Truly, no time was wasted.

"Gale!" Exclaimed the bird-like creature that constantly followed the Tower Master, and as soon as it did, the man flew into the air.

In a blink, he soared, putting several feet between himself and Evangelina.

Then, not even half a beat later, dozens, perhaps even hundreds of crimson magic circles appeared all around Evangelina.

The magic circles shimmered, and before Evangelina could even take a step, their radiance enveloped the arena as incinerating flames exploded from each and every single one of them.

"Basic Magic - Fire Pillar!"

Verity felt his throat drying up as the searing heat filled the stands. 'Damn…'

[There it is! A flashy opening strike from our Tower Master. A masterful and terrifyingly powerful display of the basic magic, Fire pillar! How will the Spear of Hell respond!?]

The stadium roared, and Verity wondered what his master would do as well.

Would her armor protect her?

Would she cut through the fire with her spear?

As the flames cleared, however, he soon understood that it had been neither.

Evangelina stood at the center of the scorched earth, spear still in hand, and looking up at Aurelius as if nothing had happened. Not only was she unscathed, there wasn't even a blemish on her lustrous armor.

The announcer raised an eyebrow. [Uh, I-I seem to lack the ability to comment on the Spear of Hell…]

A voice spoke up next to him, startling him. [It was simple footwork, Archmage Roderick. Even Sage Aurelius cannot detonate hundreds of magic circles simultaneously. The Duchess simply moved within those gaps.]

Roderick's eyes widened as he realized who stood beside him. [Oh! Dragon Knight Commander! Perfect! Now we have an expert for both sides! Haha!]

Verity couldn't help but let out a hollow laugh. 'The gaps…? There was such a thing…?'

On the battlefield, Aurelius smirked, while Evangelina flicked her hair backward. "What's next?"

Aurelius waved his sleek violet wand three times, and hundreds of earth spikes manifested into thin air. Then, with another flick of his wand, the earth spikes launched straight toward Evangelina.

"Basic Magic - Earth Missile!"

Roderick shouted with excitement. [As expected of the Tower Master! A spell combination between the Earth and Wind bullet spells, Earth Missile! Its power is increased by more than the sum of its parts, making it truly terrifying!]

Indeed, the earth spikes flew toward Evangelina at incredible speeds, a sonic boom echoing with each one that was shot.

Evangelina, however, did not raise her spear.

'Nine Hell Spearmanship Eighth stance - Fraud: Mirage'

Her figure blurred, much too fast for even the eyes of trained warriors to follow, and now, she seemed to be nowhere and everywhere all at once. The missiles crashed into the soil where she was meant to be, but when they arrived, she was already long gone.

Verity's hand tightened around his spear. "So that's how you use Fraud…!!"

Verity could only manage six after images at most, and that was if he strained himself greatly, but what Evangelina was doing could not even be counted. She genuinely seemed as if she was everywhere all at once.

Smugly, Irina crossed her arms. [Indeed! It seems even this Earth Missile spell is insufficient to harm the Duchess, Roderick! What will the Sage do?]

Roderick smirked. [You think too little of magic, Irina!]

Aurelius waved his hand once again.

"Basic Parameter - Homing!"

Now, the missiles which had been uselessly crashing into the Earth began curving before impact, and if the attack had resembled rain before, they now were akin to a storm!

But Aurelius wasn't done.

Evangelina remained unscathed, so he waved his wand again.

"Basic Parameter - Amplify!"

The missiles seemed to feed off the very power they generated to accelerate, but even that seemed to not be enough, so Aurelius waved his hand again.

"Basic Parameter - Avoid collision!"

Now the missiles could no longer be guided to collide with each other, a tactic Evangelina seemed to have been using.

At that point, even Evangelina seemed to weaving between them at no more than hair's breadth, and yet, she still hadn't swung her spear.

Aurelius once more waved his wand.

Immediately, Verity's gaze shot downward, where the shards of the Earth Missiles that had crashed into the ground lay broken.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

'They're…shining!?'

