Aravel

Chapter 90

As soon as Noel started prepping for her final attack, Kaze readied himself. The manner of attack was definitely going to be a mix of magic and physical, something he could tell was happening from the magic circle that shattered. He immediately distanced himself from Noel and got ready to receive the attack.

Truth to be told, Kaze wasn't sure if Phantom Rush could work. Depending on the type of magic that Noel was going to use, Kaze might or might not intercept it. After all, it was like with the centipede again. During the climax of their fight, where Kaze deflected the centipede's own magic attack back at it, it was nearly at the cost of his life from exceeding his limits. How his magic perception would work depended on the way he received the attack, meaning that it had to be at a level that he could withstand instead of blindly receiving any magic attack.

Kaze trusted Noel to not do anything dangerous within her attacks, even if it was her trump card or a very powerful skill. She must have limited it to a certain extent that was permitted for duelling purposes without getting him too injured. Regardless, it still scared Kaze that he might underperform when all he had done so far was parry and dodge. Compared to Noel's excellent show of sword skill, Kaze barely had anything revealed and she was already using her ultimate skill.

A brilliant flash of white followed Noel's falling sword gesture. Huge cracks formed in the ground as the magic charged in her sword came crashing towards him. Kaze readied Felta and bit the bullet. He imbued magic into Felta to counter Noel's magic with magic of his own after deciding that it was worth the risk. Even when he wasn't sure what sort of magic Noel had released against him, he trusted in his ability more so than trying to dodge.

"Hmph!!"

The moment Noel's magic met Kaze's sword, what looked to be a giant sword crushing him from above became barely visible for a split second. It could be said that Noel made her technique take the form of a physical slash, which was ironic since the attack was mainly magical. This was definitely light magic from the way the magic reacted the moment it hit Kaze.

When Kaze received the magic attack, he felt a huge gust of wind rushing at him all at once. At the same time, his back grew hot as if it was on fire. The sheer amount of magical power being thrown at him definitely went beyond what he was capable of controlling. Now it was all about whether he could take what he had already received from Noel and use it against her.

From the sidelines, it looked as though the magic attack had engulfed Kaze from how bright the effects of the spell were. Luniel and the others were temporarily blinded by the light to see what had happened. Knowing the nature of the spell being somewhat similar to a giant force of magic being flung directly at someone, they didn't feel worried about Kaze accidentally getting injured since it wasn't likely he would be seriously hurt or lose a limb. At most, he would pass out from getting overwhelmed.

Noel, the person who initiated said attack, felt a little worried that she didn't hold back enough. Of the original technique, the strength she had exerted was about 50%. She took great care in using her strongest attack since the core of dual wielding relied more on the sword and physical techniques rather than magic. For her to make use of magic was definitely something unexpected, but she wasn't confident that that would be enough to stop Kaze, who had survived more miracles than one would in a few months.

As she had expected, the blurry figure of the male swordsman showed up right as the effects of the magic simmered down. The cracks in the ground definitely showed the impact the spell had towards Kaze, who came out looking battered compared to when he faced her with simply sword attack, had Felta now glowing much more than it previously had. Clearly, the attack from before had been partially taken up by Kaze's technique that it lessened the impact of what he couldn't withstand. Noel found it strange that Kaze chose to take her attack head-on instead of deflecting it with what he had consumed in his sword, but she was about to find out why that was so.