Although Profound Architect Sanctuary’s own policies restricted the freedom of its higher ups, they still followed the rule out of the greater good.

And this naturally included Master Parntheos.

Which also resulted in the dire situation he placed himself.

He was like a naked knight facing not just any average foes, but the second and third most powerful men of an Exalted Power.

Even their king Stosleria III would break a sweat fighting both of them simultaneously.

But who was Master Parntheos?

His eccentrics were well known throughout the realm.

So even when perfectly knowing his limitations, the old man was fearless, only waving his burly fists and saying,

“Bah! This daddy doesn’t need his gear to beat you up. These puppies will be enough,” as he then ignited the two, producing two deep red colored flames, ones which made the old man almost look like he was holding two miniature suns in his hand.

“Haaaahhhh,” And seeing this, the Iudex’s face finally changed.

But it was not one of concern or fright or even determination.

It was one of lamentation, one of tiredness, and one of irritation at all the extra work he was going to have to do.

“Rhegnight! Don’t hurt him.” And then he turned to give this simple instruction to his partner before his aura too surged, understanding this fight was unavoidable.

“Right.” And Rhegnight instantly understood what the Iudex meant.

If they really killed Master Parntheos here or even just grievously injured him so openly, for whatever reason may it be, Profound Architect Sanctuary would absolutely declare war on the Stosleria Empire in revenge for their Master Artificer.

Even if Master Parntheos had committed a grave mistake, at best the Stosleria Empire would have been able to apprehend him and then ask for Profound Architect Sanctuary’s response.

And with that thought in mind, Rhegnight’s mana pulses too skyrocketed, as he started to buff himself.

“Lightning Foci”

“Lightning Surge,”

“Lightning Supercharge,” Rhegnight shouted.

These spells were all basic, rudimentary modules, but even at Rhegnight’s levels, they were potent weapons.

For each worked to increase the channeling and casting speed of all his other complementary spells.

And when they were superimposed one after another like that, the result was very striking, as evidenced by the blue mana waves around Rhegnight becoming more and darker with each incantation, going from light sky blue to navy blue, representing the color the sky takes just before a torrential downfall.

And speaking of the sky, the entire sky around the Absceria Palace turned exactly that, dark and overcast.

Like Master Parntheos, mere leakage of Rhegnight’s power could affect the surroundings.

And seeing his partner prepare himself, the Grand Iudex was not sitting idly by either, as Rhegnight soon felt three spells being cast on him-

Shield of Wards- a magical, multicolored layer shrouding his entire body that decreased all magical damage.

Kinetic Buffer- a thin, translucent layer that decreased all physical and kinetic attacks. And,

Stave of Purity- a spell that buffed one’s resistance to mental and spiritual attack.

As that last spell was cast, Rhegnight felt a blue pillar with many intricate golden runes grow right at the center of his sea of consciousness, radiating a pure light and covering the entire place in a thin, protective film.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

The Grand Iudex had turned the usually fast and nimble Rhegnight with limited defenses into a powerful tank.

And then he began to bring out toys for himself.

*Zooom*

The space right behind tore a slit as the Grand Iudex first of all summoned a creature from the Spirit world- A Watcher- which was a huge green floating eye with tentacles floating around, each such appendix housing its own eye of various colors.

(Read legally distinct Beholder from DnD, lol.)

Then he cast several spells like Aim of the Prescience, Mark of the Hunt, Gigalith’s Strike, and Guided Projectiles on that Watcher, hyper buffing its offensive capabilities.

And lastly, the Grand Iudex opened his ‘Third Eye’, as a large blue pupil blinked open into existence right on his forehead.

The aura around the man by now had completely changed, if he was like a tranquil lake before, now it was like he was a raging ocean.

And seeing all, Master Parntheos was momentarily stunned.

This was the first time he was fighting against the Iudex of the Stosleria Empire and he could not believe the speed at which the man could cast spells.

