Chapter 194: The Battle Between the Seven Sages and Serie
The speed of their assault was astonishing. From the moment the barrier had been broken to their arrival at the inner sanctum of the castle, it had been a matter of mere seconds. And as the great stone doors of the council chamber were blown off their hinges, the three Sages of Destruction, and the General, finally understood.
Even Beze, the creator of the very barrier that had just been shattered, was stunned. He had felt it, of course, the moment it had been breached. But he had not expected them to be here so quickly. He had not even had time to raise a second defense.
"Tsk! What are those useless fools outside even doing!?" he cursed.
The dust cleared, and the two figures stood before them.
"Serie..."
Shurahat's face, upon seeing them, was a mask of a pure and utter dread. He stared at the cold-eyed elf, and the human beside her, and a storm of a terrible and undeniable fear raged within him. He had known they would come, but not so soon. Not like this. His eyes darted to the projection of the 'Light of Ersten' on the console before him. A tracking spell, he realized with a dawning horror. He hadn't thought...
The others... their eyes were fixed on her. The greatest mage of their age, and the greatest fear of their race.
Macht's hands stilled, and the arrogance in his eyes was replaced by a deep and profound apprehension. He could 'see' it, in his own magical vision, the sheer amount of mana that swirled around her. It was not just 'dense'. It was a veritable ocean, a roiling, churning sea of a raw and untamed power. To stand against her alone... it was a fool's errand.
"Tsk... Serie the Undertaker... her reputation is well-deserved," he murmured, all the earlier levity now gone from his voice. His own prized Golden Magic... it would be useless against her.
Fin the Undead raised his head, a look of a profound shock in his own dead eyes. And the General, Riwal, his muscles now as taut as a drawn bowstring... he, who lived for battle, who had faced a thousand dangers, he, too, could feel it, the terrifying power that was hidden beneath her small and delicate form. His own hand on his axe was now trembling.
And in that instant, a silent understanding passed between the four of them. They would have to fight her together. As for the human... though Shurahat had warned them of his power, he looked so... ordinary. The pressure from her, from the sheer, tangible weight of her mana... it was all-consuming. And Shurahat... he was the master of foresight. He could deal with the human.
The battle erupted in the next instant, without a word of warning, a storm of a pure and deadly violence.
Macht was the first to act. A thousand brilliant golden rays shot from his hands, not at her, but at the very walls and floor of the chamber. And in an instant, the entire hall was a cage of gold.
Fin unleashed a horde of a writhing, spectral claws, and Riwal, with a roar, brought his axe down upon her, a pincer attack from both sides. And Beze, he threw up his own barrier, a silent and watchful guardian, waiting for her to make her move.
It was an attack that could have felled a legend. But she was more than a legend.
She did not retreat. She took a single step forward, and a massive, three-dimensional magic shield appeared around her, a shield that shattered Macht's golden rays on contact, a shield that purified Fin's spectral claws with its own, holy light. And Riwal's axe... it struck the shield with a deafening clang, a sound of a pure and unadulterated force meeting an immovable object, and the shock of the impact nearly tore the weapon from his grasp. But the shield... it did not even waver. What is this... shield made of? he thought, his own mind reeling from the impact.
But he would not get an answer. Her own counter-attack had already begun. The silver torrent, the one that had cleared her path before, and a thousand light spears now appeared around her and shot towards them. They all threw up their own defenses, barely managing to block her attack. But the next wave was already upon them, and the next, and the next... a relentless barrage of a pure and unadulterated power. And she, by herself, was now holding all four of them at bay.
"Shurahat!"
He saw him, in the back, trying to retreat, and he was on him in an instant.
"Damn it!"
The demon, his face now a mask of a pure and utter terror, his mind unable to see the future of this strange and terrifying man, now made a desperate, last-ditch gamble. He reached for the corrupted holy sword. He needed its power, even a fraction of it.
But the moment his hand was about to touch it...
VMM!!!
The sword, at his command, rejected him, and he was thrown back by a wave of a pure and unadulterated force. And in that moment of hesitation, Rhodes was gone, a flicker of a spatial distortion in his place.
(End of chapter)
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