Ice and fire represent a battle between the abyss and the undead.

"Dark Explosion".

Maggie didn't waste any more words with the Duke. What she was willing to do, even if it meant becoming a ghost, was to kill the Duke completely, not to argue with him.

The magical artifact emitted a dark gray light, which resonated with the ethereal aura emanating from Maggie, as if both were imbued with a chilling power. It exploded at every step the Duke took, and the flying ice shards extinguished the surrounding flames.

The Duke's face hardened. Since the weapons of the abyss couldn't deal with Maggie, the power of the demons wasn't out of the question.

Moreover, he is an excellent wind mage; as a mage, he is not without the ability to dodge.

The will-o'-the-wisps on his body, combined with the wind magic 'Wind Domain', skillfully neutralized Maggie's attack. Only occasionally did ice shards break through his wind field and splash onto the Duke.

But this damage was nothing to the demon, so the Duke naturally didn't pay any attention to it.

Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain from the depths of his soul. Although it was not intense, he could clearly feel that his soul had been severely injured.

His expression changed, and his gaze fell upon the icicles, where wisps of blood were visible.

That was Maggie's blood.

"That's really good."

Maggie could tell that the Duke's movements were affected, so she dared not get close to him. The demon's physical abilities were far superior to hers, so she could only resort to such underhanded methods.

However, as long as it works well, Maggie doesn't care.

Whether she can keep her physical body or not is another matter. While she still has some value, she should make the most of it.

Once transformed into a lich, blood will no longer flow or be produced.

Although it looks like a human, it is actually a dried-up corpse, which means that Maggie only has this one chance to kill the Duke.

Even the phrase "burning one's boats" is no more apt than this.

Of course, she wouldn't wait for the Duke to recover. One forbidden spell after another lit up from the spellbook, the five colors of light mixed together, making her at the center look like a crystal ball.

'Touch of Darkness' and 'Water Prison Hell' seem to be free, and with the ownerless elves surrounding Maggie, their chanting time is pitifully short.

Even if the Duke wanted to get close to Maggie, he would have to consider the dense, trap-like magic surrounding her.

Offense is the best defense, and Maggie even abandoned the defensive barrier.

The Duke also knew that Maggie's weakness was close combat, so he kept trying to get close to her and, with the help of the Flame Servant's ghost fire, successfully blocked most of Maggie's attacks.

Suddenly, a short blade appeared in his hand, emanating an ominous aura from the abyss, and shot out of thin air from his body, instantly flying towards Maggie.

The short blade in Maggie's eyes kept growing larger, and it was actually very difficult for her to dodge it. She was essentially a mobile super turret, but her speed of movement was ultimately limited.

The thought flashed through her mind, and Maggie simply stood still.

The next second, a sharp blade pierced her shoulder, and a large amount of blood, carrying the scent of death, splattered from her body. Maggie's pure white saintly robes were already soaked in blood, but she didn't care.

Blood condensed in the air into an identical short blade.

"Blood Manipulation".

Since it's just a discarded body anyway, it doesn't matter how she uses it.

The magical artifact book erupted with fierce energy once more, and a short blade formed from blood hovered beside her, poised to strike, its target the Duke.

The Duke's initially aggressive attack subsided at this point, and he no longer dared to make any rash moves.

Instead of attacking immediately, Maggie created a deadly blade, which would certainly restrict the Duke's power as he dared not move freely.

All she needs to do is keep exhausting him.

"What's wrong, Father? Are you scared?"

Maggie continued to provoke him with words.

Her face had turned an unnaturally ashen and pale, even more so than that of a true lich, but her aura was in no way inferior, causing the duke to show a hint of apprehension.

Maggie's attacks became even more unrestrained, and the Duke had to be constantly on guard against her blood, so he could only retreat step by step.

She's a walking time bomb now, and for the Duke, running away is the best course of action, because if he runs away, the threat he poses will gradually diminish as his body withers away.

But... as long as he still retains his human flaws, he cannot escape like this.

"snort."

The Duke no longer held Maggie in the same disdain he had initially, considering her no threat whatsoever; now he regarded her as his number one enemy.

But he wouldn't reveal it or let Maggie discover his thoughts.

Suddenly, something seemed to come to mind. His eyes narrowed, and while defending against Maggie's magical attacks, he began to think quickly.

After a while, he suddenly revealed a kind and gentle smile, and his voice was much gentler than before.

“My daughter, I know you resent the family for not caring about your safety and sending you to the temple, but I had no choice at the time.”

"Now that you've successfully avenged your family, your father has lost everything, and you've become a ghost, there's no point in us fighting to the death. Perhaps..."

Before he could finish speaking, Maggie interrupted him with a half-smile.

"Duke, I've used this method countless times just to survive. Are you saying you can turn me back into a living person and take me on a journey through the world to start over?"

Maggie playfully speculated on any possibility the Duke might bring up, making the Duke's expression even more unpleasant.

Because even though Maggie was talking, her attacks became more intense.

They even switched to explosive magic with extremely high destructive power, seemingly because they realized he couldn't defend against it all; the magic was mixed with a little bit of Maggie's blood.

Maggie's body grew increasingly ashen, like a bird about to fall into an endless sea of ​​fire.

But she remained steadily flying in mid-air, as if her frenzied attack, which hurt the enemy a thousand while harming herself eight hundred, was nothing more than a trivial matter to her.

"You don't know what's good for you!"

The Duke was completely enraged. The demonic power he had stolen from Flame erupted, and ghostly flames spread all over his body, reaching a height of more than ten meters. He seemed to transform into a fire demon giant and charged towards Maggie without regard for anything else.

This means Maggie's Blood Blade won't be able to pinpoint his location, and there's a high chance it will miss.

However, Maggie felt no emotion as she looked at the giant fiery hand descending from the sky; in fact, she almost laughed.

Finally, the Duke could no longer contain his impatience and decided to take action against her without any regard for the consequences.

This time, Maggie acted out of character. Instead of using magic to resist, she withdrew all her magic power and released her most powerful defensive magic, charging headlong into the center of the fire giant.