Just like the wind blade in his left hand, a second blade appeared in his right. With a burst of speed, he attacked Leon with both hands, making one parallel slash and another diagonal one. A new powerful magical attack was unleashed.
"Cross of the Gales."
Without wasting any time, Leon charged straight into the attack with his spear. The tip of the spear touched the magic, making his body tremble. Forcing his attack through it, the wind magic was shattered along with parts of Leon's body, but he didn't care in the slightest and kept advancing. The strike grazed Tolav's abdomen, opening a small hole in his waist. The very instant he was hit, the wind mage grabbed the wound, dismissed one of his swords, and with the other hand made a slash through the air that struck Leon's back.
"Long Wind Blade."
As soon as he unleashed the slash, he pointed his wind blade forward, and it grew, piercing Leon's abdomen the moment he turned to counterattack. Without caring that he would be injured as well, Leon created a ball of fire in his hand and hurled it at his opponent's face. Both of them were thrown backward. Tolav was pushed away by the fireball, while Leon was forced back by the wind blade, which continued extending.
[This guy is much harder than I thought, even without a title.]
'I was surprised too... But I noticed something different about him right before he launched that last attack.'
Blood spilled from Leon's mouth as he was driven toward the ground below. The blade had grown so much that it reached the ground despite having been created in the sky. Grabbing the blade with both hands, Leon snapped it in half and immediately created a fire clone near Tolav. He had developed this fire clone in an incredible way so that his opponent would never get a chance to rest. To summon it, he only needed a perfect view of the place where he wanted it to appear. Thanks to an imperfect but powerful copy of the Crimson Eyes, he could see Tolav's exact location.
[What did you notice?]
'He has some kind of technique that's sacrificing his own life to keep fighting me on equal footing.'
[A sacrifice technique? That's Voren's ultimate technique.]
Apparently, Leon's bastard of an older brother had taught his techniques to his most trusted subordinates. The wind mage before him had barely appeared in the story, only showing up near the end, where he ended up being easily killed by the final villain. With an annoyed expression, he watched his clone fight his opponent.
'What a pain. Without a doubt, he's trying to take some part of my body before he dies.'
[That happens sometimes when mages or knights fight the strongest. A battle like this is unlikely to end within the last six minutes.]
Tolav was a difficult opponent to face with that sacrifice technique. The technique's name was Zero Vitality, in which the user poured parts of their own life into each attack to increase its power beyond what their body could normally withstand.
'You're right, but I'm going to make it happen, and honestly, I'm a little irritated.'
[Why?]
'This sacrifice thing reminded me of Sairao.'
As soon as Leon said that, the System began thinking the same way. It really was irritating. With a Charged Burst, Leon closed in on Tolav from the side while his fire clone attacked from the front. The wind mage was already having trouble dealing with the clone because every time he destroyed one, another appeared carrying a fire spear similar to Leon's and never gave him a chance to breathe during the battle. So, when Leon appeared at his side, he decided to accept that attack.
"Gaaahhhh!"
Both attacks pierced his shoulder and his abdomen, but his left hand grabbed Leon's right arm. The wind blade shone even more brightly as he poured almost all of his vitality into that attack. Even after sacrificing parts of his own body, it would give him the chance to strike Leon's neck. The blade moved in to cut his opponent's throat.
'This is my only chance.'
"Crimson Shell."
Before it could reach his neck, a crimson aura focused around his neck managed to block part of the damage, causing the blade to stop before cutting too deeply. At most, it had barely penetrated, leaving only a thin line of blood running down.
'Damn... I should've aimed for his hand after all. I got too greedy... Actually, I don't think even that would've worked.'
Tolav's eyes looked exhausted as Leon raised his spear and slashed across his chest. That would probably be the second-to-last attack he could endure. Even so, he prepared another strike, but Leon grabbed him by the neck and released an enormous amount of mana from his body. The spear in his other hand remained suspended in the air, wrapped in an aura similar to the Crimson Shell.
"I'm sorry, but I can't keep wasting time on you. I have a promise to keep."
[Wait, you're going to use the Crimson Shell like that?]
From Leon's body, small waves of flames, stronger than any before, began to emerge all over him. Tolav's entire body began burning without end. He tried to pull away while using his wind magic to reduce the damage. Leon raised his arm, released one of Tolav's shoulders, and grabbed his spear, which was absorbing all that heat into itself.
"Crimson Spear."
Before the attack could hit him, Tolav managed to deliver a kick strong enough to send Leon backward while he himself retreated, clutching his burned neck. He couldn't allow himself to be struck by that attack because he had sensed that Leon seemed to be transferring that crimson aura directly into the blade.
"Farewell, Wind Mage."
Without having time to use any defensive magic, Leon hurled the fire spear toward Tolav. Its speed was so great that it pierced his stomach while simultaneously melting parts of his body. The light faded from his eyes as he began falling straight toward the ground.
"I need to improve that technique a lot."
Wiping the sweat from his face with his arm, Leon watched his opponent's body fall into the city, right where the inn was located. This new magic he had used served to further increase the power of his spear by concentrating the entire Crimson Shell generated into it. By doing that, the spear's durability increased to the point where it could withstand such a powerful attack without breaking. The good thing was that he dismissed the spear before it touched the ground, so no damage was caused to the city or its surroundings.
'The problem was the amount of time I needed to make the magic work.'
He had encountered the same problem before with other spells. Since he had managed to improve all of them, he only needed time to improve this one as well.
[Three minutes left. Hurry.]
'I didn't forget, relax.'
Leon quickly descended to where the city guards were and gave them a summary of what had happened. When there was a minute and a half left, he said goodbye and flew toward the Everhart mansion, arriving there in less than twenty seconds. With a sigh, he began descending while checking his axes.
'I knew I'd make it.'
Elara was sitting by the window, watching Leon. Behind her, at a table, Rebecca and her parents were happily telling stories about when Leon was little, even showing a few portraits to his future wife, who found everything incredibly adorable.
'I'll do my best too.'
Turning her gaze toward the skies above the Everhart mansion, Elara watched as a darkness began to form. Leon seemed to sense it as well and immediately looked up, clearly surprised.
"Is that... Magnus?"