Levi calmly assessed the situation, thinking, "Trying to fight against a Triple Caster in a spell-casting match would put me at a disadvantage. I need to overwhelm him with my superior Mana and physical strength."

  The Thousand Blade School utilizes both shield and sword in many creative ways. As their swords clashed, she swung the edge of her shield at N.

  Levi's physical strength was greater than N's. Once she no longer hesitated, N could not muster enough concentration to cast three spells at once. "Stone Lance." N cast a spell to counter Levi's shield bash, while stepping back to get some distance, in order to prepare for another barrage of Triple Cast.

  "Divine Spell: Water Slicer." Levi's attack spell stopped N in his track by attacking the empty space behind him. Without giving N a break, she attacked N with a barrage of relentless sword strikes and shield bashes. Wielding only a single sword, N was at a disadvantage. He occasionally cast Stone Lance and Stone Wall to make up for his unarmed left hand.

  Mini flying slashes from evaded attacks, shockwaves from blocks and parries, together with missed attack spells continued to cause collateral damage to their surroundings.

  "Divine Spell: Ice Lance." Levi cast another spell during her relentless barrage of sword strikes. Whenever Levi cast a spell, her attacks would momentarily slow. Seizing the opportunity, N cast two spells. "Stone Wall. Stone Lance." His Stone Wall blocked her Ice Lance, and the Stone Lance was blocked by Levi's shield while they crossed swords again, unleashing another gust of wind and shockwave.

  Despite their tremendous difference in Mana, Levi could not dent N's sword when their blades clashed. "Impressive Reinforced Blade. He must have practiced a lot." Levi thought as she inspected N's sword, impressed by its durability. "I haven't sparred with Travis in a long time. I wonder how much his Reinforced Blade has improved..." Levi briefly thought about her student, which reminded herself that he was now gone. Overcame by sadness, Levi's concentration slipped for a split second, delaying her next attack. However, it was enough for N to begin his Triple Cast combos.

  "Water Slicers." N chanted, unleashing three spells again at Levi as he thrust his sword at her.

  "Divine Spell: Stone Wall," Levi invoked, combining her shield and a swift flying slash to deflect the three Water Slicers. She then attempted to sidestep N's sword thrust, but it grazed her waist, resulting in a bleeding wound.

  Levi felt a sharp pain coming from her waist. However, before she could regain her composure, another bombardment of three spells plus a sword attack was coming. "Stone Bullets." N chanted.

  She leapt back from N and said. "Divine Spell: Water Slicer." A blade of high-pressure water streaked toward N, but he cast a "Stone Wall" at an angle, deflecting the attack. At the same time, Levi shielded the Stone Bullets coming from behind and tried to gain some distance between herself and N. Levi's Iron-Wall-enhanced shield guarded her from the Stone Bullets, which resembled heavy machine gun fire. Stone debris were flying everywhere as the bursting sound of the impact vibrated through the battlefield. As N prepared for Levi's assault after her brief retreat, Levi instead opted for running away.

  A Saint was retreating from a Holy Knight in close-quarters combat. Levi never thought this day would come.

  As Levi attempted to flee, N gave chase. But of course, Levi was the stronger and faster of the two, so their distance began to widen.

  "I'm not focusing well today; I'll use an Advanced Spell to end this in one go," Levi decided on a new plan and chanted another spell. "Divine Advanced Spell: Blizzard." This spell required a huge amount of Mana and its activation would take Levi about thirty seconds. Casting a spell required a lot of concentration, so she could now only focus on defending and evading using her extended Mana.

  The reason why blades and swords reigned supreme in combat was because extended Aura could sense and deflect long ranged attacks. When N fired another barrage of Stone Bullets at Levi, the majority started curving ten meters away from Levi and missed their target. The few that could have hit were easily blocked and evaded by Levi, who didn't even look back.

  The longer she waited, the more dangerous the Blizzard spell would become. It was not just an Ice spell. The Blizzard spell was an Advanced Spell so cold that the nitrogen in the air would become liquefied. At Saint Levi’s level, she could create droplets of liquid nitrogen rain in an area up to twenty meters in diameter, which was more than enough to kill N.

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  Seeing that his Stone Bullets could not break Levi's concentration, N changed his strategy. "Stone Wall," N cast a thin stone wall that was twenty meters wide to block Levi’s line of sight. "Smart." Levi thought. She focused most of her Divine Power on spell casting. Therefore, she decided not to fly over or destroy the wall. Since N was extending his Aura into his vicinity, Levi could easily locate him by sensing his Mana.

