Virion steered slowly forward with a calm look while each step he took shook the whole hall as if Wain were fighting a giant.
'Normally a Beyond strengthens the main attribute, however, it seems in his case it's much more complicated...' Wain inwardly muttered, remembering his Beyond that was also unique, 'The flames and lightning stayed with him, but those strange runes hovering around him... It seems the one he chose greatly increased his physical strength.'
Whooooooooooosh.
Virion ducked slightly, stared at Wain, and rushed forward. The sheer weight of it caused the floor beneath him to partially collapse as cracks split several meters apart.
A moment later Virion was right in front of Wain's flaming fist. Despite the increased strength, Virion's speed also increased considerably, so Wain had little time to make a decision.
Crack.
He reflexively put the dark sword in front of him, defending himself as his fist collided with the sword blade. Wain was worried that the flames wouldn't seriously harm him, so he wanted to use the second form again, but something made him change his decision abruptly.
Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.
The flames became smaller as if they were superfluous here and through the sword, several waves passed over Wain's body as from a powerful recoil. He felt as if someone had struck his sword with a multi-ton sledgehammer.
Wain's face contorted in pain as the shock wave threw him back several meters. Wain had to thrust his sword into the ground to regain his balance, cutting through the stone floor with his sharp blade.
"Looks like I made the right choice. The quantity and quality of your energy are astounding, however, you can't be as strong physically, can you?" Virion uttered with a calm look while the flames became fewer and fewer just like the lightning bolts. They slowly disappeared as Virion concentrated fully on the physical stats.
"Agh... Your punch wasn't really weak..." Wain grinned as a slight smile appeared on his face, "But...everyone knows that in a fair fight a warrior will never beat a mage!"
Whooooooooosh.
Gladius returned to the seal as a long gray mantle appeared on Wain with a tight blindfold and an old book in his hand. At the same time, behind him appeared two magical circles that began to spin rapidly, gathering energy for the attack.
"Oh... I went to pure physical strength as you chose to use magic... How interesting." Virion smirked as he took a step forward and there was a powerful current of wind that lifted his robe up, exposing his athletic body.
At the same time, his silhouette blurred as he appeared directly in front of Wain. Virion's fist was headed toward him, intent on smashing Wain to the ground.
'Damn... he's strong, but I've seen such blows a thousand times in my life...' Wain muttered to himself before stepping forward.
Anyone in this situation would have backed away, intending to dodge the blow, but Wain wasn't planning on running away, he had a more effective way in his arsenal.
He dashed right in front of the blow, pressed Virion's fist with his palm, tilted it to the floor, and leaped forward.
It all happened too fast for Virion to react, so instead of Wain, his attack hit the floor, leaving a hole in the center of the hall through which the very first floor was visible.
"Hah, now you actually have insane physical strength, but do you really think you don't need the technique?" Wain grinned, opened the book and two magical circles turned into eight.
'Hmm? Copy magic...? Virion inwardly muttered, 'No... he just created illusions... Hah, that's a pathetic trick!'
Whoooooooosh.
Transparent energy arrows flew out of the magical circles. They all headed toward Virion at the same time, from different directions.
'These two are real as well as these fakes...' Virion wondered as his gaze ran from side to side until he decided on a target.
Virion turned to his left and attacked the first energy arrows, destroying them with pure physical power that magic couldn't get through.
"Hahaha, I created the illusion myself to lure you here! Do you really think I couldn't figure out what's going on here?" An evil smirk appeared on Virion's face as his aura intensified.
Wain with a calm expression looked at Virion as if he were a trapped victim.
Bam. Bam. Bam.
Suddenly the other six arrows plunged into Virion's back, right at one point. The first three arrows scattered as their energy was spent piercing Virion's dense skin, as the remaining arrows left a laceration on his back that gushed blood.
"Bastard... So those were copies!?" Virion exclaimed with a furious look as his thunderous voice shook the entire hall causing the glowing tree to tremble.
"Not really." Wain shook his head as his book reopened, "You guessed right, they were illusions, but they have some of the power of the original, so... get ready for some real hell."
Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.
The space next to Wain trembled as dozens of magical circles of varying sizes appeared in the room. The runes on the pages of the book glowed brightly as all the magical circles began to separate, filling everything around them.
Virion was in no hurry to attack as he carefully watched each magical circle that was an illusion and not the original. He counted quickly, trying to figure out which attacks to repel and which ones to dodge.
'Wain... How many more magic circles are you going to make?' Blind Sorcerer asked in a worried manner.
'Well... I don't feel the lack of energy, even now, so I'm going to use all the runes in this book. Even if he figured out how it works, he certainly can't repel all the attacks.' Wain answered in a calm voice while the pages of the book flipped quickly.
'It will take a long time for the runes to recover. You know that, don't you? Blind Sorcerer muttered.