Thud—
An awkward resistance traveled through the dagger into Helene's hand, accompanied by the scrape of metal against glass. The figure of "Lisa" before her shattered, turning into a steadily shrinking mirror that warped and melted under the Black Flame attached to the blade.
The Affliction Demoness's real body stepped gracefully out of an empty shop at the other end of the street. Her expression was still surprised, but her opponent's unexpected strength had not driven her to despair.
She extended one hand, sending invisible threads scattering outward. Some wound toward Helene, while others spread around the street, forming traps capable of transmitting curses and Black Flame at any moment. With her other hand, she drew a palm-sized cross from beneath her clothes at her chest. It was gold, suspended around Lisa's neck by a fine chain of the same color, and now gleamed brilliantly in the sunlight.
"Imprisonment!"
Lisa clenched the cross and shouted in Ancient Hermes.
An invisible force instantly surrounded Helene, making the air around her as viscous as liquid and leaving her barely able to move.
Seizing this opportunity, the spreading threads swiftly wrapped around her. Streams of black fire crept along the sticky, cobweb-like strands, while deadly pathogens drifted toward her on the wind, about to settle on the immobilized Helene.
Boom—
An enormous blaze erupted, black mingling with incandescent white. The shock wave swept violently through the nearby streets, shattering panes of glass and kicking up volcanic ash from the ground into a dense, vision-obscuring cloud.
The threads, which could not withstand fire, and the pathogens, which likewise could not survive the heat, were swept away. The invisible cage of Imprisonment remained in place, but Helene was no longer inside.
She had transformed into a Flame Spear and pierced the "weak point" of the