Magic . . . Such a profound art. There was a thunderous roar, and lightning rained down onto Nadia herself, but the lightning enveloped and electrified her body as if it were some kind of support magic. Rather than facing Filo’s charge head-on, Nadia made a large, yet swift, evasive maneuver.

This was bad. I was guessing Filo’s attack would continue on in a straight line. She could probably alter the path slightly, but haikuikku would wear off before she actually managed to connect with Nadia. It wasn’t likely that Spiral Strike on its own would be enough for a decisive blow.

“Kyaahhhh!!”

Filo made some kind of noise that sounded like a shriek as she hurled toward Nadia. Crackling charges of lightning were jumping from the electrified Nadia to Filo, just like static electricity. Ouch . . . Filo was spinning around in what was basically a special, lethal move, but even so, I’m sure getting electrocuted would still be painful.

“Here I goooo!”

Filo still hadn’t given up. In that case, there was only one thing for me to do.

“Air Strike Shield! Second Shield! Dritte Shield!”

I made sure Nadia couldn’t dodge, by placing my shields behind her, at her feet, and beside her, leaving her with no escape. The shields would protect Filo from being electrocuted, while also restricting Nadia’s movement, to make sure Filo’s attack landed.

“Oh! That’s an interesting little trick you have there, isn’t it? You surprised little ol’ me!”

“I have a few of those up my sleeve.”

The only way she could go was to her other side or up. If possible, I wanted to keep her from moving sideways to help make sure Filo’s attack connected. As if to grant me my wish, Nadia crouched ever so slightly in preparation to jump to the side.

“Not happening! Shield Prison!”

I added my finishing touch by placing my Shield Prison to her side and sealing off her escape route! How did she like that! That was my shield interference combo that had cornered even L’Arc! My job may have been to protect, but I could still pull a trick like this off, too!

All that was left was for Filo’s Spiral Strike to connect, and then Raphtalia could attack.

“Oh my! You sure are impressive! But . . .”

Nadia thrust her harpoon into the ground hard and used it to swiftly propel herself up into a back flip over the shield that I had produced behind her.

“Waaahhhh!”

Filo charged smack dab into my shield, and along with a loud crunching sound, all of her speed and power vanished into thin air. Damn! But I still had Chain Shield!

“Cha—”

Before I could finish calling out the skill name, it felt almost like the air suddenly began to cling to us. It felt like air resistance . . . Just trying to move my arm felt cumbersome. What was happening?