Chapter 222

Gabriel stood before Izen, holding a demonic red sword. The sword had a strange red luminescence as if it had been bathed in blood many times before, only to now belong to Gabriel. 

"The Sword of Ulien, also known as the bloodthirsty sword which can even slice through the hardest of metal without any trouble." Izen nodded without much surprise at the sight of the Sword. "Not a bad Sword, but I'm afraid it belongs to the Academy. You'll have to return it."

He didn't have a hard time recognizing the sword since it was discovered by him in the first place. He was the person who personally placed that Sword in the Museum of Elements. 

Gabriel held the sword's hilt firmly. He couldn't defeat Izen with his spells, but Izen could still use his spells on him. That meant he was fighting a Magician as a Swordsman. If that were the only problem, he still would've been fine with it, but that was the least of it.

There were many major problems before him. Firstly, he still didn't know which of the twenty was the real Izen since all the clones could use the same Magic and had the same aura. 

"This is your last chance, young man. If you decide to attack me now, there is no going back. If you surrender now, I promise you won't die. But if you..."

"If I fight you, I'll be killed?" Gabriel finished Izen's sentence. "I can't die yet. I can't surrender either. So I'll have to reject both of your offers."

"You don't have a choice in the matter." 

"There's always a choice." Gabriel took a deep breath. It didn't matter who he was facing. He couldn't afford to lose. Novius and Cylix died at his hands to help him progress. He had to keep on living even if it was for them. 

He couldn't die here. If he died, then all their training and their deaths were going to be for nothing. He couldn't let their deaths go to waste. Even if it was the hardest battle of his life, he had to win!

"I see." Izen was hoping that Gabriel was going to surrender after realizing that there was no hope of victory, but as he saw the determination in Gabriel's eyes, he received his answer. No words had to be said. 

Since the Paradise of Darkness was useless on Izen, Gabriel canceled the spell. Usually, he would've cast the Night of Darkness in a situation like this to make sure that the enemies couldn't see his attack, but he was sure that it was going to be useless as well. 

He couldn't weaken his enemies. Since his Spells couldn't affect Izen, he used them on the one that they could still affect. He used those spells on himself, casting spells to boost his strength, speed, defense, and stamina. 

As soon as he was done, he selected a target out of the twenty. He flew to the closest Izen, intending to destroy them one after another until he found the right one. 

"Too slow even now." Even as Izen saw Gabriel get close to him, he could only shake his head in response.

He simply snapped his finger, casting a small spell. 

Boom~

A sphere of light appeared right before Gabriel, exploding as soon as he got close to it. 

Gabriel cast a shield before him at the last moment, but to get the shield faster; he couldn't cast a stronger one. The shield also shattered as Gabriel's body flew back. 

Boom~

Another explosion occurred as Gabriel's body was still in the air, hitting straight in his back, sending him flying ahead. 

Gabriel couldn't even control his body as the Explosions kept targeting him, not even giving him a chance to balance himself. 

It was certainly not the work of one person. It was as if all the clones were working independently while sharing the same thoughts. That also allowed them to cast more than one spell at the same time. It was really no different than fighting twenty powerful mages. 

If Gabriel weren't wearing the clothes that he received from his Ancestral Staff of Necromancy, all his clothes would've been burned to ashes. 

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Unfortunately, even with those clothes that weakened the impact of the attacks, the damage wasn't entirely nullified. 

Gabriel felt the burn all over his body which made him groan in pain. 

"As I told you before, you stand no chance against me. To defeat me, you can only use physical attacks. But to land an attack on me, you first need to get close to me, which is impossible for you."

Izen wasn't exaggerating either since this was Gabriel's only path to victory. He had to get closer to Izen... The real one. But how?

First, he needed to escape the chains of explosions. Even as he was in such pain, he thought of a way. 

'Dark Manifestation!'

He used the Dark Manifestation, making him invincible for a few seconds, finally escaping the chains of Explosion as his body landed on the ground. 

From what he had observed, those spheres of Light were invisible and stationery. As long as he didn't hit them, he could avoid being hurt. Unfortunately, by now, he was sure that the entire battlefield was covered in them. 

Wiping the blood off his lips, Gabriel pushed his body up. He was back in the encirclement of Izen, right at the center. 

His clothes were covered in blood already. The attack took a hefty toll on him. It was as if Izen had calculated everything, from the strength of the impact to the direction his body was going to fly. At times, it even felt as if Izen could predict his future movements. 

That kind of spell should've been impossible to execute for any ordinary Mage of Light, but when there were twenty such mages, the difficulty certainly came down a lot. 

"Holy Heal." He placed his hand on his chest, casting a healing spell. He couldn't fight with the condition his body was in unless he healed himself first. 

"Hmm? A holy spell?" Until now, Gabriel had only used the spells of Darkness. That's why Izen was so surprised to see him use the Holy Heal of Light. 

"How are you using that?" he asked, quite surprised. "As a Dark Mage, you shouldn't be able to use that."

"There are many things that we shouldn't be able to do. Yet we are doing," Gabriel answered, slightly sarcastic. He was quite upset after what he went through, and he still had no idea how to get close to Izen... At least for now. 

He knew that if he couldn't get close to Izen, he had no chance of winning it. At worst, he could be killed right here if he didn't find a way…