Ascension Of The Failed Mage

Noir was currently at a stalemate.

After overriding the Rune at the exit, he had roughly half his Mana left. The Doll before him was quite capable, and even if it might not be able to damage him, it could stop him from leaving easily.

"Morbius the 3rd has Tier 6 enchantments on his attires, Tier 6 enhancements on his body, several Spells it has been programmed with, and Tier 6 Runes at his disposal. The perfect Doll." The man behind the construct said.

"Let's see how you fare against it, Sir Noir."

The Doll charged at him, and before he could blink, it was already in front of him. It swung a punch, but Noir swiftly redirected it.

Several punches and kicks came flying, however, Noir successfully evaded them all.

"Looks like you're still faster than it. I don't sense you using any enchantments... what a monster!" The Doll lips moved as its eyes constantly watched in observation.

Noir leaped away from the construct, but it chased after him. It didn't leave any room for any counterattacks too

The thing simply kept up its barrage of attacks.

The room vibrated from the shocks the attacks were causing. The hits never connected to Noir, however, just their force alone was causing massive waves in the Arena.

'If even one hits, this entire structure could be compromised.' Noir thought to himself.

That would be inconvenient.

"Come on, why don't you attack? Why don't you do something?" The Doll taunted.

Noir eventually dodged a huge blow that carried greater force than the others, and thanks to this, there was a split-second opening.

'A chance...'

He bent and kicked the Doll, causing it to fly a great distance away from him. The doll crashed into the wall, causing it to crack.

"A-ah, don't tell me you're worried about this structure. Is that why you're holding back? That would be pretty inconvenient. What to do..." The Doll's tone whirred, sluggish from Noir's hit.

Its body was still stuck on the wall, and the crack it had made.

"No, that doesn't explain it all..." The artificial entity freed itself from the wall, and landing back on the floor.

"You see, I've been observing events that have been occurring, Sir Noir. I've been observing you. It seems like Magic, no matter how great does not affect you, though I have no idea why. But my best guess is... Bloodline Magic?"

Noir remained silent, maintaining his expressionless face.

"I'll take your silence to mean I'm right. However, during this entire exchange. No, even since you got into this underground area, I have been critically examining you. It would seem, your god-like ability isn't so invincible after all." The Doll announced confidently.

Noir remained quiet.

"You can't nullify Runes, can you?" It asked.

This statement made the stoic man to break character. Noir expressed surprise, but quickly reverted to his calm façade.

"So I was right. If you're curious about how I found that out, then it's simple. If you could nullify Runes, you wouldn't have troubled yourself with overriding them, though it's impressive how you did that."

"And also, the Runes I used to trap you in the center part of the catacomb, you could've easily nullified them... But why didn't you? It's because you couldn't.

Instead, you used a more magic-consuming attack to counter all of them, impressive nonetheless." The Doll continued, rightfully analyzing the scene prior to their encounter.

Noir's eyes wavered slightly, but he kept up his calm expression.

"But that's not all I found out. There's more..." The Doll said, winding its arm, and stretching its body.

It suddenly dashed to Noir, and chanted.

"[Summon Phantom Sword]" A Spell.

"[Adamantine Skin]" An Enhancement

"[Magnify Potential: Hundredfold]" The Doll casted yet another enhancement, causing the Phantom Blade to glow brightly.

The Doll, its sword, and its immediate vicinity glowed orange.

Noir smiled slightly.

"[Null]"

Immediately, the light ceased and the energy that had been amassing dissipated.

At this moment, the opponent had already reached Noir's front, without a weapon or any support.

Noir punched it, and it was sent flying back again, crashing into a different wall. This time, it went within the wall, causing a gaping hole.

'Really ..?' Noir heaved a sigh.

"You want to know what I think?" The voice echoed from within the hole.

The Doll reappeared, jumping down again.

Noir maintained his composure.

"The reason why you can't nullify Runes, as opposed to the others. It's because of 'Chanting'!" It said.

