Dark Magus Returns

Chapter 1511: The Seventh Formation

Raze smiled. How long had he been with the others from Pagna now?

At times, he wondered if bringing them here had been a mistake, if it would have been better to shoulder this entire burden alone. But through the festival, through every clash and trial they had faced, and even now, they had proven themselves beyond any doubt.

He hadn’t told them what to do. He hadn’t asked them to risk everything like this.

And yet... they had still done it.

As Raze smiled, a fresh onslaught of wind attacks howled toward him. He tightened his grip on his sword as darkness gathered around the blade, swirling until the steel looked like it was made of shadow itself.

"The second formation... Eclipse Strike."

He swung sideways.

A crescent arc of darkness ripped across the arena, cutting through a huge cluster of the incoming attacks.

The rest of the wind strikes veered off their original path, hurtling toward Liam.

Liam’s eyes sharpened. He shifted his stance, switching the sword in his grip, and mirrored Raze’s movement. A black crescent flared from his blade, an almost perfect copy of the Eclipse Strike.

The two slashes collided midair, detonating in a crack of force.

Thankfully, Ibarin’s attack hadn’t been at full power, and Liam’s strike held firm.

Raze landed lightly, boots skidding across the stone.

Finally... he had the space to move.

"Dark Magic, Dusk Wing Formation, the sixth formation!"

Dark energy burst out from his sword, forming jagged, feather-like blades of shadow. More of the same dark magic flared behind his shoulders, shaping themselves into two colossal wings.

At the same time, arcs of lightning crackled around his legs, sharpening every movement.

Then he was gone.

Raze became a blur, shooting to the side and slashing as he passed. Several streaking lines of magic and Qi erupted from his blade, carving deep scars through the ground as he moved.

He circled the arena in a storm of movement, striking from every angle.

Ibarin spun frantically, hurling every spell he could think of, but one of Raze’s slashes caught him across the back. His Blazer flared with a shimmer of defensive energy, absorbing the brunt of it, but the surge of Qi still drove through and blasted him into the center of the arena.

Snarling, Ibarin slammed his palms into the ground. Flames exploded from his hands, propelling him upward.

He spun his body midair, gathering more and more fire into his arms before releasing it all at once.

A roaring tornado of flames spiraled around him, enormous in size, stretching high above the arena floor. As it spun, countless blasts of wind-laced fire tore outward in random directions.

It was chaos.

The attack had no aim, no pattern, no control.

It just consumed everything.

Bolts of searing fire tore toward the stands, forcing dozens of mages to rise from their seats and throw up shields. Cries of panic rose from the audience as the walls trembled.

And through the storm, Raze moved.

His Dusk Wings flared wide, lightning flickering down his legs as he dashed across the arena faster than sight. Each time he stopped, his sword lashed out, releasing dark crescents that cut down the wild slashes of wind and fire before they could reach the crowd.

"Why is he doing that?!" a guest shouted. "Isn’t he just wasting mana? Those strikes aren’t even going toward him!"

"Can’t you see?" another voice answered, louder, stronger. "The Dark Magus is protecting us! The Grand Magus has gone mad, half of us would already be dead by now if not for him!"

The truth crashed down on the crowd like a wave.

Raze didn’t need to do this to win.

These weren’t counterattacks, they were shields.

Every word he had said before, every order he had given to his allies... it had all been to protect the people around him.

"Maybe this new Dark Magus... is different from the old," someone murmured.

"That might be..." another mage replied, voice low. "But I’ve heard things, rumors. That nearly every tragedy, every attack on a guild, every strike... there were reasons behind them.

"People who tried to speak up were silenced quickly. Most thought they were just sympathizers, trying to stir trouble. But now that I’m seeing this...

"If we tell people what we saw today, what happened here, they’ll think the same of us."

That thought struck several of them silent.

But they weren’t nobodies. Many of the people witnessing this battle were prominent figures, leaders, nobles, and influential mages.

They would not be easily silenced.

"Raze... is this your answer?" Alen muttered from the stands, his eyes narrowing. "You’ve done well. But I have a feeling you’re going to do more.

"This method, showing them who you are, it might work this time. But against the other Grand Magus? It won’t.

"You have more to show, don’t you?"

Down below, Raze continued to slash away the attacks raining toward the stands, but he knew Alen was right.

It wouldn’t matter unless he broke through the massive vortex of destruction Ibarin had created.

Thankfully, this time was different.

Unlike the early days, he wasn’t limited to just magic anymore.

"The seventh formation..."

Raze took a deep breath, and then his voice echoed across the arena, calm and deadly.

"Abyssal Chant."

Dark murmurs spilled from his lips as he moved, his words bending into ancient syllables that weren’t meant for human tongues.

Shadows crawled along his sword as he swung, releasing shapes like jagged runes. The glowing runes shot across the arena and clung to the outer edges of the massive tornado.

Raze blurred around the battlefield, moving faster and faster, planting more and more of the specially designed runes into place.

Then he stopped.

He drove his sword down into the arena floor.

Every rune lit up at once.

A deep, pulsing hum filled the air as the symbols detonated.

The effect was almost like a bomb of pure darkness.

A surge of black energy erupted in a dome, consuming the spinning tornado from every side, shredding its flames and winds to dust. The colossal vortex wailed like a living beast as it unraveled, collapsing into nothingness.

The arena went silent for a moment.

This wasn’t like the earlier stages of the fight where Raze could afford to hold back.

He was having to use everything he had now.

Because he knew what was coming next.

As the flames and wind vanished around him, Ibarin stood in the center, eyes wide. His great protective spell was gone.

"You... leave me no choice!" Ibarin bellowed.

He clenched his fist, then slammed it against his chest.

Power roared around him.

"I activate... my Breakthrough!"

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