Advent of the Archmage

A streak of lightning lashed out at him all of a sudden. A series of explosions rang out in the air, and the light blinded Duke Abel momentarily.

Then he saw someone unexpected.

"Kanorse?" He was taken aback. He knew that Kanorse had Level-9 power, but the power he was giving off right now was bearing on the Duke with such oppressive weight. His attack power was on the same level as the Duke's.

Kanorse did not stop there. Lunging forward with his sword held in one hand, ready to pierce through Duke Abel's heart, he shouted, "Marshall, I'm here to stop your madness!"

Hearing this, Duke Abel's rage reached a fever pitch in him. "I've had enough of your words! You mortals really are something! Always trying to get to me with your venomous tongue!"

His eyes had turned blood red, as a dark red aura swirled around him like a cyclone. He then swung the Hero's Dusk sword at the bolt of lightning that had come for him.

"Murder is the absolute truth of this world!"

Duke Abel's voice was filled with indescribable savagery. "I'll kill anyone who gets in my way! I'll kill anyone who upsets me! I'll exterminate all life and rain death and destruction upon this world!"

Saying this, he managed to shatter Kanorse's lightning attack and blocked an attack from his magical lightning sword. A tremor then ran through the Duke's sword, threatening to smash Kanorse's weapon to pieces.

However, thanks to the abundance of combat experience he had accumulated over the years, when Kanorse felt the vibration of power from the Duke's sword, he immediately pulled his lightning sword back. He knew that it was no match for the enemy's weapon. Kanorse was able to do so with such speed; it was as if he was holding not a sword, but a feather in his hand.

Failing to land a hit on his enemy, Duke Abel let out another one of his joyless laughs. He activated the special effect of his Legendary sword: Eternal Dusk!

Kanorse was caught off guard by the activation of the Battle Skill. He sensed that the sky that had been illuminated by the large-scale magic light spell before had now darkened considerably as it turned blood red. His surroundings were instantly transformed into a desert, where he stood alone in the face of thousands of cavalrymen charging at him.

Even a lone hero would not last long against such an overwhelming number.

"The sword can even affect my senses?"

Just when it looked as if he was about to be swallowed up by the incoming torrent of horseback soldiers, a beam of light came down from the sky and transformed into a huge hand. The palm of light stretched across the sky for thousands of miles. The whole sky lit up when it appeared. The hand then descended from above, and with a huge thump, crushed all soldiers and horses alike beneath it.

The illusion was dispelled, and Kanorse saw that a magic hand brimming with brilliant white light was holding fast onto the Duke's sword. He also noticed that the sword was half a foot away from piercing through his body.

Link had conjured the magic hand from his wand in one hand, stopping the Duke's sword just in time, while fending off the spear attacks of the Naga with his sword in the other hand.

This was the Titan's Hand, a Flame spell that Link had once used to terrorize the Black Forest. He rarely found the occasion to use it these days, but in his downtime, he had made a few adjustments to it. The scale of the spell had gone down drastically ever since, but the spell's potency had been increased to Level-10.

Also, due to the spell's simple structure, Link was able to casually cast it without much difficulty.

Just like that, he was able to interrupt Duke Abel's Battle skill with it just in the nick of time.

Kanorse saw the opening in front of him and began his counterattack!

Though his sword could not hold a candle to the Duke's, and he had just recovered from his injuries, Kanorse had a talent for combat unlike any other. On the other hand, Duke Abel may have attained Legendary power, but his combat skill did not receive the same upgrade.

Despite wielding a Legendary sword, Duke Abel was only able to fight Kanorse to a standstill.

However, Link and Katyusha's battle had now shown a distinct difference in power between the two. While her combat skill was on par with Link's, Katyusha's overall power had never been a match for his. Her only advantage throughout the whole fight was her Spear of Victory's Thorn of Fate effect. But now that the Thorn of Fate had been rendered useless, she was no longer a foe worthy for Link's full strength.

Link seemed to be casually jabbing at her with his sword, but each strike was aimed at any one of her weak points, and she was forced to either dodge or block his sword in a delicate dance that could spell her death at any moment.

After receiving five jabs of Link's sword, she screamed, "Molina, hurry up and attack!"

Something was off. They had been fighting for more than four seconds. What kind of divine spell had a casting time of more than four seconds?

"I'm being targeted!" Molina's voice rang out tremulously. "It's the sniper; she's got her sights locked on me and is now waiting to strike the minute I lose focus. I sense that her attacks can pierce through my Destructive Barrier!"

