Dodging lines of fire in the air, Cassiel once again analyzed his situation. In the state things were heading toward, if he let his guard down, it could be the end for both him and Saul.
'I need a new memory that will make him hesitate for a few seconds; the same one won't work.'
Raising one of his hands, Saul summoned several fireballs toward his opponent. When Cassiel tried to move away, Saul extended his other hand. Condensed water burst outward along with the fire, forming a hybrid impact. The shockwave crossed the entire street, erasing whole blocks of the illusion.
Cassiel was hurled against a skyscraper. The building cracked from top to base before collapsing, creating a colossal cloud of dust and shattered light. Saul fell right after, smashing through the remaining floors and driving Cassiel into the underground. The impact created a crater so large it swallowed the entire avenue.
"Aaaaahhh"
The city made of those memories was being destroyed by their fight, but as Cassiel rebuilt it whenever he used his own magic or when Saul used sheer power, it kept returning to its previous state as if it were regenerating. Approaching Cassiel's face, he touched his chin with his fingers.
"I wanted to see the same expression of fear as my father's, but you don't seem to be that type."
"He really huff… I'm not that type."
Charging magic in the center of his chest, Cassiel exploded it outward, causing an explosion that resembled a nuclear blast. While they fought, he was receiving information about dangerous things that existed in that place of memories—or a new world, which was exactly where they were. That had always been one of his focuses when fighting within someone's memories.
'These are good memories, but I still need something stronger.'
"What a crazy guy, he made an explosion at that level?"
[Pay attention to the battle.]
Both left that place trailing burns and wounds across their bodies. As they flew, they continued exchanging blows. With a kick to the chest, Saul was sent downward, piercing through the ground for several kilometers while being followed by Cassiel.
"Memory explosion."
"Explosion… I don't know, anything strong."
Not wanting to invent names anymore, he simply poured as much mana as possible into the guardian's attack. Outside, a hole opened up and several buildings began to collapse. They could regenerate, but it was still slow compared to their speed.
Both emerged almost at the same time, bloodied amid the destruction around them. Cassiel breathed heavily, part of his face burned by fire magic. Saul limped slightly, but the flow of water continued working inside him, while his wings of fire seemed weaker.
[You're starting to run low on mana, be more careful.]
'You sound like a mother.'
"Distortion of memories."
Cassiel raised his arms, forcing the illusion to its limit. The city around them began to repeat itself, buildings duplicating, streets overlapping, creating a chaotic labyrinth. Saul closed his eyes for a moment, feeling as if his memories were trying to pull him back to some place.
'No, it's not pulling me back, it's more forward—and it's not mine.'
'A rope?'
Cassiel suddenly became confused when a rope appeared in his hands. But when it connected to Saul's neck, he fully took advantage of it and gave a pull, dragging him upward.
'It seems there's a third trauma, but I still can't unlock it, so this will have to do for now.'
He created a blade in his hand meant to erase memories. Swinging it downward, he almost struck Saul, who dodged by a narrow margin when he opened his eyes. When he saw the ropes in his hands, a small memory unlocked—someone hanging from the ceiling with a rope around their neck.
"What?"
With an irritated expression, the wings of fire retracted. The fire concentrated in the core of his body, while the water spun around it like a perfect circuit. When he leaped, the air split in two and a punch came down from above, a descending impact that mixed absolute heat and liquid pressure toward the guardian.
'Damn, this is dangerous.'
Cassiel tried to use Expulsion; the attack shot quickly toward Saul but was torn in half. Saul's punch struck Cassiel's chest and drove him to the center of the illusory city.
"AAAAAAHHHH"
The final impact destroyed everything. Buildings evaporated, streets vanished, cars dissolved into light. The memory magic collapsed, and the scenery began to dissolve like shattered glass.
"Cough! Cough! Cough!"
Cassiel fell to his knees, coughing blood and luminous fragments. Saul remained standing before him, the crimson armor cracked, water flowing like vapor, and around them the illusion crumbled in silence.
"I'm going to kill this bastard."
[You idiot, you literally don't even have mana left because of that attack.]
Before any other movement from Saul could happen, the light went out completely, marking the end of that memory. His memories returned to his head all at once, making him feel a splitting headache.
"Ugh…"
Grabbing his head, his appearance returned to Enrico's. Breathing deeply, he saw Cassiel with a small smile before disappearing. It seemed that even though he had died, he liked the place he saw.
'Really, even though they were an illusion.'
[As you said, your self at that age is a lunatic.]
'I didn't say I was a lunatic.'
[And that thing about your identity as Kael being even crazier—that's a lie to me.]
'Hey, he is; it's just that his level wasn't that high back then.'
What he was saying was a complete lie; he simply didn't want to admit, for some reason, that he was like that.
[Don't tell me you're embarrassed.]
'…okay, I admit it, just a little, because I had my reasons to be that way back then.'
Since the system wouldn't stop talking, he decided to ignore the rest. It was good that he had returned to normal, because now he could go back to not caring about his past. He really had already moved on, but this thing of regressing his feelings and memories was very dangerous.
"Lord Enrico, are you all right? As soon as we stepped into the zone, you disappeared."
When the rest of the zone vanished, Narisse—who had been searching the area for him—appeared in front of him, surprised. Though it might have been him who appeared in front of her. Elowyn approached as well, seeing that he was injured but fine.
"So we won."
"What confidence. Yes, I won—now it just depends on you, Successor."
"Yes, and of course I will win."
With those words, everyone immediately moved on to the next room thanks to Enrico's presence. Along the way, he answered questions about how the fight went, of course keeping some things secret.
'How exhausting, I just want to get out of here.'
Even though he wore the same calm smile as always and patiently explained everything, honestly he felt more tired than ever. His opponent had truly been irritating.
'Only one left, and I'll be able to leave this place.'