The purple-haired woman stared at Basil silently. Basil merely quirked an eyebrow at her, and took two steps back; the purple-haired woman smiled softly at that.
"As far as I'm concerned, there are many other variation of Hyacinths. Why do you have to associate me with Purple Hyacinth?" She asked with the same small smile.
Basil shut his lips tightly; his heart was in turmoil. He knew that the woman in front of him had long gone. He had witnessed her death with his eyes; he had even personally buried her body.
'But, why? Why my brain refuses to believe it, and my heart is screaming it is her!?'
Years of hardships and battles should have been naturally enough to make one immune to inner turmoil.
However, at that moment, all of Basil's mental fortitude was at its lowest point. It wasn't because he had purposefully lowered it, but due to Gorgophone's mysterious Art.
"Why are you hesitating? Can't you even distinguish your Master?"
Another silence greeted her, but she didn't mind. She merely gazed at Basil's eyes silently, and kept smiling softly; the silence felt like an eternity.
When the silence was getting unbearable, Basil finally opened his mouth.
"Someone once said, 'Put me on the highest place of your heart. Let not one replace me, for I am the rightful owner of that place!' A very strange thing to say indeed. However, she had said something true."
"Oh, my. That was such a long time ago. I'm surprised you still remember it." The purple-haired woman slightly widened her eyes in surprise.
"I mean it for you to quit yapping," Basil said coldly. "The woman I know is dead. Even if someone alike declared that she was the woman I knew, who had returned from death, I would swing my blade toward her without any remorse."
A cold response!
Such conviction was unusual; even if everyone could say it, no one could say it with such a sure tone.
"Fu-fu-fu. To be able to say that ... You have really grown, it seems." The purple-haired woman smiled. "However, I am not returning from death; I am the same person you know, and I believe you know it too."
She spread her hands. "I am the very woman you have killed, whose heart is currently beating in your chest!"
"..."
Silence greeted her after her exclamation. This time however, the silence was different. If previously the silence was just that, silence, currently, the room was overwhelmed with the cold killing intent Basil's body was exuding.
No longer the furrowed brows, and no longer the unfocused eyes; his expression was as flat as the surface of a deep ocean. In his eyes, a cold and unfathomable rage could be seen. The atmosphere became tense in a matter of second.
"What? Cat got your tongue?" The purple-haired woman taunted. Basil pointed Vagus at her. "Shut your mouth, harlot!" Cold and detached; it was bereft of warmth, and compassion.
Unfortunately for the purple-haired woman, that was the only warning she got before Basil suddenly appeared before her eyes.
Slash!
Fortunately for her, she managed to dodge in the critical moment. However, the Purple Hyacinths in her hand were cut as the result.
A close call!
Quickly extending her hand, a great sword appeared out of nowhere.
Clank!
The ground beneath her cratered as she blocked Basil's attack. She couldn't detect any Mana from the attack she had just received. Needles to say, she was shocked; it was a pure physical attack!
"Impossible! What is this power!?" She shouted while swinging her great sword at Basil. For the first time in their battle, one of them lost their cool.
Basil hadn't just been merely standing stupidly, and stayed silent for the whole time. He had been trying his best to solve the puzzle called Gorgophone's trickery in his head for the last few minutes.
Mana: an energy that was produced by the nature that could be used to strengthen oneself. Gorgophone had the ability to check out someone from Mana.
As he had said, once one absorbed Mana, it became a part of oneself and vice versa. That means, emanating one's mana was the same as exposing oneself.
Then, how to not exposed oneself? Not using mana was the answer. However, could someone fight an abomination like Gorgophone without using Mana? Normally, no.
However, who was Basil? He was a man who had cleared many Obelisks alone, which normally took two squads of fifteen Fifth Circle Mages to even clear a Middle Rank Obelisk; he had cleared many High-Rank Obelisks by himself.
That was a feat that defied common sense. Even amongst the Elven race that was known for their mastery over magic, no one could achieve the same feat. Basil was that abnormal.
Once again, it was all possible because his special trait, [Synchronization]. Once he had synchronized himself with Vagus, his physical strength and Mana capacity grew to an unimaginable level.
However, what made [Synchronization] different with the other Power-up Arts was the fact that even without utilizing Mana, the increased strength remained.
