On the third basement floor, one of the magic formations suddenly lit up with a bright-silver hue. About one minute later, the lights dissipated, revealing the body of a white-haired man wearing a red silk polo shirt, a pair of dark-blue jeans pants, and a pair of black leather work boots.
Nick quickly walked away from his space magic formation, and did not waste any time in calling Bianca Daneel. Bianca accepted the call promptly:
"Nick, it has been a while."
Nick did not bother with pleasantries at this time:
"Is the magic tool that you promised me ready?"
Bianca was getting used to Nick's forthrightness, so she replied plainly:
"I have completed the crafting of the magic tool, it has been nearly two, and a half months, after all. I've been spending some time properly testing it, though. I can bring it to you by tomorrow."
Nick wasn't interested in waiting:
"I want it today, I have things to do. Test it, and bring it today, and I will make sure that the next magic beast corpse that I bring you is an interesting one."
Bianca frowned in response to Nick rushing her. She was not pleased:
(Bring it today? Do you think that you are the only busy Magician on Grand Earth? Hmmm…the testing is mostly finished, so it is not impossible to deliver the magic tool today, but I wanted to do other things before leaving my work space. Hmph, whatever! Since a good customer is making a request, I will grant it. Who knows, Nick might really bring me something interesting later. Right…relationships need to be nurtured.)
Bianca replied using a half-willing tone:
"Fine, I will finish the testing, and deliver the item today, but you better keep your promise."
Bianca ended the call, following which, Nick rode the elevator to the fourth floor, and went to his office. Once there, he called Joyce, and Dewy to inform them of his return, saying:
"Listen, I am going to be busy for a while, so everyone within the company just needs to continue doing their job. As for the operations staff, instructors are to be invited here to help them develop their skills, and knowledge while I am preoccupied. Do you understand?"
Dewy and Joyce replied one after the other before Nick ended the call:
"Perfectly."
"Absolutely."
After ending the call, Nick meditated in his office for several hours until he received the call that he had been waiting for. James notified him:
"Sir Nick, Bianca Daneel has arrived. Where should I escort her to?"
"Bring her to the first conference room like usual."
After receiving Nick's instructions, James ended the call. Nick then stood up, and mobilized some black miasma magic energy within his mindscape to seemingly flow instantly to the outside of his body, and engulf himself. Following that, Nick made use of Spatial Awareness to get a good mental view of the fourth floor's first conference room before activating his talent:
(Cursed Vessel.)
The black miasma magic energy engulfing him instantly transformed into red-blue aura, following which, Nick willed, and he, and the red-blue aura vanished from his office. When he reappeared the next moment, Nick was sitting in one of the office chairs of his conference room. He lightly smiled before summoning his laptop from one of his space bands, and placed it on the oval table.
He then looked up some information about the Magicians Association while waiting for Bianca to arrive. Within eight minutes, James had escorted Bianca to the conference room, leaving immediately after she entered, and closed the door behind her.
Bianca looked at Nick with a smug expression, letting some of her magic energy flow out of her in concentration. Nick easily sensed the quality of her magic energy, and had no doubt. He muttered:
"Rank 3 middle stage. Congratulations."
Bianca slightly chuckled before saying:
"Don't worry, junior. You will arrive at these heights, someday."
Nick internally sighed in response to Bianca's apparent shamelessness, before saying:
"Let's see the magic tool."
Without delay, Bianca summoned a small, black jewellery case onto the oval table in front of Nick from her space band, which was hidden under the right sleeve of her pale-green magician's robe. Nick quietly stared at the jewellery case for a few seconds without doing anything, waiting for Bianca to act.
(What? Do you really think that after paying 15 vatas for it, that I am going to unveil it myself?)
Getting impatient with Nick, Bianca decided to open the jewellery case. What was revealed when she did so was a bracelet that looked like a simple silver chain; it emitted the unmistakable signature of space magic. Bianca lightly smiled at Nick while asking:
"What do you think?"
Nick shrugged his shoulders, then responded:
"I am not really into jewellery, but I get the appeal. Did you really use all of the magic beast's carcass to make this little thing?"
