Velvet smiled behind the mask. She wasn’t afraid of the possibility that Harlan had discovered her identity, since she had taken precautions. The reveal of her level was due to him observing her, the traps she almost fell on and the paths she took.

Knowledge mages didn’t make deductions out of thin air (at least, not at their level), so everything they learned was based on the information they constantly recollected.

That didn’t mean they were never wrong. Velvet was the prime example of this, having been misled by both Cornelius and Siberina at first.

In fact, the way they did it was the best to confuse knowledge mages. Giving them a set of incorrect but ‘accidental’ clues could distract them, as long as they didn’t have any previous information about the subject.

Harlan didn’t know anything about the figure in front of him beforehand, and, as long as Velvet’s identity remained concealed, that fact would remain.

The biggest proof about that was Harlan’s own words. He said Velvet’s Esca level, but not her Paradigm, reinforcing her conjectures. In fact, if she had to add something, Harlan probably already crossed off some Paradigms depending on the traps she reacted to the most.

So, as far as his knowledge went, he was sure that Velvet wasn’t a delusion mage, nor a defiance one.

On the other hand, Velvet had information about Harlan. Knowledge mage, not on Lox’s level, maybe between Lox and Doireann, competitive, and preferred to use a combat role more than a support one, even when his Paradigm was the same as Velvet’s.

Due to him being part of a family of defiance mages, Harlan knew and used inventions from the Defiance Paradigm, one of them being the giant gear he used against Dianthus.

Hm.

Speaking of Dianthus…

She saw those light pillars he used to block the gear, even when Dianthus unsummoned them before she managed to touch the sigils and symbols on their surface, and so did Harlan.

Hehe.

She was so framing Dianthus for this.

Not because of pettiness, really! It was all a calculated plan! Nothing was better to mislead a knowledge mage than fake clues that nudged at memories!

And she had spent more time with Dianthus than Harlan, so she could show some of his behaviors and mannerisms in a half-hidden way, as if she was Dianthus pretending to be someone else, instead of the opposite.

Of course, that plan had some holes, like the fact that Dianthus was immune to mind control, and thus unable to be affected by delusion traps, which didn’t happen. But that was okay, her plan was to confuse, not fully deceive.

As long as there was an inkling of doubt, a knowledge mage was unable to show their true potential.

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Anyway, wasting time pondering was a knowledge mage speciality, which Velvet wasn’t supposed to be right now. So, instead of answering Harlan’s provocations, she attacked, summoning an ice spean rain.

Frozen icicles quickly formed above her, lunging themselves against Harlan’s location, some in a straight line, and some making an arch.

The leading ones slammed against the ground, breaking into a million pieces, forming clouds of misty particles, blurring Harlan’s sight.

Harlan extended his hand, throwing five bird-shaped paper figurines in front of him, which flew towards the spears, colliding and exploding into scorching fire balls.

Not waiting for the remaining spears to melt, Velvet readied for a follow-up attack, putting her palm looking up and motioning forward, summoning several ice stalagmites from the floor, which slid against Harlan.

Immediately, she dashed perpendicularly to the side, forming one of Igern’s spears on her hands.

If she were to try and frame Dianthus, she would make it seem like Dianthus wanted to frame Igern, which also framed Arhontissian mages as a whole, due to their recent controversies.

Arhontissia could take that loss, in Velvet’s opinion.

Even so, summoning Igern’s spear was two other paper figurines down, plus the six used to make the ice spear rain and the ice stalagmites.

Usually, she would only waste one paper figurine per spell copied, but those would be too weak and evident copies of the real thing, which would make Harlan suspect.

Now, Velvet didn’t know how to wield weapons, but she knew how to pretend to know how to wield a spear. A trick which wouldn’t work against any combat mage, but, against a support one… they wouldn’t stop to try and find out the truth by clashing.

And Harlan wasn’t a special kind of knowledge mage; even when he used offensive spells, he jumped backwards and away from her, choosing to finally summon the giant gear to break down the stalagmites chasing him.

Good. Velvet thought, grinning when the gear didn’t stop moving, going back to Harlan, and instead got derailed, crashing against the half-melted door, staying there.

Clumps of illusory geometrical shapes crawled over it, reminiscent of Tarderebusque’s body.

Using spells and artifacts from the Paradigm a mage didn’t belong to allowed those same things to be hijacked by mages and other magical beings from the Paradigms it belonged to. That was why a mage needed to be informed about their opponents, or just reduce themselves to using spells from their own Paradigm, lest they found problems like this.

Since knowledge mages were supposed to copy spells, they needed to be extra aware of that, even when mistakes could still be made, just as Velvet had done on several occasions.

Speaking of Tarderebusque, the demon was steadily sending information inside Velvet’s brain, based on what it was seeing inside the room; after all, the Defiance Paradigm didn’t have the skill to record information that the Knowledge Paradigm had.

That wasn’t distracting per se, since Velvet had moved that data stream to where it didn’t bother her combat and scheming thoughts, coupled to haven’t checked it yet. Even so, it was a way of keeping tabs on the demon’s progress.

They didn’t have infinite time, after all.

After losing his gear, Harlan didn’t seem surprised, still jumping away from Velvet, and reading another spell.

This time, she didn’t need any previous knowledge to identify the Paradigm it originated from.

An ice golem. Harlan’s way of testing if she was truly from the Tyranny Paradigm.

The fake monster rose, its immense size almost reaching the ceiling, its body formed by ice blocks with sharp edges. It didn’t have a head, the body ending on its broad shoulders, and neither had fingers, its hands ending on sharp icicles.

The ice golem lunged at Velvet, throwing a punch as she raised her hands. Instantly, three light pillars with six sides each appeared between them, spinning and breaking the fake monster’s arm.

Do you know who isn’t a tyranny mage? Me, and also, Dianthus.

Now, the instant the pillars appeared, it was the moment.

The way Harlan’s eyes widened slightly, as he opened his mouth in a mute gasp.

The moment all of the dots lined up and connected… incorrectly.

When his previous, but correct guess of a half Esca enemy fell down, replaced by a new, more formidable but fake enemy.

Grinning behind the mask, Velvet didn’t let go of that chance, summoning the chains given by the Goddess of Darkness.

The chains enveloped Harlan before he noticed and could react, wrapping around him.

“Boom.” Said Velvet.

Just that, instead of an explosion, what followed was a hard hitting ice spell to the head. Immediately, the golem disappeared, as his summoner lost consciousness.

Velvet released the chains, after all, she wasn’t going to kill Harlan, since there was no need to. Leaving him unconscious was the best choice. Hell, she might even bring him back with her to the safe zones when she went back, instead of dumping him here.

Can I even put a mage inside a container…? She asked herself, turning around to check on Tarderebusque, who was almost done.

The information it sent Velvet included a way to go up faster, which should make their return easier.

Going back and going out, that was all that remained of her mission.