The boy clad in a murky shadow shot up into the sky against the member of the Ghosts of Bellcephora – a former special unit of the kingdom's military that ended up turning traitors and killing their masters in pursuit of overwhelming power.

"Foolish brat! Who do you think you are trying to reach me?!

"

Raseriat clicked her tongue and flapped her wings – which had a double effect- first, the most obvious one was that it propelled her higher to make sure that she would get out of the boy's reach, but simultaneously tens of loose jet-black feathers shoot down at the approaching boy, homing straight at him like at the heat-seeking missiles.

"DIE FOR MOCKING ME!

"

The round woman roared triumphantly as the feathers reached the beastly shadow armor and…

…pierced right through the empty space as Zoemi disappeared in the flash of murky light, causing the black feathers to slow down and finally disperse into nothingness…

"FUCK…!

"

Raseriat flinched and cursed – because of the anger that took her over she completely forgot what were the known abilities of the black-haired boy she faced.

"…hmph…!

"

The round woman ended up scoffing and her massive jet-black wings flapped, propelling her further and further – whenever the black-haired boy teleported, he wouldn't be able to catch up to her while she mo…

*SHING*

"?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

"

The very next second proved Raseriot how wrong she was about it as Zoemi fell at her straight from the above – the only direction that she was so confident that was safe, and his claw-like razor-sharp ice blades dug right into the unique darkness blade that she spent a hundred years developing and perfecting.

"You…! YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT!

"

*SLAM*

Raseriat growled from pure fury – not from the pain of course because her wings were indeed the spell she worked so long on – but the next moment the ice-augmented shadow-clad knee crushed straight into her face, stunning her momentarily and giving Zoemi enough time to break off his ice blades firmly stuck in the jet-black wings and kick off back into the sky…

"How in the…?!

"

Not paying attention to her broken nose – who was still far lesser damaged than her missing eye – Roaseriat gasped, staring in disbelief at the bly standing in the air firmly as if he was on the solid ground.

"Wings are so unnecessary to cry when you have magic, were you going for the chubby cherubim look when you created it? Sorry, at best you are a winged pig.

"

"YOU FUCKING SHITTY BRAT! DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Zoemi looked down at the round woman striking right where he knew for sure that would hurt her the most, ending up sending her right into a blind frenzy.

Instead of sending tens of feathers, her wings produced hundreds, all of which had one target, the boy in a beastly shadow armor, grinning with a face full of different attribute-based fangs.

"Ice explosion.

"

"…eh…?

"

But the completely unbothered boy merely chanted an incantation…

*BOOOOOOOM*

"!!!!!!!!!!!

"

And the ice blades that Raseriat allowed to stay in her wing because she was too busy frothing from her mouth with fury exploded, actually separating the jet black-wing from the body of the round woman, causing her to lose the steadiness of her flight – obviously – and send her spiraling down to the ground.

"DARKNESS BLADE!

"

Raseriat didn't stay lost and confused about what has happened and roared, forcing a brand new wing to sprout from the stubble of the first one that was falling down not much farther away from her.

*WHOOOOOOOSH*

"?!?!?!?!?!?!

"

But the moment she stabilized and was about to look back up at the hateful opponent of her, a torrent of murky shadow passed her like a water spout, swallowing her detached wing and crashing down and spreading all over the ground like an actual liquid.

"The hell was that…?!

"

Raseriat gasped, looking between the sky and the ground – first of all, the impudent black-haired boy completely vanished from the space above together with hundreds of the feathers she shot out, which meant that the reverse geyser of shadow had to be his doing…

"…!

"

The round woman flinched and hurriedly shot to the side while turning around like a corkscrew to get a full view around herself, but this time Zoemi haven't suddenly appeared and attacked her.

"…do you think that some tricks of a pathetic weakling would be enough to mess with me…? ME?! WE OF THE GHOSTS OF BELLCEPHORA ARE THE HUMANS CLOSEST TO GODHOOD! WE'VE REACHED THE HUMANITY'S LIMIT OF THE SIZE OF THE MANA RESERVOIR AND WASTING A FEW SPELLS TO SQUASH A BUG LIKE YOU IS NOTHING!

"

She ended up losing it again and roaring while stopping mid-flight and turning herself down towards the puddle of murky shadow, which simply must have been the spot where the black-haired boy chose to hide.

"PERISH!

"

Raseriat demanded and her wings grew in size to a ridiculous size which made her body look tiny.

*CRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSH*

The hail of feathers out of which every single one had the strength of abasic darkness blade fell onto the murky shadows, piercing right through it and ripping it and the ground below it into shreds so thoroughly that it all dispersed into loose particles of mana.

…?

…the earth dispersed into mana too…?

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! NO ONE GETS TO LAUGH AT ME AND LIVE! SERVES YOUR RI-

"

*STAB*

"-GFUEGH…?!

"

The maniacal laughter and boastful gloating were cut short by a massive ice spear stabbing into Raseriat's mouth without penetrating any further, making her choke on her words – but it didn't cause any effect aside from making the round woman that much more furious…

After all, there was not a drop of flesh and blood composing the round woman, only perfect silk-like darkness.

"…GHOU…!

"

*CRUNCH*

The round growled with her face full of ice and ended up biting through the spell, glaring furiously at the pale-blue-haired man, extending his hand towards her.

"…ummm… whoops…? **… I should have expected that this will not work…

"

Ludier lowered his arm and stepped back awkwardly, while his body shone with the pale blue light of the ice enchantment, ready to dash away at any given moment.

"You little piece of **…! I would have let you live but you just had to try to avenge that ungrateful brat!

"

Raseriat gritted her teeth, grounding down whatever ice was left in her mouth, and growled loud enough for the ice magician below to hear her.

"Avenge…?

"

Ludier furrowed his brows and tilted his head in confusion.

"But… you are about to lose to that kid, you know?

"

He added motioning with his chin at something in the vicinity of the round woman.

"…?

"

Raseriat frowned and ended up looking in the direction – it turned out that Ludier wasn't bluffing, there was something there.

A murky shadow sphere, similar to a large paper lantern was hovering just beside the reach of her wings.

"…eh…? A tiny version of Evorietto's bubble? What, do they not trust me…?!

"

Rasieriat furrowed her brows and gasped when…

"Uwaah…!

"

Suddenly she lost some height as something happened to her wing.

"Darkness blade!

"

Thinking that it was due to an attack, she cast the spell again and a brand new pair of wings sprouted from her back – albeit excruciatingly slow – allowing her to regain her balance in the air and giving her a chance to take a look at the first pair.