“I can tell you’re racking that pretty brain of yours, desperately trying to crack the code, but I’ll save you the trouble. Magic Breaker armor is modernized. All of them come standard with runic protection, but mine specifically comes equipped with two functions. First, I can control the area of runic protection and even project it to designated areas. It not only nullifies any mana in that field completely but also absorbs it, transmitting it back to the suit to be converted into energy that powers this suit. Second, I can burn mana. Bet you’ve never felt that, have you? That’s science, cleansing you of your impurities. Welcome to the future of science supremacy.”
He can nullify and absorb my mana? If that was the case, it made sense why my attacks had had no effect. Even my basic physical attacks like punches and kicks were empowered by my mana. If that was taken away, then I had no choice but to rely purely on the strength of my muscles, which might as well be nonexistent in my human form.
The other thing that’d caught my attention was the unfamiliar term he’d used in the latter half of his smug explanation. Mana burn? If it’s what it sounds like, I’ve really underestimated the threat he poses to me. It’d be one thing if he simply made me unable to use my mana; however, judging by the sensation of that halo passing through my body, his mana burn ability essentially ignited the mana in my body, making me feel like there was a string of small explosions within me.
“I hope you’ve come to realize how foolish your characterization of this suit is,” he chuckled. “Underestimating me and the power this suit grants me will be your downfall.”
I glanced at the vampire, who was smiling and amused. This must’ve been what she’d meant about “getting too burned.” If he continued to land blows on me that burned my mana, it’d only serve to leave me significantly damaged.
As both the vampire and the human had said, this was a difficult match for me in my current state. Of course, if I was in my dragon form, I could simply sneeze to defeat him, but with my human body as weak as it was, that wasn’t an option whatsoever.
However, the more important issue was related to my mana. Though, due to the limiter that’d been placed on me, my mana could only regenerate to a certain threshold, the incredible rate at which it did so had been left unchanged. A normal human most likely would have their mana pool fully burned before they could recover any of it, but as an elder dragon, my mana recovery was too fast compared to that of lesser beings. If I lost a thousand units of mana, I could essentially recover at least ten percent of that in no time at all.
If this Magic Breaker boy needed my mana to deal damage, then he essentially had an infinite amount of it at his disposal. I wanted nothing less than to get up close and personal to make sure I wiped the smug look from his face, but also, I was no fool. If I allowed myself to be close to him, that would only enable him to relentlessly attack me with his mana burn while also negating my own attacks with his mana-canceling and absorption abilities. As of right now, fighting at close range using my usual brute strength style was not wise.
At this point, I decided to try anything I could. While maintaining my distance, I punched the ground and pulled out a chunk of the arena. But no sooner had I thrown it than he stuck out his arm.
“Mana Void,” he said calmly.
In the next moment, I felt the same cold sensation and a snap as if the string connecting my mana to my spells had been severed. The shard felt heavy in my hand, and I was forced to drop it before I could even throw it. He can project the mana-cancellation field that far away from him?
I immediately put more distance between the two of us until I was at the very edge of the arena. He showed no signs of moving at all. I once again tried to pick up a rock to throw at him, but I once again felt the cold sensation of his mana cancellation. The rock made a thud as it fell to the ground. Is there no limit to his range?!
He continued holding his hand in my direction, most likely to keep the mana-cancellation field on me, ensuring that I couldn’t do anything. Then he began slowly walking forward.
This kid is cocky, approaching me so leisurely. But realistically, I knew that he had more than enough reason to be full of himself. His equipment essentially reduced me to nothing but a frail human. What utter humiliation! But if I don’t figure something out soon, he’ll continue to have the upper hand.
“You’re cornered with no mana and no tricks up your sleeve. Feel like forfeiting yet? Not that I’ll give you the chance to anymore.”
There was one last thing I hadn’t tested yet, and I very much didn’t want to resort to this. However, if I had to choose between losing and employing this strategy, then I’d prefer the latter.
From what I could tell, he’d used his left hand to deploy the mana-cancellation field and his right to burn mana. He was most likely only capable of deploying a field in an area around him or in one target area. He couldn’t make these fields in multiple areas, which meant that so long as he wasn’t projecting the field around himself, he was open for an attack.
I exhaled, assuming a stance once more. This time, I took one that mimicked the beastkin. I tilted my body sideways, broadened my legs, and raised my arms.
“Oh? Are you going back to your original plan? Are you going to try using your physical strength to beat me? Not that you have much choice, I suppose. But I commend you for putting up a final stand. Unfortunately for you though, this is checkmate.”
He threw out a punch toward me, convinced of his victory. He’d cornered me, and there was no chance of me being able to withstand his mana burn. As soon as his attack connected, I’d lose. There was no doubt in my mind. Taking that punch meant I would be defeated and wouldn’t have a chance to kill the Blade Saint. I wouldn’t be able to save my people. That was why I’d use anything I could to prevent that. Even if that meant using the martial arts that the beastkin had tried against me.
I remembered how her body had moved in relation to mine and how she’d seamlessly chained each movement to the next. I ducked down past his punch, extended my leg forward, and grabbed his arm. His eyes widened, not expecting me to use this technique, but it was already too late. I used the momentum of his punch and flipped him over straight onto his back.
From my analysis, the advantage of this technique was that even without overwhelming physical strength of your own, you could use the force and momentum of your opponent to inflict damage for you. Even though he’d been using his Mana Void on me, he couldn’t stop his own momentum, which I’d used to crash him against the ground. Of course, his armor would prevent him from taking any meaningful damage from this, but it gave me the opening I needed.
As soon as his back hit the ground, I once again felt the connection between my mana and my body. His Mana Void was gone for the moment, meaning that I was free to enact my plan. Immediately, I cast multiple spells while leaping backward.
He wasted no time and tried to negate my mana again, but it was too late. I was serious this time.
“Multicast?! How can someone like you do that?!”
His eyes widened as he was met with an entire arsenal of magic circles, all pointed at him. The sheer number of spells that I’d cast almost instantaneously must have overwhelmed him, but casting at least five or six spells simultaneously was child’s play for an elder dragon. Then again, it must be a rare sight for people in this realm, which was all the more to my advantage.
He desperately tried to negate each of them, but even if he did, it didn’t matter. The barrage of magic was solely there to keep his attention and prevent him from anticipating my main attack.
I deeply inhaled and blew out a plume of obsidian smoke that immediately filled the arena. Let’s see how you deal with not knowing where I am or any of my attacks are coming from. As he began shaking his arm everywhere in an attempt to negate whatever magic was coming toward him, he neglected to consider that the real danger wasn’t in the magic pointed at him but the impending physical damage coming right at him.
I charged up all the firepower I could muster and flew in a straight line as spells of every element shot at him. Though he successfully canceled some of them, and his armor negated the rest as they came into contact with him, he couldn’t negate the inertia of my attack. I shot at him full speed, landing a punch right in his gut, sending him flying far into the distance.
The shock wave from the blow dispelled the majority of the smoke screen, revealing only the victor of our battle left standing in the arena.
There was silence as the wolf tried to process what’d happened. But eventually, the vampire cleared her throat, snapping the wolf back to his senses.
“W-Winner: El,” he said, dumbfounded.
My lips curled into a smile. Ready or not, Blade Saint, be prepared to be torn into shreds.