A smile appeared on Noel's face as he looked at the Spirit Master that approached him and stabbed him on the other shoulder, rendering both arms useless.
The sword pierced through Noel's shoulder and Noel was screaming in pain. His face was distorted and his fear started to grow.
This was what the Spirit Master had been waiting for. With this, Noel shouldn't resist anymore.
It wouldn't be too long until he captured Noel… or so what was supposed to happen.
But in reality, while Noel clutched his shoulder because of the pain, the Spirit Master stabbed his other shoulder.
Unexpected, instead of piercing the shoulder, the blade actually stuck as if it had just hit a sturdy wall.
"!!!" The Spirit Master widened his eyes in shock while looking at Noel.
Noel was actually fine. He might have felt some pain in his shoulder earlier, but it wasn't to the point he was injured. The same applied to the stabbed area. The blade actually couldn't penetrate his skin, or specifically the armor underneath his shirt.
This was the armor made of the Ancient Demon Tree and was forged by a Master Blacksmith. Although the Master Blacksmith said it could only block an attack from a Spirit Wielder, Noel had perfected the Spirit Enhancement, turning it into a rune.
At the same time, the Spiritual Energy he used to strengthen the armor was enough to stop a Spirit Master's attack, let alone one without Spiritual Energy.
He had underestimated Noel.
Without the knowledge of this armor, the guy was completely frozen. He felt like time had stopped and he was trying to think like his life depended on it.
Noel, on the other hand, had prepared his attack this whole time. In fact, he had been luring the Spirit Master into this tricky situation. He knew he couldn't defeat a Spirit Master unless he risked his life.
When the opportunity arrived, Noel dropped his sword. The Spiritual Energy on his left hand turned into a phoenix, while the one on his right hand turned into Undying Fire.
Noel placed his right hand on the guy's chest while pushing him away.
The Spirit Master was startled because the fire finally made direct contact with his body. The Undying Fire had been enhanced, so the burning effect was far greater than the one Noel used against an eagle.
The Undying Fire started to spread on his body, burning his clothes away. Though, that wasn't Noel's ultimate objective.
The reason he pushed him away was to create a distance between him and the Spirit Master.
Noel took advantage of that gap to release his Undying Phoenix straight to him.
The Spirit Master tried to use his power to block it, but Noel understood his movement. His hand motion was making a thrust, so when Noel pushed him away, the hand kept pointing at the phoenix.
He might be able to use the blade extension at the last minute, but Noel had made a little tweak to the phoenix.
It suddenly leaned to the side a little bit, avoiding the blade.
"It moved?" The Spirit Master's body was shaken.
Noel was smiling. He still remembered what he had learned when he visited his mother's family. After training with Dimitri, he finally mastered the way to make a parabolic movement.
That was why he waved his hand horizontally, so the phoenix would move to the side for a bit before going back to its original track and hitting the Spirit Master.
The phoenix devoured the Spirit Master with that raging fire and gradually turned into a giant fireball.
"Aaaahhhh!" The Spirit Master was in agony. He was trying to cover his body with Spiritual Energy, but the overbearing flame instantly evaporated it.
The energy was so strong that he had a hard time enduring the pain. His skin was charred and his organ seemed to start failing.
He threw his body to the side to escape the fire, but the Undying Fire had been boosted by the Undying Phoenix, so the flame wasn't extinguished.
Even after using the Spiritual Energy to push away the flame, he still couldn't get rid of it.
The only way to get rid of it was to use an even more overwhelming Spiritual Energy, but he didn't have the time to do it. After all, Noel had reached his position while swinging his sword.
"!!!" The Spirit Master used all his strength to avoid it while enduring the burning pain.
"Tsk." Noel clicked his tongue, not because the Spirit Master avoided him, but because he only managed to cut his right arm.
"Aaaahhhhh!" The Spirit Master screamed in pain. The fire that covered his body started to spread to his inside through that wound.
The Spirit Master thought he had the ability to catch Noel and bring him to the organization, but it seemed he had made a mistake.
He didn't realize that Noel had made him think this way by exposing one weakness to another. At the same time, Noel also inflicted some damage.
He would have released all his strength if he was cornered, but Noel had controlled his power so that the wounds wouldn't be that big to the point he would change his objective from capturing him to killing him.
And at the last moment, he used one powerful attack to kill him. Everything was going according to Noel's plan.
Even if the end result was a bit unsatisfactory to Noel, it didn't change the fact that the Spirit Master had been wounded severely.
Noel and the Spirit Master glared at each other. They knew that their roles had reversed.
Noel took a deep breath and charged forward while the Spirit Master shouted as loud as possible, alarming his people.
Noel didn't allow him to talk too much as he had reached him and swung his blade. The Spirit Master tried to use his ability, but the fire burned his organs, causing him to be unable to use more power to resist him.
Ultimately, Noel ended his life in a single swing.