One Year Later…

The wasteland was filled with explosions and shouting as new craters were formed and clouds of dust were thrown into the sky. A middle aged man and a young girl were locked in a cataclysmic battle.

Duriel began forming molten boulders around him to launch at Adriel. She quickly countered the partially melted rocks by forming a slanted wall of stone with a strong air current on the outside of it, throwing Duriel’s attack to destroy more of the landscape.

He isn’t playing around now. That was a 6th tier attack. It has gotten serious now.

Duriel blended into the shadows to appear next to Adriel, but her training in mana sense had made her aware of his transport immediately. She poured mana into her leg and kicked behind her right as he appeared. Being caught off guard, Duriel was sent flying and was only stopped after breaking through a tree nearly two-hundred meters away.

She has completely mastered advanced mana sense. This may be our last bout that I can have a chance in.

Duriel decided it was time to show Adriel what she could really do, and prepared his ultimate ability. He did not want to hurt her, but knew it had to be done to unlock her full power and he knew she would still survive. She had to. While stretching his arms in front of him, the very sun became blocked by a shadow and an eclipse fell upon the land. Light left the wasteland and the air itself solidified to make movement nearly impossible.

That’s, that’s 8th tier magic! No, that might even be 9th. I can’t tell, I haven’t seen something this strong before. What is he thinking!? He always suppresses his true mana level, but I still thought it would max out around 7,000. It’s over 16,000 now. Even at full strength, I have never been able to pass 6,000.

As Adriel tried to think of what to do as a sadistic smile was seen on Duriel’s face and she could feel dread crawl into her bones. This wasn’t the kind man who saved her life and practically raised her in this new world. This was a monster. The bloodlust was evident from all senses. He would hurt her. The dark eclipse overhead quickly brightened as fire began to gather in an enormous ball of plasma to replace the artificial moon.

His mana is quickly gathering above me. If he finishes this, it will definitely hurt.

“Fist of Baal. Form and obliterate.”

He’s… He’s chanting. I have never heard him need to do that.

As she began to break through the solidified air and pick up speed towards Duriel who was gathering mana, shadows on the ground began to grab and lash at Adriel, stopping her from reaching him. She quickly tore through them but new ones immediately took their place; it didn’t matter how fast she removed them, there would always be another to replace them. If she tried to ignore them to advance, they would grab her instead. As a last effort, she moved to teleport behind him, but the mana of the area was completely frozen so no link could be made.

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This is ancient magic. A spell created by a demon lord eons ago for wars which the residents of this world could never survive. The pressure of mana both prevents escape as well as draws power which could destroy humanity and glass towns. Humanity of this era could never stand a chance against this power.

That’s not a power I can match… What does he want me to do about this!?

This is Duriel’s strongest attack, however his body can no longer support magic of this scale and he briefly blacks out when the ball of plasma slams into Adriel’s body. The shockwave decimates the landscape as though an atomic bomb was set off. In less than a second, everything above ground within a two mile radius is vaporized, while much of the ground itself turns to glass except for a small bubble surrounding Duriel.

To think she can push me this hard now. Knowing I have this ability, I probably couldn’t beat her again after this. This is truly everything my current body can manage. Actually, this body might not even be able to do that ever again...

“I win!”

“Yeah… Wait. What!?”

Standing in front of him is Adriel with her rapier at his neck. Her clothing is almost entirely burnt away and even parts of her arms and hair are burnt, but she has no serious injuries and is smiling in full force.

“Hahaha. You really did it. I knew you’d survive, but I still didn’t expect you to win.”

What’s going on? Her mana levels hardly went up. They briefly doubled, but even that shouldn’t be enough to have made it this far. She didn’t awaken her true power. She must have more than that, so how is she this unharmed? Oh dear, I need to get clothes on her, NOW.

“Well for a moment there I DIDN’T think I’d survive. How can you even do something like that? I didn’t know you could use magic like that. It took everything to deconstruct the mana in the center of that plasma to divert it. For once I’m thankful for my small body. If I were bigger, I probably wouldn't fit in the opening I made there.”

Duriel was shocked. He had assumed that she would tap into her body’s hidden power to survive the blast without taking much damage, but she found a completely different method.

“What do you mean by deconstruct the mana? You mean like a magic shield to warp the plasma? I didn’t sense such a shield formed by you.”

Duriel took a towel out of his dimensional storage bag and gave it to her so she could cover up.

“Thanks, but huh? No. Your power is crazy Duriel. I know I can’t match that, not even close. It would have destroyed any shield I put up. I changed the mana you used to turn the spell back into pure mana to undo part of the plasma in the center. Isn’t that what I was supposed to do? I didn’t see any other way out of that.”

“Oh I see. Ahem. Very good dear. I think we have both earned a rest, let’s get back home and take a day off. I’ll cook you a fine meal tonight.”

“Awesome! I want steak today.”

That isn’t possible. But then again, the rules of magic may have changed now; her very existence is proof of that. I can’t wait to see what she can do when she unlocks her real power. I had hoped I could push her there myself, but I’ll have to find another way.

Duriel thought these things all the way back as Adriel skipped and examined the very few plants still alive on the path back home. Mana is personal, an extension of the body. To block someone’s mana would be like blocking a punch, but to control someone’s mana is the same as controlling someone else’s body entirely. Complicated magic breaking spells exist, maybe she just used one of those and described it poorly.

I made the right choice. When she realizes her true self, I hope she lets me follow her forever. I am honored to have raised her, but one day she will have to take charge, and I shall do whatever she says even if she can’t forgive me for what I’ve done. After all, I owe my life to this angel.