Edward floated in the air as he looked at Julius opposite him.
"I'm surprised you accepted my invitation."
"I have no choice. Although you have done much for this kingdom, your curse is an issue. So, I cannot allow someone so unstable to be the Wizard King."
Edward smiled but did not reply. He guessed that the current Julius was Lucius Zogratis. And he had two reasons for finding out the truth.
One, the personality of "Julius" is a kind and benevolent man who dedicated his life to the betterment of the Clover Kingdom. With Edward's achievements, he would never oppose him for the position of Wizard King.
On the contrary, he would support him and even volunteer to find a way to remove the curse. And one point, he did ask Memory-less Edward if he could help, but the latter refused.
As for the second reason was the mana filled with negative emotions he felt inside Julius' body. Devil's mana comes from the underworld, so it is eerie and dark in nature.
Often, it is easy to distinguish their mana from other races. Now, Lucius has done a great job hiding the nature of his mana. When "Julius" personality took over the body, even Edward could not detect anything.
However, the moment the real him showed, he could not completely hide it.
"I would like for us to fight inside the Mirror Dimension. That way, no matter how much power we use, it will not affect the surrounding."
Julius immediately frowned after hearing this.
"Is there a problem?" asked Edward.
"No, but what about the broadcast?"
"It can still continue from there."
After hesitation for a moment, Julius nodded. As such, Edward took a magic item that looked like a mirror and activated it. Cracks that resembled mirrors appeared in the surroundings to swallow the two of them.
Then, they find themselves in the same forest, except everything seems to be a little darker.
"Now, we can begin."
Their Grimores floated in front of them. Edward hid the remaining 2 clover leaves from his, while Julius' Grimoire did not have a cover. Many people believe that it was how his grimoire was, but Edward knew that it was because he wanted to hide the Spades in the covers that revealed his identity as a citizen of the Spade Kingdom.
Erudite Magic: Fallen Meteor.
A dozen meteors appeared in the sky and fell on Julius. However, he quickly dodged them as if they were nothing. However, more and more of them kept falling.
At first, he decided to be careful since he knew how powerful his opponent was. So, even with his time magic, he wanted to be careful. However, after dodging a few meteors, he decided to go on the offensive.
Unfortunately for him, the forest on the ground suddenly changed into chains of volcanoes as they spewed lava balls at him. The entire forest turned red, with flames coming from the heavens and the earth.
With Julius' ability to peak at the future, he could still dodge these attacks as they were not even closed to his speed. So, no matter how many of them were there, they were useless.
In the end, he finally cast a spell.
Chrono Stasis
Numerous spheres with a ring orbiting them appeared. The spheres would catch the fallen meteors and the lava balls. And after a few seconds, they would disappear.
Julius reverted them to the time before they were converted from mana into their current shape. After catching Edward's attacks, he went on the offensive.
He created many of the spheres as they rushed toward Edward; they were extremely fast because they skipped time to travel. Som in an instant, they were in front of Julius, but they arrived in front of Edward the next.
'Time Seal and Time Acceleration,' analyzed Edward as he saw the spheres. Some of them would contain him in a time loop, reliving a moment in time continuously, while the other would instantly age any part of his body that was hit.
As the spheres approached him, countless portals appeared and teleported them back to Julius' side. Unfortunately, they did not even touch him.
'Most ordinary spells are useless to him,' thought Edward.
Erudite Magic: Gravity Increase
Erudite Magic: Light Swords.
The gravity surrounding Julius suddenly increased ten-fold. Additionally, countless swords of light appeared in the sky. He wanted to evade, but mobility became a problem for him.
Chrono Stasis Grimora
Julius's Grimoire changed pages as he cast another spell. Even more, spheres appeared around to catch the falling lights. Unfortunately, two of them still managed to stab him on his shoulders.
He crushed them with his hands before the wound returned to its original uninjured state. Even his clothes returned to normal.
"I have not seen my blood for a very long time," said Julius calmly.
"I can guarantee this will not be the first time in this battle."
