Chapter 938: Dark Magus Vs Belil (Part 1)
Fingertips were holding onto the edge of a rocky slab. Eventually, Brack had pulled himself up and stood on the edge of the strange makeshift arena he was on.
“That was a close one; that Qi energy almost blew me away to the floor. If I weren’t a middle- stage warrior, maybe I would have been blown all the way back to the Neverfall Clan base,” Brack said, wiping the sweat off from his head.
“That punch from before… I can’t even imagine how strong Belil really is! I thought maybe Raze would have a chance. After all, he’s the Dark Magus who took on Sha Mo!”
“Weren’t Sha Mo and Belil meant to be of equal strength? It doesn’t seem like that, and I can’t really follow what they were saying before, either.”
Brack started to scratch his head, as he couldn’t believe he was about to bear witness to the fight that was going to take place.
No one but him knew that the Dark Magus and Belil were fighting against each other, and only he had the privilege of watching everything.
“I won’t take my eyes off this… I won’t, just like Belil said. I might be the one who will have to record this down in history!”
Belil, after pounding his fists, had a large smile on his face, then, reaching out with his hand, he taunted Raze, pulling his fingers toward himself, telling Raze to come at him.
“You’re not the only one who has strong Qi!” Raze said as he summoned another sword in his hand, which was the wind-enchanted sword.
He swung them both, and red crimson slashes came out toward Belil. With swings of his arm, they shattered, not cutting his skin.
Raze continued to swing his sword, as the attacks hit Belil more and more.
“Come on, this is noth-” he began, in the middle of his sentence.
That was when he could see an even bigger red crimson slash come at him. At the perfect time, Belil clapped both of his hands, hitting it and making it disappear, breaking down into nothing.
“I see… your Qi is impressive; it’s heavily condensed, so it feels stronger than the stage you are at… that’s actually something most need to do once they reach the higher stages and start to plateau!” Belil claimed. “It’s quite impressive, considering how long you have been at the middle stage, how far you have come.”
“And to top it off, you used magic in that attack.” Belil raised his eyebrows. “Are you surprised that I could tell?”
Raze had already rushed forward, performing three of the descending steps in succession, one after the other, and took a swing at Belil from the side.
Belil raised his hand, blocking the attack, and just looked at Raze, who quickly bounced back. As he moved backward, he fired off a Dark Pulse from his hand.
The beam of Dark energy shot forward. Once again, though, like everything before, Belil swung his fist, and the Dark energy on impact was destroyed, just exploding away.
‘My Dark magic affinity has already increased so much, yet it still failed to even put a scratch on him. Is he coating his body in Qi?’
The fight so far had reminiscences of his match with Sha Mo. He, too, had a strong body that seemed unable to be scratched. However, Raze was stronger than that now, with more Magic and more Qi, yet this was still the major difference between the two of them.
“I’ll just have to wear him down,” Raze said as he put both swords away and pointed both of his hands toward Belil.
Out of them, a constant dark beam of magic came out, hitting Belil’s body. It pushed against his bare chest, seemingly doing no damage, and eventually, Belil moved his hand in front of the attack, stopping it from hitting his body.
Belil then shoved his hand forward. In doing so, in front of Raze’s eyes, both of the beams of Dark energy were destroyed as they were being pushed back.
Raze quickly stopped the attack and moved out of the way. Just behind where Raze had been moments ago, the attack hit the giant slabs of earth that surrounded their fighting area, creating two large holes in them.
“Come on! Is this all you have?” Belil said. “I haven’t attacked yet because I don’t even feel any danger coming from you. Are you really the person who defeated Sha Mo and my two sons?”
The truth was, the Raze who had defeated all three of them was the old Dark Magus, the nine- star mage. The current Raze wasn’t stronger than that… but he had to win this fight, and right now, all he was being was a disappointment for Belil.
‘I didn’t have time to figure out how to do a Dark Core breakthrough. So, the powers I displayed before, it’s impossible for me to display them now.’
“Then I will just have to go with it!” Once again, both swords were seen in Raze’s hands. If Belil was just going to stand there, then he had time on his hands.
He performed the first descending step, all the way up to the sixth, when he was up in the air. With both swords raised above his head, they were condensed in Dark magic.
“Dark Edge Sword Arts, Second Formation: Duel Eclipse Strike!” Raze threw both of his swords, and the entire area was covered in Dark magic as they left his hands.
They hit the floor and caused the whole place to shake. Belil was nowhere to be seen, and Brack, watching, had to hold on tight again.
Eventually, the power of the attack was fading into particles, and when it did, Belil was seen standing there, his body completely fine just like it was before.
“Now that’s more like it, but you made a foolish mistake,” Belil said as he lifted his hand in the air. Soon, orange energy flowed out of his body and started to condense around his whole arm, including his fist.
“Didn’t I tell you already? I was the one who helped make those techniques in the first place! Neverfall, Eclipse Strike!” Belil shouted, swinging his arm out.
Chapter 939: Raze vs Belil (Part 2)
The moment Raze saw Belil lift his hand in the air, he had a strange feeling. A massive amount of energy could be felt coming out from Belil’s body.
It was a little different from Raze’s own Dark Edge Sword Arts, but there was definitely a sense of familiarity, causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up.
