"Teaching me–?" Emilio raised an eyebrow.
"Ash-boy probably felt you could take his place in the fight against the Children of Chaos. That's why…he chose the path he followed. I'll see for myself. I prefer to get hands on. I'll evaluate what your current level is right now," Excelsior said, having a distinct sadness to her rough voice whenever speaking of Asher.
Before there could be any sort of agreement between them or a warning, he could sense a shift in the air pressure as the water around Excelsior's boots began to vibrate.
'Wait, is she…?' He recognized.
What enveloped the scarred woman was sleek, white armor that had black lines running along it, outfitted with antlers atop its helm and boots that morphed into a shape resembling the hooves of a horse.
"If you're weak, then maybe killing you would be the right play," Excelsior said, "If your life holds value to the Children of Chaos, at bare minimum, I can prevent them from getting their hands on you."
"Kill me?" Emilio raised an eyebrow.
"That's right. Prove to me you're strong enough to be of merit alive," Excelsior said.
[Mytheart System Activated]
[Current Stage: 3/10 | Mythical Warrior]
There was no chance to draw his sword before he was forced to flip to the side after the woman dashed the distance between them in an instant.
"Hold on–! Should we be doing this here?! What about the seal?!" He asked.
Being forced on the defense, he weaved through the swift blows that came his way, having to duck down as a spinning kick came from the armored woman.
"Don't worry about that. It won't open from physical force!" Excelsior assured him.
After rolling to the side while still not even sure why he was fighting, he found himself on the receiving end of an unidentified attack: as the Mytheart System wielder looked at him, a strange sensation bound him. It felt as though a shriek resonated against his ears in that split-second, imbuing an unknown mystification across his body.
'Can't…move!' He realized.
He was petrified as if his skin had turned to stone, leaving him open to the merciless attack that came his way as Excelsior sunk her fist into his abdomen. After receiving the blow and being knocked back as he rolled across the shallow water, the paralysis wore off, allowing him to pick himself up.
"That was cheap," he said.
"Use your system," Excelsior told him.
"I'm not sure I need to yet," he responded, readying himself as he inhaled and exhaled.
For a moment, the woman was silent before a brief chuckle left from her mouth, prompting her to dash back in as Emilio responded in kind, amplifying himself with wind magic to keep up.
'The truth is, I can't use my system right now–I can still feel the strength from my passive skills, but that's about it. For now, I'll have to make do with just myself,' he thought.
Continuously, he created diversions of stone and water to throw off the rapid attacks of Excelsior, backpedaling while shaping walls of stone to negate her attacks and create openings for himself. Still, it was hard to find an opening through the ferocity in which the woman fought.
"--!"
Excelsior unleashed a lightning bolt through the tip of her finger, lunging forth with a bright-emerald glow with terrifying speed, yet Emilio managed to evade it by just a hair, leaning back as the heat of the bolt just barely missed the tip of his nose. Some strands of hair were burned away in the process as the bolt narrowly missed, but he quickly responded with a spray of water bullets.
"Hmpf!" Excelsior huffed out as she blocked the incoming bullets of water with her own fists.
The methods in which Excelsior attacked were strange–the fingers of her snow-white gloves turned into claws that had an extended reach, swiping by though Emilio dodged past him, responding with a counterattack: "Sonic Cannon".
A direct propulsion of air compressed and released as a compact shock wave slammed against the woman's body, knocking her back, though she was quick to catch herself on her feet. As expected, the durability of a Reincarnator utilizing their system was something quite fearsome.
"You're as good of a mage as I've heard–no, maybe better," Excelsior remarked.
"You're not bad, either," he responded.
Now able to gain some footing, he manifested miniature tornados forged of both water, swirling with stone inside as he manipulated their rotation with wind, creating a spell of trifecta elements that weaved the battlefield into his advantage.
The wind howled, slicing across the stretch of shallow water repeatedly, sweeping through it as the ground rumbled and the air quaked; the temperature rose with the prominence of heat–another element thrown into the cauldron.
'Let's see how you handle this!' Emilio thought.
"Unnatural Disasters."
