord.

Rebecca glanced at her blade.

"Yes…yes, I did." She muttered. Though, it was evident she wasn't entirely sure how it played out.

'This trait is different from my other…it's…it's ethereal…like I've been blessed by a divine being…'

She contemplated silently on it for a second, before Kira's voice snapped her out of it.

"But, clearly, you must be aware that it won't happen again."

The others flinched at her statement.

They had guessed it, but it turned out to be right on the mark.

"It worked once because he was focused on me, and didn't concern himself with you lots." Her lips twisted slightly. "He was caught off guard."

Thalia frowned deeply at her statement.

"Are you saying we can't kill him?"

"Kill?!" Kira snapped her eyes open in surprise. "Girl, you should be more worried if we were to leave here alive."

Thalia bit down her lip and turned away.

Clear annoyance in her expression.

Phestus, though, who had been on the sidelines had watched enough.

His gaze shifted from Rebecca to Kira.

"You must have a plan then."

"Yes, I assumed so." Raph interjected just before she responded. "Kira Merlin has no reason to correct her enemies…so you're tolerating us because you need our help for this battle."

Rebecca's gaze narrowed for a second. Her gaze peered into Raph's while her brain contemplated his words.

"Do you…need time?"

The question escaped her lips as soon as it came, and Kira darted her eyes to her in that instant.

Her lips curled down.

"Yes." She said, though, with a hint of rage etched in her tone.

'They're just as inquisitive as their father, if not worse when together.' She thought, in repulsion.

"But, I'm sure you're aware that unlike you…we're currently unable to use mana nor aura properly under these…conditions."

Raph gestured with his head at the sky.

They looked up.

Catching the sight of the sky slowly tearing apart, and drifting into oblivion.

The crumbling had begun.

Kira then shifted her attention to him.

'This cocky…' her thoughts screamed.

"What makes you think I need your help? Your sister here is more than capable."

Raph scoffed. "Don't take us for a joke, Kira." He replied with a plain tone. "If you weren't even able to scratch him as an 11th Circle Mage, then my sister wouldn't survive a minute in those same conditions."

Rebecca gasped at his words.

Was he right? Yes, definitely.

The crimson lord was much more than she could handle.

But did it hurt anyways? Yes, the manner he said it was terrible.

The seminar ended in Rebecca's head as soon as it started.

A short hmph! Escaping her lips in annoyance.

Besides her, Kira was seething in her own repressed rage.

'This child…he's the most annoying…' her thoughts spun like a cartwheel on fire.

Furiously running in circles when a sudden tremor ripped through the dome around them.

Her expression shifted back to place and her body erupted in a blast of mana.

'Now is not the time!'

For a second, she had lost herself in the sniffling tension amongst them.

Almost forgetting the man, himself.

A dome this large and concentrated was by far one of the most sturdy shields she had ever created.

And she had created many more which had withstood Transcendent level Spells.

But this one…it had not even been up to five minutes and it was about to crumble.

"Alright, listen up!"

She screamed out.

Her demeanor took a sharp u-turn in preparation for the fight ahead.

The others had felt the shift in the air, and all hostility was now pointed at the source of the tremble.

The Crimson Lord stood a distance away from the dome.

Cracks spread like spiderwebs from a single blow.

Kira Merlin sighed as she tapped her ring.

A dull light shone as she clenched her fist against it.

Opening it, four silver rings shimmered in her grasp.

'Energy overloads.'

Mana Reflux was a very familiar concept in most Magic Towers.

So much so that Mages wrote theses and articles on the Concept and Influence of Mana Reflux.

And most especially, how to counter it.

Countering it had become a debate.

A strong one in fact, as theories were postulated nearly every week on different methods of using Magic in an area which repels it.

In the end, Kira had pooled all theories and realized despite their varieties, the core remained the same.

Mana Overloads.

These were artefacts used by Blacksmiths and Magic Engineers in powering up large arcane artefacts which require mana stones as sources.

It was a highly concentrated flow of constantly strimming Mana.

One that impulsively pools the Mana particles in the air, forging them together before ejecting them into its host.

The issue though was that Mana reflux forcefully sucks back the Mana stored and the one absorbed, so what the Mana Overloads does is fast paced absorption– faster than the rate of depletion.

And stabilization. Which locks in stored Mana within the host.

'It should work the same for Aura…'

Though, Aura was produced rather than absorbed.

The stabilization function of the Mana Overloads would act as strengtheners for the already existing Aura.

What the Swordsmen simply have to do is produce more, and it would be stored within.

With her finished analysis, she threw the rings behind her, just in time for the Jun siblings and Phestus to grab one for themselves.

They stared at it with curiosity.

Their puzzled expressions revealing the questions hooked at the back of their throats.

"This fixes the energy problem."

Their eyes beamed with delight and immediately, they put it on.

Raph, being last as his gaze lingered on it with a silent suspicion.

Immediately, its effect took place and Raph could feel the mana in the air quickly rushing towards him.

Surge after Surge, they filled him up. Stabilizing what was within and adding more.

He was different from the others, after all.

He had both Aura stars and Mana circles.

Knowing this, Kira had kept a close watch on him.

Amused by its effects, and deeply interested in what made his body tick.

Her lips curled into a smile before a terrible quake shook the skies, and scattered the dome in an instant.

The breeze from the outside slammed into their faces as their attentions were locked on the incoming man of doom.

His scarlet hair and eyes glowed with the aftershade of deep red, and vermillion waves rippled from his form.

His gaze darted at the people gathered.

A moment of silence passed.

Then the man scoffed. Visibly so, with a vibrant play of amusement in his eyes.

He raised his hand as his blood leaned to his call.

"Futile."