Chapter 3778: Magus Fight (Part 1) ’I get it, but how can she be that strong? I’m already infused with Life Maelstrom!’ Opal asked. ’And so is she!’ Night highlighted the sparks of silver lightning arching across the Saefel set. ’It’s one of Tyris’ gifts to Valeron. You never noticed before, and I didn’t mention it because Thrud was a Griffon. She had her own Life Maelstrom.’ ’Fuck!’ Orpal activated the air element effect of the Davross of his equipment, and Sylpha did the same. No matter what element he used, the Queen matched it and overpowered the Dead King with skill. ’Fine, our equipment is made from the same material, but it’s not the same!’ Orpal mixed his life force with the darkness element stored in Night’s prism to generate his King’s Wraith technique. A vortex of black fog the size of a tornado formed around the Vurdalak and engulfed most of the Distar Mansion. King’s Wraith was one of Orpal’s original creations. It offered perfect offense and defense, draining the enemy’s strength while blinding their mystical senses. The spell didn’t bother the Vurdalak and covered his presence as he circled the Queen to strike her from her blind spots. ’Let’s see how she deals with this.’ Orpal thought as he lunged with his spear, each movement releasing a Wailing Wind and weaving the runes for his next spell. Sylpha tried and failed to follow Orpal’s movements. The thick darkness element overloaded her Life Vision, and the noise from the crumbling debris covered the sound of his steps. "Nice move, but you’ve used it against the wrong opponent!" She activated the Saefel Sword’s enchantment, Ruler’s Will, from its blue elemental crystal. The blade located the focus points of the spell where Orpal’s willpower was imbued and replaced it with the Queen’s. It wasn’t supposed to work since the Vurdalak could tighten his hold over King’s Wraith, but Sylpha added her own Domination. King’s Wraith changed owner, and all the mana Orpal had poured into it was turned against him. Sylpha focused the power of the technique into a single point, clearing her vision, and sent it slamming against the prism in his chest. ’How did she do that?’ Orpal asked. ’You told me that whatever Domination is, it doesn’t work on spells imbued with willpower.’ ’It shouldn’t have worked.’ Night replied. ’I have no idea what happened, but I’ll support you from now on.’ The Horseman weaved two tier five spells, Fire Cutter and Burial Ground, from her crystal. Once she was done, she discarded the runes she didn’t need and merged the rest into a single spell, Deadshot. The air and fire elements from Fire Cutter gave Deadshot speed and heat, while the earth and darkness elements gave it substance and amplified its destructive power. The new spell moved at near sonic speed, crossing the distance between Orpal and Sylpha too fast for her eyes to follow. The stone bullet was the size of a fist, but its small surface allowed Deadshot to condense the power of two tier five spells to the extreme. The bullet moved as fast as it had been shot by a sniper rifle, and carried the kinetic energy of a truck. "Source Magic?" Sylpha trusted the readings of her Full Guard spell and activated the violet gemstone on the Saefel Sword and opened a small Warp Step. "I thought that Tiennon Zavra’s secrets had died with his undead sire." Deadshot was too fast even for its own caster and could only move in a straight line. The Queen exploited it to anticipate its trajectory and send the bullet crashing against the floor. "And who do you think allowed Zavra to join the undead cause?" Orpal replied while conjuring a new Source Magic spell. "I did, but in exchange for his safety, I demanded his teachings!" He combined the tier five spells Gods of Fire and God of Earth to conjure four elemental spheres comprised of magma. Then, he added the darkness element overflowing from Night’s prism to create his personal Source Magic spell, Hellscape. The marble floor bubbled from the heat while an ebon fire engulfed furniture and drapes. "You want a Magus fight by proxy?" Sylpha said. "Fine by me!" A wave of her hand conjured the tier four Void Magic spell, Meteor Impact. The ceiling of the room collapsed into lava spheres that Orpal countered by raising a thick wall with Hellscape. "Fight fire with fire? A stupid plan, but I like it!" Sylpha’s spell matched his own, but there was a fatal difference. Meteor Impact was just a tier four while Hellscape was tier five, and the presence of the darkness element further increased the gap in raw power. "If you say so." A flick of the Queen’s fingers turned fire into ice and the earth into air, creating a blizzard as violent as short-lived. Meteor Impact trapped Hellscape’s elemental spheres under a thick layer of ice that smothered the flames and protected Sylpha from the darkness element. Before Orpal could react, she burst through the frozen barrier and called upon the water element of her equipment. The Davross split the mana from the world energy, dissolving both spells, but only one of them had taken a toll on its caster’s core. "It’s not a matter of firepower, Dead King." Sylpha spat the name like it was poison. "Only of how you use it. If Void Magic had a tier five, I’d teach you another lesson!" Orpal cursed as he stepped back and needed sheer focus just to block the flurry of the Queen’s attack without Thorn shattering in the process. He recalled what was left of Hellscape to increase his spear’s durability but didn’t waste mana to form it anew. With body casting and Night free to weave spell on her own, he could do better. "Are you really using a Blade Spell on me?" Sylpha spotted the mana flowing from the various pieces of Orpal’s equipment in a single spot and disrupted it with a series of surgical strikes. "Do you think I’m stupid enough to let you do it, or are you that stupid?" ’She’s too much for me. Trade places with me!’ Orpal let the Shattered Moon fade away and focused on defense. His spear had the reach advantage, and he let Night take control of his arms first and then of his entire body. She fought with the zeal and mastery she had honed through her millennia-long existence, yet she could barely hold her ground. Sylpha intercepted the spear tip with her blade and stepped forward, locking Thorn’s long haft with the Saefel Sword’s cross guard before taking a lightning-fast stride. It closed the distance between Horseman and Queen, allowing her to deal a precise lunge at the Black Rose armor’s joints. Night healed quickly from any wound, but the black crystals stiffened her movements and opened her to new attacks in a vicious cycle. With each move, the Horseman conjured a spell that Sylpha neutralized with her own body casting, but spent less than half the mana. "How can you be this good?" Night roared in outrage. "You’re just a pathetic woman who has yet to live a single life! My mastery of magic and spear arts should be beyond your wildest dream!"