Dust and smoke scattered in all directions. Looking at that completely unharmed effigy, Frieren felt nothing but a massive headache.
She hadn't expected that Fíliya, possessing [Infinite Mana], would actually cause her this much trouble.
For Frieren herself, this was the first time since becoming a [Great Mage] that she had encountered an opponent she couldn't overwhelm with [Technique].
She was absolutely certain that Fíliya was the person most skilled at micromanaging [Defensive Magic] in this entire world. After all, even Frieren couldn't break through Fíliya's defenses using conventional methods.
If the magic lacked sufficient intensity, no matter how tricky the angle of the surprise attack, it was impossible to harm even a hair on Fíliya's head—Frieren had already confirmed this point in the earlier battle.
That was why she had no choice but to try out those old toys she had left gathering dust for decades.
But whether it was [Ruining Thunder], [Hellfire], or the [Gravity Black Hole] just now, none of them achieved the effect of destroying Fíliya.
By the time that humanoid figure, resembling a mud doll, assumed its stance again, dozens of dazzling white lines instantly appeared in front of Frieren, suppressing her and forcing her to retreat repeatedly.
Immediately following that was a dense rain of swords, constantly grinding away at the silver-white barrier in front of her.
Frieren knew very well that her opponent possessed [Infinite Mana], which was the only reason she could support such extravagant attacks. But looking at those exquisitely crafted flying swords, Frieren still felt a slight urge to question Fíliya: exactly who did she learn this fighting style from? It had absolutely no sense of aesthetics.
"Tsk... am I actually getting distracted to throw out retorts in the middle of a battle? That really isn't like me. Being around that person, I've picked up bad habits."
Frieren sighed. Fortunately, although the Counterfeit Fíliya's spells were astonishing in quantity, they were somewhat lacking in power. As long as Frieren maintained a fully covering [Defensive Magic], there was no possibility of her defense being breached.
Thus, she resumed her train of thought.
The method Fíliya used just now to withstand the [Gravity Black Hole]... that method of turning her entire body into gold...
Frieren subconsciously bit her lip, because she knew the true name of this magic.
This was the [Magic of Converting All Things to Gold (Di Agolze)] belonging to the leader of the Seven Sages of Destruction, Macht of the Golden Land.
And on a certain day hundreds of years ago, Frieren herself had experienced this magic firsthand.
At that time, she was still far from the title of [Great Mage], and her strength was nowhere near what it was now, so she was completely unable to contend with Macht.
Luckily, Macht's target that time wasn't her at all; she had merely been affected by an unconscious wave of collateral damage. Yet, just that ripple was enough to turn one of her hands completely into gold.
Frieren still remembered that she had suppressed her mana to the absolute limit back then to avoid being discovered by Macht... Of course, it was also possible she had been discovered long ago, and Macht simply disdained to deliver a finishing blow to an [Ant].
After that, Frieren hid in a secluded place and spent a full one hundred years just to restore her arm.
Yet the young human girl in front of her had actually accomplished—with ease—what took Frieren one hundred years to do, and she had even turned the [Magic of Converting All Things to Gold] into something she could use herself.
Although what Fíliya learned was an incomplete [Magic of Converting All Things to Gold], such a thing was enough to be called a magnificent feat.
"...Tsk."
Thinking of this, Frieren felt a slight twinge of jealousy.
Just as humans envied elves for their nearly infinite lifespans, elves also envied humans for their nearly infinite potential.
Humanity could give birth to the Hero of the South, could give birth to Himmel... and could give birth to fellows like Fíliya.
"You guys, who can stand shoulder to shoulder with us—who have trained for a thousand years—using only an extremely short life, are the real monsters, aren't you?"
Frieren thought with a bit of indignation.
"The [Indestructible] nature of Gold Transformation is indeed practically unsolvable. Since that's the case... I have no choice but to show you... just what a [Great Mage] is."
Seeing that her prolonged attacks were yielding no results, Frieren finally made up her mind.
She was well aware that she actually didn't need to work this hard. After all, the mission Fíliya had assigned earlier was merely to stall these copies. Even if she destroyed the copies, they would respawn before long...
Even though she behaved unreliably most of the time, to the point of needing a human girl countless times younger than herself to take care of her daily life... when it came to [Magic] alone, this white-haired elf possessed considerable pride.
No matter how naturally gifted a genius Fíliya was, if cleaning up a twenty-something little girl required Frieren to go to such great lengths, her self-esteem simply wouldn't be able to accept it.
So, she activated that move—the one at the bottom of her chest of trump cards.
"I remember the last time I used this move, it was on the Demon King."
A mischievous smirk appeared at the corner of Frieren's mouth.
Immediately following that, in the very next instant, the Counterfeit Fíliya's body was directly and without any warning pressed into the wall dozens of meters away.
"!"
If this creation of the [Water-Mirror Demon] could speak, it would surely have shouted, "How is this possible?!"
In fact, it was just so. Frieren's move was completely instantaneous: no wind-up, no warning signs, and no mana fluctuations. Such an attack, within the theoretical system of modern mages, couldn't even be recognized as a type of [Magic].
"Since I can't break the Gold Transformation, I'll just have to make you lose your mobility... In this situation, can you put up any resistance? Even if you want to continue keeping yourself gold-transformed, you won't be able to focus, right?"
Deeply embedded in the wall, Fíliya tried to struggle, but she was like a fly swatted against a wall, completely unable to move. Under such immense pressure, her mud-doll-like body had already begun to crack and disintegrate at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Frieren clearly understood the principle of hitting a dog while it's down, so she immediately followed up with several magic cannon blasts. Under the suppression of that unknown magic, Fíliya was completely unable to make any effective response, and so...
After two clear booming sounds, her right hand and left leg fell off, and faintly, the remaining two limbs showed trends of breaking off as well.
"Oh? I clearly aimed the last shot at the head... To still be able to avoid a fatal wound in this situation... I really can't relax my guard at all."
Frieren murmured, then immediately fired several more magic cannons.
But the scene she anticipated did not occur. Instead, after she blinked quite naturally, her entire field of vision was drowned in a pure white color.
"This is..."
Frieren raised her eyebrows slightly. Because of this sudden change, the remnants of Fíliya's body also vanished from sight.
She hurriedly surveyed her surroundings. At first, it was just a very nihilistic pure white, but immediately after, Frieren discovered that a cluster of flowers had bloomed by her feet. Then, after the interval of just a few breaths, this patch of flowers spread rapidly, becoming... a sea of flowers.
____
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