The high temperature filled the entire Hall with so much heat that Evan who was far away had to use ice magic to cool his surroundings while fanning his face with wind magic.
For the golem's arm, Luke twisted his grip on his sword and activated his Laser Sword, his control over flames reaching its pinnacle as the raw heat and ionized particles were shaped into a blade of searing plasma.
The Blade of Lost Saints exuded an intense white-hot glow, illuminating the surroundings and sizzling the air with its heat.
Its sheer temperature enabled it to melt through the golem's arm with ease.
The golem rose its remaining arm, poised to strike at him but the Sword Saint lunged forward and swung the plasma-coated blade, cleaving through the air in a brilliant arc and leaving behind a trail of searing light.
The blade collected with the golem's midsection, slicing through the hardened earth as if it were mere paper.
Sizzling and cracking sounds filled the air as the superheated plasma caused a torrent of molten rock and steam to erupt from the wound, with the scalding heat making even Luke take a step back.
Luke twisted the plasma blade within the golem's body, effectively splitting the creature in half and disintegrating it into a whirlwind of dust and glowing embers that faded away right after.
Standing atop the dissipating remnants of the golem, Luke deactivated the skill as its energy cost was too much for him in his limited state, taking a deep breath to calm his breathing.
The fiery aura hadn't even receded completely but Luke was already moving, beelining straight for the King who only gazed at him in silence.
**FLIT-FLIT!
The Grimoire's pages turned in bulk, and this time, the page it had turned to glowed with blue light, heralding the activation of an ancient magic spell.
'Ice Magic: Great Ice Calamity.'
The surrounding air plunged into an icy stillness, the ambient temperatures flipping over from searing heat to blistering cold in an instant.
From the ground beneath, jagged ice shards burst forth, erupting with unstoppable force. Luke weaved through them with fluid movements, sensing the building-up energy, anticipating their trajectories and dodging with precise movements—all within seconds.
His feet seemed to barely touch the ground as he leapt, spun, and sidestepped the ice shards that whizzed past him and into the air.
Upon reaching the ceiling, they all flipped and shot back towards the ground with a deafening roar, the sound of the sound barrier shattering making Evan and Kayla cover their eardrums.
Each shard plummeted downward with the might of a blizzard's rage, exploding into showers of ice crystals on impact and releasing their pent-up cold into the surroundings.
The ground shuddered as the frost spread like wildfire, freezing all in its path.
Evan had to use Mesarthim and get on a void step in the air to prevent himself from getting frozen, while Luke simply channelled his flames and used them to form a thick aura coat on his skin.
His blade moved as he deflected and shattered the incoming threats, before jumping into the air and stabbing his sword downwards.
**SHINK! BOOM!!
A surge of flame energy coursed through his blade and seeped into the earth, disrupting the delicate balance of the ice spell.
The frozen tempest, that gathered in the air faltered and the frenzied swirls of energy lost power. Ice shards that were ready to be launched quivered lightly before dropping to the ground.
Ripples of energy spread out from the point where Luke's blade met the ground, forming cracks in the ice that quickly turned into a network of spiderweb-like fractures.
The still activating spell was forcefully interrupted, an action that should have sent backlash to its caster, however, the King's grimoire only turned to another page as he cast spell after spell.
Giant Ice Walls erupted from the ground, before crushing forward towards Luke, attempting to squash him in between.
But such an attack was easily dodged by the Sword Saint, who heard the sound of the grimoire's pages flapping once more, signalling the activation of another spell.
'Ice Magic: Thousand Thorn Blizzard.'
Crystalline thorns of pure ice energy spiralled and danced through the air, growing in size and sharpness as they revolved into a cyclone of icy fury.
They hurtled forward with unrelenting force, making Luke sigh as he thought that the King clearly didn't plan on letting him get close.
'Someone on his level would be able to tell how bad it'd be if I got close…'
"Firestorm."
