The next item was definitely significantly weaker than the multiplying staff.
It wasn’t completely useless; like any artifact, its value depended on the situation, and it was still usable. However, going up against an artifact whose literal ability was to double attack power without repercussions was an uphill battle.
But that’s beside the point.
Maybe fusing will make it better?
[Profaned Step]
I appeared atop one of the academy’s largest buildings, situated near the north wing.
Below was the commerce district, where the academy’s sponsors were allowed to sell goods and even make deals with the students. It both increased the academy’s overall profits and improved the students’ ability to engage in trade.
It was one of the more useful districts in the academy.
And now... it was dominated by a single student, standing on that same building that overlooked everything.
A classmate, coincidentally enough.
"Arden... what brings you all the way here?"
Xander Fringe.
He was an S-rank fire mage and second in line to inherit the title of duke from his father.
Xander glanced at the staff in my hand, then narrowed his eyes and met my gaze.
"Do you really plan to clash with me?"
"I mean... you could use context clues if you want the answer."
I chuckled, already pointing the staff at him. Unlike the girls from before, I highly doubt he’ll let me take his artifact without a fight.
A [Mirror Husk]
An item that summons two copies of the user, but with far weakened capabilities, or in this case, an S-Rank like Xander would be able to make two B-Ranks of himself.
For a normal mage, that item alone would be enough to guarantee a win...
But...
Numbers don’t really matter if I get close to them before they even manage to land a single spell.
"Go easy on me, will you?"
Xander smiled, his body phasing in and out of existence as two others materialized outward. He knew he was at a disadvantage. Everyone at this point saw what I did to Julius back in the tournament.
But that didn’t mean he would surrender.
He was still a duke’s son; appearances matter even if he ultimately fails.
Besides, even surviving five minutes against me should be enough to make him popular.
"Ask, and you shall receive."
I bowed with a smile. Holding back shouldn’t be a problem, at least... as long as he doesn’t play dirty, that is.
[Soul Sense]
Too bad that’s what he had planned.
Three groups were positioned below, each one assigned kill spots just in case I stepped onto that particular part of the roof’s surface. Completely detonating the floor below me and hoping it was enough to take me out.
Funnily enough... it was a trap meant for professors.
Not for someone like me who just showed up suddenly.
"Y-You’re actually going to hold back?"
Xander raised a brow.
"Why not?"
FWISH!
I teleported the staff in my hand to a safe area and closed the distance instantly, my fist already clenched and ready to break his jaw with one powerful swing.
But he was lucky he had clones with him.
THWACK!
My fist met his clone instead as he quickly shifted positions, using fire spells to launch himself away with the force of the explosions.
It was like rocket boots—jetpacks for his feet, if I had to describe it.
[Incineration Rays]
He and his other clone attacked from both directions, but their ray of death didn’t really account for a fast opponent.
All it took was a simple sidestep. Instead of hitting me, the attack completely obliterated the first clone, which was still disoriented from my initial blow.
"I’m not even using magic, you know?" I taunted, moving across the roof again, deliberately avoiding the killspots he had set up with his team in advance. This time focusing on the main caster.
It was easy to tell him apart from the clone. The difference in magic power between the two bodies was so massive it was almost laughable.
[Mirror Husk]
He managed to swap places with another clone before my next punch connected.
But unlike before, this strike was strong enough to completely crush its head, causing it to immediately vanish from existence.
"A-Are you a gorilla!?"
Xander hesitated slightly. Was that bastard really holding back, he thought...?
If he were the one who got punched, then he literally could have lost his life...
"Tch!"
The entire rooftop was chaos, with fire spell after fire spell blasting across it, not even a single one managing to scratch me.
At this point, he stopped relying on the clones and just relied on sheer firepower to overwhelm me.
And here I was... just relying on my reaction time and raw physical ability.
"W-What the hell did they feed you!?"
Xander shouted, flooding the sky above the rooftop with spell circles until they even swallowed up the clouds.
Too bad he was restricted to precise spells because his team was still positioned below.
In the end, his own ambush plan came back to bite him in the ass.
"Can’t use your powerful spells?"
I laughed below, continuing to avoid beam after beam of fire, so that it started to look like I was choreographing a dance at this point.
Xander clearly didn’t like it. I could practically see a vein in his forehead threatening to burst from how irritated he was getting.
"Take him out, now!"
Xander yelled out to the mages still positioned on the floor below.
Did they really hear him correctly? Did he actually want them to completely obliterate the ceiling above? But what would happen to them?
"Now, before he takes you all out as well!"
Well... that did it.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
The entire rooftop vanished beneath my feet. Not only that, but several other floors as well.
With observers even coming in and rescuing students who couldn’t escape in time, pulling them away from the collapsing floors.
Concrete folded inward like paper, multiple spells detonating in sequence as if the building itself had swallowed a string of grenades. Heat surged up my legs, smoke and debris blasting past my ears.
For a split second, I was in a freefall.
Chunks of the roof collapsed around me, steel beams twisting and snapping as gravity dragged everything down at once.
"Shit—"
They actually did it.
Did they not care about friendly fire at all?
Guess desperation really does make people stupid.
But falling wasn’t the problem.
Falling just meant no footing.
And no footing just meant—
[Profaned Step]
FWISH.
The world flickered.
I reappeared mid-air beside a still-intact support column, one foot planting against it like it was solid ground. I kicked off instantly—
CRACK!
The concrete spider-webbed behind me as I launched back upward through the smoke.
[Light Manipulation]
Meanwhile...
"Did we get him!?"
"I-I don’t see him—!"
"There’s too much dust!"
From above, Xander hovered over the collapsed roof, using bursts of flame to stay aloft as he scanned the crater nervously. Below, several students who had survived the falling rubble were now coughing violently in the dust-filled air.
He really thought that worked?
Cute.
"Looking for something?"
I leaned in and whispered in his ear, completely masking my presence as I slipped behind him without anyone noticing.
"...!"
He turned too late.
THUD!
My fist buried straight into his gut.
Not full force.
Just enough.
All the air blasted out of his lungs at once.
"Ghk—!"
His body crumpled like wet paper as he plummeted through the remaining levels that had survived the mass detonation, smashing straight through three floors in a row.
CRASH!
CRASH!
CRASH!
The building shook hard enough that nearby windows shattered.
Damn.
Maybe that was still too much.
I peered down the hole.
"...Oops."
Before I could check—
FWOOSH!
A wall of fire exploded upward from below like a volcanic eruption.
Instinctively, I leaned back.
Too slow.
Heat grazed my sleeve, burning the fabric instantly.
So he wasn’t out yet.
Through the inferno, Xander shot back up, coughing, blood at the corner of his mouth, fury written all over his face.
Both hands were glowing now.
No more precision.
No more careful aim.
Just raw output.
"Screw the traps... screw the building...!"
Spell circles stacked behind him like overlapping suns.
Dozens.
Then hundreds.
The temperature spiked so fast the air warped. He was planning to take out everyone now, including his surviving teammates who were scattered across the building from the destruction.