My Girlfriends Are Hardcore Yanderes - Chapter 196

Chapter 196: Instant Part 2
Now that there were over a dozen of him, the snakes in her tiara could no longer pinpoint the real one. Their glowing eyes darted from one figure to the next.

To combat this, she cast a spell designed to dispel illusions, a wave of light radiating out from her.

Nothing changed.

Her eyes narrowed in disbelief, but she did not quit. She kept casting the spell.

Unfortunately, her efforts were in vain. She began to wonder if what she was seeing was merely a visual trick or if the copies were, in fact, real.

And her guess was close to the truth.

The copies were indeed real—physically present in the arena, not just tricks of the light or illusions.

It was a spell developed by Index to scout areas in the void without putting herself in danger.

This was mostly the case for her spells, as her primary concern was the void, where there wasn’t even an enemy to fight.

He had built upon this skill, enhancing it to multiply the number of copies and use them in combat situations—just like all his other spells.

In the air, Asher finally had a moment to breathe and began seriously observing his opponent.

He had to admit, the quality of sorcerers in Eryx was far superior to the rest. They were smart, disciplined, and incredibly efficient. There was no doubt they would win the tournament again—if not for his presence.

‘That tiara… could it have the same effect as the painting in Index’s secret room?’ he mused, recalling the strange image of a woman with snakes for hair.

Unfortunately, he didn’t know much about it to use as a reference. Before he could properly learn about magical items, he was kicked out of the void.

‘I wonder how it works?’ he continued, his curiosity growing. He wasn’t in any hurry to end the fight; he found her ability amusing, and this battle was giving him valuable experience—killing two birds with one stone.

Below, Thenara paused for a moment, rethinking her strategy. Her spells were focused on immediate effects rather than slow, large-area attacks like Garu’s, so taking down all the copies in one go wasn’t an option.

Especially because her tiara could only focus on one point at a time to be effective.

And that wasn’t the only issue. There were more complications than that.

First, her petrification ability required an extreme amount of energy, which was why she rarely prolonged her fights unless absolutely necessary.

Second, this ability came from an artifact built to create curses, so it had its own flaws. One of them was that when in use, she couldn’t move and had to stand still.

She also couldn’t cast other spells that required materializing a physical form. Anything within her range would turn to stone—except for herself.

So, if she attempted to use flame, it would vanish before it could even go far.

She was in the middle of contemplating her next move when her thoughts were abruptly interrupted.

The copies raised their hands, and multiple golden magic circles appeared in the air. Swords—dozens of them—materialized and shot toward her like a rain of blades.

The swords turned to dust, but he didn’t stop. He kept observing, searching for any limit or gap in her almost flawless defense, all while bombarding her with attack after attack.

She might look okay right now, but her energy was being drained much faster because of the relentless attacks. She couldn’t keep this up much longer.

‘I was planning to kill you without using this, saving it for the final, but…’ She trailed off, slipping her arm into her robe to clutch a pendant.

She hesitated. In her opinion, the one she had to be most wary of wasn’t him, but another seeded participant.

Her gaze shifted to the platform where a woman in a black robe stood.

Unlike her own scales, the woman’s were red and brown, rough and dry, resembling those of a crocodile.

The two locked eyes for a moment, a silent understanding passing between them, before Thenara reluctantly turned her attention back to the fight.

‘I can’t afford to hesitate anymore,’ she thought.

CRACK!

The pendant shattered, and a surge of power erupted from within.

Those watching from the stands could see the manifestation of her power rising from every inch of her body. For a brief moment, a shape emerged—what appeared to be the head of a cobra, its form like a swirling black-and-white mist.

It hissed before vanishing as all the energy was reabsorbed by her body.

Her scales began to glow, and veins beneath her skin appeared, pulsing and throbbing, straining to sustain the immense external power flowing through her.

The raw energy within her was a volatile force threatening to break free at any moment.

“Did she lose her mind?” The sages watching shook their heads in disappointment.

What she was doing right now was nothing short of suicide. She would be lucky if it only crippled her. The amount of energy she was channeling was far from sustainable in the long run.

“Is that really what you think?” Lizana’s comment caught their attention.

The sages, once so certain, turned to look at her, sensing that her perspective might be different from theirs.

One of them, an older figure, raised an eyebrow. “Can you enlighten us, Arcane Sage?”

“There’s no need for that. You can just see for yourselves.” She nodded toward the arena.

Her body was slowly turning to stone. What she was trying to pull off was nothing short of brilliant—a bold, but ingenious move.

By turning her body into stone, she was reducing the strain of the power coursing through her. It was no longer a matter of her using an artifact; she was turning herself into one.

When the transformation was over, her body had completely turned to cement.

CRACK!

One of his copies was destroyed in an instant, turning to dust. The speed of the curse was so fast that he would have died if it had hit him directly.