Dark Magus Returns

Chapter 1609: Red Energy

The masked Cerebus member hadn’t expected this outcome at all. He had been storing up energy for a long time, building it layer upon layer inside his attack, waiting for the perfect moment to unleash everything he had. He had already seen the person in front of him use several techniques, strong moves, sharp reactions, abilities that were strange and unpredictable, but the most effective thing Liam had done so far was simply cut the energy of the attacks themselves. That alone was already terrifying.

Yet this time, Liam had not cut the energy.

He had faced it head-on.

The shock rattled the Cerebus member. The energy he had released had been raw, volatile, and powerful enough that he believed nothing could match it. But the force that hit back, the force Liam had used to counter it, felt almost just as raw as his own, unbelievably so. The realization that his opponent was still alive sent a ripple of disbelief through him.

Wings spreading, the masked figure quickly descended back onto the chaotic mound of broken objects below. He scanned the debris with sharp, narrowed eyes. To his annoyance, a figure slowly crawled out of the mess, brushing off dust and rubble.

"It was as I guessed," the masked man said coldly. "You were too scared to face me, so you hid in that rubbish all along. I never thought someone would do something so embarrassing."

But Liam wasn’t smiling, and he wasn’t nervous. His expression was still, calm, and focused. Around the iris of his eyes, a faint red glowing ring pulsed, clear confirmation that Red Mode had activated.

"You’re saying it’s embarrassing?" Liam replied, his voice steady. "I didn’t run away. I could’ve escaped and hidden from you easily. Honestly, I’m quite proud of my skills in hide and seek. I’ve been doing it for a long time."

He then straightened his back, his gaze sharp and unwavering.

"But I decided to stay, because I’m confident that I can beat you."

"Really? Then let’s see you try!" the masked man shouted.

His wings expanded wide, feathers of energy shimmering beside him. Small glowing circles of golden energy began floating outward, drifting like stars scattered across a dark night sky. In the same instant, the beams fired, hundreds of luminous streaks slicing through the air toward Liam. Earlier, Liam had been unable to block these and had been forced to rely on a massive technique to survive.

But this time was different.

Liam raised his hand. He wasn’t holding a weapon. He wasn’t holding anything at all. Instead, red particles began to gather in his palm, swirling together, converging into a dense glowing ball.

Then, he fired.

It didn’t come out as a single beam. Instead, hundreds of tiny red laser-like energy beams burst forward, spreading out in a rapid scatter, each one precisely targeting the incoming golden streaks.

Red lines met gold lines in midair, one for one, and all of the masked man’s attacks were destroyed long before they could reach Liam’s body.

In the midst of it all, the system’s voice appeared.

[The new system is able to process multiple forms of attacks.]

[It also allows your source of selected energy to be linked with the system to perform more outcomes for the situation you are in.]

[You are now proficient in using red energy.]

Earlier, the system had asked Liam about possible energy sources he could connect to it. Only one answer came to mind instantly, his own Qi.

People like Red and Zon weren’t warriors. They didn’t have Qi at all. Instead, they relied solely on technology, technology that extracted energy from Power Stones. That was the core of their strength. But when Liam thought deeply about it, what was the difference between that and what Pagna warriors did?

Pagna warriors also used Power Stones, but in the form of beast stones, turning them into Qi pills to strengthen their own internal energy.

Others couldn’t combine these concepts. But Liam... Liam might have been the first warrior with a system.

So he tried.

He had suggested it to the system, communicated with it in a way only he could, and it worked. He could now use his Qi to power the system itself. With that, he could perform techniques and abilities similar to how Red and Zon used their own system-driven powers.

He was still in tutorial mode, though, and the first function they wanted him to learn was using the red energy.

[Tutorial continued: The energy can be used through your body to speed up the nano cells in order to allow for fast acceleration.]

’What... what is the system trying to say?’ Liam thought, stunned. ’I thought I was already benefiting from the nanobots inside my body.’

Back when Liam had been injected with the system, his wounds healed faster than before. Injuries that should’ve been fatal were repaired. His overall strength had improved significantly. When he combined those upgrades with his naturally generated Qi, the improvement was incredible, so much so that someone might have mistaken it for a stage breakthrough.

But he hadn’t broken through. Not yet.

’Is it saying I can now do what Zon and Red could do... but with my own body too?’

It seemed he was about to find out.

The masked man flared with new anger. This time, instead of hundreds of small beams, eight massive beams of golden energy burst forward, each several times stronger and larger than before. They fired with explosive force...

...but they hit nothing.

Not the ground.

Not even dust.

Because Liam was gone.

The masked Cerebus member couldn’t even see a blur. His eyes darted around wildly, confusion and panic mixing behind the mask.

Until,

"I’m behind you!" Liam shouted.

Before the masked man could turn, Liam’s hand wrapped around the back of his head. With powerful force he didn’t even know he possessed, Liam slammed the man’s face straight into the ground, cracking dirt and debris as the impact echoed across the battlefield.

**

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