"You're light on your feet. Hopefully, you'll be lighter in your grave when I turn you to ashes," Nasira said, stretching her arms outward.
Instantly, dark mist rose from the ground, surrounding her.
Moments later, they began to take the shape of twenty strange creatures. They were ghouls, emanating a dark mist.
"Go," Nasira ordered.
The ghouls rushed at Aladdin.
However, the moment they reached him, they simply passed through his body.
Nasira stared at the sight before her in confusion.
Suddenly, her senses flared as a spike of magical energy surged behind her.
Aladdin had cast a self-created spell, 'Clone Mirage,' the moment he teleported. He had learned from Genie during one of their battles.
Though it wasn't as versatile as Genie's multi-cloning mirage body, which required splitting magical reserves and controlling multiple bodies at once, an act that could be considered suicidal in a life-and-death battle without proper planning, it was more than enough to distract Nasira and launch a surprise attack.
Aladdin appeared behind Nasira and plunged his sword, wrapped in immense magical energy, into her back.
DING!!
The blade slammed into the fabric of her clothing and halted, like steel striking steel.
In a split second, Aladdin realised that her entire attire was enchanted against weapons, and who knew what else.
But even though his surprise attack had been stopped at the thrust of his blade, he didn't lose momentum.
He twisted the blade.
SWOOSSHH!!
A burst of golden flames erupted from it, engulfing Nasira's entire body in a torrent of fire.
"AHHH!!!" Nasira screamed in pain.
Before she could adapt, the torrent of flames transformed into a storm of lightning.
CRACKLLE!! CRACKLLE!!
At that moment, the ghouls arrived at his position but were struck and destroyed by the lightning storm.
Aladdin twisted his blade once more, and it elongated like mercury, transforming into spiked chains that wrapped tightly around Nasira's body.
This was one of the special abilities he had placed in Black Legacy when constructing it.
Once the chains were secured around Nasira, Aladdin turned and swung them forward.
CLANNK!!
He teleported toward the ground. The moment they reappeared, Nasira's chained body, still engulfed in his barrage of attacks, slammed into the hordes of undead and animated objects.
BANGG!! BOOMM!!
A burst of dust and rubble filled the air as a deep, wide crater formed in the ground.
The hordes of undead and animated objects were crushed to bits and destroyed.
All these continuous attacks took place within a single minute.
SWOOSSHH!!
Aladdin swiftly dispelled the dust, allowing him to assess the damage inflicted.
He didn't believe his attacks were enough to kill a powerful sorceress like Nasira. His expression quickly shifted to surprise as he realised that Nasira was nowhere to be seen. Instead, an undead was bound within the chains.
Black Legacy swiftly shifted back to its blade form. As Aladdin attempted to teleport away, a spiral of golden sand gathered around him to block any incoming attack… but it was too late.
A beam of dark energy pierced through the layers of defence and slammed into him.
BANGG!!
Aladdin was sent flying through the air, rolling across the ground before slamming into a stone building and coming to a stop.
"Argh!" Aladdin grunted in pain. He swiftly teleported away from his position, then teleported again to a safer location, putting distance between himself and where he had been attacked.
"I'm right behind you." Nasira appeared behind Aladdin. Except for a few burnt patches on her dress, she appeared as though she had never been attacked and had merely been putting on an act.
She placed her hand above him and cast a spell.
Paralysis!
Aladdin froze, finding that he was unable to move.
"That spell… how did you use it again? Like this…" Nasira said.
Instantly, a wave of purplish and crimson flames burst from her palms and enveloped Aladdin.
"AAHHHH!!" Aladdin screamed in pain.
The purplish-crimson flames stopped. Then, a purplish-blue barrage of lightning burst from her palms and devoured Aladdin once more.
"AHHHH!!"
Within seconds, she unleashed multiple barrages of spells, switching between fire and lightning. Then, a beam of dark energy gathered in her palm and slammed into Aladdin's back.
Aladdin shot down from the sky and slammed into the earth below with a resounding, "BANGG!!"
