Chapter 167: The White Witch (2/2)
”Tyran, are you okay?” Flavia asked quietly and cast Reinforcement on herself while Cuniya was still pondering what had just happened. The T. Rex nodded in response and coated his body with his fiery aura, vaporizing the blood dribbling from his nose.
”Magic Reflection… Magic Immunity… and an unknown magic absorption,” the White Witch said with a thoughtful tone. ”How curious. I truly wish I could use analytic skills if just to see what kind of creature you are,” she said with a relaxed smile, clearly unfazed that her spell had been resisted.
She even laughed with a bit of eagerness. ”I wonder how long you'll last.”
Flavia gritted her teeth and kicked the ground together with Tyran. She expanded her senses to the entirety of the room and took control of the statues nearby with her Nirvana Skill. She turned each one of them into many small spikes and shot them at the Witch from all sides. In conjunction with that, Tyran breathed in and released his Fire Breath.
Cuniya calmly waved her hand and erected a white barrier around her that pulverized every single spike upon contact. She pointed her hand at the fire breath and clenched her fist. The flames were then oppressed by a strange force before being extinguished in an instant.
”Have you forgotten? This Dungeon's monsters are all given my blessing. Magic… won't work on me. I am the superior magic nemesis here,” she declared and drew another magic circle. ”Let's see how you fare against this one.”
Once again, the attack was too fast to be perceivable with the naked eye but Tyran's innate Magic Detection from the Asura's bloodline allowed him to both perceive and understand any kind of magic that is cast within the range of his senses.
He growled and put himself on the way of the spell to stop it from reaching Flavia and forced his mouth closed when it started eroding his mentality. This one was stronger but this time, he was able to properly activate his Magic Eater to shave off a bit of its potency.
”Again?” Cuniya frowned and then retreated as Favia dashed at her at a speed far surpassing her level thanks to her Nirvana Skill. The White Witch glanced at her and was about to cast her spell for the third time but the next thing she knew, Tyran burst into flames and boosted himself into the air, and dropped right above her.
She dodged him but her expression became slightly annoyed. Her eyes glowed eerily in the T. Rex's direction. Without delay, the latter deciphered the magic cast and tried to assimilate it but he soon realized that the magnitude was nothing like the ones before. He froze on the spot and cried out in pain as blood came out of his nose and eyes.
”Tyran!” Flavia shouted and ran to him.
Cuniya watched the T. Red suffering and when the Asura's mouth closed and his eyes lost all their life, she scoffed. ”You brought this upon yourself. If you behaved, I could have let you live on as my faithful puppet,” she said disdainfully and then looked at Flavia. ”It's your turn; there is no point in resisting. You'll only make things harder for both of us.”
The Witch scowled when Flavia ignored her in favor of infusing mana into the corpse of the large Dreorin. ”What are you-?!” One of Tyran's claws twitched and she interrupted herself.
”Impossible! My magic should have fried his brain!” She yelled and fiercely waved her hand. Flavia was promptly hurled away from Tyran and sent crashing on the wall of the room, cracking part of it and destroying a few paintings in the process.
Cuniya approached the carcass of the beast she had thought she killed. ”Is this… Death Energy? Is this thing a high-class undead?” She muttered then slightly panicked as she noticed a new flow of mana entering the dead body. She snapped her head around to look at Flavia.
She was still unable to move due to the attack she had suffered and a current of blood even blinded her left eye, but her hand was up and positioned as if she pressed on a button.
Cuniya instantly understood the situation. ”Someone else raised this undead,” she said darkly. ”It couldn't be you. Who was it?!” She questioned. She had every right to be wary since she knew that such an undead could only be made by a very powerful caster, or at the very least, a powerful item that no one on the Thirteenth Plateau should have.
If Flavia had a strong backing like that, Cuniya would be in danger. She had some control over the Dungeon's structure but a strong Host would be able to bypass every resistance and kill her.
”Tch, I guess I will find out when I possess you,” the White Witch said and started walking to the incapacitated woman after confirming that Tyran was unconscious.
