Nivren fired a sound wave directly at Victoria, who defended herself by crossing her arms and concentrating magic around her body. Even as she tried to withstand the attack with her defense, her eardrums began to bleed, causing a few drops to trickle down to the ground.
'Damn it... Even while defending myself, I'm still taking internal damage.'
Raising one hand, Victoria swept it through the air and released her magic, creating an enormous magical slash that forced Nivren to retreat for a moment. The amount of mana released was frightening, but it wasn't just the enormous destruction caused to the surrounding ground that caught his attention.
'This power...'
Nivren quickly moved away from the area and, when he looked back, noticed something that made him break out in a cold sweat. Victoria's magic had left marks of destruction even on space itself.
'Just as the master said, this girl is dangerous. And she doesn't even know how to use the full potential of her own magic yet. Imagine what will happen when she learns to control it properly.'
His Unique Ability was already active, meaning Victoria would continue taking damage as long as she remained within its range. All he needed to do was find an opening and kill her once she became exhausted. That girl was truly frightening.
'The master said I can only take two attacks like that before I die. I need to be careful.'
'He dodged? No one at my level can dodge that.'
While Nivren tried to understand his opponent's power, Victoria herself was confused by how easily he had avoided her attack. It was unsettling. And that was precisely the problem Enrico wanted her to overcome so badly.
'I just need to launch an even stronger attack, right?'
Concentrating magic in her hand, Victoria unleashed an attack more powerful than the previous one, destroying the surrounding ground. However, something unexpected happened. As if the world itself were protecting its surface, an invisible barrier appeared, reducing the damage caused by the battle.
'I actually forgot that I'm in a place full of powerful people.'
Whenever it detected a dangerous situation, the world began increasing its own resistance in the affected region, limiting the destruction caused by mages and knights. This phenomenon began manifesting when Circle Five users participated in a battle. However, there wasn't just one combatant at that level in that area, but several. Because of that, the region's resistance had increased considerably. Meanwhile, the Circle Nine users fighting above were trying to prevent their attacks from hitting the world, just like the Circle Six users and above who were fighting in areas far from the city.
Nivren managed to escape the attack by quickly jumping to a safe area, avoiding being caught in the explosion.
'I can't allow this Nartheis to attack me.'
Victoria gave him no time to regain his balance. She created a spear of pure magic, grabbed it firmly, and hurled it in his direction. Once again, Nivren was forced to dodge, but he couldn't escape the explosion caused by the impact. The detonation was so intense that it could be seen from at least one or two kilometers away.
Despite the attack's strength, the ground beneath them remained practically intact. This made sense, considering that, besides this world being three times more resistant than a normal world, its resistance had been multiplied by eleven to withstand the powers of Circle Five users.
'He dodged again?'
For the first time in her life, Victoria felt nervousness take hold of her. A slight sweat began trickling down her face. That was her most powerful attack, and she had even refined its execution before using it. So why did Nivren keep managing to escape?
She took a step backward and dodged another one of her opponent's attacks. Her mind was filled with confused thoughts as she tried to find an explanation for the situation. She was so focused on this that she didn't even notice the fear written all over Nivren's face.
'Does this girl not realize how terrifying she is? Damn it... I need to finish her off before she regains her confidence.'
Nivren took advantage of Victoria's hesitation and quickly approached her, bringing one hand toward her face. Then he released a sound explosion at extremely close range. The impact made the girl's nose and ears bleed even more, while the sound wave passed through her body and damaged her internal organs.
'Is this pain?'
Her eyes quickly turned toward Nivren. For the first time, Victoria felt a genuine survival instinct take hold of her body. Acting purely on reflex, she released an expanding magical barrier that spread around her and struck her opponent directly, hurling him away.
The Nartheis spat out a considerable amount of black blood, feeling the impact of that barrier far more than he had expected.
'What kind of damage was that? It was just a barrier being created!'
Nivren fell to his knees for a moment, breathing with difficulty as he tried to catch his breath. The situation was absurd. He was the one who should have been terrified, after all, he was facing an opponent whose power far surpassed his own. And yet, it was Victoria who was trembling, her eyes wide and her expression that of someone who believed she was about to die.
'Did this girl take only that much damage and already start thinking she's going to die? Doesn't she realize that her body is simply monstrous?'
Even with her internal injuries, Victoria could still move as if she were practically in perfect condition. Nivren could tell that the damage inflicted so far was nowhere near enough to compromise her physical capabilities.
'I need to eliminate her at all costs. If this continues, I might end up being defeated. I'll use this fear to my advantage.'
