As far as Lieren knew, Invisible Abjuration was his only spell. It was his most precious achievement, created in the midst of a deadly battle and pure desperation. It was his prized creation, born both from his boundless curiosity and burning will.
While he did not heighten his mastery in it as much as he should have, he was incredibly proud of his sole spell. As well as his recent development of its strongest application, where he pushed the limits of his control over wild mana as much as he could. It was an inevitable, sure-fire technique that he had touted as invincible…
Until now.
With a torturous grimace on her ivory face, Master Feng began sweating bullets as she struggled to contain… deflect?... the twin set invisible arrows with her open right hand. Her exposed palm began bleeding profusely as the damage flowed down her arm in a series of smooth, curved lines that encompassed her entire forearm like some kind of elegant tattoo. Fresh blood flowed down her arm like a morbid fountain, and she visibly tensed up from the resulting pain that the spell inflicted on her.
Lieren frowned.
'That shouldn't be happening.'
By nature, Invisible Abjuration was a spell that was based on an arrow, alike his Aegis' own, except much less powerful and poorly crafted. The key point of it, as well as it's deadliest aspect, was the special effect he had imbued each shot with.
Which was not what was afflicting Master Feng currently. The spell relied on piercing its opponents and expanding inwards very quickly, imitating an explosion. The complete opposite of Harita's Fallen Valor — the spell he had based off his own. What was happening right is completely outside of his expectations.
And thus, he could do nothing but watch. Standing up with a shaky and unstable step, he let out a pained groan and clutched his side, circulating Fortification within it and reducing the strain he had to bear. He could only hope that his ribs and spine weren't damaged during the crash.
Sucking in a breath, he watched intently as his most powerful spell is resisted and contained by the blind woman's calloused hand.
The worst was yet to come.
Narrowing his eyes, Lieren waited and counted, until finally…
The invisible set of twin arrows exploded.
Frowning and gritting her teeth, Master Feng clutched the arrow as it rapidly expanded, containing the explosive property of it. More elegant and curved lines appeared on her forearm and ran up past her elbow and into her arm, hidden behind her simple robe's sleeve. It didn't stop there, though.
Sneaking up her shoulder was the similar set of curved lines, reaching all the way to her neck... well, almost. Before it could reach her neck and drown her in her own blood, the bleeding curved slits stooped just a few centimeters shy of her slender neck.
"…!!" Lieren's eyes shot wide open.
In her bloody, closed, and maimed fist was the last vestiges of his wild mana, barely existent as his spell disintegrated under her superior power. The blind woman's grey eyes seemed to glimmer with a hint of menace, lunacy, and loathing. There was an extremely pained expression on her ivory face.
He gritted his teeth and stifled a seething scream. This was the worst possible outcome.
He had overestimated himself once again. Just like that time in the forest, during his first hunt.
Even after all he'd done to change…
'No, that's not it.'
Glaring at the blind woman with burning fury, Lieren's blue eyes glimmered with magical light. He had dealt considerable damage to her, a feat he had never expected to be able to accomplish with his current strength, if ever at all. That fact alone was worth celebrating… just not right now.
He still needed to win… somehow. Victory was so close, he could practically taste it.
"Invisible Abjuration."
Gritting his teeth and relaxing his shoulders, he shot forth two more invisible arrows; one aimed at her shoulder, the other her left abdomen. Pushing mana to his legs and hips, he dashed away from his current position and hid behind numerous steps, then masked his mana signature by increasing the density of his Resistance, and held his breath.
His mind rushed as fast as a galloping horse as he reviewed his current situation: 'She's heavily injured and profusely bleeding, so her reaction time and thinking speed should be considerably reduced. I don't know how she keeps finding me while being blind, but I theorize it must have to do with my mana signature. Or simply, my lack thereof. With my Resistance's density increased, my mana signature should be completely masked and hidden, away from whatever means of detection that she has…'
Just as he was thinking that, a wave of mana washed over him from below. It was smooth and even, the person casting it in complete control of their own internal and external mana control. A cold shiver ran down his spine like a frozen elemental's grip.
He had been found.
"So, that's what it was…"
Of course, why hadn't he thought of it?
Immediately dashing away from his hiding spot, he grimaced as the air was cut by an invisible wind. Despite knowing what already awaited him, Lieren glanced back surreptitiously and furrowed his brows.
Master Feng was there, with her hand slicing empty air as a pained grimace found it way onto her ivory face. She was incredibly infuriated, that was for sure.
Feeling a cold sensation permeate his entire body like a freezing waterfall had just befallen him, he pushed even more wild mana through his channels and increased his speed by a marginal amount. Even his augmented body has its limits. If he wanted to heighten his augmentation capacity, he would need to work on the physical aspects of his body instead of magical.
Still, even that marginal amount of a boost was substantial to his survival. Even if it only let him be ahead by a fraction of a step.
…And then, just as he dreaded it the most, he felt her presence upon him. Even though he had masked his presence by a considerable amount!
Master Feng's furious face was seething with blind rage at this point. Her entire right arm was profusely bleeding, and despite her conscious attempt to stop it with Fortification, crimson liquid was still dripping from her robe. Especially with the extraneous activity she was doing. The wounds weren't bound to close at any second.
And that was exactly what he aimed for.
Concentrating his accumulated wild mana in his eyes, Lieren glared at the blind woman a couple of steps away from him and chanted:
"Invisible Abjuration: Maxima."
"…!!" Instantly as he said so, Master Feng immediately tensed up and concentrated mana into her arms and legs, and offered up her left arm. She was intending to block the spell by sacrificing her left arm this time.
But it had been for naught.
Lieren grinned and glanced at her exposed legs.
She gnarled viciously: "You…!!"
The chant had been a fake, and the real one was now coming for her unfortified appendages.
Before she could react in time to his risky bluff, Lieren had already fired his spell.
"Invisible Abjuration: Libera."