While Morther was executing his plan, Victoria was also thinking quickly, because unlike him, she didn't have the unique ability to see a person's mana amount. That's why she had created that method so quickly, to take advantage of her magic as much as possible.
'Even if I can defend myself now, I literally can't attack, nor do I know how much mana he has.'
Trying to think of something, she saw only one option to win that battle, so she took a deep breath to focus as much as possible while waiting for the next attacks. Feeling an attack coming from behind, she immediately activated her defensive magic, but to her surprise, the strike that hit her back launched her forward and still managed to injure her.
'Is this guy planning to use everything?'
Standing back up, she felt one of the bones in her back break, causing her to sweat. Wanting to make sure she could defend herself again, she activated her spatial defense once more.
'Even if he managed to injure me, I can still endure a few more attacks—'
A new attack hit her back again, but this time it wasn't a blade like before. What struck her was a red bolt firing from the tip of her enemy's blade.
'Damn it. He hit the same spot—now I'll have to concentrate more magic on that part of my back.'
To her surprise, the next attack didn't target her back. It came from the front, with Morther charging a blade filled with a massive amount of mana.
"Third magic."
With an upward swing of his blade, a red pillar erupted from the ground and struck Victoria, making her body bleed.
"AAAHHHH—!"
"Hahahaha! Seems even a prodigy collapses completely before a greater power!"
Morther watched Victoria's body being flung backward with a laugh. It was extremely satisfying to see a prodigy fall like that, so he was undeniably pleased.
"Thank you."
"What?"
Hearing Victoria's voice while still midair, Morther froze as he felt an explosion of mana erupt around her. Victoria's eyes were closed as she fell backward.
"He's far better than you."
"Why do you always say that, you damn old man?"
She hated when Hao compared her to Enrico. She was the greatest prodigy in history, and had become even greater after overcoming her mental block—the fear—and yet he still said she was behind that boy.
"Because it's the truth. Lying to my disciple would be irresponsible of me. Besides, didn't you hear from those two sisters? He reached the fifth circle before you."
"Even so, I already overcame my mental block and reached the fifth circle just a few weeks later, so why do you still think that? If it's about mentality, mine has become very strong in that time."
"Because he has an incredible determination to survive."
"What do you mean by that? In my opinion, everyone wants to survive, don't they?"
"Yes, everyone does. But for some reason, I feel that his determination to live is stronger than anyone else's."
Those words confused her and surprised her at the same time, because trying to survive was exactly what she did that day when she fought that Nartheis.
"So besides his mentality—which, forgive me for mentioning again, is much better—his determination and knowledge are superior to yours."
"So if I obtain knowledge, I get closer to him, right?"
Hao, who had been drinking something, spat it out when he saw Victoria staring at the ground with frustration. It seemed he had gone too far in trying to create rivalry between them.
"We can say yes."
"Very well, then I'll study a lot—you'll see—and then I'll surpass him completely."
Victoria, still in the air, opened her eyes with a confident smile, looking directly at her opponent. He seemed surprised by her gratitude and her power.
"It's impossible that you—not at that age—"
Spinning in the air, Victoria landed calmly. Lifting her fingers, a pressure so intense filled the air that Morther was forced to his knees. The force was so strong that his knees broke and the ground cracked. With fear rising in his chest, he saw her shadow approaching.
'A monster… She's a monster.'
Victoria placed her hand on his head as if thanking him in some way; her confident smile filled him with even more fear.
"Truly, thank you for almost killing me. Thanks to that, I reached the sixth circle."
Before, Morther had struggled to defeat her even when her level was lower than his—so now, it would be impossible for him to do anything against this abomination.
"Goodbye, stepping stone."
With absurd strength transmitted through her palm, Morther's body was crushed into the ground, leaving only a mark of blood. It had been a quick death, giving him no chance to try anything else. Victoria pressed her wrist with her other hand, feeling a small pain.
"Looks like I used too much magic in my hand… having magic this strong comes with problems."
Prodigy? No—she was more than that. She was an aberration of nature, created to have more potential than the protagonist of this world himself. And her magic was so strong that her own body had certain limits in enduring it.
'I need to find a way to use this magic to its maximum potential.'
Her spatial magic was without a doubt one of the strongest that had ever existed in this world. Without a doubt, if she had this new mentality in the original story, at least three evil gods would have been defeated—even if she still ended up being defeated.
'Would Enrico find a way to use his potential to the maximum?'
Crossing her arms, she seriously wondered how that boy would think of a way to improve himself like that. From Hao's words and from what she had seen during the first year—both before he joined her class and after she saw it with her own eyes—he always found a way to improve his existing abilities.
'His body is as special as mine, isn't it? Maybe… well, it doesn't matter. I reached the sixth circle far earlier—'
Before she could continue thinking, she felt a very powerful magic rising somewhere—something that shouldn't be possible, since she didn't have the ability to sense mana. Looking to the left, near where the three who had helped her were fighting and near the barrier, Victoria smiled slightly as she realized what it was.
"Ha…"