Lord Sazar rose back to his feet as he watched the spells in front of him chaotically move about. The 'Desert Sun' and the 'Land of the Damned' spells were bouncing off the mirror surfaces in a disorderly fashion. They shot through the air like balls in an equally contested table tennis match.
Sazar's own spell had turned against him and hit him right in the stomach, inflicting pain he always thought only his opponents would ever feel. The punch acted as both a wakeup call and humbler as it slowly sunk in that his opponent this time was of a different caliber.
Lord Canning was walking towards him amidst the chaos, none of the spells affecting him in any way. His stare was like that of a hungry predator, piercing and unshifting, ready to make a kill. With each step, he looked more intimidating and fearsome, like a tiger leisurely approaching a minute-old helpless fawn.
Sazar hated the feeling of being the underdog in a match where he had more manpower and at his home ground. Wait a minute, he had support. Why did it feel like he was the one with less manpower?
He turned around to find his men spectating the fight like they had no desire to participate. So far, Sazar had been the only one to attempt an attack on the opponent and this greatly infuriated him.
"Don't just stand there you dumb cowards! Attack him!" he shouted at them.
They scuffled about, pushing each other forward until one of them received a hard slap to the back of his head from their boss.
"Continue acting like idiots and I'll make sure I kill all of you right here," Sazar warned, his killing intent laying testament to his words.
Without losing a moment, the bandits organized themselves and started conjuring their spells. Soon, a barrage of spells was about to head in Canning's direction but with one swift motion of his hand, their spells turned against them.
Sazar watched as the men got electrocuted, frozen, impaled by a plant and trapped in a water sphere respectively by their own spells. The shock could not be erased from his face, and on the faces of the bandits that were victims of their own spells.
Thanks to his keen eyesight, he had caught sight of a mirror-like thing that had appeared in front of his men at the time they were launching their spells. However, seeing something and using it to one's advantage were two opposite sides of different coins.
Lord Canning's mastery of magic had taken him to a realm that others could only dream of. Unless someone was completely out of his league, defeating him was a far-fetched wish. Canning could reflect spells up to a certain Tier, becoming an invincible foe to a wide range of mages and opponents. That invincibility was revealing itself before Sazar's eyes.
The thought that magic might not work against his opponent hit him like one of Michael Tyson's punches at his prime. Luckily, unlike the said punch, it pulled him out of his state of shock and he quickly rushed to his wagon.
The bandit that had been electrocuted managed to snap out of his electrocution. He started conjuring another spell but this time embedded his arms with it. Small blue lightning bolts were shooting from his arms, legs, and eyes with a buzzing sound. He charged forward at lightning speed towards Canning but a swift kick sent him crushing into Sazar's wagon just as quickly. The bandit crushed into the side of the wagon and fell powerlessly down.
Not a moment later, Sazar stepped out of the wagon with a matte black sword and shield. He looked at the bandit on the floor with nothing but disdain on his face. In his eyes, his men were pathetic. He shifted his eyes to focus on his enemy instead.
The shield Sazar carried was large enough to reach his chest when placed on the ground and wide enough to cover even his broad shoulders. The handle inside was covered in a leather-like material that prevented the hand from coming into direct contact with the shield when wielding it. The same material was also placed on the hilt of the sword for a similar purpose.
Unlike the shield, the sword did not have a matte appearance everywhere. Its edges had a polished like surface that made it shiny unlike the rest of its body. It was thick and long but fitting for a combatant that had the intent to deal maximum damage in slow powerful swings.
The sword and shield were the reason Sazar had delayed arriving at the campsite; he didn't think he would put them to the test so soon. With the shield in hand, he hit the water sphere in which a bandit was trapped to free him. The bandit coughed severely as he tried to catch his breath.
"Muhahaha, perfect!" Sazar elatedly shouted.
Despite the condition of his men, he cared more about his recent purchases and how effectively they worked. He touched the shield with his arm and his 'Land of the Damned' spell got dispelled. Sazar grinned as his arrogance and self-confidence drastically rose back up.
The sword and shield were anti-magic artifacts that canceled any magic within a person's body with the slightest contact. Whilst in direct contact with the black surfaces, even the strongest mage could not conjure any magic or spells. Likewise, any attack using magic that touched the surfaces would be disintegrated into nothingness immediately.
However, like every useful tool of such magnitude, size mattered. The bigger the anti-magic artifact, the bigger the spell it could disperse. What Sazar was wielding at the moment was large enough to dispel Tier 9 spells but only if the spells came into contact with the surface. The sword and shield he had were actually part of a full knight's armor from somewhere in the capital city. Anti-magic artifacts were very rare and extremely expensive, obtaining a sword and shield of such a large size would cost a fortune.
"Stay out of this you useless brats," Sazar warned the bandits.
His new toys had given him the confidence he needed to fight his enemy himself. The idea behind 'if you want a job done well then do it yourself' only applied when one egotistically thought they had enough power it seemed. Based on what he had seen, his enemy could reflect spells and use them against the caster, but that was all.
"What will he reflect if there is no magic to begin with?" Sazar thought to himself as he grinned even more maliciously.
He put his shield forward and started walking towards Canning. He couldn't wipe off the grin from his face, convincing himself the odds had tipped in his favor. As he moved forward, particles from the dissected 'Desert Sun' disappeared when they landed on his shield.