Arc 2 - Chapter 33: Wizard Collisions (1/2)

With Sivina leaving the team and going after the killer, there were three of them.

As in a typical mage battle, there was a certain distance between them. In fact, Lylphia had tried to close the distance by relying on her melee skills, but Sony had managed to parry Lylphia and put some distance between them.

When Sony and Lylphia were compared in terms of sheer power, it could be said that their strength was close, but the important point was not the power, but the types of magic used in their fights.

Even though everyone in the field was a wizard with their own type of magic, even if there were two of them facing Sony, the problem of their type of magic remained.

First of all, there was the possibility that the destructive power of Lylphia's magic could reach uncontrollable proportions. A large area had been cleared of trees because of the light spell earlier, but there was still the possibility that Lylphia could lose control and start a fire. Moreover, the trees had not completely disappeared, they had just fallen to the ground and piled on top of each other.

Sony, on the other hand, had no such concerns when he used his magic. Even though he was one against two, he was in an advantageous position. He had earth magic and could defend himself against both fire and wind magic.

Also his opponents had only fire and wind magic and were therefore vulnerable to Sony's light magic.

Sony's light magic, unlike Yurine's light magic, had taken on an offensive dimension. Light magic was his main offensive power, and if Lylphia and Ana were not careful, they could die. Light mages were indeed the last mages those two wanted to face.

"He spent a lot of mana building those walls, if fight goes long, we can win."

"But don't we have to catch up with Sivina? We can't waste time, let's finish this and go to her."

"What a Sivina! Don't worry, she'll take him one versus one. Didn't you see her fight like a maniac?"

Ana had a fondness for Sivina beyond that of ordinary friends. Lylphia understood this even better when Yu took Sivina to the capital to bait her. Ana had been depressed without Sivina, and though she and Raul had tried to lift her spirits, they had failed. Without Sivina, she was very lifeless.

"But she's wounded!"

Lylphia sighed as she tried to escape Sony's halos of light.

"Are you in love with her or something?"

"W-what's that got to do with it?"

Ana blushed as if an embarrassing secret had been revealed and became quiet and focused on the fight.

Sony's attacks continued to come at them relentlessly. With no way to stop the halos, all they could do was run away from them.

As they ran, they both had the same thought, they suddenly changed direction and started running towards Sony. They both knew that this wasn't going to end by running, they had to get close to Sony and finish the job. They dodged Sony's attacks from a distance and ran.

Lylphia's melee strength alone would be enough to defeat Sony, and if she and Ana teamed up, they would end the fight at close quarters, leaving Sony no chance. This was reinforced by Sony's reluctance to fight at close quarters.

Seeing Lylphia and Ana approaching him without slowing down, Sony used earth magic to stop them, creating two parallel pillars emerging from the ground.

One of the pillars hit Ana in the stomach, knocking the breath out of her. She tumbled over the pillar and landed with a tumble. Lylphia dodged the pillars and kept running at Sony.

Her efforts to avoid the pillar had slowed her down a little, but she could not even think of doing something like jumping over it, because she would be completely defenseless in the air.

In fact, Lylphia could use mana and her body to gain direction in the air, but a wizard like Sony would not give her that chance. When she jumped in front of him, Sony would finish her off so fast that she could neither evade the attack by gaining direction nor defend herself with fire magic.

She stayed on the ground and kept running, still keeping the possibility to dodge the attacks. She dodged all of Sony's spells and as soon as she got close to him, she spun around and tried to kick him in the head.

Sony backed away, avoiding the first kick to the head. Without waiting, Lylphia tried another roundhouse kick, which Sony dodged by backing away. After repeating the same move several times, Sony had nowhere to go back. He was forced to stop because of the tree he had hit and the kick to the head sent him skidding several meters to the ground.

Lylphia's kicks were not to be taken lightly. If Sony had been a normal human being, Lylphia's mana-enhanced kick would have had the force to shatter his skull, but because Sony had mana-enhanced his body, he would have survived the kick.