Bianca almost snarled at Nick as she replied:
"Ignorant fellow! Magic tool creation requires all sorts of processes that can reduce a carcass or corpse down to almost nothing. My integrity is as visible as the nose on my face."
Nick internally laughed when he heard that, but maintained his indifferent expression while he responded to her:
"...If you say so."
Bianca squinted her eyes at Nick for a few moments before her usually genial expression returned, and she introduced the magic tool:
"This is the space path, intermediate, apprentice grade magic tool that I have named Hollow Shade. It passively influences the space immediately around its wearer, creating an almost indiscernible added distance of half a meter between the wearer and external influences."
Once Nick was told Hollow Shades passive ability, he was immediately pleased:
(Half a meter may not seem like much, but in a heated battle, that distance could determine life and death for me, or my opponent. Plus, that effect can definitely enhance the quality of my space path magic power once I get used to it. That is my intuition talking.)
Nick nodded his head once in approval before he praised Bianca:
"Well done."
Nick then reached out to take hold of Hollow Shade, not wasting time in putting it on his left wrist. He immediately sensed its power activate, causing the space immediately over his skin and clothes to be slightly altered. Nick told Bianca:
"Go ahead, reach out for me."
Bianca moved to comply because helping a customer to test her creation was natural. The moment that Bianca was about to touch Nick using her right index finger, her right hand seemed as if it had stopped moving until three seconds later when it finally made contact with Nick's left shoulder. She mused at this time:
(My hand only visually seemed as if it had stopped moving. In fact, I was still reaching out for Nick over a longer distance than my brain could perceive. This effect would be disorienting at first, even for me, if I were to have to fight some who possessed Hollow Shade.)
Nick had been watching Bianca move the whole time, and so had confirmed the authenticity of the magic tool's ability. He praised her again:
"You are good at making magic tools."
Bianca retracted her hand, replying afterwards:
"Naturally. That concludes our business. I will be going, now."
Nick said simply in response:
"Right."
Nick escorted Bianca to the ground floor, and watched her leave through the front entrance before going back to his office. He used the rest of the day to familiarize himself with Hollow Shade. The next morning, he called Dewy to give him instructions:
"Dewy, I need Nate to give me a ride to the Magicians Association headquarters. Can you set that up for me? I want to leave in thirty minutes."
Dewy replied affirmatively:
"No problem, Nick. Nate will meet you out front in thirty minutes."
Nick ended the call after receiving Dewy's confirmation. Britain's Magicians Association headquarters was located about fifteen minutes away from Nick's building by car.
(I could just use magic to get there, but I don't want other Magicians to notice me moving around the city like that. Standing out in the capital may not be such a good thing because there are all sorts of high-level Magicians quietly living here.)
Thirty minutes later, Nick went through the entrance of his building to get to the driveway where Nate was waiting in the driver's seat of a black town car. Nate was wearing a three-piece suite that included a black jacket, a pair of dress pants, and a yellow dress shirt. Nick wordlessly got into the passenger's seat, at which point, Nate said:
"To the Magicians Association, then?"
Nick silently nodded his head at him in confirmation. Nate drove the car at average speed beyond the company's property, and reached the Magicians Association's parking lot in fifteen minutes. Nick then got out of the car, and said to Nate:
"You can do whatever you want until I call you to come pick me up. If the business day ends, and I do not return, you can go home."
Nate was happy to receive such lax instructions, so he replied:
"You're the best, Nick."
Nick indifferently shook his head when he heard that praise, thinking:
(Normal people are so easy to please. Just give them little work to do, and pay them.)
Nick soon left the association's parking lot to walk into the main building. The headquarters was a Victorian-era-styled, ten storey complex, and the main building was the largest of the several that made up the complex. Nick calmly walked through the automatic, glass sliding door, and went up to the lobby's reception desk.
