Desolate Mage: A Legend Reborn!

Meanwhile, a panic stricken Mr White had long since come down from the control room, leaving Mitsui to oversee the overall operations.

The senior administrator had held nothing back, using his full force to attempt to open the formation the boy was held within, but time and time again he was repelled! His blows could not even so much as shake the magic field surrounding the boy"s body!

In fact, the reflected force caused the Grandmaster combatant to fly backwards and crash into the Stadium walls! He bounced back off the highly reinforced defensive inner walls and fell down in a heap, before springing up to his feet despite the specks of blood on his lips.

"What in the world is going on!?? Can somebody tell me what is happening? Quickly! Sever the mana supply! Cut off all power to the illusion arrays! Hurry!"

"S-sir! Administrator sir! We already tried that! B-but the formation is still running!" A harried and stressed out balding man who seemed to be the supervisor of the Stadium crew answered with a shaky voice.

"WHAT???! Let me see!" He rushed over to grab the power supply control tablet from the anxious supervisor and took a look himself, only for him to turn even paler than before at what was displayed.

[Power supply: Off]

[Systems: Disabled]

[Mana grid: Disconnected]

[ILLUSION ARRAY OFFLINE]

"What the h.e.l.l is this!!! In what way is this, this, this INFERNAL THING offline and powered down?!!" He flung aside the mana tablet in frustration and ran off to check on the state of the power and mana grid while the supervisor called out to his fading figure.

"Sir! Sir!!! It"s useless!!!" But seeing that his head had already vanished off into the distance, he plopped to his knees and mumbled to no one in particular.

"The severed power lines will just grow back... It"s absorbing mana from the planet itself...!"

* * * * *

While the great commotion was happening in the real world, an equally pressing situation unfolded in the virtual one.

"Release first seal!!"

Lars undid the weakest and most basic seal on his powers in the real world and felt his strength surge up to the Master level before being bottled up by the next seal.

However, that change of power was restricted to the physical world. To his dismay, nothing changed in the illusion array.

Lars whispered agitatedly in his mind to Kizorik as he watched the last boss emerge from the mists.

"Ki-Kizorik! What do I do now?! I"ve got nothing left! Even my unsealed powers aren"t applicable in this blasted world! Only the bloodline burst worked, and that is already running out right now!"

He said this even as his body"s bloodline boost began to subside and his physique returned to it"s prior state. His muscles slowly receded until he looked like he had before, a slim but strong teenage boy.

"K-kid... I could give you a temporary boost at the cost of damaging my soul but... It would be useless..."

"Wait, why would it be useless? How can you give up so easily?" While he spoke, he observed the Demon-Hunter who stood where he had appeared, breathing slowly.

The drow male had the characteristic height, pointed face and sharp long ears of his race. However that was where the similarities stopped.

Unlike the slim, lean and athletic frame of the drow hunters or even the death-dancer from earlier, this Demon-Hunter was muscular, ripped even!

Ripped being an apt word as he was so buff that his simple b.u.t.ton up s.h.i.+rt and pants looked like they would soon burst at the seams!

His skin was also much, much lighter despite still being characteristically dark. However it was a different form of pigment, appearing to be a rich and deep purple instead of the usual brown.

The most stunning were his hair and eyes.

Stunning violet hair, swept and tied back in a pony tail. The hues were so shocking that it looked as if he were plugged into an electric socket with the power turned on - straight to his neon hair!

But finally, what mystified Lars was the dark elf"s eyes.

Earlier, he was sure that he had seen a pair of s.h.i.+ning purple jewels staring out of the mists heralding Marzinus" appearance. However, right now he could not see the Demon-Hunter"s eyes at all.

The man"s eyes were covered by a thick cloth bandana and tied around his head, binding up his vision completely.

"It"s over, over!!! How could I, Kizorik, be so lucky to meet one of the 100 Demon-Hunters in the middle of some backwater city"s test for babies! Why must tragedy befall me?? What have I done to deserve such a fate?? Woe is me, woe is me!!"

While he was observing the dark elf, Kizorik blabbered on hysterically, contributing to Lars nervousness and anxiety.

Desperate to find a solution, Lars frowned crossly and yelled at the hyperventilating bird who was rolling about on the floor.

"Kizorik! Snap out of it! Tell me, what was it you were talking about that you can do? Anything at all!"

The bird sniffled as it tried to calm down even in the face of what it was certain would be death. Then it explained in span of time where their enemy was still just standing there, as if curiously observing the golden-haired boy before him. He spoke hurriedly as despite the drow"s quiet appearance, there was no mistake that he would sooner or later try to tear Lars apart like a rag doll!

"If it were any other enemy, it might work to grant you a demonic awakening. But a Demon-Hunter"s abilities work by sealing all demonic powers and dealing even greater damage to beings with higher demonic energies! In other words, it"d be plain suicide!"

Then their waiting time looked to be up.

As soon as Kizorik finished those words, their mighty adversary cracked his neck and moved, starting by speaking in an unknown language.

"Hmmph... Syaitan keji! Patik, Pemburu Syaitan Marzinus, walaupun hanya satu cebisan jiwa, akan menghapuskan segala sisa yang muncul depan patik!" (Vile demon! I, Demon-Hunter Marzinus even though only a soul fragment, will destroy every sc.u.m that appears before I!)