"Would you like to explain why? Because I can't understand why a young and powerful mage from a noble and wealthy family, who has a wonderful career ahead of him, with the possibility of living an untroubled life, would steal and collaborate with a murderer."

"I don't want to be understood anyway, just leave me alone," Sony said from where he was lying.

"We can't just let a criminal go. Otherwise we would be guilty of helping you, and I don't want to end my career in this way. Surrendering before we have to deal with you here is the best choice you can make."

Lylphia had a rare type of magic and was one of the best students at the Wizarding Academy. She had no intention of just throwing her dreams away.

"And who is this 'her'?"

The blow to her stomach and her rolling on the floor had torn the pajamas Ana was wearing. She could tell she was crying because her eyes were red. She came to Lylphia holding her stomach.

"I guess we'll have to find whoever it is that needs to be saved. If she is not someone you are holding hostage, which I assume she is not since you want her saved, she should be prosecuted for cooperating with you. More important than that, of course, is for you to tell me where the Blessing you stole is. I need to take it back with you."

Sony swallowed. He was about to stand up slowly when he was sent flying backwards by a tornado sent by Ana, breaking a few trees he hit.

"Stay down!" shouted Ana. "If you try to get up again, you'll get an even harsher reaction this time."

If he stood up, Sony would keep fighting. Lylphia would have done the same in his place. She recognized the determination in Sony's eyes.

"Damn your magic-!"

Lylphia stopped herself from swearing at the last moment. Their goal of not letting him stand up had not succeeded. As Lylphia and Ana tried to dodge the halos of light that suddenly appeared in the air, Sony knocked them both to the ground with the rock he raised beneath their feet.

"I wish everyone would shout the spell name before casting it..."

Both had suffered injuries from the halos of light when they fell to the ground, but had survived.

When they stood up, they again encountered the halos of light. Even if they dodged them, Sony had again put distance between them and kept its guard up.

"He's got so much mana, it's endless."

"Oh... I can't attack either... I don't care trees, but if I attack he'll burn to ashes."

Ana threw a horizontal wave of wind in an arc. Sony jumped and dodged the spell, but it continued to move forward, cutting down more trees and enlarging the area where they were fighting.

Seeing the trees fall to the ground, Lylphia had an idea.

"Keep cutting down trees!"

After giving Ana the command, Lylphia rushed forward to attack. She was going to engage in melee combat again and buy time for Ana, who was cutting down trees without knowing what the plan was.

"Tch, you're so persistent."

Sony would create rock pillars in front of Lylphia to stop her, or sudden walls to make her make a mistake and jump, but Lylphia would successfully evade them all, suddenly changing course and going around the walls if necessary.

Even the light magic Sony used to attack was useless against Lylphia's astonishing speed, no halo could hit her body or her breasts, which swayed as if independent of her body.

Sony again formed a horizontal beam that traveled in an arc and shot it at Lylphia. His aim was to make Lylphia jump over the beam and finish her off in mid-air.

But instead of jumping, Lylphia rolled on the floor and landed in front of Sony. She hoped Ana had also recognized the light wave and survived, but she didn't have time to turn around and confirm that she was alive.

She tried to drive her fist into Sony's jaw, but instead of dodging, Sony grabbed Lylphia's fist and punched her in the stomach, knocking her off her feet.

To save her hand, Lylphia used fire magic to briefly increase its temperature. This was a less preferred method as it was considered dangerous, and when it was used, it was to protect against the sudden attacks of water magic. In unprofessional hands, use for more than a few seconds would cause permanent damage to the user.

Even though Lylphia is a pro, she didn't have to use the spell for long, Sony let go of Lylphia's hand with a scream and Lylphia nimbly moved behind Sony and kicked him in the back, sending him flying meters.

So she was free of Sony's spell and in the middle of the empty space created by Ana, who had cut down the trees.

"Get out of the area and prevent the flames from spreading to the trees and I will finish this."

Ana did as she was told and left the area. After she left the field, Lylphia raised her hand high and threw a fireball into the air that was at least five times bigger than her own body.

The fireball rose in the air, then exploded and the flames descended in a dome. Lylphia and Sony were left alone in this dome.