"Interesting."
For the first time, Basara, a demon who rarely showed emotion, curled the corners of his mouth. He said he was amused, but Basara could feel the displeasure bubbling up inside him.
'Is it because I'm using human flesh as a vessel?'
The original owner, Louispold, harbored a tremendous sense of inferiority towards Rudger and the aftermath of those feelings would be felt by the demon himself.
'It's not so bad.'
Earlier, Basara had said that she didn't want to fight Rudger. But after hearing Rudger's words, he changed his mind.
I want to fight that man.
For the first time, Basara thought of it of his own volition.
"I see. Actually, I was wondering whether I was strong enough to fulfill my mission. I want to find out."
How strong am I now?
I have a great object in front of me to measure that.
An enormous, breathtaking aura of magic surrounds him.
He stares down at me.
"All right. If we're going to fight, this is as good as it gets."
Basara felt a surge of motivation.
If he couldn't surpass Rudger here and now, he didn't deserve to fulfill his mission.
"I'll use all my strength."
As he spoke, Basara snapped his index finger and thumb together as black energy crackled, then materialized into a spell.
The corner of Rudger's eye twitched behind his mask at the sight.
"Mana."
"Yes, it is mana enhanced by my own power."
By nature, demons do not use mana since demonic power is a powerful force in itself.
A mental wave based on it could defeat any opponent, no matter who they were. Even a wizard of Lexer rank or a Master would fall equally but for Rudger, it didn't work at all.
To Basara, Rudger's presence was an unpleasant incompatibility but with the vessel of Louispold, Basara became even more powerful than before.
Science, magic and the fine physical ingredients of a modern wizard woven together, harmoniously, in its best form.
Basara was able to manifest magic that he shouldn't have been able to use in the first place, through Louispold's body.
"The so-called dark magic."
The finished formula was black-red in color and a black, energized metal was created out of thin air and shot toward Rudger in a torrent of water. This was no ordinary metal but demonic iron and in terms of power alone, it was one level higher than the same type of magic.
The same spell required different fuels, and therefore produced different results.
Rudger drew a shadow around him as he watched the metal that Basara shot out.
The spear of metal flew at him, and the moment it touched the shadow, it bent as if space had been distorted, sending it flying into the distance.
As the curved spear struck the root of the dead World Tree, something incredible happened. The dead, ivory-colored roots of the World Tree began to turn black.
The effect was like a curse imposed by Basara magic.
"Then how about this?"
Realizing that his point-blank attack would not work, Basara cast his next spell.
This time, it was a wind-based spell normally used by physical masters. However, this spell was also much more powerful due to the black magic.
Foul Wind, the winds of decay rushed toward Rudger like a beast over the ground.
The ground it swept across rotted in an instant but Rudger responded with the same wind magic.
An attack with the power of decay should have been consumed by flames. But if he added flames to something with wind properties, it would feed off the flames and grow even larger.
Instead, it was better to strike back with the same element, but with more force.
[Whirlwind!!!]
Rudger's wind became no ordinary wind, but a wind imbued with divine energy, colliding with Basara's magic.
The two forces pushed and pulled against each other, but in the end, it was Rudger's magic that prevailed.
Seeing the rush of golden holy wind, Basara spread his wings and soared vertically, casting his next spell, Ice Blizzard.
Basara spread his arms wide, and a freezing blizzard arose. Any part of the World Tree's roots that made contact with the blizzard froze in an instant, then shattered with a crackling sound.
The bitter cold froze everything it touched and shattered it completely.
Finding it difficult to fight back with such cold, Rudger used a different kind of magic.
[The Five Elements Fire]
-When fire is too strong, water evaporates.
It was the most effective attack against the bitter cold.
As his Five Elements spell unfolded, Rudger activated one more Five Elements [Wood Fire].
Trees rose from the ground and began to burn fiercely, resonating with Rudger's flames. Through the symbiotic power of the Five Elements, the flames were fed by the wood for firewood.
The chill, reinforced by black magic, was quickly pushed back.
It was unbelievable, both from Basara's point of view and from the empirical perspective of Louispold's memories.
The compatibility transcended the power gap and aside from that, there was something else.
"Let's stop this!"
Basara cast his magic again.
[Fusion Water.]
Water that could melt anything was poured over the flames. But instead, the flames vaporized the water with intense heat, sending a red stream of fire toward Basara.
'How?'
As confident as he had been at first, Basara couldn't shake a nagging feeling as he exchanged magic with Rudger.
Something was bothering him.
At first, he thought he was just a nuisance to fight so he decided to be merciful and let him go since it was the practical thing to do but Rudger rejected the offer and challenged him to a fight.
In the immediate aftermath, there was a bit of bravado, and a clear sense of purpose toward the mission. He even thought it was a good thing but now Basara frowned at the discomfort he felt inside.
He didn't recognize the feeling as anxiety since he was a demon that fanned the negative emotions of humans, but ironically, he was ignorant of his own emotions.
"……Playing is over. I'm done."
With that, Basara held out his hands and a human's mouth dropped open in his palms, and the magic kicked in.
Two dark magics merged into one, creating an immense power.
Fusion Magic [Flowing Glacier] was casted as a steady stream of ice swept through the central area.
The bodies of the warlocks and test subjects inside were quickly melted and fused into the glacier as the all-consuming ice was about to reach Rudger's body but an intense beam of light burst forth, tearing through Basara's magic.
'Light?'
Basara frowned at the sight, but activated his magic once more.
Fusion Magic [Showers of Pyrite] combined iron and wind as a storm of corroded steel raged, an infernal tempest that tore at anything in its path.
