Rudy's hand had definitely pierced through the heart.
He felt the sensation in his hand.
Raven didn't move an inch.
Instead, he smiled.
Seeing his face made Rudy shiver.
"Damn..."
Rudy quickly tried to pull his arm out.
But it wasn't easy to pull away.
Raven's skin, his body that had been pierced, tightly gripped Rudy's arm.
"Thinking of leaving just like that?"
Raven grabbed Rudy's arm with his hand.
"Since my arm got cut off, yours should too, right?"
"Ugh..."
Raven's grip on Rudy's right arm was strong.
It was stronger than any human could manage.
Despite reinforcing his arm with mana, Rudy felt pain.
'Mana reinforced...? No... the heart was definitely...'
Rudy had definitely burst the heart.
For a wizard, the heart does more than just pump blood.
It stores mana and distributes it, allowing for magic use.
With the heart burst, using magic should have been impossible.
Ian quickly assessed the situation and charged at Raven.
"What's a wizard doing coming close?"
Raven lifted his stone arm towards the charging Ian.
When his stone arm touched Ian, it emitted a strong light.
The stone turned into dust and scattered in the air.
Ian immediately reached out his hand towards Raven.
Rudy moved at the same time.
He gathered mana in his free left hand.
Ian and Rudy both attempted to attack Raven together.
Raven moved quickly, assessing the situation.
He twisted his body, pulling out the arm embedded in him, and ducked.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})Rudy's arm, which hadn't moved until then, suddenly came free easily.
By ducking, Rudy and Ian ended up charging at each other.
"Get out of the way on your own."
"Ugh...!"
Ian kept moving forward, and Rudy twisted his body to avoid him.
Had Rudy's reaction been slightly slower, they would have collided.
Raven watched them miss each other and dodged to the side.
"Damn... That was close. 'Get out of the way on your own,' he says."
"It's better for one person to dodge than for things to get messed up trying to avoid each other."
"Then you could have dodged."
"You move better than I do."
Ian and Rudy started glaring at each other.
"Both of you seem pretty relaxed."
Raven narrowed his eyes and spoke to them.
They both looked at Raven, who made such a comment.
"How is that guy still standing?"
"I have no idea."
He had a huge hole in his body and was missing an arm.
It wouldn't have been strange if he were dead from such injuries.
There was no blood coming out of his body, nor did he seem to feel any pain.
"He's like a machine."
He was like a machine.
A machine without pain or emotions.
"Was he like that when you tortured him?"
"No, he was normal back then."
At a certain point, he completely changed from a person.
Not only the body but also the mind.
"Suddenly changing..."
It was not his real body then.
If he hid his real body with an explosion, that would make sense.
However, there was no other presence around.
Even when Rudy scanned the surroundings with mana, he couldn't find anyone hiding.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})There was only an overwhelming presence coming from Raven.
Based on the mana alone, he felt like a different person from when they first met.
"Can something like this even be possible?"
"Discussing it won't give us an answer."
Ian moved forward, manipulating his mana.
"Fighting might give us more details."
Sparks flew near Raven.
Then, dirt gathered from the ground and stuck to his arms.
The dirt formed something resembling gauntlets.
But these were no ordinary gauntlets.
Gauntlets the size of a person replaced his arms.
First, they needed to figure out what that magic was.
"I'll go."
"Understood."
Rudy stepped forward, and Ian stood behind him.
They moved in sync without needing to speak.
Rudy charged at Raven immediately.
Raven knew of Rudy's abilities, but Rudy didn't know his.
Yet, it wasn't a big problem.
In close combat, Rudy was as good as Aryandor.
He was confident, even without knowing the opponent's abilities.
Raven swung his dirt-made gauntlets at the charging Rudy.
Despite the large gauntlets, his movements were fast.
Still, Rudy read his movements.
Even if fast, the large fists made their movements obvious.
Rudy pulled back his stepping foot and raised his arm.
He blocked one gauntlet and dodged the other.
Moving as little as possible.
He blocked and dodged Raven's attacks with the mindset of not giving his opponent any opening.
There was a slight numbness in the arm that blocked the gauntlet, but it was not a problem.
