■ Head-to-Head □
The Beautiful Girl Mask was the first to move.
As she swung the sabers she held in both hands, nine streams of water surged from beneath the pavement blocks of the square.
Writhing like snakes, they flicked their watery tongues and immediately charged toward me.
Kwaaaaaaah!
An overwhelming mass attack.
The sheer volume of water itself was no different from a massive blunt weapon.
I hastily evaded by ejecting wind from my feet and used a probing technique called “Flower Wind Raging Waves.”
As dozens of fist winds flew toward the Beautiful Girl Mask, one of the nine water pillars transformed into an elliptical shape to block the attack.
Offense and defense as one.
Among the water magic I had seen so far, excluding the “Wrath of the Ocean” that Baron Louis von Betendorf had declined, this seemed to be the highest-tier magic.
She demonstrated three-dimensional movement by stepping on the water streams that stretched high into the sky.
Instead of flying like me, she created footholds she could control at will.
It was a combat style similar to that of Ginger, the vampire knight I had seen at the Dragon Mountain martial arts tournament.
Using the explosive physical abilities unique to an Aura Master, the Beautiful Girl Mask reached right in front of me in an instant and swung her twin swords.
I countered with wind-wrapped dual hands.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Despite being bare hands against steel, I maintained a fairly equal balance.
This was the power of the Whirlwind Bone Technique, which turned my entire body into a weapon.
Perhaps thinking that I was quite skilled in martial arts for a mage, the Beautiful Girl Mask clicked her tongue slightly and launched a spinning back kick.
I dodged the leg that flew in with a clean trajectory and used the wind as a propellant to charge forward in an instant.
“……!”
Perhaps not expecting me to charge first, the Beautiful Girl Mask looked slightly surprised before hurriedly swinging her sword.
A downward slash from the upper right.
Using the principles of the Four Heavenly Roots, I wrapped my arm around the sword and deflected it outward.
Since it was a counter using her own strength, the Beautiful Girl Mask had no choice but to be pulled in the direction I guided.
I then thrust my shoulder, concentrated with wind mana, toward her exposed body.
‘Wind, Forest, Fire, Mountain’
“Kyaak!”
The Beautiful Girl Mask, struck by the devastating Iron Mountain Strike, was sent flying backward with a delicate scream.
Seeing this, the citizens gathered in the square expressed their concern.
“Don’t lose! Beautiful Girl Mask!”
“Beautiful Girl Mask! Win!”
“Hang in there! Beautiful Girl Mask!”
A one-sided outpouring of support.
With this, I somehow felt like the villain.
Feeling a mix of emotions, I adjusted the surrounding air pressure.
‘Thousand Miles, Same Wind’
Then, hundreds of wind arrows flew to pierce the Beautiful Girl Mask.
But she quickly regained her composure, overlapped the hilts of her twin swords, and began spinning them rapidly.
The rapidly rotating blades, like a windmill, deflected all the wind arrows.
Immediately after, she threw one of her swords like a boomerang.
“Kuhk!”
As I hurriedly tilted my head to dodge the attack, something unbelievable happened.
The sword I thought I had dodged suddenly bent vertically and changed its trajectory.
I knew the name of this technique.
‘Flying Sword Art!’
To think she could recreate a technique that even my master only knew in theory.
It was nothing short of terrifying talent.
Barely dodging the blade flying from behind, I quickly changed the enchanted armor I was wearing into “Lightning Dew.”
I felt the need to boost my reflexes.
Continuing to dodge the Flying Sword Art by a hair’s breadth, I sent my magical power into the sky to prepare a counterattack.
Naturally, dark clouds began to gather.
The sky, which had been clear just moments ago, was now filled with dark clouds due to the influence of my magic.
But sensing the flow of magic, the Beautiful Girl Mask neutralized the spell in an unexpected way.
She sent a massive sword aura into the sky, literally “cutting” the dark clouds.
As a result, I had no choice but to cancel the “Clear Sky Thunderbolt” I was casting, and the recoil affected my body.
“Kuhk!”