While these two titans clashed, all the people of the Clover Kingdom were glued to their television to witness this legendary duel. And the experience was more than they could ever imagine.
They never thought that mages could be this powerful. Thinking about how one of these two would become their kingdom's protector, the people were thrilled.
Of course, the same cannot be said for some nobles. They knew Edward was powerful, but they also fully believed that Julius' Time Magic was his nemesis.
Now, things did not appear to be so simple.
"I very much doubt this," replied Julius.
A sphere appeared in front of him before launching a blue beam attack. The beam also seemed to skip time as it instantly arrived in front of Edward.
A portal again appeared to send it away. However, the portal closed as it was reverted to the state where it was not created, and the beam continued its travel.
It hit a shield that protected Edward; however, it was also reverted to its original state. As such, Edward had to teleport away to evade.
Another sphere appeared to divert the direction of the beam toward Edwar'ds position. So, he teleported away again. Unfortunately, the beam seemed to know the place he would teleport to next and kept following.
With a calm look, he kept evading while analyzing the situation.
'This Lucius' used of Mana Zone is quite extraordinary.'
The technique of Mana Zone in this world is similar to how Arcane Sorcerer used magic in the Empire. The main difference is that the Mana Zone is a more advanced form.
So, this technique is quite valuable to Edward.
Additionally, he realized that Mana Zone is a pseudo Magical Domain at the highest level. He wanted to create a way for Arcanists to resist the Divine Kingdoms of Gods, and the Domain is the answer he came up with.
With the Mana Zone technique, he can now create a Pseudo-Domain.
Erudite Magic: Absolute Space
An enormous cube enveloped the battlefield of these two. And immediately after appearing, Julius' beam and spheres disappeared. He was using the ambient mana in the surrounding to power up his attack.
Regrettably, Edward's Absolute Space forcibly took control of all the mana in the surroundings, preventing him from forming even the most basic spell.
Immediately, a large sphere also surrounded Julius. Inside that sphere, he reverted the ambient mana to when it was not under control.
Edward was not surprised by this outcome as he knew that his Pseudo-Domain had many flaws. The main is that mana has to exist in the environment to function correctly. He knows that not every place has mana.
He plans to combine the mana inside Arcanist's body, along with different kinds of energy in the environment, with the ability to create pocket dimensions to create an actual Domain.
He plans to go to Jujutsu Kaisen and Fate Universe to understand their Curse Energy Domains and Reality Marbles.
"It is fascinating how your Time Magic functions. Stealing other people's time, store it to use however you pleased," said Edward before raising his hand, and a small sphere appeared.
"You learned my Time Magic."
An incredible looked appeared on Julius's face. They were both shocked whether it was him or the devil Astaroth residing inside his body. Many people thought that one of the limits of Erudite Magic was in the incapability to use Time Magic since Edward could use all magics in the kingdom with that exception.
This is one reason that nobles thought Julius was his nemesis.
"Indeed I can," replied Edward. During this battle, he has been studying Julius' Time Magic. Plus, he used some secret means to read a few pages from his Grimoire.
"It's a shame that I do not have enough time stored to use it appropriately," he commented. Time Magic in this universe has restrictions, unlike back home.
You cannot use time spells without stealing time from other people and storing it. Of course, Edward could take time from his true self. However, that would reduce his life span.
Although this magic had restrictions, it also had some benefits. It reduced the consequences of playing with Time since someone essentially paid off the debts of doing so.
Essentially, the lives of countless people or 'their time" can be exchanged for avoiding the consequences of messing with time. Edward looked forward to whether this would work the same way in his universe.
So, this form of Time Magic can be considered one of the safest methods.
"Alright, since I already got what I wanted, let's get this over with."
Erudite Magic: Destruction Ball
A dark purple ball appeared in Edward's palm, containing a terrifying power that wanted to annihilate everything in its path. This was a spell he created in this world by combining all the different attributes he could use.
And to his surprise, he discovered Destruction Magic–capable of eradicating all forms of matter and energy.