Infinite Mage

Chapter 85: Light and Darkness, Good and Evil (2)

"Heh, is this really the punch of a human?"

The power of Ethella's punches was comparable to magic. She didn't just stop at one hit; she was continuously throwing powerful punches. Every time she struck the heavy darkness, her wrists ached, but the impact on her opponent was several times greater.

Arcane gritted his teeth and focused. Ethella's punches were powerful, but the nature of the impact was unique. It wasn't about surface destruction but creating shockwaves inside. The problem was the interference caused by the overlapping shockwaves.

'It's a wave type. This is dangerous.'

The Dark Golem writhed in pain. Ethella's eyes shone as she stepped closer and hit the golem's solar plexus with her palm. A huge ripple spread, creating approximately 400 interference actions. This meant a shockwave 400 times stronger than Ethella's fist was exploding inside.

The golem swelled as if it had swallowed a bomb and seemed about to burst.

"Argh!"

Arcane scrunched up his face and held onto his consciousness. If the spirit zone broke, the Dark Golem would collapse. As the tremors in the golem subsided, Ethella bit her lip.

'Was it still not enough? I should have overlapped the waves more.'

Yin-Yang Wave Fist, a martial art using wave patterns, piled waves inside the opponent's body and then pushed a powerful wave to cause an explosion. It took time to reach the peak, but once the final hit landed, the impact was terrifying.

However, Arcane withstood it. The impact absorbed by the Dark Golem was 400 times a Schema martial artist's blow, but Arcane's mental strength as a archmage was not to be underestimated.

"Quite impressive, kid."

"The next won't end like this. Why don't you give up now?"

"Hah! Still got some fight left in you, huh? Good. I haven't had this much fun in a while."

Arcane raised his hand, and the Dark Spiders began to merge into the body of the Dark Golem. The golem grew larger, eventually piercing the canopy of the dark forest.

Ethella felt dizzy. The Dark Golem she was seeing now was the true identity behind Arcane's notorious fame. It could decimate a mid-sized city in days.

"How do you like it? No matter your wave fist or whatever, you'll have to hit hard. My golem's depths are deeper than the ocean."

Facing a 10-meter-tall giant golem, Ethella doubted whether her shockwaves would even spread. But she clenched her fists until they almost burst. She had to be the light of the world. Even if advancing meant death, she had to move forward.

The Dark Golem roared and advanced. Despite its size, its speed remained. The ability to move at the speed of thought was the main reason why the minions of darkness were considered overpowered.

Thud!

The golem's fist smashed down where Ethella stood. Seismic waves caused trees to fall and the ground to split as if moles were burrowing underneath.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The golem continuously pounded the ground, devastating the area. On the sixth strike, Ethella changed direction, climbed the golem's arm, and reached its shoulder. She crossed her arms and jumped down, pummeling the golem with lightning-fast punches.

Drdrdrdrdrdrdr!

It was the secret technique of Yin-Yang Wave Fist, the Thousand-Hand Guanyin Thunder Strike.

Arcane's brain sparked relentlessly with the shockwaves. The interference occurring at more than 30 times per second was overwhelming. If each second produced about 300 ripples, and considering two seconds to land, it meant around 600 ripples. Just that would cause about 3,000 interferences. But the essence of Yin-Yang Wave Fist was in the final strike. If that was allowed to hit, what would be the outcome? Considering interference, refraction, and reflection, the number of interferences in two seconds would be…

'68,000 times.'

The impact, 68,000 times more than Ethella's punch, was about to explode inside. Arcane's hair stood on end, but his lips curled into a strange smile.

"Haha! Finally, I feel alive again."

He had no intention of fleeing. If the enemy was strong, just overpower them. How much he longed for this moment! The glory days of battling countless geniuses flashed before his eyes.

The Dark Golem twisted its waist like a pretzel. Ethella, who had just landed, pulled back her hands to her sides. The final form of Thousand-Hand Guanyin Thunder Strike, the Strong Thunder Palm, began to gather in her palms. As the golem's fist, laden with rotation, approached, Ethella clenched her teeth and thrust her palms forward.

'Strong Thunder Palm!'

Boom!

A mushroom cloud rose from the middle of the mountain range.

Within a 20-meter radius, trees were uprooted, turning the once lush forest into a wasteland.

Beneath the twinkling stars, Ethella blinked as she caught the starlight through the branches.

"How long has it been? Or how far did I fly?"

The trees along her path were all broken.

At the end of the trail of devastation, Ethella lay sprawled, unable to move a finger. Her muscles twitched uncontrollably, and she felt no sensation in her fingertips or toes.

'Master...'

Ethella was incapacitated.

'The archmage is truly powerful.'

Even the ultimate technique of Yin-Yang Wave Fist wasn't enough to counter the archmage's minions of darkness.

Was this what a calamity-level magic looked like?josei

The regret of not extinguishing evil gnawed at her.