It made him think for a moment; maybe this was how others felt when they saw his attack.
‘I need to move!’ Raze spun his body with wind and tried to cast Wind magic to force his propulsion down. Right at that moment, Belil swung his fist in the air.
Coming out from his hand and arm was orange energy that shot out, covering a wide area. It was large in size, covering nearly all the area that could be seen.
The attack went further forward, reaching and piercing the skies, splitting the clouds apart. Raze had touched the floor, and when he looked up, he could still see the energy of the attack going past him, until the orange glow on his face had disappeared from the reflection of the attack.
His eyes then laid on Belil in front of him, who looked at his own fist.
“Do you really think the Dark Edge Sword Arts, which was created by me and Bofan, could be used against me? Not only that, but those techniques were created long ago… if anything, I know the perfect way to counter them, and let me tell you now”
“Although I don’t know how to use magic, I know how to use all of the formations, as they are formations belonging to me in the first place.”
Honestly, before Raze had used the attack, he had an inkling that this would happen, but he had to try it. After all, he was now a Dark Mage with high affinity.
His attacks might be stronger than Bofan’s, and he had special weapons in his hands along with learning how to perform a dual strike with the technique.
In some ways, Raze believed he had made it his own, but his attack was useless, and now seeing it from one of the creators, his was perhaps half as effective.
“Come on, do it. I know you want to test if the Dark Edge Sword Arts really work against me or not. I’m sure they have helped you throughout your journey, so this is a first for you!” Belil claimed.
“Very well, then let’s test it!” Raze said as he charged forward.
There had to be something, something he could do, something he could use to get through. In the meantime, he would at least try his own way of the Dark Edge Sword Arts.
As Raze came close, Dark magic started to surround both of his swords. With his increased Qi and mana, he was able to use the first formation, the Shadow Bind Formation, with both of his weapons.
‘Was Bofan able to do this?’ Raze swung both swords wrapped in Dark magic, and they swirled and intertwined within Belil’s body, wrapping around him.
Then, right after, Raze even changed weapons and swung an attack, hitting his feet. Ice started to freeze over at the bottom, reinforcing the position Belil was in.
“Now, time for… What?” When Raze went to try and swing his blade, he noticed his legs and arms were wrapped in strange orange energy, and the power was seeping into him.
It was draining him as it touched him. When Raze looked up, Belil had already broken out, and both his arms were wrapped around like a snake in strange orange Qi.
“I bet you didn’t even see me use my skill, right? There’s no point in binding if someone can see it coming. They will just avoid it and attack you back!”
In a desperate situation, Raze managed to cast Dark magic over his body, exploding it out like particles. It disrupted the bindings around him, and he quickly moved back.
Dark energy came out like a mist from his sword as the Nightmare Veil Formation was created. With swings of his sword, the dark mist in the area formed the appearance of beasts coming at him.
“Now, this is something that I have always hated. This is not something I can particularly do, and it suits more of your mage’s tricky type, but there’s a simple way to deal with this.”
The dark mist started to swirl, forming into a tiger beast that leapt right at Belil.
Calm as ever, Belil looked up, opened his mouth, and let out a single loud scream.
“AH!” The scream echoed with power, and just like when he had pounded his two fists together, a wave of Qi rippled from his body.
It pushed and destroyed all of the dark energy in the air, moving it away, and the Nightmare Veil Formation was gone just like that-it was practically useless.
“Even if that touched me, it wouldn’t have hurt my body,” Belil claimed.
“Right, right, but this might!” Belil looked to his side and saw Raze’s feet sparkling with a type of lightning.
At the same time, Dark magic and Qi had gathered at the back of his sword. Raze exploded forward, lightning shooting off his foot, giving him immense speed.
At the same time, the Void Pulse Formation was used. Ripping through the air, with a current of lightning, Dark magic, and Qi behind him, Raze’s sword thrust forward, aiming for Belil’s chest.
The sword almost touched his skin, but Belil blocked the attack with his palm. The very tip of Raze’s sword pushed against the palm of his hand.
“Well, would you look at that, you managed to make a cut,” Belil stated. Blood dripped down his palm and fell onto the floor.
It was as Belil said, during the whole fight, with everything that Raze had done, including using his magic, there wasn’t a single wound on him.
“I guess it means it’s finally my turn to go on the attack,” Belil stated.
Chapter 940: Raze vs Belil (Part 3)
Raze knew that he couldn’t rely on the Dark Edge Sword Arts. It was the perfect set of arts for the situations he was in—an art that combined magic and Qi together. It was something that had a lot of effort put into it and would be better than anything he could come up with on the go.
So he decided to try and enhance it in other ways. One of those ways was to combine his Lightning magic along with a foot technique, allowing him to have superior speed and power when attacking.
He then combined it with the most powerful piercing technique the Dark Edge Sword Arts had, the Void Pulse Formation.
In a way, it was his most powerful attack that focused on a single point, with the main goal of breaking through any defense, and it had succeeded, but looking at the small drop of blood in front of him, it had only succeeded at the smallest level.
‘Murkel held the title as the one closest to reaching the Divine realm, and Sha Mo was said to have equal power to Belil, but I can tell all of that was false. Now that I have met the real thing, it’s quite obvious that this is the very peak of the middle stage!’
