Shang only narrowed his right eye and shot towards the Mage.
He wasn't someone that wanted to talk during a fight.
The less he knew about his opponents, the easier it was for him to kill them.
As Shang approached, the Mage only grinned widely and pointed one of the two flames at him.
BANG!
Shang shot to the side with a Fire Blast.
BOOOOM!
A beam of searing fire shot past Shang and exploded on the place where he had just been. The powerful explosion burned his skin in several places, but with another Fire Blast, Shang managed to protect himself from the worst of it.
At the same time, Shang noticed that the Mage's robes were slowly starting to catch fire again.
'The density of Fire Mana in the surroundings is rapidly shrinking. It seems like his robes can absorb the Fire Mana from their surroundings.'
'Well, he isn't the only one that can do that.'
In Shang's hands, Sword was also burning violently.
When Shang had used his Domain of Entropy to turn the explosion into Fire Mana, Sword had absorbed as much Fire Mana as it could.
The Mage's grin only widened when he saw Shang evade his attack.
The more powerful his opponent, the better the fight!
Shang quickly reached the Mage and prepared a slash, but the Mage only angled the other flame towards the ground.
BOOOM!
The ground below the Mage exploded, and Shang had to protect himself from the heat with another Fire Blast.
The Mage shot into the sky, his Focus following him.
BANG!
Shang quickly shot after the Mage and also flew into the sky.
A moment later, the Mage's Focus began to burn again.
"This Spell is called Spark Shower!" the Mage said with a grin.
Shang didn't know the Spell, but he could imagine what it did.
Sure enough, after pointing his hand at Shang, several pellets of fire shot at him.
It was almost like someone was shooting at Shang with a shotgun!
BANG!
Shang quickly changed his trajectory with another Fire Blast, his body leaving icy mist behind. He was already at his limit in regards to his body's temperature.
It was rather ironic that Shang's body was beginning to freeze while fighting a Fire Mage.
Shang managed to evade most of the pellets, but a couple of them would still hit him.
BANG! BANG!
Shang blocked two of the pellets with his sword, but he had to block the last of them with an Ice Blast.
On one hand, Shang didn't get injured, but on the other hand, the angle at which he had released the Ice Blast threw him further away from the Mage.
Due to the recoil of the Spell, the Fire Mage rose higher into the sky as Shang approached the ground.
BANG! BANG!
Shang quickly released two Ice Blasts to shoot towards the Mage in the sky again, his body no longer on the verge of freezing.
But just a moment later, the Mage had prepared his own Spell.
"Searing Cross!" he shouted.
'Why is he shouting the names of his attacks? Doesn't he know that this makes it easier for me to evade them?'
Sure enough, just an instant later, a cross made of white fire shot towards Shang.
BANG!
Shang shot to the side, and the cross barely missed him. However, the surrounding temperature still increased Shang's temperature by a lot.
BANG!
Shang shot towards the sky aga-
BANG!
Shang's right eye widened when he saw an explosion of fire appear behind the Mage.
And an instant later, the Mage appeared right in front of Shang, a maddened smile on his face.
He had done the same thing as Shang!
Even more, instead of retreating, the Mage had come towards Shang!
He had never fought a Mage before that wanted to get close to him during a battle!
And then, Shang noticed the violently burning pillar of flames in one of his hands.
The pillar almost looked like a spear or a sword.
And just like a sword, the Mage slashed towards Shang.
As Shang saw the attack, he noticed all its secrets. His long training with Teacher Mervin wasn't for nothing.
Shang knew exactly how the attack would move and what it would do.
Shang moved his sword towards the side where the attack came from.
And then, the fire hit Sword.
CRRRR!
The violent flame hit Sword like a concentrated beam of water hitting steel.
And then, Shang moved Sword along the slash.
He knew that this was not a real weapon, and he also knew that the attack wouldn't follow the rules of a real weapon.
CRRRR!
Sure enough, as the slash continued, Sword stayed in the fire's path. If this were a normal weapon, the weapon would have bounced off.
A Sword made of fire couldn't just block something. It would continue unabated.
If Shang had simply blocked the attack, the fire sword would have burned his body into several pieces.
When the slash passed by Shang, he released another Fire Blast.
BANG!
Shang shot forward with his extended elbow.
From such a distance, the Mage wouldn't be able to evade.
Even more, the Mage had never activated his Mana Shield!
Shang's elbow hit the Mage's chest, but his right eye narrowed when he saw Magic Circles appear on the robes.
'His robes have the same defense as my armor!'
Usually, Mages didn't buy these kinds of armors. After all, if someone actually managed to hit their body, it meant that their Mana Shield was broken, which meant that they were out of Mana, which meant that they were about to die anyway.
Normally, Mages bought robes with Magic Circles that expedited their Mana regeneration.
Yet, this Mage had bought exactly such a piece of armor!
The Mage and Shang were blasted apart by the force of Shang's attack.
The Mage coughed a bit due to the force his body had just experienced. Even though he was a powerful True Mage, his body couldn't be compared to Shang's. If Shang's attack had actually hit him, the Mage would have been blasted into several pieces.
"That's what I get from fighting in close combat with a physi," the Mage grumbled to himself.
At the same time, his arms extended again.
His robes were already burning violently again.