Seeing his attack didn't work, Raven continued his assault.
His attacks were fast.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})Too fast for a normal person to react to, and even difficult for a swordsman to counter.
Yet, Rudy dodged all of them.
Not even a scratch appeared on his body.
Rudy, who had neglected physical training while studying and practicing spatial magic, hadn't lost his skills.
His body, endlessly trained since the academy, didn't lie about his efforts.
'Dodge to the left. For the next attack, step back briefly, then move in.'
Rudy noted every small movement and planned his next action.
There were slight errors in his movements.
It was a natural result, given his break from training.
Rudy gradually reduced these errors.
Continuing the attack would eventually create an opening.
While Rudy blocked Raven's attacks, Ian looked for that opening.
"Spatial control."
At Ian's voice, Raven tried to step back.
But he couldn't move back.
He was trapped.
An invisible wall blocked Raven's back.
"We can't just let him escape."
What Ian used wasn't an attack.
It was a move to block the enemy's retreat.
"Spatial Severance."
He immediately used magic afterward.
With his back blocked, Raven only had the side to escape to.
There was no time to think deeply.
He had to make a quick decision.
Raven threw himself to the right.
But whether to the right or left, both were dead ends.
"Phew..."
Rudy, standing in front, took a deep breath.
He gathered mana in his fist.
The movement of mana stirred the wind around him.
Raven, unable to properly position himself after throwing his body, frowned.
Crackle...
Raven quickly used magic.
But Rudy wasn't one to miss an opportunity.
"Ha!"
There was no need to get closer.
Rudy threw his punch.
The wind pressure from the mana engulfed Raven.
Simultaneously, the mana gathered in Rudy's fist was released, creating a massive mana storm.
Crash!
"Argh..."
Raven's body was briefly swept by the mana storm, resulting in numerous injuries.
To avoid this, Raven used magic.
He removed the gauntlets from his hands and placed his hands on the ground.
Then, sparks flew from Raven's hands, and his body was propelled into the sky.
It was as if the ground was pushing Raven away.
Seeing this, Ian laughed.
Rudy laughed as well.
It was exactly as the two had planned.
Rudy would block the opponent's movement, and Ian would look for an opening.
Though they had never coordinated before, their thoughts aligned.
And so did their actions up to this moment.
Ian reached out his hand towards Raven.
In mid-air, there's no escaping an attack.
Unless one uses telekinetic magic or something similar for aerial movement, there's no way to dodge.
Of course, there's the option to defend against an attack.
But the answer to that was quite simple.
Make an undefendable attack.
"Spatial Severance."
Raven had no means to block spatial magic.
It was a technique that left him with no choice but to dodge.
A black rift formed in the center of Raven.
Spatial Severance is a spell that's easy to dodge due to its activation time.
But when hit squarely by such an easily dodged spell.
Crack.
It was powerful magic.
Raven, hit directly, was swallowed by the rift in space.
The name of the spell itself was "Severance," but Spatial Severance was more about blowing away a certain space.
Since Raven was in the center of that rift, his body vanished.
Thud... Tinkle.
Parts of Raven's body fell from the sky.
His body was gone, but parts like his head or legs remained and fell to the ground.
"Ugh."
Rudy narrowed his eyes at the gruesome sight and turned his head.
"So much for his big talk."
"Want to say that after fighting 2-on-1?"
"He was overconfident even before the fight began. I could have won alone."
"Sure you could have."
Rudy sneered and laughed.
"Commander!"
At that moment, the soldiers shouted.
Crackle... Fizz.
The sound of sparks accompanied the soldiers' voices.
Rudy and Ian turned their heads towards the direction of the sound.
Dirt was clumping together with the sparks.
"What's that?"
"..."
That magic was definitely Raven's.
Raven's body had been blown away by spatial magic.
Yet, Raven's magic was still activating.
"What a headache."
Ian ran his hand through his hair.
The dirt kept gathering, and like a golem, the form grew larger.
"What will you do?"
"We fight. Are you planning to run?"
"Of course not."
Rudy rolled up his sleeves and walked forward.
"Let's go then."
"Yeah."
Rudy and Ian walked towards the golem.
