The Sword and The Shadow

Saron didn't really know what to make of the woman. She was facing 1001 enemies herself and one of them was the crimsonflame fiend. Yet, she didn't feel the slightest bit tense. What was she doing looking at Leguna on the crucifix?

He mouthed her off to try to get her attention, but she ignored him like she was deaf, only enraging him even further. Saron's body was shaking from the rage. He wanted to fling a fireball her way to show her what he was made of, but his pride as an expert prevented him from launching an underhanded sneak attack.

So, he suppressed his anger and observed her reaction. She had a dimensional anchor cast on her anyway and couldn't escape even if she wished. Since that was the case, there wouldn't be any harm for him to wait.

He forced himself to calm down and began contemplating how he would deal with her after he captured her too. He wasn't too worried about killing her; so what if her father was the galestorm swordsaint? He believed his teacher was far stronger than Marolyt! However, he didn't really feel like killing her, at least not now, since she was far too beautiful for that.

He wasn't a saint who had no desires. Instead, he was inexperienced, just like Leguna, because of his single-minded quest for power.

What he didn't expect was the extent of her beauty. He had to admit that even he was moved. It would be wonderful for him to capture someone so pretty like her to be his slave, wouldn't it?

The thought of that excited him even further and firmed his resolve to defeat and capture her.

Annelotte on the other hand didn't even bother with Saron and the thousand soldiers. She only slowly walked towards Leguna. The closer she got, the more garish wounds she saw on him. Had Leguna been constantly tortured from the moment he was captured? How else would he be so badly maimed?

She reached out with a shaking finger and placed it carefully on his pulse. After making sure he was still warm and breathing, she breathed a sigh of relief.

She hurriedly dictated Healing Touch on him. It was a level-three spell that could transfer part of the user's life force to the target. In other words, it sapped one's own life force to mend another's, and it was far from comparison from priests' healing miracles.

However, Annelotte's three spell mutation boosts made her spell even more effective than a high-level healing miracle Eirinn could use!

Leguna's complexion improved markedly immediately. Consequently, Annelotte paled from the high expenditure of life force in a short time.

Saron himself was shocked to see Annelotte's spell. Using three spell mutations on a single dictation was something that was beyond even him! How much mastery did she have over magic?

Annelotte didn't take note of the change in Saron at all, as Leguna was gradually waking up.

"An… Annie?" After enduring so much torture, his voice was weak and unrecognizable. He was pushed to the brink of death and would've died the next day if immediate treatment wasn't offered.

"Drink this," she said as she handed him her only bottle of high-grade potion.

"Why are you here? Run. Saron is… too strong. You're not his match." Though his mind was still in a daze from being put through Scry, he could remember that Saron wasn't supposed to show up there.

"Drink it!" she said with a stern and annoyed voice. She pressed his mouth open with her left hand and forced the potion down his throat roughly.

"Cough, cough…" He hacked harshly from the potion that went down the wrong way and the contractions tugged on his wounds and caused him a sharp gasp of pain. However, his mind did clear considerably from it.

"Quick, go! Leave me be! Saron set this up to kill you! Go, now!" His voice sounded much better, perhaps thanks to the potion. He looked at her anxiously and felt the urge to strike her to get her to leave.

"Why didn't you call for me?" she asked coldly, ignoring his beckoning.

"I…" He averted his gaze, knowing that he didn't fulfill his promise to her to survive or call for her regardless of the danger. He felt incredibly weak before her furious gaze.

Not long after, he was reminded that it wasn't time to talk about this. He hurriedly said, "Forget that, leave now! It's too dangerous here!"

She glared at him harshly and said, "We'll get even later. Just stay there quietly for now!"

As she said that, she did something imperceptible to the others.

She put something small behind the crucifix and tapped it with her index finger, causing a beam of milk-white magic to shoot towards the location. After making sure that thing glowed slightly, she silently turned away.

"Annie! You can't fight him! It's too dangerous! You must leave!" he yelled with energy he never knew he still had. He struggled without a care against the bindings, even when it was tearing against his flesh.

"Save your energy and watch," she said after turning back before heading for Saron.

"So you are the champion of the tournament in Hocke held about a year ago, Hocke's Sapphire Annelotte?" Saron asked after he looked her down.

"That's me alright."

"Good, I am…" Saron prepared to introduce himself.

But she merely furrowed her brow and interjected coldly. "I don't care who you are. I only want to know if you're the one who hurt him."

"That idiot didn't know his limits and tried to assassinate me at Fort Kesta. Some punishment is only natural," Saron replied, suppressing his anger.

"Got it. I'm going to take him away now. I take it that I have to deal with you first?"

"You won't be able to because neither of you can match up to me!" He couldn't hold his excitement any longer. He didn't use Host of Flame, and instead charged at Annelotte relying only on his prowess as a high-order warrior.

She wasn't surprised at that at all. She began her dictation as she moved about and by the time Saron made it to her side, she had already covered herself in a stoneskin spell and a few other lesser spell nullification barriers.

She didn't stop me? This woman's an idiot! Saron thought. Even though he was a magus, his close combat abilities were nothing to scoff at, given his high-order warrior training and Host of Flame.

Yet, all Annelotte did was dictate defensive spells on herself without stopping Saron at all. When the two were only two meters away, he raised his fist and prepared to show her how useless stoneskin was in close range with him.

After finishing her dictation, Annelotte merely observed the man silently, analyzing his every move. He ran, gripped his fist, raised his hand, and punched… The time was now!

She demonstrated startling agility out of nowhere, ducking to the side and rolling on the ground to keep the momentum like a cat.

Saron didn't expect a magus like her to be so agile. He put quite a lot of force behind that punch and saw her evade, but wasn't able to change his momentum and lurched forward.

Bam!

A fireball struck his back and exploded. While it wasn't nearly as terrifying as Saron's fireball, it was far superior to that of normal magi.

But no matter how powerful a fireball is, Saron wasn't afraid in the slightest. He was a fire guide who could manipulate flames, after all!

Whoosh!

He sucked all the flames into his belly like the last time and pretended to wipe his mouth. "The heat and amount are pretty good, but they're nothing but food to me no matter how strong."

Annelotte wasn't too surprised to see her surprise attack ineffective. She seemed to be contemplating something based on her gaze.

Hmmm, ability to swallow flames confirmed. He can restore mana through swallowing flames, but the conversion rate doesn't seem particularly high. It pales in comparison to my Recycle, so I can afford to drag this out. As for his wind aspect gifts… She began her dictation anew.

In the following ten minutes, she launched several kinds of probing attacks and analyzed three of his flame aspect gifts as well as Air Barrier and Air Armor.

She only used a few low-level spells, but her speedy dictation and precise coordination forced Saron to show her one gift after another.

That, however, didn't come without a price. Annelotte had been unable to evade Saron's Dragon Breath in time thanks to Air Barrier, but fortunately, she instantly cast a flame-resistance barrier. Even so, she was burned somewhat and her white skin flushed slightly red. It didn't seem to affect her combat capabilities, however.

"Careful, Annie! He has an ability that lets him nullify physical attacks!" Leguna roared with all he could. He thought about it for a long time and still felt that Saron had a sixth gift he had yet to reveal.

Saron froze at hearing that and cracked his lips into a smile. All the flames around his body was extinguished.

Right after that, a gust blew over and his body blurred. In the next second, he reappeared behind Annelotte.

"He managed to guess it right this time!" he whispered from behind her.