A bead of sweat slowly rolled down Noir's face, and he suddenly seemed a bit anxious.

"I'm sure you've always easily defeated your enemies before they could see through your ability... too bad it's me, this time." It spoke a little haughtily.

"Normally, when a Mage uses magic, they chant. Since most Magic is used in battle, a Mage chants before using them.

The only exceptions are Runes. Sure, Runes are chanted when they are made, or inscribed upon objects. However, in battle, Runes are already ready-to-use, and require no chants to activate." The Doll explained.

"Now, in relation to you. Your nullification ability appears to have a major flaw. That's the reason you can nullify any magic other than Runes. You must know the magic being used before activation. That's why you can nullify magic as soon as they are chanted, but you can't nullify Runes."

Noir smiled slowly.

"Nice theory, but it seems a bit too far-fetched to me."

The person controlling the doll, from wherever he was, let out a loud laugh instantly.

"No need to play coy now, it's pointless. I assure you, I have already confirmed my theory." The Doll spoke.

"You mean...?" Noir's face immediately lit up in shock.

"Yes. During this battle... I have already confirmed all I need to."

"Before you entered this Arena, I had already made the Doll activate a Spell, an Enchantment, and an Enhancement. These Enchantment, Spell, and Enhancement, made the Doll much faster and stronger than normal. So when you fought it, it already had some magic working in it." It continued.

An air of unease slowly began to form around Noir, though his opponent seemed to be brimming with even more confidence.

"I noticed you realized this, but you didn't attempt to nullify them, even though the Doll was getting in your way of retreat.

It was a fight you couldn't afford to lose, so why didn't you just nullify the magic already at work on it? It's because you couldn't!"

"Then I decided to test the waters even more. I activated a Spell, an Enhancement, and an Enchantment right before you... and you nullified them instantly!" The Doll remarked, clapping its hands in a rather strange fashion.

Was it truly impressed with Noir's skill, or was this simple mockery?

"But you know the strangest thing? The functioning Spell, Enhancement, and Enchantment working within my doll... they didn't get nullified! Their effects are going to run out soon enough, though. Still, you get my point... right?"

"Against the unknown... YOU ARE POWERLESS!" The host laughed from where he stayed.

The loud outburst was mixed with amusement and indeed mockery. As someone who had seen through the mysterious man's abilities, such a reaction was rightly earned.

However—

"You got me..." Noir replied, maintaining a calm appearance.

One couldn't tell if he was anxious, sad, happy, angry... nothing. He was just bland.

"... But I think it's time we ended this little game."

The Doll remained silent, the existing magic at work within it was already fading.

"This leaves your defenses bare. I'll end things with this move." Noir stated.

"For you to destroy this Doll, you would have to put in enough force to destroy this arena. Wasn't that what you were avoiding before? If you destroy this one, I can always make another... But doing this will put a halt to your plan. Either way... I win!" The host replied with obvious glee.

"If you say so..."

Immediately, like a flash, Noir vanished.

Before the eyes of the Doll could process anything, Noir was already in front of it.

"Wha—?!"

Covered in dark energy, he leaned toward the stationary construct.

"One hit." Noir swiftly hit the doll, immediately causing its entire body to shatter into pieces.

The bones, arms, ears, eyeballs, brains, everything scattered around the room. The shockwave generated, which would inevitably destroy the entire arena, shook the space. However, the arena was unharmed.

"Fortunately for me, you spent so long blabbing. I had enough time to come up with a Code to protect this structure." Noir slowly replied.

The arena shone a purple light. It was unscathed.

Noir looked around the room, noticing the eyeball on the ground which was fixated on him.

"See you soon," Noir said, directing the message to whoever was behind the lens, the Host.

He then disappeared, vanishing into the darkness.

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[Meanwhile]

"He's such an interesting man." A being said as he saw Noir's last message before he was disconnected from his Doll.

The darkness masked his face and the room he was in, but his smile was evident nonetheless.

"I'll be expecting you... Sir Noir."