Vol 2. Chapter 33: Storm Clash

"Take my Ice-Iron Elbow, you damn Fanatic!"

Armor crackling with jagged ice thorns, Vinny staggered forward, body pitched low, pouring every ounce of his weight into his shoulder and forward-driving elbow, smashing it mercilessly into the Fanatic’s abdomen.

In an instant, the Fanatic was blasted clean off the ground, tumbling through the air for dozens of meters before he barely managed to stabilize himself.

Vinny honestly had no idea how much of that impact was really his doing. Maybe one percent? Maybe less? Whatever—he didn’t care. The satisfaction of sending the bastard flying? That was enough.

Sure, factually speaking, Aesphyra probably contributed ninety-nine percent of the force behind that blow... But didn’t he provide at least one percent?

Hey, even glaring at the guy should count as a visual assist, right? Saying the Fanatic got repelled by him wasn’t exactly a lie.

The Fanatic, flung backwards, finally steadied himself with great difficulty. Scalding blood and crystallized frozen blood dripped from his body in rivulets. But there was far less frozen blood—the searing, boiling blood poured down in sheets, melting and overtaking what little ice crystals had formed.

"Tch... This guy’s random Alchemical Blood package is that versatile? He’s got fire, ice, and lightning elemental affinities all mixed in?" Vinny muttered.

“Ugh... Ugh...!” The Fanatic crouched low, swiping away the steaming blood pouring from his forehead. His trembling hand was slick with crimson.

“Pitiful humans... You dare wound me?!” The rage blazing in his eyes left no doubt—Aesphyra’s last strike had completely infuriated him.

The nearly three-meter-tall mutated monster let out a guttural, tearing screech, like a shattered organ pipe. Slamming both arms into the ground, sparks of lightning and roaring gales burst forth. Two fundamentally different elemental forces merged into a singular, chaotic storm, erupting violently before the Radiant Sanctum.

[Lightning Storm]

Two-Element Storm?

Vinny’s eyes twitched. He still remembered watching Isatia conjure a Three-Element Storm during the academy entrance exams—etched deep in his memory.

On the continent of Tyrelis, Multi-Element Storms were practically legendary. Even ordinary folk who didn’t know a fireball from a mana crystal had heard whispers of these spells.

They were infamous for good reason—deadly powerful, impossibly difficult, and symbolically prestigious. Unlike typical high-tier magic, Multi-Element Storms required not just a mage-type Soul Armament, but also exceptional elemental affinity and comprehension across multiple forces.

Think of it like tea—different flavors crafted from the same basic ingredients of milk and leaves. Multi-Element Storms were built on the same principle. The base? A storm. The mix-ins? As many elements as your control could handle.

The Fanatic’s concoction? Lightning and wind—a classic, brutal combination. His affinity and control over both elements must be absurdly high to conjure such a potent Dual-Element Storm.

Compared to that... Vinny's earlier Lightning enchantment from his magic ring? Child’s play. Hell, the storm hadn’t even swept over yet and his bones were already tingling with static.

And the worst part? The Fanatic cast it instantly. No preamble. No build-up. Just raw effort and fanatical will, befitting a high-ranking Alchemical Demon God zealot.

Vinny clenched his jaw. He wanted to hurl out another Frostmoon Crescent Slash, maybe pop up an ice wall for defense—but reality sucked. That spell wasn’t something you could spam freely. It needed charge time, and against the Fanatic's firepower? His own magic arsenal was embarrassingly weak. Either bank on Frostfang's enchantments or gamble with Condensed Ice Lock and headbutts.

"This bastard... Planning to wreck the cathedral like it’s his personal dance floor or something?" Vinny growled.

If this lunatic kept raging unchecked, even Saintess Selina Cathedral's reinforced dome wouldn’t hold.

A thousand-year-old sanctuary, built from holy silver and jadeite that resisted the erosion of time itself... Every brick, every tile, priceless beyond measure. The damage bill alone would be astronomical.

Thankfully... Aesphyra moved.

Grasping her radiant, divine sword, fingers pale as jade weaving glowing spell-seals in the air, she conjured dozens of intricate magic runes in an instant.

Vinny stood frozen, jaw slack.

His Soul Armament wasn’t mage-type—he couldn’t decipher these spell patterns—but the sight still left him awestruck.

Those complex, cryptic runes made his scalp prickle, reminiscent of those maddening advanced calculus equations from his past life. One glance at the tangled mess of symbols and numbers, and your brain was overloaded.

And Aesphyra? Effortlessly sculpted dozens of them with a flick of her delicate wrist.

Standing before her, even the most dazzling prodigies seemed utterly dull.

“Boom—BOOM—BOOM!”

The Lightning Storm ravaged the second floor of the cathedral, but Aesphyra remained unfazed. She reversed her grip on the holy sword, flicked it skyward, slicing apart the compressed runes—unleashing a storm infused with multiple elemental forces, roaring straight into the heart of the enemy’s tempest.

Gods clashing, mortals suffering. Vinny, knowing full well he couldn’t contribute to this exchange, wisely retreated several dozen meters to avoid any stray AOE.

Against the Fanatic's Dual-Element Storm, Aesphyra retaliated in kind—with her own Multi-Element Storm.

"One, two, three... four..." Vinny counted the storm's elements aloud. Lightning. Earth. Wind. And of course, her signature—flames.

The visual impact? Ridiculous.

In Vinny's eyes, the storm carried roaring crimson lotus flames. Thunder boomed within its swirling eye. Debris whipped along its edges as jagged cracks split the earth in its wake, the ground itself trembling under its might.

