Noelle was slowly standing back up as parts of her Valkyrie Dress were blown apart. Not only that, Finral and Mimosa were also injured by the explosion due to how close they were. Seeing this, Jackal laughed at their pathetic sight.
"Hahahahah!!!! You had your big moment after bringing out that spell only to explode seconds afterwards. That is hilarious. Tell you what, that spell involving a dragon's head. I'll stand here and let you use it. Go on girl, let's see if you have the power to back up your status as a royal!!!!!"
Noelle glared at Jackal as he continued to mock her. While this was happening, Mimosa stood up along with Finral. They all knew that losing here is not an option.
"Fine then.....you asked for it! Water Creation Magic:Sea Dragon's Roar!!!!!!"
With her grimoire opened, Noelle points her arm at Jackal, manifests the head of a sea dragon with sharp teeth, and fires it at her opponent. Seeing this, Jackal yawned as he said one thing.
"So boring."
By first moving one arm backwards with the hand open, describing an arc in the air, and then rapidly bringing it back before him with a now closed palm, Jackal engulfs the area in front of him into a massive explosion, surging up high and extending vertically, which is notable for taking the form of a spiralling column.
As Noelle's spell collides with the spiraling column, it evaporated as soon as it made contact. Steam fills the air as Noelle's vision was now limited. Soon Jackal decided to have some fun with his new victims.
"Well then water mage, how about we play a little game?"
"What in the world are you getting at?"
"Oh, it's simple. You just have to make a choice."
With a simple flick of his arm, the thumb, index and middle finger outstretched, Jackal traps Mimosa and Finral into transparent, floating orbs.
"Say hello to my two new bombs. The game is simple. Choose who you want to live. When you make a choice, i'll detonate the other person into smithereens. Don't take too long. I just may blow up both of them for fun. Hahahahahaha!!!!!"
Noelle's eyes became wide with horror. She was going to be forced to kill one of her friends. When she tried to move to save them, she saw that she was still caught in Jackal's trap.
"Careful, if you move another step then you and your friends will all be nothing but chunks of flesh. So then choose who gets to live and be responsible for your other friend's death. Who's life do you choose to take!!!!!"
"WE CHOOSE YOURS!!!!!!"
As Jackal turned around, he was struck in his side by Asta's anti-magic sword as he was sent crashing through some trees. While this happened, Noelle was freed from Jackal's trap along with Mimosa and Finral.
"You bastards keep appearing out of nowhere."
As the group looked at Jackal, they were surprised to see the man stand up as if nothing happened. Asta looked surprised as he sensed the creature's ki. It almost felt like that devil's but something wasn't right.
"You damn humans are so annoying. I'll show you what happens when you mess with a devil from the Book of Zeref!!! I'll show you the power of an Etherious!!!!!!"
~Meanwhile~
"Ice-Make:Rose Garden!!!!!!"
Kyoya releases chunks of ice in the form of roses and thorns towards Mard Geer. To be honest, Mard Geer found the spell to be quite beautiful but he has no time to play childish games with a mere human.
"Your spell is beautiful, but your magic won't be enough to deal with my curse."
As Mard Geer said this, he created a series of thorny rose vines that violently dug into Kyoya's spell. This caused Kyoya's ice to shatter, but the ice mage quickly jumped back to gain a bit of distance.
"Ice-Make:Arrows!!!!"
After first crafting a bow from ice, Kyoya forms multiple arrows from both hands and fires them at high speed towards Mard Geer. Seeing this, the man smiled as he made his thorns take on the shape of a shield in order to block the attack. While this happened, Mard Geer was thinking to himself.
"It seems Jackal has showed his true form. To think he'd show his Etherious state to a couple of measly humans."
"Ice-Make:Ice Impact!!!!!!"
Kyoya creates an intricately-designed hammer made of ice, which he brought down onto Mard Geer. As this happened, the man simply smiled as he already knew how to deal with this.
Mard Geer commanded his vines to rapidly clash against Kyoya's spell. When this happened, his vines pierced through Kyoya's spell with ease. While this happened, the vines wrapped around Kyoya's body tightly as the thorns were sinking into his flesh.
"Just give up human. Surely you know that you are far beneath me. At this rate, I won't even need my Etherious form."
"Heh."
Mard Geer was confused as to why Kyoya was laughing. Soon his eyes became wide when he felt the boy's magic power increasing. Seeing this, he decided to deal with the boy accordingly before he can become a threat.
"Begone."
With a simple swipe of his index and middle fingers, Mard Geer creates a rose composed of Curse Power directly ahead of him that completely engulfs its nearby vicinity in a destructive explosion. As Kyoya was still held down by vines, he was caught in the explosion.
"It seems that human was all talk. For a moment, I thought he would be a threat. Looks like he wasn't anything special. Though a human never stood a chance against a devil."
"I'm glad you confessed that you were a devil. Now I don't have to feel guilty when I kill you."
Mard Geer turned around and he couldn't believe what he saw. Kyoya was standing before him as his thorns were frozen in ice. Seeing this, Mard Geer jumped back as he sent multiple vines towards Kyoya.
"Why are you running?! I thought I was nothing special!!!!!"
As Kyoya said this, he froze Mard Geer's curse in ice. The man himself couldn't believe what he saw. The ice that he shattered easily just froze his attack. However, when he looked at the ice, his instincts were screaming at him to stay far away from it.
"You're right, i'm nothing special. I don't have an amazing ability like Asta. I don't have Noelle's confidence, Mimosa's kind heart, or Finral's incredible spirit. But there's one thing I know that i'm better at than them and that's dealing with devils. I'm an Ice Devil Slayer. So then Mard Geer, let me ask you this.......are you ready to repent?"