The lobby of the main building was tiled using bronze-colored tiles, and had a sparse number of plush sofas at the walls, while the only other furniture present was the circular marble reception desk that had a radius of about one meter. The stone walls and ceiling were painted dark-bronze. The lobby had an elevator at all four corners
The female receptionist wore an all-black pants suit, had pale-white skin, and long black hair that was tied in a ponytail. Although she looked ordinary, Nick could sense that she was a rank 2 Magician. Nick spoke to her indifferently:
"Hello there. I want to inquire about getting a hold of the magic material called hope marrow. Does the association sell it by any chance?"
(If I could just buy it, that would save me a lot of trouble. God knows!)
The receptionist gave Nick a blank stare for two seconds before reaching for her phone to make a call. She called someone, but Nick could not hear their conversation. The receptionist soon ended the call, and spoke to Nick politely:
"A rank 3 Administrator will be here in a minute to speak with you. Please wait until then."
Nick nodded his head, and silently stood on the spot, waiting. Soon, a man wearing a gold, and grey colored magician's robe emerged from the elevator at one of the corners of the lobby. He approached Nick, and made a greeting:
"Hello. My name is Galen Maester. Was I told correctly that you want to get your hands on hope marrow? You do understand that hope marrow is a rank 5 magic material, right? It comes from the veins of the rank 5 magic plant, venus trap."
Nick nodded his head once in understanding. He did not fail to notice that Galen was a rank 3 middle stage Magician based on the faint magic energy flowing from him. Nick replied:
"Yeah, I know that, already. Does the association sell it?"
Galen awkwardly rubbed the back of his head with his right hand while saying:
"Sure we do, but only Regular Magicians can just buy it. Otherwise, you will have to go to Hearth Core, and extract it yourself."
Nick openly sighed after hearing those words. He thought:
(I guess I will still have to go to Hearth Core to look for an opportunity…)
Galen, however, seemed to remember something before explaining:
"Oh, there is also the possibility that our association could loan you a certain amount of hope marrow. You will, however, have to pay back the equivalent value of the material in increments at a high interest rate. I don't recommend that you do this, though, because if you default on even one payment, we will force you to work for us by exploring realms until you have paid off the sum owed. Only high-level Magicians take such a risk."
Nick silently contemplated for a minute, realizing that his hope had appeared. Soon, he replied:
"I will borrow the hope marrow then. I will take thirty kilograms of it. What is the value of that much?"
Galen was a little taken aback by Nick's request. He thought:
(Why would a rank 3 initial stage Magician be interested in so much of a rank 5 material. It is like a baby trying to obtain a gold axe.)
Galen answered Nick:
"Well…at the current market rate, the price for thirty kilograms would amount to sixty vatas."
Nick cringed when he heard the price, because he knew that thirty kilograms was actually not even close to the usual amount of hope marrow that various companies used per month:
(Hope marrow is used as a magic energy conductor for high-powered magic weapons. Such a small amount is actually so expensive. I can afford it right now, but what are the chances that the association will not demand the high interest anyway if I pay them back the value of the hope marrow right away? In addition, is paying back interest really their only requirement?…)
Nick soon asked:
"Can I pay the association back for the value of the material right away?"
Galen answered plainly:
"Yes, but you will also have to pay a seventy percent interest rate. I almost forgot to mention. Our association will need to assess your strength before we can lend you magic materials. We cannot just give away materials to weaklings. Sorry, but those are the rules."
Nick cringed once again when he heard the requirements:
(I'll have to pay them back 102 vatas, which is almost twice the market rate. That will put my company near bankruptcy, but unless I am willing to spend years patiently meditating, I have to take the risk.)
Nick did not forget that he had to report to the Order of the United Realm in two years. He also had Carla, a rank 4 Magician, to worry about.
(If I did not have the requisite experience, so be it, but exploring dream states gave me a leg-up. I cannot waste it by being too cautious, and slow.)
Nick rubbed his temple using his right hand while asking Galen:
"How will you assess my strength?"
Galen raised his right eyebrow in surprise after he heard Nick's question. He thought:
(So he is actually going to take the loan. Is he crazy? If not for the fact that the Magicians Association needs to superficially maintain an image of being considerate to its members, it would not even offer such ludicrous terms. If you fail to pay, you could die without a corpse in some distant realm for reasons completely out of your control. That is the reason that a strength assessment was made a requirement - to prevent members from throwing their lives away.)
