Their attacks hung suspended in the air, as if time itself had ground to a halt.

  Hulim Heyerar fixed Cassim with her usual calm gaze,

  her voice steady and unhurried as she spoke:

  "As for being unbeatable among A-rank adepts—I happen to share that exact sentiment."

  Hum!

  A colossal magic circle blazed to life before her in the blink of an eye.

  Cassim’s pupils constricted violently.

  Fifth Circle Incantationless!!!

  Boom——!!!

  A blazing crimson beam of light seared across the sky, dyeing the clouds red for an instant.

  Cassim twisted away with a desperate Shadow Step, narrowly evading the direct strike of the Fifth Circle spell.

  The stray beam crashed into the distant earth, erupting into a towering fireball that scorched the forest line far away.

  Only long after did the tremors of the explosion ripple back to where the two stood.

  Cassim, who had narrowly escaped annihilation, stared at Hulim with a dark, grim expression.

  "A-Rank Pinnacle......!"

  "If that is how you choose to see it, then so be it."

  Hulim replied in her signature impassive tone.

  Her utter lack of emotion sowed a flicker of doubt in Cassim’s heart.

  Yet his unshakable confidence in his own power would not let him retreat—not here, not now. No matter how strong she was, she could not have reached S-rank; if she had, he would already be dead where he stood.

  The shock faded from his face, replaced by a razor-sharp resolve.

  "Your strength has far exceeded my expectations. But as long as you remain an A-rank adept, I will end you right here and now. From this moment on—I will fight in earnest."

  "Is that so?"

  Hulim said flatly,

  "Then come at me with everything you have."

  "Hmph!"

  Cassim let out a cold snort.

  "We shall see how you fare against this!"

  He raised his wand and pointed it skyward.

  A black shadow canopy unfurled high above, spreading outward from his position in a single breath,

  blanketing a vast expanse of the sky in moments—Hulim trapped beneath it.

  Faced with a spell that warped the very heavens themselves,

  Hulim merely tilted her chin to glance upward at the unnatural darkness, then lowered her gaze back to Cassim, her eyes betraying not a hint of fear or surprise.

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  It was as if his grand display meant nothing to her.

  "Try to survive this strike!"

  Cassim’s voice rang out, cold as ice.

  Rumble!

  No sooner had the words left his lips than the sky convulsed.

  Dozens of jagged shadow beams pierced down from the canopy, converging around Hulim to form an inescapable cage of darkness.

  The instant the prison closed,

  all the shadow beams surged inward at once, merging into a single, colossal pillar of pure shadow that engulfed her completely.

  Within the Giant Shadow Pillar, the corrosive power of his dark magic gnawed relentlessly at the barriers shielding Hulim,

  its inky blackness swallowing her form, cutting her off from Cassim’s sight—and his from hers.

  Yet Hulim’s gaze remained locked on Cassim’s position, as if she could see straight through the layers of shadow separating them.

  "......I see now."

  She spoke slowly, her voice unwavering:

  "This is the true power of an A-Rank Pinnacle.

  Truly far greater than any ordinary A-rank. You are worthy of being one of Gulos’ Three Pillars. But even so......"

  Outside the pillar, Cassim stared unblinkingly at the writhing mass of shadow before him.

  This attack was no mere single spell—it was a salvo of overlapping Fifth Circle Dark Magic, its power dwarfing any ordinary high-rank incantation.

  Even an A-rank adept who could cast Fifth Circle spells without incantations would struggle to weather such a blow.

  Unless they too could weave multiple incantationless spells at once......

  But that was impossible.

  "Heh~. Such a feat is unheard of for all but a handful of A-rank adepts in the entire world."

  To master such power required a lifetime of blood, sweat, and endless trials—each spell a testament to a warrior’s arduous journey to the peak.

  "A child not yet fourteen, no matter how gifted, could never hope to match that kind of accumulated power. The outcome of this battle was decided from the start."

  His voice dropped to a lethal whisper, cold and certain:

  "Hulim Heyerar, you will die here."

  Hum——!

  At that moment,

  a blinding white light pierced through the heart of the shadow pillar, tearing through its inky veil.

  "Hm?!"

  Cassim’s face paled in utter shock, his confidence shattered in an instant.

  "Impossible!"

  "How could she withstand it?!"

  Before he could process what he was seeing,

  Pop——!

  A brilliant white light barrier erupted outward from Hulim’s position, rippling across the sky like a tidal wave.

  The colossal shadow pillar dissolved into nothingness at its touch, the black canopy high above burned away by the radiant light, vanishing without a trace.

  Boom!

  The white light crashed into Cassim head-on.

  Stunned and reeling, he threw up his defensive barrier on pure instinct.

  Crack!

  The barrier held for less than two heartbeats before spiderwebbing with fissures, and Cassim himself was sent hurtling backward, his body skidding across the air, driven by the overwhelming force of her magic.

  "Impossible!"

  Cassim screamed in disbelief, his voice raw with rage and despair:

  "This cannot be! How do you possess power of this caliber?!"

  Crack. Crack......

  His barrier shattered piece by piece, his desperate attempts to shore it up futile against the relentless light.

  Shatter!

  With a deafening crash, his defenses collapsed completely.

  The white light seared into his body, searing his flesh and magic alike......

  "AH——!!!"

  Writhing in agony as his very being felt as though it were melting away, Cassim roared his fury and resentment to the heavens:

  "This is impossible! Just what in the world are you——!!!"

  Boom!

  The white light faded at last, and Cassim’s battered form vanished from the sky, plummeting toward the forest far below.

  "......To call me ‘something’."

  Hulim’s lips twitched with faint displeasure, her voice crisp and clear:

  "Even the leader of Gulos speaks with such vulgarity."

  "That said...... he is far more stubborn than I thought."

  Her gaze drifted down to the forest canopy below, her eyes narrowing slightly in thought.

  Cassim had not died from her attack.

  In the split second before his body was torn apart, he had channeled every last shred of his magic to turn himself into a wisp of shadow, diving into the forest below to escape an instant death.

  "Is he trying to run?"

  Hulim murmured, her gaze fixed on the treetops,

  "Or does he have another trick up his sleeve......"

  Beneath the forest, deep underground,

  Cassim cowered in the dark, his mind still reeling from the searing pain of her attack, his thoughts a chaotic jumble of shock and rage.

  "Impossible! This is impossible! How could this happen?!!"

  "I was defeated so easily?! My mana reserves are no less than hers, yet my magic was utterly crushed!"

  "Can she truly be younger than fourteen?!"

  "Her mastery of magic—it is identical to His Excellency’s. Could she have already crossed that threshold......?"

  "No! It cannot be! She has not taken that final step. If she had, I would not have survived even a single blow!"

  Rumble——!

  His fractured thoughts were cut short by a violent tremor that shook the earth around him, the ground quaking and splitting at the seams.

  "What is this——?"

  "An earthquake?"

  "No!"

  His eyes snapped wide with realization, his voice sharp with dread:

  "This is Earth Magic!"