Vivian stepped back until he was about a hundred feet away, breathing hard.

He put a hand on his chest and looked at Charlotte.

"Do you have anything that can hurt him?" he asked.

Charlotte thought for a moment, then said, "I do, but it will take two minutes to get ready."

Vivian hummed and slipped into thought.

"What about that new spell you made?" he asked.

He meant the one she had been working on for weeks, locked away in her room.

Charlotte shook her head.

"Not now. It isn't ready. It needs time to chant, and after I use it I won't be able to fight."

Her voice was quiet and steady, but her eyes were worried.

She watched the professor move a little, testing them with his gaze.

"And we must be sure it hits. From the way he moves, he'll dodge it easily."

Vivian pressed his lips together.

He looked at the professor, at the way the man stood calm and ready.

The wind blew dust across the floor.

Vivian stepped closer to Charlotte and lowered his voice.

"Then we make him slow," he said. "I'll try to keep him busy. You start the spell when you can. Two minutes is all we need."

"Alright."

Charlotte gave a small nod and flew upward, her hair flowing behind her as she closed her eyes and began to chant softly.

A faint glow surrounded her, the air trembling with power as magic gathered around her body.

Meanwhile, Vivian rushed straight toward the professor, mana flaring from his hands.

Fire spears formed one after another, their tips blazing with heat before he threw them with all his strength.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The fire spears cut through the air at blinding speed, but Vivian didn't stop there.

He kept moving, his hands flashing as he formed spears from every element he could command, light, lightning, darkness, water, earth.

Each one shimmered in a different color, creating a storm of power around him.

In a matter of seconds, the entire area was filled with glowing elemental spears, all aimed at the professor.

They rained down from every direction, filling the air with light and noise.

The professor's eyes narrowed sharply, his calm expression finally breaking.

His vision was filled with countless spears of different elements coming at him like a deadly wave.

"Terrifying," he muttered under his breath.

He moved, his figure vanishing in a blur of speed as the first wave of spears struck the ground where he had stood.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Small explosions burst across the field wherever the spears struck, shaking the ground and filling the air with dust and smoke.

The professor moved swiftly between the gaps, his body twisting and turning as he dodged each attack by the slimmest margin.

He could feel the heat brushing past his skin, the wind from every explosion roaring in his ears.

Fortunately for him, the spears were raw elemental force, not spells cast by a mage.

If they had been, the power behind them would've been enough to seriously wound him.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The last few spears slammed into the ground, scattering debris everywhere.

The moment the dust began to settle, the professor's figure flashed forward.

In an instant, he appeared right in front of Vivian, his greatsword already raised.

But before he could strike, a sudden beam of light and lightning shot toward him, blazing bright enough to blind.

"Tsk," he clicked his tongue, his face tightening with irritation.

The endless storm of elemental attacks was becoming troublesome, and he could feel the pressure mounting.

Yet before he could even adjust his stance, the beam of light and lightning was already upon him, fast, furious, and impossible to ignore.

He moved in a flash, bringing the flat side of his greatsword up just in time to block the oncoming beam.

Boom!

The impact shook the air.

The beam crashed into the blade, forcing the professor backward as his feet tore across the ground.

He lost control of his balance for the briefest moment, his body flung through the air by the sheer force of the blast.

That single moment was all Vivian needed.

He appeared above the professor in a blur, his long hair fluttering behind him.

Mana gathered around his sword as he coated the blade with wind, the sharp currents spinning tightly until the weapon shimmered with deadly light.

The air around it whistled, thin and dangerous.

Vivian's eyes narrowed.

He gripped the hilt tightly and drove the wind-coated blade down, aiming straight for the professor's chest, fast, precise, and strong enough to pierce through steel.

The professor's eyes widened, there was no time to lift his greatsword to block.

"Tsk," he clicked his tongue again, sharp and annoyed.

In that instant, he shifted his mana, flooding it into his palm as he reached up and grabbed the incoming blade.

Chick…

The sword slid through his grip, cutting deep into his palm before stabbing into his chest.

Blood splattered, but the force slowed the blade's speed, stopping it just an inch into his flesh.

The air rippled with the clash of mana, the smell of burnt iron and blood mixing together.

Before Vivian could press forward, the professor's eyes flashed cold.

He twisted his body and kicked upward, catching Vivian squarely in the ribs.

"Kh—!" Vivian grunted as the impact sent him flying backward, his sword tearing free from the professor's wound.

