Morgana moved first. She thrust her black spear forward.

At the same time, the six magic circles floating around her lit up. They activated one after another exactly as she had planned.

The first circle collapsed and released a powerful attack.

A thick spike of darkness mana shot through the forest. It wasn’t a beam or a wave. It was something much denser.

The attack struck the ground where Buer had been standing.

BOOM!

The impact blasted apart the earth and left a large crater behind.

But Buer had already moved. He jumped to the side with both swords raised. Dark blue aura covered his blades.

The second spell came immediately after the first. This one was a large curved slash of darkness energy.

Morgana had aimed it to follow his movement.

Buer swung one of his swords and deflected it.The attack flew off course and crashed into the trees nearby.

Several giant trees were instantly destroyed.

Their upper halves disappeared in a burst of black energy before crashing to the ground.

The third magic circle activated. This attack was different. No projectile appeared. Instead, a huge pressure suddenly descended from above.

It felt as if an invisible mountain had been dropped onto that part of the forest.

The ground cracked. Then the earth sank.

Tree roots were ripped from the soil. Buer crossed both swords above his head.

The pressure slammed into him. His knees bent. His boots sank into the ground. The dark blue aura around his weapons burned brightly as he resisted the spell.

A growl escaped his mouth.

Then he pushed back. The pressure finally broke apart. The moment it disappeared, Buer exploded forward.

He shot out of the crater and rushed directly toward Morgana.

Both swords came down in a powerful overhead strike. The attack was aimed straight at her.

Morgana did not step backward. She stepped sideways. Her black spear rose horizontally.

CLANG!

The spear blocked both swords at once. The collision shook the entire area. A powerful shockwave spread outward.

Leaves were ripped from every nearby tree. A visible ring of wind rolled across the forest floor.

For a moment, neither of them moved. Buer pushed down with both swords. Dark blue aura crackled around his blades. Morgana pushed darkness mana into her spear.

The two energies clashed against each other. Neither side gained an advantage. Then the fourth magic circle activated behind Morgana.

Buer immediately sensed the danger. "Damn!"

He jumped backward before the spell could fully form.

A second later, the spell exploded where he had been standing. A huge sphere of compressed darkness expanded outward.

Everything inside a thirty-meter area vanished.

Be it trees, bushes or grass. All of it disappeared. Only a massive black depression remained in the earth.

Buer landed roughly thirty meters away.

Thud

The moment his feet touched the ground, he charged again.

This time his movement changed. He was faster and less predictable. He didn’t run in a straight line.

Instead, he moved between trees, changing direction constantly. The remaining magic circles would have a much harder time targeting him that way.

Morgana followed his movements carefully. Her eyes never left him.

The fifth magic circle activated.She didn’t aim at where Buer currently was. She aimed where she predicted he would be.

Buer noticed the attack at the last moment. He kicked off a tree trunk and changed direction.

But he wasn’t fast enough. The spell struck his shoulder.

BOOM!

The explosion was enormous. The entire section of forest erupted. Trees were thrown into the air. Massive trunks spun through the sky before crashing back down.

The sound was deafening.

A giant crater formed where the attack landed. Smoke and dust filled the area. For several seconds, nothing could be seen.

Morgana stood near the edge of the destruction. Her black spear remained pointed forward.

The sixth magic circle floated behind her, still ready to fire.

She watched the smoke carefully. Then she saw a blue light moving inside it.

Buer walked out. His cloak was gone. The explosion had completely destroyed it.

His coat underneath was heavily damaged. His left shoulder and part of his chest were exposed.

The skin there was burned badly. One of his swords now had a visible crack running through the blade.

The aura around his weapons had weakened. Blood ran down the side of his face from a cut above his eye.

Buer looked down at his injuries. Then he looked back at Morgana."That one landed," he said.

His voice remained calm despite his injuries.He rotated his damaged shoulder once.

Then he raised both swords again.

"You are exactly what they say you are."

Morgana didn’t answer. The sixth magic circle activated. A powerful darkness attack rushed toward Buer. It was like a wave of darkness.

Instead of dodging, Buer attacked. He thrust both swords forward. The dark blue aura around his blades exploded outward.

Two massive arcs of energy shot forward. The attacks collided head-on.

The explosion was bigger than any of the previous ones.

The blast shot upward into the sky. Darkness mana and blue aura mixed together.

The force tore through the forest canopy above them. Trees were flattened in every direction. The ground trembled violently.

When the energy finally disappeared, both of them were still standing.

The forest around them was almost unrecognizable.

Huge craters covered the area. Countless trees had fallen. Large sections of the ground were scorched black.

The canopy overhead had been completely destroyed. Sunlight now poured down from the open sky above.

The place no longer looked like a forest. It looked like a battlefield after a natural disaster.

Buer was breathing harder now. The crack in his sword had become larger.

His burned shoulder was clearly affecting his movements.

Morgana wasn’t unharmed either. Blood dripped from the hand holding her spear. The shockwave from the last collision had injured her grip.

Her hair had completely come loose.

Several small cuts covered her arms from flying debris.

They stood facing each other across the ruined battlefield.

Neither had fallen. Neither had backed down. For a few moments, silence filled the area. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Then Morgana finally spoke. "You’re not here to fight me."

Her voice was calm. Even with blood running down her hand."If you were, you would have gone all out already."

Her eyes narrowed. "You’re stalling."

Buer remained silent. A few seconds passed. Then a small smile appeared on his face.

This smile looked more genuine than the confident grin he had worn before.

"You noticed."

Morgana’s expression darkened. Her grip tightened around the black spear. The pressure around her seemed to grow colder.

"Where," she asked quietly, "are my students?"

The smile slowly disappeared from Buer’s face. The small ruined part of forest fell silent once again.