"Any time now..." the boy murmured as cracks began appearing in the dome. But then, his eyes widened as all of his serpents, along with his teammates' attacks, vanished.

This was my doing, of course. I casually absorbed all of the magic they had sent towards the dome and converted it into mana for myself. But I didn't just stop there. I continued my suction force, this time directed towards the metal dome. The 'unbreakable' dome melted away instantly, turning into light and entering my body.

"Why, thank you for the meal..." I muttered quietly as I stepped forward to meet the two very shocked parties.

"What... did you just do?" the boy with the Legendary Fire Magic narrowed his eyes at me in anger.

"What does it look like?" I asked right back, shrugging nonchalantly to piss him off even further.

"B-Brother Ning Yi, our spells... just all got absorbed by that guy!" one of his lackeys said, flustered.

"I can see that, dumbass," the boy grumbled. "What I'm asking is... how."

"Yeah... he sucked away my metal dome too, in a mere instant!" the bald man cried. "Tell me, kid, how the hell did you do that?"

I sighed. "I had to step in earlier than I wanted to, but if I waited for any longer, you would've died. Instead of questioning me... shouldn't you be thanking me instead?"

"W-We were holding out just fine! Ain't that right, Brother Kun?!" one of the teammates of the bald man shouted in response to my words.

"Is that so? Well, if that's the case, then why don't you send out another volley of those serpents, Fire Boy?" I chuckled. "Let's see how you hold up against that, 'Brother Kun'."

Making sure to use a mocking voice to thoroughly piss them off, I smiled beneath my mask.

"Hmph. Sure, if you want it so bad, I'll send out another attack... but not at them. At you," Ning Yi said, eyes blazing with anger. He then made the same motion with his hands as before and chanted:

"Legendary Fire Magic - Serpents of the Sun."

Once again, two serpents leaped out of his palms and flew towards me. On the way, they split into four, then eight, again and again. But alas... no matter how many were coming for me, it was all futile.

"How cute."

I raised an arm out calmly and absorbed all of the bright yellow serpents. They flew into my body in the form of mana harmlessly.

"Ah... this is really helping me out," I laughed. "Thanks for the meal once again."

But Ning Yi wasn't done just yet. "I don't believe... you can eat anything! Legendary Fire Magic - Solar Nova!"

A massive ball of fire formed above his head, and he directed it at me without any hesitation.

Meanwhile, Kun also unleashed an attack of his own, also directed at me:

"Legendary Light Magic - Cleansing Beam!"

Faced with an enormous conflagrated sphere of pure fire along with a charged, powerful and deadly ray of purification, I merely smiled, and raised my two hands, one pointing in the direction of each attack.

Without a word, I began using my Chaos power. The beam of light and ball of fire both stopped, before shrinking and shrinking until they were both nothing more but mana for myself.

"What the hell... are you?!" Kun yelled in frustration.

Ning Yi clenched his fists, then slowly pulled a sword out of his scabbard. It was a sword of flames, with fire surrounding the edges of the blade.

"B-Brother Ning Yi! The headmaster said not to use that sword unless it's absolutely necessary!" one of the lackeys tried to convince him, but he would not listen.

"If magic doesn't affect you... how about cold steel?"

I snickered. "'Hot' steel would be more accurate, don't you think?"

Ignoring my jest, Ning Yi dashed towards me, sword in hand. Clearly, he was trained from how he was holding his weapon.

However, it was not enough.

Katanas of Chaos, come.

Immediately, two long and slightly curved blades created from genuine Chaos energy appeared within my hands. Ning Yi cleaved down with his sword of fire, but I blocked his attack with ease with my two katanas in an X-shape.

When his sword met my blades, however, the fire on his weapon seemed to disappear. His eyes widening, he immediately leaped back a short distance and glared at me.

Meanwhile, I, who also had not expected this, glanced down at my weapons in wonder. They were now burning in black flames, almost as if they had stolen the ability of his weapon.

"Huh... now this is interesting," I murmured to myself.

Ning Yi cursed and attacked me again. However, my flames quickly corroded his weapon, and the steel began to melt away every time our metal blades clashed against one another. My own katanas, on the other hand, were perfectly fine without a scratch.

"Ragh!" the other team's Kun also charged at me while I was busy fighting Ning Yi. This was troublesome. Although my weapons were certainly powerful, my swordsmanship skills were not yet powerful enough to fight two opponents head-on - I would eventually make a mistake and reveal an opening, which these two would then take advantage of.

