Advent of the Archmage

The barren, dark plains that had been ravaged by a spell earlier

Link and Nozama stood before each other, staring at one another. They were completely focused, but no one acted.

Whoosh, whoosh. Wind blew by. The wind on the plains was dark. When it blew past the earth, it swept up a cloud of dark dust that obstructed their vision.

…

Sea of Void

The God of Destruction watched the situation in the realm. He couldn’t help but swear inwardly, That stupid demon! He talks too much!

It could have been done easily, but he just had to cause so many problems. Now, they two sides were practically equal. It was hard to say who could win.

A few miles from the battlefield, there were three flashes of light. When the light subsided, three people appeared. They all collapsed with a plop, including Romeon.

His face was horribly pale, and his lips were bloody. He was bearing the realm’s resistance to Link by himself so Link could use his full power. The cost was that he practically had no power himself.

Falling onto the ground, he immediately took out a runestone and added his remaining bit of power to it. The runestone glowed. Soon after, the wind rose around him, and his unicorn flew over.

The two demons beside him were still unconscious. They’d really been scared silly. Both of them were wet underneath and smelled like sulfur. Clearly, they’d both pissed and sh*t their pants.

They’re as brave as rats. So embarrassing. Romeon tied them up with a rope and hung them on the unicorn’s back. Finally, he climbed up and patted the unicorn’s neck. “Let’s go, my old friend.”

When they rose into the sky, Romeon glanced at the battlefield behind him. “Dragon,” he murmured, “don’t disappoint me.”

He would only be a burden if he stayed. Right now, he had to hurry back to the Protectors’ land. Only there would he be truly safe.

The moment the unicorn sped away, a gale appeared in Link and Nozama’s battlefield. Whoosh! It swept up most of the black dust. It instantly covered the sky, blocking their vision.

Almost at the same time, the two acted.

Link was disadvantaged. His soul wasn’t as strong as Nozama, but he knew more about Nozama than the man thought. His mind was also calmer. Both of their battle techniques had reached an extreme level.

It could be said that both had their advantages. It was hard to say who would win.

Link narrowed his eyes and lunged. He saw Nozama’s blurred image. Listening to the wind around him, he determined Nozama’s specific location from the changes in the wind.

He stabbed his sword with only 70% of his power so he could adjust as needed.

Suddenly, he heard a clang. Narrowing his eyes, he saw a silver light flash, coming at him like lightning splitting the turbidity.

So fast!

Link grew serious. He went to meet it with his longsword. That moment, he realized he wasn’t fast enough. With his current speed, he would be stabbed before he could block. Changing plans, the sword’s surroundings blurred. He’d activated a low-level force field.

They were fighting physically, but both were still Magicians. These low-level spells were like instincts. They could cast them without too much thinking and create great effects with their battle techniques.

Link’s force field had two goals. One was to speed up his sword; the other was to disrupt Nozama.

An instant later, Nozama was affected. His usage of energy was no longer perfect. His sword slowed down a bit while Link’s sped up. Moments later, there was a piercing cling. Their weapons had clashed but didn’t separate. They’d “stuck” together. Link and Nozama’s power clashed within, and their weapons vibrated, creating rings of shockwaves in the air.

When the shockwaves appeared, they lifted the black dust on the ground. The dust in the air thickened; their figures were barely visible.

In the fight, Link was slightly weaker, but his heart was calm. He could multitask without making mistakes. Whenever he wasn’t strong enough, he would use some small spells to help himself and disrupt Nozama. So within one second, they’d clashed dozens of times but were at a stalemate.

One second later, Nozama realized he couldn’t win and instantly became furious.

He knew the fury would affect his mindset, but he couldn’t control himself. When faced with ordinary opponents, these emotions would make him more violent. He could intimidate his opponent and use that to his advantage. In countless fights through the millennium, he’d used his aura to win every time.

But this time, he knew it would be useless.

One’s so-called aura was just a mental image. Link was able to see through these psychological things. If Nozama lost his temper, his opponent would be unbothered while his own mind would be affected. If his mind was affected, he wouldn’t be able to multitask and use spells like Link.

In a short-range fight, using spells seemed fancy. But if there was a mistake and a spell backlash happened, it would be disastrous. He could get killed instantly!

His murderous intent grew; the bloody light in his eyes grew heavier. Nozama unconsciously let out guttural growls.

But Link was still as calm as ever. He sensed Nozama’s changes. The power from the man’s sword grew stronger, but they were less condensed. The threat towards Link decreased. He could easily block them with some battle techniques.

They clashed for one second, two seconds, three seconds… At eight seconds, they were still tied.

“I’m going to kill you!” Nozama growled like a beast. He brought his sword down to force Link away.

Link used this chance to retreat. At the same time, Nozama also stepped back and put his sword away to cast spells.

He’d lost in terms of battle techniques. He could only defeat Link with spells. Regular spells were ineffective, but he could use a spell to activate a large-scale physical attack. For example, a meteor shower could smash Link to bits!

But then something happened. Something moved in his vision, and a sword appeared. It was Link’s attack. He had the same thought as Nozama and had acted earlier!

Nozama had already retracted his sword. His sword was six feet long and couldn’t turn easily. Link’s sword appeared under his rib and he couldn’t block it even if he had a sword. Seeing that he was about to be stabbed in the heart, Nozama growled and grasped the sword tip with his bare hands.

Crack! He successfully grasped the sword, but blood flowed from the cuts on his palm.

“You’re looking for death!” Stimulated by the pain, Nozama’s emotions went out of control. He forgot all about the God of Destruction’s order to capture Link alive. As his hand flashed, a runestone appeared. He added in dark power, and the runestone glowed with a dark, watery halo.

But at that time, he vaguely saw a white light in the dust before him. Then the sword in his hand disappeared.

This discovery shocked Nozama awake. No, he’s going to escape!

Looking at the dark runestone in his hand, he immediately gave up on the destructive spell. Picking up his sword, he rushed forward. But 300 feet later, it felt wrong. He didn’t think that Link would keep retreating. Three hundred feet was enough for Link to use a transmission spell and escape.

As expected, when he finally rushed to Link, he only saw a shred of white light.

“Nozama, you’re strong, and you’re great, but you just talk too much.”

Crack. Nozama’s fury erupted, and he crushed the runestone to powder. After that, he composed himself and checked the spatial ripples left in the air.

Hmph, do you plan on running for your entire life?

Next time Nozama caught up, he planned on using a spell from afar to stop Link. He’d like to see what Link could do then!