Although Wizet deliberately tried to distract Morgana le Fay with his words, his inner vigilance had never wavered.
Verbal distraction was merely a dueling tactic. In truth, from the moment Morgana le Fay appeared, he had remained on high alert, approaching the duel with extreme caution.
Since Morgana le Fay had actively chosen to fight at close range, Wizet naturally needed to consider the situation from multiple angles.
Morgana le Fay might have closed the distance to counter Ancient Magic: Instant Shield, hoping that by doing so, she would prevent him from using it.
Or perhaps she needed to fight at close range in order to make better use of her "soul understanding."
It was even possible that both were true—that she wanted to achieve both goals at once.
Wizet had reached this conclusion mainly because of what he had just determined—Morgana le Fay possessed disruptive magic capable of distorting judgment.
As for what would happen at greater distances, he had already tested it once during his aerial chase with Morgana le Fay—
When he cast Ancient Magic: Powerful Blasting Curse and detonated it himself, the normally nimble Aethonan had failed to withstand the shockwave from the explosion.
That was what had bought him the precious time he needed to repair the Eiffel Tower.
Taking Morgana le Fay's close-range dueling strategy into account, Wizet refined his conclusion further: the closer the distance, the more effective that judgment-distorting magical interference became.
This conclusion about the relationship between the interference and distance, coupled with the fact that neither the Soul Maze nor Occlumency had detected it, as well as the rumors of Morgana le Fay's mastery of mental magic...
A thought flashed through Wizet's mind: Had Morgana le Fay already... quietly seeped her "soul power" into his soul?
Most modern wizards knew