Chapter 182: Don’t Use Atoms Against a Physicist

Unbeknownst to Aerendil, Sophia was in a more genuine state of frustration, as the fight progressed, her happiness faded slowly alongside her mana and all the creative juices she had been using during the ongoing fight.

_Damn it, this motherfucker, even though cannot actively scan his brain for normal illusions, unconsciously resists it and cannot succumb to subtle illusions no matter what, I need deliberate ones to have even the hope of damaging his brain, something that he can break easily._

Sophia's frown deepened. Hundreds of chain combos were unleashed by her to no avail; their fight that happened in seconds had turned into minutes and into hours, yet she, who was bidding for time, failed to receive what she had been waiting for, causing more frustration.

_When will that bastard give me [Genius]? I'm about to be drained of ideas of how to buy more time!_

________

The fight between the two smartest mortals on the planet of Pentateuch, again entered a phase of instantaneous, hundred, hell even thousands of small, yet potent, chained attacks, volcanoes formed and erupted, it's lava solidifying, creating shards of obsidian that rained down against Aerendil, that again, melted and became lava that targeted the King of Elves, as if an ex lover obsessed with him, there are also arrows, swords, spears and tridents of pure white light, differing in sizes, some normal in appearance while some as big as the walls of Kamatayan and Stardust combined, they rained down to the Queen of the Undeads, seeking to sear her and her powers through [Unholy Rejection] that targets anything the wielder thinks is unholy.

After those attacks, the two contenders never stopped, pelting their opponents by seemingly scattered yet organized attacks with finesse that only the two of them are capable of.

However, despite him seemingly being able to contend against his opponent, actually even having a certain advantage because of his vast experience against another opponent that can go against him one on one, Aerendil still felt grave, frustrated even, for even though he's continuously using the auto scanning and pinpointed ability of [Unholy Rejection] to disrupt any illusions that are cast by Sophia, he still can't catch any of such seemingly imaginary illusions.

_How can she contend against me without using her strongest power? Is she just bluffing me a while earlier when she was able to barely force the situation into me "passively" receiving her attacks?_

Aerendil gritted his teeth, using all kind of buffs that he have imbedded all over his body as a precautionary measure against strength based attacks while still desperately trying to catch Sophia using her illusion just even once, yet still, like before, such attempts failed, causing his morale to dwindle and his mind started to alarm and persuade him to be on a state of desperation, he even started to question his ability, for questions like "Is she really superior than me?" and "Can she really defeat me without using illusion?" gnawed on his mind, such musings are of course normal, specially if one is in a fight where facial expression is of no importance, though it eases up when Aerendil saw Sophia also having a slight grimace on his face, giving him newfound confidence.

This state will go back and forth and inside Aerendil's mind, but (for him) it's completely normal, he doesn't need any kind of explanation, he just knew that it's normal, and like Sophia, he is always right, still right or wrong he is, he have to put an end into this fight sooner rather than later.

_Should I use that magic to aid my elves?_

___________

_Damn! Damn! Damn! The normal illusion of the bats is not working at all!_

Sophia grumbled as she and Aerendil continued to throw spells, while doing so, she subtly uses the sound waves all around the battlefield to create sound based illusion, hoping to make Aerendil loss consciousness and become more and more desperate so that he will use the two things she wanted to see and retrieve respectively at the same time, she have no hope of this simple strategy working, though upon seeing Aerendil being only slightly influenced by the subtle illusions and his brain not needing [Unholy Rejection], needing only reflex actions to undo or suppress the effects of her prided ability, making her intended purpose to manifest in a very, very watered down way, Sophia, no matter how confident she is cannot help but complain.

_Darn, in the end, all I can do is waste his time until I get the unique skill [Genius] that, upon analyzing the time loop, should give me an ability to bypass the literal instant casting time of both of us as well as his brain processing._

Sophia's plan is really simple, and, well, it is so simple that it's just waiting for Siginarugan to convince the higher entity that have deprived her of the said unique skill as a backlash to the god of the undead for letting her usurp the official title of the monarch of the undead to give her what she deserves, she knew that with the ability of her and Aerendil being the same with Aerendil having the advantage of being able to purify dark magic effectively and her having illusions and her physical strength as hers, the queen of undeads knew that such a plan is the only way to defeat Aerendil, the sound wave based illusion is just a way for her to try and speed up the process as the 4th day of the Second Elven Undead War is the time limit so that the controller of the loop will not be able notice any changes.

Sophia speculated that if she is even one second late to this deadline, she will be attacked by a strong person, stronger than her, so she wanted to hurry even though it's just 1 in the afternoon.

_How stubborn is that person that even Siginarugan can't persuade him/her even though they have been talking for days already?_

Sophia lamented such slowness, yet she can only make do on what she have today, she believed that her god will have the sense of time and the person he is talking to, probably a deity creator or something will have enough compassion for his already dying world, for now, she finally was able to finish her first subtle attack that took hours to even work by fluke.

Sophia grimaced as she realized how fighting against herself feels, especially if one has a plan that needs to be followed down to the letter.

Aerendil who was being subtly influence and also reflexively stopping the influence disappeared from his sight of 10 meters distance between him and Sophia, making the latter's eyes squint, intending to scan the surroundings, but before she can do it, her brain was rattled, banging into her skull as if a puzzle game, she found a fist imbedded in her chin before flying up 10 meters in the air.

_Here it comes, I hope this fight won't get flagged because of this._

Sophia mused as she was descending, fixing her posture to face Aerendil, who was oozing with mana. Sophia once again raised her eyebrows so that she could make her "confusion" and "curiosity" evident.

