Showdown

"Oops!"

As Nia cast her spell, Nalu sensed something was terribly wrong. But by the time she reacted, Nia's spell had already ended. The barrier formed by runes slowly rotated above the town, completely isolating space. Although Nia didn't possess the same powerful ability as Li Lin to temporarily suppress all divine power, in some aspects, Nia was clearly superior.

"... What exactly do you want?"

Only then did Nalu finally take it seriously, holding the holy book in her hands with a solemn expression.

"Although I don't know what you're trying to do, have you considered the consequences of going against us? We are the earthly representatives acting according to the will of the gods, Miss Mage. Your actions are bringing you unnecessary trouble and danger."

"I don't think there's any need to tell you, after all, you're just a mediocre person."

Upon hearing this, Nalu frowned slightly, and for the first time, a gloomy look flashed across his face.

"Well then, I think we have nothing more to say."

The first thing to happen was a battle between divine magic and sorcery.

For the first time, Nia focused her attention on the Nalu itself. With a sharp cry, she raised her staff. A burst of dazzling colors erupted, and the Nalu, her target, had no chance to dodge. Faced with Nia's attack, the priestess could only quickly open her holy book and cast another defensive spell. At the same time, six orbs of light radiating divine aura appeared. Although they quickly rushed towards Nia, they failed to achieve their purpose.

Six orbs of light of different colors—red, black, cyan, blue, green, purple, and yellow—appeared out of thin air, barely blocking the path of the six sacred orbs. Then they intertwined and flew away in their respective directions.

"Mr. Mobius, please retreat with these soldiers immediately!"

Struggling to resist Nia's beam of light, Nalu spoke.

"I can sense she's in danger. If you don't leave soon, I can't guarantee your safety!"

"But what about you?"

"I will destroy her! Don't worry."

"But, but..."

The young paladin still looked troubled, glancing at the dumbfounded country bumpkin soldiers not far behind him. He then turned to look at Nalu, clearly realizing that even the title of savior wouldn't bring him any real benefit. Just then, Nia's lips curled slightly, and she extended her free right hand, quickly making several hand gestures.

The power of magic advanced like a lurking viper, and then the barrier of divine magic began to become less stable. Although divine magic and magic use completely different forces, this does not change the fact that they are both forces. If you can't break down a door with a giant log, then digging a hole underneath is a good idea as well.

The magical barrier flickered a few times before collapsing completely under the roar of raging Magic Power. Although Nalu was fully prepared, the multicolored light still swept over her and the young knight. As Nalu felt her body go numb, Mobius felt a blackout before collapsing to the ground. Seeing this, the soldiers began to shout and scatter in all directions—even the paladin who had summoned them had fallen, so there was no way they could hold out any longer; running was the best option.

As Miss Angela once said, "I'm not afraid of god-like opponents, but I'm afraid of pig-like teammates."

Nia gazed at the young paladin lying unconscious on the ground and smiled as she spoke. "It seems this so-called savior is quite lucky," she said, "He's merely fallen into a deep sleep. If he had been struck by other, more destructive beams of light, he might not even have a complete corpse left. In fact, if the paladin hadn't hesitated and given Nia the opportunity, breaking through this sacred barrier wouldn't have been an easy task."

"I didn't quite understand before, but now I finally understand what Miss Angela meant."

Faced with these strange words, Nalu remained silent for a moment, seemingly pondering the meaning behind Nia's words, before bursting into a rage.

"Presumptuous!"

The pages of the holy book began to flutter wildly, and a dark power instantly overshadowed its original holy radiance. Black flames, manipulated by the priestess, leaped and moved along irregular trajectories, like raging venomous snakes biting at Nia's body.

"That's not how the God of Destruction's black fire is used."

Unlike Nisi, who used a standard magical barrier to block, Nia made four or five hand gestures as she spoke, then stepped back. The two black flames instantly stopped moving at her gestures, then extinguished as quickly as embers thrown into a pool of water, disappearing without a trace, leaving not even a wisp of smoke. As Nia reached forward, the previously smooth space began to distort, and then a three-headed hound engulfed in Hell emerged, howling and charging towards the enemies before it, selflessly contributing its power to radiate light and heat across the Prime Material Plane.

Faced with the Hell Hound's attack, Nalu's expression darkened slightly. As the holy book was flipped over again, a holy beam of light descended from the sky amidst a loud shout, striking the Hell Hound heavily. The holy power immediately extinguished the Hell Hound's evil flames, causing it to let out a mournful howl as if it had been kicked hard, trembling as it tried to retreat.