If Raze thought about it a bit more, he would realize it was even beyond that. Since Belil was actually a Divine Stage warrior, he had spent years still trying to grow his strength in some way, not something a typical warrior would do after reaching his level.
“I guess it means it’s finally my turn to go on the attack,” Belil stated.
A large smile appeared on Belil’s face, and seeing this, Raze decided to quickly go on the defensive. He used his lightning footwork to move away.
Right after, the swords had changed in his hands once again, one with lightning attribute, the other with ice. His feet lit up, sparking, and quickly disappearing, Raze reappeared by Belil’s side.
He swung both swords, slashing as hard as he could against Belil’s body. Right after hitting, he would move with his footwork again, disappearing and reappearing in another location. The sword strikes weren’t piercing Belil’s skin, but that wasn’t what Raze was aiming for in the first place. The constant attacks from the swords had been aimed at Belil’s legs.
He was hoping for one of two things to occur: either for the static from the lightning- enchanted sword to paralyze Belil’s entire body, or for the latter, which occurred. Belil’s legs began to freeze from the constant attacks. Quickly, Raze placed both hands on the floor, and walls lifted up around Belil’s sides and back.
Right after that, Raze started to gather his Dark magic, condensing it into balls, and throwing them in the air. They were slightly bigger than a fist, and as he threw them above him, they lingered for a while.
He had made around twenty in total, and then, moving both of his hands, he cast large tornado-like wind spells. The black balls gathered with the magic of the wind, and then they were all pushed right toward Belil.
The condensed balls hit his body, and Raze didn’t let up, as he started to combine Dark magic with his tornado-like wind, creating a tunnel of darkness from his hands and wrapping around Belil’s entire body.
‘With the way I am now, I also don’t have every affinity unlocked like I did when I had my breakthrough. It would have been nice to have fire and water elements to help me in this fight, but I’ll have to do what I can!’
Raze was trying to recreate some of his spells that he could perform but on a smaller scale than when he was a nine-star mage, with his Dark magic as the core of the attack.
With the constant attack hitting Belil, some marks could be seen on his body, but it didn’t appear as if they had broken through his skin.
Then, with his hand, Belil grabbed onto the tunnel of Dark magic. He did so as if the wind or Dark magic had some type of physical form.
Raze had never seen a mage or a Pagna warrior do something like this before. Then, Belil lifted the entire attack like it was some giant snake’s head and then bashed it into the ground.
No matter what Raze tried to do, the attack from his hands was now just going into the ground, so he quickly decided to cancel his spell.
In Belil’s hand, he had grabbed and ripped off part of the magic attack, and now it appeared as if a ball of darkness was in his hands, and he hurled it right at Raze.
Quickly, Raze made several earth walls, raising them up, but the ball of darkness went right through the walls. Holding both of his hands out, Raze used several Dark Pulses, hitting the ball, and as they hit, the ball eventually got smaller and smaller.
Then, at the last moment, Raze was able to pull out his Ghost blade and slice at the dark ball of energy, destroying it completely.
‘That was close… I was nearly taken out by my own attack,’ Raze thought. ‘With him throwing it, he had added his Qi into the attack as well. It made it a lot stronger and fiercer than my attack.’
Belil’s words started to ring in his head. Belil still hadn’t gone on the offensive, but surely now he would… So just what was Raze to do? Now, he was hoping he would have at least
injured him.
“You said you can perform up to the Fourth Formation perfectly, right? Then let me show you something special!” Belil said, lifting both of his hands in the air, orange energy coming out from his body, covering his shoulders and going all the way to his fingertips.
When he moved his hands down to his side from the air, several arms of energy appeared to linger, making him look like he had multiple arms hovering around his body, made of pure Qi
energy.
“The Fifth Formation! The Neverfall Clan’s Phantom Formation!” Belil exclaimed.
Chapter 941: Raze vs Beili (Part 4)
Although Raze perhaps should have been afraid and worried for what was about to come, part of him was a little excited. He had been practicing the Fifth Formation for some time.
He was nearly there, and although he could somewhat perform it himself, it seemed imperfect, and now he might go on to learn the crucial points needed to perform such a move.
When Belil lifted his hands in the air and placed them by his side, after images made of his orange Qi appeared, signaling the start of the formation.
“Ready?” Belil said, and in an instant, he had kicked off from his feet. So much Qi extended out from his leg that large chunks of the hard flooring split apart, looking like even more giant slabs coming up from the floor.
Rushing toward him, Raze feared for the worst that was about to come his way.
“I’ll slow him down!” Raze blew a tornado of wind from his palm and added frost with his other hand. Whatever went in its path would be condensed with ice.
However, this time, without even needing to throw a fist, the explosive power of Belil allowed him to crash right through the wind and ice, having no effect on him at all, and Raze saw a fist coming right at him.
Switching to his Ghost blade, Raze swung the blade to match the fist, condensing as much Qi as he could to stop the attack.
‘I’m not as weak as you think I am!’ Sparks of lightning came from his elbow, allowing for superior speed, and the blade struck right on the knuckle.
Still, Raze knew this wasn’t enough; he needed to pull the blade away. As someone who knew the Fifth Formation, he understood this was only the start of the attack.
