Grand Foreigner (Chapters 1- 200)

Chapter 22

Dracula was losing.

Avoiding attacks one after the other, Vlad understood that he was losing.

He had no opportunity to attack his opponent. All he could do was continue to throw useless spears into a soaring mage, who in turn just evaded them time after time, and then continue to run like a frightened mouse, feeling like each of the pillars of flame that kept coming from nowhere was melting his strength with his flesh.

He did not have the opportunity to use his trump cards. While the enemy was floating in the air, he was out of reach of Dracula's Kazikli Bey, which he could conjure according to his will in any place in his Kingdom. It would take him time and concentration in order to subdue the air around him, but if he even stopped for a second, he would get hit, and only two or three more direct hits would burn him completely. Moreover, even if he had subjugated the air to himself, this did not mean that his opponent would fall. In a strange way, the mage could escape his fate. He had already survived getting pierced with a dozen lances at the same time. It could be just a one-time trick, of course... But it could be something more.

And his opponent did not stop attacking. His attacks were exactly the same, as straightforward as possible, simple, and unmercifully strong. The fire arising with every word from his opponent licked tore flesh from the bones with the greed of a hungry beast, bringing with it the might and hatred of the primordial fire. Such magic was comparable to great magic - to the magic from the Age of the Gods. Even in the past, at a time when the gods walked the earth, such magic was not a bazaar trick, but a powerful ritual, magic available only to the strongest. Even if Dracula had fought the old Sumerian maiden, she would not have been able to use such magic more than ten times outside her territory. In her base, maybe she could reach fifty. But she was really strong, Vlad could not deny it, even if he did not want to admit it.

But his opponent continued to use spell behind spell as if such magic was, at best, a common occurrence for him. He was close to the designated fifty uses of such a spell, but unlike the witch, he was not in his territory. Even more, after fifty such spells, that witch would have been completely exhausted and would have had to leave the battlefield, while this mage, who continued to soar, seemed to not break a sweat, sending spell after spell at Dracula. And all that while he maintained his Fly spell. It was not a strong spell, many Servants could afford some sort of flight, but it was an extra waste of man, mana that was supposed to be used on spells, mana which seemed to be infinite in the body of Dracula's foe.

"What kind of monster is this?" Vlad asked himself a question and grinned. Not to downplay the irony of the greatest vampire calling someone a monster, but his opponent was truely much closer to a monster than to a man. Not every magi from the Age of the Gods could so calmly attack Vlad with this abundance of powerful spells, as if he was not at all concerned about his mana expenditure. Dracula tried to remember the name of someone who could attack over and over with magic of this caliber, but failed. His opponent used only three spells during the battle: fire, teleportation and flight. Vlad could not even imagine with whom he continued to fight - and at the same time, he was forced to reveal one of his main trump cards, his Kazikli Bey.

If it were not for his opponent's method of escaping from attacks and his excessive practicality in choosing the method of attack, Vlad would give him a respectful bow, as an equal. However, his enormous respect for his opponent was counterbalanced by his contempt for the tactics of his battle, because of that, all that the vampire could do was snort ardently, as if reluctantly recognizing that his enemy was still not weak.

Under normal conditions, even if Vlad faced such an adversary, his tactic would be to wait. He would wait out the attacks of his enemy, until he used all his strength - however, judging by the way his opponent continued to attack him, not caring about mana usage, Vlad understood that such tactics were useless. In other words...