Whenever she thought of her teacher, the face of the Sword God, Elcalan, with her innocent, goofy grin, would pop into Tina's head.
She had once had dealings with the Rebel Army, and as a result, had been exiled by the Empire for a period of time.
While in a village, she met a woman who loved to drink, Elcalan.
Elcalan was known as the “Sword God” and was her teacher, though in truth, they had only spent about half a year together.
During those six months, she had treated Tina quite well.
Elcalan was a strange person.
She simply roamed free, seemingly having no intention of saving humanity. She had remained completely unmoved even when the “Heavenly Magical Beast,” hailed as a “calamity” at the time, made its appearance. Whenever asked, she would simply claim that the time to strike had not yet come.
However, by then, Tina and she had already been separated for a very long time.
Her actual identity was a guard to the Pope, the strongest existence by the Pope's side, yet she rarely sought him out, preferring to wander freely instead. She fit the stereotype of an eccentric, reclusive master, but Tina believed she simply liked to run away from her responsibilities.
After all, she really was incredibly strong.
“Your name is Tina?”
“The magical circuits in your body are truly dreadful. Coincidentally, I have a cultivation method that suits you perfectly. If you want it, buy me some wine... Today, I only want to drink cider. It has to be from Osterry Manor. Go buy it~”
“You actually have quite a talent for the sword. If you were in the knights, you'd definitely be a big sister figure. Who knows how many little fanboys would be chasing after you then? Wouldn't it be great if there were no magical beasts in this world, right?”
“What? You're a former apprentice Saintess? Hahahahaha... What a useless title. You'd be better off being my daughter. From now on, you'll be called the Daughter of the Sword God. What, you're saying no? Fine, fine. I know you're leaving soon anyway, so hurry up and go get this old lady some wine.”
Whenever she recalled those embarrassing conversations, Tina didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Elcalan was indeed a respectable person, much like Lavertis, even if they were destined to go their separate ways soon after.
“Velrose, calm down.”
Tina reminded the Seraph girl behind her.
“Demon King... Lord Demon King?” Velrose's eyes regained their focus, and she finally realized her senior was standing right in front of her.
“It's quite embarrassing when you say that,” Tina said, caught between amusement and dismay. “But in any case, thank you for keeping your promise.”
“Senior, you arrived just in time as well.”
Tina looked toward the Cardinals—the two Cardinals.
Phaetnis and Morgan.
Cardinal Phaetnis was a full three hundred years old. Her long robe wrapped her voluptuous figure tightly, yet it was still enough to make one's blood race. However, no one dared to have any association with this brutal woman. Though she was not as openly savage as Morgan, she was still a bloodthirsty and terrifying woman who would occasionally use any means necessary to achieve her goals.
“Velrose, rest for now. You will only drag me down in the upcoming battle.”
“Yes, Dem... Senior.”
Suddenly, Phaetnis raised her hand, and magic rays erupted from each of her five fingers.
In the blink of an eye, they struck Tina.
Tina's school uniform was torn, and blood seeped from her porcelain-like skin on her shoulder.
“Holy-Forged Ray.”
Phaetnis's magic was a technique that rapidly released pre-prepared magic through extreme compression.
Almost all scholars and leaders in this world were Archmages, but magic did not necessarily equate to combat prowess.
The Cardinals were exceptions. Not only did they conduct academic research, but they had also developed their own unique combat capabilities. They used magic as a weapon, rather than simply tossing a few fireballs, or doing something as basic as reinforcing their bodies or infusing magic into a sword.
Phaetnis frowned.
She did not underestimate Tina, this mysterious individual wearing the Chaos Mask.
The rays from moments ago had been unleashed by exploiting the split second when Tina's attention was diverted and she was suspended in the air, making it difficult to dodge. She had pushed her magical circuits to their absolute limits.
The rays grazed past Tina, leaving a bottomless scar on the membrane of the white space, slicing through countless black root-like veins like a rift in midair, and began to burn fiercely.
Yet, the wound on Tina's body was actually nothing more than a bleeding scrape.
She landed gracefully. Descending from a height of a hundred meters seemed like nothing more than a light hop to her.
Morgan landed heavily in front of her. He crossed his two index fingers into a cross. Instantly, Tina sensed the attack and leaped into the air ahead of time.
In the next second, twelve Inquisitors holding spears appeared around the spot where she had just been standing. They charged inward, and with a loud bang, the tips of their spears clashed together in perfect unison.
These “Inquisitors” were not actual humans.
Beneath the heavy armor lay no physical flesh, but rather an orange-red energy body. Their eyes had also been replaced by two glowing spheres of light.
It was as if the souls of the deceased were still fighting within the armor.
Once the attack was completed, the afterimages of these Inquisitors vanished completely, like ghosts.
Morgan picked up a red, metallic baton and waved it once more.
Dozens of “Inquisitor ghosts” materialized from all directions around Tina, launching a near-flawless pincer attack. It was highly reminiscent of countless hidden arrows flying from a forest.
Yet Tina dodged the ghosts' attacks with ease. During this time, she even managed to evade the even more fierce barrage of rays unleashed by Phaetnis.
Just as her mithril dagger was about to pierce Morgan's neck, his brow furrowed deeply, and he frantically snapped one of his own fingers.
“Sacrifice: Colossus Guard!”
Two massive afterimages of Inquisitors appeared in front of Morgan, crashing down from the sky like meteors.
They were seven-meter-tall Inquisitors wielding halberds.
Counterintuitively, their colossal size did not hinder their agility. As their halberds swept across, it felt like a speeding train hurtling toward Tina.
Bang—
The mithril dagger clashed with a halberd, but as if hitting a steel spike, the latter was merely knocked back a few meters.
Throughout this, Tina remained calm and composed, which irritated Morgan. It was rare for any enemy to force him into such a pathetic state, let alone make him deploy his Colossus Guards.
And in the next second, Tina's words enraged him even further.
“Weapons made by sacrificing humans are quite handy, aren't they?”
Morgan's glare looked capable of killing, but he did not continue his assault. Instead, he looked up into the air and shouted to Phaetnis, “Retreat! I can't fight properly here!”
They flew toward the exit and fled.
Tina did not pursue them. She cleanly flicked her dagger, raised her head, and looked at the solitary door hovering in the air.
Velrose, who had been “watching the battle” from the side, was utterly dumbfounded!
Her senior had actually faced two Cardinals all on her own and fought them to a standstill!
And Tina was indeed one of the few existences who could handle an abyssal magical beast entirely on her own.
Elcalan's teachings had allowed her to forge a different style of combat—the “Silence Style.”
Rather than using magic or utilizing magical circuits to manifest spells, it involved circulating magic power within the body, forcing the physical form to adapt to it. Through this method, one would train their body to its absolute limits, repeating the process endlessly... until their physical body and combat techniques reached a level far beyond the reach of ordinary people.
There were no flashy spells; they simply treated their own body as the strongest spear, relying solely on combat instinct and skill to slay their enemies.
If combat magic was something humans had developed in order to progress, then the “Silence Style” was a far purer form of combat capability that reigned supreme over it.
However, because it constantly pushed the body to the brink of collapse, and the subsequent recovery process brought about excruciating pain, it was a path that deterred almost everyone.
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