As the fist struck, several fists of energy appeared from all corners of where Raze was. He tried to move the blade away, to use his magic to push the attack away, yet it was impossible.
The orange fists appeared from every direction. They were slighty translucent, like fists from a ghost. When they moved forward and hit Raze’s body, it was quite clear they were not fist’s of a ghost.
The powerful strike erupted, striking Raze’s body and pounding him from all sides and directions.. The Qi energy hurt him not just on the outside but on the inside as well.
He was sure he could feel some of his bones fracturing, and he couldn’t hold it in anymore as he coughed out blood from his mouth, part of it landing on Belil’s face.
“Did you think I would just attack once?” Belil said, already throwing his fist up from underneath again.
In desperation, Raze, close to falling to the floor, placed his hand on the ground. He shifted the earth, moving Belil back, and used his lightning footwork to rush away.
When he had reached a reasonable distance from Belil, he let out another large cough, splattering blood onto the ground.
“Kek!” Raze was breathing heavily, his eyes twitching, his body still in pain.
‘All of this just from one of his techniques hitting me… I’m still alive, but if that second hit had struck, there’s a good chance I might have died.’
Raze thought back to the technique Belil had just used. Although Belil had called it the Neverfall Phantom Formation…
The Dark Edge Sword Arts called it the Phantom Edge Formation. When Raze used it, the sword took on a translucent effect, appearing more like a ghostly blade.
As it moved in the air, faint, spectral images of the sword would appear as well. It had the capability, in a single strike, to perform multiple strikes that could attack from various angles simultaneously.
The strikes that came from the spectral images rather than the sword itself were weaker, which was why Raze had put his all into blocking the attack, but he was already so hurt.
“Come on… what did I say?” Belil shouted as he walked forward again, this time casually strolling toward Raze. “You have to win this fight, or you get nothing. You won’t achieve what it is you want.”
“Why are you even doing all of this?” Belil asked. “There are plenty of mages who are part of that Alter group, who come over here every day.”
“They decide to just live their normal lives. Some are interested in the Pagna world, but they’re not like you. Why did you pick up the Dark Edge Sword Arts? Why did you push yourself to reach this high position?”
“I can tell; I can see from the look in your eyes that there’s something you want! If you don’t beat me now, then all of that will go away!”
The pain Raze felt all over his body started to fade. Instead, it was being replaced with emotions of anger.
‘He’s right… if I lose this fight, then all of those years, everything I continually went through, will have been for nothing.’
Raze took a deep breath, and his feet ignited with lightning powers once more. He charged forward, exploding from his position, and appeared right in front of Belil.
In one hand, he held a large, condensed ball of Dark magic, while his Ghost blade was covered in darkness. Raze pushed one hand forward, swinging the other.
“That’s not it!” Belil shouted as he slammed down with his fist, hitting Raze right on top of both shoulders. A loud cracking sound echoed just before Raze’s entire body was thrown to
the ground.
Cracks appeared all across the battlefield, and Brack, watching from a distance, was nearly thrown off his slab once again.
With one hand, Belil lifted Raze, his limp body hanging in the air.
“You are not the person who defeated Sha Mo. You are not the person who defeated Murkel! This is not enough.”
As Raze weakly opened one eye, looking at Belil, a deep thought filled his mind.
‘He… really is going to kill me.’
Chapter 942: Raze vs Belil (Part 5)
Brack watched from above as he could see a weakened Raze being held up with one hand. Although he hadn’t seen Raze fight against Sha Mo himself, it was clear from the power and techniques he displayed that he was incredibly powerful.
Yet, after everything, the fight had turned out extremely one-sided, and now it almost looked like Raze had nothing left.
“Is this it?” Belil shouted as he shook him with one hand. “Is this it!” Belil shouted again, his voice erupting with Qi.
Moving his hand, Raze then grabbed onto Belil with both hands. As he did, his veins started to bulge, and through the simple touch, energy began coming back into Raze.
Immediately, Belil pulled his arm away, and Raze dropped to the floor, landing crouched.
“The Demonic Extraction technique… and it was absorbing energy at such a fast rate… I guess you still have something, but it’s useless!” Belil said.
While crouched, Raze summoned two swords in his hands, one enchanted with lightning, the other his Ghost blade, and he swung them both at Belil.
Moving to the side quickly with his foot technique, Belil avoided them both, then lifted his hand and delivered a slap across Raze’s arm. It was so forceful that it caused Raze’s body to spin out of control.
Right as Raze regained his footing, another hand came right at his face, and the palm struck him cleanly, swinging his head to the side.
The taste of iron filled his mouth, and blood soon followed, falling onto the floor.
“Come on, what is this? Use everything-you took my energy, right? So you must have something!” Belil shouted.
Raze lifted his sword, but only half of it was encased in black energy as he attempted to swing it down. Before he could fully swing the weapon, Belil moved forward, grabbing Raze’s wrist and lifting it.
Once again, with his free hand, Belil slapped Raze, this time across his ribs. The searing pain shot through his body, and a shockwave could even be seen extending out the other side.
“I’m not even bothering to use any techniques now; this is getting ridiculous!”
With Raze’s eyes half-open, he continued to swing his swords, either pouring Qi energy or mana into them. He wasn’t fully aware of what he was doing, and in the middle of the fight, all he could hear were Belil’s words ringing in his ears.
