Chapter 4182  Magic Word (Part 1)

The Adamant of Protector's equipment still had a long way to go before turning into Davross completely. Yet its current alloy still guaranteed a much better defense than the original and boosted Faluel's enchantments beyond the level of purified Adamant.

"Please, come in." Baba Yaga said, and Protector obliged.

The moment he stepped inside Bloodhaven, he felt as if he had moved to a place far away. His children were supposed to be just a hundred meters (328') away, yet he couldn't feel their presence anymore.

Meanwhile, in the living room, Lilia and Leran felt as if Protector had suddenly disappeared and took their communication amulets out, checking that their father's rune was still there.

"I'm sorry for the discomfort, but every mage needs to protect their secrets." Baba Yaga guided the Skoll through a maze of corridors. "This is the only way to keep people from snooping on my tower. Ripha and Solus included.

"The gods know how nosy those two are." She grunted. "Also, since Bloodhaven is not a living being, you can go all out without worrying about hurting someone like you do when sparring inside Starforge."

"I'll keep that in mind, thank you." Protector said as the Mother opened a door that led to the training facility.

It was a perfectly lit room with stone walls and a ceiling, while soft earth filled the ground. There was a pond in the south corner, a blazing brazier in the north, and fresh air filtered from several fissures in the ceiling.

"There is no elemental sealing array here." The Mother answered his silent question. "I created this room so that all kinds of spells can demonstrate their full power. All the elements are already available and ready to be manipulated, saving you the focus and mana necessary to conjure them."

Baba Yaga led him to the center stage and kept walking to a side room, where she would spectate the training session along with her other guests without disturbing the fighters.

"What are you doing?" Protector asked in confusion.

He was armed to the teeth while Dawn was still in her civilian clothes.

"You need a handicap, dog boy, and if that's your equipment, this won't be enough." Dawn replied, plunging her right hand into her chest and pulling out two prisms. "For fairness' sake, if you manage to touch me, it's your win."

She shaped the first prism into a sword and the second into a shield.

"Just to be clear, touch includes your claws, fangs, and weapons. Yet all blows I block with my hands don't count, and neither do the blows I'll deliver with my body and grappling."

"Not even first blood?" Protector wondered whether the Bright Day was that arrogant or if he was.

"If you shed one drop of my blood, I'll have my mother reforge that crap for you into something decent." Dawn scoffed.

"Hey, you can't offer my services without asking me first!" Baba Yaga grunted.

"Please, Mommy?" Dawn made a pleading child-like expression that reminded everyone of Leria when she begged Rena for something. "Pretty please?"

"Fine." The Mother snorted, proving that she was as gullible as Lith's sister.

"Hence why the shield. No point in having an armor if I can't take a blow." Dawn explained. "We can start whenever you are ready."

She kept a ten (33') meters distance from Protector, stepping back when he advanced and moving forward when he retreated.

"Let's start with magic." He said. "I want to see how long I can hold out while keeping my distance."

Before Dawn could reply, he unleashed his tier five spell, Blazing Tornado. It mixed Protector's innate elements, fire and air, to produce a flaming vortex filled with air blades.

At the same time, he used a tier one spell to conjure stone tendrils that wrapped around Dawn's legs, making it impossible for her to dodge.

"Okay." She weaved her weapons around like the baton of an orchestra conductor, conjuring one wall of light after another.

Only a few constructs put themselves between Dawn and Protector to shield her from the Blazing Tornado. Most of them outflanked the flaming pillar and closed in on the Skoll from every side.

He was used to fight against Nalrond, and after learning from the Rezar the basics of Light Mastery, Protector could guess Dawn's strategy.

'She wants to trap me to restrict my movements and finish me off with a heat ray.' He thought, smashing the constructs with a single swing of his maces and using footwork to escape the encirclement.

Stone spikes emerged from the ground with every step he took, smashing the constructs that came too close for his comfort and clearing the path ahead of him. Protector waved spell after spell, yet Dawn kept generating more light walls.

'What's the point in doing the same thing if it's doomed to fail?' He thought as he conjured the tier five spell, Ravenous Thunder. Black bolts of twin lightning erupted from his maces after being supercharged by Boros' enchantments.

Protector had them both trust straight at Dawn and move along the ground in a lodestone path he had formed while keeping her attention focused on the Blazing Tornado.

The combination of spells was strong enough to destroy Dawn's constructs and guarantee Protector the winning blow. Or rather, it would have if he hadn't fainted on the spot after unleashing the full might of Ravenous Thunder.

"What the fuck?" Nalrond couldn't believe his eyes.

All those powerful spells and Protector's subtle strategy had been defeated by the most basic of the tier four Light Mastery spells, Highwall.

Dawn dispelled the golden barrier that sealed the Skoll to let precious air fill his lungs again.

"Five seconds." She said as she conjured a stone chair for him to sit. "That's a record low even by my standards."

"What happened?" Protector asked, feeling his splitting headache fade with every breath he took.

"You took yourself down." Dawn replied with a sly smile. "With a little help from me, of course. Your fire burned a lot of air, and your lightning turned what oxygen was left into ozone, leaving you nothing to breathe."

She conjured the hologram of their fight so that he could watch it from an outsider's perspective.

"Your constructs were never aimed at me. You threw them forward to blind my mystical and regular senses. Your true goal was to seal me in a confined space with no access to fresh air."

"Well, at least you learn fast." The Bright Day patted his shoulder, yet her friendly attitude only made the humiliation worse. "Do you want to give it another go?"

"Yes, please." Protector couldn't stop himself from growling. "The next time I lose, I want to suffer at least one blow."

"That can be arranged." Dawn chuckled as she returned to her initial position. "Ready when you are."

"I'm ready!" Ryman unleashed the tier five Spirit Spell, Mana Storm, and ran on the walls at his full speed to not offer an easy target.

Mana Storm conjured a hail of emerald bullets, each one as big as an acorn yet carrying the destructive power of a cannonball. Spirit Magic consumed a lot of mana, but by using it in conjunction with his speed, Protector could attack Dawn from every side at once.