Chapter 1508: Not Alone Anymore
The fighting between everyone had only grown fiercer, and as the pressure rose, Ibarin was ramping up his attacks as well. He could no longer rely on the support of the other Principals to make this fight easy for him.
Slashing gusts of wind spun from his arms at terrifying speed, one after another, each one sharp enough to split stone. He cast them without pause, his movements fluid and precise, and the strikes came so quickly they blurred. Then, from a glowing ring on his finger, Ibarin pulled out a small spherical object and hurled it into the air.
It floated above him, spinning as a glowing magic circle flared to life above his head. The same type of slashing wind attacks he’d been releasing from his hands began streaming endlessly from the floating orb as well. It was as if three invisible arms were launching blades of compressed air from different angles, each of them carrying the crushing power of a Nine-Star Mage.
For Raze, blocking them was like taking full-force blows from a Pagna warrior. Each clash rattled through his bones, even with his Qi and dark magic reinforcing his body. Realizing he couldn’t keep absorbing the strikes forever, Raze changed his approach. He stopped meeting them head-on and instead began weaving through the air, dodging fluidly. The few slashes that came too close, he knocked aside with quick flicks of his sword, deflecting them off their paths.
Before, Raze had been absorbing the attacks into his Qi and magic, dismantling them. Now he angled his strikes so the wind blades were sent flying away. As expected, some broke through the edge of the barrier.
The sudden impact startled the spectators. They had grown confident after being safe for so long, assuming the barrier would hold forever. When one of the deflected wind slashes came screaming toward the stands, the crowd flinched, only for a lone figure to rise from his seat and stretch out his hand.
Dark magic surged from his palm, striking the incoming wind slash and blowing it apart.
Raze had already diminished its strength, and the burst of dark magic destroyed what remained. The guests around the man froze, eyes wide, then slowly turned toward him.
“Did… did they just use Dark Magic? That person, he must be a member of the Dark Guild.”
Gasps rippled through the nearby seats as people instinctively stepped away from him. All except one. The person standing next to him, a longtime colleague, didn’t move. He stared in shock, not because he feared the man, but because he never would have guessed.
They had worked together for years. He had always been kind, always helping others and looking out for people. And yet now… he had just saved them.
“He just saved you from that attack, and you treat him like this?!” the colleague shouted angrily. “Are you idiots? You’re scared of the one protecting you instead of the one attacking us!”
“But that attack, it was deflected by the Dark Magus!” someone protested.
“Don’t you get it?” the dark mage said sharply. “The entire time, the Dark Magus has been taking those attacks head-on to stop them from reaching the crowd. He shouted those words because he knew, with how intense this fight has become, he can’t keep protecting you all alone anymore.
“That’s why he called us to act. He’s the man we chose to follow… the man we’ve chosen to shape the future of this world.”
And it wasn’t just that single incident.
More of Ibarin’s wind strikes came in an endless storm, and when they missed Raze, they carved through the air toward the audience. Ibarin unleashed a massive lightning strike that crawled across the floor like a crackling net meant to paralyze anyone it touched, and Raze had to leap high into the air to avoid it while still swinging his sword to deflect incoming slashes.
But the relentless stream of wind blades never stopped. Several of them tore loose toward the crowd.
Other mages in the stands stood up, shouting incantations, throwing every defensive spell they had to shield the people around them. The problem was that Ibarin’s magic was too strong, this was Nine-Star level power. Their defenses shattered under the force.
The direct attack’s as well as the deflected attack’s caused them to not just be concentrated in one area, but to spread across all different parts of the arena.
That was when it happened.
Dark strands of energy lashed out across the arena, colliding with the oncoming slashes and erasing them. One after another, bursts of dark magic streaked from random points in the stands, cutting down the deadly attacks before they could hit.
People froze.
Friends they had known for years, colleagues they saw every day, were using Dark Magic.
They were part of the Dark Guild.
The revelation struck like thunder, sending waves of disbelief through the audience.
Raze saw it all from the corner of his eye, and for the first time, a small sense of satisfaction passed through him. This was what he had hoped for. He no longer had to worry about the people in the stands.
“So much Dark Magic,” Ibarin spat, his voice rising above the howl of the wind. “So many people breaking the laws of Alterian! What is this? This isn’t like before. Can’t you fight alone anymore?”
Raze’s sword glowed as he deflected another blast, and his eyes locked on Ibarin.
“You’re right,” he said. “All the times I fought before… I fought alone. And I ended up failing.
“But this time, “
Dark energy flared violently around his body, his voice echoing like a war drum.
“, I’m not fighting alone.”
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Chapter 1509: The Tide Turns
At first, the crowd was terrified of the Dark Mages who were revealing themselves. It was as though the air itself had turned against them. People stared in disbelief at the allies they had sat beside, worked beside, even laughed beside, now suddenly cloaked in the aura of Dark Magic. They felt betrayed, as if their trust had been broken. They had been raised to detest these people, to fear the Dark Guild, and now they were learning they had been among them all along.