Galen answered:
"Ahhh… you will be given an opponent of your rank, and stage to battle. You are required to incapacitate them, or get them to surrender. But be warned, your opponent will likely be one of the association's Inspectors. They have a vested interest in defeating you because they will be given valuable rewards. Also, if someone dies, no one will be punished, although we discourage killing."
Nick placed his right hand at his side, and then spoke decisively:
"Set the battle up for today. I am not leaving here without the hope marrow."
***************************************************
A woman dressed in a dark-blue magician's robe, a pair of suede combat boots, and a pair of thin, black leather gloves sat in her office with both her feet resting on her otherwise empty, polished, lumber-like desk. She appeared bored as she reclined in her office chair. She mused at this time:
(What am I going to have for dinner tonight? Maybe I should practise one of my new spells before I go to sleep…)
The woman appeared to be in her mid-thirties, but she had a slim, athletic body, and could be considered very beautiful. She had tanned, white skin, slightly above average height, flowing brown hair, bushy eyebrows, and light-brown eyes.
RING RING RING!
The smartphone within her left-lower pocket began ringing, so she took it out using her left hand, and accepted the call:
"Who is this?"
The person on the other end spoke politely:
"Hello, this is Miss Jezda Auburn, correct. My name is Galen Maester, administrator within the Material Pool Division. We have someone that wants to accept a loan of magic materials, and so we need you to participate in their strength assessment. I have already filed the paperwork. You need to be at the combat arena in one hour."
The woman called Jezda was not pleased at being given orders by some functionary:
"Are you crazy? Ordering me like this. Do you think that I won't find you to give you two tight slaps. Listen, I forgive you. Just go find someone else; I'm busy."
Galen felt a little exasperation after hearing that. The Inspector positions within the Magicians Association were actually very prestigious, and most of them were held by members of elite families, so a little resistance was expected. Although this was the case, the association's employees knew better than to seriously refuse formal orders. Galen continued:
"Miss Auburn, the arrangements have already been made. You are a rank 3 Inspector, and are required to do your duty. If you do not appear at the combat arena in one hour, that will be tantamount to your resignation. Can you accept that?"
Jezda sneered in response to Galen's words:
"You have a persistent tongue. I will extract it from you, someday. Who will my opponent be?"
Galen ignored Jezda's threat, and spoke professionally:
"His name is Nick Capitol. I will send the information that we have on him to your smartphone. Please be punctual."
After saying that, Galen ended the call. Jezda then looked through the information that Galen just sent her. Near to the time of the battle, she got up from her office chair, and muttered:
"Richter Order Academy, huh?"
****************************************************
The Magician Association's battle arena was a large building separated from the main building. It was the size of a sports arena, and had spectator stands all around it that were now empty. The fighting area had an oval shape with a longest diameter of three hundred meters; it was a section floored with hard, red dirt at the center region of the arena. The battle arena also had an adjustable, open roof that allowed those inside to see the sky.
Nick stood at one of the farthest ends of the fighting area, and waited for his opponent to arrive while Galen sat in the stands to adjudicate when the battle begun. Galen watched the clock on his smartphone change to the scheduled time of battle. Following that, he looked at the large rectangular entrance and the end of the arena farthest to Nick.
At that place, he saw a beautiful, brown-haired woman emerge from the inner shade. He thought:
(Pretty, but deadly. She is a promising elite, but her personality needs a little work. Hopefully, she ends the battle without killing Nick.)
Jezda walked onto the fighting area while maintaining an irritated expression. She soon screamed at Galen:
"Hey numb-nuts, start the battle already!"
Nick raised his right eyebrow in response to the woman's attitude. He muttered aloud:
"What's her problem?"
Although Nick had met temperamental Magicians before, he had never gotten used to the disposition. He wanted to end the fight as soon as possible, so that he could leave the association's complex with his hope marrow in hand. Jezda did not say anything to Nick directly, and Nick did not think of conversing with her.