Concentrating Sound Magic in his feet, Nivren propelled his body forward and charged at high speed. His blow struck Victoria's shoulder with enough force to send her flying. Before she could recover, he disappeared from her field of vision and reappeared behind her, both hands raised, ready to continue his attack.
"Sound Explosion!"
Nivren unleashed a powerful shock wave directly against Victoria's body. Taking advantage of the moment when the impact left her stunned, he immediately advanced and began delivering a series of blows, giving her no time to regain her stance or react properly.
Victoria tried to defend herself as best she could, keeping her arms raised to protect mainly her face and prevent any more blows from hitting her.
'What's happening? Why am I having so much trouble against someone at this level?'
Despite her efforts, she couldn't keep up with all of Nivren's movements. The blows kept coming from different directions, and she barely had time to react. However, when she received the fourth punch, some words Hao had spoken during the difficult training sessions she had undergone with him came back to her mind.
"You have a problem with your mindset."
"What do you mean by that? As far as I know, I don't have that kind of problem, after all..."
"That's precisely because you've never faced any difficulties. I know geniuses like you. That's why I've never been particularly interested in training you, and, to be honest, I hadn't even considered doing so. But we need powerful mages."
At the time, Victoria couldn't hide her irritation upon hearing those words. After all, she had always been recognized for her talent and abilities. How could someone say she had a problem with her mindset?
Now, however, she was beginning to understand what Hao had really meant. Looking at one of the pieces of glass scattered across the ground, she saw her reflection and realized what she looked like as she desperately tried to protect herself from Nivren's blows. That image was a far cry from the confidence and composure she had always displayed.
"I'm certain you would lose to someone weaker if you continued like this."
'This pathetic appearance... Is this me? The one who has always been called a genius since birth?'
After receiving another blow, Victoria realized that Nivren intended to kill her as quickly as possible. Because of that, she created that explosive barrier again, sending him flying away once more.
'No... That doesn't matter. The most important thing is to survive, isn't it?'
She even considered the possibility of running away, but then she remembered the four who had shown courage despite being inferior to her in practically every aspect. For some reason, she also wanted to prove that she was better than that Enrico. Thus, when she took a step toward escaping, her foot simply stopped.
"Heh... What a pathetic appearance..."
Nivren appeared above her head, preparing an attack aimed at a vital point in her neck. He was about to deliver the blow that would end the fight. However, Victoria carefully followed his movements and, at that moment, noticed something that had completely escaped her attention until then.
'He can dodge my attacks, but he's still slightly slower than me when I use my body.'
Taking a step backward, Victoria allowed Nivren to pass by her. Her eyes carefully followed every movement of her opponent, and her perception began to recover. The fear of facing real danger for the first time had completely limited her ability to analyze the situation. She felt pain, but it was nowhere near as intense as she had imagined.
'This is truly pathetic... Why was I, the stronger one, trying to run away?'
Even when she was still at Circle One or Two, Victoria had already shown herself to be a true monster. Even when facing opponents whose progress percentages within the same Circle were far higher than hers, the difference in power was always overwhelming. She simply dominated her opponents without encountering any major difficulties.
Victoria existed on a completely different level from other people, and this wasn't merely an impression based on her own opinion. The world itself naturally recognized this difference. It wasn't a matter of Victoria believing she was on another level. She truly was. Her Magic Circle possessed a naturally superior quality compared to everyone else's.
Regaining her confidence, Victoria raised one hand and released an enormous amount of magic. This time, however, something was different. Her true magical affinity finally began to manifest, since, until that moment, she had only used magic in its pure state.
This meant that all the techniques she had demonstrated until then, such as creating magical spears or even becoming invisible, had been performed exclusively through the manipulation of pure magic. She hadn't even resorted to her true affinity.
It was something similar to what Kai had done before discovering his Ocean Magic. However, this comparison also highlighted a difference between Kai and Valença: he had never been able to manipulate pure magic in that way, while she did so naturally, without even needing to resort to her affinity.
"So this is my affinity? Just like the others, I also thought I didn't have one."
Nivren's face filled with terror when he realized that the girl had just awakened the very power Jago had warned him about so much. The space around Victoria seemed to distort slightly, and a confident smile began to appear on her face.
"I had forgotten that I'm the child who destroyed her own house when she was born."
Nivren used a sound shock wave released from his mouth to try to escape that area. He was still in the air, but, to his despair, Victoria simply lowered her hand. The attack, which had expanded to reach at least ten meters, passed through space and cut Nivren in half as if it were a sword.
"Thank you for reminding me how special I am."
Even as his body disappeared, Nivren could still make out the signs of a slash beginning to appear in the space behind him.
"Space Magic..."