I Own the Evolution Domain

Light bends under the influence of Gallad’s fire elemental magic, said magic going past normal fire and seemingly directly intervening with heat itself instead, allowing him to manifest what can be considered as a lightless flame that, except for its caster, burns everything else around it.

Light twists around the spell as earth itself melts around it, making the caster walk on molten rocks as he approaches his opponent, the smile on his face being twisted by the heat surrounding himself, making him nothing like a human, resembling a monster more instead.

"Scared now, student?" even his voice sounds eerie as he approaches, sound behaving in such a different manner as the air around him is distorted and expanded with heat, his approach making Novus, who had already experienced tons of different kinds of pain, feel like closing in on this opponent of his will most likely push him to the extremes.

And it does turn extreme as the opponent approaches, the air expanding, almost as if it is boiling itself, making it difficult for anyone within the spell’s area to breathe, the caster smiling as he watches his target motionless under his all-encompassing assault.

Seeing their savior now struggling in front of the opponent mage, their once companion turned rogue due to reasons unknown, the remaining loyal academy staff wanted nothing but to shoot their shot on this traitorous workmate, even friend, of theirs, but some, if not most of them, are way familiar with what Gallad is utilizing right now.

Given that Gallad and Reinhardt are about on the same level of talent, it isn’t all too odd for the fire elemental mage to possess his own original spell as well.

If Reinhardt uses his spell to expand outwards, allowing wind to cut beyond what it normally will, in a spherical area with him as the center, Gallad’s magic uses the complete opposite concept, embodying fire, flame itself, to the point that even that very flame is absorbed into his being, turning fire into nothing but pure heat instead.

And the onlookers, particularly the field staff familiar with this original magic, knew full well that there is just no way for any normal, simple spell to stand on equal ground against Gallad’s magic, rendering all of them useless in front of this enemy, dealing with the savior that took a major amount of the enemy’s attention away from them.

"You cut my previous spell, right? What will you even cut now, boy?" Gallad’s twisted voice came from behind the heat barrier surrounding him, the confidence in each of his strikes bringing him closer and closer to his target, his actions as if he were no longer a mage but rather acting like a battering ram that plans to mow down everything in his path.

"..."

Novus merely stays silent, even with Gallad’s provocation hanging, the trace of seriousness in his face growing as his opponent approaches, but instead of taking steps back to prevent himself from just hurting his body, he decides to keep standing in the same place instead, his mind even having the idea of moving forward instead.

He wouldn’t get any time to do so, however, as Gallad seemingly wants nothing more than to begin the fight now, his body running towards the young man, each step bridging the gap between them without any problem at all.

Of course, given his strength as a mage, he surely has a way stronger body than any mortal human will ever possess; however, compared to the opponent in front of him, his bodily prowess is at a questionable level at best.

And it is proven by what Novus witnessed watching this opponent move towards him, albeit at the swift speed that not even normal mages can reach, he can spot it.

’Unstable footing, too much inefficient motion, inconsistent movements... forget about close-quarter combat, he’s like a beginner at running instead...’ he remarks to himself as he continues standing on the same spot.

Anyone else watching this might assume that he had already become frozen in terror facing such an absolute force as Gallad’s original spell; however, only he himself knew otherwise what he was currently doing, his skin stinging and his body beginning to twitch, not even enough of a pain to make him feel alarmed anymore.

It was as if he was already all too used to such a kind of torturous suffering that it felt like nothing in particular to him now at all.

’I can still push it all the way to this point, but any further...’ he thought to himself while enduring the waves of heat charring his exposed muscles, his eyes rendered blind from the intense heat forcing him to rely solely on Sensory Expansion instead.

[Immortal Energy: 1150/1166]

[Immortal Energy: 1140/1166]

[Immortal Energy: 1130/1166]

He immediately pulled back and allowed himself to recover as soon as he noticed his Immortal Energy diminishing at such a rapid rate, this exchange alone allowing him to gauge the distance he could bear before he had to rely on his most trusted resource in order to close the distance between himself and his opponent even more.

’Three meters... such a problem...’ as he thought to himself, Novus couldn’t help but click his tongue as he realized what an extreme challenge it would be for him to fight against this individual in front of him, Gallad’s original magic seemingly being a particularly good counter to his talent, making him click his tongue once more as he faced this heat-emitting mage.

’And this too... this guy is becoming more and more of a problem...’ he remarked once again as he immediately shut Sensory Expansion as soon as he noticed the irregularities happening to it, the heat seemingly getting to his very senses as well as the paths of attack he was seeing appear nothing similar to what he was familiar with at all.

There is no solid, inescapable net nor a well-defined, powerful path, but rather, his senses reveal a wavy, almost ocean-like pattern that engulfs everything around Gallad, no attack, no defensive measure, only a sight of waving paths that made him doubt this self-created technique of his for the first time.

Novus continues to create distance as Gallad tries his best to catch up and bridge the gap between the two of them, the young man realizing more and more that even with the fire elemental mage’s physical strength being quite high, he can hardly utilize any of it in a proper manner, putting him at such a huge advantage during this chase.

’The problem is how to break through him... it doesn’t seem like he’s going to run out of strength to maintain that spell anytime soon...’

Even without the help of Sensory Expansion, Novus made a rudimentary assessment as he felt the flow of mana around them, causing him to feel all too frustrated as he still struggled to find a way to break through his opponent’s seemingly absolute defense.

"Huuhh..." without seeing any point of breakthrough, he couldn’t help but release a calming exhale, closing his eyes for a second as he steels himself, deciding to stand and receive the twisted, contorting paths revealed to him by Sensory Expansion instead of relying on just his five senses alone, intending to find a solution to the problem plaguing him right now.

’I just need to see it...’ he mutters to himself in a renewed resolve, his eyes glowing a faint trace of gold as he expands his senses once more.

Paths start revealing themselves in front of his sight once again.