"So you're coming to me?" Aziz sneered.

Amon didn't answer. He swung his sword.

Darkness surged from his sword in a heavy arc. Aziz raised his blade, fire roaring as he blocked.

BOOM!

The collision shook the ground. Aziz was pushed back a step. Amon pressed in immediately.

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

Their weapons clashed in rapid succession. Aziz's strikes were powerful and precise, carrying years of experience. Every swing aimed to kill. Flames exploded with each motion. They wanted to burn Amon to ashes.

Amon met them head-on. His sword danced, darkness flowing naturally with each movement.

Shadows reinforced his limbs, his body moving faster than before. Fast enough to keep up, barely. Aziz still had the upper hand.

Aziz thrust forward, fire bursting from the tip of his blade.

Amon twisted aside, but the explosion still caught him, sending him skidding across the ground. He dug his hatchet into the earth to stop himself, coughing as smoke filled his lungs.

After fighting for a while, Amon noticed something. The mana used by Aziz was normal.

'As I guessed. He doesn't possess demonic mana. That's good for me,' Amon thought. The small information he had heard in lectures came back to him.

In demons, most of them. Those who could be called commoners, used mana like humans and other races. It was a normal form. But in the case of high-ranking demons, some noble demons.

They possessed demonic mana. Different from the usual kind. It was more violent, more destructive, and more powerful.

In this case, demons with normal mana were weak compared to noble demons, even if they were at the same rank.

Aziz lifted both hands.

[Cinder Rain]

The sky above ignited. Dozens of burning projectiles fell like meteors. They shot down rapidly.

Amon's pupils shrank. He sprinted.

Explosions detonated all around him, fire tearing into the forest. Shockwaves slammed into his body, tossing him aside. He crashed, rolled, and forced himself back up, blood splattering the ground.

Pain threatened to overwhelm him.

'Not yet…' He fought against the pain.

He clenched his teeth and forced mana through his limbs.

Shadow surged.

He vanished into the darkness of the smoke, reappearing behind Aziz.

Aziz sensed it.

He spun, blade flashing. He moved his left hand at blinding speed.

A dark trajectory shot in the direction of Aziz. Amon's hatchet flew fast, spinning toward Aziz's head. Aziz deflected it instinctively.

That was the opening. Amon was already there.

His sword came down, darkness screaming. Aziz barely blocked.

Crack!

The ground shattered beneath them.

Aziz roared and released a violent blast of fire point-blank.

Amon was blown away, his body smashing into the ground. He slid to a stop, breathing raggedly, shadows flickering around him.

For a moment, neither moved.

Flames crackled. Smoke drifted. The forest groaned.

Amon slowly pushed himself up, using his sword as support. His legs shook. His heartbeat thundered painfully now.

'Time's running out…'

Across from him, Aziz stood tall, chest heaving, burns and cuts covering his body.

But he was still standing strong.

"You're done," Aziz said coldly. "That power boost that one gets for a while after a breakthrough is fading. I can feel it."

Amon lifted his head.

Still smiling.

"Yeah," he whispered. "That's why…"

Shadows began gathering again. Thicker, heavier.

"…I'll end it now."

But poor Amon didn't get a chance.

Aziz lifted his hands again. This time, he would use all his mana. His mana violently spread around. Amon clenched his sword tightly. He didn't dash.

Above the sky, magic circles started to form. Not one, but multiple huge red magic circles formed above them. They covered the surroundings, not intending to give Amon any chance to run.

Amon gulped his saliva down. 'Fuck! Again and this is too much.'

As a master-rank, Aziz was capable of performing multiple castings at the same time.

It wasn't that Awakened and Mana Initiate ranks couldn't do that, but there was clearly a limit. At most three or four. But here, Aziz had conjured more than ten master rank spells.

And then numerous blazing fire spells shot down at him and the surroundings.

'Shitt—'

Amon moved instantly. The moment the blazing spells began to fall, he threw everything he had into motion.

Shadow wrapped tightly around his legs and burst outward as he ran. His body twisted left, then right. He leaped, rolled, slid. Sometimes barely an inch away from death.

BOOOOM!

A fire spell smashed into the ground just behind him, the explosion throwing dirt, rocks, and burning debris high into the air.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

Another landed to his side. A shockwave slammed into his ribs, sending him flying. He crashed hard, rolled across the ground, skin tearing, bones screaming.

He forced himself up instantly. More spells came down.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

The sky rained fire.

Trees shattered like dry twigs. Black trunks exploded apart, branches turning into flaming shrapnel. The ground cracked and collapsed in multiple places. Rocks flew through the air like cannonballs.

Amon ran through hell.

His breathing grew faster. His lungs burned. His chest heaved.

He ducked behind a tree as a spell obliterated it a second later. He slid across scorched earth, shadow dragging his body just fast enough. His clothes burned. His skin blistered. Blood ran freely now.

His lungs burned with smoke.

'Shit–shit–!' He gritted his teeth.

Another explosion threw him upward. He spun in the air, hit the ground shoulder-first, and tumbled. His vision went white for a moment.

He almost didn't get back up. But he did. Barely.

The final spells crashed down with deafening force.

BOOOOOM!

The forest vanished into smoke and dust.

Silence followed, broken only by crackling fire and falling debris.

Aziz stood at the edge of the destruction, panting heavily. His chest rose and fell rapidly. Sweat mixed with blood on his face.

Using that much mana at once had taken its toll.

He narrowed his eyes, staring into the smoke-filled battlefield.

"…He's dead," Aziz muttered. "There's no way he survived that."

Through the thinning smoke, he saw it. A dark silhouette. A body lying motionless on the shattered ground.

---

[A/N: Hey guys Happy new year to everyone! ]

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