While it is true that being a mage is a asure of how much mana an individual can bend to their own will, it is only one of the most important aspects of becoming a mage, and arguably, there is one aspect that stands even above this.
The imnsity of one’s own will.
The very reason as to why, despite seeing dea battered and wounded from all of her offensives, Venica still couldn’t help but feel like she was the one defeated in this battle between two mages, the very reason as to why she wants nothing more than to end her opponent’s- no, her enemy’s life right now.
"Fufu~~ hihihi!! So what if you blocked one!?? How long will you be able to keep it up!!?"
She scread in madness as she swung her stave once again, this ti, with both urgency and anger, a magic circle forming before the Wind Blade shoots forward, imdiately being followed by yet another icicle as she casts spells to no end, making sure that her opponent will no longer be able to defend again.
Venica smiles, as this ti, dea can no longer move, the blade stuck in that upward slash as if she can no longer bring her arm back down, her trembling knees finally giving out as she began falling to the ground.
Even dea herself felt it; she could no longer block the oncoming attacks.
Or rather, she no longer needs to.
Ice lted, and wind dissipated as a raging fla devours them both, and before the lady could even fall to the ground, she felt an arm supporting her from the back, a large, warm hand on her shoulder, grasping her quite firmly before letting itself loose, as if the very owner of the hand broke his composure before recovering it just as quickly.
"Novus... you’re... late... fufu~~~"
Despite the pain eating through her body and mind, dea still musters a smile as she gathers strength to reach her hand up, gently caressing the young man’s cheeks as if she’s checking it out of interest, that faint, teasing smile on her lips never fading as her fingers leave a trail of blood on his face.
"..."
Novus just watched, his heart beating fast and loud without him knowing why, his chest heaving quite heavily for a mont before he pressed down on the heavy feeling welling up from the depths of his being, a foreign yet all too unpleasant feeling that he couldn’t put his fingers on.
Being as gentle as he could, he stood up, taking the blade still tightly held by her hand, carrying it along with her, all while making sure that the lady he was currently carrying in his arms wouldn’t suffer any more pain from her injuries at all.
As he stood up, he then turned around, walking slowly and taking his ti just so he could avoid her getting hurt.
It is also right at this mont that the steam created from his fireball devouring both the icicles and the Wind Blade cast by dea’s opponent finally settles down, allowing said opponent to see the perpetrator of her attack failing to land on her target.
Seeing that figure and recalling his clearly provoking words at her previously, Venica instinctively knew who this person was, his arrival causing her to gnash her teeth as she opened her lips, all while raising her stave-wielding arms.
"You... where do you think you’re goi—"
Venica once again used her stave to cast another spell as she saw the male student, the descendant of the Argenta Family, interfering with her battle. This ti, she couldn’t help but feel all the more enraged with her attack failing to kill dea yet again, but before she could even finish her sentence and the spell she was trying to cast, she felt it.
Shivers run down her entire spine, spreading through her entire body and making all her hairs stand at their very ends.
Her heart starts beating fast, faster than it ever did before; her body trembles, and her knee shakes, forcing her to collapse to the ground before she completely freezes.
Panting, no longer from excitent but rather from sheer, absolute terror, she saw it with her own two eyes.
With his back still turned towards her, Novus turned his neck a bit so that he could let his gaze fall right into her, the perpetrator who gave his teammate, who gave dea, such injuries.
It was a cold, cold gaze, as if she were staring at the abyss itself.
But this abyss doesn’t want to just gaze back at her; no, this abyss wants nothing more than to tear her apart into the smallest of shreds and devour her entire being whole.
While she still feels it difficult to breathe, the triple elental mage just watched there, scared, frozen as the young man brought her target away from the fight, each step he took making her think that it is resounding through her head repeatedly, causing her to tremble, as if her body wants nothing more than to disappear out of this young man’s sight as soon as possible.
As soon as that imnse murderous intent dispersed around her, Venica began coughing to no end before she barfed, feeling nauseous and dizzy from that sudden, terrifying experience still freshly branded on her mind, her hand shaking as her arms struggles to support her body up, her knees still feeling weak and her entire body feeling numb, making her wonder how long is it that she was on such pathetic state.
"R-right, my controlled beasts, they should be around..." shoving the terrifying experience to the back of her mind to gather even just a semblance of calmness for herself, she mutters as she struggles to stand, nearly falling back down a couple of tis before she eventually manages to bring herself back up.
"W-What!!? Where??"
"W-w-where a-are they??"
She tried to call for them several tis, but to no avail, causing her to snap out those words stuttering, her teeth gnashed in frustration as she felt like instead of having an easy ti capturing a high priority target of the laboratory, she just kicked an iron plating instead, and not even a normal one but instead one that is not only spiked, but laced with poison as well.
After slowly, strugglingly walking for a while, she finally found what she was searching for.
Her gaze was wide, and her mouth fell agape.
Her fight with the Sword Princess took all the focus she had, hence the reason as to why the beasts, from which she can normally acquire information, were completely cut off from her mind, said beasts given only one order that they will carry out to the best of their abilities before she lets them rampage free.
’Cripple the brat, as brutally as you all can, take his limbs and all, but make sure he’s alive.’
That is the exact order that she had given to her controlled beasts before she went off to fight against the blade-wielder, but from the looks of it, that order wasn’t accomplished at all.
In fact, the opposite happened instead.
The first thing that she noticed was the sll, so utterly repugnant as a mixture of blood and burnt flesh stings her nose, that foul odor allowing her to trace its source, and there, she saw it.
Amalgamation of torn, severed, and battered flesh is strewn all across the ground, blood dripping down from so of the once powerful beasts as their dead body hang upon tall trees, so of them not even having any semblance of being a living being at all, as they went completely scorched, their only remains re ashes that they were reduced into.
Seeing such a ruthless sight, she can think of nothing but one word to describe it with, the very sa word that escapes her mouth the next mont.
"Monster..."
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