Each time Belil said something, it caused Raze to tighten his grip around the weapon and swing, drawing even more energy than he thought he had.
Energy he didn’t think he had left-willpower he didn’t think he had-seemed to appear from within him. On top of that, thoughts started to fill his head as well.
‘I only defeated Murkel because of the Bloody Woman. Right now, she’s nowhere to be seen, her words aren’t in my head… Is this because of what I said last time, how I could do things on my own?’
‘If I die, don’t you die as well?’
Despite thinking these things, there was still no voice in his head. All he could do was muster a slight smirk as he took another swing, but it was stopped, and Belil responded with another strike to his face.
He could feel nearly all the muscles in his body completely swollen.
‘The breakthrough… it was because I regained my old powers that I was able to defeat Sha Mo. Without that and without the Bloody Woman taking over my body… there’s no chance I can win this fight.’
In Raze’s view, he saw blood leaving his mouth again. He was surprised he could still bleed, surprised he was still standing-just what was keeping him up on his feet in the first place? ‘Pathetic, this whole thing is pathetic. Did I win all my fights before just because I was lucky? Now that the luck hasn’t fallen my way, I’ve finally lost this fight… I’ve finally lost my life.’
Summoning up even more energy from within, Raze charged forward, kicking off the floor. He moved his hand over his sword, covering the lightning enchantment and growing it even larger.
Swinging it sideways, the lightning on the sword extended and lashed out like a whip.
In response, Belil threw his fist right through the lightning, destroying it, and then charged toward Raze again.
Coming right at him, Raze didn’t even use his magic to put his weapons away. Instead, he placed his hands together and shot a large beam of black energy.
It hit Belil’s body and pushed him back slightly, but only for a moment. It continued to hit Belil as he walked forward. All it seemed to do was slow him down, and eventually, the magic from Raze’s hands ceased.
“I’ve… run out of mana?” Raze thought.
In this situation, if his head wasn’t filled with strange thoughts, maybe he would have used a cursed Qi pill to keep fighting just a bit longer.
Or maybe his mind was sound, and it was telling him that even if he used it, it would be useless in the end.
Regardless, at that moment, he thought one thing.
“If I can’t use my mana, then I’ll just use my Qi!” Raze took one step forward, and immediately, his entire body fell to the ground, landing flat on his face.
“What… is this…? I can’t even move my body.”
Belil, not even drawing out his own Qi, simply walked toward Raze, who was staring at him from the corner of his eye.
“You’ve used every ounce of energy in your body; you have exhausted all your Qi. This is your body’s way of saving you. If you drew out anything else, it would use your life force, and you would end up with nothing.” With his foot, Belil kicked Raze, pushing him onto his back.
His face, his body-everything was a complete mess. Belil knelt down by his side and placed his hand right on Raze’s chest.
“It looks like you have failed this test,” Belil said, as the veins on his hand started to bulge.
Immediately, Raze recognized the feeling-it was the extraction technique… his life was about to be taken away.
Chapter 943: A strong Duo Set out!
The Lost Clan, a pivotal Clan in the Demonic Faction, was at the center of information gathering. Due to their position, no clan wished to get on their bad side.
At the same time, they were good at keeping information as well, such as the total numbers of the clan and the strength of each of the members.
People were unaware of the lengths they had gone to in the past and currently, even the fact that Lince, the leader of the Lost Clan, had ordered the elimination of the Behemoth Clan members.
Because of this, it wasn’t often that the leader of the clan would be at the base or in a singular city. Orders would be sent through various different members, which others weren’t able to get their hands on.
Lately, though, Lince had been away from the base longer than usual, and even now he was busy riding in a carriage. His black hair was sticking out from a headband that he would wear slightly slanted.
He still had the black mask that would cover the bottom part of his face. At times, people had even mistakenly called him Kakashi, whoever that was.
As the carriage bumped up and down through the dry desert, he couldn’t help but think about a particular individual in his mind whom he had recently visited.
‘Belil, are you going through with what you said right now?’ Lince thought. ‘I still can’t believe everything you told me about. If I were in your shoes, I don’t think I could do it… but what am I talking about? Even now I’m moving because of you. I guess you infected me somehow with all of this.’
Eventually, the carriage came to a stop, and Lince exited the vehicle. He threw a few silver coins to the driver as he looked at the sight in front of him.
He could smell the salt in the air and hear the waves crashing back and forth.
“I can’t even remember the last time I visited this place,” Lince said as he looked at the giant ships docked on the wooden platform.
Lince had traveled as far north in the Demonic Faction, bringing him to such a place. It wasn’t a city where many people lived, and that was due to the large number of criminals who would live in such an area.
There were a large number of pirates in the city itself, and there was no clan that protected the place. So it was either pirates and warriors against one another, or just those who were running away from something, being chased.
On the front, there were plenty of inns and drinking areas, where a fight would occur.
Lince walked through the city, and as he walked on the stone flooring, he saw men running, being chased past him.
He saw a group of children who had even used knives and other tools to gang up on a single individual.
Lince soon stopped in the middle of the street as well, and a man came hurtling from the side and went right past him. Looking to his left, he could see a broken door and another large man moving forward.
“At some point, it would be good if the Demonic Faction could deal with this town, but now is not the right time.”
