Soon I was already approaching my settlement. Now a fairly wide road led into it, which was clearly used much more often. There was even a post office along the way. A small outpost was erected here. Inside were shutters for horses watched by mortals. If a rider set off with a message, he could quickly change horses in a similar place and continue on his journey. Magicians didn't care too much about the welfare of the soulless, so in the mortal world it was one of the easiest ways to spread the word.
I flew over the city using sonic vibrations to check the surroundings and noticed an anomaly in a large beautiful building, namely the temple of holy garbage. There was no time to be surprised at the presence of something like this strangely named building.
Although the barrier of all Magicians differed from each other, nevertheless, I was almost sure that in this temple, right in the floor, the True Magician was hiding. Apparently it was Steel. Either Creston deceived me, or he himself was deceived and sincerely believed that Steel had left my city and teleported to the Taros empire.
In any case, I was rather surprised by such a dastardly tactic. According to Creston's story, this Mage killed Sellinger with a backstab despite the huge difference in power, apparently he was going to do something similar to me. The fact that I had supposedly recently advanced and was unlikely to be his rival did not matter to him. This Magician was a vile snake and concepts like pride or honor were clearly alien to him.
I did not foresee such a scenario and was not ready to meet him face to face right now. Initially, I was going to prepare for this meeting, although I did not know exactly how at the moment.
I could have just left, but I didn't want to lose my subordinates anymore. Most likely he also noticed me and will immediately understand everything. Landing near the temple, I just stood at the entrance for a while. I deafened the enthusiastic cries of those who recognized me with a sound wave and ordered them to find shelter. Then I turned to Steel and said.
- I'll be waiting for you outside. - sounded the echo of my voice in the temple.
Steel did not create unnecessary problems for my city and followed me. I flew away and landed in the middle of a tall forest, teleporting Tsunami in front of me. A moment later, Steel appeared nearby, his appearance resembling that of a metallic-colored bird of prey. Landing nearby, he returned to his human form and threw an amber in front of himself with a certain silhouette inside. The amber ignited in the blink of an eye, and soon a fire elemental about five meters high stood in front of me, after which it rushed to attack. At the same time, a hail of steel needles covered me, some of which passed through the body of the elemental.
There were too many needles so I decided not to dodge, they struck sparks on the golem and bounced helplessly. Only a small part was able to cling to the armor, plunging into it by a millimeter. The elemental struck at Tsunami, knocking me back ten meters, considering the combined weight of my golem and my sword, this result was quite impressive. At the same time, I felt that the remnants of the needles swirled at great speed trying to penetrate deeper into the golem, I had to get rid of them.
Realizing that the needles were useless, Steel released several unknown creatures into the ground next to him, after which he began to try to invade my golem with his mental energy. Fire elemental attacked constantly trying to divert all my attention to itself. Physical damage was useless against him. The sonic blast could only buy me some time, not destroy it. However, the vibrations told me that the amber was still inside the golem, namely in the head.
Boom!
For the first time using a sonic blast on myself, I waved Tsunami in the blink of an eye using a gravity boost.
Phew!
Tsunami's power scattered everything around, it seemed even the elemental was helplessly extinguished like a candle in the wind. A blow that exceeded the speed of sound slammed into the amber, severing the elemental's head. This was not enough to destroy the artifact, nevertheless, it flew off somewhere into the distance, obviously damaged, the elemental disappeared into the air.
Realizing that it would not be possible to neutralize the golem with mental energy, Steel used some ancient scroll to send it after me and followed behind. A huge power emanated from the scroll, from which I was seized by a feeling of hopelessness. The scroll on the fly turned into a terrible skull of huge size and rushed in my direction. At the same time, the ground under my feet turned into a viscous swamp trying to keep me in place. I knew about the underground artifacts that followed me incessantly, but I wasn't sure what exactly they were capable of.
The strength of this trap was not so significant and only delayed me for a moment, nevertheless, even after I jumped into the air in an attempt to dodge the skull, it relentlessly pursued me without falling behind. All that was left was to meet it with the strongest blow of my Tsunami. However, after my blow, the skull was simply washed away by the wind, all sense of threat vanished in the blink of an eye. It was just a pathetic trick.
Taking advantage of my confusion, the Bird-shaped Steel slammed into me at full speed. But using the sonic blast on Tsunami, I instantly redirected it to the bird, cutting it in half. What I didn't expect was that instead of colliding, his body simply turned into shapeless liquid metal. The metal split from Tsunami's blow, but passed unhindered and covered my golem in the blink of an eye, taking the form of shackles. Steel bound my arms, legs and even my head using my own body. The strength of the formations in my golem was not enough to break out of such a grip with brute force, I could not move a single limb.
We flew down like a stone and I gave my body an acceleration with a talent spell, hoping to throw this formless creature off my back, then I tried to use a sonic blast in an attempt to damage Steel, but there was no effect, Steel's barrier calmly absorbed any damage. The sonic blades on his hands only made him change position slightly, unfortunately I didn't foresee the possibility of my hands being chained, so the blades were also useless. At the same time, he himself embodied something like a steel drill that was fixed on the golem's head and began to drill a hole in it. Apparently, this is not the first time he has done something like this.
I had two options for saving my life. The first is to simply teleport, and the second is the Soul Shield. True, this technique is unlikely to work now, most likely I will be able to use it only after reaching a certain threshold in the level of mental energy. But I still decided to take a chance and try another trick.
