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"If she's Rank 2, I should be capable of using Inspect on her…" thought Frank, as he tried to do as he thought. ​​

[Inspect] level insufficient, Inspection failed…]

[Inspect] level insufficient, Inspection failed…]

[Inspect] level insufficient, Inspection failed…]

…

However, in front of Frank's sight, he received the message he least expected…

"This… Does it meant that she is even stronger than her Rank implies… But orb used her special Divine Sense to determine her Magus Rank… unless…!" thought Frank, as he realized what she was…

As the woman in black began to unleash her magic aura… more than one aura leaked.

Someone couldn't have more than one Magic Aura, as everyone only had a single Mana Core.

…Of course, that was assuming that the person in specific did not have some kind of intervention with their own body.

Gwendolyn quickly realized this, as the woman in black leaked a third Mana Aura!

Three!

"She has… three Mana Cores!" said Gwendolyn in surprise.

"I had already assumed… So she is one of those people that had undergone Mana Core implant… So this was the bad feeling about her… She isn't simply Rank 2…" said Frank.

Although the power that one could draw from implanted Mana Cores wasn't the complete power, it was still a considerable boost in strength, and it could even give a new set of Spells of different attributes.

Even if the woman in black had two more Mana Cores within her body, they seemed to only be Rank 1, and stuck in middle stage to upper stage… However, the power she could draw from them was limited and not complete.

Nonetheless, even with that taken into consideration, she had two more arsenals of Spells from different attributes other than her original one, which seemed to be Dark.

"Oh? So you can tell? You're indeed a Rank 2 Magus…" said the woman, without saying another word, she shrouded herself in shadows and flew towards Frank and Gwendolyn at fast speed.

As she moved towards them, Frank and Gwendolyn noticed how she was practically hovering in the air, her feet were not touching the floor at all…

Frank immediately realized that another spell separated from these shadows was being used.

Flash!

The woman emerged behind Frank at an incredible speed, raising her blades towards him as she realized how slow Frank was compared to her.

"Die. Crescent Moon Slash!" she said, conjuring a Dark Attribute Spell that enhanced her knives, as they seemed to grow like blades made of shadows, nearing Frank!

"Light Ray," said Frank.

Flash!

Suddenly unexpectedly, an enormous ray of light emerged from Frank's palm, flashing towards the woman, and impacting her directly!

"W-What? Light Attribute spell?! But he did not even conjure it nor there was any magic circle!" thought the woman, flying a few meters away as she seemed mostly unfazed due to the coat of shadows she used defensively.

"Gust, Fire!" said Gwendolyn, conjuring Gust immediately as she fused it with Fire Attribute Mana and not a spell, as a large spear of wind and fire appeared in front of her, flying towards the woman!

Flash!

"Another magic circle-less spell?!" wondered the woman in black, darting away from the winds and fire as she felt her shadows slightly burn down, disappearing.

"Tch! Wind Spear! Crescent Moon Slash!"

She gave an incredibly athletic backflip as she conjured several spears made of emerald winds, firing them at Gwendolyn and Frank, and at the same time, she rushed near Frank once more, raising her knives and going for a second round against him!

"Not as impressive as I imagined, but I shouldn't lower my guard…" thought Frank.

Frank glanced at her emerald eyes with a strong bloodlust, generating purple flames above his body and firing an enormous wave of Purgatory Flames towards her wind spears and the woman!

Flash!

"Shadow Cloak!" she said, creating a defensive shadow around her body that took the damage for herself, as Frank had disappeared from her sight, appearing right behind her while raising his nails, which had turned into sharp black claws!

"Surprise," said Frank.

"Shapeshifting Magic?!" she thought, as Frank's claws clashed against her knives, being almost as strong as them!

Clash! Clash! Clash!

As she defended against Frank's onslaught, she realized that Frank's attacks were being infused with magic incredibly well and that his entire body was exuding a combined aura of Fire, Light, and a strange attribute that she had never sensed, which seemed a bit similar to Dark.

"Could he be also someone with implanted Mana Cores?!" she thought, as she decided to get more serious, conjuring several magic circles around her as enormous claws made of spectral shadows attacked Frank, clashing against him, and throwing him away!

Clash!

"Strong… I have to use something else… Death Shadow Bullets!" said Frank, releasing a barrage of dark bullets towards the woman in black, as she tried to evade several of them, but many hit her shadow cloak until it dissipated and impacted her directly!

Boom!

"Unngh…! This… Spell strength is way stronger than someone at Rank 1 Peak Stage…!" she thought.

However, as she moved a few steps away, she realized that she had been ignoring the woman at Frank's side, Gwendolyn!

The woman in black quickly glanced back at Gwendolyn's position, finding that she had just finished conjuring a powerful spell!

"Infernal Flames, hear my call, burn everything, and only leave ashes behind! Blazing Tempest!" said Gwendolyn, conjuring one of her strongest Fire Attribute Spells as an enormous storm of flames emerged from a magic circle in front of her palm!