Eventually, Lince reached the harbor. Just walking along the many ships, he could sense the high-level warriors guarding each of the ships.
It was the only way they could deter other thieves from trying to take what was theirs.
“I guess I should start asking,” Lince said as he headed toward one of the ships.
Immediately, one of the warrior guards moved towards him.
“Hold up, what are you- “
In the middle of the warrior’s sentence, Lince had disappeared, and he was already on the ship itself among the other crew members.
“Are you the captain?” Lince asked.
“Aye.” A man with several missing teeth said, with a black bandana on top of his head. The man was quite startled, suddenly seeing Lince standing on the edge of his ship.
“There’s somewhere I need you to go. In two days’ time, I need you to head north. I can give you directions, and don’t worry, I won’t be asking you to do this for free.” Lince then pulled out a pouch and threw it over.
The captain lifted his hand and caught the pouch. When he opened it up, it was filled with a few golden coins. It wasn’t money anyone could get their hands on.
Even though they weren’t meant to head north, this was sure to persuade them.
“I’ll tell you the same as the other guy,” the captain said. “There ain’t nothing north, and I’ll take you as far as the sea will let me. I ain’t dying for any amount of gold.”
“The other guy?” Lince asked.
When looking at the crew, that’s when he noticed something odd. Although the warrior guard looked fine, all of the crew on the ship were badly hurt.
They had wounds, some were bandaged up, even carrying a sling over their arm. It wasn’t just that, but part of the ship in certain areas looked to be partially destroyed as well.
‘Did I go on the wrong ship?’ Lince thought, but then another thought crossed his mind as to what could have possibly happened.
“Wait… this person, did they ask you to go to the same place?” Lince asked.
“Aye, and I’d appreciate it if you both didn’t fight aboard the ship; otherwise, the whole thing will sink even before we leave this place,” the captain said.
At that moment, the door to the captain’s area opened. A man wearing pagna clothing and a strange black suit underneath had come out.
Immediately, the man looked at Lince, who was onboard the ship, and the two locked eyes with each other. At the same time, they both asked the exact same question.
“Who are you?” Lince and Zon asked.
Chapter 944 Punishment For Losing
Seeing Belil’s hand reach toward him, Raze had an idea of what was coming next—the extraction technique. In the first place, it was a technique that had come from the Demonic Faction.
Those at higher stages, considered prodigies, could use it at a great speed. It wasn’t practically useful in a fight, but after defeating an opponent, it could help one increase in strength dramatically.
When Belil’s hand pressed on Raze’s chest, he could see the veins on Belil’s hands start to bulge, and something from within began to be lifted.
‘I’ve lost the fight… I have no more mana, I can’t even lift a finger. I can forget about taking any type of Qi pills to give me another chance, but that would all be useless anyway.’
In truth, Raze could only think of two things that might have been helpful in the current situation: for his body to be so close to death that he would perform a breakthrough.
As for the second thing, it was for the Bloody Woman to come and protect him.
‘I… can’t do it… I’m so angry. I’m so angry at myself!’ Raze thought. The only thing he could muster up were his thoughts. ‘I didn’t even get to take one of them out yet—not a single one of them for everything they did!’
‘I was so close, I was so close to having the strength to face them. If I were to meet them again, I would have gotten rid of them all, and now here is where I have to pass.’
In his last moments, memories started to appear—of Sabrina and Jake, the people he cared about still in Alterian. But then, strangely, other images started to appear in his mind.
Harvey from the police station, and Kelly, the student who had helped him as well. Finally, all those in Pagna appeared in his mind.
Coming up one after the other, their faces, their smiles, and the start of this whole journey filled his mind.
‘I never really did have a moment to enjoy the now with them. I wonder why I’m thinking so much about them now?’ Raze thought.
“Good,” Belil said. “I can tell you really have nothing left in you. You drew out every little bit of power you had, and you still couldn’t beat me. Which means you’ve become a complete failure.
“Bofan was wrong, as I expected he would be.”
The veins continued to bulge on Belil’s hands, and Raze was wondering, why wasn’t his body changing? The fighting feeling from within him had gone, and instead, the new feeling was somewhat…nice?
The feeling now, it was the same as when he would use the extraction technique.
“It can’t be?” Raze said. “Are you… giving me my energy?”
As time went on, Raze grew more certain—energy was being fed into him, and it could only be coming from one person. Yet this made no sense.
If Belil left Raze alone, he would eventually recover, and the fight was lost long ago. There was no need for Belil to go this far, so why was he doing it now?
“As I said, you didn’t win, which means you aren’t strong enough. Bofan’s gamble was that at some point, someone would come to this world in a similar situation as him.”
“Who knows what would have occurred, but he hoped that maybe, just like him, they would fall in love with the world of Pagna.”
“If that did happen, and they found out the truth, then maybe they’d try to protect it. However, he was wrong. Someone did come along, but they weren’t strong enough.”
“Bofan’s plan failed!”
‘Protect Pagna?’ Raze thought.
He didn’t want to protect Pagna. Maybe there were some people he cared about, but he just wanted to get back to Alterian. Somehow, his goal had simply aligned with Bofan’s.
“Bofan was an optimist. Someone coming along just like him? A skilled mage like him, a powerful warrior like him, and someone as smart as him able to do all of that? And within a certain time, it would be impossible.”