But if he had noticed, that meant it was already far too late.

"Basic Magic - Combust! Basic Parameter - Predetermined activation!"

Roderick, barely able to contain his excitement, slammed his hand on the table. [That's right! All of the Earth missiles were merely decoys! This was the real attack! The Spear of Hell has found herself in a minefield!! And now that the Tower Master has used Predetermined Activation, it is fully possible to detonate the hundreds of Earth Missiles all at once! What will she do!?]

Irina clicked her tongue and slammed her own palm on the table. [Mages and their schemes! Watch how my Lady turns them all to dust!]

It was true that Aurelius could detonate all of the Earth Missiles simultaneously, leaving Evangelina not even the slightest of gaps to evade.

On the ground at least.

Evangelina guided Aura to her legs, and she jumped as high as she could.

Then, she retracted her legs again, and she looked toward Aurelius' direction.

[Sky Step! The Sage will have to brace himself! ] Irina exclaimed.

Verity clenched his fist. "If she gets close… it's pretty much over…!"

Beside him, Hoshino, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke. "Do not forget, my Knight… My master is called the Sage of Four Elements…!"

As Evangelina soared into the air, the visibility suddenly plummeted to zero.

"Basic Magic - Fog!"

Verity's eyes widened. 'Water vapor…! Now she has no clue where he is!"

And at that moment, all of the Earth Missile Shards exploded at once.

The entire stadium stood on the edge of their seats, and for the first time since the start of the duel, the spear of Hell raised her spear.

Nine Hell Spearmanship First Stance - Limbo

In the first place, the explosions were already too far to reach her, but the real attack were the earth fragments hurling toward her at staggering speed.

And knowing Aurelius, he would have added an extra punch to it.

So, she thrust, swung and evaded every single earth fragment while in mid-air.

A transcendental display of skill, but against such an attack, and with Aurelius mixing in hidden spells, even Evangelina could not defend perfectly.

When the fog cleared, she stood in the middle of the arena, with a single trickle of blood flowing from her cheek.

[There it is!!!! The Spear of Hell has been hit!! The Tower Master has done it!! With a masterfully interplay between Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water, the master has created an inescapable net to trap the Spear of Hell!]

Evangelina wiped the blood from her cheek with the tip of her thumb. "Now that's more like it."

Then, she disappeared.

SWOOSH!

No one, no one besides Aurelius was able to follow the movement, and even was slightly too slow to react.

His cheek now also bore a single wound.

"Now we match." Evangelina said.

Irina clenched her fist. [Haha! My Lady has easily done what your Master took hundreds of spells to do!]

Roderick grit his teeth. [The Master is far from done!]

She guided her Aura once more and–

"Barrier!"

A translucent barrier encircled the Tower Master and using the Gale spell, he created some distance between the two of them once more.

BOOM!

Evangelina's spear crashed into his barrier, and she clicked her tongue. "How annoying."

As soon as Aurelius flew back, the cracks had already begun repairing itself. This was exactly Evangelina's point. While it took most mages some time to gather the mana, Aurelius could mend a broken barrier instantaneously.

If she wanted to hurt him, she had to catch him by surprise, as she had done before, or completely destroy his barrier so she'd at least have a gap to work with.

But without Spear Aura, that was a nigh impossible task.

Seriously, how was that fair?

What was Evangelina supposed to do?

Surprisingly, Verity had the answer to that question. 'Ha…If it was me in her position… she'd probably tell me to hit it harder.'

She smirked, that's exactly what she would do.

For a brief moment, she seemed to glance at Verity, and he barely managed to read the movement of her lips.

"Watch this," she said.

"Basic Magic - Stone Hand! Basic -Magic - FireBall!"

Several hands made of stone sprouted from the ground, half were empty while the other half were each carrying a burning hot fire ball

[Another combination of basic spells! Feast your hands upon this display, the Tower Master is showing us what it truly means to be a mage!]

Irina pushed Roderick aside. [Duchess! Show these mages what it means to wield a true weapon!]

