"Is this [Hellfire]...? It's my first time seeing it with my own eyes. But you really are heartless, aren't you? You summoned that thing yourself, yet you burned it away without a second thought. Don't you feel it's a pity?"
Fíliya spoke while stealing a glance behind her at the stone golem, which had already been melted down by the Hellfire.
If she had hesitated for even a moment longer just now, and allowed those unquenchable flames to touch her skin, her fate likely wouldn't have been much better.
The counterfeit Frieren, of course, had no intention of responding. She simply silently prepared her next attack. This made Fíliya feel a bit let down... after all, she quite enjoyed chatting with her opponents during a fight.
Seeing Frieren raise her staff once more, Fíliya immediately charged toward her.
Frieren was, in every sense, a 'traditional' turret-type mage. Fíliya, on the other hand, held a distinct advantage over her: [Mobility].
Under the enhancement of High-Speed Movement Magic (Jilgravala), she closed the distance to Frieren in practically an instant. But simultaneously, the light bursting from the tip of Frieren's staff reached right in front of Miss Fíliya's face.
With a deafening boom, the bodies of both individuals were smashed into the walls of the great hall together.
The counterfeit Frieren's expression was somewhat vacant. A distinct depression had appeared on her chest, along with shattering cracks.
Fíliya had finally dealt the first blow of damage to this fake Frieren.
As for how she achieved this? During that seemingly suicidal maneuver, she had simply used a single spell—[Gold Transformation Magic].
She still couldn't use this magic on others, but when it came to applying it to herself, she was already incredibly proficient.
She had completely [Gold Transformed] herself just moments ago to tank Frieren's zero-distance magic cannon, and then, using the inertia of her charge, she slammed Frieren directly into the wall.
That's right. For this mage named Fíliya, her first effective attack was actually a physical one.
"Heh... You long-lived species all have a bad habit. especially you, Frieren. You're too used to being undisciplined... Once you encounter a situation outside your imagination, your reaction is always half a beat too slow... If that attack just now were against a human mage, like that old man Denken, they probably would have dodged it instead of letting me slam them into a wall. That is your second weakness, Frieren."
Fíliya spoke rapidly, her movements not ceasing for a moment even as she provided her commentary. A sharp one-handed sword instantly generated in her right hand.
She raised the sword high and slashed at Frieren's neck without hesitation.
But the moment the blade edge reached Frieren's neck, the sword in Fíliya's hand instantly shattered. Frieren had blocked the slash with precise [Defensive Magic].
"I knew it wouldn't go that smoothly."
Fíliya's expression remained unchanged. She straddled Frieren's waist directly and, at this extreme close range, unleashed dozens of blasts of [Ordinary Attack Magic] in rapid succession. In addition, she even had the spare energy to summon several flying swords, shooting them all toward Frieren's forehead together.
If possible, Fíliya wanted to pile on every single method she had.
At this distance, she could completely use Water Manipulation Magic to extract the blood from her target's body.
[Extracting blood from the human body] was a completely incomprehensible and unimaginable feat for other human mages, such as Miss Kanne. After all, to achieve this, one had to know the distribution of blood within the human body like the back of their hand.
Clearly, Fíliya met this condition. During the days she spent experimenting with Solitär, she had long since mastered the relevant knowledge.
Unfortunately, this damn thing in front of her was just a mud doll; it had no blood at all.
And other methods, like [Pain Amplification], [Sensory Control], or [Mind Control Magic], were completely ineffective against a heartless mud doll.
So, she could only push her casting speed to the limit, hoping to achieve results with the most basic abilities.
And the result?
There seemed to be some effect, as the counterfeit Lady Frieren appeared to be pushed to her limit as well; however, the [War Result] Fíliya desired did not materialize.
Frieren's aura suddenly became extremely biting. An incredibly powerful pressure of wind burst forth from her body, crushing the incoming white beams and flying swords alike.
Miss Fíliya, caught in the impact of this wind pressure, was flung far away.
"Are you kidding me? Frieren, you jerk, can't you just die obediently...? You old things who've lived so long really do have unreasonable methods, every single one of you."
