Undeniably, Enoch’s transformed appearance was quite cool. His look, however, exuded the aura of a grand villain, reminding Leya of the vampires from her previous life.
Regrettably, so far Leya had yet to see the terrifying fangs, widely considered the mark of a vampire.
“Human, have you made your decision?”
Seeing Leya offer no reply for a prolonged moment, a flicker of irritation crossed Enoch’s otherwise impassive face. He spoke with chilling coldness.
“Submission or death?” Leya, however, curved her lips into an amused smile. “Little one, how about we reverse the roles? You can choose to submit to me, or submit to me…”
Enoch: “…………”
‘Are those two options any different?’
Regaining his composure, Enoch observed Leya’s apparent disregard for him. He tore away his final layer of pretense, a fierce expression hardening his features, and spoke icily.
“Human, since you insist, then you shall die!”
As he spoke, Enoch slowly extended his palm, aiming it directly at Leya.
Just as Leya’s Sword of Promised Victory condensed golden magical energy, Enoch too began to gather an increasingly larger crimson orb of magic before his palm.
“Oh? I didn’t expect that. You’re quite capable, aren’t you?”
Leya watched the crimson magical orb forming before Enoch with a hint of surprise. Even as she finished speaking, the red orb had already grown to half of Enoch’s size!
Moreover, it began to undergo a transformation. The orb gradually morphed into a structure resembling a complete hexagram, with crimson magic, like fresh blood, slowly etching numerous mysterious runes and incantations within its core.
‘Of course, that wasn’t a jab at Enoch’s height earlier, oh no. Still… a mere 1.4 meters tall. It’s truly hard to take seriously, hahahaha…’
‘Cough, cough, slip of the tongue, slip of the tongue. Back to the point. While Leya hadn’t truly taken Enoch seriously in her heart, the truth was, the magical orb he was forming now held at least Lv4 advanced magic-level power, by her estimation. Moreover, it was still continuously escalating.’
“Heh heh, Human, this is only half of my true power. It’s too early to be surprised!”
Leya: “…………”
‘Though she wanted to say she wasn’t surprised, still… judging by his appearance, he probably wouldn’t listen, would he? How troublesome…’
Even as she thought this, her hands didn’t slow in the slightest.
Leya once again raised the Sword of Kings!
“Oh? You still have enough magic to unleash that move?” Even Enoch couldn’t help but show a flicker of astonishment in his eyes.
Enoch had certainly witnessed Leya’s earlier use of the [Sword of Promised Victory]. Of course; after all, a several-hundred-meter-long uninhabited zone was quite obvious. Anyone who wasn’t blind would have seen it, wouldn’t they?
And precisely because he had seen Leya unleash the Sword of Promised Victory once, Enoch had previously concluded that she must have lost a significant portion of her magical power!
‘Such an exaggerated strike—even if he were to unleash his strongest attack, he might not achieve such an effect, would he? Not to mention how much magic he would have left after unleashing such a devastating move…’
‘Six tenths at most, perhaps?’
Yet, this very fact seemed to hold no sway over Leya now, as if she didn’t consider magic a finite resource at all. Enoch was utterly bewildered. ‘Even if your talent is extraordinary, and your magical power outrageously abundant—even if it surpasses my own, a bloodkin who has lived for centuries!’
‘But… if you use magic so unrestrainedly, what if this move doesn’t defeat me, or only results in a draw? How will you leave here without magic? Have you not considered this?’
‘Or rather, are you so confident that this move will certainly defeat me?’
“Hahahaha—hahahaha—” The more he pondered this, the more Enoch found Leya utterly fascinating. He immediately burst into laughter!
“Very well then, let me see if your strongest strike is superior, or if my… Nightfall Judgment will prevail!”
Leya: “…………”
With no time to spare for Enoch, Leya rapidly gathered her magic. She observed the hexagram magic circle, now largely complete, before Enoch. For the first time, Leya wore a rarely seen, serious expression…
The reason was simple: the magical aura Leya sensed from the hexagram magic circle had already surpassed the Lv4 limit, reaching Lv5. Moreover, it showed no signs of stopping its ascent!
“Hahahaha—Human, prepare to face my strongest strike!”
Having spoken, Enoch flapped his wings, and within mere seconds, he soared several hundred meters into the sky. But that wasn’t all…
The hexagram magic circle, as if opposing the sunlight, began to split off numerous dark wisps. These wisps swiftly spread outwards…
In a short span of time, the vast, clear, cloudless afternoon sky was entirely obscured. An inexplicable black mist had covered hundreds of meters of blue sky.
And it was at this moment, as if to celebrate this momentous occasion, that the hexagram magic circle before Enoch continuously pulsed with red light. Suddenly, the entire formation expanded dozens of times its original size!
