What protected Lune was an Extinct Formulae Magic—which had been tweaked and improved over countless years until it became an entirely new category of Formulae Magic.

The leader stared at the glove that the mage had just worn.

At a glance, it was a questionable act, for sure, but it could make sense. Her staff had been broken, she didn’t run, and her sights were straightforward. This wasn’t insanity or despair, but of resolve and hope. That glove…

It’s a magic tool, the leader concluded.

That was the only logical explanation. Her staff had been broken; therefore, she used her back-up.

For mages, anything other than a staff was inferior for wielding magic. However, the leader knew that mages weren’t harmless without a staff. He had suffered the losses of many monster worshippers going against a wand-wielding mage in the past, and he had no plans to be careless here in the now.

Not to mention…

I’ve never seen a mage with a glove before.

He was dealing with an unknown.

Due to this, he couldn’t steal the initiative. For caution’s sake, there was nothing he could do but to give the first move to the mage. Though, it was to his fortune that waiting was advantageous for him. The longer he delayed her cancellation of the negation magic, the bette—

She made her move.

The mage lifted her gloved hand frontward, pressed her thumb to her middle finger, and—snap!

The leader could see sparks of shimmering blue coursing through her gloves, gathering to the tip of her thumb—which was pointed toward him—and forming into an unstable sphere. A feeling of foreboding crept through the back of his spine, causing the hairs on his body to stand. By reflex, he bent his knees, and ducked.

Zap!!

A bolt of thunder flew straight to where he had been and struck the wall behind.

‘!’

Scale-wise, the thunder wasn’t big: it was the size of a lead bullet. However, underestimating this attack would be a mistake. Had that hit him, he would’ve ended up with a hole just like the misfired wall.

Even without a staff, they could still cause damage.

‘…’ The leader stared at Elaine. He wanted to simply stall, for it would be his win if he could delay her, but he also had to consider the possibilities that he might fight her again in the future. By then, who would know how far she would improve?

I’ll have to kill her before she grows into a threat I can’t handle.

***

It worked…!

Elaine stared at the hole in the wall and hardly believed that that was to her credit. She had never gotten a chance to test her glove and was genuinely surprised upon seeing it succeed. After all, prototypes rarely ever worked on the first try.

Well, it wasn’t utterly successful as there were some safety hazards. The thunder discharge could have leaked and harmed her had she snapped closer; also, she didn’t consider the possibility of ever using it in the rain, which currently brought even more possibilities of hazards. Regardless, for now, she was glad that this magic tool could be used.

I can fight.

Elaine touched her index finger with her thumb, lifted her gloved hand as far away as possible, and shifted her thumb to press her middle finger.

Snap!

The Formulae Magic she had written on the glove glowed a dim smoldering red. Fire began to erupt, coursing to the tip of her thumb, and forming an unstable spiral-swirling sphere. The size of this one was bigger than the thunder, about the size of a tabletop crystal ball.

Bwoosh!!

It traveled toward where she had pointed with her thumb, toward her opponent.

The monster worshipper immediately ran to the side. Again, her attack had been dodged. When it missed and hit an unfortunate wall, the flames spread, burned with erratic movement, and caved the wall. The flame didn’t have as much penetration as the thunder—but would cause damage regardless.

Yes, Elaine reaffirmed, a smile surfacing on her expression, I can fight.

Elaine touched her pinky, followed her opponent’s movement and aimed, then pressed her middle finger.

Snap!

The raindrops from the skystorm around her gloved hand stilled mid-air, then gathered together to form a blob of water which then moved a destructive spiral-swirl. Immediately, it travelled toward the monster worshipper, but the attacked missed a slight bit—as Elaine wasn’t trained to aim a moving target—and wrecked an unsuspecting wall to pieces.

Alright, now onto the next step.

***

‘…’

I could grasp the process of her magic, the leader thought after having seen the glove in action thrice. If I’m right, it’s not the thunder or flame that I should be wary of.

The mage touched her ring finger, then pressed her middle finger.

Snap!

Sparks of electricity coursed through the glove, forming an unstable sphere.

The leader kept running.

Zap!

And the attack missed.

Gesture (touching a finger to determine element) → Snap (executing the magic) → Generate (creating the element) → Form (so far only sphere) → Shot (travel speed differs, flame and thunder ends up taking the same time), the leader had analyzed the process in his mind. Gesture was a weakness, as it was an obvious tell, but that wasn’t the whole of it.

Snap!

The rain formed into a destructive swirling sphere and was shot at him. This one finally hit, brushed his left shoulder, clawing and ripping his outer flesh. Painful, but the leader retained his focus.

If element is not present (fire and thunder): Gesture → Snap → Generate → Form → Shot.

If element is present (water): Gesture → Snap → Generate → Form → Shot.

Water skips a process entirely and ends up being faster than fire or thunder.

After having given initiatives to the mage, the leader of monster worshippers was finally done with his observation. He inhaled resolve and started running to close their distance. He believed he would be fine as long as he carefully watched the gesture she made.

The mage touched her ring finger.

That’s thunder, not water. I will be able to react to it and dodge it.

Snap!

Electricity coursed through her glove. The leader, instead of being diverted by the unstable sphere that was forming, watched the tip of the mage’s thumb attentively. Seeing that, he could determine the trajectory of the thunder, and evade.

He tilted his head to the side.

Zap!!

The thunder missed, only ripping the hood of his coat.

Now that his analysis was correct, evident from his successful dodge, victory was his for the taking. The time taken and the moves he needed to make might vary, but…

This is…

Snap!

Upon facing water, the leader stopped closing the distance and focused more on dodging. He ran to the side.

Zwarsh!!

The attack missed, and he continued closing the distance. Stalling was all she could do; no matter how much she delayed him, the result would end with her defeat.

This is a forced checkmate.