At Master Parntheos’s reveal of his ultimate trump card, Rhegnight had a slightly awed look on his face.

“That artifact….. it's not a Level 7 artifact, is it? It seems to be approaching a Level 8 one.”

The blonde man cried out.

But it was not in alarm.

Instead, it was more of surprise and curiosity, like looking at a new thing, for Level 8 artifacts were indeed very rare.

And the reason why he came to this determination was because to be able to cast 4 Level 7 spells instantly was not something any regular Level 7 artifact could ever do.

“Hehehe, well it's not technically a Level 8. It can’t use any Level 8 spells. At best it's a Quasi Level 8.” And pleased at the reaction, Master Parntheos happily chuckled this.

He was indeed quite proud of this artifact of his.

The reason being that in certain circumstances it was even more useful than a Level 8 artifact.

Like now, where he was able to fool the wards placed here to sneak this formidable item in.

Like how he was able to carry it with him without the scrutiny of the Profound Architect Sanctuary who would definitely not have let its member carry such a dangerous item in peace items.

And like how he could surprise his enemies with it.

And the reason why Master Parntheos’s artifact was not designated as Level 8 was due to mainly how magical artifacts were classified.

The tiering for these items was very simple, having only one simple condition.

An artifact was given the rank of the highest spell it was capable of casting or mimicking its effects.

That’s it.

So by that definition, The Three RRabbits in a Hat was indeed not a Level 8 artifact

But as it could be seen with this tiering structure, while this made classifying artifacts very easy, it also left out the many nuances.

For example, Master Parntheos’s artifact being able to cast about 4 Level 7s of his choosing at once could be said to be more useful than a single Level 8 spell.

Hence RH’s surprise, following which he commented with an impressive tone, “Impressive.”Master ParntheosRhegnight

But then his voice turned serious,

“Old man, is it not time you calmed down? I can still take you to meet Lady Parthia.”

“This is a battle you cannot win.” Rhegnight sincerely advised Master Parntheos, giving him every opportunity to back off.

As he revealed, “We have not even started attacking seriously.”.

“I have not summoned my Spirit Creature, and both of us have not even revealed our own personal artifacts.”

“It is like we are fighting with one leg tied to our back.”

“Otherwise I would not have simply stood by and let you deal with the Grand Iudex’s attack.”

Rhegnight reasoned, sounding very confident about the ultimate outcome of the battle.

And then finished by posing,

“The battle must be even worse for you. Without the full plethora of your artifacts, you must be feeling like fighting with your arms and feet tied behind your back.”

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“There is no point in continuing this battle, Master Artificer Parntheos.”

“Let us calm down and talk.”

Rhegnight was always described as a hot head, impetuous, and someone who liked to let his fists do the talking.

So even he was surprised to see that it was him being the voice of reason here.

‘What has the world come to?’ The man lampooned.

And what was Master Parntheos’s reaction to Rhegnight’s sincere call for peace?

“Bah!” A single, disdainful snort, that spit on Rhegnight’s offers.

Master Parntheos would not have the kind of reputation he had if he was a reasonable man.

Thus, showcasing the rashness he was most famous for, the old man’s aura suddenly soared to never before seen heights, and pointing the staff at the duo, he used the yellow Topaz in his artifact to cast- “Mending Transmutation,” and then cried three consecutive spells almost simultaneously.

“Force of Devastation!”

“Searing Blades!”

“Flameburst Lava Strike!”

The result of which was the creation of a huge searing mass of black and red magma, shaped like a huge phoenix a kilometer big, and giving off so much heat that would make the surface of a star appear cool and refreshing,

The stones around, which were thousands of times more durable than their other counterpart due to having been soaked in the rich, pristine mana of the Palace of Absceria for millennia, started to melt like butter

While the ground underneath just became pitch black like it was a piece of overbaked dough, as some points along it started to sparkle, for the earth began to actually turn to glass.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

And as if to celebrate that transformation, many surrounding trees spontaneously combusted, since the water in them turned to steam, expanding rapidly and turning the trees into literal bombs.

*Kyaahhh*

Having taken form, that inanimate bird cried out like a real living being as if roaring out its fury before it went hurling toward the two opponents at a speed that seemed almost instant.

*Booom* And it crashed right into the place where the two men were standing without giving the slightest chance to dodge, producing a mushroom cloud several kilometers high as it set the surrounding on fire.

The ground was on fire, the rocks and stones were on fire and then even some patches of the air had streaks of flames swirling around it, for the mana in the air ignited due to the intense burst of mana. intense

Master Parntheos had held nothing back during this attack, using a devastating combination of three spells to launch this surprise attack.

The very first stored spell: Mending Transmutation let Master Parntheos ignore the cooldown of his staff for once, instantly enabling him to recast three more spells, which was why it came as such a surprise to the other two that they had no time to dodge.

Getting access to his spells, Master Parntheos then first used,

Force of Devastation, a spell that was almost identical to Rhegnight’s Arcane Supercharge, giving Master Parntheos a sudden burst of mana to infuse into his next spell.

Following it was Searing Blades- a simple offensive spell that summoned a flaming sword to skewer the enemy.

And lastly, the main component of the attack and the only Level 7 spell of the bunch: Flameburst Lava Strike.

It usually summoned a huge mass of magma to hurl at one’s enemy with a kind of indiscriminate wide area attack.

But the one Master Parntheos summoned was almost twice in size due to his buffing spell, and actually could concentrate its effect on a point target, by combining the effect of the Searing Blade spell facilitated by the rapid casting of Master Parntheos’s two spells by the staff, thus making the attack several times more devastating.

Master Parntheos had managed to win many battles instantly by using this attack.

He would first use the initial three spells to bind the enemy or set the stage, making him think his item was in cooldown, and then suddenly pull this move.

But the question now was how effective it was here?

‘It surely had to have at least burned off the irritating lizard’s hair!’ Master Parntheos confidently swore.

He of course did not think the spell would be able to win him the battle.

He clearly knew just how the odds were stacked against him.

But how could a Master of Profound Architect Sanctuary step back without landing even a single hit on his opponent?

It hurt his pride too much to tuck tail and run just like that.

Thus he hoped

“Wh… what!” But unfortunately, reality was much too cruel to Master Parntheos as it shattered his hope into a thousand fragments.

Wheeze…

Following soon after his attack, the blazing inferno that was raging around was instantly douched by the summon of a strong breeze.

And as the smoke was cleared off, Master Parntheos spotted two black shadows that had literally melted into the ground, that were beginning to bubble up to the surface possessing an amorphous shape, before taking the shape of two familiar men- Rhegnight and the Grand Iudex.

Both were completely unharmed, missing not even a single hair!

Only the Watcher beside them appeared injured, having a very long, crimson crack running vertically all across its giant eye, seemingly having absorbed all the damage!

And seeing this only one spell’s name came to Master Parntheos’s mind, “Shadow Invulnerability!”