The position of magical empowerment had a very simple effect: it allowed the one who took it to greatly increase their mana capacity for a limited time, granting access to power several ranks above their own. However, what made it so valuable and special wasn't just that, as there were quite a few items in the galaxy that could achieve something comparable.
What made this position so valuable was that the side effects of consuming it were minimal, and if it was crafted by a great alchemist, the side effects were almost nonexistent. This made it one of the few things in the galaxy capable of providing a momentary power boost safely and without consequences—a true treasure.
But at the same time, creating such a 'magical' potion was not something within the reach of just any alchemist. These kinds of potions were almost the holy grail of alchemy, known as 'intelligent potions', a type so complicated to make that they were used as exams to certify the highest levels of alchemy.
An exam in which, by the way, Master Eldurdóttir achieved a perfect score, creating a potion that not only had no side effects but even nourished the body and strengthened the mana circulatory system in the long term by a small margin. Therefore, a potion from her hands was nothing less than an invaluable treasure, though unfortunately, that miraculous effect only applied to the first few doses. After the fourth, it disappeared completely.
For this reason, for Liliana, receiving such a treasure from her master for a "simple" selection tournament was so significant that it nearly moved her to tears. After all, it demonstrated the love her master had for her. Although the tournament was important, as one of the youngest in her generation, losing and not securing a position was expected and wouldn't mean much to her record.
Moreover, even though Master Eldurdóttir was her master's sworn sister, it wasn't as if she could take advantage of her. As a disciple, Liliana understood her master's character well—she would never take advantage of anyone, especially someone close to her. Therefore, her master must have paid the full cost of that potion, a veritable fortune.
Such a display of love inevitably led Liliana to the realization that she could no longer continue as she had. She couldn't keep rejecting Erik, someone her master clearly saw as her future "partner", as that would inevitably lead to unnecessary friction that would sour her relationship with her beloved master.
But no matter how much she thought about how to do it, nothing came to mind. After all, she was a proud person, and the fact that that fool was better than her at practically everything was a bitter pill to swallow. So, she simply decided to go with the flow for the moment and try to accept that 'little brother' of hers little by little.
That annoying and very strange little brother, but one with talent capable of demoralizing even the greatest geniuses. Yet, just as her master had said, he was still her little brother and, given how things were going and though she didn't much like the idea, her future "father". After all, master for a day, mother for life.
…
After separating from her team, Liliana quickly reached the first enemy group, flying several times faster than her maximum speed before taking the potion. There, she saw the figures of several men holding all kinds of weapons, but among them, one figure stood out like a sore thumb—a beautiful woman with a seductive appearance, light blue hair, and eyes of the same color, exuding an aura of lust and eroticism.
"I suppose courtesy obliges me to greet you properly, hehe. Celestial Arsenal."
With a small chuckle, Liliana sent hundreds of light mana constructs shaped like various weapons toward the enemy group, who were trying to evade her and continue toward the palace. They were taken completely by surprise, only managing to hastily deploy barriers.
"Stone Bastion! / Gale Deflection! / Aqua Veil! / Molten Absorption! / Frozen Aegis!!"
From the air, Liliana watched with a smile as Christine's confident and seductive expression twisted into one of panic and rage. She hastily conjured an ice barrier, followed closely by her mage underlings, who respectively conjured barriers of Earth, Air, Water, and the rare Magma affinity, an uncommon combination of fire and earth.
Meanwhile, the knights, whom the mages didn't have time to cover with their barriers, tried to dodge hastily, but two were too slow and ended up being eliminated. The earth mage, the weakest of them all, couldn't keep up with the pace of her attacks and was also eliminated, which brought a beautiful smile to Liliana's face. She couldn't help but comment cheerfully.
"Three casualties for a greeting, not bad, hehe."
With no intention of letting them rest, Liliana quickly moved her staff through the air, creating two large sets of magical circles. One was aimed at Christine's group, while the other pointed directly at the second group, which was flying toward them at full speed. At that moment, she announced in a low, calm voice.
"Prismatic Spear, Solar Shards."
From the magical circles aimed at Christine's group, a gigantic prismatic spear made of light quickly formed and shot toward them at an astonishing speed, releasing a brutal sonic boom. Meanwhile, from the second group, dozens of light spheres formed and began firing enormous lasers consecutively, like some kind of machine guns.
Almost instantly, as the lasers melted the cavernous ground, creating hundreds of burned craters, the prismatic spear of light struck the ice, earth, and air barriers of Christine's group, shattering into thousands of pieces. It also released a massive wave of ultra-hot lasers that tore the barriers to shreds. At that moment, Liliana raised her staff, and all around the area, a large number of magical circles began to appear, almost as if they wanted to surround the place.
"Chilling Cyclone!!"
