Infinite Mage

Chapter 81: The Battle of the Mages (1)

Nade and Yiruki, having cast Teleportation, appeared at the cliff edge of The Bridge That Cannot Be Crossed. The eyes of the two, who had witnessed the humiliation Siena had suffered, were burning fiercely.

“You dare do that to our teacher…”

“What, there were some unharmed ones too? As always with these Mages…”

Lucas was equally displeased. It was a mistake for someone called an ArchMage to miss a target. Moreover, any sane human was his responsibility to deal with.

“That woman was a teacher? My apologies. By now, she must have almost reached the ground. Haha.”

As Lucas finished speaking, Shirone, embracing Siena, appeared atop the cliff via Teleportation. His gaze was no different from his friends'. How corrupt must one be to throw a person off a cliff?

“I will not forgive you.”

Lucas didn’t even listen. He was just annoyed by the escalating situation.

“Hey, what are you going to do? Is this part of your plan?”

Lucas clarified responsibilities. It was because there could be a discussion when paying the balance. Canis did not avoid either. In the absence of Arcane, he was the leader.

“Arin, step back.”

“But Canis…”

“You don't need to intervene. Focus on your task of controlling the people. I will handle this.”

Fighting while maintaining mental control over hundreds of people was too much. As Arin hid among the people, Canis, now unburdened, approached Shirone's group.

“What are you? How did you escape mental control?”

Yiruki spoke up.

“Dark Magic? Isn't that already a thing of the past? There are plenty of ways to counter it.”

“Nonsense. If it was that easy to escape, those in the back wouldn’t be affected.”

‘That's true...’

Canis looked up at the sun. It was still bright as they were on the mountain peak. But there was no need for a disciple of an archmage to negotiate terms with students.

Lucas, who had been watching with arms crossed, shouted.

“Hey, what are we going to do? This wasn’t part of the contract. I might deal with it for double the money.”

“I don’t need help. I will handle this alone.”

“Suit yourself then.”

Lucas stepped back, smacking his lips. He seemed uninterested, but his true intention was the opposite. He would wait, pretending to be disinterested, and then strike from behind once the fight began. That would be the end of it.

“Come at me quickly. I’m busy.”

Shirone and Canis slowly closed the distance between them. Through Synesthesia, Shirone felt that Canis’s Spirit Zone was a sphere with a diameter of roughly 50 meters, similar to his own.

“I’ll handle this here, so you guys deal with that swordsman.”

Shirone’s words made Yiruki look back at Lucas.

“That guy? Doesn’t seem like he’ll interfere from the look of it.”

“You never know how things might change when push comes to shove. He's vile enough to throw teacher Siena off the cliff.”

Shirone spoke with a cold look in his eyes.

“Don’t believe anything that man says.”

Yiruki swallowed hard. Shirone, who had switched his mind into combat mode, had a different look in his eyes than usual.

Shirone began to time his move. Photon Output, among attack magics, boasted exceptional activation speed. But the dark magic was no slouch in speed either.

No signal could be read from Canis's eyes. They swirled with an uncertain future, like the black pupils of an orangutan.

Not human. Only those who have survived countless times could possess such animalistic eyes.

What kind of life must one lead to have such eyes?

Both flickered their fingers. And as a bird suddenly took flight, they moved simultaneously. Photon Output and Might of Darkness moved dazzlingly, blurring vision.

Shirone cast Teleportation and shot upwards. The Might of Darkness, following him vertically, melted away in the sunlight.

Canis sneered. What he aimed for was not Shirone's body, but the shadow buried in the ground. Shirone, belatedly recalling the nature of dark magic, hastily moved outside the cliff. As the shadow disappeared a thousand meters below, the target-less Might of Darkness extinguished like a flame.

Photon Output fired like a machine gun, and Canis cast Shadow Wall. A thick wall of shadows rose in front of him, absorbing all the photons.

‘Incredible power. To block light with darkness.’

Against the natural order, such dark power. Shirone, who had enhanced the power of Photon Output through thousands of rebounds, realized the extent of Canis's mental strength.

‘How about this then?’

Concentrating on the photons in his hand, Shirone clenched his teeth and threw them. As the Photon Cannon fired, Canis maximized the thickness of his defensive wall. His smile was short-lived, as the Shadow Wall exploded, letting in a blinding flash.

‘What is this?’

Feeling a chill, Canis instinctively cast Dark Skin. His body turned black just as the Photon Cannon struck his abdomen.

“Ugh…!”

The impact exceeded the absorption limit of Dark Skin, and the shockwave shook his insides. Canis, lifted off his feet, flew and crashed into the forest.

“Canis!”

Arin couldn’t believe it. Light containing physical force. Light is pure energy. If it even held a small amount of physical force, planets around the sun would have been shattered.

Lucas’s expression turned serious for the first time. A beam of light quickly striking the opponent. If he had been in Canis's place, the chances of dodging would have been fifty-fifty.