“Four-Element Storm... Damn.” Vinny swallowed hard.

Theoretically, Multi-Element Storms had no hard limit. As long as your control and elemental affinity were high enough, even Nine-Element Storms were possible.

Emphasis on theoretically. Historically? No one had ever pulled that off.

Look, reality was cruel. Mastering a Nine-Element Storm meant possessing a mage-type Soul Armament plus peak affinity across every element—a fantasy at best.

It’s like saying every person has strengths and weaknesses—no one’s perfect. No one had flawless affinity with all elements.

Hell, plenty of elements outright conflicted—light and darkness, ice and fire, water and fire, fire and nature...

Even if someone had the potential, merging all nine was practically impossible. Jumping from a Three-Element to a Four-Element Storm was already a quantum leap in difficulty, not a minor upgrade.

And yet... Aesphyra checked every impossible box.

Her Hero Soul Armament? Officially warrior-type, yet uniquely capable of casting every mage-type spell known.

Her fire affinity shattered all limits, and her overall elemental affinity? Outstanding across the board. On paper, she was the first person in history with a legitimate shot at conjuring a Nine-Element Storm.

Others might not believe it. Vinny? Oh, he believed.

Among first-year students, finding even three who could manage a Three-Element Storm was impossible—forget a Four-Element one.

Don’t get it twisted—four wasn’t Aesphyra's ceiling. If she really wanted to, maybe one day she'd unleash a full Nine-Element Storm.

Her Four-Element Storm crashed into the Fanatic's Dual-Element Storm, both devouring magic at a brutal pace.

But the collateral damage?

Cathedral roof, support beams—under immense strain.

"Hey! Maybe try not blowing the ceiling down?!" Vinny shouted, clutching his wind-tangled hair, but his voice vanished beneath the roar of clashing storms.

Not that she needed reminding.

Vinny's eyes widened. The cathedral walls, floors, and beams gleamed with layered water shields and earthen barriers.

What the hell... When did she set those up?

He hadn’t even seen Aesphyra’s casting motions.

And in that brief time, she’d blanketed every inch of the structure in intricate, multi-elemental defenses. Like doing impossible calculus while simultaneously acing every other subject. Multitasking beyond reason.

Vinny had lost count of how many times he’d asked himself this:

Was this pocket-sized gremlin even human?

Why was the gap between people this absurdly massive?

Honestly? Apart from her... modest height, there wasn’t a single imperfection you could find in Aesphyra—even under a magnifying glass.

Vinny, reluctantly, started understanding why the original novel’s heroines fell for her.

This silver-haired girl was absurdly confident, unwavering, impossibly skilled, dangerously flirty... Gender? That was irrelevant.

Someone this outrageously powerful, this maddeningly flawless, this shamelessly good at everything—what sane person wouldn’t fall?

Not that he planned to join the harem ranks anytime soon. But still, he could empathize. A little.

"Hey..." Vinny began, but froze mid-sentence.

He just noticed—the same transparent water and earth shields covered him too.

Was she... protecting him?

Vinny wasn’t sure if he should be touched or alarmed.

Honestly? His emotions were... complicated.

Never thought he’d see the day Aesphyra went out of her way to safeguard him.

But...

Vinny’s brows furrowed.

Protecting him meant dividing her attention—a deadly gamble in a life-or-death fight. She’d said so herself: hesitation in battle could kill you.

Diverting spells and energy to shield him and the ancient cathedral? Reckless.

Turns out, Aesphyra was surprisingly devout—willing to burn through precious resources to protect millennia-old relics.

But that same devotion drained her magic reserves fast. The Fanatic’s raw power, his Dual-Element Storm alone, was damn near as destructive as a Three-Element Storm.

Even Aesphyra couldn’t secure a swift victory under these conditions.

Terrifying, really—considering how young she was. First-year student, at that.

A Four-Element Storm should’ve overwhelmed a Dual-Element Storm—but Aesphyra’s magic and stamina were stretched thin, and in the end... it was a stalemate.

The raging storm nearly blinded Vinny, debris howling in every direction.

But as the elemental fury dissipated, Vinny stood dumbfounded.

The grand hall? Completely unscathed.

The devastation Multi-Element Storms could unleash—everyone knew that.

But Aesphyra? She’d flawlessly counteracted the collateral damage, nullifying both her own magic and the enemy’s within the area.

One slip-up, and it all would've collapsed.

But now? Silver hair pristine, expression calm, radiant composure untouched—Aesphyra stood as if the elemental clash never even happened. Not a single strand of hair out of place.

The ease of the strong...

“You’re powerful, human,” the Fanatic sneered, shaking his head. “But you’re shackled by hesitation. That’s your weakness.”

“Unlike you, I have no such restraints. I exist to shatter your false ‘order.’ Nothing more.”

“My goal is pure. That’s why... you’ll never defeat me.”

Aesphyra smiled faintly, lips curling with understated pride. “You’re not bad yourself. You’ve lasted this long against me—congratulations.”

Vinny cupped his hands around his mouth, shouting, “Keep talking, buddy! The two of us can stall you here all day. Once the combat instructors show up? You’re screwed. So, maybe run along now, yeah?”

The Fanatic chuckled darkly. “Our infiltration of Carillian Academy wasn’t some random prank.”

“We’ve been embedded for years... all for one purpose. Waiting for the right moment to strike down this so-called ‘proud institution’ in one decisive blow.”

“You think this little scuffle is some harmless distraction? You think we exposed so many of our operatives just to ‘play around’?”

The Fanatic’s laughter echoed, eyes glinting with cold finality.