Galen sighed before standing up, and speaking:
"Begin the match!"
In Jezda's mind, defeating Nick should not be something that would strain her, but true to her training, she took the battle seriously, and had been watching Nick's every movement since arriving at the fighting area. She thought:
(The guy has a shitty look on his face…oh wait, he must be internally trembling in fear, right now. Hmph! Serves him right for having intentions on the association's magic materials. I don't need to talk to him.)
Nick seemed to act first by casting his defensive spell, and activated Spatial Awareness:
(Dragon Armor.)
Following that, thin, smooth, hard-looking, charcoal-black scales silently and quickly covered his torso, and both his arms completely. Despite the lack of spectacle, the harsh, formless magic pressure that Nick's magic spell conjured made Jezda, and Galen look at him in a new light. Jezda thought:
(That is some powerful soul magic, but seems to only be a partial defensive measure. That won't be very useful against me.)
Jezda immediately stood sideways, and pointed her left index finger at Nick, casting one of her favourite rank 3 intermediate grade spells:
(Persistent Flames - Punishment Furnace)
Nick suddenly felt incredible heat emerge from below him. Having already cast Seeker Instinct, his spiraling eyes partially gained a bright-red hue, and he was not caught off guard because of this partial scouting method. Jezda's spell casting was fast but Nick happened to be faster this time.
In no time, he mobilized about 3,000 magical units of black miasma magic energy within his mindscape to flow outside him to engulf himself with it, while he summoned Hard Marvel into his right grip from one of his space bands, hidden away from Jezda's eyes.
The moment before Jezda's spell fully resolved, Nick activated his talent:
(Cursed Vessel.)
Jezda squinted her eyes in response to the appearance of the black miasma, but did not think much of it, because she could not sense the signature of a particular path:
(Is that just magic energy. It has a weird look, but it is not like he is the only Magician with dense magic energy.)
Without much suspense, a massive flurry of blue flames engulfed Nick's position, starting at his feet, and rose to eight meters in height. From beginning to end, Jezda's spell had only taken two seconds to cast and resolve. She watched as the flames devoured her opponent from two hundred meters away.
(Persistent Flames - Thermal Gauge)
Jezda used her scouting method to properly assess the area occupied by the raging flames, hoping to sense Nick's charred body using her now wide, thermal vision, but she was disappointed at the result. Nick was nowhere to be found.
(Where is he?)
Just then, Nick who had already teleported from his previous position appeared at Jezda's back while swinging Hard Marvel from his right side, upwards.
SHING!
Nick's sword strike was so fast that the air made a sound as Hard Marvel cut through it. He cut into Jezda's left shoulder blade without giving her any time for resistance. In that instant, Jezda internally admitted:
(Oh, I messed up. Because of the distance between us, I put my all into casting Punishment Furnace, and prepared no defense or movement method…)
Blood splattered out from Jezda's wound, but at that time, she countered with one of her other spells:
(Persistent Flames - Living Fire)
Jezda's spilled blood immediately became intensely burning, blue flames, which seemed to engulf Nick in moments. Before, the flames could burn him, however, the black scales covering Nick's torso, and arms spread to cover his entire body.
Nick then ignored the intense flames, and slashed at Jezda's back again. Thermal Gauge allowed Jezda to sense the events occurring at her rear clearly, and the heat from her flames made Nick's actions as clear as day to her.
(His defense expanded to cover his whole body, and so he is resisting my flames, but he is slower now.)
Jezda cast her next spells:
(Persistent Flames - Punishment Surge)
(Persistent Flames - Punishment Thrower)
Jezda's body suddenly accelerated as it developed sparse patches of blue flames. With precise footwork, she then twirled her body at inhuman speed to dodge Nick's sword strike. Immediately following that, she stopped twirling at Nick's right flank, and moved her left hand towards his right side.
Nick felt incredible heat before a blast of brightly burning blue flames engulfed him, extending past his left flank to spread all the way into the stands in moments. Galen's eyes had never left the battle, and he was quite impressed already:
(The spell that Jezda used to engulf Nick in flames the second time must have been Living Fire of the persistent flames inheritance. It is not only offensive but has a healing effect. The wound that Nick had made to Jezda's left shoulder blade has already been healed. Even her robe has been patched up...)
