He had been rather befuddled by the suddenness with which she lined up attacks in his blind spot, but after examining the possibilities, he had landed on the most likely one: charms.

  Sorcery involved the use of spells, arrays and other special forms of speech to manipulate the mana that pervaded the world for the use of the practitioner. Its applications and forms were innumerable, and Goblins were hailed across the realm for their attainments in the art, their greatest sorcerers putting to shame even the Elves from time to time.

  One of these forms was the use of charms.

  Since it was not always possible to cast spells in the middle of battles (and for a million other considerations), the use of charms was an obvious need for sorcerers. It was, in essence, a pre-made spell put into a physical token and activated by use of the practitioner’s mana. It had many limits, but it was quite effective within its scope.

  It was these tools that the heiress had used to initiate those surprise attacks. Using her spells and trusting him to anticipate them, she discreetly channelled her mana through her already active spell to activate the charm and land clinical hit after clinical hit.

  This realisation was met with only some relief, though. The issue wasn’t that she used this tool, but the finesse with which she did. Knowing quite well his sensitivity to her attacks, she timed the activation of the charms such that it would not be detected during their initialisation or release (activation strictly refers to infusing mana into the charm, while release refers to when the stored spell itself is activated). All this she did while using regular spells, firing her arrows precisely and manipulating her mana to disrupt his healing.

  Elijah sighed in acknowledgement of her talents. This level of control and coolness was rare at such a level, and she too had only gone through a single growth phase.

  As he mulled this over in his mind, another salvo of attacks came forth, and he continued his routine of close evasions. This time, though only a few blows connected, it was obvious that the various tactics she had employed were working to great effect. He was like a rat being played around with while the steadily closing jaws of a reptilian predator made to close down and finish him off.

  The last attack of this round was a bullet-like arrow that made to strike him right in the glabella. Dodging was impossible in this situation, and he was forced to pluck it mid-air and completely arrest its flight.

  The arrowhead was made of silver and, despite the distance from his face, made the skin between his eyes prickle uncomfortably. That spoke volumes of its level of refinement. In fact, since the bolt’s surface had been carved with arrays to improve power and accuracy, the silver in these circuits reacted violently to his Lycan anatomy and began a deteriorative reaction, giving off noxious fumes as it disintegrated and also caused injuries to him.

  Elijah observed the process almost with disinterest, as though it wasn’t his own palm that was being burnt through slowly.

  After an excruciating wait, he finally let the bolt fall to the ground with a clattering sound.

  The array circuits had been mostly corroded.

  There was an audible sigh from the Lycan as he looked at the tired heiress (her constant attacks and coordination had been quite the drain on her stamina).

  Elijah was in no rush, though, and allowed her to catch her breath and replenish herself with a small mana stone.

  After giving her some time, he made a respectful bow in her direction, an action which clearly surprised the heiress.

  “I underestimated you, young mistress,” he said sincerely. “I apologise.”

  There was a respect in his voice that had not been there before.

  This respect was the rarest and perhaps most valuable in this realm of Reigina.

  The honour of titles and influence were one thing, the acknowledgement of an opponent you had crossed swords with was another.

  “With that said…”

  Volcanic ash descended on his person and left just as suddenly, leaving behind not the miserable young boy who had been cornered but a dangerous beast. Her black eyes took in this new appearance, which wasn’t that much different but had a hint of austere savagery, with his long fangs and claws that set her ill at ease.

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  After a few seconds of observation, she spoke.

  “This is different from the form you took against those servants, though.”

  So you were watching me, he said to himself, one of his guesses confirmed.

  She didn’t seem pleased at the fact that he was holding back, though. She had thought he would finally take her seriously after her show of talent.

  “It’s not that,” he said, making the closest approximation of an apologetic face he could in his current form. “I just lose control more in that form. This is generally what I use for actual fighting.”

  She seemed satisfied with this answer, but her expression quickly turned worried as she eyed the Lycan peer.

  The word 'prosaic' could never be rightly used when discussing the races of this most mysterious realm.

  Furthermore, no two races were identical, and all had their unique abilities and subspecies and idiosyncrasies apparently designed for the sole purpose of confounding all those who seemed to make it their business to study such things.

  Still, among the myriad races of this strange land, there were none quite like the Lycans.

  Unlike the other races of Reigina, they were unable to manipulate life particles for spells or martial arts. They were inert to the life force of the world.

  Despite this, they were powerful beyond belief, their physical prowess dwarfing even that of the stone-skinned trolls. She had never personally had the opportunity to go against one herself, so the fight was as much educational as it was personal.

  Despite her unease, she wanted to see the limits of this famed yet scarcely-known race.

  Elijah seemed prepared to oblige, as he positioned himself like a runner on his mark in preparation for his next move.

  “You should use a shield spell.”

  She thought that was a good idea and started casting immediately, but he shook his head to stop her.

  “Something stronger; earth-based is best.”

  “Water’s my innate element; earth spells take longer for me.”

  “I’m in no rush,” he said.

  She puffed her cheeks out in protest but still did as he said; his Lycan form was consistently broadcasting danger to her, and she thought it was far better to err on the side of caution.

  After being satisfied that she had made the necessary precautions, Elijah let a long breath out from behind his lips and stared at her, the yellow glow in his eyes locking on to her dainty frame and reflecting its image like a still lake.

  The next second, he was gone.

  Chaina felt herself leave the ground with the feeling that she had been run over.

  The force threw her several metres away, almost to the other end of the arena, before it abated. Naturally, her forcefield did not survive the savage impact.

  What absurd strength, she thought to herself. The attack had come so suddenly that it felt that she hadn’t even heard or sensed it until after a long delay, almost like the tardy boom of thunder dragging behind the destructive power of lightning.

  Worse still, her forcefield had entirely shattered from the attack. She was now exceedingly glad that she had taken his advice to make an earth-based shield.

  The art of sorcery didn’t just mean gathering mana for spells but also augmenting it with the power of the natural elements. Taking the example of a forcefield, a forcefield spell like that utilised the element of wood would not only be durable but have the ability to replenish itself, since growth and regeneration were vital aspects of wood as an element, while a forcefield based on the element of fire would simultaneously protect the user and damage the attacker.

  There was a myriad of applications of this principle, of course, and this was just the most rudimentary.

  Had she gone for her favoured water, the forcefield would have comparatively little strength and imitate the water’s fluidity. Taking a blow like that with that sort of shield would have been the equivalent of trying to block a slingshot bolt with a stretched-out balloon.

  “Guard up!”

  The shout left scarcely any time for the heiress to react, and she activated a protective charm hastily despite knowing that she had none on her that could take that impact. She felt the sharp wind generated by the speed of his approach and raised her hands up before her to defend herself but was shocked to find that she was unharmed.

  She turned and found her opponent behind her smiling with his hand outstretched.

  She was shocked to see that his clawed hand was clasped around a collection of charms – her charms.

  His ridiculous speed had allowed him to steal past her defences and grab a large number of the charms she had on her person. She still had a fair number of them, of course, but the speed and precision were astounding. It was far more difficult to pull this off than to simply try and slit her throat.

  The thought of it made a slight chill run through her spine.

  That wasn’t all. Elijah looked her straight on and did something she didn’t expect at all.

  He ate them.