Child of Destiny

...

Flouree was one of the top magicians during the time when the «True Era» Online was still dominating the virtual game industry.

She was dubbed as one of the magic freaks of the virtual world as she was crazy about magic and had an unrivaled understanding when it came to that area. This was also the reason why these magic freaks were feared among most of the players.

Mages, Elementalists, Wizards, and other magic-related classes were always one of the famous choices among the variety of classes. It was the same in every game that was released since the time it became famous in the public.

The reason being was obvious. It was because those classes were too overpowered whichever game it was. They not only have multiple magic applications but they were also the master of mass destruction. Their large-scale destructive spells were highly sought after in every battle, especially in castle defense and sieges as well as wars.

But that was not the only reason why magic-related classes were too appealing in the eyes of many people, it was also because of the 'magic' itself.

Magic was a very broad area of expertise. It had a lot of applications which also made it have limitless potential.

And this was where these magic freaks came in. These players who were crazy about magic were thinking differently compared to most people which also made them powerful. Their understanding and application of magic were always out of the norm.

This was also what made these magic freaks a difficult opponent.

As one such player, Flouree showcased an amazing display of magic control and application while fighting Zero.

But despite that being the case, a dark expression was currently present on Flouree's face as the situation was clearly not in her favor.

Well, it was only natural for her to be suppressed by Zero due to the class advantage. Mages were known for their large-scale destructive spells as well as the variety of combinations that they could make with their single-target spells.

But even if their class was quite overpowered, they were still weak against certain players. Especially the ones who possessed great speed such as assassin-related classes and something similar. After all, most of the spells from her arsenal needed some time to cast.

Zero fell into that category of players. This was also the reason why Flouree was having a time during the battle.

Despite she had a variety of powerful spells in her arsenal, all of them were pretty much useless when she couldn't use them during the battle.

Moreover, she also had this uneasy feeling since she started fighting Zero. She was still not sure where that feeling was coming from but she was sure that the Sword God was hiding something under his sleeves.

This was also the reason why she was focusing more on the defensive instead of initiating an offensive stance. Zero's speed was more than enough to make her wary but the wind blades that were created by each of his strikes were adding more pressure on her.

"This is bad. I need to chase the phase of battle somehow," muttered Flouree as she continued to retreat away from the flurry of attacks that Zero had sent.

Right after using Blink to get away from Zero, Flouree quickly summoned a group of mana arrows around her, before sending them toward her opponent.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

The mana arrows were not simple as they were spinning like a drill as they head over Zero who was now chasing after her.

Whoosh!

Zero suddenly accelerated his speed as he headed over to Flouree, doing a series of zigzag maneuvers to dodge the incoming spinning mana arrows.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

He left a series of explosions behind as he continued moving forward, locking his gaze on his opponent.

He was planning to use the Reality Manifestation earlier to end this battle as soon as possible. But he suddenly decided not to use it yet since he wanted to see how he was going to stand against one of the famous magic freaks of the virtual world.

He wanted to personally experience battling them at least once for his growth.

Aside from that, he also needed to hold back a little since he didn't know if Flouree had a special technique to boost her overall stats similar to what Justin and the others from Silent Night did.

After all, Flouree was the current captain of the Earners Mercenary Group, so it wouldn't be surprising for her to have such a trump card.

Moreover, the fact that the leader of the mercenary group was looking for the blessing of the four guardian beasts was bothering him. He was not sure what they were planning, but he could tell that it was somewhat related to one of the Main-Scenario Quest that Seven had encountered before.

...

After a few more exchanges, Flouree finally decided to use one of the trump cards she prepared for this commission.

She was originally planning to use it against Siegfried who she had a business with. But given her current predicament, she didn't have a choice but to reveal it now.

She first stopped in her tracks and quickly slammed the bottom of her staff on the ground, creating a violent ripple on its surface.

Bang!

'Special Combat Technique: Call of the Magical Orchestra'

Swoosh!

Zero immediately halted his steps when he felt a dangerous threat coming from the area surrounding Flourree.

Raising his head to look ahead, he noticed that the mana surrounding Flouree was acting strange. The mana signature was showing him that all kinds of 'flow' came to a sudden halt.

"What's that?" muttered Zero as he quickly moved away from his opponent, creating more distance between the two of them.

It was also at that moment when he noticed the flow of mana within the vicinity was rapidly moving toward Flouree.

Then he saw the magician suddenly become surrounded by all kinds of light made of the surrounding elements, wood, water, wind, and ice, in particular.

Flouree collected all of her magic power and gathered them within her heart, creating a cluster of mana within it which later turned into a magic circle made of a series of mysterious runes.

'Special Magical State: Conductor of Magic'

This was a special technique that Flouree created after her long research of magic. She was a total fanatic when it came to magic. She read quite a lot of stories, fantasies, and all kinds of research related to it in every game that she played.

Unlike most of the players who were playing the game to hunt monsters, fight other players, and explore every corner of the fantasy worlds, she was mostly staying inside the libraries of those games, doing research and experiments regarding magic.

What intrigued her the most was the topic of the Magic Circles of some ancient Magicians and Wizards.

These circles were entirely different compared to the ones used for magic formations and arrays. Instead, it was more similar to the 'Golden Cores' and 'Niwan Palaces' of the Martial Artists and Mentalists from the real world.

In other games, this was also called 'Magic Cores'. But after a few modifications, Flouree created an entirely new system and called it 'Magic Circle', similar to the ones that she read in fantasy books.

With this Magic Circle, most of her abilities reached a whole other level. Her perception of mana as well as her magic affinity reached a realm that she could only think of in he dreams.

This technique might have a lot of amazing effects but since it was still incomplete, it also possessed quite a number of drawbacks. And one of them was the time when she could use it.

Her magic power was still lacking, so she would greatly drain her concentration during the fight while trying to keep this state active.

Moreover, she would also enter the 'Extreme Magic Exhaustion' when the duration ended. And in that state should not be able to move her body for at least a day due to lack of mana.

Regardless of the risk, she had to use this state right now since she would surely lose this battle if she did not.

At the same time, this was also a good opportunity for her to test this special state and look for the necessary improvements that she needed for it.

She couldn't ask for a more suitable 'test subject' other than Zero, the Sword God himself.

After everything was done, Flouree stared at Zero in the distance with her glowing eyes and immense magic power overflowing through her body.

Seeing all of it in front of him, Zero couldn't help but smile excitedly and nodded his head. "This is more like it."

Flouree's current form might still be a little inferior compared to what the Reality Manifestation could give him. But at the very least, it was still worth testing his current limit with this opportunity in front of him.

"Then let's give it a try."

...…