Barriers are the ultimate testament to a mage's mastery of their craft. To create one is to have essentially reached the pinnacle of magical prowess. Each barrier is as unique as its caster, often reflecting their personality, fears, or desires.
Barriers weren't spells to be used lightly as they were high-risk, high-reward. When two mages clashed with their barriers, only two outcomes were possible. Either your barrier overpowered theirs or you paid the price of wasting precious mana and becoming trapped within their domain.
There was no middle ground. No "what if."
For Seraphina, being trapped within Kylien's barrier already meant that overriding it would require twice the effort and mana. But Seraphina had always been different.
At 36 years old, she stood among the most powerful beings in this world. Yet despite her immense strength, she had only ever activated her barrier once.
And that single use haunted her. Not because she lacked control or refinement.
But because of what happened afterward.
Years ago, during her time at the prestigious Famia. A school that was only for the most brilliant and talented people. In that school, Seraphina was a prodigy that outperformed even elven instructors and rivaled human grandmasters before she even turned 16.
Her name spread far and wide that drew attention from neighbouring nations. One such visitor was John Solomon, a prince from Eswus. Gifted in water magic and a master in his own right, John sought to test Seraphina personally and perhaps entice her to join his court.
Their battle began civilly but quickly escalated into something far more dangerous. John fought without restraint that made Seraphina cornered and desperate.
In that moment, Seraphina made the fateful decision to unleash her barrier for the first time.
What transpired inside that dark expanse shattered John's mind completely. Whatever he experienced left him so broken that when he returned to Eswus, he accused his wife of witchcraft, lashed out at innocent people, and mutilated his own body under the delusion that voices whispered beneath his skin.
The guilt weighed heavily on Seraphina and she blamed herself for driving a man insane.
But now, standing against Kylien and his crew meant that she would need to override his barrier to make sure that they could win.
Seraphina thought quickly, Kylien has a passive barrier that made Aric unable to directly harm him and there's no way in hell he could match his raw powers. Aric did say he can handle the girl and the other guy…
What do I do?
I can't trap all of them in my barrier as it's not refined enough to exclude Aric. If he's inside my barrier, he'd be seen as a threat and I don't want to break his mind…
Do I gamble or play it safe? If I play it safe, I can at least trap two of them, leaving Aric to deal with just one of them but they're all grandmasters in power…
AGH! You don't have time to overthink this, Seraphina. Trust in him.
With a deep breath, Seraphina chanted,
"Barrier: Eternal Night."
A massive sphere of darkness erupted and override Kylien's barrier. It trapped Kylien and Kayla while pushing Aric and Leone out of the barrier.
"I'm sorry, Aric. But I'm trusting you to win."
Aric stared at the massive orb of darkness and felt irritated,
"What the actual fuck, Seraphina?! Are you kidding me?!"
Before he could dwell further, Leone charged forward and threw punches wreathed in purple flames. Aric barely dodged by diving behind a pile of rubble as molten heat singed the air where he'd stood moments earlier.
Gripping his Zastava ZPAP M70 rifle, he retaliated by spraying bullets wildly at Leone, hoping to keep him at bay.
Leone raised a hand and formed a passive barrier similar to Kylien's. The bullets ricocheted harmlessly off him, which pissed Aric off.
"Tch. These guys adapt way too fucking fast."
[Hey! Enjoying yourself yet? You know, fighting a grandmaster isn't exactly 'casual Friday.']
Oh, shut up. I don't need commentary Ivy. I need solutions.
Below him, the ground trembled violently before erupting in waves of lava. This forced Aric to leap back just in time to avoid being incinerated. Leone laughed maniacally, propelling himself across the battlefield using bursts of fire from his feet.
The increased speed closed the distance between them rapidly, rendering Aric's rifle nearly useless.
Realizing he needed cover, Aric manifested multiple smoke grenades and hurled them toward Leone. With the thick smoke blocking Leone's vision, Aric retreated to a nearby corner.
From his hiding spot, he could hear Leone's taunts echoing through the smoke,
"You can't protect Ashwick, Vayne! That pathetic little toy of yours? It's nothing compared to real power! A weapon that goes 'pew pew pew'? Fucking cowardly! PATHETIC, YOU HEAR ME?!"
"Your wife's the only real threat. YOU? You're just a fucking rat. When I'm DONE with you, I'll make sure to enjoy her real nice and slow, you HEAR ME!?"