However, the summoner's will ultimately forced the Hell Hound to make a desperate, self-destructive move. It opened its massive jaws and lunged at the priestess before it, attempting to inflict pain to compensate for its injuries. But Nalu clearly wouldn't let it succeed. Facing the oncoming monster, she was prepared, a banishment spell already poised to be cast. If the Hell Hound took just half a step forward, it would be irresistibly banished from this plane—if Nia hadn't suddenly pointed a finger at Hell Hound.

A black beam of light, brimming with negative energy, shot from Nia's fingertips and struck the Hell Hound precisely. The Hell Hound, completely unprepared to be attacked by its summoner, didn't even have time to express its anger to Nia before the spell took effect.

"Boom!"

Under the influence of magic, the Hell Hound's body suddenly exploded, and a powerful shockwave and flying flesh and blood sprayed out in all directions. Nalu was also taken aback by this sudden change. The Banishment she had just prepared was now meaningless after losing its target, and the Hell Hound's close-range explosion caught her off guard.

With a scream, Nalu's figure retreated rapidly, her face pale and her teeth clenched. Although the divine magic protected her from any real harm, standing in front of the exploding TNT explosives, even wearing nanotech armor, would not have been pleasant.

Corpse Explosion!?

Nalu stared at the young mage before her with a mixture of surprise and doubt, beginning to feel puzzled. She still couldn't figure out what type of mage this was. Unlike the previous elven mage who simply used summoning spells, this one had been using necromancy all along. And when Nalu tried to break through her defenses, she found that her defenses were even more solid than those of mages specializing in protection; even divine magic couldn't budge them.

What truly astonished Nalu was the gesture Nia had just made—a gesture only the messenger of the God of Destruction would make! How could a mage be so familiar with gods, even the methods of casting and manipulating divine spells of a fallen deity?! How was this possible?

"It seems that even if one can use different divine powers, it's only to this extent."

Nia didn't press her advantage, after all, she remembered that Li Lin wanted her to capture him alive. Although he didn't know she wanted to capture him alive, she still wanted to capture him alive... Well, this kind of tongue twister isn't really that interesting.

"Who... who exactly are you?"

Nalu straightened up, his eyes showing unease and fear for the first time.

Although it's unclear how the God of Justice created them, it seems to have been done very well.

"I am Nia, one of the Seven Ring Spirit Envoys of the Arcane Mage, and the omnipotent manager and master of knowledge."

Nia nodded slightly, as if to greet the priestess in front of her.

"And you are one of the so-called Divine Envoys of the Seven Sages, right, High Priestess? To be honest, I was initially somewhat interested in you, but unfortunately... a fake is still a fake. No matter what, it can't compare to a real Weapon Spirit. You are nothing more than mediocre products of this level."

Seven Ring Spirit Envoys?!

Upon hearing this, a hint of unease flashed in Nalu's eyes.

But what followed was anger.

"We are not mediocre!"

The war has resumed.

Enraged lightning bolts danced in the priestess's hands, radiating an aura capable of destroying everything, and surged towards Nia with the wrath of the Nalu. However, facing the lightning energy capable of shattering all things, Nia merely took a step back, then chanted a strange incantation. In the next instant, the lightning that was originally heading towards Nia veered off course and struck a nearby wooden house heavily, sending debris flying and igniting a raging fire.

Just as I expected.

After several rounds of fighting this Weapon Spirit, Nia finally confirmed her thoughts.

The opponent is not a complete Weapon Spirit.

The term "Weapon Spirit" doesn't simply refer to the anthropomorphization of weapons, making them cry, laugh, or speak. As a weapon, it must first and foremost be intimately familiar with its own attributes. Like Nia, as Eternal Library, she has continuously collected and preserved all the knowledge since the world's inception. Furthermore, the years she spent with Li Lin have given her a deeper understanding of herself as a weapon. Nia can not only use all schools of magic like Li Lin, but she can even manipulate and use divine magic. This is why she was able to infiltrate the God of Justice as a saintess. As Weapon Spirit, Nia possesses the strength and confidence absolutely worthy of her name, "Eternal Library."

However, this Weapon Spirit before her clearly hadn't undergone much training. While she possessed many divine spells and could wield them freely, free manipulation and skillful use are two entirely different things. Without mastering one's power, even if one could use all spells, it would be impossible to react and choose immediately, and to unleash a threatening divine spell. Although this Weapon Spirit had achieved some success in the previous battle against Nisi, that was largely due to Nisi's lack of mental preparation. If she had been able to calm down and deal with the situation carefully, even if she couldn't defeat this Weapon Spirit, she shouldn't have suffered such severe damage.

