Asta looked up at the figure standing amidst the ice shards, biting his lip tightly.
Unwilling.
Truly so unwilling.
However, he understood that Fuegoleon was right. Rushing in now would only make him a burden.
On the battlefield, Rades looked at Ryoma's calm demeanor, and the anger in his heart almost materialized and surged out.
This guy has had this expression from beginning to end.
As if everything he did was nothing but child's play in his eyes.
"What's with the pretense of being at ease!"
Rades' face twisted with jealousy and rage, and he shrieked sharply.
"Do you think this is over? This guy isn't just about defense!"
At his command, the tall corpse named Carl made new movements.
Buzz—
Magic power began to surge on the surface of the translucent magic barrier enveloping the two.
The next second, gray arrows made of pure magic power rapidly condensed and formed on the barrier.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Arrows rained down densely, shooting towards Ryoma like a torrential downpour.
"Hahahahaha!"
Rades hid behind the barrier, letting out another maniacal laugh.
"Do you see?! This is offense and defense in one! The most perfect combat form!"
However, facing this rain-like attack, Ryoma didn't even lift an eyelid. He just gently raised his hand.
Buzz!
Countless tiny ice crystals appeared out of thin air, surrounding Ryoma's body, forming a high-speed rotating ice crystal storm. The scope of this storm was not large, only covering a one-meter radius around him. But that was enough.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
The powerful magic arrows, the moment they touched the ice crystal storm, seemed to hit an invisible wall. The high-speed rotating ice crystals easily froze and then shattered them. Not a single arrow could break through that seemingly thin wall of ice crystals. All attacks were effortlessly neutralized.
Rades watched Ryoma effortlessly block the attack, but the smile on his face didn't diminish at all. Instead, it grew even more arrogant.
He didn't care.
He didn't care if the attack was effective at all.
What he wanted was this continuous attacking posture. He wanted to use this relentless offensive to prove his power.
"How does it taste?!"
As he frantically urged magic power to make Carl generate more magic arrows, he hysterically yelled at Ryoma.
"This ironclad defense! And these continuous attacks!"
"You'll never break my defense! And my attacks will be endless! Until I wear you down to death! Hahahahaha!"
He reveled in his strategy, believing he had created a perfect masterpiece.
However, he was only met with Ryoma's extremely flat four words.
"Neither here nor there."
These words were like a basin of ice water poured over Rades' fervent head. His laughter abruptly stopped.
"You... what did you say?"
Ryoma didn't even look at him, but calmly stared at the magic barrier that was continuously firing arrows.
"A perfectly good defensive spell, used by you like this."
His voice was not loud but clearly reached the ears of everyone present.
"Generating attacks on the magic barrier and firing them out, each firing will cause a momentary disruption and weakness in the defensive structure."
"To compensate for this weakness, you have to invest more magic power to maintain the stability of the barrier."
"This makes your defense no longer a pure absolute defense."
"And the attacks stripped from the barrier are far less powerful than specialized offensive magic."
"Defense is defense, attack is attack."
"Forcibly combining two completely different magical concepts into one ultimately results in a half-finished product that is limited in both aspects."
Ryoma's voice was as calm as if stating a fact.
He very easily found the weak point caused by the instantaneous change in the magic power structure.
"What... what nonsense..."
Rades was still putting on a brave face, but his eyes had already begun to flicker uncontrollably.
Because he found that what the other party said... was all true.
This magic indeed had such flaws.
But he didn't believe it. He didn't believe anyone could grasp that fleeting flaw.
"Stop spouting nonsense! Just die!"
He frantically urged Carl to unleash an even denser rain of arrows.
Ryoma finally looked up at him, his gaze like he was looking at an unreasonable child.
He raised his right hand, and a point of extreme cold light began to condense on his fingertip, forming a simple ice cone.
"It's over."
Whoosh!
The moment his words fell, the ice cone transformed into a white stream of light, almost imperceptible to the naked eye, accurately shooting towards a specific point on the magic barrier.
That magic barrier, which Rades called an iron wall, was easily pierced by that small ice cone.
The ice cone passed through the barrier, hitting Carl behind it without stopping.
Crack!
Frost spread from Carl's struck chest at a visible speed, and the chilling white cold instantly covered Carl's entire body.
Then Rades' most perfect collection, his strongest trump card, No. 1 Carl, turned into flying ice dust before his eyes. Along with it, the magic barrier also vanished into thin air.
The maniacal smile on Rades' face completely froze.
Fear.
An unprecedented fear instantly engulfed his entire body like a cold tide.
His army of the dead was cleared with one blow, his two meticulously crafted masterpieces were instantly killed with one move, his last, strongest, and most perfect trump card was also... shattered with one blow.
All his pride, all his reliance, were as fragile as paper in front of the other party.
"Ah... Ahhh..."
Rades made meaningless sounds in his throat, wanting to fight to the death and unleash his final magic. However, he no longer had a chance.
"Too slow."
Ryoma's voice seemed to come from hell.
Crack—
Before Rades could even raise his hand, chilling white ice rapidly spread up from his feet, instantly freezing all his limbs and body.
Thud!
His grimoire fell from his hand onto the ground because his arm was frozen.
Finally, the ice spread to his neck and stopped, leaving only his head exposed.
Fuegoleon watched this scene, a hint of approval flashing in his eyes.
He stepped forward, stopping in front of the ice sculpture of Rades, his expression serious.
"What exactly is your purpose?" His deep voice carried an undeniable authority.
"If it's an invasion, your actions are too scattered and disorganized. And if we say it's indiscriminate terrorist attacks, there's clearly unified command and leadership."
"Who exactly are you?"
Hearing Fuegoleon's question, the fear on Rades' face slowly faded, replaced by a strange, self-mocking smile.
"Who am I?"
"Haha... Hahahahaha!"
He laughed hysterically, his laughter filled with sorrow and malice.
"So that's it... So that's how it is..."
"To you, I am indeed an insignificant, long-forgotten nobody."
He stared intently at Fuegoleon, a crazy flame burning in his eyes.
"Six years ago, I passed the Magic Knights entrance exam with the highest score."
"Just because I was a commoner, no one protected me. I had no connections. Just one sentence, 'Your Soul Corpse Magic is a dangerous forbidden art,' negated all my efforts and mercilessly exiled me!"