[Battle Between Mages]

Know the world, explore the world, study the world, gain knowledge of the world, and then change reality.

On Earth, that was called being a scientist.

Know the arcane, explore the arcane, study the arcane, gain knowledge of the arcane, and then change reality.

On Azeroth, that was called being a mage.

In a sense.

Mages were actually the scientists of Azeroth. Arcane power, an orderly force with patterns to discover and exploit, was the science of this planar bubble known as Azeroth.

In games.

Yet as this world's scientists, mages displayed their power like gun turrets, spraying Frostbolts, Fireballs, and Arcane Missiles everywhere. They did not seem like scientists at all. It was hard to imagine scientists on Earth running around all day flinging quantum mechanics, physics, and chemistry at each other.

Mages ought to be wise.

Their way of fighting ought to be filled with wisdom. Not, you throw a Fireball at me and I block it with an Ice Barrier; then I fire Arcane Missiles at you and you cancel them out with a Magic Shield.

As both a troll and a transmigrator, Tonatiuh had never seen mages fight. At most, he had watched some cinematics made by Blizzard, seen Khadgar blow up a dam, Jaina lay down an ice bridge, or witnessed uses of teleportation spells.

He had originally thought...

That mages on the real Azeroth fought just like they did in games: two mages blasting each other with spells, then countering one another's magic with their own, perhaps using Blink to counter a freeze or something.

But today...

While dealing with two Flame Invaders, he was also seeing what a true battle between mages looked like.

Aegwynn versus Modera.

Both were incredibly powerful mages. There was no need to mention Aegwynn—she had even destroyed an avatar of Sargeras. Though Modera was young, she would become the longest-serving member of the Kirin Tor Council in the future. There was no way she could be weak.

Their battle...

Left Tonatiuh dazzled and wide-eyed. So this was what a mage truly was! Cinematics and games had all been lies!

The only regret was that he could not understand human speech and had no idea why they were fighting.

The perspective of the two mages in battle.

Tonatiuh was running about wildly as the Flame Invaders chased him. Each mage spared him only one glance before ignoring him again, so long as he did not run over here.

Modera launched the first attack. She turned the ground beneath Aegwynn's feet into a swamp with magic, then attacked her with the power of fire.

Such a spell combination could do nothing to a former Guardian whose combat experience might exceed even that of the dragon Aspects. With a Blink, Aegwynn evaded the attack.

"Child. You heard the voice, didn't you? It is deeply ominous. Listen to me—do not persist in this obsession." Standing some distance away, Aegwynn tried to persuade her again.

"No." Modera forced a smile, her expression somewhat unnatural. "I didn't! My lady, I only want you to give it back to me!"

Aegwynn shook her head, then hurled Fireballs at Modera. Highly vigilant, Modera easily used the enchanted spell on her wand to shove them aside and cast them onto the ground.

The Guardian's Fireballs were astonishingly powerful. Even the rocks, highly resistant to fire, were scorched black.

Yet none of them touched Modera. Then, at that moment, the air began to burn, and Modera felt briefly short of breath.

With the expression of a teacher posing a question, Aegwynn looked at Modera. She gave a light wave of her hand, and the next attack arrived.

Enormous chunks of stone were ripped from above Modera's head. They ignited and came hurtling toward where she stood.

Modera raised her staff over her head and released an outward-expanding wave of power, forming a faintly gleaming semicircular barrier. It blocked the falling meteors just in time, reducing them to ash. Only several larger fragments struck the ground.

The translucent shield spared Modera from harm, but the reverberating shockwaves painfully penetrated her body.

The force of those vibrations was so powerful that even with her magical barrier raised, Modera was driven to one knee. The rocks around her cracked from the impact like shattered mirrors.

But Modera was not injured in the slightest. She had completely withstood Aegwynn's attack.

"You'll have to do better than that to drive me back, my lady! I've suffered enough losses before. I won't fall for it again!" Modera said.

Aegwynn remained expressionless. This time, she did not even wave her staff. Her slender, fair hand swept through the air, releasing an incredibly thin beam of iridescent flame that sliced toward Modera.

It was too fast.

The only thing Modera could do was dodge and avoid touching the scythe-like beam.

Wherever Aegwynn's beam passed, it sliced through stone as cleanly as a knife through butter.

If it struck her body...

She would surely be cut in two. Even a magical shield might not help.

The lady is getting serious.

Modera thought this to herself.

She knew that although she appeared slightly stronger than Aegwynn, who had lost the Guardian's power, if Aegwynn truly wanted to kill her, she might have already been dead for two or three days.

But...

She wanted it.

It was so miraculous. It made Modera feel that if she could obtain it, she might embark on her own legendary path from then on—the path of a mage that belonged to her alone.

Modera was unwilling to give up.

She extended her magic outward, found the nearby ground, sliced it apart with invisible threads, and planted the power of fire within.

The spell was astonishing. It had to cut apart the ground while burying timed flames beneath it, and the mana consumption was enormous. The knuckles gripping Modera's staff had begun to turn white.

Aegwynn noticed that the ground across the entire battlefield was beginning to crack, so she moved her hand and destroyed the ground in advance. The rock beneath Modera's feet could no longer hold, instantly becoming a hollow cavern.

"Hey!"

The genius young mage gave a soft cry and instinctively activated the spell she had prepared while using Blink at the same time. One second, Modera stood where the ground had collapsed into a cavern. The next, she appeared over ten meters away, on solid footing.

Though the distance was short, this teleportation was unexpectedly painful. Modera understood that such a phenomenon only occurred when passing through sealed space or space bound by restrictions.