Katyusha was speechless. From the corner of her eye, she could see Molina just standing there like a brick.

She felt a chill in her blood. Molina was a Naga Priest capable of casting powerful divine spells. If she had been compromised, what chance did any of them stand to win this fight?

In an act of desperation, she thrust her spear at Link's chest with all her might, discarding all concern for her own safety.

Link simply took a step back to avoid the tip of the spear.

Katyusha then retreated immediately to Molina's side and said, "You stop Link, I'll deal with the sniper!"

Molina nodded. With a burst of destructive Divine Power, she pointed a finger at Link, and directed a divine spell she had already prepared: Frenzy!

Frenzy

Destructive Divine Spell

Description: The target will be sent into a frenzy by the spell and will begin attacking anyone and anything in its vicinity in a blind rage. The spell's duration depends on the target's power level, the longest being a whole day.

(Note: Surrender yourself to madness, mortal!)

The one closest to Link now was Kanorse. Under the effect of the spell, Link would target him naturally. Flanked from both sides, Kanorse would be killed in an instant.

Also, one of the characteristics of the spell was that unlike most other spells, it had a subtler method of activation, and so was especially difficult to interrupt.

Though Link still had the Miracle Aura around him, it was ineffective against this particular divine spell. In an instant, Link felt something taking over his mind, clouding all his senses.

"Not good, it's a psychic divine spell!"

Link reacted in a flash, and activated the Dragon Bloodline Spell: Dragon Soul!

Dragon Soul

Bloodline Spell

Description: The user increases his or her psychic defenses exponentially, depending on the user's own level.

(Note: Burn in the heat of a dragon's soul!)

Upon the activation of the bloodline spell, Link felt a sudden explosion of heat in his head. The cloud that had settled on his consciousness was in that instant burned away without a trace.

The whole process lasted no more than a second!

When he regained his senses, Link heard a ting from Katyusha's direction. It was one of Celine's bullets that the Naga had managed to deflect.

At that moment, a dark red light radiated from the Naga Priest's body. Behind her, a vortex of dark red feathers sprouted from her back.

Link did not know what kind of divine spell she was about to unleash. What mattered right now, though, was that in that brief moment, no one was keeping him down, and he could now begin casting spells of his own back at the enemy.

He managed to summon a spatial sphere which exploded and sent translucent ripples hurtling through the air. It enveloped Duke Abel, the Naga Priest and Katyusha in its area of effect.

"Spatial shackle!"

All three were momentarily frozen in place. As they all possessed Legendary power, they should be able to break through their spatial restraints in at most a tenth of a second.

But this was more than enough time for Link and Kanorse!

Kanorse immediately seized the opportunity presented to him and stabbed his sword through Duke Abel's chest. A bolt of lightning exploded from the blade, electrocuting the Duke until he dropped to the ground lifelessly on his knees. With a rattle, his sword too fell from his hands to the ground.

On the other side of the battle, Link sent his sword through a Despair Ball, and the sword's tip entered Katyusha's chest, piercing directly into her heart. He then twisted the blade, rending the Naga's heart to pieces. At the same time, his Dragon Power flowed through the blade and began its rampage through her insides.

Unable to even scream, Katyusha simply stood there, a dull look on her face. Her eyes darkened as all life fled away from her.

"Argh!!!"

The Naga Priest managed to break free of Link's Spatial Shackle. She let out a shriek, before grabbing Katyusha's body before it hit the ground. She closed the pair of dark red wings behind her around both of them.

Their bodies then began blurring. They were trying to flee!

Link had no intention of leaving any survivors at this point.

He gave another stab of his sword through a Despair Ball, and the sword's tip immediately pierced through the Naga Priest's back.

Celine's bullet hit her as well at the same time.

It whistled through the air and through the Naga Priest's body, before finally hitting the ground behind her.

The Naga Priest had vanished on the spot before Link's sword, or Celine's bullet managed to hit their mark.

Link frowned. He had never seen such an escape technique before.

He walked over to where the Nagas had vanished and cast three detection spells: Spatial Ripple Detection, Dimensional Detection, and Planar Detection. The three beams of magical light shone over the area, but could not find any spatial abnormalities whatsoever.

The enemy did not use any teleportation spells, nor did they travel to the Isomerism Realm.

The two Agatha Nagas had simply evaporated like morning dew to god knows where.

Link could not make any sense out of their disappearing act.