"Because Teacher... is the strongest."
"I believe in Stell-neechan!" Flamme declared, her own fear assuaged by his certainty.
While Takson was checking on Flamme and her family, a small contingent of city guards remained on the wall, dutifully observing the battle.
They noted, with immense relief, that both combatants seemed to be deliberately keeping their fight away from the city.
Neither Stell nor Serie were the kind of people to involve innocent bystanders in their disputes.
A massive chunk of rock, the size of a small hill, was lifted into the air. It glowed red-hot, molten lava dripping from its surface.
It was a man-made meteor, a spell that could have wiped a lesser opponent from the face of the earth.
But to Stell, it was nothing.
"Endo Armament: Activate"
"Vector Gate"
A massive golden portal opened above her, swallowing the meteor whole. At the same instant, an identical portal opened directly above Serie.
The elf looked up, a flicker of amusement in her eyes, as the tip of the molten rock began to emerge. "Spatial magic," she mused. "Returning my own attack to me. A clever tactic."
She raised a hand and clenched her fist. The mountain-sized meteor was instantly compressed into a sphere no larger than her palm. She tossed it aside as if it were a pebble.
In that moment, Stell was upon her. The greatsword was gone, replaced by a massive, gold-and-crimson lance, its tip crackling with the power of a contained hurricane.
Stell thrust.
The lance tore through layer after layer of Serie's defensive wards, closing in on her physical body.
Then, the small, red sphere of compressed lava appeared directly in front of Stell's face.
BOOM!
The resulting explosion was immense, a blinding flash of light and heat. But it harmed neither of them.
Stell was protected by a thin, golden sphere of energy. Serie had used her own defensive magic to weather the blast, the force of the explosion creating a significant distance between them.
For Stell, that distance was meaningless. But it gave Serie precious time to cast her next spell.
In the brief exchange, Stell had already managed to analyze and replicate most of the spells Serie had used.
But she had no desire to engage in a magical duel.
Not yet. Serie was still holding back, using only simple, destructive spells. It was impossible that she didn't have more esoteric, more dangerous magic from the age of myths.
And in this world, where magic was so often a matter of concepts and will, Stell was wary. A single, strange spell could have unpredictable effects on her own systems.
She didn't know how many enchantments Serie had layered upon her own body, but she could scan the cumulative effect.
Because Stell had no prior data on Serie's specific enchantments, she couldn't differentiate one from another.
And this back-and-forth had been going on for over ten minutes. It was time to draw a conclusion.
Serie's mana reserves were effectively limitless, allowing her to cast spells with reckless abandon.
Stell's own power, drawn from the very fabric of the universe, was equally inexhaustible. It was a stalemate.
However, Stell had an advantage. While her replicated spells were inherently weaker than the originals, she could overload them with her own energy, making them far more powerful.
Each time she did this, Serie was forced to use a specific counter-spell to nullify the attack, a tactic that revealed more of her magical repertoire.
She's copying my magic and using it against me, Serie realized.
Understanding Stell's objective, she immediately changed her strategy. She stopped using new and varied spells, restricting herself to the ones she had already cast.
She didn't know the limits of Stell's replication ability, and she wasn't about to risk revealing any of her truly powerful or esoteric magic.
Stell, in turn, noticed the shift immediately. She's figured it out.
Continuing this magical duel was now a waste of time. But Serie seemed content to keep fighting. Stell, however, had no more reason to play along. It was time to end this farce.
"Endo Armament: Activate"
"Pseudo-Endo: Sephira Crystal"
A colorless, multi-faceted crystal materialized in front of Stell and then sank into her chest. It was a perfect replica of the one that had belonged to Origami Tobiichi.
Because she had analyzed the original crystal itself, not just its wielder, she could create a true copy.
The other Spirits' crystals, each one a unique fragment of Mio's power, were beyond her ability to replicate.
A brilliant light erupted from Stell's chest, enveloping her entire body.
The sudden, blinding flash in the sky drew the attention of everyone in the distant city.
They didn't know that the demon threat had been neutralized; all they knew was that a terrifying battle was raging just outside their walls, and now, a new sun had appeared in the sky.
….
"Is that..."
Takson watched as an old man in cleric's robes fell to his knees, his eyes fixed on the radiant, white figure in the sky, his face a mask of pure, unadulterated faith.
"An angel...?" the old man whispered, his voice trembling. And then, as if overwhelmed by the sight, he fainted dead away. Takson caught him before he hit the ground.
He, of course, recognized the "angel." It was his teacher, in her Metatron form.
Teacher, he thought, carrying the old man towards the nearby church, who in the world are you fighting?
The sight was not lost on others. In her home, Flamme pressed her face against the window, staring at the figure in the sky.
"That angel..." she murmured to herself. "Why does she look so familiar?"
….
If you want to read 15+ chapters ahead and unpublished fanfics you can check out my patreon or just take a visit.
[P].[A].[T].[R].[E].[O].[N]
http://patreon.com/Kazuma_trash
&
you can join my discord server: https://discord.gg/5Y7uZ2kN2Y
Or in short just click in join via invite link in your discord and enter this code: 5Y7uZ2kN2Y