But as the chaos continued, something slowly shifted.
They noticed that not for a single moment did the Dark Mages attack anyone in the stands. They weren’t striking back or lashing out. They weren’t causing destruction or adding to the chaos. They were doing exactly what they had been ordered to do, focusing only on protecting the people around them.
Maybe they would never have accepted such a task if the Dark Magus himself hadn’t commanded it. Maybe they still hated the rest of the world, or maybe they didn’t. It didn’t matter. What everyone saw, what they couldn’t deny, was that they were saving lives. And because of that, for the first time, the Dark Guild was being seen in a new light by several important and influential figures who were present that day.
As if emboldened by that realization, more and more mages began standing by their side, casting spells to stop incoming attacks before they could hit the stands.
Meanwhile, the fighting between Raze and Ibarin raged on, more violent with every passing second, while on the ground the Principals were locked in battle against the Wilton students and the other allies who had chosen to help Raze.
Spells filled the air like storms given form.
Gigantic constructs shaped like ferocious beasts made of lightning, wind, or fire lunged at opponents before erupting into explosions that shook the ground. The Principals weren’t holding back. They were even using combined magic, weaving multiple elements together to create destruction on a massive scale, seemingly without concern for the people surrounding them.
That was when several more students appeared from the underground area, sprinting up into the open. They could have run. They could have escaped. Instead, they moved to the stands to help protect everyone they could. Among them was Lee Roy, and even more surprisingly, students from the other academies who had been competing in the event until now.
“No one can argue about whether we’re doing the right thing or not now, right?!” Chiba shouted, her arms spread wide as she summoned a massive wall of water to block a stray wave of energy that had broken off from the larger battle. The water hissed as the spells crashed against it, absorbing the shock before it could hit the crowd.
“Right! They might have thought we were connected to Raze somehow, but whatever people think, we can’t just run away!” Yolden yelled, his voice hoarse from shouting spells. “We have to protect everyone, or what’s the point of learning magic at all?!”
The other students heard those words and felt the weight of them.
Many of them felt partly responsible for their Principals’ actions. Even the teachers, who had followed their Principals into this chaos, now stood by the students’ sides to help. If their Principals ended up hurting the general public, the blame would fall on all of them, and none of them could allow that. They knew their Principals weren’t truly evil. They were simply caught up in the madness of what was happening.
Liam was fighting his own battle on the field, cutting through waves of magic as he steadily closed the distance to his opponent. Every time he got close, the Principal would slam sparks into the ground, kicking up thick dust, then launch himself away with bursts of wind. The tactic was starting to irritate him.
It happened again, dust exploding, wind blasting. But this time, as the Principal tried to move through the cloud, a glowing line of light appeared on the ground in front of him, blocking his escape.
“You know, there are things that don’t work when you try the same trick again and again,” Liam said coldly.
It was thanks to his system, he had predicted exactly where the Principal would move next.
When the dust cleared, the Principal’s eyes widened. Floating around Liam were several glowing weapons, and even more swords were embedded in the ground around him like a trap.
“It’s been a while since I’ve used this,” Liam said, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. “I can’t be relying on that overpowered sword the entire time. There are still things I can do myself.”
Elsewhere, the others were also faring well.
Safa had been struck by one of the Principal’s spells but still pushed forward, her healing abilities kicking in almost instantly. Even she was amazed, while holding the Lux Spear, her regenerative power was strong enough to heal wounds from a spear strike almost immediately.
Beatrix, meanwhile, was clearly enjoying herself. She was relying purely on her sword techniques, only rarely dipping into her blood-based powers. She was using the entire situation as a training opportunity, testing herself, forcing herself to stay in control.
Dame was chasing another Principal relentlessly across the field. The man was skilled with lightning magic, hurling bolts with enough power to scorch the stone, but they did nothing to Dame. Every blast sparked harmlessly across his body as he closed in, his movements blurring faster each time.
With the way things were going, it was becoming clear to everyone watching.
The Principals were going to lose.
Maybe not this second. Maybe not even this minute. But the momentum was gone. It was just a matter of time.
The central academy students watching from the stands could see it too. They were amazed not only by the sudden aid of the Dark Guild but also by the sheer skill the Wilton students were displaying.
And they noticed something else, something subtle, but impossible to ignore.
The Wilton students were fighting in ways that shielded bystanders, deliberately diverting or absorbing stray attacks to keep others safe, while the Principals weren’t bothering.
“Everything…” George muttered, watching wide-eyed as another of Beatrix’s strikes detonated an incoming fireball before it could hit the wall. “It feels like everything we knew… just flipped on its head.”
He swallowed hard, remembering Raze’s words.
“He was right.”
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For updates for MWS and future works, please follow me on my social media below.
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When news of MVS, MWS, or any other series comes out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I’m not too busy, I tend to reply.
Chapter 1510: Clearing the Field
Wind magic was said to be one of the easiest affinities to obtain, and because of that, many saw it as weak. It was considered a beginner’s path, quick to learn, quick to plateau. The way to increase its power was supposedly simple: the more spells one cast, the more the affinity grew.
