When everyone pushed open the heavy door and stepped from the spring-like warmth of the dining hall into the outside world, a biting wind mixed with the scent of snow howled toward them.
The wind sounded like the growl of some beast, echoing through the empty courtyard, sweeping up snow from the ground and forming white whirlwinds in the air.
Duke Eisende led the way at the front.
He wasn’t wearing that thick fur coat, nor had he even picked up the dress jacket he’d taken off earlier.
He was dressed only in that thin white shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, revealing his bulging forearms.
But as he walked through the wind and snow, the raging gale seemed to hold a kind of awe for him, automatically parting to either side when it came within three feet of his body.
Sylvia floated diagonally above him.
The ghostly lady apparently wasn’t affected by physical temperature.
Her bloodstained white dress flapped loudly in the wind, and her light purple hair scattered like ink spreading in water.
She crossed her arms and looked down at the man steadily walking through the snow below, that playful smile always lingering at the corner of her lips.
The four people following behind didn’t have it so easy.
“So cold…”
Helos shrank her neck, burying half her face in her thick scarf.
Though her physical condition was much better than before, the chill seeping into her bones still made her shiver involuntarily.
Julius silently moved to stand in the wind’s path, using his broad back to block most of the snow and gale for her.
“Thanks.”
Helos said softly, then looked worriedly at the two figures ahead.
She tugged at the young man’s sleeve, her voice filled with unease.
“Hey… Julius, do you think this fight will really happen?”
“What if that crazy woman doesn’t know her own strength and hurts my father? Or what if Father scatters her into nothing… then won’t my special training be ruined?”
At that, Julius’s footsteps paused slightly.
He looked up, his gaze landing on the white figure floating in the air.
A deep wariness flickered in his pitch-black eyes.
“Don’t worry about Duke Eisende.”
Julius said in a low voice. “Although I’ve never seen the Duke go all out, since he’s known as one of the Three Great Mages of the Empire, his strength is definitely unfathomable. In this world, there are very few who could harm him.”
“As for that woman…”
He paused, his tone growing complicated.
“Even though she acts like… ahem, a somewhat comical drunkard in the Rose Pavilion, and gets completely suppressed by my holy light every time…”
“But.”
Julius clenched his fist, recalling the scene in the hall when he first tested her with holy light.
“Back then, to ensure your safety, I really was serious about killing her.”
“I didn’t hold back at all. I pushed my holy light to the limit. Purification of that intensity wouldn’t last long even for a high-rank Undead Lord.”
“But what about her?”
Julius gave a bitter laugh.
“She screamed loudly, she looked miserable, even rolled on the ground begging for mercy, but she didn’t suffer a single bit of damage.”
“She’s like an indestructible rock. My holy light could only make her feel pain, but couldn’t touch her core.”
As he spoke, Julius’s expression grew extremely serious.
“So that woman’s real strength is probably much greater than what she shows.”
“Maybe… even as she said, she really is a monster that once killed a god.”
Hearing this, Helos and Eleanor both gasped.
They knew Sylvia was strong, but they hadn’t expected her to be this strong.
If even a chosen one’s full-power strike couldn’t cause her real harm, then what in this world could threaten her?
“So… will Father really be okay?”
Eleanor looked worriedly at her father’s back.
“Trust him.”
Julius said firmly.
“He’s Eisende Olivia. He never fights a battle he hasn’t already won.”
As they spoke, the group had already crossed the courtyard and arrived at an open area on the east side of the duke’s mansion.
This was Eisende’s private training ground.
The field was very wide, the ground paved with hard silent magic stones. Several magic-conducting stone pillars for testing spell intensity stood around the edges.
Usually, this was where Eisende and Christ tested their magic, but now it was empty, only the wind and snow dancing in the silence.
Duke Eisende walked to the center of the training ground.
He stopped, turned around, and faced the ghost who was slowly descending.
His voice was calm and powerful, cutting through the howling wind and snow, clearly reaching the ears of everyone present.
“Right here.”
“This place has the family’s top-tier defense array. No need to worry about affecting other areas.”
“Whatever.”
Sylvia hovered half a meter above the ground, shrugging indifferently.
“For me, where we fight makes no difference.”
“In that case.”
Eisende nodded.
He didn’t attack immediately, but slowly raised his right hand.
“Rise.”
As he spoke that single word, the ground of the entire training ground suddenly trembled.
Whoosh—!
Immediately afterward, streaks of azure light lit up from the surrounding magic-conducting stone pillars.
Countless complex runes interwove and linked in the air, finally forming a huge semicircular light barrier that completely enveloped the training ground.
It wasn’t just a simple defensive barrier.
Through her mind’s eye, Helos could clearly see the terrifying mana flowing within that light barrier.
It was a compound high-level magic array integrating defense, isolation, and stabilization.
It could not only block external attacks, but also completely lock any mana fluctuations erupting inside the barrier, preventing leakage.
What was even more shocking was that such a complex barrier had been completed in an instant by Eisende with just a raise of his hand, without even a single incantation.
This was the strength of the empire’s top mage?
The barrier even covered Helos and the others, but the barrier itself was unaffected.
“Instant-cast high-level barrier…”
Even Sylvia, who had been acting so nonchalant, restrained her disdain a little after seeing this.
She looked around at the shimmering barrier walls and couldn’t help but let out an appreciative tone.
“Interesting.”
“The arrangement of the mana is a bit rigid, but the control really is impressive. For a human to reach this level of barrier magic in this age of mana scarcity, it’s enough to earn my respect.”
She turned back to Eisende, a delighted smile curling at her lips.
“Looks like this fight won’t be boring.”
Eisende ignored her assessment.
After setting up the barrier, he didn’t stop.
Instead, he lightly grasped the air with his left hand.
The previously empty air suddenly twisted.
Click.
A strangely shaped staff slowly slid out of the void, firmly gripped in his hand.
It wasn’t a common staff, but a unique weapon forged entirely by Eisende’s own hands.
The shaft was made of some unknown silver-white metal, its surface densely carved with complex magic-conducting patterns.
And at the staff’s top, instead of the usual single huge gem of a single attribute, were several magic stones of different colors, each radiating different elemental fluctuations.
These magic stones were arranged according to a specific pattern.
Red fire, blue water, cyan wind, yellow earth…
Under the guidance of Eisende’s mana, they not only avoided conflict, but formed a perfect cycle.
The moment the staff appeared, the elemental concentration within the barrier soared.
The snow on the ground instantly froze, and even lightning faintly flickered in the air. Countless tiny ice crystals and sparks slowly revolved around Eisende.
“That’s… the staff Father forged himself?”
Eleanor whispered, recognizing the weapon’s origin.
It wasn’t a divine artifact, but a custom-made weapon Duke Eisende had spent years on, designed to maximize his own vast multi-attribute mana.
Though it lacked the famous names of legendary weapons, in Eisende’s hands, its power was absolutely no less than any divine artifact.
Eisende held the staff, standing tall and straight as a pine.
He looked at Sylvia opposite him, his eyes devoid of any contempt, only filled with respect and battle intent toward a fellow strong one.
“Ready?”
“Anytime.”
Sylvia finally descended from the air.
Her bare, deathly pale feet lightly touched the frozen ground.
She had no weapon.
Or rather, for a Great Slayer of Mages, she herself was the sharpest weapon.
She slightly turned sideways, assuming a posture that seemed loose and careless, yet left no opening.
The wind stopped.
And at that moment, the snow seemed to freeze as well.
The entire training ground fell into dead silence.
All preparations were complete.
This battle, spanning centuries, between the Great Slayer of Mages and the Grand Mage—was about to begin!