Therefore, Nia was certain that although the Weapon Spirit in front of her possessed considerable power, it was completely lacking in combat experience.

The flames began to leap, then formed a fire dragon that soared from the burning rooftop before crashing down and engulfing Nia's figure—followed by a burst of brilliant light that reduced the fire dragon to ashes.

"This..."

Noticing this, Nalu took a half-step back for the first time, her eyes widening in surprise. She knew very well that the female mage was using her own divine barrier!

"Holy Light, you must learn to believe in the Holy Light, High Priestess."

Nia remained serene, holy light condensing at the tip of her staff, releasing a reassuring, warm glow. Anyone who witnessed this would surely regard Nia as a messenger of the gods—even though she had previously become a saint through this very skill.

"If you can't even use your own divine magic properly, then you shouldn't even dream of using the power of other gods."

"..."

For the first time, the priestess remained silent in the face of Nia's words, only then realizing the seriousness of the situation.

It must be said that Nia's conjecture was very close to reality. As Weapon Spirit, they did indeed lack combat experience. Although they possessed strength and could easily use their skills, this did not mean they could gain the upper hand in actual combat. The reason Gabriel sent them and Mobius to the elven battlefield instead of the undead was that he hoped these Weapon Spirit could accumulate some experience. However, even Gabriel did not expect that fighting on the elven side, which was a secondary battlefield, would also attract reinforcements from the Magic Empire.

These are still rather troublesome reinforcements.

As Weapon Spirit, Nalu naturally understood that she was still far from sufficient. The Seven Ring Spirit Envoys had been famous for thousands of years, so it goes without saying how rich their experience was. But even so, Nalu was still secretly shocked when she saw Nia cast a divine barrier. Even she couldn't imagine how the other party had done it. She was not a believer in the gods, so how could she possibly use the power of the gods?!

"You are not a believer in gods either, at least I don't believe you worship destruction, lightning, and fire."

Nia seemed to be able to guess what she was thinking.

"However, I don't need to use your despicable methods to get some small help... Of course, the specifics are a trade secret, and I have no obligation to disclose them to you."

"..."

Nalu took another step back, glancing uneasily at the still unconscious paladin. She was clearly hesitant about whether to leave or continue the standoff with Nia while waiting for her sisters to return—though she didn't know what had happened to them, the current situation was obviously quite dire.

I'm not afraid of god-like opponents, but I'm afraid of pig-like teammates.

Angela's famous quote has proven effective once again.

Facing the visibly uneasy priestess, Nia suddenly bent slightly, and then, accompanied by the chanting of an incantation, her figure shot out like an arrow, lunging towards the Nalu. Faced with this sudden attack, even the Nalu couldn't help but be somewhat surprised—after all, it was extremely rare for a mage to engage in close combat, and, no matter how you looked at it, Nia didn't seem like the type to fight in close quarters.

However, her instinctive defenses came into play at the crucial moment. The flickering silver flames overflowed from the holy book, spreading and transforming into a shield conjured by a strange divine magic circle, which blocked in front of the Nalu. However, as soon as Nia's right hand, burning with green light, touched the shield created by the divine magic, it easily shattered it and then struck the priestess girl heavily in the chest.

"Ugh!" m•hetushu•com. com

The intense pain made Nalu catch his breath, but Nia clearly had no intention of stopping her attack. She swung her slender staff downwards, striking the priestess girl's calf hard, causing her to lose her balance and fall towards the ground—though she didn't fall to the ground.

An invisible magical energy bound Nalu's body, throwing her into the air. At that moment, Nia gracefully turned around, and dozens of Magic Missile flew from her fingertips, shooting towards the Weapon Spirit in mid-air.

The Magic Missile struck the priestess girl mercilessly, producing a deafening cracking sound. The magical wave propelled her higher and higher, and just as the last Magic Missile disappeared, a semi-transparent air fist appeared above her, then swung down forcefully, slamming the girl back to the ground faster than gravity.

Then, magical chains appeared out of thin air, binding the girl's body and pressing her tightly to the ground.

"Although I forgot to mention it, but..."

Nia, staff in hand, stood before the Nalu with her usual smile.

"Battle mages are also a type of mage, aren't they?"