"You are strong Sophia, this, I have to admit, thus I apologize for underestimating you earlier, but unfortunately, you failed to comprehend the glimpse of my great power earlier, such is the reason of your demise, and with your demise is another draw of the war against undeads and elves."

Aerendil once again created a long winded speech, the king of elves, though unbeknown to himself was satisfied at the increasingly grave expression of his opponent, he focused on his opponent as multitudes of magic circles started to emerge in his pupils, converging as if a complicated work of mathematical art, with that, his whole body seem to detach with each other in a sand-like consistency, prompting the eyes of Sophia to widen as if saying that she have already seen such a thing before but can't copy it, thus can only remain apprehensive of it's application.

After such a terrifying yet spectacular sight, Aerendil slowly raised his index finger and pointed it at Sophia, and as his eyes flashed once more, Sophia felt every fiber of her being stop from moving, her heart, lungs and all other organs seem to get exposed before a being they revere and fear as they freeze in place, making it cold even for an undead like herself.

[Atomic Disintegration]

Such is the name of one of the spells devised by Aerendil in a new elemental Magic he himself pioneered which he called Atomic Magic, it came from atoms, a name he have given those tiny things, tinier than cells for he first thought they were indivisible, it came from ancient elven language "Atomos" which means cannot be divided, though he have advanced to the point of being capable of unleashing punches with destroyed electrons to create nuclear explosions, but now he is using it against his formidable opponent that forced him to recognize her.

Sophia's body slowly disintegrated, her face bore the same shock as before she was frozen in the air, yet Aerendil knew that if Sophia can move, she would have a terrified expression, for in his eyes, he saw his opponent turning slowly into billions worth of speck of dust, just like what he have done before when he healed himself in atomic level and "teleported" the energy used to home Sophia.

Soon, Sophia disappeared in Aerendil's sight, swept by the wind as if grains of sand in the ravenous river of history, prompting Aerendil to finally relax his increasingly straining mind, something that he had never felt for a very, very long time.

"That fight is harder than what I wanted to admi-"

However, before he can fully immerse in his victory, he felt an immense, existential dread coming from his back, it was not in the level of atoms, it was a fear coming from his soul, making his primal instinct to force him to look at his back, and this time, it's the turn of Aerendil's eyes to widen, for there he saw several clumps of sand grains forming themselves together, and what's more, unlike Aerendil, the person, or the woman, Sophia reintegrated her clenched fist first before re-materializing her whole body, her face have regained her smirk whilst looking at the mortified face of Aerendil.

"You too, you are a formidable opponent that what I wanted to admit I was surprised that you can use something that I believe no one in this world can even comprehend, and I do have to admit that I underestimated this concept as it was too primordial for me, who have devised a way to harness Planck energy, or mana in this world, in a planet devoid of magic... well, anyway... You have to remember this..."

Sophia paused, tightening her clenched fist as blood flowed out of her mouth, yet her grin did not diminish as she relished on the almost suffocating pleasure of seeing someone so proud look at her with increasing despair, this feeling that she suppressed and will be released by Bakunawa, though for now, such things are irrelevant.

"Don't use atoms in front of a physicist."

Upon hearing this, Aerendil's mind froze for a moment, his lifework flashed before his eyes, he remembered that he, a desperate man that wanted vengeance have single handedly discovered and revolutionized magic, creating a new element, possibly as complicated as space magic that he himself have no affinity on, it also made him able to revolutionize disease detection and also discover nuclear energy and monopolize the power all by himself, this took him a vengeful spirit burning with passion and 5 decades of sleepless nights and fits of anger towards his supposed incompetence.

He thought that this magic would be his trump card, the ace in the hole, the inevitable force that would bring defeat to the undead prophet and ultimately, the undeads.

Yet, in front of him is a woman, swinging her glowing fist towards him, the glow evident that one of her atoms is charged with nuclear energy, like what he has done before.

The only thing that keeps Aerendil's pride afloat is the fact that Sophia can't use [Atomic Disintegration] as evident of her stance just now, Aerendil would have perished already if she can use it, and second, Sophia is still affected by the backlash of the atomic magic wherein a certain amount of atoms of a random organ will be completely gone. Aerendil used typical healing magic to rapidly circumnavigate such a backlash.

The second one was accurate, but the first one is due to the fact that Sophia wanted him dead as a corpse and she, as a mortal cannot identify atoms of a person, because all atoms look the same and only when you attached them with mana will you distinguish yours from sand or air atoms, she cannot do that, also Aerendil can trace his atoms back in place, so it was not worth a shot.

Anyway, Aerendil does not know of this, does upon realizing that his despair is unfounded and only his pride was cracked to pieces and will definitely not be healed for a long time, his face contorted in anger.

"I might not know what the hell a physicist is, but you also forgot one thing."

Aerendil also made his fist contract and emitted nuclear light, his face full of indignation at the feeling of despair and the subtle feeling of inferiority towards his opponent; he can't accept it, he will never accept such a notion.

"I am still its creator."

Such were his thoughts as he swung his fist, colliding with Sophia's.

And indeed, as it was expected, the collision of fists created another nuclear-level explosion, and the one master of such explosions cannot help but frown.

__________

Urduja, in her roof, donning a bathrobe because of you know what it was, watching the fight, frowned.

"That's the thi-"

Urduja's expression froze as she saw mushroom clouds by the 50s emerge simultaneously and sounds that even her eardrums could barely hear without rupturing.

"What the fuck are they doing over there!?"