Ivan extracted the fluids from a nearby Apostle, launching it forward as Yue followed up and hit it with her spell.
"Rupture." With the utterance of her lips the blood, sweat, and liquidized mana in the liquids Ivan threw at Ehit condensed into a high pressure blade of liquid, soaring through the air as it intended to cleave Ehit in half.
"Hmph" Ehit only snorted as with his right hand the liquids froze into solid ice, where it was immediately shattered by his left fist afterword.
"!" He turned around swiftly as a set of claws narrowly missed where his head had been.
"Tch!" Felis clicked her tongue before retreating back into the mob of apostles, sure she was currently occupied by the sheer amount of them but she wasn't going to miss an opportunity when she saw one.
"Ars Magna!"
Time came to a halt for everyone other than Ivan and Ehit, even the golems seemed to freeze in place as the color of the world seemed to bleed out from the two's visions.
"Hmm, hearing it from my servants has done this amalgamation no justice." Ehit grimaced as he felt an intense pressure weigh down on his body. Having experienced Ars Magna for the first time, he had to admit he underestimated it even after hearing his apostles' words.
"While I'd love to do everything in my power to kill you here and now I promised my girls that they'd be the ones to kill you soooo…. For now I'm just going to need you to let me beat you half to death."
Ivan cracked his knuckles and took a few steps forward, his knees arching as he suddenly began to ascend as if he were climbing stairs. Now looking down at Ehit, he didn't care if his smirk was hidden by his helmet.
"Neat trick, but in the end that's all this is. Concept magic has always intrigued me, yet its system still eludes me to this day. A power based on feelings? What a joke. If magic were that simple a random commoner should be able to become a proficient warrior by that logic."
Ehit paced in a circle, his arms behind his back as he slowly ascended into the sky with wind magic. Now that Tio was out of the equation, he was able to go back to the elements he had to disable because of her.
His torso burned into molten lava, his wooden head ripped apart by blades of air, his left arm crackled with a familiar electricity. And as for his feet, they too transformed into wisps of purple electricity.
All Ivan needed was to touch him a single time, Ehit knew that for sure after listening to his servants' reports. From there the boy in front of him could transform him into a piece of furniture or a snail for all he knows.
Worse yet, the Irregular may even cripple the transfer of mana into his veins, at that point Ehit would be unable to form a restoration or metamorphosis spell to save himself.
And for that he needed speed.
"...."
The silence was burnt by the sudden cackles of electricity, smoke trailed in the sky as Ehit zigzagged from place to place without ever stopping. His figure became only a flash as visages of where he remained were the only thing left.
But Ehit wasn't one to only play on the defensive.
*BANG!!!*
A combination of fire and air magic created a beam of solid flames. But with the wave of Ivan's hand the flames suddenly turned into a swarm of butterflies.
"...."
'What…?'
Even Ehit was confused as the swarm softly floated in his direction, the pattern on their wings a simple plain white as their scales glistened under the realm's sun.
"!"
His instincts kicked into overdrive, even if in the millennials he was alive he didn't personally partake in much combat, in the beginning he was a prominent mage. If he weren't he wouldn't have been able to upstart his transformation into a god.
Electricity on his left arm flared as a chain of electricity shot from one butterfly to another, the liquid in their bodies a good conductor for it to travel through.
*SLAM!*
As the butterflies exploded from the pressure, their scales floated to the ground in a gathering of smoke. It wasn't until the smoke hit the ground did Ehit notice what they were intended for.
"A powerful corrosive…"
What remained of the castle's reinforced marble flooring disintegrated within seconds, but even then the effects of the butterflies' scales didn't end there.
The pit left behind by their residue only went further and further, completely sinking to what was the core of the world.
"If that was in the real world, I'd wager that attack would have jeopardized the world more than I have should it hit the core of the world…"
Ehit muttered his feelings before holding his two hands above his head, his fingertips glowed with an ominous red glow as the sky darkened.
Trees in the distance were lit ablaze, flowers wilted, and the red grass of the Demon Land became pitch black before withering into ash.
This was Ehit's counter against anything Ivan created, the blood of any monsters would immediately evaporate from the heat.
With another snap of Ehit's fingers tornadoes appeared all around the two and only amplified the effects of the heat he created.
"If you're hoping I'd jump out of this suit because of some mere heat then you're sorely mistaken."
Ivan smudged his two fingers together as dust flew from his hand. Small and unperceivable to the normal human eye, for a god like Ehit who had configured his body to detect movements in the airflow, they were just about visible enough for him to see.
Termites, tiny termites with a body made of white stone. They burrowed into the ground and disappeared from the face of the surface.
"What can they do? I'm in the air you fool!"
His arms combined together as his body grew several times larger, consuming the flames and heat of the nearby area.
And then— the termites struck.
They burrowed into his body without facing any resistance. Tearing away into him like he was a delicious slice of ham. They chewed and chewed, bit away at the insides of his body from top to bottom.
"You filthy insects!" Ehit flared in rage as his entire body became ice. If burning the stone termite golems wasn't going to work then he'd freeze them and push them outside his body.
But Ivan moved in.
"Rah!"
With a charge he swiped toward Ehit. Ehit looked up for a moment before shrinking his body back to what it had used to be. In his larger form he only existed as a big target, so the logical thing to him was shrinking down.
Ivan's hands only met air, his palms glowing a sky blue as they sparked with an electricity that matched their color.
That's when Ehit made a mistake and allowed his waist to be touched by him. Immediately Ehit melted off the bottom half of his body, shooting himself backwards in a flash of lighting as the lower half of his body disintegrated into dust.
"Argh…"
Ivan held his heart for a second, the apostle core kept his mana filled but his body on the outside was getting strained by the constant flow of its juice to his heart.
"Ars Magna!"
Coming to a decision, Ivan signed before putting his hands into the air. He deactivated his spell as the world around them shattered. The great dragon in the sky, apostles alive and dead, and his comrades came back into existence as time came back to the world.
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I had to write this hastily after returning from the cemetery for the death anniversary for someone who was once important to me. Suffice to say, screw summer! I stood there for a few hours in the blistering heat, my shirt sticking to my back as all manner of critters swarmed around me. Even had a close encounter with a wasp, screw those things too.
So, thanks for reading. Have a great evening folks. Even now I write with a sweat sticking shirt. Absolutely disgusting... See you guys next time, ciao~!
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