The storm sought to consume the beam of light but the beam of light survived and grew stronger.
Some of the mana that had been swirling around Rudger broke loose and merged into the pillar of light. Immediately afterward, the pillar of light split into countless stalks and took on the shape of a butcher knife.
The outstretched light seemed to resemble a human hand and the storm that Basara launched was torn apart by the light.
At the center of the light, the shadowy Rudger clasped his hands together in a pact.
A man of shadows, raising a brilliant light behind his back, the indescribable irony of the sight stopped Basara in his tracks.
It was then that Rudger unbuckled his helmet and held out his hand towards Basara as an attack in the shape of a human hand [Thousand Hands] materialized.
The palm, glowing with golden light, was the same magic that had crushed Louispold's body. The only difference was that there were a thousand of them, living up to their name.
"……!"
Basara spread his wings, soaring high above the ground. His speed was so great that, for a moment, a black line was mistaken for nothing but air.
Immediately afterward, a hand of light gave chase, leaving a pure white trajectory.
Basara performed incredible flying acrobatics and quickly traversed the wide central area.
[Boom]
Every time she passed through a gap in the World Tree Root, the light behind her collided with it, causing one pure white explosion after another.
Basara's constant dodging didn't last long because the Hands of Light were too fast and too numerous, and eventually Basara was overtaken by them.
Hands of light flew out and slammed into his back, shoulders, and waist. One white blast after another followed and the force of the impact pierced through Basara's flesh.
"Ugh!"
Basara screamed in agony, his palm burned where it was touched.
Basara stopped flying and switched to defense as searing yellow eyes sprouted from his black body. Snowflakes of black magic spread like spores, forming a black sphere around Basara.
[Thud, thud, thud!]
Light blows furiously pounded the black sphere from the outside. The sphere shuddered, but it was impenetrable.
Just as Basara was about to smile with satisfaction, Rudger changed his stance and his outstretched hand curled into a fist.
"What?"
Then the flying hands of light did the same, turning into fists and they burned with fierce gold.
With his attacks now more powerful, the Light Fists struck the sphere hard and the black sphere began to crack, then shattered like glass.
Basara spread his wings again and tried to flee, but his body didn't budge.
"What?!"
Basara suddenly realized that something was grabbing his ankle. He looked down to see a shadow rising from the ground, lengthening to envelop his lower half.
"E……!"
Basara tried to resist, but the shadow pulled him even harder.
Even his hardened body was no match for this force and the shadow wrapped itself around Basara's entire body, sending him crashing to the ground.
[Boom!]
The ground cracked and a cloud of dust rose but before it could settle, fists of light rained down on it.
"Argh!"
Basara screamed in agony. His regenerative powers and strong body were no match for the magic Rudger was now unleashing.
Flesh crumbled to dust, muscles ruptured, and bones shattered as the holy power did not allow flesh to regenerate easily.
Andrei, far away, could not tear his eyes away from the sight.
"My God."
A demon, the ultimate test subject, was being defeated by a mere mortal.
A mere mortal was taking on a demon in a way that was not only unequal, but one-sided.
The fight he was watching now was a reenactment of a mythical scene that no one knew.
'Is he a monster?'
Andrei was in awe of Rudger but he was not optimistic about the situation.
'It's certainly a great spell but he can't sustain an attack of this magnitude for long.'
Immediately, the mana fog that had been swirling around Rudger began to shrink at a noticeable rate.
It was the largest it had ever been, but the magic he was using now was costing him a lot of mana.
Rudger knew this, and he wanted to kill Basara as quickly as possible but Basara was as tenacious as a cockroach.
He was now determined to hold out, offering no defense or resistance. Instead, it channeled all its power into regenerating its body.
The pain must have been excruciating, but Basara gritted his teeth and tried to endure it.
Andrei felt a sense of urgency.
'He needed to strike harder.'
Rudger must have realized the same thing, because he stopped unleashing his countless fists of light. Instead, he began to unite the hands of light behind his back.
The arms lengthened and merged into one, tangling back and forth like a thread.
A single beam of light drew a line, and as it did, a shape began to form in the air. It was a golden, glowing Buddha.
The awe-inspiring figure sat on a lotus flower and stared at Basara.
The sight of the Buddha set off alarm bells in Basara's mind. His instincts screamed that he must not take this attack.
"Ooooooooooo!!!"
Basara screamed, straining his body and the sturdy ropes of shadow began to tear.
The speed was faster than Rudger had calculated. With each tear in the shadow rope, Basara's skin cracked and his muscles tore. Still, Basara did not stop.
He'd rather endure the pain now, but the attack Rudger was preparing for him was far worse.
[Thud! Thud!]
At this rate, he would break free of his bonds before Rudger's magic was complete but the moment Basara cut the last rope of shadow clinging to his body he came to a screeching halt once more.
"You……."
Basara's head snapped to one side. There, a half-dead Andrei, drained of more than half his power, stretched out his arms in this direction as a binding spell unfurled, squeezing every last bit of magic out of him.
It was a spell that Basara could tear like a sheet of paper if he wanted to.
In reality, the spell Andrei unleashed with all his might was only able to immobilize Basara for less than a second. But that one second was all that mattered.
It was the final piece of the puzzle that completed Rudger's magic.
The golden statue was complete and facing it in all its glory, Basara's body froze.
What was it about this thing that made him feel like he was no match for it, even though he was a demon?
Rudger summoned all his remaining mana and reached out to Basara.
[Vajra Divine Palm]
In time with Rudger's movement, the Buddha stamped down on Basara with his giant hand.