Chapter 572 - 572: Your Magic is Really Starting to Feel Unfair

Although Noah's raw power was still slightly lower than August's, the young Guild Master was leagues above any of the other Spriggan 12 shields. Noah was entirely capable of engaging the Magic King in a full-power duel without being instantly crushed.

For August, this was a revelation. His elderly body, which had been dormant for decades due to a lack of worthy opponents, suddenly thrummed with revitalized energy. For the first time in nearly a century, he felt genuine, boiling battle lust surging in his chest.

"I won't tell you two to hold back, but please, try not to completely destroy the planet," Mavis said, recognizing the intense, predatory gleam in both their eyes. She didn't bother trying to talk them out of it; they were both clearly eager to test their limits.

She reached out and gently took August's massive wooden staff. While it primarily served as a conduit for a few specific spells and a walking stick, it was crafted from rare materials, and she didn't want it accidentally pulverized in the crossfire.

"I'll be watching from a safe distance," Mavis added, floating up off the glacier. She ascended several kilometers into the sky, establishing a comfortable, safe vantage point high above the impending warzone.

August watched her fly away, waiting until she was completely clear before turning his attention back to Noah.

Noah tracked her ascent as well. Once she was safe, he locked eyes with August. As the younger mage and the challenger, it was Noah's responsibility to initiate the duel.

"HAAAA!"

Noah roared, his magic erupting like a detonating star. A blinding, hyper-dense golden aura of pure Ethernano violently flared around him.

The colossal glacier beneath his boots instantly spider-webbed with massive, jagged fissures. Countless chunks of ice were ripped into the air, suspended helplessly in the terrifying gravitational pressure radiating from his body.

Massive shockwaves continuously blasted outward, whipping the ocean wind into a violent hurricane.

"HAAAA!"

Simultaneously, August unleashed his own apocalyptic aura. A deep, suffocating crimson light violently erupted from his core, enveloping his massive frame.

The ice beneath him shattered. The sheer pressure of his aura clashed violently against Noah's, generating secondary shockwaves that tore the glacier apart and sent massive tidal waves crashing across the ocean.

August's skin rapidly darkened to a deep crimson red. The glowing golden runes materialized on his forehead, branching down his face and neck.

This was his true battle form—the physical manifestation of his magic drastically amplifying his baseline physical parameters.

August had learned from Mavis and Noah himself that the young man possessed a monstrous, illogical level of physical strength. If August didn't aggressively reinforce his own body with magic, a single clean punch from Noah could potentially end the fight. And with his mother watching from the sky, August absolutely refused to lose instantly.

The two apocalyptic auras clashed continuously in the center of the glacier, carving a massive, jagged chasm into the ice between them. The ocean churned violently beneath them.

"Heavenly God's Piercing Strike!"

Noah abruptly reeled his aura back into his core. He raised his right hand, a complex golden runic array instantly expanding before his palm.

BOOOOOM!

A colossal, blindingly bright beam of condensed golden light instantly erupted from the array, screaming across the shattered glacier directly toward August.

This was Noah's standard opening move—a polite, apocalyptic greeting.

August didn't move. He didn't raise a shield. He didn't dodge. He simply stood perfectly still, his crimson aura flaring as he took the colossal laser directly to the chest.

KABOOOOOM!

A catastrophic explosion violently detonated at August's position. The glacier completely shattered beneath the impact, sending thousands of tons of pulverized ice and boiling steam rocketing into the sky, completely obscuring the Magic King from view.

High above, Mavis instinctively gasped in panic, but quickly calmed down. She knew August was the strongest mage on the continent; a simple opening strike wouldn't kill him. She backed up a little further just in case.

Down on the ice, Noah didn't relax. He kept his eyes locked on the boiling cloud of steam.

As the wind slowly cleared the mist, August's imposing figure was revealed. He was completely unharmed, standing casually in the center of a massive crater of boiling seawater.

"Impressive," August smiled, nodding in genuine appreciation. "Your Light Magic is far from standard. You've woven several highly complex, custom runic formulas into the base structure to drastically amplify its penetrative force. These are the fruits of your personal research, aren't they?"

Even while tanking the blast, August's analytical mind had effortlessly dissected the spell's architecture.

"Unfortunately, it didn't leave a scratch on you. And you've already copied it, haven't you?" Noah replied, his expression perfectly calm.

"Indeed. A truly fascinating spell. I have perfectly replicated it," August confirmed with a nod.

"Your magic is utterly terrifying," Noah sighed, shaking his head in sheer amazement.

To be able to effortlessly learn and master a highly complex, custom-engineered spell simply by being hit by it... it was the ultimate cheat code. August's Copy Magic was a testament to his unfathomable innate talent.