He had a look of condescension on his face as a puissant Myth level supreme being who, despite being suppressed to the Master level, could still crush an Adept like an ant!

The drow held up one of the two warglaives in his hands and pointed it at Lars, causing his hairs to stand on end from the sheer pressure.

"Dammit...! Come on Kizorik! There"s gotta be a way, right? Some way to use my Legendary strength and knock this a** to kingdom come!"

"I"m sorry kid... It"s the end of the road for me as well... This time when my contractor i.e. you die, I"ll be killed together... Demon-Hunters are the only creatures we abyssals truly fear...."

Kizorik sighed and said, "It"s been nice knowing you, kiddo...!"

Then Marzinus disappeared.

The audience and even the n.o.ble observers blinked their eyes in confusion and shock, letting out gasps of awe or taking in sharp breaths in horror. Even General Weres, the strongest among them, had to squint to keep pace with the nearly Ascendant level movements!

When he reappeared, he stood towering above the boy with his warglaive glowing brightly - then he lowered his weapon in a flash.

"Selamat tinggal." (Goodbye.)

It was too fast. Lars" mind could follow, but the slow eyes and this weak body could do nothing to defend himself.

He didn"t even have the time to cry out or despair. It had already happened before he could even open his mouth.

The falling blade shone brighter and brighter in a glaring white light drowning out the vision of everyone all around.

Even the magic screen became a flood of white radiance, forcing every watcher to cover their eyes or be struck blind!

"What is that light!"

"Come on #777! You gotta win for us! Make Gorun City proud!" One contestant cheered, trying to reverse the glum mood even as he shut his eyes against the explosion of whiteness.

But the people beside him shook their heads at the futility of his encouragement.

"Boy... It"s impossible... There"s no hope for that bright and young talent... It"s useless..." The speaker sighed as if with the vicissitudes of life despite looking to be around the same age.

"Handsome boy... Don"t give up..." Natalie clenched her fists tightly, squeezing the hems of her blouse as her heart pounded with worry.

"NO!!!!" "Stop!!!" "HAH! SERVES HIM RIGHT!"

All kinds of reactions were seen in the arena, whether some concerned and worried, others neutral while some even condemned and rejoiced at their compet.i.tor"s downfall!

Gradually, the light began to fade.

A hulking and ma.s.sive dark elf with bound eyes was still standing, his warglaives held crossed before him in a striking pose.

Behind him, a golden-haired pretty-boy was also still standing, eyes closed and sword held above him in a last ditch effort to survive.

You could see his arms trembling so much that the tremors and vibrations spread to his illusory sword.

Then the blade and the hilt began to shatter before turning into fine grains of sand-like dust. The weapon could not take the weight of the blow levelled against it and had given up under the strain, returning to mist and shadows.

"ARGHHH!!!" Immediately, a great ripping and twisting sound was heard as if an invisible slash were unleashed upon the boy, splitting apart and shredding the clothes on his upper body apart.

And then the boy shakily raised a hand to his chest, touching his sternum, face, neck and head. Checking for the fatal blow he knew must have landed. Looking for the signs of the blood that would mark the beginning of the end of his short life.

"Terlalu lambat untuk menginsaf! Putus asalah! Hari ini akan kekal sebagai ulangtahun kematian kau!" (It"s too late to regret! It"s hopeless! Today will be established as your death anniversary!)

The drow did not bother turning back while speaking as his two blades transformed into motes of light and disappeared. Then he turned around to face the boy who had been sentenced to death and walked past him to return to where he had come from, to rest and continue his post guarding the inheritance against all demonsp.a.w.n!

But as he walked past the golden-haired boy who was still trembling in the aftermath of the world-shattering blow, he suddenly stopped and gasped.

And Lars gasped as well.

Marzinus saw something he never believed he would ever see happen before his covered, unseeing eyes.

He stepped forward hastily and grabbed the confused boy by his shoulders, as if though forgetting that he had just a second ago rendered on him a life-severing attack that was meant to erase him from the face of the world!

Lars tried to resist, but he found the Master level aura emanating from the drow had him locked down completely.

On the outside world, as the blinding light from earlier faded away, the crowd too rubbed tjeir eyes, wondering if what they were seeing was real!

That was then followed by loud murmurs of confusion, cries of surprise and shouts of both jubilation and disappointment. The noise and din rose sharply, drowning out any semblance of discussion and creating a scene of chaos.

How could this be happening? Untouched from a death blow even a Grandmaster might not be able to withstand? And now his opponent wad holding him like a buddy?

The said drow Demon-Hunter Marzinus was flabbergasted and spoke rapidly in his ancient language, expressing his inability to understand what had happened.

"Tak mungkin! Mustahil! Mengapa kamu masih hidup?? Langsung tak tercedera?!?" (Impossible! How can this be?!! How can you be alive!?? Unharmed!??")

Then his ears moved and his eyebrows rose in bewilderment, a clear sign of surprise and shock across his face even behind the bandana covering his eyes.

His eyes fell on something he thought he would never see, that no Demon-Hunter thought was real, though every one of them dreamed of being the one to unearth it and discover it since their founding father pa.s.sed on.

He gaped in disbelief and stuttered as he spoke.

"Ini... Ini ialah..." (This... This is...)