Chapter 562 Defense Specialization and Revenge 2

Defense Specialization and Revenge 2

Like Maple and Mii before them, Frederica and Sally faced each other—and moved the instant the signal for their duel rang out.

“【Multi Fireball】【Multi Wind Blades】!”
Frederica launched twin spells. Sally sprinted straight in, slipping through what looked like a seamless wall of fire and wind by reading the tiny gap in their impact timing—never slowing, never stumbling.

“【Multi Barrier】! Notes, 【Echo Chant】!”
A forest of barriers sprang up to block Sally’s path. With no seams to thread, she couldn’t ghost through; she hacked with her daggers and shattered the panes one by one.

“【Multi Fireball】!”
If Frederica funneled Sally into a single opening, she could pour everything through it and make dodging impossible. Sally widened that opening by breaking and sidestepping, but Frederica wasn’t letting her close so easily.

Even so, something in Sally’s rhythm made Frederica frown.

“Hmm… what’s wrong? You seem… quieter than usual!”
No illusions woven into motion. No bold, vertical footwork. Sally wasn’t at full throttle yet—and Frederica could tell.

“I’m waiting to see when you’ll use 【Sea of Mana】.”
In all their duels, Frederica had never used 【Sea of Mana】—meaning she’d never unveiled her 【Ultra Multi Magic】.

“I’ll wait for you. It’s the last time, right? You’d regret holding back and losing.”

“Confident, aren’t we?”
Blasts flew, quips traded—but just as she’d said, Sally didn’t rush deep. At this “right” distance, Frederica’s 【Multi Magic】 would never quite catch her, no matter how long the match dragged.

That is… not with mere 【Multi Magic】.

When Frederica lowered her staff, Sally also halted.

“All right—have it your way. I’ll use it.”

“Then I promise this: I won’t run out the clock. I’ll beat you head-on.”

“If you can… do it! 【Sea of Mana】!”
Power flooded from Frederica like a rising tide. Sally reset her grip on her daggers.

“【Ultra Multi Fireball】! Notes, 【Amplify】!”
Countless fire orbs swelled, boosted by Notes, and roared at Sally.

“【Water Path】【Icicle Pillar】【Water Veil】!”
Sally snapped into aerial mode—building space to move in three dimensions—and aimed for one more thing.

“【Ultra Multi Acceleration】!”

“Heh…”
Frederica’s next choice looked odd—she sped up with Sally and… back-stepped even from long range. A heartbeat later, a column of water erupted where she had been standing.

“Even if I don’t know the trick, I can still respect the danger, right?”

“Fair enough…”
Somehow, whenever Sally cast one thing, something else also fired. Frederica didn’t know it was 【Disguise】—but she’d seen the pattern. To avoid a fatal surprise, she now built a micro-evade into every one of Sally’s callouts. At ranged mage distance, the small hitch didn’t matter. She’d just dodged a 【Flash Flood】 hidden under 【Water Veil】.

“【Ultra Multi Fireball】【Ultra Multi Wind Blades】!”
This wasn’t simple multi-casting anymore; flames and wind layered so thick they looked like moving walls.

“【Icicle Pillar】! 【Over-Accel】!”
“【Ultra Multi Water Bullets】!”
Sally stitched several pillars, line-whipped herself beyond the storm edge, and slid behind Frederica to a pillar she’d planted earlier—only to be driven back when a rain of water rounds erased her approach lanes. She retreated along the flowing ribbon of 【Water Path】.

“【Ultra Multi Barrier】【Ultra Multi Pressure】【Ultra Multi Water Bullets】【Ultra Multi Fireball】【Ultra Multi Wind Blades】!”
“Oboro, 【Vanish】! 【Partner’s Aid】!”
With effectively endless mana, Frederica fired off hundreds of “normal” spells at once: pen Sally in, crush her mobility with weight, then land the barrage. Sally refused the cage, slipping through with 【Vanish】 to break the killbox.

“Oboro, 【Black Smoke】.”
The smoke bloomed—and ten Sallys burst out in different directions.

“…!”
The real Sally would never get clipped. Using the absurd hand-count of 【Ultra Multi Magic】, Frederica made the logical play—erase every image. When all the fakes fell, the true one would be obvious.

Flames erased one phantom after another—until none remained.