FLASH!

"I have to evade!" thought the woman, as cold sweat dripped from her neck, leaping away with incredible swiftness, and releasing her Phantasmal Shadow Claws once more, resisting the fire with them and managing to escape in time, only to meet Frank right before her.

"Nether Ice!" said Frank, combining his Ice Spear Skill alongside his Dark Death Devil Magic to generate purple ice from his arms, which he directly launched towards the woman's entire body!

BOOM!

However, Frank was the one to be left startled as the woman suddenly exploded into shadows, appearing once more with the same shadow explosion behind him!

"That's… a teleportation spell?" thought Frank as he conjured a powerful Mana Barrier to protect himself, however, her attack cracked such barrier easily!

"Decapitation Dark Slash!" she said, conjuring an offensive close combat spell through her knives, and unleashing it right in front of Frank's barriers, cracking them like glass, as the impact of the slashes hit Frank directly!

Slash! Slash!

"Unnghh…! Gift of Death!"

Frank gnashed his teeth as he quickly started to heal his wounds, while Gwendolyn came right after the woman, creating a whip of flames and grabbing her leg, dragging her away from Frank!

Flash!

"Good, I will kill you first then!" roared the woman in black, as her eyes leaked an eerie and icy feeling, as a wave of cold air emerged from her, running towards Gwendolyn!

"Ice Attribute Magic…! That's a terrible match for my Fire Attribute Magic, you know?" asked Gwendolyn, as she created a wave of flames, firing it towards the woman in black as her icy wind seemed to be even stronger than her flames, breaking through her spells and reaching her, as it began to freeze her skin!

"Aghh…! That spell…!" muttered Gwendolyn, as she quickly enhanced the temperature of her body to resist the cold, leaping away with an explosion of flames as the woman in black followed her right after!

"Spectral Shadow Claws! Shadow Whip!"

She quickly created a whip of shadows of her won, throwing it towards Gwendolyn and entangling her tightly, right after, enormous claws of spectral shadows were about to slice her into pieces!

Flash!

However, before that occurred, an enormous tornado of purple and blue flames emerged from below, destroying the shadow claws and making the woman in black forcefully retreat.

The woman in black quickly realized that Frank was the one who threw those flames, quickly recovering from the big wounds she inflicted on him like nothing.

"You're harder to kill than I imagined…! But this only makes it more exciting!" said the woman, rushing towards Frank like a meteor of shadows.

"Shadow Storage! Everyone get out!" said Frank.

"Eh?!"

Suddenly, Frank's shadow expanded, releasing three figures from within, one of which jumped and caught Gwendolyn like a princess.

"Ah, Nezhit!" said Gwendolyn.

"Gwendolyn-sama, please remain at my back," said Nezhit.

The other two figures were dragons, one whose appearance resembled a beautiful seahorse covered in red and orange scales and possessing wings which are immediately used to fly, while the other was a serpentine and golden dragon with a furious and dignified expression!

"Ruby, use Blazing Breath! Zhulong, use Zap Cannon!" said Frank as the woman in black was surprised by two enormous waves of flames and thunder coming from both left and right!

"He's… a Beast Tamer too?!" wondered the woman, as she released multiple layers of shadow cloak, without being able to evade, the fire and thunder hit her directly!

BOOM!

Flash!

However, from within the smoke of the explosion, the woman emerged shrouded in shadows, approaching Frank!

"You have to die…! I have to fulfill my duty!!!" she roared, her eyes growing with bloodlust as she conjured a wave of icy winds and generated several spectral claws around her, sending them towards Frank from all directions!

Flash! Flash! Flash!

"Devil Blight!" said Frank, combining Light Ray with his Dark Death Devil Magic, as an explosion of rays of black light emerged from his body, clashing against the spectral shadow claws!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Flash!

However, in an explosion of shadows, the woman once more used her short-range teleportation spell, appearing behind Frank and unleashing a barrage of slashing shadow attacks on his back!

Slash! Slash! Slash!

But instead of evading or escaping, Frank took the hit as he smiled, generating an enormous mass of water through the Water Palm Martial Technique, which he quickly turned into poison through Poison Synthesis!

"Here, drown in poison!" said Frank as he smiled wickedly, his entire body was shrouded n wounds and blood, yet he quickly threw the downpour of purple water over the woman's entire body!

Splash!

"Unnggoooh…?!"

The woman in black could help but swallow a bit as she was thrown away by the enormous quantity of poison, coughing as she began to feel as if her entire body started to ache and burn!

"Aaaggh…! Nnnggaaaaahh…!"

However, against expectations, she quickly stood up, taking out a large Potion bottle from her shadows and jugging it up!

"I won't let you!" said Gwendolyn, emerging with Nezhit as the Dullahan unleashed several slashes with his bone blade, while Gwendolyn threw a blast of flames towards the woman in black!

The woman's emerald eyes lost their light as she was shrouded in slicing attacks and flames!

"Nnnggyaaaaaahh…!"

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