But Harita didn't have any tine to revel in that thought as a surge of mana erupted from Leo's position, the floating magic circles around him spinning around like boulder down a hill. It was so fast that he barely even had the time to recognize the meaning of those runes.
…Well, barely.
A sudden, electrifying chill ran down his spine like a bolt of lightning. Shock and dread permeated his entire body.
'Shit… Why didn't I recognize it earlier?!'
As a belated realization overcame his accumulated fatigue, he threw a meaningful glance to the lustrous woman.
"Got it!"
Immediately understanding the underlying meaning of that gaze, Bian circulate mana to her legs and center, scattering debris by her feet as she kicked off the roof and sent tiles flying in the wind behind her. Her silver rapier was once again within her grasp, glowing subtly as its wielder regained her focus, which had been previously lost to the gravitational field the now-dead monster possessed. She was exhausted and battered, but with the heavenly weight gone, she was moving even faster than before. Her eyes seemed to be even clearer, too.
Matching her pace, Harita gripped Silent Reverie and gritted his teeth, dashing towards Leo with a pained expression. He looked like he was about to collapse from sheer exhaustion, and his brain was on the verge of breaking down. His mana reserves, however, still hadn't tapped out, which meant that he could — with great difficulty — supplement his stamina with simple augmentation and internal mana control.
It wasn't easy by any means, as just a single wrong use could lead to total nerve failure, incapacitating him for a while — at least, enough to be killed by whatever the man was calling out to.
…That's right. Leo, with his ritual, chanting, and numerous intricate magic circles, was summoning something. Harita didn't know what, but he was certain that whatever creature or abomination the renowned mage summoned couldn't be anything even remotely good.
Especially considering the measures, time, and place he decided to start the ritual in. The amount of restrictions in effect only proved how much of a dire threat the situation was… or, well, could be. In the near future.
A mage of Leo's caliber should not have taken this long to summon something, especially considering his apparent technique and mastery in it. That is, unless it was something that shouldn't and couldn't be summoned under normal circumstances.
To be certain, he could have waited and interrupted the ritual later on, but that option didn't seem to available right now. Leo needed to be stopped, right now, at all costs!
"Tch! Of course he would pull something like this. That monster is most likely a summoned creature, as well. Why didn't notice it sooner?!"
Supplementing his fatigue with Augmentation, Harita poured even more mana to his Reinforcement, heightening his mana sensitivity and perception, meanwhile increasing his strength, speed, and agility by a considerable amount. Some of his senses dulled as a result, but the Resistance he had been bestowed with covered up some of the side effects, as he felt them returning just a moment later… not at their full potential, of course, but rather very close to it.
With this, it should be enough. Calling upon his speed-enhancing spell, Harita took a step and felt the distance between him and Leo disappear in a literal flash. Bian did the same, too, bright sparks trailing behind her.
Steel flashed.
*CLANG!*
"…?! A barrier…!!"
"Tch! Screw this!"
As the watersteel dagger and silver rapier flashed in the air, they immediately bounced off as a loud clangor of steel resounded in their ears. Subtly and almost imperceptible in the naked eye, but not with Manavision… was a translucent, almost warped point in space, a dome encircling Leo as he stood with closed eyes, muttering arias and making symbolic gestures while surrounded by numerous floating and spinning magic circles.
Slowly and surely, his spell was coming to fruition. Harita screamed from the top of his lungs:
"Destroy it! We can't let him finish his ritual…!!"
Bian gritted her teeth.
"You think I don't know that, huh?!"
Then she looked down, pointing the tip of her silver rapier onto the roof of the building they were standing on top of and stabbing into it deep down. The blade of her weapon shone bright, a stream of white light emanating from it like a heavenly entity.
"Target the floor, if we destroy his footing, his concentration is done for...!!"
"Done!"
Dismissing Silent Reverie for now, Harita pointed his index finger at the floor below, which was the roof of the unfortunate building they had been using as their battlefield this whole time. He ignited the rune at the corner of his right eye, wincing as the familiar sensation of immolating heat permeate his being. Again, his master's Resistance helped to mitigate some, but not all, of the side effects.
"Sword Style, Second Form: Hail of Wrath."
*FLASH!*
The rune at the corner of his right eye let out a blinding light, and the space where he pointed warped slightly as his feline green eyes flashed like the sun.
Bian used her own spell, as well. Mana surged out from her body and out her rapier in droves, the stream of white light shining brightly despite the sun being out.
One could only pity the mundane person that owned the building they stood at.
*CRASH!*
The building was weaker than they thought.
Two powers surged, coursing through the very foundations and support pillars of the three-story building and absolutely destroying them with one concentrated and unified attack.
"Get ready!"
As the building crumbled into nothing and inevitably fell to the ground like a child's toy, Harita and Bian braced themselves for impact, using the falling debris as footholds and catch their fall, reducing their the speed of their sudden descent. Falling down from this height was easy enough, but doing so before all the debris fell down first is practically suicide.
Glancing surreptitiously at Leo, Harita found himself both impressed and frustrated.
'That bastard… so he thought about this too, huh? Damn you!'
Watching as the man fell, supported by a giant avian creature with sapphire and yellow feathers and a sharp, pointy beak, Harita gritted his teeth in annoyance and stabbed Silent Reverie into a piece of rubble and jumped off of it, displacing himself from that position and grabbing onto another mound of debris, going higher up and closer to Leo and his avian familiar with knotted brows.
