Chapter 396 System Vs System

"Teaching me–?" Emilio raised an eyebrow.

"Ash-boy probably felt you could take his place in the fight against the Children of Chaos. That's why...he chose the path he followed. I'll see for myself. I prefer to get hands on. I'll evaluate what your current level is right now," Excelsior said, having a distinct sadness to her rough voice whenever speaking of Asher.

Before there could be any sort of agreement between them or a warning, he could sense a shift in the air pressure as the water around Excelsior's boots began to vibrate.

'Wait, is she...?' He recognized.

What enveloped the scarred woman was sleek, white armor that had black lines running along it, outfitted with antlers atop its helm and boots that morphed into a shape resembling the hooves of a horse.

"If you're weak, then maybe killing you would be the right play," Excelsior said, "If your life holds value to the Children of Chaos, at bare minimum, I can prevent them from getting their hands on you."

"Kill me?" Emilio raised an eyebrow.

"That's right. Prove to me you're strong enough to be of merit alive," Excelsior said.

[Mytheart System Activated]

[Current Stage: 3/10 | Mythical Warrior]

There was no chance to draw his sword before he was forced to flip to the side after the woman dashed the distance between them in an instant.

"Hold on–! Should we be doing this here?! What about the seal?!" He asked.

Being forced on the defense, he weaved through the swift blows that came his way, having to duck down as a spinning kick came from the armored woman.

"Don't worry about that. It won't open from physical force!" Excelsior assured him.

After rolling to the side while still not even sure why he was fighting, he found himself on the receiving end of an unidentified attack: as the Mytheart System wielder looked at him, a strange sensation bound him. It felt as though a shriek resonated against his ears in that split-second, imbuing an unknown mystification across his body.

'Can't...move!' He realized.

He was petrified as if his skin had turned to stone, leaving him open to the merciless attack that came his way as Excelsior sunk her fist into his abdomen. After receiving the blow and being knocked back as he rolled across the shallow water, the paralysis wore off, allowing him to pick himself up.

"That was cheap," he said.

"Use your system," Excelsior told him.

He made it difficult for her to maneuver around the lethally-rotating spirals of elements as well, manipulating the environment with gusts of wind and tremors throughout the ground to make movement difficult. This was the complete nature of "Unnatural Disasters"--a spell that had a tyrannical hold of battlefield advantage.

["Unnatural Disasters" is a blacklisted spell, as ordained by the Council of Arcane. A spell that unifies elements to conjure an outcome akin to the forces of a natural disaster, woven and wielded by the caster. If used to its full potential, it can single handedly wipe out entire cities and end wars."]

"Tch," Excelsior jumped back after nearly being caught between two of the spirals, "--!"

More unexpected was the unconventional way in which the Dragonheart fought, dashing in and catching the woman off-guard as he took the fight to her, gripping his sword tightly as he swiped it forward with a massive enchantment of wind following his slash: "Mountain Carver: Wind's Claymore".

The spell that was infused with the Mountain God Style technique created a slash of wind powerful enough to cause the air to violently howl, momentarily creating a split in the shallow sea before it healed itself.

Excelsior blocked the attack through the manifestation of an unknown ability, creating a mirror shield that absorbed the wind pressure.

'That's not any magecraft I recognize. It must be something to do with her system,' he thought.

'A mage that isn't afraid to fight close? I'm starting to like you, Emilio-boy,' Excelsior thought.

Attempting to understand what the true nature of the woman's system was in the heat of battle was a challenge, especially considering the variety of attacks he found coming his way: with a wave of her arm, Excelsior summoned gray-scaled hydras that sprouted from her limb.

"--!"

Ducking beneath their snapping jaws, he gripped his sword before invoking the unison of his sword and wind as dozens of unseen strikes cut through the trio of hydra heads. Just as quickly as he cut them down though, double the amount manifested, hissing at him with their mighty fangs.

'Regeneration?' He thought.

Evading the hydras, he flipped around before clapping his hands together, invoking the water around him to vibrate and shutter before it rose into a half-dozen, burly, humanoid shapes: "Sentinels of The Iron Sea".

Forged from the water he was surrounded by and reinforced by nature magic to be armored with stone, golems were raised around Emilio, combating the hydras with their magical bodies. Though the golems were able to combat the hydras, he found his focus not where it needed to be as the snow-white, armored figure appeared right in front of him.

"Eyes on the prize," Excelsior said.

Though he was able to raise his arms in a cross guard, reinforcing himself with protective mana, the force of Excelsior's knuckles thundered through his body with unexpected force. The power of the blow instantly caused his forearms to swell and turn red, causing him to slide back as he winced.

Excelsior was fast, spawning some sort of augmentation of her system as pearly wings sprouted from the ankles of her boots, guiding her swiftly as she attacked him ferociously. Though he was able to weave through most of the incoming attacks, he was forced to block some; guarding against a high kick with his arm made the impact resonate throughout his entire body as if a train had slammed into him.

"Hhhf–"

As he conjured a pair of fireballs into each hand, tossing them forward as he leapt back, the flaming pair pierced forth with the speed of bullets and size of boulders, though Excelsior responded by altering one of her fists into a giant, stone-like form.

FWOOOSH

With a slam of her augmented fist against the ground, the system wielder produced a shock wave powerful enough to vanquish the incoming flames.

'...It's hard to notice until I'm on the other side of it: system wielders are monsters,' He thought.