Noah didn't waste time talking. He raised his right hand again.

The massive golden array reappeared, but this time, dozens of smaller, secondary arrays instantly materialized around it in a complex ring.

BOOOOOM!

The massive central beam fired, while simultaneously, dozens of smaller, highly condensed lasers shot from the secondary arrays, curving through the air at varying, erratic speeds to strike August from every possible angle.

"Let's see how you handle your own spell," August smiled.

He mirrored Noah's exact stance, raising his right hand. A flawless, identical replica of Noah's complex multi-array matrix materialized instantly before his palm.

BOOOOOM!

August fired. His massive central beam and erratic secondary lasers perfectly mirrored Noah's attack.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The sky above the ocean erupted into a blinding, chaotic light show. The faster, secondary lasers collided in mid-air, detonating in a rapid-fire sequence of massive explosions.

KABOOOOOOM!

A fraction of a second later, the two massive central beams collided dead-center between them.

The resulting explosion was catastrophic. A terrifying, hyper-compressed shockwave of pure kinetic energy violently expanded outward, instantly vaporizing the remaining mist and violently slamming into the glacier.

The colossal ice platform completely shattered, splitting into dozens of massive icebergs that were violently pushed outward by the churning tidal waves.

Noah and August were separated, each standing on a rapidly drifting iceberg.

Noah stomped his right foot.

A profound, freezing wave of Ice-Make magic instantly erupted from his boot, aggressively expanding across the boiling seawater and rapidly freezing the ocean, attempting to reconnect his iceberg to August's.

SHHHK!

Just before the freezing wave reached August's iceberg, a colossal, razor-sharp ice spike violently erupted from the water directly beneath August's feet.

August casually sidestepped, effortlessly avoiding the spike a split second before it impaled his iceberg.

SHHK! SHHK! SHHK!

August began casually hopping backward across the drifting ice floes, his movements incredibly fluid and graceful as massive, jagged ice spikes continuously erupted from the water exactly where he had been standing a fraction of a second prior.

To the untrained eye, it looked as if the ice spikes were actively helping him dodge, perfectly anticipating his movements. But in reality, August's hyper-attuned combat senses were simply allowing him to effortlessly predict and evade Noah's attacks.

After dodging several spikes, August landed firmly on a massive ice floe. He aggressively stomped his right foot, channeling a massive surge of his crimson magic directly into the frozen ocean.

BOOOOOOM!

August's crimson magic violently collided with Noah's lingering Ice-Make magic beneath the surface. The conflicting energies instantly detonated, tearing a massive, jagged chasm completely through the frozen ocean between them, splitting the battlefield in two.

Seawater instantly flooded the chasm, but the lingering residual magic from both mages instantly flash-froze the water, fusing the fractured battlefield back together.

Noah crouched slightly, lowering his center of gravity. He pumped a massive surge of magic into the ice.

The frozen ocean violently churned. A colossal, crudely sculpted Ice Golem erupted from the ice directly in front of Noah, instantly winding back a massive fist and throwing a devastating haymaker directly at August's face.

Simultaneously, Noah waved his hand, deploying dozens of golden runic arrays in the air behind him, launching a relentless barrage of curving, erratic Light Magic lasers toward the Magic King.

August completely ignored the incoming laser barrage, his eyes locked entirely on the colossal Ice Golem.

He raised his right hand, deploying his stolen Light Magic array, and fired a massive, condensed beam point-blank into the Golem's fist.

The beam instantly vaporized the Golem's arm and completely annihilated the entire upper half of its torso.

A split second later, Noah's laser barrage slammed directly into August, detonating in a chaotic, blinding series of explosions that completely engulfed the Magic King in thick smoke.

Noah didn't bother trying to repair the shattered Ice Golem. Instead, he instantly commanded the remaining lower half of the Golem to violently leap forward, throwing its massive, heavy legs directly into the smoke cloud to crush August.

The massive chunk of ice flew through the air, the sheer wind pressure blowing the smoke away, revealing August actively leaping backward to avoid the incoming projectile.

CRASH!

The Golem's remains slammed violently into the ice where August had just been standing, shattering into thousands of harmless shards.

Noah tracked August's landing. As expected, the Magic King was completely uninjured. He hadn't taken a single point of damage from the laser barrage.

However, the explosive force of the lasers had completely shredded the upper half of August's white robes and purple cape, leaving him bare-chested.

Noah blinked. Despite his advanced age, August's torso was incredibly broad and heavily muscled, lined with thick, powerful cords of sinew. The three glowing golden runic lines traced smoothly down his neck, branching across his chest and down his heavily scarred arms.

Noah knew from his medical analysis that this musculature wasn't a temporary illusion generated by his battle form; August was genuinely, terrifyingly jacked.

