The infernal red tornado with sedimentations of white in between that Master Parntheos had sent its way hurling towards Rhegnight approached its target at a speed that was almost unimaginable to normal human eyes, for it produced vision blurs as it traveled and seemed to possess the power to destroy not simply mountains but entire nations!

In fact, in a great war against one of the major realms, Master Parntheos had once indeed destroyed a lower nation of millions using just this one spell!

So the potency here could be imagined.

However, unfortunately for the man, this time, what he was facing were not weak mages from the lower realms.

But two of the most accomplished mages in the entire Magnus Dimension.

The evidence of the two’s accomplishments lay in the fact even when facing such a deadly spell, one that was literally tearing its surroundings apart, Rhegnight still had the time to observe and playfully comment on the spell.

“Oh? Is this a duel spell module?”

“Hmmm… looks like it's made by combining Infernal Inventure and Soulborne Dust Storm.”

“How fascinating!”

Rhegnight was more captivated by this new spectacle than alarmed, as the clean shaven blonde man leisurely traced his chin in intrigue, and then smiled and nodded in appreciation,

“As expected of you, Master Parntheos. To be able to combine two such high level spells so effortlessly, your accomplishments in magecraft are truly at the forefront of our Manush Realm.”

“Truly magnificent.”

If it was at any other time, Master Parntheos might have indeed felt faltered by this praise.

But now, seeing his opponent so leisurely comment about his spell, when it was literally going to hit him any second, made the old man’s heart sink.

“Prismatic Burst!”

And finally, feeling the approaching tornado of doom that had gotten close enough, Rhegnight cast this counterspell, which was the single target variety of the ‘Prismatic Wave’ spell he previously used.

And an instant upon him uttering this, the pitch black sky right atop him once again glowed with almost divine light, and

*Rumble!*

A single lighting strike descended from up the sky as if delivering heavenly judgement.

And though it was just one strand of lighting with the thickness of only a small tree stump making it not seem that impressive, the power contained within it was mind blogging, as evidenced by how just one hit from this deep navy blue thunderbolt was enough to stop that immense hurricane dead in its track, like it had been stunned.

But the tornado still did not dissipate.

For that to happen, the Grand Iudex had to act, or more specifically his summon- The Watcher.

Which upon receiving a silent command from his master, this huge eyed blob soundlessly aimed all of its numerous tentacles at the fiery inferno, and

*Phew*, *Phew*, *Phew*

Sent out a flurry of numerous multicolored strikes, each of them possessing a deadly effect of their own.

Among them were all the common six elemental damages- Astral, Life, Death, Law, Infernal, and Materium, the combined might of which tore that formidable assortment of whirling magic sand and fire like thin paper.

And then it kept on going having seemingly lost no steam.

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*Booom*

Until, unlike where Master Parntheos had failed in his endeavor, the Grand Iudex succeeded, as his spell hit squarely on the Master Artificer’s chest, sending him flying literally kilometers.

And as his renowned old man flew, he found that he had not only been hit with magical and physical damage, though those were still there of course and they were very significant threats without a doubt,

Even through the formidable armor he had worn, when the magical attacks hit, it made his body feel like it was in an inferno, a freezing hell, a brutal storm, a disease ridden weak husk, being crucified and lastly crushed to death all at the same time, and it was a level of pain he had not felt in a millennium.

While combined with it came the piercing physical damage that was able to bypass much of the defenses of the Orachalcium skin he had applied, and directly entered deep into his organs, causing significant havoc.

Just this should have been enough to make the Master Artificer grimace and even shout in pain, for, unlike Rhegnight’s first spell that he was able to simply shrug off, this hit caused significant damage to him.

But that was hardly the end of it.

In fact, given what Master Parntheos was facing, he would have much preferred to take all that damage and be satisfied rather than what was incoming.

For being a Scryer and Clariovant, what the Grand Iudex truly specialized in were mental attacks.

And that Watcher had indeed infected Master Parntheos with lots of such insidious alignments and status effects.

First was Physic Piercing which smashed into his mind like a fiery meteor, sending all his thoughts on fire and causing Master Parntheos to internally howl in excruciating pain.

Then there was Astral Seal which attacked the sea of consciousness, attempting to restrict the flow of mana and thus make spell casting more difficult.

Following that was Petrify and Frenzy, with the former trying to freeze the sea of consciousness by working in tandem with the spell Astral Seal, while the latter made Master Parntheos’s thoughts erratic and unsteady, supplementing the Physic Piercing spell and thus preventing Master Parntheos from thinking, rendering him ineffective at coming up with any counter.

These four combined were effective beyond words and were able to destroy that formidable vortex of mental protection that Master Parntheos had planted on him like it was a flimsy cling film.

But to make the nightmare even darker for the aged Master Artificer, there was one last spell the Grand Iudex had gifted him- his best one.

Energy Severing Pulse!

It was a very high level spell that was kind of like an EMP burst, one which sent all the mana around the body outside the sea of consciousness into chaos and unable to be controlled, hence the name.

And being attacked on all three, or perhaps four fronts simultaneously, Master Parntheos was unable to mount any kind of defense and felt a profound sense of defenselessness and weakness he had never felt even once in his life.

His body felt like it was being endlessly tortured by the malicious magical energies, his organs screamed at being attacked, his mind was flashing pure white in excruciating pain, all the mana around his body was going haywire and his sea of consciousness felt slow and sluggish like it was dying, as a huge, oppressive golden seal with fantastic runes was wrapping and enshrouding around it, turning the red and golden sea gray and chalky, like stone.

Master Parntheos had not felt such a deep sense of dread and death ever since he had become a ‘Master’.

But perhaps more than that existential dread, what occupied his mind even more was the sheer surprise and shock the old man was experiencing right now.

‘What is that Watcher!’ What is happening? How is that lizard so strong? Why do I feel like I’m fighting a Rank 8?’

All such questions flooded the man’s mind as he tried to make sense of the situation.

It had to be known that although the Grand Iudex had implicitly claimed that Master Parntheos was nothing without his equipment, that was not strictly true.

Yes, the people who practiced his branch of magecraft were indeed generally not gifted in the art of warfare.

But Master Parntheos was different.

Having participated in quite a few major Realm Wars, the man knew how to hold on his own even when disadvantaged.

Plus he was not as bare as the Grand Iudex was making it out.

Sure he only had one Level 7 artifact, but he did bring a plethora of lesser ones.

Ones that he was already using.

For example- The robe and armor he wore under it were very decent defensive artifacts with multiple innate shield runes etched into it.

His eyes were a biological artifact capable of showing various things, like the unique mana signatures of people, particular mana flows, and seeing through illusions to name only a few.

That was why his eyes had runes carved into them in the first time.

His gloves and shoes made him very agile and lastly, Master Parntheos’s tongue and throat had artifacts embedded into them to help him cast spells faster.

All of them made Master Parntheos very dangerous even without his trump cards.

Or at least they should have in theory.

Because somehow, in front of these two, and more specifically the Grand Iudex, Master Parntheos was being thrown around like a toy.

They were supposed to be of the same rank so what gives?