Though it was only by a few centimeters, the overall result would be far different than what he anticipated.
Leonel's blood boiled and his spine ran cold.
In such a threatening situation, he grew more focused, his thinking speed accelerating so quickly that time seemed to slow.
In an instant, Leonel zipped through all of the potential countermeasures he had and responded with the best.
BANG!
His foot slammed into the ground, a swirl of wind and oppressive Spirit Pressure surging around him.
"[Earthen Wall]. [Layering Arts]. [Harden]."
It was impossible to cast a spell so quickly. Even for Leonel.
An arrow crossing ten meters was the matter of a blink of an eye. But, even Leonel's fastest cast would take a full second.
However… It was then Leonel's Dreamscape flashed, sending out a branch of lightning.
In the core of it all, a book stood: 'Fostering a Mage's Battle Sense'. In fact, it wasn't just the book, but a specific chapter by the title of 'Spirit Pressure Storms'.
There were many things that could influence a mage's casting. Depending on the environment, there were an infinite number of variables. One such variable was the so-called 'Spirit Pressure Storm'.
When a high level Mage Art was cast, it would cause Force to converge. High concentrations of Force made it more difficult to control, especially when the concentration was of an opposing Force type to the one you were trying to use.
For example, trying to cast a large scale Water Elemental magic right after someone cast a Fire Elemental magic was several degrees more difficult.
If Maugrier's arrows weren't on Leonel's predicted trajectory, there was only one explanation: He had used Force to control their flight.
If Leonel took advantage of this and applied the concepts of 'Spirit Pressure Storms' here, he could disrupt Maugrier's control!
SHUUU!
Leonel sucked in a cold breath as he felt two arrows tear through the skin on his shoulder.
Taking a step forward, he cut down on the last one, continuing to close the distance.
Maugrier's expression changed.
At first, he had sneered seeing Leonel's reaction. Though he had been surprised that Leonel was a mage, after a moment, he laughed in his heart. How could he not?
Leonel started to cast three different spells at once. Even the weakest, [Harden], should have taken a veteran mage two seconds to cast. To make it worse, [Layering Arts] was a high level auxiliary Mage Art that multiplied the strength of spells by stacking them.
[Layering Arts] alone would take a talented Magus upwards of ten seconds to cast alone. In such a situation, Leonel was bound to die.
Maugrier had thought that Leonel was simply a talented fool with no battle experience, but this situation completely upended his world.
The fact Leonel completely dispelled his attempted casting right after deflecting his last arrow told him all he needed to know. The truth shocked him to his core.
As a Demon Lord and a veteran of the battlefield, he obviously knew that high fluctuations of Force would disrupt techniques. But, this was the first time he had ever seen anyone use it in battle!
Maugrier's expression changed, he had laid his guard down when he saw Leonel's stupid attempt. He had been waiting to see a grand show, but now he had yet to draw more arrows while Leonel had already halved the distance between them.
"My Lord!"
Maugrier's death guards surged forward to try to protect him.
'If I'm blocked again, he'll have time to recover and pester me with more arrows. If I can't read the trajectory of his arrows, it'll be too difficult to dodge at such close range.'
Thinking to this point, Leonel had already made a decision. As much as he wanted to temper his spear skills here, this wasn't an appropriate occasion.
He stepped forward again. The trembling of the earth that matched his steps made the demons around him feel as though the world was collapsing.
Leonel's Spirit Pressure surged into the earth beneath his feet.
'Impossible!'
Maugrier's expression turned solemn. He had been too busy snickering at Leonel earlier to realize, but this boy was actually directly manipulating the earth.
Usually, mages would pull on free elements from the atmosphere. Using already existing elements was far more difficult and took far more Spirit Pressure than directly creating your own as counter intuitive as that might sound.
Mages who could manipulate the elements in their natural state were favored even amongst Childes. The disparity between them and normal mages was like the difference between clear waters and mud!
Even further, an Earth Mage who could do such a thing would be a bane to all warriors who called them an enemy. The reason was simple. Not every place had water or fire or strong winds, but any place there were humans there would be earth!
"[Earthen Tide]."
Leonel didn't even need to fully construct the Mage Art. He didn't need a tall tide. He just needed something that could quickly impede Maugrier's men. And that was exactly what he received.
The earth rose into a small rolling hill. It was barely half a meter tall and not usually enough to do much of anything. But, this was exactly what Leonel needed.
In a flash, Leonel appeared before Maugrier, his spear descending from the skies with an undying momentum.
Maugrier cried out in shock, raising his bow into the air to block. It was all he had on him, what else could he possibly use?
One might expect a bow to not last even a second in an exchange with a spear, but reality was much different. A loud clang was all Leonel needed to hear to know Maugrier had successfully blocked. But…
So what?
Leonel used his downward strike to gather up momentum, flowing into his next strike with a seemingly practiced ease. Though it still lacked the air of a true spearman, it was clear that Leonel was improving by leaps and bounds everyday.
Maugrier grunted. He was just an archer, how could he possibly match up to Leonel in strength? His claim to fame was his special telekenetic ability to control his Force, a power bestowed to him by Lord Modred. He didn't have the strong body of other demons. He was happy enough just to survive the first strike.
Unfortunately for him, while his body was weak, his close combat was even weaker. He had hardly registered what happen when a sharp pain came from his waist.
Maugrier felt the pain surging through his veins. It was the worst pain he had ever experienced in his life. He could faintly tell that when his pain reached such a threshold that… his life was truly finished.
He plopped to the ground before Leonel's frowning figure, unable to gather the strength to rise up.
'I didn't manage to cut him all the way in half. It's either my strength is still lacking or that my technique isn't perfect just yet…'
Leonel had only managed to cut half way through Maugrier's waist and he was seemingly disappointed by the results, causing the demons around him to shiver in fear.