At Aria’s declaration, which was practically a victory speech, Bianca unknowingly smiled bitterly. Earlier, Aria had accused Bianca of arrogance, yet it was Aria herself who acted with such confidence.
“I admit I was careless and you landed a solid strike, but isn’t it a bit early to assume you’ve already won?”
As Bianca finished speaking, her body began to emit an aura of a completely different magnitude.
Aria instinctively took a step back, overwhelmed by the suffocating surge of mana that filled the entire space between them.
“…Could it be that you were still holding back?” Aria asked, her complexion turning pale.
Bianca smiled meekly at her opponent and answered, “Well, wouldn’t it be natural to conceal some of your strength? If you thought there was a fool of a mage who would unleash their full power from the start without gauging their opponent, that would indeed be a naive assumption.”
Snapping her fingers with a tinge of pity, Bianca made the bloodstains on her body vanish. Outwardly, she appeared fine, but internally, her condition was far from normal. Aria’s previous strike had dealt her a serious blow.
Only about 30% of her usual magical power remained. Even so, Bianca was confident she could overwhelm her opponent. She had long since completed her analysis of Aria.
“Bind the enemy. Chains of sorrow!”
With a sharp “cheerreuk!”, dozens of chains materialized in the air and raced toward Aria, intent on binding her.
“What now?” Aria muttered.
Electricity crackled as she wrapped herself in lightning, attempting to evade the chains pursuing her at an invisible speed. However, the chains summoned by Bianca clung tenaciously to Aria, darting through the space as though they had minds of their own.
“Tch!”
The chains were too slow to fully keep up with Aria’s movements as she darted across the battlefield at subsonic speed. Still, their presence limited her actions, even slightly.
“The Roar of the Seven-Headed Dragon.”
That was precisely what Bianca had aimed for. Lowering her slender index finger, she cast yet another spell, executing the same double casting technique Aria had just used.
Grroooh!
A massive, seven-headed fire dragon emerged before Bianca. Created from her magical power, the dragon was a manifestation of ferocious energy, ready to slaughter anything in its path under its master’s command.
“Now, let’s see you dodge this,” Bianca said, her tone dripping with confidence.
At her command, the seven-headed fire dragon twisted its serpent-like form and charged at Aria with relentless fury.
“Ahh!”
With her escape route blocked by the chains, Aria groaned as she realized she had no way out. Her only option was to face the attack head-on.
“Heavenly Thunderbolt, come forth!”
Lightning surged once again through Aria’s body, but this time, it wasn’t for evasion. This thunderbolt was meant to annihilate both the seven-headed fire dragon and Bianca.
“…Let’s do this.”
With unwavering focus, Aria stepped forward to confront the dragon.
Quaang!
Her lightning-infused blade pierced through the dragon’s first head, shattering it. Blood-red flames burst apart like phantom blossoms scattering in the wind.
Twisting her body mid-air, Aria narrowly evaded three more heads as they lunged past her. As she remained airborne and seemingly defenseless, one of the remaining heads opened its maw to strike. Yet Aria remained calm, twisting her body further to deliver a devastating kick that destroyed the dragon’s head.
This maneuver was one of the self-defense techniques she had learned from Duke Estel, who had cherished her like his own daughter.
However, as Aria shattered one head, the last two lunged at her, biting down on her left arm and right leg. They quickly transformed into fiery chains, binding her in place.
“…So, this magic was meant to restrain me from the start?”
Electricity erupted from Aria’s body, causing the fiery chains to explode in an instant. It took only a second, but that brief moment was enough for Bianca to prepare her next move.
“…!”
Bianca’s eyes gleamed as she observed Aria. There was no room for complacency now. She had learned her lesson about underestimating opponents.
While she wasn’t yet at the level of the Witch of Winter, Aria had proven herself a formidable foe. Bianca resolved to give it her all. It was both a sign of respect to her rival and a tribute to the one who had wounded her.
Raising her right arm skyward, Bianca spoke an incantation in a low, deliberate voice.
“The Sigh of White Flame.”
A blinding white light began to emanate from Bianca’s fingertips, steadily growing brighter.
At the culmination of her mana, it reached its critical point, resembling the radiance of a solar flare.
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