Flavia grunted and her face contorted in pain as she manipulated her telekinesis to support her body. She stood up with a bit of struggle, her headache making her worried that she might have a concussion.
”What is… your magic?” She managed to voice. This was something she had been confused about the second that they started fighting her. Her scans had been useless in that regard. It didn't work on this supposedly Hidden Boss, most likely because she was higher-leveled.
Her spell that seemingly attacked one's mind, her shield that repelled their attacks, her ability that somehow nullified magic, and how she sent her flying with a wave of her hand. None of it looked like any of the elements Flavia had seen until now. It wasn't anything like Wind, Barrier, or even her Telekinesis.
Cuniya smiled and stopped a few meters away from Flavia. ”It's natural for you to not know. This is an affinity only I possess. Since you're about to experience it, I can tell you. Possession; that is my magic.”
”Possession?” Flavia furrowed her eyebrows, her hands hiding behind her back as she charged a certain spell that would either be her saving grace or a waste of time. She could only hope that it would not be noticed.
”Possession Magic has many applications. For example, as long as it's magic that is of my level, it will become harmless to me if I will it. I can also 'possess' the air to make it bend to my will and it of course applies to minds as well. In fact, my body itself is also a product of my magic,” the Witch declared and moved her arm forward, which then abruptly fragmented into pieces.
Cuniya looked at it detachedly then pointed at the blank painting she had emerged from. ”This is the result of me possessing that painting. Truth is, if either you or that beast had managed to hit me even once, I would have died. I waited until this day to come out because I needed a new vessel to possess and take over. But if I want to perform a 'perfect' possession, not everyone is suitable.”
”And I am… that suitable vessel?”
”Indeed. Truthfully, you are so compatible with me that it's still hard to believe,” Cuniya smirked. ”Perhaps we are similar in ways that both of us wouldn't know.”
”I'm nothing like you,” Flavia scoffed.
”I will not say otherwise. But that is inconsequential. Do you have any last words?” Cuniya asked as mana gathered around her. ”Also, do not think that the magic that you have been preparing will be able to save you.”
Flavia was silent for a moment before her body was shrouded in a multicolor light. ”There is one thing that Vera told me before she taught me my magic,” she said out of nowhere and Cuniya tilted her head in confusion. ”It cannot be controlled. Even by me.”
”What do you…?” The Witch felt some amount of concern wash over her. Then, Flavia's spell finally consolidated and formed a spinning dark purple sphere. ”This! You are a-!!?”
Flavia grinned and let go of the spell. She had pumped all of her remaining mana into it. This was the main reason why she had readily accepted when the System offered her to relinquish Tyran's healing to Rakna. It was her only chance in her opinion.
”[Three-Fold Chaos – Rampant Mayhem!]”
The sphere produced a booming sound that shook the whole floor and burst into a concentrated ray of raw chaotic energy. Cuniya rapidly put all of her efforts into defense. It briefly protected her and split the ray. It strayed away and hit several spots of the room, destroying whatever it touched.
”This can't be happening!” She yelled as her body was being destroyed due to the strain. But she nonetheless did all she could to resist it.
Flavia gritted her teeth and poured everything she had into the spell, even expending her spiritual energy to constrict the path of the ray and increase its density.
Cuniya gradually lost her arm, then part of her legs gave in, her left shoulder, and a chunk of her stomach. But it was only until half of her head disappeared that she lost the clash. Her magic was order and control in nature; chaos was precisely the opposite of that. Even if her level and all her attributes were stronger than Flavia's, she was simply her worst match-up.
'Not again!' She thought as the dark purple energy engulfed her entire body. 'You accursed Chaos Witches! Do not think you have won!' Before she was completely erased, when only one of her eyes remained, refusing to give up, she conjured one last spell that went unnoticed within the storm of energy.
'Enjoy your victory while you still can! It won't last long,' she silently screamed and laughed as the last bit of her vanished under the might of the Chaos spell. When the energy died down, there was no trace of the White Witch left.
Flavia fell to her knees immediately after, having exhausted both her psyche and mana. She only had the time to hear the System notifying her of something before she blacked out, unaware of the faint power that had infiltrated her being.