Chapter 383: Deal [7]

Diana had noticed Arthur’s movements, and how could she even fail to register them, as everything was currently playing out in her domain.

Diverting around a quarter of her reserves to ensure that Arthur’s earlier attack wouldn’t pierce through her domain, Diana took a step back before raising her hands in a quick combat stance and—

BAAM!

The black edge of Arthur’s blade clashed against the bare knuckles of her fist, resulting in everything in their vicinity roaring in destruction.

Arthur’s eyes had widened seeing Garthel being stopped with bare hands, but he wasn’t one to be distracted mid-fight, as he quickly changed his stance before raising his left hand towards Diana.

"Imertio."

A massive circuit of mana formed around the palm of Arthur’s left hand, before an unrestrained rain of fire launched itself towards Diana, who had already employed a spell of her own.

"Diasla."

The world of purple responded to her words, as a huge wall of purple was raised before her, stopping Arthur’s attack in its entirety.

At the same time, Diana scanned her domain to locate Kael, who should have been somewhere nearby—

The wall of purple was pierced as Arthur’s blade launched itself, heading straight for Diana’s chest.

Scoffing at the petty tricks employed by her enemy, Diana raised her hand once again to summon another of her spells—

BAM!

At the last moment, Arthur had dived through the crack in the wall of purple, as his fist was directed at Diana’s abdomen, only to be stopped by the latter.

Arthur had to commend Diana for stopping Garthel while also being able to focus her attention on him.

"Your attack has already been nullified, human. There’s no use resisting me. Within my domain, I am invincible—"

"Mirage Clone."

The words were closer to a whisper, and their effect was accompanied by a strange silence, but it didn’t last long, as Diana shifted her focus between the clones of Arthur that were being formed one after the other.

"Miss, if I may say so... you really have to learn the art of patience. The fight has just begun—"

Taking the initiative, Diana moved for the first time, with massive spheres of highly condensed purple mana floating around her.

"Go."

Motioning with her hand, Diana launched the spheres at the clones of Arthur that were still being multiplied—

BOOM!

A black film... the incomplete domain of Arthur let itself loose, spreading from each of his clones, before tanking all the attacks that were directed at its master.

The shockwave was enough to form new cracks around Diana’s domain, making her click her tongue in frustration.

In the body that she was currently in... all her powers were greatly limited despite her being able to form a domain on the level of a Sovereign in the early tiers of the rank.

Still, her current capabilities should have been enough to deal with an Immortal, yet the situation was playing out of her hands.

She couldn’t go all out, as that would alert the other Sovereigns in the duchy or the Veltran Empire as a whole.

But defeating Arthur while being restricted from all sides had now begun to feel like a monumental task for her, and the mere thought of it left a bitter and revolting taste in Diana’s mouth.

"Not so efficient, are you?"

Several Arthurs spoke in unison, their voices overlapping with each other, creating a completely different and... eerie effect.

But Diana wasn’t fazed by any of it.

Garthel’s unique abilities allowed it to replicate itself along with Arthur’s clones, which was why Mirage Clone was an ability that Arthur had worked hard to perfect to its best extent possible.

Wanting to deal with the situation before it could escalate into something much bigger, Diana willed more of her mana to strengthen her domain and—

Break it.

Or, more to say, she removed the footing which Arthur had been able to stand upon.

The move surprised Arthur, but it was nowhere enough to overwhelm him, as the guy fell deeper into the hollow created by Diana’s domain.

Swoosh!

Clank!

This time, Diana had taken out a sword of her own, though it wasn’t at the same level as her original sword, but... it was enough.

Not all of Arthur’s clones could be trapped in the hollow, as many of them were quick enough to escape before launching themselves towards Diana.

"If close combat is what you want, then let me show you, pest... what true combat is."

Loosening the grip on her sword, Diana twisted it in ways difficult for a mortal to perceive, though the motion in which the blade was swung achieved its purpose, as the parasite was able to deflect all the attacks that were directed at her, but—

There were more.

More of Arthur’s clones kept attacking Diana, with many of them being pushed back by her immense strength within the territory of her domain.

Still, for every Arthur that Diana managed to trade blows with, a few more Arthurs soon joined the fray... each of them sharing a hundred percent of Arthur’s power along with every skill that the guy possessed.

But it wasn’t like the fight was being easy on Arthur. Being disconnected from the outside world, Arthur was currently fighting using the mana available in his Immortal Core.

Now, though being a peak Immortal 7... the mana available at Arthur’s disposal was vast, even compared to other Immortals at his level; still, that in no way could sustain the fight for a longer duration, as fights between cultivators at higher levels lasted for days, weeks, or even more so.

Coupled with that was the fact that Mirage Clone was no ordinary ability.

Abilities themselves were inherently rare, and even Immortals needed a lot of research and hard work to create a perfect ability for themselves.

Using an ability during combat was efficient, as it could be deployed at a moment’s notice, but the mana required for its usage was equally high, even more than what spells generally consumed.

And Mirage Clone... it was a monstrous ability even amongst the peak of all abilities in the world, as it allowed Arthur to create clones sharing his full power.

That was equivalent to Arthur creating new bodies of his own... bodies that were as lethal as their creator.

BOOOM!