Unless they were supported and protected, high-level magicians did not recklessly use their strongest spells. In order to invoke high-level magic, one would need to use a lot of mana, and the casting time would inevitably be long as a result.

This was the reason why the speed of spell arrangement and the technique used to invoke magic was important during duels between two magicians at a similar level.

The magical duel between Desir and Dracul was intense.

[Blood Beast]

[Sigh of Kizard]

The speed of their spell arrangements was neck and neck.

As a blood-red beast opened its gigantic mouth and rushed towards Desir, a circular ice shield materialized in front of him.

*Crashhh*

The beast was not able to penetrate the shield and returned to being a blob of blood.

Dracul invoked two spells one after another, as if anticipating that Desir would be able to defend against the first one.

[Blood Explosion]

[Red Edge]

After the blood exploded and flew in all directions, it rejoined into one puddle due to her second spell and rained down.

However, Desir had long jumped out of the way.

*Craaashh*

Being able to read the flow of her mana and deal with the spells before they even formed almost looked like a precognitive ability.

Although Desir was managing the situation, he didn’t seem too happy at the moment.

A magical duel.

Desir felt quite confident that he wouldn’t lose to anyone during a one-on-one magical duel.

His ability to invert and neutralize, even before his opponent could invoke a spell, made him a magician’s natural enemy.

But the situation he found himself in was different.

“You’re very determined.”

“This is a gift I prepared for you. I do hope you like it. I put so much work into this. If you were able to handle it easily, I would’ve been quite upset.”

She contorted the spell arrays that she was invoking.

Her spell arrays were getting drastically twisted and deformed, obviously in preparation for Desir’s inversion techniques, but what she did was completely overkill.

Other than the basic spell techniques that could barely be modified, she contorted all of her other spells two to threefold. It was difficult to even figure out the original form of the spells, based on their grotesque manifestation.

‘Even so, she’s only at the Sixth-Circle level. If I just focus on inverting those spells, I should still be able to pull it off.’

*Craashh*

Desir was not able to focus on just the inversion. He had to focus on every little detail in a magical duel.

[Blood Tail]

It was very fortunate that Runel was there to support him.

It moved around Desir at high speed, defending him from the whips that flooded their way, thereby buying Desir some valuable spell calculation time.

When the blood whip bounced back, it split into two whips and attacked Desir from the front and the back. Desir’s spell was barely completed in time.

[Gravity Control]

Third-Circle gravity magic.

The effect of a spell that manipulated the effects of gravity. The whips that were about to take shape again were pinned to the ground due to the overwhelmingly strong gravitational pull.

[Iron-Blood Thorn]

A drop of red blood turned black.

*Crraacck*

It solidified into an iron-like form.

Due to the protracted length of this battle, blood had been scattered everywhere. As a result, the sheer amount of solidified blood droplets blocked most of Desir’s vision.

[Wind Bullet]

Desir invoked a wind spell and dispersed all traces of the solidified blood. The ground around him disintegrated, excluding the narrow piece of ground he was standing on.

Subsequently, Dracul invoked a spell. The scattered blood started to move once again, gathering around her.

Her actions had started to reveal a pattern.

This was the preparation stage of her spell casting cycle.

Desir used the opening in this timing to counterattack.

[Summon Lightning]

There was a pure white flash of light.

An intense arc of lightning coursed through the blood and flooded out towards her.

*Kaboom*

But there wasn’t any sort of noise, or death wail. He had clearly managed to invoke his spell before she even had the opportunity to defend herself. There was no way to avoid it.

“I’m disappointed. Is this all you’ve got?”

The voice was located behind him. Desir spun around.

A lady’s figure formed out of a puddle of blood before turning into Dracul’s figure.

“Splash… ?”

Fourth-Circle water magic.

It was a spell where one could liquidate themselves and neutralize an enemy’s attack.

‘No, it’s a step ahead of that level of magic.’

At that moment, she opened her mouth.

“Apologies. I started to get a little bit bored.”

The spell that was invoked was clearly different from the spells she had deployed until now.

The amount of mana that was gathered was on an entirely different level.

[Out Blood Break]

Dozens of spheres, consisting entirely of blood, formed at the same time.

Desir’s eyes narrowed.

Seeing this, Dracul laughed cheerfully.

“You were mistaken about something. You secretly judged that I wouldn’t be able to arrange high-level spells, am I correct? And so you thought that you would stand a chance by using low-level spells to figure out how to invert my own, step by step. Right?”