Covering the entire body of a golem or a large part of it with my enhanced sonic blade spell would be problematic and would cost me too much. Especially when you consider that I finally got stuck in a swamp and Steel controlled the situation with his mental energy around me. But I could cover the body of my rag doll without any problems. Since it was only the size of a little finger, I would be able to maintain this state for quite a long time.
The drill finally drilled a hole in the golem's head and a bright light began to emanate from within. In the collision of the drill and my real body, only the first one received huge damage. Although this sonic blade could not stop the attack of the enemy, given the durability of the doll, it was not necessary, but everything that touched me received huge damage from concentrated sound blade spell which turned me into glowing star.
Steel could clearly feel his barrier begin to deplete rapidly and he had no choice but to remove his drill. A small, bright star flew out of the golem's head and landed on the shackles holding it in place. He tried to pierce me with a blade and hammer into the ground, but it was all to no avail. The steel blades shattered without hurting me.
Steel had no choice but to let golem go. However, he turned his body into two huge hammers that struck each other trying to squash me like a fly.
Boom!
The power turned out to be huge, although it was difficult for me to say the exact force of the blow, but apparently no weaker than Tsunami's blow. Nevertheless, the rag doll couldn’t care less, although the sensations were not pleasant, but that’s all. He tried several more different methods of attack, but all were unable to harm me or hold me back for long.
While Steel with furrowed brows was thinking about what to do next, I flew back into the golem and rushed towards the Tsunami that I dropped earlier, then jumped into the sky.
Steel again turned into a steel bird and rushed after me, maybe he had time to come up with something. However, despite his tremendous speed, he could not catch up with me. I used the sonic blast over and over again, spreading my wings and flying off into the distance like a rocket, the distance between us was rapidly increasing. Soon he realized that this was a waste of time and turned back towards the battlefield. I followed him and gliding in the sky watched him bring back his artifacts. Then he summoned a table and two chairs from his dimensional space, sat down on one and began to examine the pieces of metal that had broken off from my helmet.
Considering that this Mage was very sneaky, it was too early to relax, nevertheless, I accepted the invitation and, having landed on the ground, folded my wings and sat down on another chair, making sure that these were ordinary furniture and not artifacts.
In front of me sat an old man in a neat butler uniform. Steel's ability to take on various forms was completely inconsistent with the fact that he was still human or at least supposed to be. I couldn't scan him without destroying the barrier, but I could only assume that he could somehow temporarily alter his internal organs without causing much harm to himself.
For the entire time of the battle, we did not say a word and I was not going to give in on this issue asking for a truce, so I patiently waited for him to speak first, which soon happened.
- I need about two hundred kilograms of this material. - he said holding a piece of solar crystal in his hands.
- Ten thousand magic crystals. - I replied.
He shook his head.
- I don't have magic crystals, but I have this.
Steel took out several items from subspace and threw them on the table. I examined them one by one. Among other things, there was a first rank light element spell invisibility, a jar of wine from the Grape of Life and a recipe for a simple water element protection artifact, these are the things I chose. It would be nice to get an amber with an elemental, but Steel said that this artifact will not react to the mental energy of another Mage and is useless for me. It does not matter if it was true or false, either way it was a decline.
- These three, and I also need complete information about all known artifacts, materials, creatures and so on of your organization, send them to me later. In exchange, you can cut off a third of my sword for yourself, this will be enough for you with a margin. - I said hiding the things I needed and putting Tsunami on the table.
The solar crystal was a unique material that probably did not exist anywhere else. I did not know why he needed it, although given his element, one could make a couple of assumptions. In any case, it was unrealistic to count on the fact that this material would never fall into the wrong hands, it’s better to calmly give a little away and get something useful for yourself in return.
Steel did not argue and slowly cut off part of Tsunami.
"Why did you kill Sellinger?" I asked, my voice resonating from within my towering frame, devoid of human emotions.
Steel, the enigmatic figure before me, raised an eyebrow, unfazed by my question. He studied me with a calculated gaze, seemingly unperturbed by my immense presence. "If you are talking about that guy from the city, then I thought you were an ordinary Mage who had recently overcome the barrier, so I did not attach importance to either you or your subordinates," he explained, his voice steady and composed. His analytical eyes assessed my response, as if gauging my understanding.
Processing his words, I analyzed the situation. Apologies held no significance for me, and engaging in combat would be futile against an adversary of his caliber. I decided to dismiss the matter from my mind, focusing on more practical matters.
"Should I expect Rudolph to pay me a visit?" I inquired, my voice reverberating through the air like a deep resonance. Seeking information, I sought to understand the implications of Steel's presence.
Steel leaned back, his gaze shifting momentarily to the distance. "Depending on what exactly he needs from you," he replied, his voice carrying a hint of familiarity. "I've known him for a long time, so unless it's something very important, he's unlikely to bother you given your abilities," he added, his tone almost dismissive. His words implied that my capabilities were of interest, albeit not significant enough to warrant Rudolph's direct involvement.
Without a change in expression, I observed as Steel rose from his seat, effortlessly gathering his belongings. His movements were precise, efficient, and devoid of unnecessary flourish. Transforming into the form of a magnificent bird, he spread his wings with graceful ease. As he took flight and vanished into the distance, I remained motionless, devoid of any discernible emotional response.
A profound silence enveloped the surroundings as I stood there, the weight of recent events settling upon my crystalline form. As a construct fueled by powerful magical energy, my emotions were indeed limited. However, a sense of detachment and the stark realization of the delicate balance between power and vulnerability lingered within me.