The professor landed lightly on his feet, blood dripping from his palm as he stepped back.

His greatsword swung up onto his shoulder with a dull clang.

Despite the wound, he stood tall, his eyes locked on Vivian with a dangerous calm, as though the injury had only sharpened his focus.

"Damn it," Vivian cursed under his breath, his eyes fixed on the professor.

His grip on the sword tightened as he muttered, "So this is the difference, huh?"

It wasn't power, that much he knew.

With Charlotte fighting beside him, his strength wasn't far behind the professor's.

What he truly lacked was experience.

This was only his second real fight where death was a breath away.

The first had been against the fused Vehemoth pair; the second was this duel with the professor.

But the man standing across from him had faced countless battles, each one a step closer to death and survival.

That kind of experience couldn't be trained or copied, it was carved into the bones.

Vivian's thoughts replayed the last exchange.

The professor had used his bare hand to catch the blade, not to stop it entirely, but to slow it, just enough that it couldn't pierce deeper.

That single move had changed everything.

It had all happened in a blink, yet the professor had read the situation, made a choice, and acted without hesitation.

That kind of calm in chaos… Vivian knew it came only from years of fighting on the edge.

He exhaled slowly, steadying his breath.

The pain in his ribs throbbed with each inhale, but his eyes burned brighter.

"Experience, huh?" he whispered, raising his sword again.

"Then I'll learn it the hard way."

Muttering those words, Vivian pushed off the ground, his figure blurring as he moved with incredible speed.

Dust rose in his wake, but the professor didn't even glance at him.

Instead, the professor's sharp eyes turned toward Charlotte, who was still floating in the air, chanting with her eyes closed.

The glow around her had grown brighter, the air trembling with the power she was gathering.

The professor's expression hardened.

He could feel it, a sense of danger, faint but unmistakable.

Whatever she was preparing, he couldn't let it finish.

"If I want this to end," he murmured, "I'll have to kill her first."

In the next instant, he vanished.

A loud crack echoed through the air as sound waves rippled from where he'd stood.

His speed was monstrous, so fast that the ground beneath his feet split apart.

Vivian's eyes widened as he saw the professor rushing toward Charlotte.

"No, you won't!" he shouted, his voice echoing through the battlefield.

He spun around, forcing his battered body to move.

His mana flared wildly as he dashed after the professor, leaving streaks of light in his path.

But the professor was too fast.

Each step he took carried him farther ahead, his greatsword trailing behind him like a shadow of death, closing the distance to Charlotte with terrifying ease.

"Tsk." Seeing that he couldn't catch up with his speed alone, Vivian clicked his tongue in frustration.

His hand moved to his waist, pulling out three daggers, each one faintly glowing with a soft blue light.

The metallic surface of the daggers shimmered with carved runes, simple, but precise.

They were engraved with the basic formula of short-range teleportation, something he had made for emergency movement.

Without wasting a moment, he gripped the daggers between his fingers, three points of light gleaming in his hand.

His eyes locked onto the professor, who was already halfway to Charlotte.

Vivian threw the first dagger.

It cut through the air with a sharp whish, spinning rapidly until it reached its farthest point.

The moment it did—shhh!—Vivian vanished and reappeared beside it, his form flashing in and out like lightning.[Yellow flash, is that you?]

He didn't pause.

He threw the second dagger toward the professor, teleporting again as soon as it hit its mark.

The distance between them closed fast, the air crackling with bursts of mana from each jump.

The third dagger was aimed directly at the professor.

Vivian's eyes narrowed, determination burning in them as he threw it with full force.

The dagger spun, glowing brighter and brighter, his last step to reach the professor before he could touch Charlotte.

The moment the professor reached out his left hand to grab Charlotte, a sharp gust tore through the air, Vivian appeared right above him, his sword already mid-swing.

The professor's eyes widened in shock.

He hadn't sensed it, Vivian had used the basic teleportation formula so fluidly, without delay, that even his experienced eyes couldn't follow it.

He tried to pull his hand back, mana flaring in defense, but it was already too late.

Chik!

The blade cut clean through.

The professor's left arm was severed from the shoulder, spinning through the air before crashing onto the ground below.

Blood sprayed, scattering like red mist in the air.

Vivian landed lightly, his expression cold as steel.

His sword dripped with crimson light as he looked up at the professor, his voice low and icy.

"Keep your dirty hands," he said, his tone razor-sharp, "off my woman."

The words echoed through the air like a promise of death.

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