They did not have much time left.
His green eyes were blazing with frustration as the lustrous woman followed close by, bright sparks trailing behind her.
They needed to kill the man. Fast.
"Get him, quick!"
But their time was already up.
Opening his eyes finally, a pair of golden eyes met the two of them, shining brightly with an inexorable light as Leo held his hand seal, finally finishing his aria:
"I beseech thee, ire thee, worship thee
"O, Legend of the Seven Seas
"May your beauty grace these fools
"Sister of Rain
"May your presence enlighten the lost
"Mother of Clouds
"May your existence permeate this world
"I summon you; Lord of Storms, Spear of Heaven:
"Garuda Tempest...!!"
*FLASH!*
As a flash of blinding light enveloped the renown mage, Harita reflexively closed his eyes and put up his arm and watersteel dagger, blinded as the sky clouded over as black clouds enveloped them, all centering where Leo was positioned, atop his aviary familiar.
A legend was about to descend on the battlefield. One that should have long been gone and forgotten.
◇◆◇◆◇
*BOOM!*
The world shook like mad as the mana particles in the air vibrated furiously, bright sparks igniting with a crackle as the black clouds heavenwards thundered. Whips of lighting coursed through them, howling powerful winds and booming thunder throughout the battlefield.
"Dammit!"
Kicking one final time from a falling piece of rubble, Harita brandished his watersteel dagger, and activated its enchantment. As the blade slowly emanated a soft blue glow, the air suddenly dried up, too, the humidity subtly but noticeably becoming less prominent, especially considering the oncoming storm.
His blade had grown sharper, too.
Pushing mana to his upper extremities, Harita gritted his teeth and sliced the empty air in front of Leo.
One would expect such a move not to connect due to the lack of a target, but…
The dagger flashed.
As soon as the invisible wall came in range, Silent Reverie's blade suddenly flashed blue, emanating a blinding flash of light. Nearby blue mana streams flowed to it, clinging and holding onto the watersteel dagger.
In a literal flash, the effective range of his dagger had grown considerably longer, by about an arm's length.
'This should be enough. Hopefully.'
Enhancing the blade's sharpness, conjuring even more water mana particles, and transferring the accumulated sharpness into that water blade, Harita pushed mana into his muscles.To the verge of ripping them apart, and braced for impact.
*CLANG!*
Two forces met, one immoveable, the other unrelenting. There was a second where they thought that the world had stopped, time having frozen, and space having broken. But in the next moment, those thoughts had been dashed.
…For Leo, that is.
The sound of shattering glass echoed to the three's ears, and anybody still unfortunately present in their violent skirmish.
With his footing virtually gone, Leo's barrier had lost its foundation, and thus could barely hold its shape any longer. It crumbled instantly under Harita's might with little resistance.
…But, then, why did he go through the trouble of sharpening and extending his reach to destroy such a pitiful thing?
The answer was simple.
He wanted to take down Leo along with his pitiful barrier — with one decisive strike. To do that much, he needed to go all-out.
And all-out he did.
Flooding his muscles with even more mana, Harita increased his blade's sharpness even more, his sharpness-enhancement spell absorbed by the sharpened water blade even more, empowering it.
A desperate scream tore from his throat.
*flash*
Silent Reverie flashed once, finding purchase. Drawing a beautiful arc with his blade, Harita let out a thunder-like howl of desperation, aiming to cut the man down with his blade.
"…What?"
Only for his hopes and dreams to be dashed away.
*clink*
As his scream tore the heavens, and his elongated dagger drew a beautiful arc of blue trails, his thoughts suddenly stopped and his breathing halted… and so did his body.
"What… what is this?"
Harita couldn't move a single muscle.
Pushing mana to his limbs, he struggled and struggled, trying to find purchase in whichever way we can.
But there was none.
Or, rather, he was allowed none.
Suspended in midair, his vision blurred considerably as the fabric of space tightened itself around him, constricting and binding him.
'No, not the fabric of space. If that was the case, I wouldn't even be able to move.' Harita remarked as his head gradually cooled down, doused by his years of experience with life and death scenarios.
"This is the work of the wind."
"Yeah, that's right." A voice in front of him resounded, affirming his lightning-fast deduction.
It was Leo. The renowned mage of New Mireton, savior of the destroyed, rebuilt, and godforsaken city. His voice was strangely eloquent, flowing like molten gold. His golden eyes and blonde hair complemented his composure, like a lion in wait of his prey, ready to strike at any moment. He was calm and collected, even despite his rocky footing.
He was still afloat the avian bird of sapphire and yellow feathers. Used runes and remnant mana swirled in the air around him like a furious cyclone, encircling the two of them in a hurricane of mana and disintegrating magic circles.
It was only then did an ancient shadow descended upon the two of them. It was gargantuan and titanic, as if trying to swallow the entire world.
'What is…'
Harita tried to look up, straining his neck. He could have deactivated his Reinforcement and speed-enhancing spell by now to conserve his mana expenditure, trapped in a suit of wind magic, but he didn't. Letting down his guard and allowing such a mistake to stab him in the back was not a mistake he's willing to happen again. The repercussions of such a thing haunts him to this day.
Noticing his apparent difficulty and strain, Leo glared at him with an ice-cold gaze.
"Try as you will, but the great Legend will never reveal its true form to the likes of you. You're not worthy."