If it came down to pure, un-enhanced brawling, August could likely beat the vast majority of Ishgarian mages to death with his bare hands. Only physical monsters like Irene or Noah required him to actually utilize magical enhancement to keep up.

Landing smoothly on the ice, August went on the offensive.

He swung his right arm, hurling a dense, highly compressed sphere of crimson magic directly at Noah.

Noah smoothly sidestepped, easily avoiding the projectile.

KABOOOOOM!

The crimson sphere slammed into the ice miles behind Noah, detonating with the force of a tactical nuke, violently vaporizing a massive section of the frozen ocean.

August thrust his hand forward. Dozens of compressed crimson spheres instantly materialized and rocketed toward Noah like a swarm of angry hornets.

Noah raised his hand, deploying his Light Magic arrays and firing an identical barrage of golden lasers to intercept them.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The sky became a chaotic warzone of intersecting lasers and crimson spheres. A continuous, deafening string of explosions rocked the ocean, the violent shockwaves completely pulverizing the glacier beneath them and churning the sea into a frothing, chaotic mess. Thick, boiling steam rapidly enveloped the battlefield.

As the wind finally cleared the steam, Noah looked down. The ice beneath his boots was glowing a terrifying, vibrant red.

The ambient temperature was skyrocketing exponentially. The localized ocean water, which had been frozen solid seconds ago, was violently boiling, rapidly melting into steam.

If Noah hadn't instinctively reinforced his clothes and boots with high-density Ethernano, he would have been instantly incinerated.

"Melt," August commanded, his eyes glowing intensely.

A colossal, apocalyptic pillar of pure, white-hot fire violently erupted from the glowing ice directly beneath Noah, instantly engulfing him. The terrifying heat completely vaporized the surrounding glacier, boiling the ocean away and leaving a massive, dry crater in the sea.

"Freeze," a calm voice echoed from within the apocalyptic inferno.

Instantly, the white-hot pillar of fire froze solid, transforming into a colossal, towering pillar of crimson ice.

A terrifying, profound wave of absolute zero erupted from the pillar, rapidly expanding outward and instantly flash-freezing the boiling ocean for miles in every direction.

CRACK!

Noah shattered the frozen fire pillar, bursting out of the ice. Simultaneously, the top of the pillar morphed, aggressively shaping itself into the massive, snarling head of an Ice Dragon.

The dragon's maw opened wide, a blinding, terrifyingly dense light gathering in its throat.

ROOOOOOAR!

A colossal, apocalyptic laser beam violently erupted from the dragon's maw, screaming directly toward August.

August recognized the terrifying scale of the attack immediately. He couldn't dodge backward; the blast radius was too wide. He raised his right hand, rapidly concentrating a massive amount of his crimson magic, and fired an equally apocalyptic beam to intercept it.

KABOOOOOOOOM!

The two colossal beams collided. The sheer, terrifying output of magical energy triggered a catastrophic explosion that temporarily blinded the sky. The apocalyptic shockwave completely pulverized the frozen ocean for miles, violently churning the sea into a chaotic, towering maelstrom of displaced water.

Before the explosion even finished dissipating, Noah smoothly raised his right hand, tracing a hyper-complex sequence of runes in the air with his index and middle fingers.

Instantly, a three-tiered, incredibly intricate runic matrix materialized in a tight circle directly around August.

"Amaterasu: Formula 100!" Noah commanded sharply, pointing at the array.

The moment he triggered the spell, the three-tiered array violently compressed inward, detonating a hyper-condensed, catastrophic explosion directly on top of August.

The shockwave violently breached the array's containment, screaming upward into the sky and violently shattering the frozen ocean for miles.

But exactly as Noah triggered his spell, an identical, flawless three-tiered runic array instantly materialized around him.

KABOOOOOM!

A fraction of a second after August was engulfed, Noah was violently swallowed by the exact same hyper-condensed explosion. The resulting shockwave mirrored August's perfectly, tearing the ocean apart.

The battlefield fell completely silent, save for the chaotic roaring of the displaced ocean and the hissing of boiling steam.

Eventually, the wind swept the heavy fog away, revealing the two mages.

August was standing perfectly still, entirely unharmed.

Noah was also unharmed, floating securely within a heavy, shimmering golden Absolute Defense sphere.

"Your magic is really starting to feel unfair," Noah sighed, dropping his shields and shaking his head.

The moment Noah initiated the Amaterasu formula, August had instantly copied the complex runic structure, mastered it, and flawlessly cast it right back at him with zero cast-time lag. It was incredibly frustrating to fight against.

I really, really want to learn how he does that, Noah thought to himself, staring at the Magic King with intense, burning envy.

~~~

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