“Even if someone did, why would they fight for Pagna? I don’t know your reason, but you seem to be going up against Alter, and that’s good enough for me.”
“Anyway, I had an inkling that Bofan’s plan would fail. So I decided from that day on, when he disappeared, to make his wish a reality. I decided that I would become his backup.”
“Right now, what I’m doing with you is the backup plan because you failed to best me.”
Raze was slowly coming to a realization from all the words that had been spoken before. But would someone really do such a thing? Would someone do that for him when they hardly knew him?
“It seems you figured it out. I’m going to give you all of my energy,” Belil explained. “This is different from the extraction technique where you just take a portion of my power.”
“I’m giving you everything I have. Your Qi will become just as strong as mine, you will have the strength to take out anyone who gets in your way, and you will still have your magic powers!”
“You will become the person that Bofan wanted in this world. My energy is vast, so I needed you to use every last bit of energy in your body, to use everything you had so I could place mine inside you instead.”
“It’s still going to hurt because it’s going to force your body through things it’s not ready for yet, but it’s the only way.”
After hearing everything, Raze only had one question as he learned this.
“Is it the same consequence as the extraction technique? You doing this… will you lose your life?” Raze asked.
There was a moment of silence from Belil, it made Raze wonder what was he contemplating, this wasn’t an answer but then he finally spoke.
“Just shut up and let me do the speaking. While I explain everything and what’s going to happen in the next two days.” Belil said.
Chapter 945 The Location Of The Golden Globe
Although Raze had already said some words out of shock, it was very painful for him to speak. So he thought it was better this way, for him to just listen to what Belil wanted to say.
It seemed like he would get his information anyway, regardless of him losing; he just didn’t know what the outcome of this whole thing would be.
Currently, he could feel the energy not just flowing into his dantain but his whole body. Due to it being Demonic energy like his own, it didn’t feel foreign either.
Instead, his whole body was starting to feel revitalized. Still, the energy was spreading through his body quicker than it could react. Nothing was being repaired by the Qi that was entering, and he was still unable to move.
“I’ve already spoken about how Bofan truly did fall in love with the world of Pagna, and he passed that on to me as well, including my love for my children,” Belil explained.
“However, there was a huge difference between me and Bofan—a line that I could never cross and a line that I never understood. Bofan had love for two worlds. He had love for Pagna and still had love for Alterian as well.”
“He never wished for anything to happen to either of them, and maybe it was because of these conflicted feelings that he had no choice but to delay what might become inevitable anyway.”
“I knew and learned about Alterian from Bofan. He would talk about the world of magic often, the people there, and the amazing things the mages had managed to accomplish.”
“And eventually, Bofan learned that there were others like him who came to this world. On top of that, there were portals that opened to other dimensions.”
“During his travels, Bofan also spent a good deal of time investigating these portals and dimensions that would open up, and in the end, he made a discovery.”
“Those from Alterian—the mages—are trying to find a way to come over to Pagna.”
This was somewhat shocking to Raze but not completely. The portals reacted when strong magic was used, and Raze had seen the mages enter dimensions after the dimension bosses were defeated and cleared.
He, too, had thought this might be the reason for everything happening, and the fact that Bofan found that out as well only confirmed his thoughts.
What he didn’t know was why. He understood Alter and those in Alter from Alterian wanting to go back, but why would mages want to come to Pagna?
“I know what you want to ask, but I never did find out the reason, and I’m not sure if Bofan did either. However, he constantly talked about what would occur.
“If Alterian figured out a way to get to Pagna, he feared they would destroy everything. A large-scale war would take place between Pagna and Alterian.”
“For him, who loved both worlds, it was the last thing he wanted to happen. How was he meant to even pick sides if this did happen?”
A war—Raze could see that happening in a heartbeat. The way of living for the two worlds was extremely different, and with their contrasting concepts and cultures, it would be hard for them to understand each other.
Raze was also pretty sure that whoever was behind this already knew Pagna was full of humans yet were still trying to come over.
“The thing is, they never did find a way to come over until a particular item was discovered,” Belil claimed.
In Raze’s head, he said the name of the item.
“The Golden Globe. An item that would allow one to open a portal to anywhere they desired. An item that had belonged to the Bonum Society.”
“With more members of Alter forming on the other side, Bofan came to the conclusion that there was a good chance they were being controlled by those in Alterian in the first place.”
“Their power was growing, and Bofan wasn’t sure it could be protected by the Bonum Society. So he stole the item. But where could he go with it?”
“What could he do with it? In the end, he made a choice. In Pagna, there are two large continents of land. One is the current land we’re on, where all three of the factions reside.”
“Then up north is a large island, a place abandoned and filled with strong and powerful beasts. Whether it’s from a portal break or not, no one really knew.”
“But it was the perfect place for Bofan to hide the item. Still, placing it on the island wasn’t enough. So he came to me and gathered a bunch of high-tier crystals to cast a powerful spell on the island.”
“Now, whirlpools appear near the base, thunder and lava spew from the island, making it impossible for anyone to reach. But you see, that spell isn’t going to last forever; that spell runs out in two days’ time.”
Now Raze understood what the gamble was that Bofan had made, why Belil claimed that he had simply just delayed things rather than facing the situation.