Luckily, I had an ally of my own.

Mei Gui summoned her spear of Chaos and stepped between Kun and I, stopping him in his tracks as she deflected his hammer strike with ease.

"Do not interfere with Master's duel," Mei Gui said with a cold killing glare in her eyes. "Or else... I will kill you."

"Hah! You, a little girl, killing me?" Kun laughed, then swung down his hammer with all his might in an attempt to crush Mei Gui. "I'll never believe that, even if you cut my head off!"

"Hmph. Looks like I will just have to cut your head off, then," Mei Gui whispered, before blocking the man's full-strength hammer strike with the tip of her spear alone. She could've dodged out of the way with ease, but she wanted to show this man that she was not an opponent to be underestimated.

The strategy worked. The man's eyes widened in surprise as Mei Gui kicked him straight in the stomach with such force that he was sent tumbling backward. He fell facefirst into the snow. 

"Despicable. Dirtying the bottom of the boots my Master gave to me," Mei Gui muttered in utter disgust.

I turned away from their fight though, since the victor was already pretty much decided. I had my own battle to worry about.

Ning Yi took a different approach after seeing what happens if our blades clashed. He attempted to do a fake strike, but I anticipated that and blocked his real one. He jumped backward and gritted his teeth in preparation for the next round. However, then, a void sphere came flying towards my head. I sucked it into my body just in time before it struck me.

"Tsk tsk... sneak attacks, really?" I muttered, shooting Ning Yi a condescending look.

"Stay out of this, no matter what happens!" he ordered his lackeys, to which they complied. Then, he turned back to me. "Never before have I been shamed this much... I'll destroy you with my own power. I swear it!"

I laughed. "That's the spirit. Come."

He leaped upwards and came falling down with his sword in front of him.

Was he trying to break my katanas with sheer impact?

I smiled and crossed my katanas in an X-shape. Fine then. I'll take your challenge head-on.

Metal struck metal, but neither of our blades broke. He leaped backward before coming at me again, this time directly from the front. I blocked his attack, and we exchanged blows just like that until I finally decided to go on the offensive.

I thrust one of my katanas directly for his heart as I blocked his swing with my other one, but then, he did something I never expected.

His figure disappeared for a brief moment, and he reappeared behind me in the blink of an eye. Both my katanas were not ready to block this since I went on the offensive - this was the moment he had been waiting for. However-

I smiled and used my insta-casting paired with my multicasting ability.

Level One Time Magic - Tempus Accel.

Potentia Excitant: Celeritas.

Casting these two spells together in the same time it took a lightning bolt to crash down into the Earth, I accelerated my speed and senses so that I could react to his attack in time. I dashed forward, spun around to see his shocked expression, and leaped back in the direction I had just dashed from, parrying his sword with one katana and stabbing him through the chest with my other.

"Kuh-!" he groaned and dropped his weapon. I pulled out my blade and he fell to the ground limply. Blood poured out from his body and stained the snow all around him.

"Brother Ning Yi!" his lackeys called out, but didn't make a move to help since he had explicitly told them not to.

I sighed, bent down, and placed my hand over his wound.

Level Two Blessing Magic - Major Heal.

A faint lime-green light appeared beneath my palm, and his eyes widened in surprise.

"What... w-why?"

"I still have uses for you," I muttered.

"... Just kill me. I'm not bowing down to anyone... I've had enough of that," he muttered. "... Enough."

"Sorry, I'm not that merciful."

With those curt words, I finished up my healing and looked over to the other ongoing fight.

"It's useless... all you're doing is stalling the inevitable," Ning Yi croaked weakly. "Those... flames you stole from my sword... they travel through any wounds the blade inflicts... and burn the victim's organs from the inside... I'll die sooner or later anyway..."

I chuckled. "That's fine. I don't really care if you die... as long as you fulfill your purpose before that."

"Tch... " he spat in disgust. But alas, he didn't kill himself, so I took that as a sign of acceptance.

Now then... I wonder, how did you make that sudden dash just now, Ning Yi? I had to actually cast magic in order to react to that attack... how intriguing. If I can get my hands on that technique... heh.

Hm... I'll make him an offer later. If he tells me how to pull that trick off, I'll save him. Qing Yue can definitely do something about the fire inside him, after all.