AI Model: gemini-2.0-flash
Chapter 35: Sophia's Self-Reflection
Under the protection of the Gladiator Arena's field magic, "False Life," Sophia had now fully recovered. The pure white maiden remained spotless, glowing with a pristine radiance, as if she had never been injured.
However, physical recovery did not mean the mind had also healed. The feeling of being instantly annihilated and then reduced to ashes was not so easily forgotten.
False Life could only ensure that a Demoness would not truly be injured; it had no other functions. Therefore, injuries sustained during a duel still hurt.
So, what would it feel like to have one's heart clawed out, and then be reduced to ashes?
After being teleported back to the lounge, Sophia slowly opened her eyes. Traces of lingering pain and fear remained in her golden pupils.
The pain was the imprint left by the experience of being reduced to ashes, and the fear was simply the inherent resistance to Death itself.
However, the Angel Witch was not a delicate young lady accustomed to a life of luxury. She quickly calmed her mind, stabilized her emotions, and closed her eyes again, beginning to review the battle that had ended in an instant.
Although Sophia was very unwilling to accept such a result of being instantly annihilated, a loss was a loss. No matter how much she argued, it was still a fact. So, instead of uselessly venting her emotions, it was better to reflect more deeply on herself and learn from the failure to avoid repeating the same mistakes next time.
First, the sin of Greed. I feared that Dorothy's appearance would threaten my position in my teacher's heart. Greed made me lose my composure, leading to me not putting up a shield immediately at the start of the duel, but choosing to attack instead.
Then came the second sin, arrogance. The reason I chose to attack first, besides Greed, was underestimation. I underestimated Dorothy, thinking that this Demoness who grew up in a small, rural place could never truly threaten me. Subconsciously, I felt that I didn't even need a shield to deal with her; a casual attack would suffice.
And then…
And then there was no 'then.' The duel ended too quickly, so much so that Sophia didn't even have time to make more mistakes. Just the initial misstep in her first move had already directly declared her defeat.
And this further demonstrated Dorothy's terrifying nature.
She was nothing like the harmless internet-addicted shut-in described in the information my teacher collected. As for her aspiration to become a Research Witch in the future, that was even more ridiculous.
What kind of Research Witch could possess such terrifying combat intuition? Is it really an easy thing to keenly detect a minuscule flaw in an opponent during a rapidly changing battle?
There is no shortcut to developing such combat intuition; it can only be cultivated through thousands of battles and skirmishes. This Dorothy is undoubtedly an experienced Duel Demoness.
But how did an internet-addicted girl hone such combat intuition? How could she have experienced so many duels?
Sophia pondered for a moment, then suddenly understood.
"Magic Net Duel?"
The Angel Witch murmured, and then felt an even greater sense of defeat in her heart.
She actually lost to a Magic Net Duelist?
In the Demoness dueling circles, there was also a hierarchy of disdain. The ruthless individuals who engaged in Death duels looked down upon Gladiator Arena duels conducted under the protection of False Life, and real-world Gladiator Arena duels, in turn, looked down upon Magic Net Duels.
After all, the realism of the Magic Net was only 99% of reality. That last bit of difference between reality and illusion didn't matter much for entertainment, but in combat, especially in battlefield skirmishes, it could be fatal. Even a slight discrepancy in feel could cause a Demoness to lose her life on the battlefield.
Not to mention that Magic Net Duels could also block pain and such. How is this something a warrior should do? If you're afraid of pain, why are you dueling? Scars and pain are also a pleasure of dueling, not to be missed. If you can't even accept that, you might as well go home and drink milk.
Therefore, the Witch World generally believed that Magic Net Duels were just an entertainment game played by Little Demonesses, allowing underage Little Demonesses or Research Witches who wouldn't go to the battlefield to experience the atmosphere of a duel.
True Armed Witches rarely engaged in Magic Net Duels. Playing one or two rounds occasionally for relaxation was fine, but prolonged play would only lead to a decline in the Armed Witches' strength.
After all, repeatedly bullying weaker opponents would only lead to assimilation into the same pond. Wielding a blade against the weak can only make you weaker. To become stronger, you must challenge even stronger opponents.
Sophia hadn't played a Magic Net Duel in a long time. The last time she played was when she was a child, when she was only seven or eight years old, and she was already slaughtering everyone in Magic Net Duels, feeling that weaklings were everywhere. So, she hadn't played much since then.
But now, Dorothy's appearance made her question her life a bit. Had Magic Net Duels secretly upgraded over the years? Is the quality of current Magic Net Duelists very high?
