Magus Supremacy-Chapter 855: Gear 3 (2)

Chapter 855

When he had been saved by Alba’s swords just before they shattered, the piercing, ringing sound of the impact brought a forgotten memory rushing back to his mind.

He remembered the solemn vow he had given to his dying mother, promising never to turn toward the dark path.

Then, the subsequent pledge he made to Clarice about eliminating every single one of the Otherworlders who threatened their peace.

Before he could fully regain his composure, he was roughly pulled away by Sera, while Alba jumped back following the destruction of her weapons.

Rolling across the grit with Sera doing her absolute best to shield his form, Grey was forced to push his fractured thoughts aside for a brief second.

His perception flooded the coliseum, and that was when he realized something critically important.

... He couldn’t die now. No, he could not afford to abandon hope at this crossroads.

Why would he give up? So many people were actively fighting and bleeding just to protect him at this very moment.

They viewed him as the singular light they needed to vanquish Orion; hence, they were risking their lives to ensure his safety.

Would he let them all down? Would he fail his mother and Mother Clarice?

The answer was absolute; he would never.

His collapsing psyche could wait for a later time. Because right now, he had a monstrous beast to exorcise.

With that renewed determination, he lightly pushed Sera away from his body.

The elite instructor reached out to stop him, but her intervention came too late. Grey had already decided to rejoin the fray.

But how was he supposed to participate without a single drop of mana remaining in his core?

To anyone else, it was a suicidal prospect.

However, he summoned Clara from the depths of his soul, and with a focused mental command, the mana he had meticulously stored within the blade began flooding his body.

It was true, as Orion had said; the universe always seemed to find a way to bless those who might be tagged as "unworthy."

The world and the universe were inherently unfair.

The rich kept getting richer, while the poor remained trapped in poverty.

The strong kept growing stronger while the weak remained... weak.

In Grey’s case, because he kept striving for power, the universe rewarded him at random intervals.

One of those rewards was the sword in his hands.

A masterpiece crafted by Sir Armin and entrusted to Thalos to award to whoever was deemed worthy.

With the innate ability to store either half or the entirety of his mana—or Ki—within the metal for future use, Grey had prepared this as a failsafe for when he ran out of energy completely.

Now, that stored reserve flooded his system, replenishing his mana core to the very brim.

He was officially ready to rejoin the battle.

But he wouldn’t be using the same tactics as before. He was prepared to jump straight into Gear Three.

"Breakthrough."

A violent blast of wind surged outward, scattering heavy debris in every direction.

Grey’s hair began whipping wildly in the turbulent air.

His eyes shifted from a deep shade of brown to a terrifying, luminescent pure white.

A soft white radiance enveloped his form as his robe flapped loudly, the sheer pressure of his aura lifting him into the sky.

As he rose, the clouds above grew darker and more oppressive by the second until,

Rumble—!

Crackle—!

The once-white clouds were now a volatile shade of obsidian and electric blue.

Lightning crawled through the heavens like celestial snakes darting between unseen branches.

Each rumble from the sky sent jagged bolts of lightning crashing into the arena floor.

Everyone stared at this phenomenon with wide, disbelieving eyes.

Fenrir was also stunned; when he had achieved his own breakthrough, it hadn’t reached the cataclysmic level that Grey was displaying at this moment.

’What would happen if he truly mastered the Magus Dominion? It is a profound shame I lacked the strength to learn it while my master still lived. But someone of Grey’s caliber? He would become an unstoppable, transcendent monster with a domain at his command.’

Orion didn’t bother to interrupt the transformation.

He watched the spectacle with a sense of amusement... a cocky, rooted arrogance.

It was as if the burgeoning power didn’t phase him in the slightest.

And in truth, it didn’t, because his confidence was absolute.

"Good, good, good. Go all out, boy. Show every card in your hand. It will be infinitely more entertaining when I crush you despite all these petty power-ups. Hahaha~! It will be truly lovely to watch you lose every shred of hope and descend into utter despair."

***

The Umbrafell faction, upon seeing the heavens darken and the atmosphere thicken with mana, quickly glanced at one another in a silent, unspoken decision.

Together, they moved as one, dashing back toward the jagged rubble where the destroyed booth lay.

They were finally ready to make their escape.

With a powerful, sweeping wave of his hands, Ken sent the heavy debris scattering in different directions.

Pulling a small, pulsating orb from his pocket, he placed it at a specific coordinate on the floor.

Soon enough, the device lit up with a low hum.

The ground shattered almost immediately, revealing a deep, incredibly long tunnel that spiraled down into the dark.

"The students first!" Ken shouted the command.

Without hesitation, the Umbrafell Academy students began rushing toward the opening, crawling into the safety of the tunnel one by one.

Ken glanced impatiently behind him, a dark, apprehensive look appearing on his face as he caught sight of Orion’s obsidian scales shimmering in the distance.

His gaze then drifted toward Grey, who remained suspended in the sky, still undergoing his radical transformation.

"I hope we have enough time," Ken muttered under his breath, his voice barely audible over the rising wind.

***

Soon enough, Grey came to a halt just a few inches beneath the blackened, roiling clouds.

A calm, stoic expression had settled on his face, masking the turbulent energy within.

"Orion Stormvale, you have done quite enough to this world. Your organization has taken almost everything of value from me, and I promise you this," Grey began, his voice carrying a supernatural resonance as bright lights began manifesting in the air all around him.

Within seconds, a hundred giant wind birds floated in a massive radius around him.

From their gaping maws, a thousand wind swords each were manifested, every single one pointed downward with lethal intent.

Two thousand fireballs, four thousand lightning arrows, and a thousand jagged earth spikes loomed in the sky, while the rhythmic rumbling from the clouds persisted like a heartbeat.

".... I will now become the full-time anomaly you all feared. I will hunt your kind across all worlds, and I will ensure you all suffer a very painful death."

The entirety of the coliseum was covered by these shimmering projectiles; the only saving grace for the spectators was that every single tip was aimed solely at the hybrid standing down below.

"That is the Supreme Magus’ promise."

Snap!

With that singular sound, the projectiles were launched.

Simultaneously, from the dark clouds above, humongous pillars of concentrated lightning burst downward, rushing toward Orion at breakneck speed.

In perfect unison, Grey’s allies, who had been standing by to face the hybrid, all leaped away to clear the blast zone.

Almost instantaneously, the world turned white.

KA-BOOOOOOM—!