"Sling Ring? What's that?" Bella asked reflexively.
A ripple of quiet laughter ran through the crowd. Several sorcerers with substantial reserves of power eyed her with a hint of superiority, while the apprentices on the outer ring whispered among themselves about this "ignorant" newcomer.
"The Sling Ring is a spatial-positioning artifact that has been passed down at Kamar-Taj for over two thousand years. It was developed by the Fifth Sorcerer Supreme. Its applications are extensive—whether for augmenting spellcasting or engaging enemies, the effects are remarkably potent."
The Ancient One's voice emerged from the crowd, offering a brief explanation.
"Just hearing the description, it sounds incredible. I'll have to get a closer look later," Bella said casually, and in the next instant a faint luminescence rose in her eyes. A heartbeat later, Kamar-Taj—already nestled among snow-capped peaks—was swallowed by a blanket of ice fog. The temperature plummeted. Countless ice crystals swirled around her in a slow orbit, as though she were the queen of winter itself.
Every sorcerer present blanched. The apprentices' smirks froze on their faces. A few onlookers who didn't even qualify as apprentices—people whose only connection to magic was an ancestor who'd once practiced—hugged their arms against the sudden cold.
Only the Ancient One watched with perfect equanimity.
"Mr. Kaecilius, my power originates from the mind. Many masters of the arcane hold that at reality's deepest root, spirit and matter are linked, and thought sculpts the world. My power is built on that very principle—drawing energy from the innermost depths of consciousness. I call this energy psionics, and I use it to drive my spells."
Bella's voice was quiet, but every person present heard her clearly.
She gave the crowd a brief overview of her abilities. The explanation was deliberately surface-level; she wasn't worried about copycats. Those who learn from me thrive; those who merely imitate me perish. Everyone's path was different, and brute-force replication was useless.
As the temperature continued to drop and a bone-deep chill settled in, even a sorcerer of Kaecilius's caliber was struggling. Whatever condescension or confusion he'd felt had been blasted into oblivion. The spectators were here for entertainment; Kaecilius, standing in the arena, felt the full brunt. This woman was extraordinarily powerful.
Not the Ancient One's level of unfathomable depth, but without question one of the strongest opponents he'd ever faced.
When the cold grew unbearable and her aura increasingly savage, Kaecilius attacked.
His left hand, fitted with a Sling Ring, clenched into a fist. Like Whitebeard, he slammed it into the air on his left side.
What is he doing? Bella was genuinely curious and held off her own attack.
Then the world before her eyes began rotating clockwise. The ground became a wall, the ceiling stretched sideways into infinity, and beneath her feet the surface transformed into layer upon layer of geometric glass panes.
The sudden weightlessness made her head swim. She steadied herself with the surrounding ice and snow, and in the next instant Kaecilius came charging straight at her, feet planted on what had been a wall, moving at an uncanny angle.
His hands came together in midair, then pulled apart to each side. An invisible blade materialized in his right hand.
As they closed the distance, he struck without hesitation.
"Ha! Impressive! Truly remarkable magic!" Bella was thrilled. His invisible blade bore a striking resemblance to her old Frost Rapier—she'd added elemental modifications to hers, while he'd woven arcane technique into his. The underlying magical principles, as far as she could tell, were essentially the same.
Kamar-Taj's Mirror Dimension spell was distinctive in its own right, but if they thought it could trap her, they were dreaming.
Kaecilius's invisible blade stabbed forward and was stopped dead by a thin shell of ice.
"My turn, yes?" Bella's left hand rose. No incantation, no elaborate gestures. With her at the center, frost exploded outward in every direction.
Frost Nova.
Kaecilius, mid-search for a gap in the ice shield, barely managed to cover his head before he was frozen in place. As an ice lance materialized in Bella's grip, he frantically used the Mirror Dimension spell, shifting himself to a distant position via its spatial properties.
The counter was beautifully executed—not only freeing himself from the ice but also re-establishing distance in one move.
He flickered left, then right, his position impossible to pin down. When Bella's ice lance sailed wide, he exploited his mastery of the Mirror Dimension to appear abruptly behind her left shoulder, then lunged like a predator, driving the blade forward in a vicious thrust.
Bella conjured a Frost Rapier of her own, spun to parry, and immediately seized the offensive.
The Frost Rapier was her bread and butter, honed to absolute mastery. Woven into every thrust and cut was a lifetime's worth of swordsmanship. In fewer than five exchanges Kaecilius was floundering, visibly losing ground.
Why?! That was the only question roaring through his mind.
He'd been training relentlessly since the age of seven. He had talent, plus the legacy of those who came before him. He'd moved heaven and earth to enter the Ancient One's tutelage, then studied, trained, and drilled until he stood head and shoulders above nearly everyone at Kamar-Taj. And now some outsider—a young woman, no less—had trampled the sliver of pride he'd painstakingly built.
He refused to yield, refused to accept it.
"Tina, you should go help him." The Ancient One spoke quietly from the sideline.
Another stir ran through the crowd. Two against one?
The sorceress named Tina hesitated, but under the Ancient One's faintly encouraging smile, she steeled herself and stepped onto the battlefield.
Facing a combat zone that resembled a polar climate, Tina Minoru drew her staff—a weapon the Ancient One had given her years ago: the Staff of One.
The Staff of One was a formidable artifact.
It required almost no magical energy from its wielder. Instead, it responded to whatever single word the user spoke into the headpiece, releasing a corresponding spell of extraordinary specificity.
No curses, no spell distortion—ask for wind and you got wind, ask for rain and you got rain. The sole drawback was that each word could only be used once. Say "wind" today and say "wind" again tomorrow, and the backlash would hit hard. That meant every word uttered in combat had to be chosen with extreme care, the user mentally checking whether they'd ever said it before.
The Ancient One had given this staff to her disciple precisely because she wanted Tina to think before she spoke—a sign of considerable affection.
Tina had a look of mixed heritage. She raised the staff and spoke a single word: "Muggy."
The killing cold vanished. In its place, a tropical climate blossomed around them.
Bella had been swatting Kaecilius around like a child, and suddenly her environment had shifted entirely. She studied Tina Minoru and the Staff of One with keen interest.
Now that's something. This staff was tapping into the power of fundamental laws, wasn't it? Minimal magical fluctuation, yet the effect was staggering.