The Angel Witch decided to log on and try it out after she returned.
However, while acute combat intuition was important, it was only one factor in Dorothy's ability to instantly annihilate her, not the whole. The truly decisive factor was the opponent's strength.
In fact, if it were any other opponent, even if her mistake was exploited, Sophia's strength would have allowed her to calmly evade the subsequent attack and quickly adjust her state.
But facing Dorothy...
The Angel Witch fell into recollection.
The sword strike she had unleashed earlier was actually just a routine probe. After all, when neither side understood the other's techniques and moves, a probing attack was always the right choice. Normally, who would unleash a powerful ultimate move upon meeting? That would be insane.
A probing move would naturally not be a full-strength attack; she had held back some power at the time, so that she could quickly withdraw, dodge, or defend if the attack failed.
And when that sword grazed Dorothy's body, missing by millimeters, Sophia had already decisively chosen to dodge. But what she never expected was that Dorothy's speed would be even faster than hers, to an almost illogical degree.
Sophia had seen magic that accelerated one's movements for a short period, but normally, such enhancement magic that could increase speed by about fifty percent was considered an excellent buff. However, the burst of extreme speed Dorothy unleashed in that instant was far beyond what such enhancement magic could compare to; in that moment, her speed surged by at least tenfold.
What does it mean to suddenly increase speed tenfold in a battle? For such a situation, people generally use only two words: cheater.
Such a completely imbalanced skill shouldn't even exist, right?
It's a pity that reality is not a game. Games might need balance, but reality does not.
She was instantly annihilated in the previous battle, with no time to think, but now, meticulously reviewing the situation, Sophia could pretty much understand what Dorothy had done.
That was the power of time. She had indeed instantly perceived an anomaly in the flow of time around the opponent; the flow of time around her had instantly accelerated tenfold.
And this, relatively, meant that Sophia's own time had slowed down tenfold. Even though she was retreating at her fastest speed, her movements must have seemed like slow motion in the eyes of Dorothy, whose time had accelerated.
Facing the mighty power of time, Sophia's defeat was not unjust. At that moment, having been closed in on, she was utterly powerless to resist. And her Angel's body's inherent defensive power, while perhaps effective against other races, was like paper against Dorothy, who possessed Dragon's Claws. The Dragon's sharp claws, with their inherent magic-breaking effect, easily pierced her chest, grasped her heart, and then crushed it.
What's even more outrageous is that Dorothy not only displayed the power of time, but also space.
For other races, a shattered heart is a fatal wound, capable of instant kill, but for Angels, it is only a severe injury. Even without a heart, Angels can forcibly continue fighting for a few minutes. Sophia had already prepared to self-destruct and take her opponent down with her.
But the space, which shattered like a mirror, directly crushed Sophia's hope of a forced draw. The destructive power of spatial shattering is undeniable, almost instantly annihilating targets below the Great Witch level.
As an Elite Witch just one step away from becoming a Great Witch, Sophia, at full strength, could barely resist the damage from spatial shattering, or if she had been wearing her battle robe, her highest-grade battle robe's defense could have absorbed the blow. But she wanted to defeat Dorothy honorably, so she not only took off her battle robe but also sealed her magic, leaving only 10,000 magic power.
10,000 magic power, unarmored, fighting a cheater who possessed both the supreme powers of time and space, and already caught off guard at close range—what kind of fight was that?
If Sophia were given another chance, she would definitely activate her shield to full power immediately, then quickly create distance and start a guerrilla attrition battle. If she fought that way, she might have a chance; otherwise, she was doomed to lose.
But did she really have a chance fighting a guerrilla attrition battle?
Sophia recalled the multi-element composite evocation magic Dorothy used to reduce her to ashes at the end. The complete reactions between the various elements allowed each element to perfectly display its characteristics, achieving the theoretical maximum damage value.
This precise control over magic, while not as shocking as the power of time and space, was equally outrageous. Simultaneously controlling multiple elements required multitasking, and preventing conflicting elements from self-destructing required absolute control over magic power.
But is such precision truly achievable by those below the Great Witch level? Aren't composite evocation spells formed from conflicting elements generally high-level magic of 7th circle or above? Theoretically, only Great Witches should be able to learn them, right?
So, what kind of monster was I fighting? Or should I say, she truly lives up to being my teacher's daughter?
The pure white maiden fell into deep thought for a moment.
Her defeat was truly not unjust.