Lodos the Maniac cast his two tier 5 spells simultaneously while laughing wickedly.

As soon as [Gravitational Pressure] was about to take effect and pressurize Emery's body with the full might of his own weight, his spirit reading sense told him his current battle power wouldn't be enough to withstand such a level of gravity.

Hence he quickly did what any sane person in his place would do: move out of the way.

Emery immediately tried to escape from where he had been standing, but he was quickly warned by an attack from above. Multiple dark energy spears rapidly descended at him from the sky. He understood that he would not be able to dodge this round of attacks by simply running, as the power and speed of the spears being shot at him was twice that of those needles.

The moment he realized he would be injured if he didn't do anything else, Emery immediately cast [Blink]. His figure quickly disappeared and reappeared a few meters from where he had been, rendering Lodos' initial series of attacks ineffective.

Even so, the madman didn't seem to give up on attacking him. More spears came raining from the sky like a dark thunder bolt striking the land and Emery knew he had to use his stronger offensive magic. Emery spun his palm and crescent shape energy charging toward the spear and neutralized them. [Enfeeble blades]

Craacckk!! Cracckk!!

The Maniac seemed to become even more frenzied, as he saw what was happening in front of him. He couldn't believe his combination of two powerful tier 5 spells could be evaded with such ease.

Alas, his suffering was fated to not halt, as he now witnessed firsthand how the spell he was so proud of was crushed by a mere tier 4 spell, cast by a rank 8 acolyte to boot.

"How is this possible?!!" shouted Lodos madly, casting more of the [Obsidian Lance] and sending them over to Emery. Unfortunately, his efforts were in no avail, as the latter easily nullified them again with his spells.

Carckkk!! Crackk!!

The madman in front of Emery was a rank 9 acolyte that had formed three of the nine pillars. Based on this fact, Emery assumed that Lodos would have around 600 to 650 points of value in his spirit force, which wasn't enough when compared to his.

Even though Emery was only a mere rank 8 as the other party had said, he had a spirit force of 900. This number was comparable to a rank 9 acolyte who had formed eight of the nine pillars.

Coupled with his dark core which gave him abnormal spirit power, even with his repertoire of tier 4 spells Emery was confident he could easily cast [Blink] continuously and evade the attacks thrown at him, while simultaneously cast another spell to destroy his opponent's spells.

Seeing Lodos becoming even more irritated as time went on and how he kept up with whatever he threw at him, Emery felt that warm-up time was finally over. Now it was time to launch a counterattack.

Emery took out the sword given by Magus Xion from his storage ring. Now, instead of just dodging the spears that were constantly being thrown at him, he started to dodge closer and slowly approached Lodos with each dodge.

The reason Emery took this slow and steady was because the difficulty of dodging attacks exponentially increased as the distance between them drew closer. Still, it was within the realm of his ability.

Swisshhh! Swisshh!!

Emery perfectly dodged the powerful dark spears that pierced from the sky and once he felt he had gotten close enough to Lodos, Emery immediately cast [Shadow Mist]. Dozens of identical-looking himself were created, all of them proceeded to [Blink] around making the Maniac turn even more crazy.

"AARGGHH!!!" Lodos shouted. Emery could clearly hear the frustration within it. "Fight me, you coward!!"

However, as soon as his scream echoed through the mist, a voice was heard coming from behind him.

"Who are you looking for? I am here!"

The moment he heard Emery's voice, Lodos knew he was in a great predicament. Unfortunately, he was not given the chance to react. Without missing a beat, Emery immediately swung the sword in his hand and utilized [Heroic Slash] at the same time.

A bright flash of light seemed to shroud the sword as it hit Lodos' unprotected back.

BOOM!

Loud noise rang out in the air, but Emery's face remained serious. Just as he thought, Lodos was protected by his [Shadow Barrier] and his strike was only able to create a small crack in it. Unfortunately, he didn't have the opportunity to do more.

Through his spirit Reading, Emery quickly knew Lodos' combination attacks of [Gravitational Pressure] and [Obsidian Lance] already came knocking.

The gravity spell covered a great area around Lodos' surroundings, hence he once again cast [Blink] and appeared in the distance to dodge the attack. Not only that, he also started to shoot his long-range spell [Enfeeble Blade] at Lodos.

