A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Erik's hammer soared through the air, sparking and sizzling with cold lightning, bearing enough power that most third-rankers would try their best to avoid it.

Unfortunately, Lilith was not most third rankers.

Seeing his attack and recognizing it as weaker than the attack that heavily wounded her two months ago, she lifted her left hand with a smug grin. With a near instant cast, unobstructed by the long knife in her hand, she produced a dark, flickering magic circle, which quickly conjured a barrier of shadowflame.

With a roar, the warhammer crashed against it. The barrier cracked and trembled, but Erik scowled when it held against his physical attack.

His thundersnow blast exploded immediately afterwards, annihilating the barrier's remnants, but it was already too late. Lilith had already moved past his attack and entered his personal space.

With an excited grin, she stabbed her shadowflame-covered knives forward, straight for his chest, already certain of her victory.

Fortunately, Erik wasn't that easy, either.

Several dark-blue runes appeared on his arms as he activated his spatial displacement. Instantly, his arms, holding the hammer, were teleported a few inches downward into the proper position, at which point Erik had enough time to do the rest.

Growling, he smashed the haft of his hammer against Lilith's knives with enough force that any third-ranked Arcanist would have been forced to let them go, perhaps even breaking their wrists in the process. But as was painfully obvious, Lilith was no normal Arcanist.

Managing to hold on to her knives, Lilith's hands were still forced down. Because they were obstructed by the hammer shaft, they couldn't hit anything either, so she quickly withdrew them.

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously at his impossible movement, but she didn't linger on it much. Instead, she provided an impressive show of training and agility when she continued to capitalise on her close proximity.

After her knives were forced down, she used the momentum to spin around, arcing her knives back upward and, this time, aiming at his right arm. Perhaps she was looking to cut it off, much like she'd done to Ankhur.

Eira, not willing to disappoint again, immediately reinforced the likely impact zone of his armour. But Erik wasn't willing to take any chances. Just like Alice's frostfire, a base component of shadowflame, this affinity had a corrosive property, making armour far less durable under its attacks.

Thus, he raised his right arm a little and released his left hand from the hammer. Lilith was too close for him to push her away effectively, but he didn't need to. Conjuring a dark blue magic circle, he pressed his hand against Lilith's chest and cast his spatial spell: repulse.

With her knives mere inches from his arm, Lilith felt a powerful force smash against her chest. Snarling, she was pushed off her feet and flew back several steps, where she came to a skidding halt.

She didn't appear wounded, however. Still wearing the black, gothic-style armour he first saw her with, it clearly offered plenty of protection. As soon as his repulse spell hit her, the armour flashed lightly, proving it even contained sigils or runes.

'Is it a relic of the past… or do they actually have runesmiths?' Erik muttered in his mind, curious about his enemy's resources. But he disregarded those thoughts rapidly. It wasn't important right now.

"What the hell kind of affinity is that?!" Lilith cursed, her eyes flaring with anger at madness at Erik's defiance. Without that attack he used a few months ago, he's supposed to go down easily!

A smug grin of ridicule spread on Erik's lips. "I'm sorry, didn't you just claim to know everything?"

Lilith snarled like a wild animal at his provocation. Truly, two months of suffering had nearly driven her insane, as it would for anyone. Still, she remained in control of herself and didn't immediately attack again.

'Hmpf,' Erik snorted inwardly. 'She's got impressive willpower for a bitch.' He couldn't help but think back to what Elora told him about how Edda became Lilith, or rather, had always been Lilith and simply used a cruel method to fake her personality so completely.

* * *

Meanwhile, outside the barrier, that same soldier was still staring curiously at what was going on inside the dome. "Spatial affinity?" they muttered thoughtfully to themselves. At the same time, as if it were an afterthought, they casually launched a simple yet powerful fireball at Enkare Nkai's warriors.

"Don't tell me…" they continued, now raising an eyebrow in surprise. "Harbinger?"

* * *

Inside the dome, Erik's battle resumed, but he was quickly forced to go on the defensive.

Erik still wasn't sure how physically strong Lilith was exactly, but he estimated her to reach early third-rank Runebound levels. That meant he was still physically stronger than her because of his bloodlines, but the real problems started with her Arcanist spells. Compared to his, they were truly on another level.

It didn't look like the ascension she used to match a Runebound's physical superiority gave her access to Runebound skills as well, but there was no need for it either. Her spells packed a powerful punch that Erik had to constantly guard against, especially because he couldn't defend with his thundersnow barrier.

So far, he'd been able to protect himself against her knives, but his armour was already covered in scorch marks and pale spots where corrosion had dissolved the top layer. Eira was frantically working to keep her medium in good condition, but it also meant she couldn't offer him much help in other areas.

After a particularly close call that singed several of his hairs, he'd even decided to start wearing the helmet. Normally, he preferred to keep it off because it felt cramped, and it hindered his vision a little, but he couldn't afford to right now.

His new omnisense helped compensate for the lowered vision, of course, but since Lilith protected herself against it, he couldn't actually see her with his new sixth sense. Because of that, proper vision was still extremely important. Continue your adventure with My Virtual Library Empire

Once again, Lilith launched a football-sized orb of shadowflame at him, a wide, sadistic grin on her lips. Without waiting, she immediately sprinted after her own attack, intending to utilize Erik's distraction to attack with her knives.

It was a tactic she'd employed several times already, but Erik had yet failed to find a proper counterattack. At least not without his barrier.

At the same time, he heard a snarl of pain and frustration to his side and quickly realized Enkai was having trouble dealing with his two opponents. One of them had managed to restrict his movement while the other was pelting him with spells.

'Crap,' Erik cursed, now faced with his ally's imminent defeat and Lilith's powerful attack at the same time.