The Sword and The Shadow

Chaos Orb

"Teacher…" The silent Myr finally spoke up and stood in front of Annelotte. "This is a grudge between our generation."

"But isn't this girl Marolyt's daughter?" Nidhogg said with a wry smile.

Myr paused. "No matter what, you have caused too much slaughter. I have to exterminate you to prevent the continent's death."

"The one who can destroy the whole continent isn't me," Nidhogg whispered softly before he raised his voice, "Come, Myr! Let's see how much you've improved in the past 20 years!"

"I hope I won't disappoint you them." Myr took a step forward and huge amounts of mana flowed out of his old, husklike body. Before, he was intentionally masking his mana, but now, he didn't hesitate to put his power on full display, being one of the strongest magi on the continent of Chino.

"5th, 10th, 15th, 17th, 18th, 19th…" Nidhogg watched as Myr's power surged nonstop without the slightest hint of nervousness. He counted his strata with what sounded like praise. Ten seconds after he counted 19th, he suddenly cracked a smile. "Myth! Congratulations!"

"Teacher, you've broken through to the myth realm?" Annelotte asked, shocked.

"I'm only barely there," he said, turning back to Nidhogg. "I'm far from comparison to you."

In fact, he had made the breakthrough a decade ago. However, he was only powerful to a certain extent. People on the saint or myth realm had to arrive at a unique understanding of their abilities. The mana in the body of magi was like ocean tides. Myr had attained the myth realm through understanding that aspect. However, his power would also be affected by such a tide. When his power was at its peak, he would be as powerful as a myth-realm magus, but on the flip side, he would merely be a 19th-stratum magus.

"True power isn't something that can be measured by strata," Nidhogg said before he charged at the two magi. Green flames had been lit in both his hands without anyone noticing. He was using the same level-seven spell as Saron, Green Flame Punch.

Annelotte and Myr backed of together, but the wall of air that suddenly solidified behind them stopped them from moving. It was the wind walker gift that once belonged to Saron. Now that it had returned to its rightful owner, it seemed more powerful than before.

Nidhogg didn't give that chance up and quickened his movements. He sent a punch out before Annelotte was able to react. The wall of air shattered from the blow, but Annelotte was unhurt. At the last moment, Leguna came out to pull her away.

All of a sudden, four more assassins popped out. Nidhogg didn't seem surprised by it at all and shot Leguna a complicated, wordless glance.

"Careful," Leguna said as he pulled her up.

"Thanks," she said in a soft voice.

The moment she finished, Leguna blinked to Nidhogg's back and struck soundlessly with Lighteater at his lower waist. Nidhogg quickly ducked to the side and activated Spell Sequencer, a level-eight spell that allowed three level-six or weaker spells to be activated at once. Even though Nidhogg was also a high-order warrior, he relied on magic for defense against Annelotte, Myr and Leguna's attacks. The moment he used Spell Sequencer, three barriers formed around him once more. The barriers guarded against physical, elemental and mental attacks.

The moment the three barriers formed, Annelotte's icicles and Myr's Blaze Burial struck Nidhogg. He grunted coldly and let out terrifying amounts of mana, shattering the spells the two high-order magi dictated with pure mana alone.

Leguna didn't press his attack and instead jumped out of the window with the fainted Lisana in hand.

"Beautifully done!" Myr couldn't help but praise before he and Annelotte both used the transference spell to leave the house. Even while fighting against fellow magi, they required a certain amount of space to hurt themselves with their own spells. Both Annelotte and Myr didn't dare to use spells that were too powerful in such a tight space. Nidhogg, however, was also a high-order warrior with shocking physical capabilities and would stand to benefit from the tight space of the house. The only reason Myr and Annelotte didn't leave earlier was Lisana, who had been knocked unconscious.

Seeing everyone leave the house, Nidhogg didn't immediately go out to chase after them. He clapped his hands out of the blue. "Chocolate!"

The dog that had been shivering and hiding in the corner wagged its tail as it came out. It circled Nidhogg's feet and seemed to be under the impression that its master had chased away the unruly guests.

A shocking wave of mana emanated from the top of his head. Nidhogg knew that Myr and Annelotte were definitely going to use their ultimate moves now that they were far enough away, but he wasn't in a rush to leave. Instead, he stroked Chocolate's head lovingly and raised the little fellow up. "Looks like our time together is over. I pray that you'll find a better owner than me. With you around, I didn't feel that lonely after all! Thank you!"

He kissed the dog on its forehead before his eyes shone. A flash from what seemed to be a long-distance transference spell flashed and Chocolate began to bark nonstop. A second later, it completely vanished before their eyes. Nidhogg sighed darkly and lowered both his hands slowly. "Come! Let's end it all!"

Wham!

Annelotte's glacial fireball came flying in his way. The volatile frost aspect caused much of the gas to liquefy. The sudden dip in pressure caused the house to implode. Once Nidhogg was far enough away, Annelotte dared to use Glacial Conversion.

The smoke and dust were blown away by a windstorm spell Nidhogg had dictated. He looked up and saw Annelotte and Myr floating in the air. Apart from the moon, there was another round object giving off a bright light in the sky.

The sphere of energy in front of Myr changed color nonstop. It was only the size of a human head, but the power contained within caused Nidhogg to furrow his brow.

Myr continued the dictation despite his paling face. In his left hand was a colorful ball of energy and his right was a ball of electricity about a meter in diameter. The old magus' hands shook with every syllable of his dictation. When the two balls approached, the electricity from one ball got absorbed bolt by bolt into the energy ball in his left hand. The ball in the right hand decreased in size, but the ball in the left hand didn't change at all, save for the bolts of electricity that flashed across its surface.

It was a peak spell of Myr's creation which he made after breaking through to the myth realm -- Chaos Orb. According to his understanding of the nature of the tidal laws, he could fuse different elemental aspects together into a ball of energy. As the tides of the different elements had different rhythms, they could stabilize in the ball with enough time. Once the ball that contained all those different elemental aspects reached critical mass, it would let off an unblockable explosion. Nobody could possibly prepare oneself fully against a chaotic stream of a multitude of elements, hence the name of the spell.

"You thorn in my neck!" Nidhogg humphed coldly and shot a beam of light from his hand. It was a pure energy stream that shot out at an unimaginable speed. It struck Leguna almost the same instant Nidhogg released it!

"Guuaaah!" he cried in pain. He managed to shift his position at the last moment and the beam struck and pierced through his right shoulder blade without hitting his heart. But that alone was enough to render his right arm useless.

All that happened within three short seconds. Myr's spell had finished taking shape. Due to manipulating conflicting energies, he bled from his mouth and nose as he firmly sent the Chaos Orb flying towards Nidhogg, who had just turned up to look at him.