Hades knew that mages would have the advantage in a middle-range battle distance, even more so when they had the guts and experience like Isis. Still, despite that, he decided to see how long Isis would want to fight directly like that. If she used some tricks, it was because she didn't have confidence that she could win without them. So, he kept increasing the size of his dark sphere.
However, soon he changed his mind when Isis aligned her Plasma Spears and made one single massive spear. There is no doubt that when both of them collide, a massive explosion will take place, but her spear will undoubtedly make things more difficult for Hades. His army will suffer more damage since Isis's army was too far away. Hades could always respond to her actions and change his way of attacking. Still, he decided to insist but also add something different. When they fired their spells, Haded Teleported to behind Isis and then prepared to cut her down, but she had moved away from her original place as well.
The spells collided, and another massive explosion happened. Thanks to all that mana, neither of them noticed that they planned to attack using the same strategy. Thanks to that, they only changed their positions The fight continued like that for several hours because neither of them wanted to take too many risks. Hades wanted to conserve his strength to face the Norse gods later, and that was why he brought so many of his minions.
Only when morning came, Hades realized that by taking his time and trying to defeat Isis only with his lost basic skills was a mistake. Not to mention, things already stabilized on both battlefields, so the demons and Cursed ghosts stopped making any progress.
"No more games" Hades said and then sighed before raising his sword.
Isis prepared for another attack, but no sphere of dark energy appeared this time. Instead of that, the wind changed its direction, and she felt like Hades was making something come from the other battlefield. That wasn't good Isis's instincts were telling her that she had to defeat Hades as fast as possible. Just holding back and waiting for Loki wouldn't be enough.
Isis clapped her hands in front of herself, and then the whole desert trembled. Hades was waiting for a large-scale version of Plasma Spear to come, but it seemed that Isis was returning to the basics again. However, her basic skills were on a whole different level. The sand began to rise and engulfed the Cursed spirits, with the exception of a few. They were trapped in an Isis trap made of sand. Hades didn't think that wasn't supposed to be possible, but he knew not to underestimate the enemy on their turf. Hades could feel the Cursed spirits being sealed, but he paid no mind to it. Before Isis could even reach the halfway point of sealing that army, she saw herself surrounded by many other Cursed spirits.
"The spirits of the demons and corrupted monsters" Isis muttered.
Isis had imagined that Hades was preparing to do something with the spirits. Still, she didn't imagine that it was the spirits of the other battlefield. She had messed up, and thanks to it, she was stuck in a vortex of spirits, and she couldn't even see the exterior. Isis attacked the walls made of ghosts with her Plasma Bullets, and while she destroyed one of them, it didn't make any hole in it. Another ghost came and took its place. As if things weren't bad enough, Isis lost control over the sand she had used to seal the other Cursed spirits.
"Now, if you escape this, I would dare say that you are the best mage that I have ever fought," Hades said.
Considering his words, it was pretty evident that no one escaped that kind of attack. If Isis had heard of something similar, she might have the chance to find a way out, but that was actually the first time she saw an attack like that.
Suddenly, the vortex increased in speed and then began to shrink. Considering what she saw, Isis concluded that the vortex created a barrier that cut contact between the interior and the exterior. It was even more powerful than a barrier of a domain, as if it wasn't enough, the space inside could be compressed Even if Isis survives the effects of the spirits, she will be crushed.
"Hmm what to do?" Isis crossed her arms and began to think.
Isis looked pretty calm despite her current predicament. The reason for that was because she was thousands of years old. She had seen death in front of her more than a few dozen times.
"Well, first of all, let's recover my mana," Isis said and then began to emit her pollen with both hands.
Due to the speed of the vortex, the spirits barely had the time to be touched by the pollen. In fact, the movement was making the pollen stay away. That being said, while it wasn't much, Isis was recovering some of her mana. At some point, the pollen will be so dense due to the compressed space that she will recover large amounts of mana. Still, considering the speed and the remaining time she has, that wouldn't solve the problem.
Before long, Isis saw herself confined inside the vortex that now was just a few couple meters wide. She was running out of time, and yet, she didn't find a solution. She wasn't underestimating Hades but dying right now would be really embarrassing considering that her far weaker allies had accomplished some impressive feats. In the end, Isis realized that she didn't have time for any smart plan. So, she just used her big guns. She bombarded a single spot in front of her with a massive torrent of Plasma Arrows. Plasma spears could cause more damage, but their area of effect was pretty wide. Not to mention, Isis decided to make use of the bonuses of her many archery skills.