The backflow of magic caused blood to rise to my throat, but I showed no outward sign and dodged the water whip swung at me.
A back-and-forth battle.
In my unarmed state, facing weapons wrapped in aura was suicidal, so I hastily changed the direction of my body.
As my body began to plummet vertically, not only the Flying Sword Art but also six of the nine water pillars following the Beautiful Girl Mask pursued me.
Engaging in a life-and-death chase, I reached the podium where the VIPs, Ozma, Dorothea, and Barnett were seated.
“Barnett!”
As I gave the signal, Barnett, who had been waiting, rushed forward and swung her sword.
Dark Nebula Sword
‘Genesis’
A single sword strike that had once left a massive mark on the Constantinople Wall.
The dark torrent that swallowed all light instantly erased the Flying Sword Art and the Beautiful Girl Mask’s magic.
“Take this, Partarth!”
Then, catching the item Dorothea threw into the air, I immediately unwrapped the bandages on its surface.
It was a 100% pure orichalcum quarterstaff, custom-made in Nidavellir from an orichalcum ingot confiscated from Marquis Quillern’s mansion.
As a medium for magic, such an item was hard to come by.
As soon as I got the weapon, I immediately changed direction and flew toward the Beautiful Girl Mask.
Suddenly disarmed, she clicked her tongue and waved her hand.
Pat!
What emerged from her sleeve was a sharp claw.
It seemed she had prepared an emergency weapon for such situations.
Once again, the Beautiful Girl Mask and I clashed.
Kakakaakakak!
Two weapons, wrapped in different mana, collided in midair, creating a dissonant sound.
Exchanging about twenty blows in an instant, we engaged in close-quarters combat without tiring.
Fortunately, our physical abilities were similar.
In my case, my physical abilities had dramatically improved upon reaching the 7th tier, while hers were likely the result of rigorous training.
Dodging the rapid strikes of the quarterstaff, which left afterimages, she used a water whip to grab my arm.
“Hup!”
Pulling it, my body lost balance and naturally moved toward her, and the Beautiful Girl Mask aimed a middle kick at my abdomen.
“Keuhk!”
The impact, unimaginable for a human, forced all the air out of my lungs.
But gritting my teeth through the pain, I grabbed the leg that had struck my abdomen.
Suddenly having her leg grabbed, the Beautiful Girl Mask tried to shake me off, but I used all my strength to throw her body to the ground.
Penta Spell-
Wind Scattering Hail
Originally a technique that would split the ground with a massive shockwave, but now its target was a human body.
As the Beautiful Girl Mask’s body naturally fell toward the ground with added acceleration, I seized the moment and stretched out both hands.
“Howl, Gale.”
Wind wrapped around my left arm.
“Resound, Thunder.”
Electricity surged in my right arm.
Two types of mana, derived from one element, gathered at the tip of the staff.
Wind x Wind x Wind x Wind x Wind x Wind x Wind
Sevenfold Wind.
Hepta Spell-
“Storm Fury”
Storm Fury was an upgraded version of the combined magic of Majestic Wind and Clear Sky Thunderbolt.
The storm and lightning raging within a certain space would never stop attacking until the target’s life was extinguished.
And the body of the Beautiful Girl Mask, a water mage, endlessly regenerated even under such fatal wounds.
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
A horrific scream echoed through the square.
So pitiful was her scream that even those cheering for the Beautiful Girl Mask instinctively turned their heads away.
Last time, I had approached without realizing she still had magic left and accidentally let her go, but I had no intention of repeating that mistake.
Without mercy, I continued the storm’s assault.
The vacuum blades were as sharp as surgical knives, slicing human flesh paper-thin.
In that state, the skin burned by lightning would naturally feel excruciating pain.
If someone brave stepped forward, they might be able to save the Beautiful Girl Mask before their eyes.
But among the many people gathered in the square, no one stepped forward to save her from my magic.
Eventually, perhaps having exhausted all her magic, the Beautiful Girl Mask’s body stopped regenerating—
I confirmed that she was completely incapacitated and stopped the magic.
This time, I had completely subdued the Beautiful Girl Mask.
