After a couple of hours, a High Mage entered Shang's Spirit Sense.
He was traveling at normal speeds for a High Mage that wasn't using Mana Step. Obviously, he was conserving his Mana.
The Mage was a middle-aged man with a brown beard and long red hair, wearing the typical robes of a Duke.
"He's here," Shang said after hours of silence.
Sylvia checked the surroundings with her Spirit Sense, but she couldn't find the Mage.
She had already been informed that Shang could feel others from much further away than normal, but she was still a bit surprised when she saw it with her own eyes.
"We will go according to the plan," Shang said. "I will attack him with a barrage of powerful attacks, forcing him to use up several Mana Steps to evade. You will attack, but you shouldn't go all out yet. Keep your Mana full."
"When I get close, I will put pressure on him and counter his first three Mana Steps. When you see me get close, I need you to release your most powerful Spells. Of course, it would be appreciated if you didn't hit me with those," Shang said.
Sylvia nodded.
At that moment, Sylvia summoned her Focus and readied several Spells.
Shang lifted his Colossal Sword and also readied himself.
There were two more Late High Mages in the Skythunder Kingdom that weren't part of the Council.
Originally, Jerald was supposed to take out one of them, and then they would prepare themselves for the final battle.
However, with Sylvia now having joined them, they could take out both of them.
Since these two Mages weren't anywhere close to Jerald's Zones, Shang and Jerald had to fly to them. Shang might be able to carry one person, but he couldn't carry his three High Mages with him.
Because of that, he would have to fight without his augmenting Spells.
Shang didn't have a lot of confidence in taking out a Late High Mage without his augmenting Spells, but with Sylvia helping him, it should be easy.
Shang didn't fully trust Sylvia, but he trusted Jerald, and Jerald had said that Shang could trust Sylvia.
Shang decided to believe in Jerald, but he still kept his guard up.
He didn't want to fight against two Late High Mages at the same time.
At that point, he would have no other choice but to use Entropy, and he would need to hit both of them at the same time.
And after that, he would be so weakened that he wouldn't even be able to flee. The Council would notice the battle immediately, and they would arrive within a minute.
So, even though Shang was confident in taking out the Duke with Sylvia, he wasn't confident in surviving if Sylvia decided to betray them, just like she betrayed the Council.
Or, maybe, she had never betrayed the Council in the first place, and this was all a huge scheme?
Shang kept looking at the Duke and took out a Communication Crystal.
"We will enter battle in one minute," he said.
"Okay," Jerald answered through the crystal.
Shang put the crystal away again.
In comparison to Shang's target, Jerald's target wasn't on the move, allowing him to attack whenever he wanted.
They would attack at the same time. After all, if one of them attacked first, the Council would be warned, and they would join the other Late High Mage in case they were also ambushed.
The seconds ticked by, and Shang gathered power in Sword.
"Go!" Shang shouted with a voice transmission to Sylvia.
Sylvia narrowed her eyes.
BANG! BANG!
Shang exploded forward with two Ice Blasts and reached his top speed in an instant, his Colossal Sword dragging behind him.
SHING!
Sylvia used three Mana Steps in quick succession, and as soon as she arrived at her target location, she felt the Duke just three kilometers away from her, just where Shang had told her he would be.
The red-haired Duke's eyes opened wide in shock.
A Late High Mage with prepared Spells?
Then, he noticed that this was the traitorous Council member, Sylvia Eternalfrost.
The Duke had not been prepared for a battle at all!
Yet, he was still very experienced, and he activated his Mana Shield by instinct.
At that moment, all of Sylvia's prepared Spells had already shot forward.
A vast area above her was filled with icy spires and humongous boulders that seemed to be some sort of fusion of ice and earth.
Then, it all rained down on the Duke.
To the Duke, it was like the sky was collapsing.
It was like a frosty mountain above him had exploded above him, and all the debris was now rapidly shooting at him.
A High Mage could only react so fast, and activating Mana Shield made it impossible to use Mana Step as well.
Then, the gigantic avalanche arrived.
BOOOOOOOOOM!
Over a hundred meters of the Duke's surroundings exploded with ice and stone, destroying everything.
The Duke was thrown back, his Mana reserves having taken a strong hit.
An instant later, fire gathered around him.
SSSSSSHH!
Yet, the icy boulders that had exploded had given off some kind of icy mist, and the Duke felt his Fire Mana being canceled out.
The icy mist also weakened, but it would take too much Fire Mana to get rid of all the icy mist around him.
SHING!
The Duke used Mana Step and moved to the side. Due to the force of the strike, the icy mist was rapidly moving backward, and if he decided to step away from his opponent, the icy mist would engulf him again in a short amount of time.
The Duke was quickly readying his first offensive Spell, but he couldn't finish it before something happened.
A huge crescent made of black fire was shooting at him!
The Duke gritted his teeth and used Mana Step again.
SHING!
The crescent missed him and hit a hill behind him, destroying the entire thing.
At that moment, the Duke noticed Shang and his Great Sword.
Shang was only a kilometer away from him at this point, and his Great Sword was growing into a humongous icy shape.
BANG!
Another huge spire made of ice hit the Duke's Mana Shield.
He didn't avoid the Spell this time.
If he continued using Mana Step, he would forever remain in a passive position!
And then, Shang slashed forward with his humongous icy sword.
The Duke moved his arm to the side, and a big wave of lava shot out right at the incoming sword.
Surprisingly, the ice on the sword immediately broke apart, but then the Duke saw the black fire inside the Sword.
Dawn!
BOOOOOOM!
The surroundings exploded again, but the Duke had evaded with Mana Step.
Then, the Duke stretched his arm forward again.
BANG!
Another huge wave of lava exploded as it hit another icy spire shot by Sylvia.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Yet, the Duke was thrown to the side in an instant by something else.
A streak of black fire had shot at him at insane speeds, and he hadn't been able to ready a Spell to counter it.
Star Shatter!
The Duke managed to recover his balance.
SHING!
Just to see Shang appear directly beside him after leaving behind a black streak.
In the next moment, the area around Shang started to vanish.
Domain of Entropy!
The Duke gritted his teeth, and his Focus shone.
A violently burning spear made of fire shot at Shang.
Shang had only seen it for an instant before it hit him.
It was way too fast to react to for him.
BANG!
Shang's armor activated and blocked the strike.
This had been his plan all along since that would waste one of the Duke's Spells.
The Duke gritted his teeth, and sweat was running down his forehead.
He was halfway through preparing his own Spell when he suddenly noticed something.
A five-meter-long but very thin needle of ice was floating beside Sylvia. Earth Mana infused with the Concept of Base connected the ice needle to the ground...
And that Earth Mana seemed to warp due to immense strain.
The Duke knew that Spell.
It was Sylvia's most powerful Spell and the reason for her last name, Eternalfrost.
The Duke immediately canceled his Spell and cast Mana Step.
Yet, just when he used it, the Mana for the Spell vanished!
BANG!
Eternalfrost shot forward.
Its speed was unparalleled.
BANG!
Shang's right eye widened.
He hadn't even seen the Spell arrive...
But, right now, he only saw two holes in the Duke's Mana Shield.
And between the two holes stood the Duke, with his torso having an identical hole to the two on his Mana Shield.
In less than a second, the icy needle had already traveled so far that it even left Shang's Spirit Sense.
"Hey, you!"
Shang looked over and saw Sylvia shouting at him with a grin.
"You might have stronger Battle-Strength, but I still have more power! You got that?"
A second of silence.
Then, the Duke's corpse fell to the ground.