Why they had practically run out of time. But things still didn’t quite make sense. Why didn’t Belil just gather the Neverfall Clan in two days’ time and get the item for himself?
Why did he wait for him? Why did he resort to all of this? And why right now was he passing his power onto Raze?
“I’ve reached a peak in my power,” Belil said, as if he could hear Raze’s questions. “I can’t grow stronger because I’ve already reached the Divine realm.”
“If I wished to grow stronger, I wouldn’t be able to live in Pagna. From what Bofan said, I am also not strong enough to help save it.”
“But for someone like you, who is exactly like Bofan, you can grow your strength due to your magic. It’s something that only you can do.”
“But if you went to that island without any help at all, you would simply die. On the island, there were two spells cast. One, which ends in two days’ time; the other won’t end for another 100 years.”
“A method to stop mages from getting their hands on the item if the first spell failed. On the island, the thing you call magic… won’t work.”
Chapter 946 Get Rid Of Them All
The location of the Golden Globe was on an island where magic wouldn’t work? It sounded extremely strange, especially for the world of Pagna, where magic didn’t originally exist.
Mana still existed in the world, and using one’s magic core, someone could still control it. But when Raze thought about it more, he remembered instances of this taking place.
He recalled some small discoveries of artifacts that absorbed magic, stopping all attacks. At times, there were spells that could dispel mana as well.
Both of these things he knew of, though, were on a small scale. If they existed on a small scale, it meant that in some way, somehow, it would be possible to replicate it on a large scale as well.
He imagined either an artifact already with a large amount of power being used, or perhaps boosting it with crystals and a magic circle, the effects could be extended for a large period.
The thing was, it seemed useless; there was no practicality around it. Why would a mage ever want to create such a thing?
Even in Alterian, only a mage could create such a thing, but the moment they did, it would cause that person to lose their own power as well.
A mage would have to be heavily persuaded in Alterian to even consider such a thing, and he doubted any mage at a high caliber, around the nine-star level, would cover a large area with it.
But he learned that Bofan had his reasons. Doing this, he would stop mages from getting their hands on the Golden Globe at all costs.
“What makes you powerful is your combination of magic and Qi. That’s how you’ve been able to best your opponents,” Belil explained. “Even when you went up against me, the great power was from both.”
“Yet you were still unable to beat me. If you went to the island in search of the item in your current state, you would have been killed in an instant. Maybe not even by others, but perhaps by the beasts as well.”
Belil’s words were true. Could he have defeated someone like Murkel with no magic? Could he have defeated someone like Sha Mo with no magic?
To both of those, the answer was no, and for many fights he had before, the answer was always no. With just his Qi, he was a pretty average warrior.
“Enchanted weapons, do they work as well?” Raze eventually asked.
“No… the only thing you’ll be able to rely on is your techniques and your Qi,” Belil answered again. “I’m pretty sure you know it’s most likely that others are aware of where the Golden Globe is.”
“I imagine either Alter or Bonum, who wish to get their hands back on the Golden Globe, know about it. However, the issue is the same for them; they won’t be able to use their magic or great items as well.”
“They have been forming relationships in the shadows, and from everything gathered so far, my guess is they will reach out to the Light Faction.”
Raze had to agree with this theory as well. After all, the first time he met an elder from one of the larger clans in the Light Faction, he, too, had used magic.
Not only that, he appeared to know Raze’s name as well. The name of the Dark Magus. There was fear in his eyes when the name had been spoken.
It was clear that the relationship between Alter and the Light Faction wasn’t just a small relationship but a fairly big one.
There was one thing, though: on the island where one of the spells would come to an end in two days’ time, at least they would both be on an even playing field.
Everyone present would be on equal footing.
‘Alter will have some of the strongest warriors from the Light Faction going there. I can’t get the others involved. They have grown much stronger and can help me, but it’s too dangerous for them.’
‘It will be best for them to stay in the Dark Faction. After this, I should head to the island as soon as possible.’
“Now you should understand why I decided to give you my power. With it, none of them will be any match for you. You already had your strength, and now mine will be added to yours.”
“This is not like the extraction technique. I’m willingly giving you my energy… but because of this, there is a catch.”
“It’s good that you managed to reach the highest stage possible in the middle stage realm. Otherwise, this whole thing would have been impossible.”
“I have to admit you were more capable than I thought, but still, my energy is too much for your body.”
“When all my energy enters your body, it will need to reconstruct your body to use it better. It will be a painful ride, but once you get through it, I can guarantee you will be the strongest in all of Pagna when it comes to Qi!”
Hearing this, Raze wondered if he would even be pushed to the Divine stage. What would happen then? Would he be cast into the other realm forcefully without being able to do anything?
“You will be able to be as strong as I was today… and don’t worry about reaching the Divine realm. There is something else you will need to reach that as well, but that is a place I hope you never have to visit in your lifetime.”
“Anyway, I predict that all of this will take three days for your body to recover and reconstruct itself. In three days, you will be able to move.”
“Which means you will be slightly behind the others; they will have a head start searching for the Golden Globe. I know Bofan, though. He won’t make it easy for them.”
“So when you arrive on that island, show them my strength, show them your strength, and get rid of every last one of them!” Belil exclaimed.