Fíliya struggled to crawl up from the ground. Her chest was heaving noticeably, and she let out weak gasps. It was clear that the previous battle had consumed a significant amount of her energy and stamina.
The reason Fíliya voiced such a complaint was, of course, because Frieren's unknown magic—which had unreasonably torn apart all her attacks—immediately reminded her of the green fluorescence that covered Solitär's body, rendering her immune to magic erosion.
Well... seeing as her opponent was a Great Mage who had lived for a thousand years, it was normal to have some unheard-of trump cards... Fíliya could only comfort herself with this thought as she slowly adjusted her breathing.
At this moment, she and Frieren had returned to a standoff, but Fíliya knew very well that she had fallen into a complete disadvantage.
Don't let the terrifying wound on Frieren's chest fool you. To a dead object, as long as it wasn't directly annihilated, what was the difference between that kind of injury and no injury at all? It wouldn't affect her combat capability in the slightest.
Miss Fíliya, on the other hand, had been drained of much of her stamina, energy, and mana.
Even for someone as naturally optimistic as her, it was hard to hold much confidence in the battle ahead.
"A miscalculation. I shouldn't have slammed into her flat chest; denting it didn't do anything... If I had broken one of her arms just now, maybe I'd have a chance."
Fíliya immediately reflected in her heart.
But the scene that followed made her clench her fists tight.
The counterfeit Frieren seemed to have no intention of tangling any longer. She floated directly into mid-air and conjured a small, black-hole-like sphere in her hand.
The instant that black hole formed, everything in the vicinity began to be absorbed by it.
Scattered gravel, the remains of the golem, the original decorations of the hall, the uniform Fíliya had discarded that was already burned to ash... In short, all the debris in the arena vanished into that black sphere.
Immediately after, the color of the black sphere began to change. From pitch-black at the start, it gradually turned crimson, and finally, a blinding pure white.
It's going to explode... There was only this single thought in Fíliya's mind.
She could sense that this black sphere was a terrifying, large-scale magic spell. The fact that the counterfeit Frieren had once again erected that fish-scale magical barrier confirmed it.
"Heh... Is she afraid I'll hide again, so she just decided to use a magic with [No Blind Spots]...?"
Although the scene before her was incredibly horrifying, Fíliya did not despair. After all, she could still use [Gold Transformation Magic] to turn herself into gold. Utilizing the [Indestructible] characteristic of being gold-transformed, she could definitely survive this attack.
However... while she wasn't in despair yet, her current state was infinitely close to [Despair].
Fíliya's mana was limited. In fact, if she completely gold-transformed herself one more time, it would be even harder for her to unleash any effective offense afterward.
The counterfeit over there obviously knew this too, which was why she adopted this extremely [Safe] course of action.
Frieren, having entered [Cautious Mode], was a completely different person from the one in [Careless Mode] at the beginning. Even though the situation was already in the bag, Frieren still chose the safest approach.
Frieren didn't intend to kill Fíliya directly with this black sphere. She only needed to force Fíliya to use Gold Transformation again and drain her mana dry—after all, this counterfeit Frieren had already realized that [Self-Gold Transformation] was a very draining tactic for Fíliya.
Unless a miracle occurred... it seemed this was the end of the line for her... Fíliya bit her lip lightly.
The current scene wasn't at the playful level of her fight with Solitär.
She was in a death match with a Great Mage who had survived for a thousand years. To have fought to this point, no matter how you looked at it, it wasn't shameful, right?
Although there were countless reasons she could use to comfort herself, Fíliya still felt incredibly unwilling to accept it.
"Frieren... You're really strong. How on earth am I supposed to kill a monster like you..."
Watching the color of destruction drawing nearer, what flickered in Fíliya's eyes was not despair, but a light of excitement.
"First-Class Mages... are a group of people who turn the [Impossible into the Possible]..."
A whisper escaped Fíliya's lips. Although her battle with Frieren had long since surpassed the level of the [First-Class Mage Exam], in this life-and-death moment, the first thing she thought of was those words Sense had said before.
"Then I have no choice... but to show you."
____
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