A three-ringed magic circle manifested in front of Luke's palm, generating a wave of intense heat and fiery brilliance that surged forward and collided with the blizzard's fury.
The torrent of flames formed a searing barrier against the icy onslaught, roaring and crackling with unmatched intensity.
Fire met ice and released a haze of steam billowing into existence, veiling the hall in a mist shroud.
The Firestorm's head melted away the icy cyclone, causing the swirling tempest of thorns to fragment and disintegrate, while the howling wind that accompanied it was extinguished by the maelstrom of flames.
Seeing this, the King rose his hand over the grimoire, making its pages flip once more, but this time, the page with the Thousand Thorn spell still glowed with its crystal blue light.
The grimoire flipped as fast as always, while the King generated dozens of multi-layered earthen walls to block all Luke's aura slashes, buying him enough time to activate the next spell.
The page the grimoire had turned to glowed with deep blue light, and countless swords of condensed water materialized in the air above and plummeted downwards in the direction of the Sword Saint.
Facing the rain of the sonic-speed condensed water blades, Luke utilized a swordplay technique, one he created solely to use against those who utilized water-attributed attacks after seeing his flames.
His sword gleamed as he delivered a swift horizontal slash, slicing through the blades and hurtling at him with even faster speed. The Blade of Lost Saints was infused with a hint of fire-infused energy, releasing more swift slashes that created arcs of flame, searing the edges of each water blade.
Steam explosions erupted on contact, and veiled his form.
Even so, the King knew exactly where he was and did not have his vision obscured by the magical steam.
He spun his body like a cyclone, his sword tracing patterns in the air and creating a small vortex of flames that clashed with the torrent of water blades with each swift rotation.
Immediately after destroying the blades, he kicked off the ground and shot forward like a bullet, closing the distance between him and the King from over fifty metres to just five in a second.
'Two-fold Cross-Slash.'
'Ice Magic: Blossoming Guardian.'
Technique and magic spell were activated simultaneously, and a sudden surge of frigid energy rapidly condensed in front of the King, forming a giant ice rose that blossomed instantly.
A beat later, Luke's aura-infused blade collided with the shield, resonating with a resounding clash that released a shiver-inducing impact into the surroundings.
The rose of ice glowed with ethereal blue light, each glistening petal forming a veil of frost that protected the King from Luke's attack.
Steam hissed as the clash of opposing forces created a tension filled-boundary of ice and fire.
Luke didn't bother trying to brute force the barrier as his eyes had caught sight of the four-ringed magic circle that appeared a millisecond before the rose had bloomed.
He pulled back his sword and enveloped his body with his aura in preparation for his next strike, one which he clearly wasn't going to deliver from the front.
His form blurred as dashed leftward diagonally, right towards the King's side. Just as the latter was turning towards him with Girmmiore pages fluttering, the Sword Saint, changed directions and shot forward diagonally once more.
Spinning his body lightly, he delivered a downward arcing slash towards the King's left side, however, the Battlemage's spell-casting speed was faster.
'Ice Magic: Ice Vines.'
Crystalline tendrils burst out of the ground and spiralled towards Luke in an attempt to ensnare him, but the man calmly readjusted his grip on his sword and redirected his slash.
**SWISSHH!!
The ice vines were all sliced apart in an instant, shattering into tiny ice shards that soon melted away due to the heat from Luke's sword.
Even so, the time it took for him to do so was enough for the King to activate a minor teleportation spell, warping towards the other end of the room once more.
Pages flapped and the grimoire glowed with multiple lights, white, golden, light blue, and black.
'Triple Cast Maximize Magic. Combination Magic: Frozen Lightning. Lightning of Hatred. Dark Lightning Panther.'
Three triple-ringed magic circles manifested without a delay, each one tinged with a white halo atop it.
From the first, a three-pronged light blue lightning spear that emitted a frosty aura manifested before launching towards Luke.
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