At that moment, a cold, almost murderous female voice suddenly announced, causing a whirlwind of ice dust to shoot toward Liliana. She quickly pointed her staff at the whirlwind, and a beautiful geometric magical circle formed in front of the staff as she announced.
"Prism Aegis!"
As the prismatic barrier formed in front of her, Liliana felt a quick attack coming from behind her. She swiftly flapped her beautiful wings, rising into the air, which allowed her to see a spinning sword surrounded by a ring of water rotating at a terrifying speed. The sword quickly flew back, so she promptly aimed her staff and conjured a new magical circle.
"Photon Burst."
The new magical circle released a massive laser beam that struck the area where the sword was heading. But even amidst all that, the magical circles continued to form around the zone, and a kind of gigantic barrier made of hexagonal light plates began to take shape. At that moment, a seductive female voice filled with dignity and authority was heard, commanding.
"She's trying to buy time. Mages, destabilize the barrier. Knights, keep her busy. We're breaking through."
After hearing the charming voice, all the men began to work with precision and order, almost like a well-oiled machine, following orders to the letter and completely focused on attacking the winged woman in the sky with everything they had. This inevitably caused Liliana to click her tongue in annoyance.
With a fluid motion, Liliana quickly waved her staff through the air, causing a dozen magical circles to form in front of her. But at that moment, she heard several explosions occurring simultaneously in various places, and almost instantly, she felt in her ethereal projection four knights arriving at her position at a terrifying speed, along with several spells.
"Photon Dash!"
Knowing her barriers couldn't withstand such a combined attack, Liliana quickly conjured a magical circle above herself, announcing with some haste. A powerful light enveloped her, and she shot forward like a beam of light, moving away almost instantly.
"Supernova Shards!!!!"
Upon reappearing, Liliana quickly swung her staff forcefully, causing a large number of magical circles to form in the air. From them, hundreds of light spheres appeared and began firing lasers in all directions indiscriminately, while Liliana herself began flying erratically in the air, dodging the multitude of spells and knights attacking 'without fear of death'.
But no matter how hard she tried to distract the enemy mages, they still managed to disrupt the generation of the gigantic hexagonal light barrier. This inevitably led Liliana to click her tongue again as she dodged through the air at high speed with the help of her wings, which were a degraded replica of the wings she usually used—an artifact specially made by her master that definitely made others green with envy.
Shortly after, as Liliana dodged and attacked with everything she had, the barrier finally failed, courtesy of the enemy mages, while the group of the beautiful blue-haired woman advanced at full speed toward the palace through Liliana's attacks. The group was back to ten people, thanks to men from the second team joining them to replenish their numbers.
"Damn, that bitch is too slippery. Celestial Comets!"
With an irritated exclamation, Liliana quickly conjured a huge magical circle in the sky, from which hundreds of 'comets' made of light began to fall indiscriminately on the ground. Along with the crazy barrage of lasers from her previous spell, this finally forced the blue-haired woman's team to form more powerful barriers, while powerful explosions occurred in all directions, ultimately halting their advance.
"You're really a nuisance, Liliana."
After the smoke from the attack's impact on the ground dissipated a bit, the beautiful blue-haired young woman could be seen with an irritated expression, standing in the middle of several barriers. She was surrounded by eight men, most of them holding staves to maintain the barriers. Three of them—one with a shield, the other two with swords—were in defensive positions.
"Hehe, you have no idea how refreshing it is to hear that." Liliana commented with an arrogant smile from the sky, surrounded by light shields, which, along with her halo and wings, made her look imposing and majestic.
"How sad your life must be for your mood to depend so much on me." Christine quickly retorted with a mischievous little smile on her face, making her look devilishly charming.
"You're as annoying as ever. Light Arrows!"
After exclaiming in annoyance, Liliana quickly created a magical circle in front of her, from which hundreds of light arrows shot out at high speed toward Christine. Seeing the attack, Christine smiled enchantingly as several runes formed around her, and a cold air began to emanate from her, condensing into various icicles that shot out to intercept the arrows.
"Frost Fang!"
"Hawksbill!"
"Whirling Flame!"
Alongside Christine's icicles, the two knights at her sides attacked simultaneously—one releasing a kind of flying slash made of silvery metallic energy, while the other sent a spinning wheel of fire. Meanwhile, the other mages also sent various spells with all their might, putting immense pressure on Liliana, who began flying erratically in the sky, dodging spells and slashes.
"Solar Flash!!"
Quickly, Liliana conjured a magical circle that caused a furious flash in an attempt to blind the enemy, while controlling the light spheres to concentrate their attack on them.
While Liliana was busy in the spell battle, Christine, using a magical artifact to avoid being blinded, quickly formed a team of five and flew at full speed toward the palace with a smug smile on her face. But that smile didn't last long, as it quickly turned into one of rage when, through her ethereal projection, she sensed an invisible barrier ahead of her.
***
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