As Lieren tried to recover from the shock, he reached out for his other pendant and called upon Aries' blessing, using his Resistance to keep the obfuscating magic intact and contained, even if it remained in an unstable and erratic form. Using this pendant was a significantly less monumental task, as the trinket was with him since the beginning, and required less input to employ its power.
Feeling this unstable and erratic substance take hold of his lungs, heart, and brain, Lieren shuddered a bit and swallowed the feeling, focusing on the gargantuan task in front of him:
Defeat Scorpio and usurp the Mocný famiglia.
Drawing deep breaths, he pushed the growing frustration and seeding anxiety away jumped away as a half dozen of earthen spears rose from the ground, as though trying to reach the heavens. It immediately shattered as it inevitably crashed into the ceiling, which itself had already turned into an undulating surface of shallow craters and sunken marks.
Sparing a moment's glance to the bright figure, Lieren winced as he briefly glimpsed the young man's figure, quickly looking away.
He had to get up-close to the man if he was hoping to deal any damage to Scorpio with his dagger, which was considerably difficult, considering how even looking at him felt like looking at the sun.
He was blindingly bright, and made it hard to aim. Which really ruined Lieren's signature spell, Invisible Abjuration, which required sight, vision, and a clear target to utilize…
Which left him mostly defensive, without much room to launch and offensive on Scorpio. Scorpio's old servant and Mysta had evacuated right after the battle began, leaving the room immediately after doing so. It was a relief, as it meant that people did not need to unnecessarily die.
Enhancing his tight hand, Lieren threw the same fist forward, easily crushing an earthen spear like it was a brittle branch. He did the sane to another, then another, until finally… he saw an opening in Scorpio's attacks. The man seemed to be still be siting om his chair. Though other features are still invisible, which meant that Lieren had close to none solutions to the problem at hand.
The brilliant dagger flashed for a brief second, and a pair of half-formed spears immediately broke down, its magical structure disrupted as the same spell's desired function did not come about, ruining it. Cutting through another half dozen of the same spears, Lieren set his eyes on another incoming pair — these ones sharp and focused, honed to its greatest power.
His blue eyes flashed like a pair glimmering gems.
"Invisible Abjuration: Maxima."
Tearing through the winding pair of earthen missiles with a mystifying conjoined arrow, Lieren brazed through the debris by fortifying his torso with mana and enhancing his legs. With a stubborn forward leap, he pushed on and weaved behind another dozen of lesser spears with fluid efficiency.
'…This is bad. As powerful as my wild mana may be, even I have a limit. Even closing off my channels with my Resistance and enhancing my efficiency is still not enough. Invisible Abjuration, too. Unless I concentrate the power into one shot, I won't even have a chance to meet his strongest spears — which means consuming even more mana, and lowering my limited reserves.'
His steps were like flowing water — his awareness spreading in waves all around him, the world seemingly at his grasp. His eyes looked only forward.
Not even having a chance to take a breather, he cut through another pair of greater earthen spears and glared at his adversary with dire hostility. His eyes burned with intense momentary fury, only replaced a second later with the glimmer of his spell as he let loose a dozen arrows at Scorpio's approximate location — he was too disoriented to know where the angst teenager really was, but did remember where he was when the fight started a couple of minutes ago.
"Invisible Abjuration." This time, he didn't modify the spell and used it in its normal, regular form.
As his dozen arrows disrupted the fabric of space like some kind of vile pressure, Lieren immediately closed his eyes and looked away, not able to bear the radiant light any longer. Silently, he thought:
'Please, please tell me that I hit him.'
He hoped with all his heart that the arrows would hit its mark.
Luckily, his hopes had not been dashed. With the unnatural and alien sound of space rupturing in an instant, an anguished scream filled the underground room.
Scorpio had been hit.
A furious voice bellowed like rolling thunder:
"You! You damn vermin. How dare you…?!"
"..."
'So much for being calm and collected.'
As Lieren felt the subtle shift of the earth through the soles of his shoes as the loud teenager stood up from his seat hurriedly and turned to face him with what he could only imagine as a "pained" facial expression, he had finally had the chance to take an infinitesimal semblance of a break…
"I don't have much time."
But he didn't take it and simply dashed forward, his dagger catching the light expelled onto him like vile rays. His feet seemed to move on their own as he ran with his all, each step filled with power beyond his current limits.
In less than five seconds, he already appeared at the side of the loud teenager, holding his brilliant dagger on one hand.
The striking blade flashed once.
"Gah! You… What the hell are you doing?!"
Feeling the indignation and vanity drip from his voice, Lieren kept his eyes shut and felt the subtly familiar feeling of tearing through flesh and skin.
"…!!" And then, a cold shiver suddenly ran down his spine like an avalanche.
'Oh, no! Back away, quickly, you idiot!!'
It was such an autonomous reaction that Lieren didn't even have time to consider the rest of his thought as his body naturally fell back, his back going limp and jumping back with so much instantaneous force that he had to consciously stop himself from getting impaled into another greater earthen spear.
As soon as he did, not even a second later...
An astoundingly sharp magical construct rose from the ground like some kind of divine weapon, flying off with so much initial force that if the person who had summoned it hadn't grabbed it, then it might have pierced the ceiling.
As an exquisitely-made weapon rose from the ground, and so did a grin on Scorpio's face.