"Begin!" Mia called out.
'Contract!' I instantly pulled out my mana from the area of the mage's tower, cutting its sphere of influence nearly by half.
This was the method of counteracting the move Levi executed the royal with that I came up with before the duel even began.
And with little to no surprise, Levi attempted to perform it again.
He manipulated his mana in some strange way, sending it forth and causing his aura projection to morph.
His mana moved through the space with ease, crossing the area from where I pulled my own mana. Yet, when it reached the area where my power circulated through my formations, his technique failed to penetrate through my defenses.
Levi leaped forward, allowing his own aura to pull him in right toward the edge of my makeshift mana barrier.
'Wardens, rise!' I thought, unleashing the second part of my standard fighting order.
This time, however, I didn't use a single rune stone for a single warden. After all, my every move now had to perform an additional work of reinforcing the space around it.
As such, instead of just a single stone, each of my wardens now came into existence with a small but complex formation on its own, one capable of properly handling my pure mana of mine.
"Break!" Levi shouted, not giving me any breathing room.
Before any of my wardens could properly come into play, he rushed forth, using his condensed mana to push my own energy aside.
'Disturb!' I thought, using the most specific of my abilities. Yet, as this was only a spar, I didn't go to the extreme of using its mage's tower upgraded version that gave me total control of everything within its range.
Instead, I used its basic version, aimed at nothing but an instantaneous stun.
"This..." Levi shouted, recovering right away only to step forth.
'Disturb.' I used my spell once again, calmly waiting for my wardens to properly boot up.
"Is..."
'Disturb,' I thought, stopping Levi after he made just a single step again.
"NOTHING!" my former master shouted, sending his fist behind his back only to bring it forth and then shot it forward.
I was still way too far for his arm to reach me, giving me some peace of mind.
'Disturb,' I continued to spam my reliable ability.
As sweaty as it might be to use my abilities over and over again, this was the only fighting style I could adopt. After all, excluding the fact of improving my abilities through my mage's tower, I only had three abilities related to my job!
And just like its name implied, a tactical mage didn't fight by overwhelming his enemies with might. A tactical mage fought by overwhelming his enemies with nothing else but tactics!
'Disturb!' I used the spell again, right after Levi managed to push through and execute his punch.
And just like all the times before, my spell worked wonders... but as I failed to foresee Levi's intention, I failed to stop him from achieving his aim as well.
Levi's punch wasn't about hitting me at all. He used it... as a device to carry himself forward!
By instinctively making use of newtons' first law of motion, he used his fist to carry himself forward.
It didn't matter how much I disturbed him. After all, it was an ability that could only stop one from performing a technique. In its basic form, it couldn't affect the physical forces of the world at all.
"You are mine!" Levi shouted, turning his spear around before using the blunt end as if it was the edge and thrusting it toward my solar plexus.
As soon as Levi pushed his spear forth, his mana converged towards his weapon, allowing it to cut right through the thick areas of my own mana.
It was of no importance how much more powerful my pure mana was when compared to the spiritual energy Levi was using. By concentrating his attack on a single point and then covering himself in a barrier of a pretty aerodynamic shape, Levi managed to easily make his way through my sphere of direct influence.
And so, the butt of his spear struck... right in the middle of one of my wardens.
"Tell me when to stop," I said, just loud enough for it to be informative while making sure not to sound condescending.
This time, I didn't hold the upgrades of my abilities down. And while a single warden ensured Levi's spear couldn't move any further, while two more moved to protect my flanks, the remaining six of them surrounded my former master from all sides before unleashing a barrage of bolts.
The bolts themselves were the only part of my techniques that I couldn't infuse with pure mana. As they didn't operate with a formation as its basis, I had no means of infusing them with additional energy aimed at reinforcing the space.
As such, not out of mercy but out of necessity, the barrage of bolts that then bombarded Levi from all sides turned out way too weak to bring forth any effect.
"Break!" Levi shouted, refusing to just surrender. He pulled out even more of his spiritual force, accelerating it through his weapon... but pulling it inwards instead.
The draft of mana allowed him to pull his weapon back for a single inch.
His eyes flashed.
"Break!" he shouted again, reversing the flow of his mana, now pushing it towards the spear's tip.
'Disturb!' I unleashed my spell in the last possible moment, forcing Levi's spiritual energy to go wild when my spell broke his concentration.
And so, a slugfest continued for a few more moments.
Levi attempted several methods of getting out of the pinch.
He would try to use his aura trick to free himself from the hold of my wardens, but stuck in the middle of my pure mana, he failed to push his own energy out of the encirclement.
Whenever he would try to push his spear through my warden to reach my chest, I would simply disturb his attempt, reverting the situation back to the stalemate we were in.
Then, he somehow pulled out all of his spiritual energy back inside his body, attempting to free himself by simply walking to the back.
But by now, I already positioned my wardens all around him, turning them into an active barrier that stopped him in his tracks while constantly covering his body with their pitiful attacks.
At this moment, it was impossible for either side to do anything. Yet, my victory was the only possible outcome, as despite how weak they were, I could keep the barrage of bolts up for however long I wanted while there was a certain limit to how many of them Levi could take head-on.
"I yield," Levi muttered after a few more attempts at freeing himself. He even went as far as to raise his hands, although he properly kept the handle of his weapon in his hand, ignoring the constant bombardment of my bolts.
A smirk appeared in the corner of my mouth when I pulled my wardens back and diffused my mana back to the full range of my mage's tower.
"I never expected you to be able to lock me in so tightly," Levi admitted, lowering his hands and shaking his head. "But your offensive power is quite lacking," he then added, raising his arms to inspect their state.
And just like I expected, there were hardly any markings on his skin that could indicate I managed to deal any real damage.
"At the rate you presented, I could keep taking them with my face for two to three days straight," he said, looking at me with a weird look on his face.
"Don't worry, I'm not aiming at being someone who can only defend," I explained while forcing the smirk off my lips and replacing it with a kind smile. "I simply didn't figure out how to use pure mana for those bolts without risking each of the attacks into a harbinger of a disaster."
"Pure mana?" Levi raised his eyebrows, surprised by a term that he wasn't familiar with.
Naturally, given his higher cultivation rank, it should be him serving me with words I have yet to learn the meaning of.
"Disaster?" he then muttered another word I used, clearly knowing its meaning but unable to pinpoint what I meant by it.
"Don't worry, you will learn it all soon," I then said, turning my eyes towards the side where Mia stood. "Dear, if you could get behind us," I then requested, locking my eyes on an object that was approaching fast from down the highway. "The monsters are coming."
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