‘This isn’t just bad luck, it's like stepping in dog poop.’

A murderous intent swirled in Lucas's eyes. Although not a profitable deal, the balance had to be paid. His twin swords vibrated as he watched Shirone.

Ethella was somewhere in the mountain range about 800 meters from The Bridge That Cannot Be Crossed, and in front of her stood Arcane, who had become an unofficial third-class archmage 40 years ago.

For Arcane, this was an unwelcome guest. Even if he had rested, his mental energy, depleted from casting Abyss Nova, had only recovered about 60%.

However, that thought was fleeting. Arcane narrowed his eyes as he realized the true worth of the woman blocking his path.

‘Oh, look at this?’

She wore big, clumsy-looking glasses. Her appearance, with her ample chest, seemed like a gentle sheep, someone unfamiliar with combat.

But he felt it through his skin. Simply standing there, there was no obstruction in the flow of energy throughout her body.

Her eyes were especially remarkable. They radiated the spirit of a sage, transcending the eight emotions of joy, anger, sorrow, pleasure, love, evil, and desire.

She was a seeker.

And an exceptionally talented one, too talented to be just a teacher at a magic school.

‘Capable of countering Abyss Nova.’

Ethella, too, was tense in front of the dark magic authority, known as an archmage before she was even born.

“I've heard of your reputation.”

“From a monastery?”

Arcane guessed she was a nun without hearing it, but her response far exceeded his expectation.

“I am Bishop Ethella of the Karsis Order. I wonder why someone who once made a name with dark magic would commit such atrocities.”

“A Bishop, huh.”

Arcane burst into laughter, incredulous. Achieving the rank of Bishop at such a young age was unheard of during his prime.

Especially since Karsis was one of the leading orders on the continent with 2,000 parishes. And a Bishop was a position responsible for a parish, equivalent to the head of a city.

“Where is Alpheas?”

Ethella remained silent. She didn’t know either, but even that fact could be information to the enemy.

“I can hear your brain ticking from here. Frankly, it doesn’t matter. I never expected that cunning brat to fall for my magic.”

Referring to the over-sixty Alpheas as a cunning brat indicated just how long Arcane had lived.

“Why are you looking for the headmaster? If it's a matter of gratitude and grievance, it should be settled in person. If you release the students from mental control and retreat, I can arrange a meeting for you.”

“Hahaha! Alpheas must have built quite a reputation in my absence. But my dear, Alpheas is not the man you think he is. He's the most foolish and arrogant man in the world.”

“The past doesn’t matter. The current headmaster is a person respected by the students.”

“Oh, is that so?”

Arcane stroked his chin playfully. In his memory, Alpheas was still a fiery youth in his twenties.

“I'm curious. What did that brat do to earn such respect? Let's hear it.”

Ethella realized Arcane's strategy. It was almost time for the sun to set. He was trying to stall for time until nightfall, when dark magic would be most effective.

“Stop waiting for darkness. As a teacher, I can no longer overlook further evil deeds.”

“What?”

Arcane frowned, displeased. A child not even 120 years old dared treat him like a time-wasting mage.

As he cast Might of Darkness, Arcane’s shadow swallowed the trees. Branches rustled and then bent towards one point.

“Did you think I was afraid of you because the sun was up? Then you've greatly underestimated Arcane.”

Ethella looked up. Trees within hundreds of meters leaned in, weaving together into a massive dome like a net. The sky closed, and the surroundings became darker than night.

“Die, detestable creature.”

Arcane vanished into his shadow with a swoosh. It was Dark Port, a dark magic specialty, blending with darkness to erase the concept of distance, allowing instant movement to any shadowed area.

Its strength was the ability to approach without a trace. As Arcane took her rear and cast Might of Darkness, Ethella turned into a flash of light and retreated. Dozens of shadow hands swiped through the air.

The battle that ensued was like a high-speed chase between dozens of Arcanes and Ethellas. As Arcane cornered Ethella into a narrow radius, she teleported at extreme speed from her standing position. Her upper body overlapped in multiple layers, causing the shadow hands to pass through mere afterimages.

‘A Bishop of the Karsis Order, indeed impressive.’

Even Arcane, full of rage, had to admire her. Her mental magnitude might not match his, but her technique and senses far exceeded her age.

“Then I must target the weak point.”

Ethella’s eyes trembled with dismay. With Might of Darkness intensifying, thousands of hands flew at her simultaneously.

An endless magical power.

A Zoner's sensing ability was magic in itself, but even so, it was impossible to avoid thousands of hands.

When a shadow from a tree branch grabbed her wrist, Ethella abruptly stopped. If she teleported now, her arm might be torn off.

“Ughhh…”josei

The shadow’s elasticity was like rubber. But Ethella's strength was formidable too. Gritting her teeth, she pulled her arm, tearing the shadow apart.

‘Hand-to-hand combat, too? A tough one, this girl.’

Arcane smirked and said,

“If that’s your preference, I'll accommodate you.”

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