"Second Rank?"
Saul's heart sank. That Victor was actually a Second Rank?
Then all his previous resistance and counterattacks must’ve seed like a joke to the man.
Saul’s expression darkened.
Being toyed with like this was not a pleasant feeling.
More importantly, a stranger who was a Second Rank Wizard, disguising himself as a Second Rank Apprentice, had secretly infiltrated the Wizard Tower’s territory—what exactly was he plotting?
What could a fallen noble family possibly have that was worth a Second Rank Wizard scheming for?
Saul lowered his eyes. "If he truly was a Second Rank, he wouldn’t have been stopped by the basent’s formation. The butler’s head also wouldn’t have been enough to preserve the Bloodthorn Family’s inheritance. So he's not here for the family’s legacy."
Then the answer must lie in the soul storm just now. Only sothing as massive as that storm would be valuable enough to draw in another Second Rank—like Wizard Kira.
A soul storm was made up mostly of fragnts of the dead’s souls. Had this tiny Ralph Estate already claid so many lives?
If not for that sudden golden page, Saul probably would’ve beco one of the storm’s undead as well.
That golden page seed to have been taken in by the diary.
But now wasn't the ti to check.
Kira and Victor looked about ready to fight—Saul had to be careful not to get caught in the crossfire.
He took two steps back and bumped his heel against the fence blocking the road.
Victor, facing the imposing Kira, also stepped back twice.
He spread his hands and flashed a harmless smile. “No need to be so tense. I didn’t co here to offend the Wizard Tower or the Kema.”
Kira didn’t relax in the slightest. In fact, she seed eager to fight, as though she were itching for it.
“State your na, origin, and purpose!”
She fired off her questions bluntly—but before Victor could reply, she suddenly turned into a blur and charged forward with incredible speed.
"Let introduce myself, I'm—whoa!" Victor had barely opened his mouth when sword lights filled his vision, and a barrage of killing intent ca at him from all directions.
From Saul’s hiding spot, he couldn't even track Kira's movents. Her speed had clearly surpassed the limits of normal human endurance.
"Is this Kira really a wizard? She feels more like a warrior."
Victor, caught in the middle, barely dodged the first two strikes before shouting, “Attacking during a negotiation? That’s extrely unreasonable!”
Kira thrust forward with her sword again, replying coldly, “On my turf, I decide what’s reasonable!”
This ti, the tip of her sword unleashed an invisible wave of sword energy, piercing through Victor’s left shoulder cleanly.
Yet Victor remained calm, casually flicking the invisible sword energy with his fingers, causing it to disperse.
Though blood welled up from the wound, it stopped almost imdiately.
Kira wasn’t discouraged. With a jolt of her arms, the greatsword around her surged with invisible sword energy once more.
The energy distorted the air itself, and Saul, standing nearby, felt a stinging pain in his eyes just from the pressure.
He hastily circulated his magic to shield himself from the nearly tangible magical radiation.
Beside him, the coachman had already ducked and curled up into a ball, burying his head between his knees—a life-saving instinct honed by experience.
It was the only thing an ordinary person could do in a fight between two Second Rank Wizards.
Kira didn’t spare either of the bystanders a glance. Her twin swords, bolstered by the sword energy, were now massive like door panels—they hardly even looked like swords anymore.
Each strike ca down with the force of a raging storm.
Victor, bearing the brunt of the pressure, knew he’d be sliced to ribbons if he didn’t fight back soon.
As the enormous blade ca crashing down, Victor’s body began to tremble.
Buzz—
A low, muffled hum echoed out.
The sound rattled Saul’s mind, making his thoughts swirl. He imdiately looked up, realizing Victor was about to retaliate.
Victor raised both palms and t Kira’s sword energy head-on. At the instant of contact, the storm-like energy simply… vanished.
Kira blinked in surprise but didn’t stop. In fact, she moved even faster—her swinging arms now cutting through the air with a howling noise.
