Mimic Awakening

At the same time as the two mages are powering up high in the sky, the two fighters on the floating island are so mesmerized by the tremendous amount of power accumulating in the air that they stop fighting and just peer their gazes up.

"She can get that strong?" Azrael is pretty much astonished by what he is witnessing. "Is she powering her powers up by several folds?"

He honestly does not expect Claire to power up that much in such a short time. But given how exponentially fast she gets more powerful, he assumes that this is just temporary and would not last a long time.

Azrael does not only observe Claire, but he also takes a look at her opponent as well. Much like her, the undead mage also got a massive power spike. However, instead of his magic power, Azrael’s radar is telling him that his maximum mana capacity has turned from purple to black, implying that the elder lich has stepped into the realm of catastrophe-class beings.

He could also say the same to Claire. Despite the fact that her mana capacity did not change as she remained purple on his radar, the firepower of her spells has amplified exponentially to the point where she can kill multiple disaster-class threats at once with a single cast of a spell.

"Wait," Azrael then realized something. "She could have used that during our fight, but she didn’t."

"If it were similar to those certain techniques, then she probably has no time to use them."

Out of nowhere, his opponent, who is currently locking his attention to the battle above, answers his question. Azrael is surprised by his actions. Seizing the opportunity, he gets along and pushes further.

"What do you mean by that?"

"You see, if the thing she used was similar to certain techniques to some extent, she probably hasn’t fully mastered it yet. Multiplier abilities require focus to pull off. Once in battle, it would be hard to find a few moments to concentrate. That is probably why she can’t use that at that time."

"I see. Are you not going to continue fighting me?"

"Don’t assume that I already gave up." The knight turns his body to the red-haired man. "If you don’t know, I have bottomless stamina."

"I guess an undead is."

"So you already knew that I am an undead?"

"If you don’t know, I have a keen smell, and you don’t reek of blood. Also, your armor is making unusual sounds every time you move. A fleshy body would never do that."

As Azrael is taking a closer look at the knight, he notices that his greatsword actually emits its own frequency, different from the wielder’s. Inspecting the sword, he finds that there is actually a light-blue magic core embedded in the hilt, which is visible from both sides of the sword.

"That sword. It has its own power on its own. What actually is that?"

"You’ve got some good eyes, kid. What you are looking at is a type of magical item called a sentient weapon. As you have guessed, it has its own magical frequency. When wielded, its mana will be assimilated with mine. It’s like my extension."

Azrael is intrigued by these items called sentient weapons. He never heard of it before, not even from Claire or the books. He is amazed that this sword has about the same mana capacity as the hero’s.

He starts to think he wants to own one. Though he does not know how to acquire it. For that reason, he is now more eager to defeat his man so he can inquire more about it.

"So that’s why I sensed more than two presences earlier. Your companion must also have his own."

"That’s right."

"Are you really going to fight or spill information to your opponent?"

"Of course, I am going to fight you. It’s very rare to come face to face with someone with over thirty million magia levels after all."

"Thirty million what??"

Azrael is now visually confused by what the undead are uttering about. It is the first time he has heard those terms, especially with that thirty million thing, which might be referring to him.

"That is my rough estimation of how powerful you are. Nevermind, show me how powerful that thirty million is!"

When he declares that, the elder lich points his sword at Azrael.

"Listen there. Even though I want to fight at my full power, I can’t do that here, or else I would destroy this island. If you agree with me, let’s fight somewhere empty so that we can fight without restrictions."

"But where can we fight?" The undead asked. "I don’t even know how to fly on my own."

"I know a place. I would like you to follow me."

As soon as he says those words, Azrael turns around and runs fast toward the center of the floating island.

The undead knight is about to say that Azrael is trying to escape, but then he realizes that he isn’t going to do that. Following his guts, the knight bends his knees before dashing forward, following Azrael’s trace.

◆◇◆

High in the sky, the battle between Claire and the undead magus rages on. After a moment of powering up, both the mages have reached the realms of catastrophe level. Limited by time, they both agreed to settle their fight in one final attack.

"Hmph!"

Preparing his attack, the elder lich conjures a dark purple spherical ball of concentrated mana between his palms. That lone sphere holds a percent of his multiplied max mana and has the destructive capabilities of obliterating a town.

He stretches his arms open, and the dark sphere suddenly grows in size. From as little as half a foot, the sphere inflates to dozens of meters in a matter of seconds.

Since he fills it with around ninety percent of his mana, its output has amplified exponentially. Currently, he could potentially erase a nation from the map.

On the other hand, Claire just closes her eyes as she thrusts her right hand at the intended target. She seems to be in deep concentration. Suddenly, a three-meter-wide magic circle appears inches before her palm.

After channelling a portion of her mana into it, the magic circle lets out a bright glow, indicating that she has completed casting a warfare-class ultimate magic spell.

Unlike her opponent, who makes his attack more powerful by pouring massive amounts of mana into it, Claire just cast hers normally due to the effects of the Evanescent Apotheosis, which currently consumes seven times more mana than usual.

Because of that, she has lost a significant amount of her mana. Although she did not increase her spell’s size and coverage, its firepower has been exponentially amplified.

"Behold!" The undead shouts behind a massive sphere of concentrated magic. "The power of primeval magic! Blast of Oblivion!"

The moment he claps his boney hands, the Blast of Oblivion suddenly moves toward Claire at a subsonic speed. Due to the distance between them and how fast sound waves move, the attack is already flying at her the moment Claire hears his voice. Without wasting a millisecond, Claire immediately closes her hands to unleash her most powerful form of offense yet.

"Beacon of Destruction!"

At the cue of her words, the stored magic in the magic circle has been instantly released, and a three-meter-wide psychedelic purple pillar of pure energy is unleashed. Moving hundreds, if not thousands, of times the speed of sound, the ultimate magic instantly hits the undead’s Blast of Oblivion, and suddenly, everything goes white.

DOOM!!!

The collision of the two attacks creates a powerful explosion that shakes the ocean tens of thousands of meters below. It creates a blinding light that blinds both Claire and the undead. From afar, it looks like the sun suddenly spawns out of nowhere.

The collision of their attacks is so powerful that it is comparable to a thermonuclear bomb on Earth. The released energy stretches so wide on the planet that it could be felt from the main continent.

The potency of the clash could actually disintegrate both floating islands. Fortunately, they concurred on moving somewhere far away to avoid damage to the island. They are actually closer to the Northern Frozen Continent than Revoria.

Shortly after the explosion, a powerful shockwave sends both of them flying for hundreds of meters in the air. When they eventually get their balance, they soon discover that both of them have suffered serious burns. Even the undead’s bones are disintegrating due to the combination of the destructive properties of their attacks.

"What a tremendous power..." the undead mutters under his breath. "I never thought that someone in this era could match up with me in full power.

He then tries to heal himself, but it does not seem to work. He knows why since the powerful attack he just unleashed has the effect of putting a curse on anyone who got caught by its range. Luckily for him, he has deployed layers of barriers beforehand, but the curse still reaches him.

"Ack! That almost killed me."

After surviving the explosion, not only does she get severe burns, but Claire also takes serious damage. Claire is currently coughing blood, probably because of the shockwave messing up her internals. The same as the lich, she also survives by stacking barriers around her body.

Looking afar, she sees the lich still hovering in the air, seriously injured. She senses that he has burned most of his mana as the duration of his Ephemeral Exaltation has run out. They look at each other and judge that none of them can fight any longer.

Following their mutual truce, they turn their heads to the side and find out that they could not sense the other two on the island.