The fireballs came in the form of a volley toward Evangelina.

What made them different from the Earth Missile spell was simply put, their size and their area of effect. Even she couldn't just defend endlessly against that.

It was clear that Aurelius was preparing another big spell, and If she wanted to reach him, she would have to deal with the fireballs, the stone hands, and whatever else he had in store for her.

So, she moved.

The stone hands set out to smash her, while the fireballs set out to scorch her flesh.

But they would do neither.

Evangelina ran straight ahead toward the retreating Aurelius, and for every fireball that came, she slashed it apart. For every stone hand that attacked her, she blew it to pieces.

For a moment, the two of them seemed to be in some sort of stalemate. The distance between them was constant as they circled around the arena, and neither seemed particularly concerned.

The crowd watched them intently, and the mages of the mage tower cheered for their Tower Master. For someone like Aurelius, using basic spells was like breathing. He could do so endlessly, which meant that most mages present believed that Evangelina would be the one to tire sooner rather than later.

However, something soon began changing.

The gap between them was getting… smaller.

Evangelina was speeding up.

The fireballs were being slashed with more power.

The hands were being blown apart more ferociously.

It was as though she was gradually growing stronger.

No, she was getting stronger!

Nine Hell Spearmanship Third Stance - Gluttony

Irina puffed her chest out with pride. [For every attack that comes her way, the Duchess only grows more powerful! It is one of the reasons she is so feared! It was wrong in the first place to aim for a battle of attrition no matter how efficiently your Tower Master uses magic! He has made a terrible mistake!]

Evangelina was channeling her Aura in a loop through her limbs and weapon. Each strike she performed fed energy into the next, compounding force upon force until she became a walking avalanche.

That was gluttony, a stance that stole the opponent's momentum to make the next strike more powerful.

Now the gap was even smaller, and the fireballs had grown more numerous.

Roderick frowned. [The Tower Master must have a hidden card! If I were your Duchess, I wouldn't be so sure of victory!]

Verity, nearly entranced by the bout, spoke to Hoshino. "What do you think? Is the Tower Master scheming something?"

Hoshino did not answer immediately. "...If you knew him, you would not even be asking that question."

The gap was now nonexistent.

Evangelina jumped to meet Aurelius, the weight behind her spear now such that he was well aware his barrier would not hold.

He waved his wand.

"Basic spell - Combust! Basic Spell - Wind Cutter! Basic Spell - Water Cutter! Basic Spell - Earth Wall! Basic Parameter - Predetermined Activation!"

All of these spells activated all at once.

Aurelius had even calculated that far ahead.

'So what?'

Evangelina's face contorted into a mad grin.

"It doesn't matter if I just destroy it all! Third Stance - Gluttony: Feast!"

She released all of her momentum at once smashed through every single spell that was shot toward her.

Both commentators were too captivated by the clash to say anything, as was the rest of the audience.

When the dust cleared, Aurelius scoffed, and though he could not speak, his eyes said something along the lines of 'F*cking crazy…'

"B-Basic Magic - Freeze!!"

Where Aurelius had been, now stood a puppet in his image with Evangelina's spear embedded in its chest.

He knew her too well, and he knew that she would not have opted to avoid his last attack.

The frost had spread rapidly, and up to her shoulder was encased in solid ice. Then, two dozen stone hands emerged from the soil, trapping her further in place.

And finally, Aurelius waved his wand thrice.

The lights dimmed, the arena trembled, and the moisture in the air dried up.

Every single gaze in the stadium was raised to the sky.

The bird-like creature nearly stopped flapping its wings. "...Master? That's not–"

Aurelius glared at it.

The bird was left with no choice. "B-Basic magic…? M-Meteor…!?"

Roderick paled. [Tower Master…?]

Irina shook her head. [This happens every time… This is why mages are…tsk.]

The rest of the audience, Verity included, was too stunned to speak.

This was Aurelius' vice. He was willing to do anything to win, even lie.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.