Yet no matter where her sword energy landed on Victor, it dissipated instantly—unable to do any real damage.
Kira started to get a sense of what was happening, though she hadn’t fully pieced it together yet.
Still, she wasn’t worried.
She enjoyed figuring out her opponents’ weaknesses during battle.
Saul, watching nervously from the side, was getting anxious.
"Victor’s only defending. Looks like his energy drain is way less than Kira’s. If this keeps up… will Kira be the one to run out of magic first?"
Though neither wizard was yet fighting at full force, the ground beneath them was already crumbling from the pressure.
After thinking it over, Saul narrowed his eyes and activated his ditation technique.
The scene before him changed.
Under Saul’s perception, Victor was covered in a dense, highly compressed white energy mbrane that vibrated at an intense frequency.
On the other side, Kira kept swinging her gate-sized swords, trying to pierce that mbrane.
But every ti she touched it, her sword would tremble and crack apart instantly.
From the outside, it looked as though her attacks were being neutralized the mont they touched Victor.
Saul only looked twice before his eyes began to burn, tears instantly welling up and spilling over.
He rubbed his eyes frantically while shouting, “Lady Kira! It’s a vibration! Victor’s using sound-based attacks to confuse people! And sound, at its core…”
“Is vibration!” Kira picked up on it imdiately, not being slow-witted herself.
Both Victor and Kira looked over at Saul.
Kira’s gaze was a bit surprised—she hadn’t expected him to interrupt a battle between Second Rank Wizards, even if they weren’t going all out.
Victor, on the other hand, had… a flicker of fondness in his eyes?
Startled, Saul quickly convinced himself it was just a montary blur from rubbing his eyes—he must’ve seen wrong.
“This guy’s intentions are unclear. I hope Kira can take him down quickly,” Saul silently cheered for her, especially worried that Victor might be connected to that golden page.
Kira turned back around and, with a jolt of her hands, dismissed the sword energy.
Seeing her stop, Victor smiled. “There’s no need for us to fight, really. You must be Kira, the current Duchess of Kema? What a coincidence—our nas are quite similar. I’m—”
Victor tried once again to introduce himself, but all that greeted him was another rciless blow.
While he was talking, Kira’s massive sword suddenly lted—not to grow larger but to shrink and spread across her arms.
Though it had shrunk, it looked even more solid.
At a glance, it was as if her arms themselves had turned into a pair of deadly blades.
The transformation happened in a blink, and she lunged forward again, ending Victor’s introduction attempt with a sharp thrust.
Victor dodged awkwardly once more. “Aren’t you supposed to be a noble?!”
Kira ignored him completely and kept attacking, every strike aid at a vital point.
Victor’s wounds were clearly piling up, yet he still didn’t counterattack.
That left Saul completely confused, still ready to bolt at a mont’s notice in case the fight spilled his way.
"Does he have so kind of restriction on him?"
Then, Saul saw Kira land a hit that sent Victor flying—soaring far away.
But she didn’t look satisfied.
“Fight back already!”
She was about to chase after him when Victor, still midair, flipped mid-flight and sohow landed atop the withered branch of a large tree.
From behind his back, he pulled out a harp and plucked a note.
Saul imdiately covered his ears.
But Victor’s voice still slipped through.
“What an unrefined lady,” Victor said as he strumd and softly sang.
Kira launched herself into the air.
But the mont she jumped, an invisible force smacked her back down.
“Lucky for you, I’m in a good mood today, so I won’t hold your rudeness against you. Rember my na—I am—”
BOOM!
Kira landed with both hands slamd into the earth, and just as Victor was singing away, she tore up a huge chunk of earth and stone and hurled it at the treetop.
A storm of dust and rubble exploded into the air, obscuring Saul’s view.
“I #%##￥％@&!”
Saul craned his neck, trying to get a better look, and he could just make out what seed like the usually elegant Victor… cursing?
“My na is… what again?”
(End of Chapter)
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