“That shadow is Lobelia? The Square Water Mirror can copy people who aren’t present?”
Kars’s surprise was met with Gray pulling her behind him, his voice extremely low.
“Normally, the Square Water Mirror can only scan and copy targets within its field of view. Someone not present showing up… that’s definitely an anomaly.”
The gray Lobelia didn’t attack immediately.
Instead, she crossed her arms with interest, her lips curling into a playful smile.
“My, my, don’t look at me with such hostility. Didn’t you enjoy that sweet, clinging atmosphere between you two just now?”
“If you were really Lobelia, you’d know I’ve never liked illusions, mage.”
Gray’s cold stare and response didn’t anger “Lobelia” as he’d expected.
Instead, she laughed so hard she doubled over, as if she’d heard the funniest joke.
“The one already drowning in an illusion has no right to say that, you know?”
A cluster of vivid pink flames ignited in her palm, instantly transforming into a fire whip several meters long.
It tore through the air with scorching force and an aura of annihilation, lashing straight at Gray’s face!
What was more terrifying was that along the whip’s trajectory, space warped, and out of nowhere, over a dozen fist-sized fireballs materialized, following the whip’s path as they bombarded Gray and Kars.
The youth’s pupils contracted.
Lightning light swept across, intercepting all the fireballs, then he flipped his wrist, bringing his longsword horizontally before his chest, precisely blocking the whip’s strike.
The collision of lightning and fire kicked up massive clouds of white smoke.
Meanwhile, Kars snapped out of her initial shock.
Her staff tapped lightly, and a Holy Light Shield, accompanied by blessing auras of various colors, enveloped Gray like they cost nothing.
“My, what a fast reaction. But don’t dodge my question, Gray~”
Lobelia’s copy laughed while waving her baton to summon more fireballs.
“You’re shielding this girl so closely. Are you still going to insist you didn’t enjoy what you just saw?”
“An dishonest kid won’t easily win a girl’s heart, you know?”
Faced with Lobelia’s teasing, Gray, who was usually terrible at handling romantic topics, didn’t blush this time.
He swung his blade to deflect the flames’ assault, answering with utmost seriousness.
“Protecting the captain is a member’s duty. As for the scene you just created with your Authority… I cherish every moment I fight alongside her. But a soulless imitation like you has no right to judge our relationship!”
Hearing Gray’s reply—clumsy yet full of protectiveness—the girl’s cheeks flushed uncontrollably, and her heart raced treacherously.
To hide her embarrassment, she quickly changed the subject loudly.
“Whoa, Mr. Gray is so serious I’m blushing… but what’s an ‘Authority’?”
‘This, this idiot, getting all worked up arguing with a copy… It must be because of whatever ‘Authority’ he mentioned. Yes, that’s it!’
“An Authority is a special ability!”
The youth executed a Dragon Ascension Slash, cutting through the oncoming fireballs.
The bursting sparks lit up his profile.
“Just like a Calamity Pillar’s Authority, someone who wields an Authority can manipulate a rule in a way beyond common sense! For example, that scroll that trapped you in a different space earlier used the Calamity Pillar Zoktiluka’s Space Authority!”
Because he had to stay glued to Kars’s side to protect her under the copy’s relentless rain of fire, this also gave him the chance to explain the concept of “Authority.”
“Lobelia’s Authority is ‘Love.’ It can manipulate emotions and perceptions. That sweet atmosphere you felt earlier, whatever you saw or thought… it was all caused by her Authority!”
Kars nodded, half-understanding.
‘So that’s it. That means I can blame that giddy feeling on this Authority too?’
‘Great. So it’s not that I’ve fallen for this pervert in front of me—it’s that the enemy is just too good at playing tricks!’
“You explained it clearly, Gray.”
“But not entirely right, you know? At least for someone with Authority Resistance like you… my ‘Love’ can only give you some subconscious nudges.”
She floated midair, looking down at the two of them.
The tip of her staff gathered a terrifyingly ominous amount of magic power.
“In other words—what you just saw, what you felt… it’s actually what your subconscious truly desires. Am I right?”
Gray didn’t answer, because the rain of fire had stopped.
That wasn’t a good sign.
All of that gray Lobelia’s magic power was now concentrated at the tip of her staff.
“[Super Rank Light Magic: Ultimate Inner Light].”
“GET BACK!!”
Gray shoved Kars hard, sending her several meters away.
Then he sheathed his sword, lowering his center of gravity to the absolute limit.
Thousands of tiny lightning bolts within his body were compressed into a single point.
His whole body was like a drawn bowstring.
Facing a mage who opened with a Super Rank spell, Gray dared not be careless.
He had to use his strongest burst skill to counter.
“Lightning Cut: Draw Concubine.”
BOOM!!!
A massive pillar of light and a razor-thin yet terrifyingly sharp lightning thread collided midair.
The blinding white light consumed almost all visibility.
Just as their attacks locked in a stalemate, Gray suddenly realized something was wrong.
The Square Water Mirror’s total energy should be constant.
This “Lobelia” seemed grand and imposing, but her magic power wasn’t as strong as the two copies combined—barely at lower A-rank.
Then… where was the remaining energy?
A hair-raising sense of crisis exploded within him.
Without thinking, his body reacted before his mind.
Gray’s left hand clenched in a grip.
Using excess Lightning Element, he instantly formed a lightning spear.
Without looking, he hurled it viciously toward the spot behind Kars!
“MOVE!!”
The white lightning spear tore through the air, grazing the golden hair beneath the young priest’s earlobe, slamming precisely into a patch of “air” just inches behind her.
Sparks flew.
Where there had been nothing, a pitch-black dagger materialized, along with a pair of eyes as beautiful as jewels but utterly devoid of any emotional color.
“?!?”
Kars thought, ‘You could have found it earlier—you scared me to death!’ as she turned around to meet those gem-like eyes.
In truth, from the moment the fake Lobelia appeared, her Calamity Pillar senses had caught the hidden presence in the shadows.
Probably because most of the energy had been drained by that chatterbox witch for her fireworks display, this hidden figure’s strength wasn’t at its peak.
But the dagger’s fierce precision, the perfect stealth with no hint of killing intent…
That was no ordinary E-level or D-level assassin could pull off.
“Focus on dealing with Lobelia’s copy!”
Kars took on a captain’s stance.
Her gun-blade swept out.
Instead of retreating, she shot forward, chasing the assassin who had missed and tried to vanish again.
“I’ll handle this assassin!”
“She’s also a former member of Dawn Blade, so—”
Before Gray could finish his warning, the light pillar from “Lobelia” widened severalfold, forcing him to grit his teeth and pour out all his magic power to counter, unable to break away to help.
But the worry in his heart had already reached its limit.
‘The “Demon in the Forest,” the “Talking Tree”… that assassin from our old squad is not someone Kars, who has power but no combat experience, can handle!’
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