Low-Fantasy Occultist

The necrotic energy writhed between Hone’s hands, expanding into a volatile, irregular mass that threatened to consume him first. Realizing he could no longer compress the payload, he thrust both hands forward, releasing the gathered energy in a wide cone aimed directly at Tholm, Bluetear, and the structural pillars behind them, injecting more of his mana into it to try and reach the level of power he’d been building toward.

But Bluetear hadn’t been idle while he worked, and brought his staff around in a sweeping gesture, weaving a complex transmogrification array in a fraction of a second, and casting the spell like a net over the necrotic blast.

As the dark energy crossed Bluetear's magic threshold, Nick watched in awe as its fundamental properties were rewritten.

The decaying elements were removed as the blue mana seeped through the tiny imperfections in their structure, turning the outer layers of the blast into harmless, scattering sunlight that made Nick close his eyes and rely entirely on [Empyrean Intuition] to understand what was happening, even as he retreated to the safety of his pillar, knowing his part was done.

He sensed that Hone's spell core remained tightly packed, carrying too much momentum to be fully transmuted instantly, but that was when Tholm stepped into the path of the remaining energy.

Retrieving three small, black iron spheres from his spatial storage, he tossed them onto the marble floor in a triangle, following the path carved by his lances.

As the spheres hit the stone, they shattered, creating three overlapping gravity wells that were further stabilized by the circle they formed, revealing that it had all been part of his plan from the start, given how smoothly the magics fit together.

The core of the necrotic blast was violently pulled downward and sucked into the singularity before it could reach the Archmages.

Groaning, the marble floor buckled and cracked under the immense localized stress, but the combined efforts of Bluetear and Tholm successfully grounded the catastrophic attack.

The sickening sensation of the necromantic magic faded into the ether, leaving a ringing silence behind.

Seven hells. Did he know Hone would try to bring it all down from the beginning?

An answer wasn’t forthcoming at the moment, but Nick’s attention was quickly diverted when Hone didn’t pause to mourn his failed gambit. He reached into his robes and drew a heavy rod made of dark steel. Abandoning his attempt at necromancy, he shifted back to his true specialty.

Overlapping matrices of artillery spells formed in the air, glowing with a harsh red light, and in the blink of an eye, Hone began firing relentless salvos of compressed force and searing plasma, treating the enclosed space of the seventy-seventh floor like an open battlefield. Even more than it had already been.

The loyal Archmages pushed back, and the duel turned into a grueling battle of attrition.

Tholm sacrificed crystal shields to absorb plasma impacts and shattered iron runestones to summon defensive barriers, maintaining a steady casting pace and systematically shutting down Hone’s firing lines, as if he were always a step ahead.

Bluetear manipulated the room’s environment at will, causing the marble floor to ripple and transform into anything from tentacles to wild animals, forcing Hone to constantly adjust his position to avoid being trapped and having to spend mana to fend off those dangers.

When Hone tried to summon a firestorm, Bluetear transmuted the oxygen in that part of the room into inert gas, smothering the flames before they could ignite.

That’s… not how fire magic works? But I guess this is more about concepts than actual elements. Just as Hone can summon so many flames without combustion, Bluetear can suppress them without it making sense.

From behind his cover, Nick watched the intense exchange of high-level magic, noticing that although Hone wasn’t quitting, the situation was shifting toward his unavoidable downfall.

Oh, he was incredibly skilled and had reserves that surpassed anything Nick could comprehend, but he was fighting two old monsters at the same time.

Furthermore, he was entirely cut off from the ambient mana. With the genius loci restored to its pristine state, the Tower actively resisted Hone’s attempts to draw upon the ether, leaving him to rely solely on his internal coils.

Slowly but surely, Hone's defenses were worn down. His breathing became ragged, and the glowing matrices of his War Magic started to flicker.

Tholm seized the opening, pulling out a piece of petrified wood from his coat and flooding it with a wave of mana that ruffled Nick’s hair, turning the artifact into dust.

A surge of disruptive energy swept over Hone, particularly targeting the active enchantments woven into his robes, and the protective layers shattered with the sound of breaking glass, leaving the War Mage exposed.

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Bluetear immediately seized the opportunity, transforming the air around him into a solid diamond block that encased Hone up to his shoulders, pinning his arms to his sides.

It wouldn’t last long, as Nick could already sense the first cracks forming, but Tholm didn’t need much time anyway.

He produced a long, heavy adamantine chain covered in glowing suppression runes and teleported above his old rivals.

At his urging, the chains automatically wrapped tightly around Hone’s head and neck. As the metal made contact, the runes flared, physically embedding into Hone's aura and systematically shutting down his mana coils.

The War Mage slumped forward against his diamond bindings, his eyes burning with helpless fury.

Nick never once thought the man was harmless. Even now, he could sense an immense amount of mana stirring under his skin, trying to break the enchantment, but Tholm seemed to believe it was over, and he allowed himself to relax when the System chimed in.