When Nabi had lifted his hand up, there was an instinctual reaction from Raze. He had seen this type of movement many times before in his past life, more than he could count. In the world of Pagna, he thought that he would never experience it, at least not here. So for a moment, he thought he might have been wrong.
His experience as a teacher, he had seen those start the spell the same way. This was a spell linked to those with the Lightning attribute. To draw more power, they often had to lift their hands in the sky.
They could still use lightning-type magic without it, but if it was a long-ranged attack and they needed to store lightning quicker, raising their hand was the ideal way, and just before Nabi had cast his magic, he had said the words of the spell.
It had confirmed it for Raze, and in that split second, he had reacted. Pulling out the new pill he had created, the light blue Qi pill with the ice magic, he had flicked it right into his mouth and swallowed it down.
A cool sensation was felt all over his skin, power radiating from his body.
Nabi placed his hand on the floor, and the lightning went out, hitting everyone in the area, including Raze himself. The lightning still struck him, hurting him slightly, but the effects of the spell, causing a paralysis effect, were worn off by the effect of the pill.
That was why Raze was still standing there in front of everyone, why Raze was unaffected by the magic, because he knew what was coming.
'That spell, it wasn't one that was directed at hurting but paralysis. It's quite easy to avoid if one casts magic in the area around them at the same time, or if one can jump away from the ground at a high enough distance. But the Pagna warriors would have known nothing about it,' Raze thought.
'I took an uncommon Qi pill, which means for the next three minutes I'll be unaffected by his effects.' Raze thought to himself, but there was an even more pressing thought on top of all of this. 'What is a mage doing here? Is he part of Alter? Someone in the Light Faction, they said that they had people everywhere, right?
'So it's quite possible? Then what happens in this situation. Do I reveal who I am?'
Raze remembered something; at the moment, he still had the device that had been given to him. If he was from Alter, it should have activated when someone else was close. Yet it hadn't done so. Of course, Himmy did also state that those from Alter would be able to deactivate the device itself, but one thing was clear, now Nabi would know that Raze was a mage as well, so he needed to see what was going to happen.
"As I thought, you were a mage," Nabi smiled as he looked at all of the Crimson Crane still hurt and affected by what had happened. Even Rayna had been hit from behind, sending her straight to the ground again.
"You also seem to be one good with enchantments. You have already learned how to utilize them and make them into the form of Qi pills in this world. That is very impressive; you certainly must have a lot of knowledge," Nabi said, impressed, placing his sword away in his sheath by his side and even clapped his hands a few times. While doing so, small sparks came off.
"You should be careful, though. If Alter gets word that you have been selling these pills, they will be after you. Not that it matters because you're going to die right here!" Nabi stretched out his hand, and the sparks charged up from his shoulder.
"Lighting Strike!" Nabi shouted out. The magic twirled around his hand as if it was charging from the shoulder and went right out from his hand, striking forward.n.-In
The others watching this happen couldn't believe their eyes. This wasn't a type of visual Qi; there was no buildup of Qi through movements to create an image, and the properties of the attack, they were real; they could feel it themselves. Just what type of pure power was this?
However, it wasn't as if Raze was doing nothing as he saw this. At the same time, black magic had been building up around his arm as well, and throwing it forward at the same time, Raze said the magic words.
"Dark Pulse!"
A dark beam shot out from his hands, and it struck against the lightning. As they both hit, the two magic energies were colliding against each other. That was until eventually one of the powers won out, and the dark beam continued forward.
Nabi had no choice but to move out of the way as the beam continued onward into the distance.
"What!" Nabi said. "You, and me, we are both 3-star mages; my lightning shouldn't have lost out to yours!"
Raze smiled as he heard all of this.
"Your right, you could tell from my mana, and I could tell from yours that we are both 3-star mages, but have you lived in Pagna for so long that you forgot the basics?" Raze asked. "Dark magic is strong against lightning!"
Shoving both of his hands forward, Raze used the Dark Pulse twice.
"Dark Pulse!"
It came out of both hands and fast; Nabi had no choice but to lift both of his hands up, and as he did, a wall of lightning appeared.
"Wall of Lightning!" Nabi said.
The lightning barrier was created, and the dark energy was clashing against it. It was hard, and now Nabi had to put even more effort as he placed more of his Mana into his lightning. He had to, otherwise, it wouldn't be enough to defend from the attack.
Eventually, the dark magic had stopped, but Nabi looked worn out just from the two attacks.
"You may be a strong mage, but you are nothing compared to my Pagna skills!" Nabi stated. "I'll use my magic to take out the Pagna warriors, and my techniques to bring you down."
Seeing this, Raze had another pill in his mouth again; it was the green pill, a level 2 one that he bit down, taking another bite.
'He's right; his Pagna skills are beyond what I can handle, so all I can do is use everything I have!'
His wind magic was faster than his dark magic, so Raze quickly changed and pulled out his sword; he then swung it down, creating slashes all aimed at Nabi.
However, Nabi was able to deflect all of the attacks even with the slashes, as he swung his sword, breaking right through them.
'Crap, he's a middle-stage warrior; even with my Pagna skills and magic, it's not enough!' Raze thought.
Seeing the desperation, Raze decided to do one more thing; he used the fourth descending step, pushing off with both feet, and then with his right hand, he used Dark Strike. A strong, powerful pulse shot out from Raze's hand, and as it did, it crashed right into Nabi.
He held the sword carefully as the attack hit, but it soon started to light up with Qi. The power continued to strike against his sword, but Nabi swung it, and the energy was deflected off to the side and in the air, doing nothing to harm him.
"You… you're able to use both Pagna skills and magic at the same time?" Nabi said out loud. His eyes were wider than usual as well. "It's amplifying your sword techniques; that's why your strike from before had so much power, and it can also amplify your magic, but how is that possible?
"How are you able to use both at the same time? Are you really from Alterian?"
Ignoring the words of the man, Raze continued to swing his sword while moving and firing out the Dark Pulse. He wasn't holding back, using his mana, but still, Nabi, even in his confused state, was able to use his sword to block all of the attacks, adding Qi to it.
He deflected them all, hitting the energies off, and it looked like Raze was eventually running out of not Qi energy, but he had run out of mana.
"The weakness of all mages," Nabi stated. "It is why a higher star Mage almost always wins fights because one will run out of mana before the other. I have to admit you are really a mysterious person. I would love to find out how you are able to use both Qi and mana at the same time. However, I'm not interested enough to leave you alive."
Nabi then chuckled to himself as he thought back to a moment where he was slightly worried before.
"I can't believe for a moment I thought you were him; I thought you were the Dark Magus. If you were, then I would already be dead."
With those words, it was clear to Raze that this man was from Alterian, and he was there during the time when Raze's name as the Dark Magus was already widely known. However, with how strong his warrior skills were, how long had he been in Pagna for?
He wanted to know more, but with his mana gone and seeing no way to win this fight, it wasn't his time to think about that.
"Don't worry, we can be the ones that do it for you!" Alba said as she and the rest of the Crimson Crane had taken out another pill. The blue Qi pill, the original cursed Mana pill. Each of the members had eaten them while Raze was fighting, and all of the Qi they had used in the fight had been restored.
Giving them enough power to fight through the lightning and stand up again.
"Let's go for round 2 this time," Alba smiled.
"Crimson Crane!" Raze shouted out. "Keep him busy for one minute… and we will win this fight."
Raze had an idea, an idea that would turn this fight around.