Whereas Rhegnight had managed to cast just three spells, at the same time the man before him managed to cast nine!

And whereas Rhegnight had loudly cast his modules, the Iudex here did everything in silence!

Both Rhegnight and Master Parntheos knew of silent incantation too of course.

But they did not use so in peer to peer fights because by its nature it was a very hard technique to master and the slightest mistake could lead to a complete failure of the spell.

And in the heat of the battle, it was very easy to become momentarily distracted and let one’s thoughts be interrupted.

This was a danger that existed even at their level, hence few practiced this dangerous technique.

But it seemed the Grand Iudex was one of those exceptions, and he perfectly showcased how potent silent incantations were if properly used.

Not only the speed of casting was rapid, but if Master Parntheos had not been so close, he might not have even noticed how many spells had been cast.

There was no sound after all, only slight mana deviations that were many times too hard to detect.

‘I can’t let him cast any more spells!’ And coming to this conclusion, Master Parntheos decided to attack

He had already finished buffing himself with multiple spells already and was ready.

On his skin, he cast Orichalcum Skin giving him resistance to physical attacks and encasing his body in a beautiful, shining stone layer

Reactive Armor on his body was cast to fight off magical attacks, giving a slight golden glow. And,

Blaze of the Artificer was cast on his sea of consciousness, which surrounded it in a swirling fiery tornado shielding him from mental and spirit damage.

For movement he cast Dust of the Sand Gods on his feet, causing a small tornado to appear underneath his feet and lastly on his hands he cast ‘Searing Flames’ to add fire elemental damage.

“Earth Shatter!” And then planting his right foot on the ground, Master Parntheos took the initiative, stomping downing fiercely on it and sending a cascading ripple of stalagmites toward the Grand Iudex, intending to skewer him.

Each of them was only a meter high, but glowing with a menacing red glow, these jet black rocks gave a sense of weight and density that could have rivaled the gravity of stars.

Each seemed capable of even bulldozing mountains to dust.

“Chain Lightning!” But long before they could reach their target, Rhegnight sent out his a burst of lightning that slithered across the air, forming bright, dangerous arcs that shattered these extremely durable rocks the moment it made contact like they were fragile glass.

And then not slowed down by just destroying those huge lumps of stone, it still kept on traveling,

*Boom*

Before it hit directly hit Master Parntheos's on the chest, producing a bright flash and a thundering clap, and causing a smoldering plume of black smoke to emanate from there.

Just that casual exchange was enough for anyone to see just how unbalanced this fight was.

Not only was the base powers of the spell Master Parntheos used inherently weaker, but Rhegnight was a combat mange and his spells were far deadlier than most similar level spell from other branches of magecraft.

“Bah! Brat, scram! I only want the lizard.” But Master Parntheos would not be Master Parntheos if only this was enough to deter him.

And as he waved his now Orichalcum covered arms to blow away the smoke, it became clear that strike looked worse than it really was.

Master Parntheos’s armor had absorbed all of the shocks with no damage dealt to the body underneath.

If there was one thing Master Parntheos had going for him was his fantastic defense granted to him courtesy of the branch of magecraft he practiced.

To Master Parntheos’s threat, Rhegnight did not even deign to reply, only charging up to give the man a taste of his own medicine as he cast- “Prismatic Wave.”

At this command, the cloudy sky above him instantly turned bright, as if filled to the brim with intense electrical energy, as it then

*Bang*, *Zap*, *Boom*, *Craah*

Multiple streaks of thick ropes of magical energy assaulted the elderly mage, drowning him and his surroundings in an intense thunderstorm that seemed to want to cook everything to cinders.

But before Master Parntheos was drowned in that deadly flash,

“Scorching Infernal Dunes!”

A fierce maelstrom of fire and sand ignited around his body that spun violently like an uncontrollable tempest, bursting open that cage of lightning and then continued on its way, eager to suck Rhegnight into its spinning vortex and cook and tear him to shreds.