A Battle Of Life And Death

"How could you have broken free of her majesty's influence without alerting her?" Reduvia spoke a question but didn't care for an answer.

Fact was, that he had clearly done so and that he was a filthy traitor.

Now, it was obvious that there had only ever been one divergent minister.

Without hesitation, the lich cast her spell of instant death at Axio.

Before it could even take hold of him however, he began to melt into a pile of organs and flesh with bones sticking out of the mess.

'A decoy...' an offspring bred to ressemble him perfectly, coupled with the needle claw planted in its nape, Axiolypito had merely been controlling this one from a distance.

As if on cue, the throne room suddenly grew dark as every exit was sealed shut, the doorways seemingly disappearing in their entirety.

Reduvia's feet rose off the ground for an instant as the room began a quick descent deep into the earth.

Leaving her unable to get out on her own.

'I'll just get Faceless Lord' she reasoned.

The lanky minister didn't show up.

It was to be expected however, Axiolypito wouldn't put this sort of plan into motion if he hadn't found a way to prevent Faceless Lord from warping around freely.

Cradled Lich finally turned her full attention to the human the decoy had led here.

The two of them had been staring each other down.

Once more, Reduvia weaved her spell of instantaneous death.

A spell which power was stated in its name, cast by a mage as proficient as her, it could even go right through the defenses of a veteran sorcerer like Wide Hat Hogan, a man that had been no pushover in his life.

"Axio has found himself some troublesome allies it seems" she remarked aloud.

Blouvier smiled bashfully, in the end, defending against a spell of this sort really came down to skill and mana output, the royal mage had both, but only her output of basic mana had been enough to prevent the instant death from reaching her.

"Allies is a big word, I don't even feel comfortable calling this little runt a temporary business partner" the typically drunken mage was perfectly sober and looking oddly pleased with the situation.

It wasn't expected from the mage that used to spend her entire days drinking like a well and doing nothing to be so unfazed by the prospect of facing an unkillable lich.

Reduvia was wary of her as well, using basic mana to defend against her spell either meant she was a master of mana control without elements, that she had no elemental affinities at all or that she was purposefully concealing her actual element.

When things like space, time and other nonsensical concepts could be awoken as magical elements, one needed to always be on their guard.

Only added to that idea, was the fact that Blouvier was concealing her mana signature entirely, an impressive feat as even Reduvia had failed to sense her coming.

Such a capacity indicated that she could also be able to conceal her spells from the lich's notice.

'She's already playing mind games...' this wasn't going to be an easy fight.

With a slight wave of her bony hands, she dark portal appeared on the ground, rising from it were three figures, two nameless death knights and further behind them, Wide Hat Hogan's zombified remains.

'I'll just-' Reduvia could only stop her thought as the three undeads collapsed into nothingness as greenish mana flowed from where they had stood.

"No need to try so hard skelly, I'll reveal my hand to you~" she sent a kiss flying Cradled Lich's way as she put on hand on her hips.

The alcoholic mage's face quickly turned from laid back to a fierce smile, the sort utter battle maniacs would come up with.

Her form surged with bright green mana, it flowed around her calmly and unpredictably

Revealing her mana wasn't needed at this point however.

Reduvia already knew exactly what it was from the fate the three summoned undeads endured.

"A life mage huh? Axio really is a little shit..." her tone wasn't very undead-like any longer, her actual temperament and personality were bleeding through her corpse facade.

"Alright then! Does he really think an abject living will be enough to keep me down?!" she got rid her excessive amount of robes and cloaks, now looking less like an old lady during a winter day and much more an actual mage.

"Well, aren't you a lively one?" after saying this, Blouvier sprung into action, countless life bullets manifesting all around her, simultaneously she cast another spell, which was pretty much the exact same thing as Reduvia's instant death, but with the life element as its fuel.

The lich acted just as quickly as the human, the two of them somehow perfectly mirrored one another in their choice of spells and strategy.

Canceling one another out without even meaning to.

Blouvier followed this up by sending forth a moving wall of fire, hiding her mana signature as the spell covered her from view.

Not willing to try and face everything head on, Reduvia sunk into a shadow, appearing right behind Blouvier.

Coating her skeletal hands with both death mana and death force, her touch would be much more potent than her instant death from before.

Her smile still in place, Blouvier turned to face her and caught the undead's hands with her own.

Interlocking their fingers, she had also coated her hands with life mana and life force, once again, they both completely canceled each other out.

They used their overwhelming death and life mana to contest against each other briefly before they both jumped away.

Looking straight at each other, right into the eyes and hollow sockets.

They both understood that they evenly matched, so much so that it was uncanny.

"We might be soulmates, huh, what's your name anyways?" Blouvier's taunt was cut short as she realised she didn't have her opponent's name.

Axiolypito hadn't even deigned to mention it.

"I am Blouvier by the way" she smiled in a way only an expert alcoholic could pull off, simultaneously stupid and funny.

"Reduvia" the lich casually responded.

"Reduvia? Seriously?" Blouvier was surprised but that didn't mean she wasn't ready when the lich cast her spell.

Both of them continued to demonstrate of alike they were by once again mirroring the other.

Behind Reduvia, corpses created from multiple elements and assembled together by death mana rose.

Behind Blouvier, living beings similar to existing creatures also took shape, their forms immaculate and full of life.

Their spells appeared completely opposite from a single look, but they pretty much used the exact same methods to accomplish them.