She felt as though she had been torn into a thousand pieces, then sewn back together piece by piece with scorching threads. It was hard to say which pain was harder to endure.

She knew the lady had used a dimensional restriction spell. She also knew where the enormous mana required for such magic came from, because Aegwynn had taken out Aluneth, the Guardian artifact said to possess endless mana.

That's just bullying!

Modera thought.

But she absolutely would not give up. She continued preparing her spell, pouring a steady stream of mana into the ground.

Aluneth pointed at her, so she had no choice but to prepare her spell while using Blink again. Naturally, she once more experienced the agony of teleporting through restricted space.

Aegwynn destroyed each of Modera's new footholds one by one, while Modera kept moving and preparing her spell. This dance-like battle continued for a while. With every teleportation, Modera's reactions grew slower. She could feel the battle beginning to wear down her fragile body.

She could crush me in a single blow. She could directly seal the space and stop me from using Blink. She could even counter my magic. Yet she refuses to do any of that. Instead, she wants me to suffer, wants me to give up on my own!

How hateful!

Her state of mind gradually unbalancing, Modera clenched her pearly teeth and slammed her staff into the ground. Lightning burst forth amid the impact.

In an instant, arcs of lightning shot across the battlefield. Wherever they struck, rocks exploded and fragments flew in all directions.

The lightning, carrying immense concussive force, stabbed straight toward Aegwynn.

But it did not hit her.

Aegwynn extended an arm, and the crackling lightning froze in midair.

Finally free from being forced to repeatedly Blink through restricted space, Modera did not stop. She continued calling upon the wind elementals and enslaving the power of the wind.

The storm around them grew increasingly violent. Lightning hung before Aegwynn like ornaments until she could no longer block it.

Electricity pierced her and knocked her to the ground, sparks and white light exploding around her.

Aegwynn vanished.

Unsure of Aegwynn's intentions, Modera ignited the storm and unleashed the spell she had endured so much pain to prepare.

The storm enslaved by a mage's power instantly transformed from lightning into raging hellfire that filled the entire battlefield. The fire she had planted during her preparations, aided by the incomparably abundant fire elementals of Fire Plume Ridge, produced an immense effect. The sea of hellish flames was so vast that it even engulfed Tonatiuh, who was fighting the two Flame Invaders.

If not for his magic immunity, Tonatiuh, caught in the crossfire, would have suffered terribly from the aftermath of the battle between two human archmages.

"System! I want to be a mage! A mage, damn it!"

Tonatiuh moved through the flames, miserably hacking at the two Flame Invaders while staring with intense envy at the two archmages' dazzling fighting styles.

The system did not react at all.

He could only keep chopping rocks while watching the spectacular battle between mages.

Boundless flames covered an area several hundred meters wide and burned ever fiercer. Modera's fair forehead was already covered in fragrant sweat. Maintaining such a wide-ranging attack was clearly exhausting for her as well.

But then again...

A nineteen-year-old human genius mage had actually achieved this much. If the high elves saw it, they would surely be green with envy.

Quel'Thalas might have been Dalaran's teacher, and humanity's arcane arts might have been learned from the elves. But humans were descendants of the Titans, and the Titans represented the highest expression of orderly arcane power. One could say the human body was born for the arcane.

A human archmage who had lived only twenty or thirty years could face an elf who had lived two thousand without any fear in battle. They might even utterly crush their opponent.

That's right.

Jaina and A-Qiang were exactly who he was talking about!

Back to the battlefield.

The boundless flames burned fiercely. When Aegwynn Blinked back, she was immediately swallowed by the fire.

Modera heard her scream as the flames burned her. Unable to resist stepping closer, she found the rubble beneath her feet joining together into a cracked slab of rock that rose into the air with her on it.

Modera stabilized the rock with magic, preventing it from falling, and raised her staff toward Aegwynn's distorted silhouette.

Standing before Aegwynn, Modera found the rock beneath her quite solid. Thankfully, it could support her weight.

"My lady, what do you think of my spell?! Even Master Antonidas praised it. He said I have great talent for fire!"

Modera thrust her staff toward Aegwynn. It should have struck her flesh and blood, but her body suddenly dissipated instead.

A mirror image?!

Modera, who had been feeling a little smug just moments ago, instantly felt every hair on her body stand on end. She turned around in time to see Aegwynn appear behind her.

Modera opened her mouth, wanting to cast a spell—any spell at all—but an explosion shook her vision.

The simplest type of offensive spell a mage learned, and often the first: Magic Missile.

The most basic combat spell taught in Dalaran robbed Modera of control over her magic. The boundless burning flames went out in an instant, revealing a massive black crater where the ground had been burned away and collapsed.

Modera also lost control of the floating rock beneath her feet.

The rock she had shaped with arcane power shattered with a deafening crash, and everything fell. Modera kept plummeting into the enormous crater until she slammed into the scorching stone floor.

Modera lay there, her body feeling as if it were about to fall apart, surrounded by the smell of fire and dust.

Aegwynn floated down from above and landed beside Modera.

I wanted to write a battle between mages. In my imagination, mage battles should be full of intelligence. A spell should not be stronger just because it has more power; it should be exactly sufficient, without waste. After writing it, I still feel I did not do it well. It does not have that feeling of an intelligent battle, but this is simply the limit of my writing ability. So I am still not suited to writing a mage protagonist. Writing a magic-immune warrior who charges in and starts chopping is much easier! Since I posted four chapters today, please give me some recommendation votes.