Of course, Miranda wasn't the only one who had been preparing spells during our lengthy conversation. I had indulged in her listening to her stupid rambling just so I could us the time to cast my own spell.
The entire space between us froze, but Miranda was not the greatest mage for nothing. Her elemental spells tore through my ice, the arcane projectiles bursting free of their frozen restraints to continue hurtling toward me.
That was fine. I had anticipated as much and prepared a second layer of spell during all that talking. If anything, Miranda was the foolish one who wasted so much time spewing all that bullshit when she could have attacked immediately. After all, she surely had completed the casting of her spells long before I set foot into this part of her laboratory.
Without any hesitation, I launched a hail of icicles, my frozen projectiles colliding with the various elemental projectiles and exploding in blinding steam.
"That's…!" Stella exclaimed in shock when she saw the two barrages annihilate each other.
"Quality over quantity," I replied with a shrug. "You can wield all the different elements you want, but that doesn't mean anything if they possess the same power as a single elemental spell."
"You…!" Miranda growled before flinging another bombardment of elements at me, but I froze them this time.
Then Stella burst through the wall of ice and slashed at Miranda. The multi-mage reacted quickly, conjuring a wall of wind that deflected Stella's blade. The red-haired knight then dove to the ground and rolled away, deftly evading a series of webbed lightning that the black-haired mage threw in her direction. Swinging around, she then cleaved the lightning apart with her glowing blade.
Noticing the crimson glow that wreathed Stella's blade, Miranda frowned and turned to glare at me while keeping her assailant at bay with a volley of fireballs.
"A vampire knight? You have some very interesting allies." Then she began laughing, as if having realized something. "I see! So that is how it is! You survived because you sold yourself to the demons! You betrayed humanity!"
"That's…!" Stella snapped, but I interrupted her swiftly.
"Accusing me of betraying humanity?" I laughed hysterically while conjuring a bunch of icicles and trading spells with her. My ice exploded into steam as they collided against fireballs. "That's rich, coming from you! You and the rest of the party, who betrayed me! And you have the gall to judge me for treachery? Why don't you look in the mirror?"
Miranda's face contorted into rage and she hurled a fresh wave of fireballs and lightning. At the same time, she threw her other hand up to conjure a fresh wall of wind to deflect Stella's strike. I could see her perspiring from the effort, almost caught off guard by Stella's superior speed.
"I have no reason to debate the morality of betraying the whole of humanity and compare it against betraying a single individual."
"But that's how it always start, doesn't it? First, by betraying one person. Then a second person. Then a third. After all, you've already done it once. Why not more?" I ducked under a vicious wind blade and responded with an icicle. "I mean, look at how you've betrayed all these villagers! So many victims, all killed by your own hand! Is that not a greater betrayal of humanity than anything I could ever have done?"
"Stop twisting logic!"
"I'm merely stating facts. Even though I've supposedly sold myself to the demons, I haven't killed as many humans as you have. Just your mage corps, and less than ten knights who were trying to rape and murder my friend here. Statistically wise, you've done far more harm to humanity than I have!"
"Shut up!" Miranda screamed. "The sacrifices of these worthless villagers were not in vain! It's all for my research! My research will progress the development of magic and lead humanity to a better tomorrow! Unlike you, I am doing this for humanity!"
"In the end, you're just justifying your own greed and pride," Stella snarled as she sliced a few wind blades and fireballs apart. "Klein killed those knights in order to save me and the citizens of Bravia. He killed your mage corps because they were attacking me and the rest of his party. Unlike you, Klein only engaged in killing to save people. What about you? You sacrificed all those people needlessly, but who have you saved, exactly? All you did was create abominations and inflicted suffering on innocents. And you claim that you're doing this for humanity?"
Well, actually…I wasn't going to whitewash my killing as self-defense. The mage corps attacked Stella, Chris and the others (and me) because we invaded their garrison. So they actually had a good reason to attack us. Also, I killed Bradley not because I wanted to save Bravia (though that was a great outcome) but because of my desire for revenge. The same went for my assault on Herman and Irene.
I doubted Stella would listen to that, though. In any event, Miranda wasn't listening to her. She reached for something and threw a gust of wind that struck a switch. Then a wall rumbled and open.
"That's…!"
The red-haired vampire knight dove to the side and avoided getting hit by a monstrous limb. A grotesque creature limbered out and I was horrified to see that it was a hideous fusion of several people. Their human faces writhed about and contorted in the gelatinous torso, and the bloated body heaved forward. Multiple human limbs stuck out, giving the impression of insect-like legs protruding from the bulbous body.
"How is it?" Miranda crowed. "My greatest creation! The melding of thirty people into a single organism!"
"You…just how sick can you be?!" Stella screamed as she dodged and weaved about to avoid the multiple limbs from grabbing her. She swung her sword and amputated a hand and leg that lashed out to ensnare her, but the bloated monster had more to spare.
Not only that, it possessed two muscular limbs, which resembled a series of human torsos melded together into trunk-like appendages. These vine-like limbs swung about, leaving large dents in the walls and craters in the ground.
If Stella got hit by that, she would be instantly pulverized.
"Stella!"
I immediately reacted by conjuring a gigantic iceberg and hurling it at the grotesque monster to crush it. However, Miranda wasn't going to let me. With a wave of her hand, she summoned an equally colossal fireball and destroyed my iceberg. As steam rolled across the space of her lab, obscuring vision, I could hear her laughter.
"Do you really have the luxury to worry about others?" she sneered. "You should worry about yourself first! After all, your opponent is me!"
A fresh barrage of elemental projectiles tore through the scalding fog, swords of fire, arrows of rock, spears of lightning and scythes of wind descending upon me with deadly precision. I held up a hand and conjured a wall of ice.
