Chapter 3779: Magus Fight (Part 2) "I’ve trained against Lady Tyris every day since my engagement with Meron." Sylpha parried and deflected Night’s most complex moves and slipped through her wild swings like an eel grabbed with bare hands. "Compared to her, you are nothing much." "Am I?" Night roared, hurling a stream of deep violet Origin Flames from point blank. "Really?" "Yes." Sylpha activated the blue gemstone of the Saefel Sword and conjured the tier five spell, Crystal Griffon. A thick layer of ice encased the Vurdalak, leaving him no space to move and trapping the Origin Flames in his throat. Bloodline abilities could hurt their own master, and with no place to go, the Origin Flames filled the Crystal Griffon spell. Orpal’s face melted, and then it was his equipment’s turn. Once conjured, Origin Flames had to be breathed out. Orpal couldn’t stop burning himself even if he wanted to. He reverted to his full size, shattering the Crystal Griffon spell and releasing the rest of the Origin Flames from his body to keep Sylpha from exploiting his defenseless state. His body was that of a titan, but his equipment couldn’t grow in size. ’I’m just a big target!’ He quickly reverted to his human form and covered himself with the Black Rose armor. The Dead King activated Frost Soul, but without spells and enchantments, the difference in skill and technique soon became overwhelming. Sylpha was indeed lighter and weaker than the Mad Queen, but her mastery was also on another level. She had grown from weak to strong by fighting opponents who were always bigger than her, and had learned how to protect her body. Night, instead, relied too much on her innate regenerative abilities and nigh-endless power. The Horseman took more blows than she could afford and was forced to undo Frost Soul before she became unable to fight. Thunder Soul proved to be just as useless. Orpal’s attacks and spells would have bypassed the Saefel Armor and struck Sylpha’s inner organs, but only if he managed to hit her, and he didn’t. She countered every spell and parried every attack while it was still far away from her body. ’What’s the point of this charade?’ Sylpha thought. ’He can’t win. He should have already-’ It was then that the Queen noticed how little by little the Vurdalak was adapting and improving. The skill gap between them was still enormous, and a more careless opponent would have missed how Orpal’s timing was getting more precise and his lunges faster. ’Son of a bitch!’ Sylpha cursed in realization. ’He’s using me as a learning tool. I thought I was playing cat and mouse with him while he was exploiting my rage to steal my secrets. Gods, I’m such an idiot.’ Angry with herself, the Queen stopped using the Royal Style and switched to the basics of the basics. She became a textbook example of footwork, defensive moves, lunges, and slashes. ’What is she doing?’ Orpal was flabbergasted. ’Is she insane?’ He could now see Sylpha’s next attack coming from a mile away. He could predict the trajectory of her blade and anticipate where she would move next. Yet such knowledge was useless to him. The Queen’s steps were swift and precise, with no wasted movement or opening he could exploit. Her swings were so surgical that he needed to put his full weight to block them, whereas she needed but a fraction of her strength to block his. ’This is so humiliating!’ Night inwardly cried. ’I know what she’s going to do, yet I can’t stop her. With every blow, Sylpha is rubbing in my face how much better than me she is!’ ’Can’t we learn from the Queen like we did before?’ Orpal asked. ’Polish our basics?’ ’Yeah, right!’ She scoffed. ’Those are the same movements you can find in any textbook. The same things I taught you for countless hours and that I practiced for millennia. I’ve never reached this degree of mastery, and I won’t reach it now just because I’m witnessing it. ’The Queen’s talent is beyond mine. There’s nothing I can learn from her except the sadness of facing a wall I can’t surpass.’ ’What about me?’ Orpal asked. ’Assuming you have her same talent, and that’s a big if, you just need to train for as long as she did. There is no shortcut with the basics. You can learn faster than her only if you’re more talented than her.’ ’Fine!’ Orpal gritted his teeth and stored his equipment inside his pocket dimension. ’Let’s leave then.’ He then tried and failed to sever the connection with the clone and retrieve his consciousness. "Not so fast, Narchat." While he opened his pocket dimension, Sylpha activated the tier five Spirit Spell, Sealed Space. Orpal was still there and so was Night. The connection with their real body was blocked, but the moment Sealed Space faded, all the wounds inflicted on the clone would appear on his Orpal, no matter how distant he was. "You should have accepted my offer." Sylpha snarled. "As I said earlier, this is going to be long and pleasant. For me." *** Lark Mansion, at the same time. "Dad!" Jadon and Keyla left their hiding spot when they heard Lith’s voice and tackled Protector into a hug. "Is this really you? How did you come back? How is this possible?" "It’s all thanks to Lith, children." The Skoll used a mind link to explain the white lie to Lith and ask for his help to keep the façade going. "I couldn’t stay still while you were in danger, but I’m too weak to answer his call, so I possessed one of his friends." Varegrave stepped out of Protector right on cue. The Demon had shapeshifted his features according to Solus’ eidetic memory to match how Trequill Lark looked the last time they had met, down to the smallest detail. To better sell the lie, the black chain connecting Lith to the Demon became visible to the naked eye. A second chain connected Varegrave to Protector to explain the possession, and a third one Protector to Jadon and Keyla to explain the summon. The mannerism, the fine black clothes, and even the monocle were the same. Protector felt guilty for the deception, but he felt even worse at the idea of destroying the joy that he had unwittingly given the Larks in his battle frenzy. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚 As for Lith, the appearance of the fake Count Lark made his heart tighten. Lith missed his old friend dearly, and seeing the monocle pop out of the fake Count’s eye socket spread salt on his still-open wounds. "Don’t worry, son." Varegrave-Trequill said. "Our house staff is safe. They followed the defensive protocols to the letter and abandoned the mansion as soon as the first alarm resounded. "You did a good job. Pontus and Hilya will be proud of you two. You stayed behind and drew the enemy’s attention. You protected your subjects even though it might have cost you your lives. I wish I could have done the same." Varegrave-Trequill cleaned his ethereal monocle, his voice broken with pain. ’Who are Pontus and Hilya?’ The Demon asked. ’The old head butler and head chef.’ Lith replied. ’They died with the Count during Meln’s first attack.’