'If only I had overlapped the waves more, perfected the ultimate technique of Thousand-Hand Guanyin, or increased the power of Strong Thunder Palm.'

Tears streamed down her face like a waterfall.

"I failed you, Master."

Ethella's sobs echoed through the mountains.

Shirone and Canis, amidst the complex terrain of the forest, never lost track of each other's positions. The fight was more cautious than fierce, leaning more towards a psychological battle than a firepower one. Due to the contrasting nature of light and darkness, a slight imbalance could swiftly tilt the scales of battle. It was all about who would throw the first punch.

Canis felt the greater pressure. As a practitioner of dark magic, he was on the lookout for counter-attacks, but Shirone never gave him an opening, maintaining tension with tactical movements. Thoughts from Harvest flowed through their neural link.

- He's quite something. Maintaining such composure in battle is not something just anyone can do.

- Should we engage? We need to create a variable. We can't keep being dragged around like this.

- Hmm. It's like mirror chess.

The strategy of mirroring the opponent's moves in chess doesn’t lead to a power gap until the mid-game. Eventually, when one cannot withstand the pressure and makes a mistake, that's when the other strikes. But if the opponent maintains their pace until the end, the initiator might suffer.

'It doesn’t seem like he’s faltering. We might be in danger if this continues.'

Canis saw taking the initiative as advantageous and conveyed his intention through the mental channel.

- What do you think, Harvest?

- Hmm? Oh, yeah. As time goes on, we'll be at a disadvantage. Let's take the offensive.

Receiving a delayed response, Canis created distance with a Dark Port and asked.

- Something wrong?

- No, just felt a seismic wave. It's from about 2 kilometers away.

Harvest, with a highly developed sense of vibration, could perceive, hear, and even taste through vibrations.

- Seismic wave?

- It's still transmitting. Such an impact could only be from Arcane. He must have used the minions of darkness.

- Master Arcane? But the minions of darkness are his trump card. What does this mean?

- It could mean something good or bad. Good being that he’s in tip-top shape. Bad being that he had to use it against a strong opponent.

- A strong opponent... Alpheas?

- For now, that’s a reasonable assumption. Anyway, we need to move. If Arcane has found Alpheas, we should wrap things up here too.

- Got it. Let's begin.

Canis closed the gap and engaged. Shirone, unexpectedly, also didn't hold back, matching the flow change with almost animalistic feedback.

Canis used the power of darkness. His shadows, reflecting his unique style, were specialized for attack with dual-sided blades.

Shirone fired a barrage of Photon Cannons, eroding the darkness like a rock in a storm. Light was indeed the natural enemy of darkness, but Canis persisted with his dark magic. Each magic type's basic spells were all usable, but not enough to face this level with mere tricks.

‘Just hold on. He can't keep using such powerful magic indefinitely. The tide will turn if we endure.’

As Canis expected, Shirone's mental fatigue was accumulating. Even with a natural advantage, the defensive power of dark magic was formidable.

‘I need more power.’

Photons are highly active, inevitably leading to loss. Therefore, Shirone compressed photons faster than they could dissipate, increasing their mass. It was mentally taxing but increased the power significantly. The blinding spheres grew, flickering chaotically.

Canis immediately sensed the change.

- What's this?

- He’s increased the power. I'll handle it.

Stepping in front of Canis, Harvest braced himself. As the massive Photon Cannon hit him, he covered it with his hands, trying to suppress the photons. But instead of crushing, they blasted Harvest through the forest.

Canis's face showed disbelief.

- Harvest, are you okay?

- Kinda. Damn heavy. It’s a murder weapon.

Shirone conjured a Photon Cannon above his head and then two more over his shoulders. As three powerful cannons vibrated with immense mass, Harvest, not to be outdone, spread his arms and shouted.

“Kiki! That tickles! Is this really your trump card?”

“No. Up till now was just practice.”

“...”

Harvest fell silent as the doubly powered Photon Cannons fired, blasting the giant trees in their path. Canis's mental channel accelerated with Harvest's thoughts flooding in.

- Canis, we should dodge this.

- Once we start dodging, we'll lose control. We can't back down in this fight.

- I don’t think I can block it!

- You can. Absorb my mental strength.

- Damn, what a nuisance you are!

Absorbing Canis's mental strength, Harvest's body swelled massively. His stomach opened like a beast's maw, and the

 shadow roared at the trio of light beams.

“Kaaaaaa!”

Light collided with darkness.

Creas, a warm southern city, was now in summer. Yet, at the summit of the Bridge That Cannot Be Crossed, a snowstorm akin to a winter wasteland raged.

Yiruki and Nade bundled up their clothes. The blizzard obscured their vision, making Siena and Lucas's figures blurry.

“Brrr. It's freezing. What's going on? Why did Instructor Siena use magic?”

“Maybe she's regained her senses? She might have awakened when she fell off the cliff.”

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