As soon as a smug look appeared on Jezda's face, however, she sensed strange, space path magic power before her scouting method showed her Nick's movements in the flames.
(Dragon Hold.)
SHING!
As if Nick was ignoring the blue flames completely, he moved to slash at Jezda's abdomen only moments after he had been engulfed by the flames. The sword strike cut open Jezda's abdomen without suspense, and this resulted in large amounts of her blood spurting out, but it turned to blue flames and further engulfed Nick in moments. The blue flames already present doubled in size as a result.
(Persistent Flames - Living Fire)
Nick back away by several steps within the flames as he manipulated Dragon Hold's power. Within over two dozen meters of Nick's and Jezda's immediate vicinity, the space immediately gained a slightly grey hue. Nick did not waste time in using the power of Dragon Hold to fly upwards at canon ball speed to escape Jezda's blue flames. Nick did not stop rising until he was fifteen meters above ground.
At that point, Jezda dispelled her blue flames by canceling her fire path spells. Nick took some time to observe the aftermath created by the blue flames.
(Even though some of the ground is scorched black, the spectator stands are still in pristine condition. They must be made of exceptional magic materials, or have been imbued with magic stronger than what a rank 3 initial stage Magician can overcome.)
Nick only spent a short time to make that observation while much of his black scales fell from his body, and dissipated like vapor, revealing Nick's clothes, and body underneath. A few slight burns were visible on his skin, and some parts of his clothes were scorched and melted. Nick was forced to cast his healing spell, Dragon Recovery, which healed his burns within moments, after which, the black scales that had fallen away were restored in their proper places. Nick mused:
(Dragon Recovery heals my body, and uses the lingering magic power of my opponent to repair my soul, which is the source of the black scale armor. Dragon Armor has a strong defense but, it could not last under the influence of such intense flames. It gave me enough time to attack and retreat, though, and that was enough.)
Jezda watched the floating Nick for some time while sporting a tight frown on her face. She thought:
(That guy is not normal. When I reached for his right side earlier, I should have directly touched his body based on our proximity to each other, but it was like I wasn't as close as I thought, and so my Punishment Thrower spell wasn't as effective against him as it should have been. Now that I think about it, besides the initial burst of soul magic, there was also space magic present around him.
I just ignored it because it was so faint in comparison. Soul, space, and blade magic, huh? Since when did a guy like this graduate from Richter Order Academy…the same place that my younger brother graduated from.)
Once Nick's defense was intact again, he canceled Dragon Recovery. He raised, and then swung Hard Marvel down towards Jezda at great speed, faster than the normal eye could see. Immediately following, a large, crescent-moon-shaped flurry of obsidian-black blade light emerged from Hard Marvel, and sped towards Jezda at an incredible speed that seemed hard to dodge from her perspective.
(Offense against offense is the best defense!)
Jezda quickly raised both her palms towards the incoming blade light while holding her wrists together, and casting Punishment Thrower again, but this time, inputting twice the magic energy in the activation than she had previously.
An intense blast of blue flames immediately emerged from both Jezda's palms, and collided with the blade light. The advance of the blue flames was momentarily halted, and that gave Nick enough time to mobilize his black miasma magic energy from his mindscape, which engulfed him. He then activated the power of Cursed Vessel, and the black miasma became a red-blue aura that suddenly vanished along with himself.
Jezda noticed most of what had happened using her Thermal Gauge spell, but before she could think of an explanation, Nick appeared within one meter of her immediate rear. Jezda felt troubled; she had not finished dealing with the blade light in front of her, but her enemy had so swiftly moved to her rear, seemingly without much effort.
Not only that, but the space magic power that was spread throughout the area made her suspicious, and was giving her some mental pressure. Nick did not give Jezda the time to remedy her situation. Hard Marvel eerily shimmered with obsidian-black blade light while Nick raised it, and then slashed down towards Jezda, but not with the intention of making physical contact.