Aric's blood boiled, allowing more of Vayne's essence to intertwine with him. The more emotional he became, the more Vayne surfaced.
He manipulated his rifle through matter manipulation, condensing each bullet with an absurd amount of mana and electricity.
Sparks crackled around the barrel as he stepped out of the shadows,
"Yeah?" Aric growled while leveling the rifle at Leone.
"Try me you fucking weasel!"
He pulled the trigger and unleashed a barrage of electrified rounds. Fire and electricity collided at Leone which caused explosions that tore through Leone's passive barrier. Blood splattered as the paralyzed brute staggered backward.
Aric capitalized on the opening on a paralyzed Leone and condensed the bullets further until they glowed blue. With every shot, Leone bled profusely and his defence was non-existent. Aric raised the rifle to Leone's head,
"You won't be touching my wife anytime soon."
He shot Leone's head cleanly and that should've been the end of it.
But instead of collapsing lifelessly, his body started to convulsed violently. His hair shifted colour from black to red and his muscles bulged unnaturally.
A bright red aura engulfed him that was even visible to Aric.
Aric stared in disbelief, "What the fuck is going on?! I PUT A bullet through his head!"
Ivy scanned Leone, [Um…uh…well, he just got an upgrade.]
HAH?! A FUCKING UPGRADE?! THE DUDE SHOULD'VE BEEN DEAD THE MOMENT THE BULLET WENT THROUGH HIM! HOW THE FUCK IS HE ALIVE?!
[Yep, he should've been. But remember all those Souls games you played? Yeah, apparently this is phase two. Oh, and he's half-demon now too.]
Ivy flipped through a book, [Good news is, I believe it's temporary. He sacrificed his lifespan to gain this much power. Right now, he's at about... 50% of Kylien's strength. So he's really strong, but he's also on a timer.]
[Bad news is... well, he's basically Kylien 2.0.]
--- At the southern side ---
Meanwhile, Evelyn faced off against four master mages single-handedly. She conjured razor-sharp icicles and impaled one of the mages. She expanded the icicle into spikes within the body to guarantee death.
One mage attempted to encase her in a sphere of fire, only for her to counter with a burst of icy wind that froze the flames mid-air.
"That's fucking pathet—"
Before she could finish her trash talk, a mage named Hugo created a cage of fire to trap her in and began compressing it to crush her.
Evelyn gritted her teeth and encased her palms with frost. The fiery cage sizzled as the ice slowly neutralised the flames bit by bit.
UGH! Even with ice, the heat is still unbearable! Evelyn complained to herself while freezing the cage before it could kill her by compression.
But this was a 3v1 fight and the odds were stacked against her. Juno unleashed her electrical bolts to the cage that would explode upon contact. Meanwhile, Nelson condensed a massive water spear, and prepared to release it that not only would it pierce through Evelyn, but the sheer volume could flood Ashwick itself.
Evelyn's didn't have time to dodge or counter individually.
For fuck's sake! Three fucking attacks in one go!? I need to end this in one attack, otherwise I'll die!
Slamming her palms together, Evelyn channeled every ounce of mana she had into one concentrated burst. The frost grew denser and colder with each passing millisecond.
Then, she thrust her hands apart and unleashed a torrent of absolute zero frost in a twenty-foot radius. It froze all three mages. The cage shattered immediately, Juno's electrified bolts froze mid-air and Nelson's water spear froze as well.
The surrounding area transformed into a frozen wasteland as well.
Evelyn panted heavily as the adrenaline faded and exhaustion set in. She had condensed so much of her mana in such a short amount of time that her legs felt like jelly.
Approaching the frozen figures, Evelyn pressed her palm against each statue and shattered them.
"Sorry but you are no match for me."
Evelyn closed her eyes as she focused on regenerating her depleted mana.
Fucking hell...that was too close. I used 60% of my mana in one go, I need to get it back from nature.
Mana existed everywhere; in the air, in the earth, in the flow of rivers, and even in the faint hum of energy carried by living beings. For those with enough control, drawing mana directly from their surroundings was possible.
Evelyn extended her hand and felt the flow of mana around her. The icy wasteland she'd created still pulsed with residual energy, so she reached for it.
But just as she began to replenish her reserves, her instincts screamed at her to dodge. She barely managed to move in time as a sharp sting grazed her cheek and drew blood from it.
She turned around to see ten more figures poised to ambush her.
Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me! LET ME HAVE A BREAK, DAMN IT!