Nasira raised her hands to the sky, unleashing a burst of magical energy.
Dark purplish lightning gathered overhead around her. Countless lightning bolts shot down from the clouds, striking the spot where Aladdin lay sprawled.
The attacks continued for several seconds before finally coming to a halt.
The lightning overhead slowly dispersed.
Nasira breathed out in relief. Her magical reserves had already been cut in half from activating and sustaining the magic circles across the Kingdom, though most of the energy fueling them came from the surroundings.
Nonetheless, she hadn't expected dealing with Aladdin to prove so difficult. She was honestly surprised that someone so young was so skilled in magic, to the extent that he could go toe-to-toe with her.
Even the magical artefact he wielded was diverse and unlike anything she had ever witnessed in her life.
Could the depths of Ababwa be this profound?
Nasira began to ponder why she had never heard of the Empire of Ababwa. For them to have produced such a magical prodigy as a prince, it must mean they had even more competent sorcerers within their ranks.
Her connections weren't vast enough to keep track of nearly everything happening across the Seven Deserts, except for the region containing the Kingdom of Agrabah. Due to her concerns for her brother, she was certain such an empire shouldn't be unknown.
Nasira narrowed her eyes at Aladdin as her mind raced.
Everything about Aladdin and Ababwa was shrouded in mystery.
Could it be… No! That's impossible!
From what she knew, a genie's power couldn't be so great as to alter her memories or the entire world. No matter what kind of wish a genie granted, there would always be loopholes; the more powerful the wish, the more limitations it carried, as all wishes were ultimately bound by human desires and understanding.
Perhaps she might be underestimating them, but she was unsure unless she encountered a genie herself.
However, Nasira was partially right.
According to the original story, Aladdin had wished to become a prince, but Genie had only granted him clothes, enormous wealth, and rows of servants, guards, and soldiers, all fitting Aladdin's understanding of what a prince was.
In this new reality, Aladdin, with a few adjustments, made the same wish. He received the same things, with the addition of a prosperous empire capable of self-governance for centuries, along with an equally powerful force for protection.
However, Genie had also made his own last-second adjustment when he saw that Aladdin was willing to keep his promise to free him from the lamp, ensuring that any loopholes that would make such an empire unstable or create unnecessary tension in the world were resolved upon its creation.
That was one of the reasons why Ababwa had such an in-depth history and seamlessly fit into the lands of the Seven Deserts.
The only answer Nasira could come up with was that the Empire of Ababwa was one of those mysterious subterranean nations.
Nasira floated down to Aladdin's position and asked, "Are you dead yet? Or do you need a proper coffin before you can die?"
Aladdin felt a tingling, painful sensation travelling through his body. His skin was charred and smelled of burnt flesh.
Due to his battles with Genie, he had been learning and researching healing spells to mend body parts and cure ailments, improving them over time. However, he couldn't regenerate new body parts without exhausting his magical reserves.
The easiest way to achieve such a goal was to get his hands on one of those magical items that could grant eternal life, then see if he could study its longevity to create a far more advanced healing spell.
While this concept bordered on the realm of imagination and theoretical for other sorcerers, for Aladdin, it was merely a matter of time. Nonetheless, he was able to mend his wounds, slowly restoring them to their original state.
"Cough!" He coughed heavily as he attempted to teleport away. However, he quickly realised that the space around him was sealed.
Nasira had placed a barrier on the surrounding space, preventing him from freely teleporting as he once had.
Aladdin tried to rise to his feet.
Nasira stretched her hand outward and said, "I thought you might have had help killing my brother, perhaps from that Genie of yours. But after witnessing your skill in magic, I'm now certain that you were capable of killing him yourself. Jafar was incredibly intelligent, but he was never known for being a magical prodigy."
"I was the prodigy. Together, we could've achieved so much more. But now he's gone."
The earthen road peeled away from the ground and shot toward Aladdin, wrapping tightly around him.
The surrounding earthen buildings trembled before being torn apart by an invisible force. They gathered into massive chunks of rubble around and above him.
"Where are you hiding my brother?"
//////
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