Before this hexagram magic circle, now tens of meters in radius, all things seemed to freeze in time. They completely lost their inherent radiance, trembling in places the hexagram’s light couldn’t reach…
However… save for that golden surge, which seemed capable of contending with the heavens, purging all impurities, and illuminating everything on the ground with a brilliant golden glow…
“Sword of Promised…”
“Hmph, die—”
“…Victory, Strike!—”
[Boom——————]
****
If anyone had ever claimed to witness the end of the world, regardless of whether it was true or not, then the sight they beheld surely wouldn’t have been inferior to what Leya was witnessing now.
The mere aftershocks from the two colossal energies crashing down had already snapped every moderately tall tree within several miles. Even a small hill, once visible not far away, was now utterly gone…
And this was after the explosion occurred hundreds of meters in the sky, yet its power was still this immense. If the two had fought on the ground earlier…
‘Tsk, tsk, the scene would be too beautiful, too terrifying to imagine!’
Amidst her exclamations, Leya did not forget to observe Enoch’s condition.
“…………Human, honestly, the surprises you bring me are truly significant.”
Enoch remained suspended in the air, speaking with a smile.
“Heh heh, however, I’m quite curious to see what you can still do after expending such a colossal amount of magic.”
“Is that so? Then why don’t you try? Or… if you’re afraid, you could always just submit to me, how about that?” Leya shrugged, a playful challenge in her voice.
For Leya, whose magic was almost limitless, even unleashing the attack several more times would pose no pressure. Although, the mental strain from repeated use might be quite taxing…
“Afraid? Hahahaha, hahahahahahaha—” Enoch suddenly clutched his stomach, laughing exaggeratedly.
“You think I’d be afraid… afraid of a mere human? Hahahahahahaha—Excellent! Human, you are truly too amusing. Therefore… I’ve decided! Even if you die in this fight, I will turn you into an undead. For all eternity… you shall pay the price for your ignorance and foolishness!”
As he spoke, Enoch’s killing intent surged instantly.
At the same time, an impossibly large, pitch-black scythe materialized out of thin air before him. It radiated an eerie dark aura, and its size was twice that of Enoch, making Leya wonder how he intended to wield such a weapon.
[Whoosh—]
As expected, the moment he grasped the scythe, Enoch charged directly at Leya, gripping the handle tightly.
Leya did not evade. Instead, she silently held her sword, awaiting Enoch’s strike.
Though it seemed foolish, she had no other choice. Awkwardly, Leya couldn’t fly! Doing anything else would merely mean changing positions, only to be chased and attacked by Enoch again.
This battle had been profoundly unequal from the start. To put it simply, if Enoch chose to attack Leya from the sky, she would almost certainly be relegated to a passive defense.
Enoch had understood this principle earlier, which was why he had flown into the sky to engage Leya in a life-or-death struggle. Though the outcome had been rather unsatisfactory.
[Thud—] Enoch swung his scythe directly, meeting Leya’s Sword of Kings.
[Boom—]
The ground beneath Leya’s feet collapsed entirely from the sudden, immense impact.
[Hum—]
With no time to ponder, and disregarding her slightly numb arm from the shock, Leya seized the opportunity of Enoch finally descending… cough, cough, though he was still floating mid-air. She swiftly swung her sword, intent on keeping him locked in combat as close to the ground as possible.
****
Thus, Leya and Enoch engaged in a back-and-forth battle that lasted for nearly ten minutes.
Overall, Leya still held a significant advantage. After all, in terms of combat technique, how could Enoch—this ‘little one’ who rarely interacted with others—be a match for a Saber who had spent a lifetime on battlefields, honed by war?
However, despite Enoch’s somewhat nascent techniques, perhaps due to his bloodkin racial talent, he consistently managed to accurately predict the source of danger before Leya unleashed a killing move, adjusting his actions accordingly.
This powerful combat intuition greatly frustrated Leya. It was precisely because of this that she had yet to achieve any significant breakthrough.
“System… how much time is left on this Saber transformation?”
“Hahahaha—hahahaha—Interesting, truly interesting!”
[Thump—thump—thump]
Frowning, Leya parried Enoch’s attacks while asking with considerable worry.
The battle had, after all, dragged on for quite some time. What if the transformation suddenly deactivated mid-exchange?
Heh heh…
“Replying to Host, less than three minutes remain…”
Three… three minutes!?
[Thump—]
Once again forcing back Enoch’s assault, Leya’s heart began to cry out in alarm.
While it was true she still possessed a mid-tier card, given the current pace of battle, she would need to be alive to use it! How troublesome…
“Oh my, oh my—What’s wrong, Miss Knight? Such a troubled expression. Could it be…”
[Thump—]
“…that you wish to surrender?”
Leya: “…………”
‘Very well, Enoch… you’ve forced my hand!’