Chapter 37: Willow Park vs Lilith Clawthorne(2 and end)

Lilith's POV

"This will be perfect," I say, positioning myself in the middle of the training grounds for the emperor's coven members.

"What will be the rules of our duel?" she asks, facing me.

"Steve, explain to her," I simply say, observing the girl in front of me.

(Image)

On the way to our battleground, I managed to get some information from Odalia Blight. Her name is Willow Park, and she's the personal servant of the boy named Leylin.

I was surprised that a servant could possess such great strength, but she's still young, and I'm sure she has limited experience and fewer spells than me.

"Do you understand? All moves are allowed between the two participants, and the duel will end when one of them surrenders," Steve explains, glancing between us before signaling us to begin.

Willow didn't have a magic staff or Palisman since she had nothing similar in her hands, but she drew a sword before taking a fighting stance.

"A sword? In a duel between witches?" I say, frowning. This girl is clearly an unorthodox witch.

If I let her continue on this path, she'll surely practice wild magic and end up becoming a second Eda on the Boiling Isles.

"You talk too much," she says, making large thorny vines appear from the ground and rushing towards me.

"You lack experience," I reply without hiding my smile.

I immediately used a teleportation spell to create distance and launched sharp ice at her.

"She broke it!" The fact that she broke it didn't really surprise me, but she did it without magic, just with her sword.

This isn't good, close combat is to be avoided. I created a shield around me and started attacking her with a rain of pure magical energy.

Willow kept rushing towards me, cutting through my magic with her sword and repelling some spells with her thorny vines. It was a perfect blend of defense and attack.

"This isn't good!" I immediately used teleportation again to escape the reach of her sword when she got too close to me.

I didn't want to bet on the strength of my shield against this absurd monster.

"Too predictable," a voice resonated behind me. I immediately distanced myself before attacking the location where the voice came from.

"There's no one there," Willow says behind me again.

"How..." I couldn't finish my sentence before she violently struck my shield with her sword wrapped in several thorny vines that acted like a whip.

I was violently thrown into the forest next to the castle.

*Cough* I couldn't hold back the blood that wanted to come out as a cough.

"Do you surrender?" she says in a neutral tone. Was she already in front of me, or is this another illusion?

"When and how?" I ask, frowning.

"The moment Steve declared the start of the combat, you were already under my illusion," she says as the thorny vines from her sword brutally attack me, destroying all my attempts at defense or escape.

I have no chance; she's been controlling the fight from the beginning.

"I surrender!!" I try to shout as the thorny vines bind me and slowly hurt me as they tighten.

After surrendering by shouting, I find myself back on the training grounds in front of Willow, who observes me without expression.

Steve alternates his gaze between me and Willow before asking me to confirm my words.

"Are you really sure you want to surrender without fighting, Lady Lilith?" he asks in a confused tone.

"No... I can still fight," I say, getting into a fighting stance.

I mustn't fall for these illusions again, and I need to understand how they work.

"It seems you haven't understood my words," Steve declares with Willow's voice.

Damn, am I still under her control?

....

Willow's POV

So this is the power of a magus?

I was able to neutralize Lilith without her being able to fight. I just had to rely on my knowledge of illusion magic and trust my new powers from my advanced meditation method.

Lilith's mind has currently become her prison. She's fighting and interacting with people from her memories, and I've filled in the missing information with mine.

Normally, to do something like this, I would have had to be as accomplished as Leylin in the field of oracle magic, but things are different since I evolved to become a magus.

I can sense what Leylin calls the "mindscape" and those of others. I can even go as far as influencing them.

Currently, Lilith is receiving erroneous information in her mind. She thinks she feels my blows or my magic, but in the end, it's all just in her head.

"Steve, I think I've won, right?" I ask, tightening my grip on my sword.

It's not easy to manipulate someone's mind without damaging it. I understand why Master Leylin refused to use his Oracle magic to help me with lessons.

Keeping Lilith in this eternal combat cycle against a fake me is mentally taxing, but my magical reserves are far from depleted.

After looking towards the castle, Steven nodded. It seems he received instructions telepathically.

"Willow Park is the winner!!!" Steve declares in a loud voice.

"Cursed she-devil!!!" Lilith shouted, throwing a blue fireball at a tree after coming out of my illusion.

"Madam, the fight is over," Steve whispers in a low voice.

"What!" she exclaimed, shocked.

"You can be proud, Miss Lilith, you are strong," I say, approaching.

"Can I have my prize now?" I ask, my tone serious.

After hesitation, Lilith simply nodded before ordering Steve to bring certain objects and signaling for me and Leylin's parents to follow her.

....

Narrator's POV

"You made us waste our time," says Suu in the appearance of Leylin Blight.

"I agree with Suu this time. You took our morning for what turned out to be a scam," Huntress declares in an annoyed tone.

"I didn't force anyone to come with me on this treasure hunt. We all wanted to obtain eternal youth for the master, and no one could have known it was a fake map," Beast replies in a slightly irritated tone.

Beast thought he had the chance to obtain a treasure map at the night market, but it was a scam.

They had to face a strange creature, and Beast devoured it, but in the end, they got nothing worth the trip for three people at once.

"Did you hear that?" Huntress declares, taking her bow.

"Yes, it seems there's someone on the laboratory's training ground, but these voices are unfamiliar to me," Beast responds. He had already grabbed his axe and lamp.

"Great, I just needed to release my stress and frustration," Suu declares with an evil smile.

...

"So Wendy, what do you think of my strike?" Dipper asks, admiring the gash he made on the training dummy.

"Not bad, but watch this," she says, throwing an axe into the middle of the dummy's head, and it sticks in the ice.

"So cool!" Dipper declares, referring to both the attack and Wendy.

"Yeah, I'm really good with an axe," she says, about to throw the second axe she was holding.

"Indeed, we have guests," Beast declares, capturing Dipper with roots emerging from the ground.

(Image)

"Let him go..." Wendy wanted to intervene, but she was held back by Huntress, who targets her with a green light arrow.