Right as Seraphina was moved out of the way by Draven to the bottom of the sphere carefully to avoid breaking her focus of reinforcement of the spherical isolation barrier around them.

‘Fifth Circle - Spatial Lock!’

WIth just that, Banishment, the ninth circle spatial spell that relied on space to fold in on itself, froze. This was ridiculous.

Of course, none of the mages really had expected to finish off Archlich Gradias with just one ninth circle spell. Being an archlich, it would have an endless library of forbidden spells to call upon to escape its predicament, or, in the worst case, could break the spell through a brute outpouring of mana.

All of these escape routes would either be a significant drain of mana or incur spiritual damage.

But what Archlich Gradias had done was to freeze the folding of space with a spatial lock. A fifth circle spell was used to neutralise a ninth circle spell.

This was, of course, theoretically possible, but to cast a mid-high circle spell fast enough and with enough mana to resist a ninth circle spell that had already begun to exert its influence was unfathomable.

A cold sweat broke out on the back of all the mages present as they witnessed Archlich Gradias, who had begun to turn transparent due to Banishment, slowly regain its opacity to its previous level.

The fluttering incorporeal black robes fluttered menacingly in an unseen wind around Archlich Gradias, its black hood obscuring most of its features. The bony jaw of a skull could barely be seen by the mages who were currently looking up at Archlich Gradias.

The two parties stared at each other.

A stalemate.

The spatial lock had not just prevented the space around Archlich Gradias from folding; all spatial abilities were now locked within the confines of the spherical isolation barrier the diameter of a football field. This included Teleportation and Blink. High-speed movement was still possible, though most high-speed movement spells relied on the assistance of space, which was now locked.

The advantage was that none of the mages no longer had to actively consume mana with spatial levitation, as the spatial lock would turn the spell into a permanent effect. This could be considered a small cause for celebration for the mages since the lich would now have to bear the burden of the mana necessary for spatial locking, but the mages didn't spend that much mana on levitation, and for the archlich, this was an even more trivial amount of mana.

In this situation, where means of rapid movement were practically sealed, all movements had the leeway of reaction time. Reaction time that was sufficient to cast spells without needing to worry about rapid movement being used to dodge the spell.

It also meant that the one who would begin to cast a spell first would grant the reaction time leeway for a counterattack from their opponent.

The numerical edge the mages had might seemingly offset this leeway, but the edge in the arcane that Archlich Gradias possessed could potentially negate it, and the mages were not in a hurry to test it out.

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Thus, a stalemate.

There were a few ways to break this stalemate, but the simplest was mental warfare.

Conversation.

“Tell me, Demonic Knight Gradias, was it worth it?”

Draven, who hovered at a height closest to Archlich Gradias, spoke as he looked up at it.

The other mages perked up their ears, also eager to catch a hint as to how the legendary archmage, whose name had once spread across the continent, had fallen to his position now. Though they didn't dare to move from their varying positions and heights below Draven, only looking up at the two.

A raspy, hoarse, and deep voice responded with a weary tone and a slight reverberation to its voice.

“I have forsaken that name.”

“You forsook it?”

“It was not a name given by my Lord. Thus, it is not mine.”

“Are you an idiot? Your parents gave you your name. Your Lord? Are you referring to the Demon Lord? Since you’re just a Demonic Knight and not official demon nobility, a name was not given to you?”

“You are not one who can mention Him so lightly. You even had the audacity to attempt to imitate His gift of the demiplane.”

“A demiplane?”

“This spherical isolation and the spatial lock that would have been cast even if I hadn’t done so. Most of all, an effect somehow imbued into this space that seems to weaken my attacks. It is clearly an imitation of a demiplane. How dare you insult His grace with your shallow imitation?”

Despite the words that were full of rage, its tone sounded weary, as if the emotional state of the archlich had adopted a certain indifference. This intimidating attitude did not affect Draven's reply.

“From what I can tell, you turned to demonism for sentience even as a lich, a monster without it, and it seems that sentience, once given to you, was corrupted with a mad devotion to the Demon Lord. With that now made clear, please do explain what a demiplane is.”

“...Playing the fool, are you? No more of this.”

The archlich raised its arm in front of itself, and a staff of black wood, wilting near the top such that its silhouette resembled that of a rotting and dead tree materialized out of the air and into the palm of the archlich.

At the very same time, unique staffs and wands re-appeared in the hands of the members of the mage unit.

Once again, the archlich and mage unit pointed at each other, but their positions were now reversed. The archlich fired downward, and the mages fired up.

Serpahina, who felt the whirl and roar of mana, gritted her teeth and sent another torrent of mana into the isolation spell. The mana indicated the clash that was to come. The isolation spell could not be allowed to break in the collateral damage.

The archlich, the superior mage, revealed his first spell in the stack that he had built as they conversed.

‘First Circle - Water Ball!’

A simple, fast spell. Yet with the mana used for the spell, the water ball, with the archlich enveloped at the center, rapidly expanded to cover a volume equivalent to the entire top quarter of the sphere, narrowly avoiding Draven.

The mages were next. Their trained response was as fast as humanly possible.

‘Sixth Circle - Hellflame Arrow’ x 20!

Twenty arrows that would be undaunted by water, possessing the heat of judgment, sprung into existence above the heads of each mage and immediately rocketed towards the archlich, leaving streaks of red in its wake.

The next were the two archmages available.

‘Ninth Circle - Annihilation!’

‘Ninth Circle - Annihilation!’

The two beams of annihilation converged upon the visage of the archlich, who proceeded to cast the second spell in its stack.

‘Ninth Circle - Ninth Hell: Cocytus!’