“Notes, 【Sonar】!”
Sally had vanished with 【Mirage】 and 【Flash Step】. Lose her now and the match would tilt for good. Frederica burned her one-use detection.

“【Ultra Multi Light Beams】!”
Target: front, high-left.
A lattice of lasers hammered the sky trail where Sally built invisible steps—but Sally dropped through the gaps and touched down as if the beams weren’t there.

“You dodge too much…!”
This was Frederica’s first time firing 【Ultra Multi Magic】 at Sally. Tens of spells might miss—hundreds shouldn’t. That belief… was naïve.

Sally’s precision was beyond abnormal—far beyond her old self. When she’d said “I’m the strongest I’ve ever been,” it wasn’t bravado.

Which is exactly why Frederica wanted to win today.

Spell after spell, and Sally evaded them all—no fraying, no seam to tug. Even so, sheer hand-count remained Frederica’s edge. She wouldn’t stop forcing Sally to answer.

“【Ultra Multi Fireball】【Ultra Multi Wind Blades】… 【Ultra Multi Barrier】!”
She threw up twin elemental walls, forced Sally to halt, and clapped barriers around her.

“Got you…!”

“【Vanish】.”
“—!?”
Sally’s voice came from diagonally behind—impossible. When had she…? If this continued, I’ll die. Illusions can’t “cast.” Yet that voice—unmistakable—said the Sally behind her had swapped in for the fake.

Frederica whirled—Sally’s dagger was already arcing down.

“【Gust】!”
You can’t hurt what’s in 【Vanish】. Frederica spat a snap-spell, blasting herself with a conjured wind to pry open distance, then raised her staff to slam 【Ultra Multi Magic】 the instant 【Vanish】 wore off—

“…No way.”
The “real” Sally blurred like smoke and vanished before her eyes.
Inside the cage of 【Ultra Multi Barrier】 there was no Sally… and just to the side, the true Sally—never stopped—stepped through and brought her dagger down. In the final instant before her own view went black, Frederica saw her head tumble.

—

Respawning, Frederica popped back to her start point without a moment’s doubt.

“Why why why why!?”

“Whoa—”

“When!? How did you get that close!?”
She’d boxed Sally—she was sure. Yet when she noticed, Sally was already at her side in 【Vanish】… then that Sally had “swapped with a fake.”

Since this was their last duel, Sally decided to show her hand.

“Just like you’d never used 【Sea of Mana】 on me—I’d never shown you this. The Sally behind you? From start to finish, she was an illusion.”

“Eh—!? N-no way. You used 【Vanish】, I heard it!”
Sally walked a few steps, picked up a small crystal from the ground, and flicked it on.

“【Vanish】! 【Vanish】! 【Vanish】!”

“Ah…”
“Like that. I set the timer. It plays my voice by itself.”

“Uuuu…!”
When Sally planted an 【Icicle Pillar】 behind Frederica and rushed, her real aim was to stick this prerecorded crystal onto the pillar. Frederica’s style was a fixed gunline—she didn’t roam far. Time it right, let the pillar drop, and the crystal would fall near Frederica, then play on cue. Pair that with a phantom—and you get an “illusion” doing what only the real Sally can: a skill callout.

The real Sally just used that as bait and closed straight in—handing Frederica “proof” strong enough to believe… and then steering her focus wherever Sally wanted.

“Guuh… haah—defeat defeat. I lo~st. Why are you so strong?”

“Especially today. On a normal day I couldn’t dodge 【Ultra Multi Magic】 like that.”

“You didn’t have to go that hard… geez! So, a clean sweep against me in the end…”
Frederica twirled her staff, cheeks puffed and sulky.

“First win… postponed. For a while?”

“Running off with all the wins is cheating, you know？ …This was one match only, okay? I’ll be waiting when you come back—strong enough to one-shot you.”

When Sally returned, that would be the bell for their rematch. Frederica leveled her spinning staff at her.

“Hehe. I’ll keep training—if I lose then…”

“Don’t plan for losing! Okay, see you—keep that neck ready!”

“Honestly—you always sound so bold when you’re the one who lost.”

“No point being timid, right?”

“True… and, thank you. For all the fights. I’m really glad.”

“I’ll take that ‘thank you’ as a rain check for one win.”

As always, they traded a last tease, ended their duel, and walked off in different directions—rivals, smiling.