Another large flurry of crescent-moon-shaped blade light emerged from Hard Marvel, and moved at incredible speed to crash into Jezda's rear. Blade light seemingly consumed Jezda at that point. Galen looked at the current state of the battle with slightly raised eyelids. Nick's power had exceeded his expectations:
(The quality of his magic energy is very high for his age, and his spells are…strong…and somehow atypical. I just cannot put my finger on why some of his spells seem abnormal, other than the fact that I can sense that they possess multiple natures. How comes the association never tried to recruit this man?)
The blade light cut at Jezda's flesh, giving her indescribable sensations of pain as she was being slowly flayed. The only thing that currently slowed the progression of the blade magic into her body was the passive resistance of her fire magic power.
(It's not that I do not want to activate a defensive spell, but again, the best defense is a good offense…)
Jezda's eyes suddenly burned with blue flames as she cast two spells, including a rank 3 advanced grade spell:
(Persistent Flames - Living Fire)
(Persistent Flames - Punishment Bomb.)
Intensely burning, blue flames emerged from Jezda, and poured out in all directions, enveloping her and Nick's blade lights. Nick rapidly mobilized his magic energy, engulfing himself in black miasma, and activating Cursed Vessel. Following the appearance of the red-blue aura, it, and Nick instantly vanished before the blue flames reached him.
Nick reappeared at the position he stood at before the start of the battle. He observed the resolution of Jezda's Punishment Bomb, and felt his palms become sweaty. Jezda's blue flames had engulfed a one-hundred-meter-radius area with her as the center, and the flames rose up to forty meters above ground. Nick was even feeling the heat from where he stood over a few dozen meters away even though Dragon Armor's scales were present all over his body. He thought:
(This woman is strong for sure, but explosive strength isn't everything in a Magicians' battle.)
Nick canceled Dragon Hold, then began processing magic energy outside his body. Eight seconds passed, and as black miasma appeared, it was all drawn into Nick's mindscape, allowing him to recover 20,000 magical units of magic energy. Galen squinted his eyes when he saw Nick's actions, thinking:
(Nick's magic energy has strange qualities. What is the grade of his mindscape? Hmmm…divergent, probably. It seems that he can manipulate his dense magic energy outside his body at will without the help of spells. That is a good ability…)
Nick cast another advanced grade spell:
(Soul Haze.)
Black haze quickly emerged from Nick, and spread throughout the fighting area. The soul, and rule magic competed with Jezda's fire magic until ten seconds later when the blue flames dissipated.
Jezda stood on the spot, breathing heavily. Although her physical injuries had been healed through the use of Living Fire. She had expended a great amount of magic energy on that last attack.
(It is not that I could not adjust the area of effect to have the flames chase Nick…but Punishment Bomb consumes a lot of magic energy, and I don't yet have enough control over it to stop the spell before its duration expires. Nick has shown extraordinary movement abilities. Adjusting Punishment Bomb's area of effect would have likely just wasted more of my magic energy while Nick would have simply moved beyond its reach.
He is faster than me, and his methods are not simple. This damn haze is another example of the latter point. He is attacking my soul, now!)
Jezda started to feel the weakening effect that Soul Haze's power was having on her soul, but since she did not know much about soul path, there was little that she could do about this. She could only rely on the natural resistance of her magic power to fend off Nick's soul magic.
(Persistent Flames - Fire Jewel)
A cluster of blue flames immediately appeared between Jezda's two breasts, and filled her with warmth. She instantly felt relief from much of the weakening of her soul.
(Fire Jewel is actually a defensive method that saturates my body with fire magic power. It gives my body extreme resistance to magic power of other paths, but its effect is lacking because Nick's soul power is not attacking my physical body, it is attacking my soul. I need to quickly deal with him!)
Nick stood in place, watching Jezda as she struggled to cope. Sensing that the woman was about to start attacking again, Nick decided that he should end the fight soon. He activated the magic power of Sheer Soul:
(Sheer Hold.)
Jezda's eyes opened wide as she suddenly felt her body become stiffer. She tried to raise her left hand, and realized that her movements noticeably slowed:
(This is that bastard's doing!)
