Lord Hadrian had been systematically increasing the power behind his spells. At that moment, he had just cast his strongest non-trump card move at Barda, in a bid to test the younger mage's determination.
Few could withstand this move, let alone overcome it. It was not something the Arch-Mage cast regularly, and it put a lot of strain in his concentration.
The first thing Barda felt was a huge explosion of Magical Energy. Part of the reason Barda was not worried about this man was that the power he detected from the Arch-Mage was not completely overbearing.
From what he could detect from the Arch-Mage, the man may have been powerful, but was still well within manageable limits. Barda was no longer confident with that.
If one could equate the mana given off by Lord Hadrian to a bomb, previously, he had felt more like a block of c4. Now he felt more like a thermo-nuclear bomb.
This instantly activated every alarm in Barda's head. Suddenly, he felt as though he had gambled more than he could handle.
The next moment, Barda's power exploded. He instantly activated 100%! Everything he had. Even then, he didn't think this was enough, but what the hell. Maximum effort, right.
Secondly, he channeled 50% of his Magical Energy around his body, making his Magical Energy become armor. No way he would face the incoming threat bare-skinned.
Lord Hadrian was not slacking either. Suddenly, the 7 tentacle-like tree trunks started multiplying. 7 turned 21, 21 turned 63, 63 became 189.
They all turned their attention on Barda, covering every action and opportunity. Barda had no escape route. Not only that but Lord Hadrian left Barda no wriggle room. Even if Barda could defend against some attacks, not all 189 of them.
[No optimal escape route found. Calculating counter-measures now.]
Watching the oncoming assault, Barda conjured 2 massive gauntlets, each with 25% of his Magical Energy. If he couldn't dodge his way out, he would punch his way through.
Barda had advanced Artificial Intelligence that could run an entire fleet. He had loaded several kinds of combat capabilities, including hand-to-hand fighting and mixed martial arts.
Moreover, he had the type of body that could shame the best gymnasts in terms of agility and dexterity. He could move and turn in ways that made it seem as though he was walking on air.
Just before the first contact between the gauntlet and the tree-trunk, Barda noticed that the tips had chanced. They now had sharp metal edges, like spears. However, this did not change Barda's fighting style.
The tree-trunks moved so fast that they left mini sonic booms in their wake. This was not the worst of it. Arabella realized that they were also creating tears in the very fabric of space. Essentially, they were forming spatial tears. It looked like space had become wounded.
The only explanation for this was if the tree-trunks were so heavily imbued with magic that they tore anything that stood in its way.
A very worried look flashed over Arabella's face as she watched the fight. Even she wasn't sure she could tank such an attack. If just one tentacle could do that, then how about the relentless onslaught of 189 of them.
From what she could tell, Lord Hadrian could summon more tentacles, but he would not be as effective. He seemed to struggle as well. Being able to perfectly control that many tentacles and maintain one's cool was too much of a task to ask anyone, even the mighty Arch-Mage.
The moment the fist landed on a tentacle, it completely consumed the Magical Energy on the gauntlet and even the armor around the knuckles, causing Barda to take damage from the attack.
The spatial tear caused by the tentacle's tip was so powerful that it easily broke through Barda's skin around his knuckles as well. For the first time, Barda had been wounded in a fight. Since this was a spatial tear, the skin was not healing as it was used to.
However, instead of smiling, both Lord Hadrian and Arabella had shocked expressions on their faces. The reason was simple. While Barda may have taken quite a hit, his strike had disintegrated the entire tree trunk.
The next moment his fist was in the air again, going for another tentacle. Barda was also regenerating the gauntlets. Having seen the uselessness of the armor he had wrapped around himself, he directed the power to the gauntlets, that way he could keep doing the damage.
Barda did not stop. Relentless, he struck at another tip and the next. He would take out a tentacle with every strike. Moreover, despite not using magic at all, no tentacle could get within Barda's arms' length. However, with every strike, a part of him was torn out.
Thing is, Barda's wounds heal almost instantaneously, but on this occasion, they stayed wounded.
The tentacle's movements left spatial tears that acted like a spider's web silks. These, in turn, entangled Barda further, aggravating his injuries all the more. If Barda kept this up, he would be dead in the water.
By now, Lord Hadrian was all the more impressed. He was no longer shocked. Since he had dared to attack Barda with this move, he suspected Barda could handle it. Now seeing his suspicions confirmed, he could only smile.
Barda admired this attack very much, and by all accounts, Lord Hadrian had proven to be a formidable opponent. However, he had a glaring weakness. Having focused on magic all his life, he had little to no fighting skills, which Barda was going to maximize on.
The first exchanges were just to show him what he could or could not do in the match. He could punch his way out, but he would take damage. He couldn't tank the spatial tears that were now being weaved around him by more than 150 tentacles.
The next few moves would make the biggest change, and Barda had just the thing for that. Nothing fancy, just his AI. After engaging with the tentacles, Barda had already mapped out the tentacular movement.
He realized he did not need to take out all of them, just to carve a way through them and get close enough. Then he'd show this guy what's for.
The same software used to track afterburners in jets was used to track the spatial cracks left in the wake. Barda bobbed and weaved his way through the entrapment.
It was almost magical how he did it, but he would manage to get out of the way of an incoming attack, either by dodging or fisting the tentacle. At his rate, he could shame a parkour expert as he somersaulted his way through the spatial tears.
He started 132 meters away from his target. With every step, he got closer and closer until he was standing 25 meters. That was as closed as he would get. By now, only the white of his knuckles could be seen, and some fingers had been lobbed off.
100% Power output was also no joke, especially in the legs of a super-android that's about to pounce on his prey. In a single breath, Barda had closed the distance between him and his prey.
One thing he had discovered was that he was no match for his opponent when it came to magic, not by a long shot. However, a mage's weakness was their body, if you could get close...
Barda's fist was ready to demolish the man when all of a sudden:
A blinding light followed by a high pitched sound assaulted Barda's censors. It was as though something was manifesting right before him, which ended up swallowing Barda up.
The next moment, nothing. No sensory input. He couldn't even tell whether he was standing or suspended somewhere.
Barda lasted in this condition for an unknown amount of time, which was quite shocking. Even though he had lost track of external time, his internal clock should be running, but all it showed was the number e, as in, Euler Number. This is math's irrational number. Essentially meaning nothing.
From a distance, he saw light, barely noticeable. Then it suddenly rushed up at him. Instantly, he found himself lying on a couch. Opposite him was another guy, but the thing about this guy was that he was yelling at a TV. He was watching a soccer game.
"Oh, you're awake, finally," the man said when he noticed Barda looking at him. "The guy who almost snuffed my wizard, or is it mage?"
As he was sitting up, the man passed some pizza that was on the table, "want some, it's peperoni?"