The Magical Beast outside was a lioness with golden fur and purple eyes. It was like the female version of the lion that was fighting on the battlefield. The mage on the other hand wore a bright red cloak with fancy inscriptions drawn on it.
The lioness roared and started attacking the mage with rage. The mage expected that the lioness would act like that and quickly flew into the air to dodge the lioness' attacks. The lioness wasn't helpless when the mage flew into the air.
It unleashed a magic of its own. It formed a purple shard that was the same size as it and launched it at the mage. The mage quickly created a shield in front of him to defend the shard but it wasn't helpful. The thorn shattered his defenses and threw him back.
He quickly recovered and hit the lioness with a taste of his magic. He used fire magic, symbolic of his red cloak. He started gathering solar energy from the sun into a concentrated orb of searing light. He then released the orb which burst forth, unleashing a blinding radiance that illuminated the surroundings and scattered rays of intense heat. Some of the rays hit the lioness, inflicting great pain on it.
In anger, the lioness started creating more shards and launched them at the mage. Compared to the mage, the lioness' attacks were a lot less sophisticated, but they contained a lot of raw power. They were also just as effective as the mage's attacks.
These attacks went back and forth for half an hour. At this point, both of them became extremely exhausted. Leo knew this but he still wanted to wait the fight out. At this point, he could definitely come out and end both of them with his strength, but he didn't need to. At least one of them was going to do that for him.
He was right. The mage realized he had to end the fight before losing all his energy. He knew he had less magical energy than the Magical Beast and he was also exerting himself by flying in the air. So he decided to pull out his trump card.
He took a deep breath and started channeling his energy. Instantly, his hands became engulfed in flickering flames, radiating a searing heat that engulfed the immediate vicinity. With a forceful motion, the mage thrust his hands forward, unleashing a concentrated blast of fire toward the lioness.
"Inferno Nova!" The mage shouted.
The spell manifested as a brilliant orb of swirling flames, crackling and pulsating with an intense, primal energy. It hurtled toward the lioness, leaving behind a trail of scorch marks and billowing smoke.
Upon contact, the Inferno Nova erupted in a cataclysmic explosion, enveloping the area in a tempest of blazing flames. The searing inferno incinerated anything in its path, reducing the trees and the grass to charred remnants and engulfing adversaries in an all-consuming conflagration.
Leo was in the waterfall but even he felt the effects of the spell. The heat evaporated the water in front of him for a few seconds before the rest of the water in the river above filled the gap. He wasn't concerned that his presence was now apparent to the people outside. He was more interested in what the final outcome was.
The mage was completely exhausted after he cast the spell. He had used the rest of his magic to cast it. The outcome was good, though. After the fire slowly died out and the smoke cleared away, the body of the lioness became visible. The mage saw the unmoving body and sighed with relief.
He slowly landed on the ground and walked to the body. He was still frustrated that he had to fight the Magical Beast instead of finding the Radiant Apple and leaving immediately.
Leo saw that the Magical Energy of the Magical Beast could no longer be detected and realized that it was finally time for him to come out. He slowly exited the waterfall. The minute he did, the mage quickly realized that he was not alone.
The mage jumped back and tried to fly into the air, but he didn't have any magic left. He looked at Leo with hate in his eyes.
"You, boy! Who are you?" The mage asked Leo.
Leo shrugged. "Isn't it good manners to introduce yourself first?"
The mage gritted his teeth. "You cheeky shit! I am a Viscount. I am the Viscount of Verdantia. Name yourself."
"What did I do to you, Mr. Viscount?" Leo asked. "Why are you so angry at me?"
"You are the one who stole the Radiant Apple, aren't you? You somehow got here before me and stole the fruit, making me battle the Purple-Eyed Golden Lion because of it." The viscount said.
"So you already know who I am," Leo said. "Why did you ask me, then?"
"Hand over the fruit," he said.
Leo shook his head. "I stole it first. So it's mine."
"Hah! Do you think you have an option here? I can sense that you are just a 1st Circle Aura Knight. On the other hand, I am a Peak-Stage 3rd Circle Mage. You are a puny commoner who has to do what I tell you to. Now hand over the fruit!" He said.
Leo realized that the mage could see that he was an Aura Knight but not that he was a mage. This meant that the mage didn't know that he was a 3rd Circle Mage. In his mind, he thought Leo couldn't hurt him at all.
"I refuse. What will you do?" Leo asked him.
"Well, I wanted to do this the easy way, but I since I was going to kill you anyway, I will look for it after I do that." The mage said.
He used the little magic strength he had to form a small meteor that would normally flatten a 1st Circle Magical Beast and flung it at Leo. Leo smiled as the meteor flew and crashed into him. The mage's expression immediately changed.
He looked behind him and saw that Leo was standing there. Leo had used his Shadow Step to get behind the mage before he got hit by the meteor. The mage was confused about how he was able to do that.
"How did you use aura to do that? Did you teleport?" The mage asked. He was very curious about how Leo had dodged his attack. He was also worried since he was low on magic and might run out of it before he could deal with Leo.
"You have an awful lot of questions, don't you? But what makes you think I will answer someone who just showed that they wanted to kill me." Leo said.
"I won't kill you anymore. Just hand me the fruit and tell me how you did what you did and I will... I will give you money. You are just a commoner, right? You need the money. I will give you 10000 Starcoins if you tell me how you did it." The mage said.
Leo gave the mage a very disgusted look. "Wow. For a Viscount, you are incredibly poor. Maybe I need to give you money."