Nick expected Jezda's movements to slow because in the past year, he had also made adjustments to Soul Haze.
(Originally, Sheer Soul's active ability, Sheer Hold, only worked when my person or physical objects connected to me touched someone else. With my modifications, however, the black haze produced by Soul Haze's power acts as a sort of physical extension of myself as well. That makes me a little more vulnerable when I cast it, but only if my opponent knows enough to realize the trick.)
Nick put his left hand into his left pants pocket, and muttered:
"It's time to finish this."
Jezda noticed Nick's slight action, indicating that he was feeling comfortable, and this enraged her. She immediately made a decision:
(I am going to roast him! I just need to get close enough, and hit him with one of my advanced grade spells…)
Jessica cast her movement spell, Punishment Surge, again, and as the sparse blue flame clusters appeared on her body, she breathed out deeply. Two streams of steam flowed from both sides of Jezda's mouth, following which, she crouched down like a tiger before sprinting towards Nick.
She accelerated instantly, moving at speeds of over two hundred kilometers per hour. She reached Nick's immediate front in moments, and even touched the middle of his chest using her left index finger, casting her spell:
(Persistent Flames - Punishment Thrower.)
Wanting to do targeted damage, Jezda concentrated Punishment Thrower's blue flames to create a more linear blast that she expected to burn a big hole in most of Nick's chest, but to her surprise, when her spell resolved, Nick pressed his chest against her left index finger, and walked right through her as if she was not even there while the blue flames burned, and engulfed a part of the spectator stands behind Nick.
Nick internally commented:
(Seeker Instinct is still active, and its primary effect allows my body to be forced into an adjacent space while a projection of my body remains within my original space. The downside of my adjustments is that unlike with Pluto, I cannot really hide myself within the artificial, adjacent space, but because of my affinity with space path, and my deep seeker dragon bloodline makes this spell extraordinarily effective…I think.)
Nick simply walked through Jezda's body, and turned around when he reached her rear. Jezda's heart skipped a beat in a bad way after this happened. She canceled Punishment thrower's power faster than she had ever before, dissipating its flames before she used the power of Punishment Surge to rapidly twirl around to face Nick.
For a moment, Nick, and her stood about face-to-face with neither one attacking the other. At this time, Jezda was able to take a closer look at Nick's spiraling, indifferent, blue-red eyes. To her, he now seemed like the scariest person in the world, and this induced a bead of sweat to roll down her face.
Within next moment, however, Jezda steeled her resolved, and cupped both her hands together. She tried to cast, and resolve an advanced grade spell that she had been preparing since the time her Punishment Bomb had failed to consume Nick. In quick succession, a swirling ball of blue flames formed in her cupped palms.
(Persistent Flames - Kingdom Ender)
Nick observed the swirling ball of blue flames using Seeker Instinct's scouting effect, and was shocked at the amount of intense fire magic power that was contained within the flames:
(You might beat me if that spell resolves correctly…but it's too late for that to happen. Dragon Form!)
Nick's right arm was instantly filled with blade, and rule magic, following which, he swung Hard Marvel at an accelerated speed that Jezda's Thermal Gauge spell had trouble following at that moment.
Confident in the physical enhancing power of Tyrant Armor, the speed, and cutting power granted by Dragon Form, and Hard Marvel's passive ability that increased its hardness and strength in proportion to the damage it had already done to Jezda, Nick expected complete victory:
(I bet you didn't expect this.)
SHING! RIIIIIIP!
Hard Marvel's blade bit into Jezda's left side before her Kingdom Ender spell could fully resolve. The sword cut through her like butter, and seemingly within an instant, she ended up divided into two pieces with her upper-half quickly falling to the ground.
The blue flames within her still cupped palms died down to nothing immediately as Jezda lost control of her magic power due to the shock that was brought about by a fatal wound. Her upper-half tragically fell face first onto the ground while her lower-half stayed erect, and poured out blood like a fountain.
Galen looked on with wide, open eyes at the result while muttering in disbelief:
"...Nick Capitol won the battle."