That was why it wasn’t uncommon for mages to reach the peak level of wind affinity fairly quickly. But once they hit that peak, there was a tipping point, where no matter how much one trained or practiced, the power would no longer grow.
That wasn’t the case for Ibarin.
As a Nine-Star mage, he possessed more than enough mana to burn through. He had gone past that plateau, broken through it entirely. He had pushed his affinity further by sheer force, feeding it overwhelming mana until his control sharpened beyond what should have been possible.
Even now, he was proving it.
He was raining down a storm of wind magic like nothing anyone had seen before.
The crowd and the guests in the stands were stunned. They had never even imagined that such a flurry of wind strikes could exist. Most mages never came close to this point, which was why no one understood how terrifying it could be.
Ibarin had done what few ever managed: he had pushed past the supposed limit. He had reached the level where his affinity and mana had combined to produce a near-endless stream of slashing wind strikes, each blow hitting with the force of a warrior’s sword.
This was why, even with Raze’s unmatched speed, even with his powerful Qi and Dark Magic, it felt like he was being struck a thousand times over by invisible blades.
He darted across the arena in a blur, deflecting what he could with swift arcs of his sword, rolling and sliding to avoid the rest. But whenever he tried to charge in, the strange floating orb above Ibarin’s head would pulse, and the strikes from both it and Ibarin’s hands would double up, converging to pin him down.
Raze could block the strikes directly, but the force would launch him back to the far edge of the arena each time.
’This is annoying,’ he thought, gritting his teeth as another barrage tore toward him. ’And it’s really not something I want to use the power of my Blazer for… not unless I have no other choice.’
But he wasn’t desperate yet.
Because Raze was waiting.
He could feel something else happening in the battle, and his instincts told him to trust it.
Liam had unleashed his magnetic powers, sending a swarm of swords flying like arrows toward one of the Principals. Seeing this, the Principal cast a powerful orb of water around himself, hoping to soften the impact.
It slowed the blades… but didn’t stop them completely.
Liam was already moving.
He shot up into the air, spinning as he came down. His blade sliced clean through the water orb from above, tearing it apart. Then, with practiced ease, he dismissed the sword back into his ring, funneled all of his Qi into his arm, and drove his fist straight into the Principal’s face.
The force rippled through the man’s body like a shockwave.
For a second, it looked like the Principal would collapse completely, but the glowing shimmer of his enchanted Blazer activated, absorbing just enough of the strike to keep him from dying outright.
Liam exhaled heavily, lowering his fist.
’Taking these guys out without killing them… it’s a lot harder than it sounds,’ he thought. ’But I hope that helped Raze at least a little.’
He knew what Raze was doing.
Raze was buying time.
He was waiting for them to clear the board.
And one by one… they were.
Dame had managed to catch the lightning mage he had been pursuing. The man had darted around the battlefield like a blur, but Dame had outpaced him at the last moment, seizing him by the neck. His massive hand wrapped around the Principal’s throat like a vice, squeezing until the mage’s eyes rolled back and his body went limp.
Safa had grown bolder once she realized her healing could withstand their attacks. She charged straight in, spear glowing with a brilliant aura as she funneled her Light Magic and Qi together. Instead of concentrating it into a narrow beam, she expanded it into a wide burst of power, smashing it into her opponent like a divine hammer. The force launched the Principal’s body into the air and sent him crashing into the back wall, where he slumped unconscious.
Another Principal down, alive, but out of the fight.
Beatrix was the last.
She had restrained herself until now, but as the battle dragged on, she began tapping into her blood techniques, keeping them carefully under control so they wouldn’t consume her. She had been raised in the Light Faction, trained to minimize harm, to protect rather than destroy, and she clung to that ideal even here.
With precise movements, she danced through her opponent’s flames, parrying and deflecting, until she closed the distance. Then she unleashed her clan’s techniques, striking with a sharp twist as she slipped behind him and slammed the hilt of her blade into the back of his neck.
The Principal crumpled to the ground.
And just like that… all of them were down.
One by one, the defeated Principals were gathered up. Raze’s allies leapt to the walls surrounding the arena, standing above the battlefield, their chests heaving but their eyes blazing with victory.
They hurled the unconscious Principals down toward the edge of the field, where members of the crowd rushed to catch them, dragging their limp forms away from the fight.
Liam stood at the front, his sword resting against his shoulder as he looked down toward the center of the battlefield.
“We did as the Dark Magus said,” he called out. “We took them all out without killing them. Just make sure if they get back up, they don’t rejoin the fight…”
His gaze turned toward Raze.
“Because now… the Dark Magus can go all out.”
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For updates for MWS and future works, please follow me on my social media below.
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When news of MVS, MWS, or any other series comes out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I’m not too busy, I tend to reply.
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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For updates for MWS and future works, please follow me on my social media below.
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*Patreon: jksmanga
When news of MVS, MWS, or any other series comes out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I’m not too busy, I tend to reply.