Morever ...
"You! Aren't you a Mage!?"
Contrary to people's believe, Basil wasn't just a Battle Mage; he had never been one. Basil was an anomaly for both Mage and Knight; he learned Magic, and the way of Knight at the same time.
That wasn't normally possible because of the different Principle of the two. Not only that, it was also taxing to train in both Principles. Nonetheless, Basil was different; he still did it.
That was the reason why the purple-haired woman—Gorgophone was flustered. It turned out, [Synchronization] wasn't a mastery solely born from Mana Art. It was a mastery that was also born from Aura Technique that belonged to Knight.
"How is it possible to mix the two Principles!?"
Mage could naturally use [Synchronization] by Carving the necessary Rune on their weapon. However, to even be able to use the Rune, one had to reach a certain level in weapon mastery.
As for Knight, to be able to use [Synchronization] they had to slowly nurture their weapon with their Aura. Sadly, the method of nurturing one's weapon with Aura was unknown to the public. Even if it was known, the process would take a long time.
Basil had stumbled upon this mysterious mastery one day. He, who was a naturally curious individual, had conducted a result, before finally achieving "enlightenment." This way, he had been introduced to [Synchronization].
Gorgophone was bewildered. In his life, he had never encountered someone who could use [Synchronization]. Not even a genius Mage could figure out the correct Rune to Carve on the weapon.
Encountering someone who could use [Synchronization] without Mana meant natural talent; to even master it without someone's teaching implied how much effort was put into it.
Even without mastering that, to be able to master both Principles was simply astounding.
Clank! Clank! Clank!
Even fiercer than before, Vagus' trajectory was unpredictable. Every swing seemed to cut the reality. Gorgophone, who was counting on his Mana Comprehension, was cornered; he couldn't read anything from Basil.
He was in a pinch. Before, he could predict Basil's attack by reading his Mana; now that Basil no longer used Mana, he couldn't even read Basil's movement. The only saving grace was his monstrous amount Mana.
"Why don't you drop your 'mask?' It is no use if you can't even peek about her from my Mana," stated Basil calmly while swinging Vagus.
"Hmph! Don't get cocky, human!" As if obeying Basil's word, the appearance of the beautiful woman instantly returned to that of Gorgophone.
Basil smirked, and activated one of his Movement Techniques.
[Clap]!
He disappeared and reappeared consecutively, inflicting many wounds on Gorgophone in the process. Everytime he disappeared, he left a sound of a clap before reappearing at Gorgophone's blindspots.
Gorgophone was irked at Basil's attack; he impatiently slammed the tip of his great sword to the ground.
Bang!
His Mana peaked, and the surrounding immediately air trembled; even the space was distorted.
Basil, who saw the scene, immediately took a distance while preparing his strongest Defense Technique.
"[Great Annihilation]!" Gorgophone loudly shouted. His body swelled, his eyes turned white, and his skin turned red; a crazy amount of Mana was emanated from his body.
Contrary to the shouting Gorgophone, Basil softly uttered his Defense Technique.
[Aegeas]!
Golden veins appeared on his whole body, before a spinning amethyst orb encapsulated his body. As Gorgophone's Art took effect, the surrounding—the world lost its color.
At that moment, his eyes could only perceive one color from the world: white.
BOOM!
The explosion was only heard for the first second; right after that, not even a sound could be heard. The explosion was so mighty, it created a vacuum in the air. Nothing could be heard or seen for fifteen seconds.
When the light began to subside, an open world decorated with ruin was laid bare for the eyes to see; Basil could see the blue sky, and the large crater on the ground that was littered with the trunks of the uprooted trees.
The power behind Gorgophone's Art had been so great, it had destroyed the Obelisk, and took both of them out to the outside world.
It didn't stop there, the air that had previously been pushed away due to the explosion returned to fill up the vacuum space, creating an unhealthy noise that was too much for the eardrums to bear.
BOOM!
The explosion could even be heard by an entire continent.
At a glance, one could see there were only two spots that were free from destruction. First, the spot where the black haired man was standing. Second, the spot where the brown haired man was hunching his back.
As easy as spotting a white thread on top of a black paper, one could see who was in a better shape—who was unaffected.