She unhesitatingly declared something based entirely on her own conjecture. Without any hard proof, she still seemed confident in her theory on what Desir’s goal in the duel was.

The modern spell system, used by practically every mage, worked off of an algebraic, deterministic system. The stronger the spell was, the more mana would be consumed.

The limitation of that system lead Desir to believe that Dracul wouldn’t be able to arrange higher-level spells. A large amount of her mana was being siphoned off to power the mad men spell that she currently had deployed… the spell serving as the sole cause of the apocalypse outside.

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It was clear that an enormous amount of her mana had been exhausted. Yet she was still able to invoke a high-level spell. Her brows weren’t even furrowed in concentration or exertion.

Desir invoked [Fire Bolt].

At that moment, all of the scattered blood enveloped Dracul, who was still invoking her spell, forming a protective shield around her.

It was probably a defensive measure that she had consciously deployed to give her this opportunity.

However, the shock that Dracul expected did not eventuate. Desir instead smashed a nearby wall.

*Crash*

The wall had collapsed.

“… !”

Desir, who smashed the wall, fled the dueling arena.

[Wind Blast]

He invoked a wind spell at the same time.

Desir threw himself towards a building on the opposite side.

Dracul was only startled for a moment, before smiling. Desir was running away, and she loved a good hunt.

“There’s no point in escaping.”

She targeted the area outside the window.

“This is the strongest Blood Magic spell, renowned for its incredible range and scope of effect.”

The spell was complete.

Suddenly, the surrounding area was smeared in a shade of red.

It was an immense explosion of blood.

In every battlefield, it was inevitable for there to be blood everywhere. This kind of spell should have blown Desir to bits.

[Fire Storm]

However, Desir was also making his own preparations. It was a spell with the power of a typical Sixth-Circle spell. A spell that relied on the use of his new magical system, as well as the draconic language.

An intense fire storm clashed with her spell.

The windows of the surrounding buildings were blown out from the ensuing shockwave.

After invoking such a strong spell, she smiled with amusement.

“Ah, so you did have a secret move. Yes, that’s more like it.”

Desir couldn’t hear any of her words.

His head was too preoccupied with assessing his situation.

‘What principle is behind this? How in the hell is she able to use high-level spells so easily?’

The march of the mad men continued below. Even if she was a Seventh-Circle magician, there was no way she would be able to control humans with this kind of scope and invoke Sixth-Circle spells at the same time.

‘Finding out the answer would be the key to this battle.’

The reason why she could invoke spells to her heart’s content. The first step would be to analyse this.

She spoke towards Desir, who was still busy pondering.

“Sorry, Desir, but you’ll die before you figure it out. Oh, how am I going to sculpt you… ”

She did not invoke low-level spells anymore.

She invoked the highest-level spells as though everything until now was just a prelude to what would happen next.

[Crimson Sonata]

Of course, Desir didn’t stay still either.

[Paria Arunde]

Spells of the highest-level collided continuously. Enormous shockwaves rampaged through everything.

All of the surrounding environment was swept away as an aftereffect of this magical duel that had been brought to the next level.

Even the ground itself shook as the sky trembled.

Indeed, it was a battle between magicians of the highest-level.

Whenever spells collided intensely, Desir found himself increasingly cornered, forced further and further into defensive actions.

‘… I don’t have too much mana left.’

Before fighting with her, Desir had participated in two other battles and used a great quantity of spells.

For that reason, he had far less mana than usual, in what could already be considered more of a mana puddle than a pool.

‘Think. Think, Desir.’

What sets her apart from other magicians?

‘Blood.’

She was a magician who utilized blood.

However, fundamentally, the technique of normal spells and the technique of spells that relied on the property of water were not so different.

Then how was this supposed magical element, known as blood, functioning through her spells?

It had to be Imagery Magic, like Adjest’s Frozen Palace. But what was the mental image that served as her base?

Desir continued to ruminate.

He had to come up with something.

Desir was able to feel it. The trail of blood that was spread out everywhere.

Extensive spell arrays arranged themselves in front of her, aimed at Desir… who was still wrapped up in thought.

“Shit.”

The spells collided once more.

Desir suddenly looked at the building that she was standing in, realizing something.

He seized a very small amount of inspiration. Des1r Arman arrived at a conclusion.

He intended to find out the reason behind why she could just casually overuse spells.

“I have a question, Dracul.”

“Hmm? Ask away. I will consider it your last words and answer.”

He cleared his throat before posing his question.

“How many people’s blood do you have?”

—-

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ED2: Purplemen101

TLC: N/A (this could be you!)

QC: Nhan