An Emperor-class spell, difficult through its simultaneous, high-level usage of multiple elements, but rewarded in its vast range of destruction and zoning capabilities.
Each of these miniature, but still sizable tornados spun violently, weaving mist around their azure form as rocks were shot out from the rotational spin with cannon-like propulsions through the air.
"Hah! Nice!" Excelsior complimented.
The woman was no less swift than Emilio, perhaps more so as she moved elegantly and precisely, able to keep low as she moved, evading the far-spread array of rocks launched in her way.
Excelsior dashed in, attempting to close the distance on the magic-wielding man, though it was easier said than done with Emilio quickly guiding the spirals of stone-and-water, which were able to easily cut through steel.
He made it difficult for her to maneuver around the lethally-rotating spirals of elements as well, manipulating the environment with gusts of wind and tremors throughout the ground to make movement difficult. This was the complete nature of "Unnatural Disasters"--a spell that had a tyrannical hold of battlefield advantage.
["Unnatural Disasters" is a blacklisted spell, as ordained by the Council of Arcane. A spell that unifies elements to conjure an outcome akin to the forces of a natural disaster, woven and wielded by the caster. If used to its full potential, it can single handedly wipe out entire cities and end wars."]
"Tch," Excelsior jumped back after nearly being caught between two of the spirals, "--!"
More unexpected was the unconventional way in which the Dragonheart fought, dashing in and catching the woman off-guard as he took the fight to her, gripping his sword tightly as he swiped it forward with a massive enchantment of wind following his slash: "Mountain Carver: Wind's Claymore".
The spell that was infused with the Mountain God Style technique created a slash of wind powerful enough to cause the air to violently howl, momentarily creating a split in the shallow sea before it healed itself.
Excelsior blocked the attack through the manifestation of an unknown ability, creating a mirror shield that absorbed the wind pressure.
pαпdα-ňᴏνêι·сóМ 'That's not any magecraft I recognize. It must be something to do with her system,' he thought.
'A mage that isn't afraid to fight close? I'm starting to like you, Emilio-boy,' Excelsior thought.
Attempting to understand what the true nature of the woman's system was in the heat of battle was a challenge, especially considering the variety of attacks he found coming his way: with a wave of her arm, Excelsior summoned gray-scaled hydras that sprouted from her limb.
"--!"
Ducking beneath their snapping jaws, he gripped his sword before invoking the unison of his sword and wind as dozens of unseen strikes cut through the trio of hydra heads. Just as quickly as he cut them down though, double the amount manifested, hissing at him with their mighty fangs.
'Regeneration?' He thought.
Evading the hydras, he flipped around before clapping his hands together, invoking the water around him to vibrate and shutter before it rose into a half-dozen, burly, humanoid shapes: "Sentinels of The Iron Sea".
Forged from the water he was surrounded by and reinforced by nature magic to be armored with stone, golems were raised around Emilio, combating the hydras with their magical bodies. Though the golems were able to combat the hydras, he found his focus not where it needed to be as the snow-white, armored figure appeared right in front of him.
"Eyes on the prize," Excelsior said.
Though he was able to raise his arms in a cross guard, reinforcing himself with protective mana, the force of Excelsior's knuckles thundered through his body with unexpected force. The power of the blow instantly caused his forearms to swell and turn red, causing him to slide back as he winced.
Excelsior was fast, spawning some sort of augmentation of her system as pearly wings sprouted from the ankles of her boots, guiding her swiftly as she attacked him ferociously. Though he was able to weave through most of the incoming attacks, he was forced to block some; guarding against a high kick with his arm made the impact resonate throughout his entire body as if a train had slammed into him.
"Hhhf–"
As he conjured a pair of fireballs into each hand, tossing them forward as he leapt back, the flaming pair pierced forth with the speed of bullets and size of boulders, though Excelsior responded by altering one of her fists into a giant, stone-like form.
FWOOOSH
With a slam of her augmented fist against the ground, the system wielder produced a shock wave powerful enough to vanquish the incoming flames.
'...It's hard to notice until I'm on the other side of it: system wielders are monsters,' He thought.
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