Boom!
I could feel the reverberations as Miranda's spells hammered my barrier and shattered it. Dodging the shrapnel of frost, I dove to the side and rolled to my feet to fire off another onslaught of icicles at the multi-mage.
"It's useless!" Miranda shouted and conjured a growth of vines and wood to ensnare me. I responded with another barrage of icicles that shredded the vines and growing foliage, moving swiftly across the armory to take cover.
Then a twister ripped the shelf that I was cowering behind, engulfing the weapons and equipment on it in a maelstrom of destruction. Diving to the side to avoid getting sucked up by the mini-tornado that was now ravaging the insides of Miranda's lab, I looked up and saw her preparing another hail of elemental projectiles.
"Checkmate," she sneered.
Then the fireballs, lightning, stone and wind all converged upon me.
"You are right," I murmured, the lenses of my glasses gleaming as they reflected the flames, lightning and other elements. Pushing my hands against the ground, I grinned. "Checkmate. Absolute Zero."
"Ugh?!"
Miranda jumped back, conjuring several layers of defense, but my spell struck her and entombed her in ice. I rose unsteadily, but was knocked off my feet when the ice engulfing the multi-mage shattered. Miranda emerged, flames wreathing her body.
"Good thing I saw you using this spell earlier." She coughed, a thick layer of frost still clinging onto her skin and inhibiting her movements. "Or I wouldn't have been able to prepare a countermeasure against your ultimate ice spell!"
"Impressive." I couldn't help but be amazed, despite myself. Even though I wasn't surprised, having been aware that she was monitoring the battle against the mage corps (that was the whole reason she sacrificed them – to get an estimation of my abilities), I still didn't think she would be able to develop a countermeasure. After all, ultimate spells were no joke. Even if she knew about it, that didn't necessarily meant she could do anything about it.
The greatest mage of Havan truly deserved her reputation. I was glad I didn't underestimate her. That was why I had prepared several trump cards.
Miranda glared at me jealously, still trying to melt the ice that continued to persistently cling to her body with her flames. Her skin was an unhealthy blue and she had clearly taken quite a bit of damage from my ultimate spell.
"I can't believe it…" she snarled, her tone filled with envy. "How can someone with average talent like you be able to reach the pinnacle of magic and achieve an ultimate spell?"
My only reply was an iceberg, but though she was numb and heavily hindered by the lingering effects of my Absolute Zero, she was able to demolish the gigantic structure of ice with a slightly smaller fireball. She grimaced and ducked as deadly shrapnel of melting ice rained down on her.
"No," she mused to herself as she rolled away from the shower of half-melted ice and retaliated with a web of lightning in my direction. "So this is the difference between me, who possesses almost all elements, and someone who mastered a single element to its pinnacle. What you lack in flexibility, you more than make up for in brute force."
"I'd say that you have plenty of brute force yourself," I retorted and knocked away another barrage of stone arrows with icicles.
Miranda shook her head and prepared for another round.
*
While we dueled, Mikhail continued to watch from a distance. He gripped his mistress's experimental spear with both hands, having taken it from the rack beside the chains. Even with such a terrifying weapon currently in his possession, he didn't dare to intervene in the battle unfolding before him.
Right now, it was a magical duel between two master mages. There was no space for Mikhail to interfere at all. By going out now, he would only be walking to his death.
As such, he contented himself by silently watching from the shadows.
"Chairwoman Miranda…"
Blushing, Mikhail stared at his beloved mistress from afar. Even after receiving a hit from the ultimate ice spell, Absolute Zero, Miranda had remained confident and composed. There was no fear on her face, just dignified curiosity.
Obviously, Mikhail didn't notice the envy in Miranda's face. So blinkered was he that he completely ignored his mistress's flaws.
"The enemy might be powerful, but Chairwoman Miranda will surely prevail over him!"
He glanced at the spear in his hands. She was a genius who could craft such terrifying weapons. Of course such a foe was nothing compared to her.
Mikhail remembered the first time he studied under Miranda, and how his admiration and respect grew into infatuation…into love.
That was why he was so delighted when Miranda invited him to her bed. It was like a dream come true.
Of course, he felt panic when she extended the invitation to the other guys in the mage corps. In order to monopolize her affections…to attract her attention, he had surgically altered his face to resemble the Hero Herman. After all, he had heard the stories of how his mistress continued to carry a torch for the strongest Hero.
Not only that, Miranda had taught him everything she knew on the bed.
Blushing, Mikhail watched closely, confident that his mistress would definitely defeat these despicable intruders and crush them like the bugs they were.
*
Dodging another wave of myriad elemental spells that Miranda mercilessly fired upon me, I cast my ultimate spell once more.
"Absolute Zero!"
"As if I'll let you!"
Miranda swiftly cast a spell, using wind magic to knock another switch. To my utmost surprise, something heavy crashed down upon me.
"Ugh?! What is this…?"
Struggling under the tremendous weight, I found myself bound by heavy, black chains.
"These chains…!"
They were the ones that Miranda was boasting about earlier. The weapon that emitted the ominous sense of danger. And now my premonition had come true.
My magic…my spell vanished. My casting of Absolute Zero was disrupted.
"Ah, I should introduce you to my finest masterpiece." Miranda strolled toward me with a grin. "Like I told you earlier, I managed to engrave runes into it so that it would replicate the same effects as the cursed spear I found piercing Herman and Irene."
"The same effects…?" I repeated, my eyes wide. As if savoring my despair, Miranda nodded.
"That's right. These are the Chains of Void that I have created. And they have the ability to seal the magic of a mage."