Emery continued to do this sequence of moves, rinse and repeat. As a result, everyone could see how Lodos, a rank 9 acolyte, was being put backstage by a rank 8 acolyte.

The other acolytes start shouting, some hoping for Lodos to successfully hit his target, while some rooting for Emery.

BOOM!

After the second [Heroic Slash] which landed squarely on Lodos' waist, Emery could see the latter's [Shadow Barrier] was cracked and didn't seem to be able to take another hit. Hence he bode his time, and when the moment came, he immediately cast [Blink] and swung for the supposedly final attack.

[Heroic Slash]

Clank!!

However, to Emery and the others' surprise, at the last second, Lodos took out a sabre and parried Emery's perfect slash. Emery realized the situation wasn't good and he tried to quickly blink away.

Unfortunately, Lodos was faster as he charged forward with a saber battle art, forcing Emery to stop his spell and block the attack.

Clankk!!

Lodos could be seen smiling, as when Emery chose to block his attack, he also missed the timing to dodge his [Gravitational Pressure]. The ground Emery stepped on immediately became crater as he was stuck on the ground and being robbed of his ability to move due to the sheer pressure exerted on him.

"Hahahahaha" Lodos was laughing so hard as he watched Emery's predicament.

"The mouse is finally caught! Hahahaha".

He didn't immediately attack Emery although the latter was already powerless to resist. Instead he decided to strengthen his spell and such gravity pressure forced Emery to kneel and drop his sword. A clunk sound was heard as the sword hit the floor.

The madman Lodos once again laughing maniacally seeing Emery situation, he then brought his saber high to the air and said,

"After my last defeat, I knew that close combat was my weakness. Hence, I have been practicing hard for the last three years, all for this one particular moment! To defeat you!!"

"Hahahaha, you can never escape this tier 5 gravity spell! NEVER!".

The madman stopped his maniacal laugh, took a step back with a smile and said,

"Just like the first time we fought Emery, I will give you a chance. Ten seconds to resist my spell Or my blade will cut through your neck!"

"Ten nine"

It seemed Lodos had really gone mad, as evidenced by what he just said. With Magus Rommy close by, of course, he won't let the Maniac kill Emery. As the academy wouldn't let him kill another student this way.

Everyone could see that Emery might not be able to escape this time, thus became anxious, especially Klea and the others. Even the grand magus seemed to be no longer amused.

"Eight seven.."

The person concerned, however, remained calm. Unfortunately for Lodos, Emery had faced this spell before and knew very well that he could easily break free with the combined power of [Immortal Gate] and [Shaman Form], which would provide the necessary battle power and magic resistance. But Emery somehow felt he wanted to keep his true power a secret for a while longer with finding a different way to break out the spell

"Six five.."

The pressure Lodos' [Gravitational Pressure] imposed was not as strong as Hades, that was for sure. Emery could probably regain his movement with just his [Immortal Gate - stage 5]. But the truth was ever since he felt Lodos' gravity spell with his spirit reading], Emery had perceived a strange feeling.

It was as if he could sense the source of gravity within the space manipulated by Lodos. Thanks to the fact he had used [Spatial Gate] countless times since he had mastered it, Emery had gained some degree of understanding of space and could sense the layers of anomaly in the space around him.

'Four... three..."

Emery closed his eyes and pushed away his dark core, as he started to reach out and force open the layer by his spatial spells.

However, in the eyes of outsiders, especially Lodos, it seemed as though Emery had decided to finally give up and accept his fate.

"Two Hahaha you're giving up already?! Such a shame! Then die!"

Just before Magus Rommy was about to stop the madman who was already bringing his saber high into the air, there was a sudden distortion in the space where Emery and Lodos were standing followed by a slight tremor on the ground.

Everyone was startled by the unexpected event. Immediately after, a loud sound of breaking glass resounded through the air as the tier 5 [Gravitational Pressure] shattered apart.

Lodos' face instantly turned pale. He didn't even dare to imagine in his wildest dreams that his opponent did not just escape instead he break his spell to smithereens. This was just something he couldn't understand.

Thanks to the shock, Lodos didn't even notice that a fist was flying into his face and sent him flying through the air.

BAMMMM!!!!!

Lodos the Maniac once again tasted defeat, as his body fell heavily to the ground.