  "The demon seems to be getting further away. Is he running away? Or is it an ambush?" Levi noticed. She immediately ran to the side of the wall and took a peak at N, who was now hidden behind trees, getting farther away. Since her Blizzard spell had finished its activation preparation, Levi decided to give chase.

  "I need to watch out for traps too." With her years of fighting experiences, there were very few who could injure her. After sustaining some injury, she recognized N as a worthy opponent and was being cautious.

  She gave chase to N while looking out for traps. As expected, there were several traps along the way, including simple spells like Pitfall and more sophisticated ones like Landmines. While Levi was checking for traps, N was getting farther and farther away. "Perhaps I should finish my original job first." Levi considered another option as she located Tiffany through Mana.

  Suddenly, from N’s direction, Levi sensed danger. She noticed a long range attack incoming. She wanted to keep her Blizzard spell ready, so she tried to dodge it by jumping to her right.

  The attack was a concentrated, horizontal, circular column of Lightning Bolts. The electric energy was confined into a column by using Water and Wind type spells. However, the confinement spells could not enter Levi’s Divine Power's vicinity. Therefore, the Lightning Bolts dispersed about four meters away from her and became an attack that covered a wide area. Levi was hit by several of the dispersed lightning sparks as she grimaced in pain.

  Lightning element spells were more dangerous than many other elements because they could cause cardiac arrest and paralysis. However, they were difficult to control because of their unpredictable nature.

  "Divine Spell: Water Wall." Levi, having no other choice, gave up on casting Blizzard and used a spell to defend against the lightning strikes. The Water Wall dispersed the electrical sparks into the ground.

  As soon as Levi's Blizzard spell was interrupted, N began moving back to her. She quickly resumed her Reinforced Blade spell, which had been paused when she cast Blizzard. After a moment, N arrived, jumping down at her from the treetop with a downward strike, along with with three attack spells from three different directions.

  Levi used a flying slash to destroy the glyph of one of the three spells before they activated, then she immediately blocked N's attack with her sword. At the same time, Levi shielded an Ice Lance coming from behind and used a Stone Wall to guard against a Water Slicer.

  "As expected, after she sustained some injury, she became more careful and tougher to take down. I could have landed a blow if it was before she got hurt." N analyzed Levi as he attacked. "She is also putting more focus into the battle and is less talkative. However, now the fight is mine. I won't let you take the initiative again."

  "If spell casting doesn’t work, I will overwhelm you with power." Levi had her own plan and focused her Mana into her sword, whose coating greatly increased its sharpness. With their blades still crossed, she put more power into hers in an attempt to cut through N along with his sword.

  N jumped to the side using Levi's power as if she gave him a gentle push. "Such a skillful parry." Levi was impressed again. Then, N thrusted his sword at her throat as Levi quickly raised her sword to intercept the attack.

  However, right before their swords made contact, N swiftly retracted his, sidestepped and then prepared to slash her stomach. "I am not going to risk my sword breaking from your Reinforced Blade." N thought.

  Seeing that, Levi took one step back, positioning her shield in front of her to block the attack. As soon as Levi moved her shield, N retracted his attack and chanted "Stone Lances." Three glyphs appeared about 5 meters away on the ground from Levi and surrounded her. Levi handled the attack without losing composure. "Divine Spell: Stone Wall." She put up a Stone Wall at a 45-degree angle to both the right and back Stone Lances and then shielded the one on her left. At the same time, she was going to parry N's sword strike.

  N refused to give Levi a breather. He chanted as he retracted his sword, "Water Slicers."

  Three Water Slicers shot toward Levi from three different directions. Levi used acrobatics and her shield to evade and block them. Then, N took on a wider stance and immediately delivered another slash to Levi’s legs. Levi stepped back again to evade the slash.

  However, before N’s slash could hit Levi's leg, he retracted his sword and tried to strike her sword arm instead. "Stone Lances." N cast three spells again at the same time.

  N had retracted his attacks several times in a roll. "Is he always going to feint his attacks? Perhaps I could just ignore them." A tempting thought entered Levi's mind as she cast another Stone Wall to block the lances, and stepped back to evade N’s sword strike. Then, she invoked, "Divine Spell: Water Dragon." However, before she could finish the spell, N stroke again with his sword. Levi had planned to ignore it and return with one of her attacks.

  All of a sudden, N committed fully to this strike, which slashed across Levi's sword arm, wounding her through her arm-guard.

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